Term 3 Update 2019

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste!

Naumai, haere mai ki te Kura Tuatahi - Akonga Aka Mariko Welcome to the VLN Primary School

Our goal is to:

Empower Connected, Passionate, Purposeful Learners

Another school holiday break is upon us and as you all wind down to take a well deserved break some will be taking time for professional learning. If you are at ULearn this year, please seek us out and introduce yourselves, we love meeting you in 'real life'! 

NEX Online Teachers Network is holding it's inaugural national hui in Rotorua the day before ULearn. If you are teaching online, wanting to teach online, or supporting online learners you are welcome to join us on this day. There is no cost to participate & travel funds are available. It's not too late to register.

If you can't make it to Rotorua, hook into the live stream of our Keynote Speaker - Steve Wheeler speaking about Connected Pedagogies, and challenging us with some questions on this (October 8th, 9.30 am).

This year the VLN communities celebrate 25 years of learning online in New Zealand schools! We recently celebrated this milestone with our secondary colleagues and those who have been instrumental in the VLN over those years.  

Take some time to listen to this short video with Carol Moffat who talks about the issues that were prevalent in setting up the first model that came to be known as the VLN communities. Carol talks about equity and access to education, sustainability of rural schools and communities, teacher workforce, innovative solutions and collaborative approaches. These are all the mainstay of the VLN community model that are still so relevant today. Virtual learning may not be new for some schools but it is still innovative, sitting on the edge of mainstream schooling and pushing the boundaries for what might be possible for online networked learning. 

Finally thanks to all our awesome teachers in the VLN Primary for the fantastic job you do for learners all over Aotearoa/New Zealand. Without your passion, dedication and willingness to put yourself out there our children would be missing out. You are making a difference to so many!

Ngā mihinui

Rachel