Back to School...... well sort of!

By Andrew Hunter | Posted: Wednesday April 8, 2020

Kia ora everyone. Firstly, I hope you are all safe and well in your bubbles and managing the challenges of lockdown. We are ready to embrace online learning starting next Wednesday 15 April. Please read on for a guide to what learning might look like next week.

Life in a bubble certainly has its challenges and every family situation will be different. If you are an essential worker who is providing daily healthcare or services to our community, thank you.

Our aim is to provide a range of content to engage your child including project based activity as well as small challenges and tasks in a variety of learning areas. As a guide and depending on the tasks, around  90 -120 minutes daily would be a reasonable expectation. How this is managed in your house will be a conversation for you to have with your child.

As a parent, we don't expect you be a "home school teacher". Your role is to support and encourage your child and "check in" each day. If your child is having any difficulty with access or content please email your teacher immediately. 

Obviously this content will be shared digitally and will include opportunities for your child to engage in Zoom meetings with their teacher and peers. This "face to face" contact is important as it helps maintain social relationships and will provide an opportunity for teachers to explain and for students to ask questions. Zoom is free to download. Please help your child to do this if you have not already done so.

Learning content will be via Workspace. This is a digital format that will house timetables, learning tasks and resources. Your child will have access to this through their Balmacewen email. 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding online learning please contact your classroom teacher or our Principal: Andrew Hunter ahunter@balmacewen.school.nz or Deputy Principal: squelch@balmacewen.school.nz

Learning is going to be different, that's for sure. But if we've learnt anything over the last 2 weeks it's that we are resilient, creative and adaptable. Let's channel all that positive energy into something that will get us through the lockdown period and help us be ready for a return to school life in the near future.

Ngā manakitanga ki a koutou

Andrew Hunter