"Changes for them have been the way school looks and feels with physical distancing, and not being able to share equipment, spaces and desks."
He says the guidelines are still being confirmed, but physical distancing requirements are looking to persist under alert level 2, so will be something for schools to work through when there are much larger numbers back on campus.
"I think it's great to see many students have really engaged positively with remote learning."
He says the children are learning in an off-campus environment but not all of that takes place online.
"Students have still been doing some awesome stuff without computers, just as valuable as what they are able to learn at school."
He says challenges have been the obvious ones of trying to feed a quality product to more than 400 households with different levels of resources, and doing that on short notice in a fast moving situation.
"People have had to be dynamic, flexible and understanding, and it's a community effort."
He says students in NCEA qualification years are going to have a really different experience, which is something to be considered from central government.
He says looking forward to level 2, having a greater percentage of students back on campus and being able to connect again in face-to-face ways will be great.
"We've been challenged and inspired, and sometimes I'm sure frustrated, but like everyone we just have to adapt and make sure education and communication keeps happening, just in a different way."
Waihi East School principal Briar Scott says in the first week of level 3 they have had six kids a day, and this week it was between six to 15 daily.
She says they have had to change so many aspects of the school's day-to-day running.
"Moving to mainly online programmes has had some challenges, but we have been amazed and thrilled with the response of our children and whānau."
She says in the senior school they are operating out of Google classrooms and Seesaw, which are interactive and fun.
Teachers are able to hold video conferences with groups or individuals, and children are able to catch up with their peer groups through this medium.
She says in the junior school, the classroom teachers have done an amazing job at preparing daily learning grids that include some must-do and some can-do activities.
"We also operate out of messenger groups and Zoom calls. We are encouraging our kids to learn 'life skills' and to give back to their whānau."
These include taking time to learn to bake, climb a tree, go for whānau bike rides and walks are all important learning opportunities, she says.
"Moving to online teaching has been challenging for sure. Not being able to see all our sweet, little faces has been hard.
"Like the whole nation, we hold our breath and await new stages of lockdown, and wonder how we can support our community to continue to thrive."
Briar says it has been super exciting to see the children's work they share and chat with them through Zoom.
"Parents have been so supportive of our children's learning, and keeping in contact with school - I am in awe of the way we have all very quickly had to adapt and change, and the responses to this.
"Our team here at Waihi East have been fabulous. We keep each other positive and have a real blast via our online meetings. The empathy and care they have shown our community has made my heart glow."
Waihi Central School principal Angela Main says the school has capacity planned for three bubbles but only have one bubble open at the moment.
She says last week they had no children. This week they have one child for two days.
She says they are still distance learning at level 3 the same as they were at level 4, following with the guidelines set out by the Ministry of Education.
"The difference is there are a few children who have parents that can't supervise them and have no other alternative to school. These children are working on site."
She says on site they have set up the space for children to ensure they meet the distancing expectations and all health and safety guidelines.
"We have a mixture of online and offline learning planned. It is flexible to suit each of our whānau.
"We are very focused on the wellbeing of students, whānau and staff. Our parents and whānau have been amazing and have shared some of the great learning they have been doing."
She says the school's teachers have also been outstanding, as always.
"They have planned a variety of learning opportunities for students and families to choose from, they have made changes to suit whānau, and are working with each family to get things right for their situation."
