Covid 19 coronavirus Delta outbreak: Northland schools hand out electronic devices and hardbacks to help with remote learning

Whangarei Intermediate School Principal Hayley Read and staff hand out school work and Chromebooks to parents of WIS students. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Northland schools are going out of their way to personally deliver hardcopy materials to students who do not have internet access, and yes, it is a contactless delivery.

Whangārei Intermediate School (WIS) on Tuesday handed out 20 devices to students who left them at school before entering level 4 lockdown on August 17.

The parents and students had let the school authorities know the whereabouts of their devices, and after the staff members collected them they handed them to the parents, while maintaining social distancing.

Students across Northland have received lockdown learning packs to help with their studies while the region is in level 4 lockdown.

WIS deputy principal Paul Botica said the students who did not have access to devices would usually borrow school devices, but those weren't distributed at that stage.

Hardcopy material or hardbacks were arranged for those students.

"We started our online classes on Monday and some of our teachers began the preparation last week. The classes are Google classes, which the students are familiar with.

"The teachers have also become familiar with the online teaching environment and are now helping the newer staff who are using it for the first time. We have a couple of dedicated coaches who were bringing the online learning up to speed last week.

"Remote learning is not a big jump for them.

"If we go down to level 3 the kids of essential workers would want to come back and we will make the provision. And if we remain at level 4 next week, we are ready for it too."

Whaea Christine from WIS was also keeping the Pataka Kai fully stocked at the school gate.

Whaea Christine from WIS has been keeping the Pataka Kai fully stocked at the school gate. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Hora Hora Primary School Pat Newman, who does not believe the kids can only learn from formal online education, said he was amazed at the number of things the students were learning at home from their parents and whanau.

"I do not believe the formal education is the only beneficial learning system for the children of the age group we work with (Years 0-8).

"We had a big zoom meeting on Tuesday with so many kids on it and we have another one scheduled in the coming days."

The school had set up four to five Facebook pages and through that were communicating with the parents and students.

Newman said the message they were trying to send to families was parents and whanau were the first teachers to the kids and they would learn a lot in their company.

"They have a lot to offer and come together as a family during the lockdown. There are so many fun things, and if the kids can learn a bit of cooking, baking, measuring, cleaning their rooms and doing the dishes, then they have learned a lot."

The school had so far delivered around 100 hardbacks to families who did not have access to the internet or electronic devices.

"All our teachers and staff helped in developing those resources. They also packed it and did the background work.

"Two staff members - husband and wife - put the material in their car and delivered it to the letterboxes without making contact.

"They drove around delivering the copies. In some cases, they also left kai along with the material."

Hora Hora Primary School principal Pat Newman. Photo / Tania Whyte

It was fantastic to see what the students were doing during the lockdown, said Newman.

"We can either stress out about the ongoing situation and complain the kids are not learning at school, or we can say this is an opportunity to do something more important.

"What is more important is being with the family and doing things with the family. When they come back to school, we will catch up."

One of the parents who did not wish to be named said they appreciated the school for the smooth transition from classes to online studies.

"We all have our own rooms set up online with the teachers. We and our daughter meet her teacher every day and discuss the progress and assignments.

"We are getting daily tasks. For the kids who didn't have the devices, the school was looking to arrange it, those who didn't have internet access were given hardcopy material.

"We are actually posting daily things that we are doing with our students.

"We are receiving daily updates from the principal and other staff. I am very happy with the response and can say a majority of the parents would be appreciative of it."