The four Northland primary schools and one secondary school that make up the Kaikohekohe Education Network had no idea how fortuitous their six-year partnership with the Manaiakalani Education Trust was going to be until the Covid-19 lockdown entered their lives.
As a host of schools around the country struggled to adjust to teaching online with digital devices, the Kaikohekohe schools were able to apply their everyday digital lesson plans and student blogging seamlessly.
Their partnership in professional development with the Manaiakalani Outreach Programme revealed teachers and students alike as models of digitally fluent proficiency for the Ministry of Education's hurried rollout of hybrid learning.
Following their experience of online teaching through lockdown levels 3 and 4, Bay of Islands College invited the teachers to share their thoughts for expanding the process in the future.
Head of physical education Ruth Hills said she could see the benefit of having on-site learning days combined with distance learning days for senior students, such as three days each week at school, and two days working individually at home.