Suzy Cato is back! Education TV channels, learning packs and free computers to boost home learning.
A young South Auckland teacher less than three years out of university has become an unexpected star of New Zealand's lockdown educational television.
Monique Cox-Timmer, a top netballer as well as a teacher at decile-2 Papatoetoe West School, is one of nine teachers who have become temporary TV presenters on Television NZ's Home Learning TV between 9am and 3pm on weekdays.
"It's definitely been something totally out of my comfort zone, but I have loved every second of being part of it."
Cox-Timmer, 22, presents shows for junior students on the first segment of the TV channel soon after 9am on physical exercise, literacy and "project" - a subject that takes a different theme every week such as Anzac Day or the lockdown itself.
An exercise class at Papatoetoe West School. Photo / Supplied
"It's asking them to do a bit more about what's happening - talking about the lockdown, giving it a bit more understanding," she said.
The literacy segment also picks up on the theme of the week, with readings from books on Anzac Day last week.
It's quite different from teaching in a classroom because there is no feedback from the audience.
"You kind of wait for an answer back and you don't get anything," Cox-Timmer said.
"That was definitely a challenge - just not having some of those big personalities in a class."
Cox-Timmer is one of those "big personalities" herself. Before TV "kind of absorbed all of my life", she spent much of her spare time on the netball court since she was young.
Monique Cox-Timmer (back to camera in the MONZ jacket) coaches the intermediate team for Papatoetoe Rangers. Photo / Supplied
"My mum is president of the Papatoetoe Rangers Club. I got roped into everything. I have always played," she said.
"Now I have taken over the junior club. That means that I oversee a lot of it and help to run the junior cub programme, which is how I got recommended for the Volunteer of the Year Award.
"I'm also playing in our Ferns team, the top team for the Papatoetoe Rangers, with two trainings a week and competitive league on Saturdays."
She also volunteered and then worked, through high school and university, for the Life Kidz Trust which runs after-school and holiday programmes for children with disabilities who come to Pakuranga's Lloyd Elsmore Park from as far afield as West Auckland and the North Shore.
Trust manager Deearna Buxton said Cox-Timmer was dedicated to the children.
"She was still working for us right through teachers' college and even in her first year teaching she still came back in her school holidays and worked for us," she said.
"She still pops in to see us because she just loves the kids so much."
Monique Cox-Timmer, aged 22, has been catapulted into presenting educational TV after a background in netball and teaching. Photo / Supplied
When the lockdown was announced, Tregoweth asked Papatoetoe West parents to come in and collect learning packs for children, but Cox-Timmer personally delivered packs to the homes of the 22 children in her Year 2 class.
When those packs ran out, she went back and delivered more in between her TV work last week.
"I have done some drop-offs of more packs to those ones that have asked me or said they've finished stuff, especially those that don't have internet access," she said.
Only 17 of her 22 families are connected to the school's Seesaw app. She tries to keep in touch with the others during the lockdown by phone.
"I find myself texting them quite regularly and reminding them about the TV channel. I heard from a couple that they have been watching it," she said.
Monique Cox-Timmer as seen on TV by her Year 2 student Azayleah Winterstein, aged 7. Photo / Supplied
But she has had no contact with two families, except for seeing one of them in New World.
"A lot have moved into other houses to be around more people, especially I had one or two that are essential workers so they [the children] have had to go into lockdown with someone else to have childcare," she said.
"Some have gone to grandparents, split parents, having to decide which one is the best fit for this amount of time. I do know that some are still travelling between the two [split parents].
"I know that some are not at the original address they told us, but no one has let us know that they have changed."
She expects only two from her class to return when school reopens physically on Wednesday, and she will keep teaching them and her other 20 students from home.
In the longer term, she worries about the impact of missing so much of this year's schooling.
"When we go back, I think we'll be starting from scratch with a lot of kids again, because some kids need the constant repetition every day in class with maybe their alphabet and their numbers," she said.
"Luckily we'll have good relationships, but I think the biggest thing will be the mental challenge of getting them back into a school routine."
