Bay of Plenty school pupils, whānau resilient after eight weeks at home

Tauranga school pupils have done an "incredible" job making do at home, principals say.

Schools welcomed back students last week after being closed for eight weeks during the Covid-19 lockdown.

By May 15, two days before schools reopened to students, the Ministry of Education had sent out 19,735 laptops or Chromebooks nationally, to school pupils in need of online learning devices.

It had also sent out 256,740 hard-copy learning packs.

Te Kura o Matapihi kaiako Sandy Bornholdt said the school saw "kids shine that may be quieter in the class".

Te Kura o Matapihi kaiako Hira Hona with pupil Te Awanui Yeager, 9. Photo / George Novak

"It was quite incredible ... By the end of it, they were ready to come back - most of them. But our whānau were just 100 per cent behind it - and our kaiako [teachers] as well. It was mindblowing."

This was despite the fact the school had asked for online learning devices to be supplied "but there wasn't enough in the country and we suspected we wouldn't get them as NCEA students were the priority".

"We tried to send home as many devices as we had but we couldn't get to everybody ... The ministry insured the devices before we sent them out, which helped out."

English learning packs arrived "pretty quickly" to students at home but "the te reo packs were very late in arriving", Bornholdt said.

"It wasn't 'just in case' learning it was 'just in time'.

"It's pretty successful - what we've been able to achieve - having online hui," she said.

Pāpāmoa College principal Steve Lindsey. Photo / File

Pāpāmoa College was "privileged" to be one of the first Bay of Plenty schools to receive ministry-delivered computers, principal Steve Lindsey said.

"We were aware that there were some delivery delays due to excessive demand on couriers," Lindsey said.

Sixty-four computers were sent to the college's students in need, on top of 227 school computers loaned to others.

"With regards to printed materials we did order some on behalf of students but relied on our own prepared resources," he said.

"Teachers were good at finding out who needed what so that the school could find a solution."

Ōpōtiki College. Photo / File

One of the Bay of Plenty schools left waiting for devices was Ōpōtiki College.

Staff requested 109 devices for students going without, but two weeks agothey had only received 21, deputy principal Robyn Abraham-Harris said.

Staff made phone calls to collate students' needs "at short notice".

"Even then this is still not equitable because not all families have a cellphone, data or credit on phones."

"Not all students have an ideal situation to work from at home either with many distractions or lack of a quiet space," she said.

At alert level 3 staff delivered more than 150 hard-copy learning packs "from Hawai to the back of the Waiotahe Valley and everywhere in between".

One of the school's values is resilience and Abraham-Harris said rangatahi and whānau demonstrated this "in trying times".

"There are still plenty of challenges ahead ... inequity for Māori and rural learners is always an uphill battle."

The Ministry of Education's chief digital officer Stuart Wakefield said there had been "global [computer] supply shortages due largely to the pandemic".

"We acknowledge that the distribution of computers to students around New Zealand has not been as fast as everyone would like."

Chairs stand on tables in an empty classroom. Photo / Getty

The ministry put "an initial focus on connecting students in senior secondary school working towards NCEA and those with the greatest need due to disadvantage".

"We have now been able to fulfil all computer requests for Years 11, 12 and 13 students in all deciles, apart from any new requests that may come in. The devices are configured and dispatched as quickly as possible after they are received from suppliers.

"To expedite delivery, we co-located a courier depot inside the warehouse where the computers are received, configured, boxed, labelled and given to the courier for distribution."

NZ Post's East Tamaki distribution centre during alert level 2. Photo / File

An NZ Post spokeswoman said the organisation "wishes to sincerely apologise to customers who have experienced delays".

"When NZ moved to alert level 3 we received over 3.5 million parcels in the first two weeks and we are still currently receiving about 300,000 parcels a day, which is around Christmas levels.

"To put this into perspective, we're receiving on average over 200 parcels every minute."

She said some devices "may have been additionally delayed by up to two weeks due to an issue with addresses, which needed to be resolved by the sending party".

"We have been doing everything we can to get parcels delivered on time. We set up temporary processing sites, and are operating 11 sites 24/7 for the first time ever. We've brought on hundreds of extra vans and people, and are working around the clock to deliver items."