Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,

Each Stonefields School family will be impacted differently by this immediate lockdown. We understand that the level to which you will be able to engage in your child’s learning from home will differ depending on your own unique situation. We want to reassure you that it is up to you and your family how much your child engages in the learning that we will continue to design and provide at a distance. For some, an hour a day would be success, for others the equivalent of a usual School day may be necessary so working from home can continue. Trust your judgement here; we know you will make the best decision for your family.

Below you will find a detailed outline of our distance learning approach, and links to lots of resources.

If you need additional assistance and/or support please in the first instance get in touch with your hub teachers via email (linked in the School App) or contact support@stonefields.school.nz and we will do our best to support you in any way we can.

We will continue to update you on any significant announcements. As we said to our staff this morning during our briefing - go gently, we do distance learning well.

Looking forward to bringing our best together and seeing what is possible this time.

Stay safe | Noho ora mai

Sarah and Team

Due to the swift nature of the lockdown our biggest challenge is supporting distance learning for learners who may not have a device at home. The following distance learning approach has been implemented to support you as best we can:

“Full access” - learners who have their own school device or alternative permanent access

• ⅓, ⅓, ⅓ distance learning approach will continue

• Learning can be accessed via SchoolTalk

• Hangouts will continue as usual

“Partial access” - alternative temporary access or device not really fit for purpose

• SchoolTalk can be accessed when a device is available - we recommend you prioritise the red calendared hangout connects with a teacher.

• A range of varied learning challenges have been created for both Junior (year 1 - 4) and Senior (Year 5 - 8) learners for families who only have partial access to a device. These have been added to the COVID resource page

• Practice your times tables. This resource steps you through the best way to support your child with learning their times tables.

We are releasing the Knowledge Building Packs to support Basic Knowledge learning. These are now uploaded on the COVID Resources for whānau site. Teachers will also point you in the right direction here.

"No access"

• We know the majority of our parents have a mobile phone.

A range of varied learning challenges have been created for both Junior (year 1 - 4) and Senior (Year 5 - 8) learners for families who only have partial access to a device. These have been added to the COVID Resources for whānau site.

We will continue to track distance learning attendance in hangouts, and will also track whether learners have ‘full access, ‘partial access’ or ‘no access’ to a device.. This will help forward planning to assist with the collection of devices (once permitted) from School, and in providing iPads to years 0-2, should the lockdown be extended beyond 7 days.

It was confirmed by The Ministry of Education that no-one is to be on site during level 4, no exemptions. We will update you if this status changes and we are able to open the School for devices to be collected.

Knowledge Builders | Tupu Mātauranga

You may recall that we shared in a Parent update earlier this term that packs of cards were being created to support the learning of basic knowledge at home and School.

These 14 Knowledge Builder packs have been made available on the COVID resource site for whānau. The hard copy packs of cards were ready to be printed this week, and unfortunately will now be delayed. However, you will have digital access to the full range of packs, and the ideas in each pack to support your child’s learning of this key basic knowledge.

Other Resources
Here is the first support resource to accompany learning the times tables. It is packed full of videos that show you what to do. This is targeted at learners in years 5 - 8, but we are sure some of our year 3 - 4s could have a go too!

Further resources are being created for early sight words and essential spelling words. These will be added to the COVID resource site for parents/caregivers as they become available.

Don’t forget to pull out the distance learning packs for year 1 - 4 from the beginning of the year if there are pages that haven’t yet been completed.

As the School is closed until further notice, we have had to postpone a number of our upcoming community events:

• Coffee & Conversation for our Indian and Sri Lankan whānau tonight

• Whānau Hui on 24th August

After school activities, including Kelly Club, Art Classes, Pform and Bricks 4 Kids have also been cancelled until further notice.