Welcome back to Term 2! Here is some detailed information for you around our plan for learning from home beginning Wednesday 15th April.

Principles of East@home learning

• keeping it simple for the students so they can structure their day.

• keeping it simple for teachers to manage, and have time to learn new ways of working.

• following an asynchronous approach (students doing different things at different times) with some synchronicity through Ako

• being realistic with the learning that will take place @home.

We will follow a daily East@home structure.

Constructing timetables

During the East@home learning time, we are encouraging students to be more autonomous and self managing with their learning. This includes deciding what to study and when (apart from Live Times). Students do not necessarily need to work on a 9am-3pm basis. This approach to teaching and learning needs to work for the range of students and their situations.

However, some students do need more structure and guidance to support them in their learning. Therefore we have provided guidance for the number of hours students should engage in learning and we have developed the following information to help students in this process. Year 13 students will engage in approximately 4 hours of learning per day, plus Ako. Students can organise what they learn when they learn.

The first Wednesday of term (15/04) and subsequent Monday’s students will be supported to construct the timetable for the week, using the templates and information to help.

Please click on the links to videos and templates which guide students further in constructing their timetable.

• Video

• Planning your week - Seniors

• Live Time allocations - Year 13

Teachers will be posting learning on Google Classroom and students will be provided with a ‘Live Time’ timetable. The intention of this time is to make it more interactive, answer questions and give feedback. It may be useful for students to have sent questions to their teacher prior to the Live Time session. During this time the teacher will connect through a variety of ways such as email/Google Meet/Google docs. The teacher will communicate this with the students.

To see which subjects will be offered during each Live Time session, click on the link in the table above. This will also be communicated with students by their teacher. There may be some minor changes.

Live Time structure

The Live Time structure will operate as follows Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday is scheduled for independent study via Google Classroom

• 9.00am - Check emails and plan your day

• 10.00am - 10.30am Ako Session

• 10.30am - 11.30am Session 1

• 12.00pm -1.00pm Session 2

• 2.00pm - 3.00pm Session 3

There are 20 sessions (hours) for students to schedule their learning. Students may split what they study in the sessions, for example they may schedule short bursts of regular learning for one of their subjects. Students may wish to study outside of these typical school hours. When students are not engaged in Live Time, they can prioritise other learning, although we recommend students still schedule their subject in this session.

It is important that students consider their hauora during this time, and prioritise times to look after their own wellbeing. This includes physical activity.

To support home based learning you could help with the following East@home habits:

• Ask students if they have checked their email every morning - this will be where students find notifications from teachers in the form of emails and Google Classroom notifications

• Ask students to share their daily timetable with you - make sure to include regular breaks, make space for exercise, creativity and device-free time

• Where possible, provide a quiet place to work - a space that is comfortable, well lit and where they can work without distractions. We prefer that students work on a laptop or computer

• Make sure they have a support person - This is a new way of working for a large number of our community. The reality is that many of us, students and adults, need someone to hold us accountable to deadlines. As a parent you may wish to make sure students have a work plan, or see if they have buddied up with students in their class to check in with each other. You can request (by contacting the ako teacher) to become a guardian on their Google Classrooms so that you can view the learning they are expected to undertake. For students who can easily spend hours on games or social media, a support person will be essential to ensure good timetable habits and help with managing screen time. During school closures our usual support networks will be available. You can find contact details for teachers, deans and Guidance Counsellors at https://www.wegc.school.nz/our-school/staff.