“Other community venues came on stream as well, which has allowed us to provide teaching in person that supports the online delivery we have had to ramp post-cyclone.”
At Splash Planet, ākonga in the Trades Academy, as well as those studying programmes in computing or the NZ Certificate in Study and Career Preparation (Level 4), have made use of the theme parks’ facilities.
Students use the conference venue for learning, as well as an outside area for breaks.
“When we were desperate for a venue, Hastings District Council came to the party with the conference venue at Splash Planet,” Hursthouse said.
Student Vinnie Rayasidamu is one of those fortunate few who get to use the closed water park’s facilities as their classroom.
“Our class had quite a rough start because we had just begun when Cyclone Gabrielle hit, and it came to a halt,” she said.
“My classmates and I are so pleased that we are to be doing face-to-face classes at Splash Planet. We did online classes after the cyclone, which most of us in the class found extremely challenging as some of the students didn’t have a laptop at the time. EIT has since loaned laptops to students.”
She said she believed the majority of students in his class were glad to be back to face-to-face learning, and were thankful for the support of staff and the student organisation.
“We would have been happy anywhere, even in the park, as long as it was face-to-face. We are grateful to our tutors and the organisers for our very special Splash Planet classroom.
“Our tutors Gail Maxey and Jan Lawrence did an amazing job cleaning up and setting up our space at Splash Planet to have it all ready for us at such short notice. They made it as comfortable for us as they possibly could.”
Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre has also become a hub for the school’s art and design programmes.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said she was proud the council was able to help provide temporary spaces.
“We came together to find solutions to keep our young people’s education plans on track,” she said.
“It is part of doing everything we can to get as many people as possible back to normal as soon as possible.”
EIT executive director of student and academic services Jo Blakeley said initial informal feedback from students was that many were keen to get back into the routine of in-person study.
“While we can’t provide a usual, full on-campus learning experience, our learners understand that and were generally grateful for the temporary locations,” she said.
“Our overall sense is that most students have adapted amazingly well to the new learning environments. We seem to have a new generation of resilient students who have drawn from learning skills formed through the Covid-19 lockdown era.”
Blakely said staff and the students’ associations continue to check in on learners in their different environments.
“We are working hard to encourage a sense of belonging for the whole community of EIT, in addition to their course classmates.
“Teachers and support staff bring out the pizza shared lunches, bring in guest speakers, and some go on field trips around industry hotspots.”
This new style of learning may be the norm for some time to come.
EIT executive director of strategic projects and partnerships Glen Harkness said it’s likely that some programmes will not return to campus until the start of 2024.
“We are working with our contractors, with support from the Te Pūkenga network, to re-open the campus as quickly as possible,” he said.
“We are hopeful that we can have a staged re-opening of facilities, focusing on spaces that contain highly specialised resources and where damage has not been as significant.”
