Orla (left), Ronan and Ciara Barlow have found it easy to complete their school work during the lockdown.
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Orla (left), Ronan and Ciara Barlow have found it easy to complete their school work during the lockdown.
Photo / Supplied
Upokongaro School principal Warren Brown welcomed pupils back to school via Facebook this week.
"It's 9am and the bell has rung ... welcome to term two 2020," he wrote.
"I have to share a big shout out to our teachers for setting learning activities and projects."
While the physical schoolhas remained closed, Upokongaro's virtual classrooms have been busy and Jane and Isaiah Barlow's children Ciara 11, Ronan 10, and Orla 8, have all enjoyed visiting them this week.
"It's the same lessons we'd be doing at school and it's been good," Ronan said.
"It's been working well and they have been really good about sharing the one device."
Both Barlow parents work at Whanganui District Library where Jane is a librarian and her husband Isaiah is the IT expert.
"We are both working from home as well so we've all had to be very well coordinated this week."
Ciara, who is in Year 8 and is a head girl at Upokongaro, said her week has gone well and she credits her teacher Erin Brown for providing great instructions.
"It's been easy," she said.
"The work is the same as what we would be doing if we were at school."
She is missing face to face contact with her friends but says keeping in touch by phone is okay.
Orla Barlow enjoys a game of Down Spin while brother Ronan plays a Roadblocks on the game console.
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Jane is a trained teacher who formerly worked at Upokongaro so is well equipped to help her children with their online lessons.
"The great thing is that I haven't really had to," she said.
"The children's teachers created their online lessons using Google classrooms and there are really good combinations of reading, writing, and maths inquiry - it's all very clear."
Orla agreed and said she has enjoyed doing her school work this week but looks forward to getting back to school.
"I won't miss being at home when we're allowed to go back," she said.
Despite that, Orla has found plenty to do during lockdown.
"I like doing gymnastics - cartwheels and handstands.
"I also like playing a game called Down Spin."
The Barlows are prepared for the eventual transition to the level 3 alert stage of the pandemic response although a week of learning and working at home has gone well.
"As a family, we go for a lot of walks together and we have done plenty of cooking and baking," Jane said.
"It is important to keep things as balanced as you can."
When school work is done its time to make pizza.
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On the weekend prior to lockdown, Upokongaro School celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Brown said the children had been studying "old school" learning in the weeks beforehand and they have now had to leap quickly back into the 21st century.
"Some of our school families are short on devices or don't have internet service.
"We're working with the Ministry of Education to get those sorted but in the meantime, we're able to provide work in hard copy versions."
Brown said he is very proud of his staff, pupils and school families for their adaptability.
"It's all very different from what we have come to expect over the years and at the same time challenging and exciting," he said.
