Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: Tauhara College head students give tips for learning from home

Central Plateau Principals Association chairman and Taupō Primary School principal Zac Taylor. Photo / Supplied

Online learning or working from home is back.

Central Plateau Principals Association chairman and Taupō Primary School principal Zac Taylor says keeping the doors open is an ongoing juggling act for all schools in the district.

"No matter how well schools have pre-planned for the onset of Covid-19, you simply cannot have a fixed, one-size-fits all-plan for the huge unknown of what it will look like and how it will play out within your own school."

He says it's impossible to predict, on any given day, the number of teachers or students who will be away or returning to school. He adds that it's a daily challenge to make sure there are enough teachers in front of students.

Zac says learning continues in a variety of ways across all our schools. Some schools are having to have rostered learning days at school, others are running a hybrid of online learning and being at school. He says some schools have yet to be impacted by Covid within their teaching staff so it's business as usual.

He says on a daily basis many schools are experiencing between 30 per cent to 50 per cent absenteeism.

From a principal's point of view, he says it is substantially harder to manage learning now compared to learning during lockdown, citing disruption from higher levels of relievers, having to constantly merge classes to match student numbers with available teachers, and having to load content into online learning as well as teaching in the classroom.

But he says students are still happy and settled, in spite of all the disruption.

"Parents certainly appear to be grateful that schools are doing everything we can to remain open as best we can for as many students as we can."

He says parents and caregivers need to be prepared to have children at home during the week. He warns that a school may have to close for a short while during the Omicron peak.

"A school might be open to everyone at the beginning of the week, and then could be forced to close by the end of the week due to staffing shortages."

He hopes a community will support their school if it was forced to close due to the pandemic "and understand it is done out of necessity, for the health, safety and wellbeing of all learners".

"I do not think, as a community of schools, any of us are nearing the end of the disruption, challenge and complexity of the Omicron journey."

This week Tauhara College and Taupō-nui-a-Tia College senior students are attending school three days a week and learning from home the other two days. This situation is likely to continue while there is a high incidence of Covid-19 in the community.

Tauhara College head students for 2022 shared their tips for effective learning from home with the Taupō & Tūrangi Herald.

Head boy Andrew Bullock uses learning from home as an opportunity to focus on what he is not good at.

"Learning from home is a good opportunity to connect with my family.

"Last year during lockdown I would get stuck, and Mum would give me permission to have time off from learning. Otherwise, I would have kept on going."

Andrew says taking a break when he was struggling paid off.

"When I went back [to learning], it really flowed and I was able to process the concepts better."

Head girl Naomi Riedel says during lockdown last year she had to work on not being overwhelmed by the volume and pace of work required from her.

"I had to take a step back and think 'I have control of this'."

Learning from home has taught her better time management.

"I had to find a balance between learning and having fun. In the end I would work in the morning and take the afternoon off.

Senior students at Tauhara College are currently learning online, with lessons being set by their teachers as per the normal timetable and available online.

Tauhara College principal Ben Hancock (left) with 2022 student leaders: deputy head boy Wilson Simmonds, deputy head girl Ella Gardiner, head girl Naomi Riedel, head boy Andrew Bullock.

Deputy head boy Wilson Simmonds says he gets a lot of work done in a short space of time when he is learning from home.

"Then I can get on and do what I want to do," he says.

When he is learning from home, Wilson will get up early and do his work, "and then I kind of have the afternoons off". Depending on the teaching timetable, he aims to confine his school week to three or four days of learning.

On the days when she is learning from home, deputy head girl Ella Gardiner likes to work to her own subject schedule as she finds it distracting to switch between subjects every few hours. She prefers to focus on one subject in the morning, and another subject in the afternoon.