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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui – October 2025

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

Its time to plan for 2026! Our team have been busy behind the scenes preparing programmes for next year.

Registrations are now open for our Primary programmes. Check out what’s available, discuss with your learners and whānau and register their choices. The sooner the better, as this helps with our planning for the year ahead and helps you secure your registrations. Check out Celebrations of Learning for examples of what our ākonga are learning in their online classes. Want to know more? Join one of our intro sessions next month.

We are all Dancing on the Shifting Carpet with curriculum change at the moment. We have been working as best we can to support our schools and to position our programmes and create new learning opportunities to align with where our schools changing needs are. Although we have lots of great programmes for schools, in this newsletter we highlight a few that may be of interest as you take on board curriculum changes. We welcome your feedback and suggestions on how we can help.

Learning another language provides a practical way to improve literacy, as it actively strengthens the language skills students use daily. Explore the links to literacy and how Kōtui Ako VLN can support you with learning languages.

Our Life Skills programme has been available for some years and is a great way to introduce financial literacy through a variety of authentic tasks that prepare learners for the future but engage them now. We present a new online programme designed to accelerate achievement in Mathematics for Year 7 and 8 students, to align with the new New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) Phase 3. Another new programme trialled this year is designed to help your students become confident in navigating the world of AI in a way that aligns with the New Zealand Curriculum.

Our strategic priorities are to ensure equitable educational outcomes for all ākonga by collaborating with schools to provide high quality learning opportunities. Access to a rich, wide and relevant curriculum is at the heart of this.

Our team looks forward to hearing from schools in preparation for the 2026 year ahead. Please share the kaupapa by passing this newsletter on to schools in your network.

Ngā mihinui,

Rachel

Hikina a tātou ākonga kia haere kōtui tātou ki tua

Walk hand-in-hand with us to uplift our learners and safeguard the future

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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui – August 2025

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

Poipoia te kākano kia puāwai

Nurture the seed and it will blossom

Spring is in the air and with the promise of warmer days to come, its a good time to plan ahead. If you are looking to offer wider curriculum choices to the students and ākonga, now is the time to consider joining Kōtui Ako VLN Secondary. Find out what’s involved and plan to participate in 2026.

We have been gathering feedback from our Primary ākonga and share our findings. Student voice helps inform our practice, gives us assurance that we are on track, and points to areas we need to work on further.

Find out about the benefits of learning New Zealand Sign Language, NZSL, and how we can support schools with language classes for students, teachers and support for deaf students. Let us know how we can help you! There’s still time to sign your learners up for a 5 week taster class next term (numbers limited).

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori is coming up soon! To celebrate we are sharing our online resources. We hope you enjoy them and find them helpful in your reo Māori journey. Kia kaha Te Reo Māori!

Earlier in the year we hosted Australian Churchill Fellow Eamonn Moore who was exploring best practice in Virtual Learning in New Zealand and USA. His report, recently published, highlights the successful integration of virtual learning in New Zealand schools as a means to expand student pathways and enhance educational opportunities.

We are delighted to announce that Dr Ruth Gorinski has been appointed as Chair of the Kotui Ako Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa. Ruth is experienced in leadership and Governance roles in education and the not for profit sector. We feel very privileged to have her onboard and leading our Governance Group.

Thanks to Rick Whalley, Principal Lake Rerewhakaaitu School, for being Acting Chairperson and for leading the Appointments Committee.

Ngā mihinui ki a koutou

The Kōtui Ako VLN team

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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui June 2025

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

As we head towards the middle of the busy school year, Matariki gives us time to pause and reflect. We celebrate with whānau and look ahead to the future. Our Matariki resource, created by Tewaiehu Savage as part of Networks of Expertise PLD, is shared for those seeking understanding around the meaning behind Matariki.

We celebrate champions of e-learning Bill and Paul from Waiheke High School, e-dean and e-teacher respectively, for their longstanding dedication to the VLN kaupapa.

Are you looking to offer wider curriculum choices to the students and ākonga from your school or kura? Now is the time to consider joining Kōtui Ako VLN Secondary for 2026. Check out the benefits for learners and what you need to do to participate.

Registrations for Primary programmes starting next term have now closed. If you missed the date, you can still participate by joining your whole class with one of our Language programmes or participating in a 5 week Taster Class.

We are still on the lookout for a new Governance Chairperson. If you know someone who would be great for this role, or if it could be you, please find out more and contact Rick.

Finally, our Annual Reports for 2024 are now available. We look back into the year that was, celebrate today and plan for the future!

Mānawatia a Matariki ✨️

Rachel, Amanda and the Kōtui Ako VLN team

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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui May 2025

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

We have had a busy time in Wellington this month with our biennial Rural & Remote Kids camp. This is a unique project running since 2012, devised on the back of a napkin at a Principals conference. Every two years our Year 7 & 8 ākonga come to the capital, make new friends, navigate the city, and push their comfort zones, all with a good dose of civics education.

Members of our Kōtuitui team attended the Networks of Expertise (NEX) Summit at Te Papa. This was a valuable time for our team to strengthen connections with other networks and to participate in some useful PLD.

Make your registrations for Semester 2 Primary programmes now! Its a short 9 week term, so get your skates on and bring a friend – membership fees are waived for schools new to Kōtui Ako VLN.

We are on the look out for new eteachers, if you are a NZ registered experienced teacher and confident with technologies, please send in your expression of interest. Depending on the needs of our schools, we may have a place for you.

We are seeking a new independent chairperson for our Governance Group. A big thank you to Ruth Anderson, who has stepped down after 4 years. Ruth led us through times of change as we merged from VLN Primary and OLC through to Kōtui Ako. It was a choppy sea, and Ruth navigated us well, ensuring the waka continued to move forward. We wish her all the best 💐We are asking schools to look to their networks and communities for a suitable person for this role. If you think you have the skills and experience for this role please contact us directly.

This week our ePrincipals’ Amanda and Rachel (along with some members of our Governance Group) are out and about at the SPANZ & NZEI Rural Teaching Principals’ Conferences (respectively). Look out for us, introduce yourselves, we’d love to have a chat about how your schools’ network Kōtui Ako can work with you.

Ngā mihinui ki a koutou

The Kōtui Ako VLN team

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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui March 2025

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

Lifting achievement in numeracy and literacy is an educational priority and is the main focus of this pānui. We can work with you to meet the wero (challenge) that has been laid at your feet!

We are excited to announce the pilot of a new online programme designed to accelerate achievement in Mathematics for Year 7 and 8 students, and invite you to participate.

Targeted writing development for Lake Rerewhakaaitu senior students participating in the Kōtui Ako Creative Writing class, has led to improved academic gains. Learn more about their success.

Learning another language provides a practical way to improve literacy, as it actively strengthens the language skills students use daily. Explore the links to literacy and how Kōtui Ako VLN can support you with learning languages.

We go deeper for Gifted Learners! Two programmes designed specifically to extend and challenge our ākonga will kick off in Term 2.

*Note that the opportunities highlighted in this pānui, though targeted at Years 7 & 8s are equally beneficial and available to older ākonga, and we invite interest from Secondary and Area Schools.

** Membership fees will be waived for schools new to Kōtui Ako for these programmes in Term 1 and 2.

Finally heads up to members schools our AGM is coming up May 22nd, put it in your diaries now. Look out for a revised constitution out for consultation soon.

Ngā mihinui ki a koutou

The Kōtui Ako VLN team

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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui February 2025

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

Our schools have hit the ground running this year! We appreciate the pressure you are all under implementing changes to the curriculum, participating in intensive and ongoing PLD, accelerating numeracy in Years 7 & 8, working in the structure of the school day to include an hour of each for the 3 Rs, supporting learners to achieve NCEA co-requisites, seeking staff to cover the gaps, not to forget the busy 1st term activities of swimming, sports, outings, cluster events and getting started with VLN classes. Well done to you all in doing the best for your ākonga in this busy environment 🙌 We are here to support schools provide equity and access to the curriculum, let us know how we can help!

It may seem a tad late, but we are proud to celebrate the achievement of our 2024 Primary learners. (When we last published, many of our schools were still organising their End of Year celebrations). Our online teachers recognised 32 students from across the motu and this year also recognised two of our awesome school support kaiako.

We are sad to farewell Tewaiehu Savage, our Kaiarahi Mātauranga Māori. Our organisation has grown with her in our leadership team. We have learnt so much from her. Tewai has taken on a new role with Unitec also as a Mātauranga Māori lead and as a lecturer in Initial Teacher Education for Early Childcare. This is a great opportunity for Tewai and we wish her all the best.

Although registrations for Kōtui Ako VLN (Primary) have closed, find out how you can participate throughout the year. The kaupapa of our schools network means that we can work with you to access teacher expertise and tailor solutions for your ākonga.

Want to know how to use AI intentionally? Make sure you are in control of AI meeting Bots and ensure they stay uninvited and out of our online classes. If you need help with this, get in touch with the Kōtuitui team. AI is often a focus for Kōtuitui, keep an eye out for upcoming PLD

Geoff Woods at Rosmini College, a long time connected teacher and collaborator, profiles TOCTUS a global project focused on Climate Education. Interested? You’re invited to contact Geoff to see how your learners can participate.

Finally congratulations to Haast School who take home an NZSL clock, no doubt handy as they learn NZSL with us this year. They were one of several schools who got busy getting all their registration administration done before the end of the 2024 school year.

Ngā mihinui ki a koutou

Rachel, Amanda and the Kōtui Ako VLN team

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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui December 2024

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

Our students and teachers share their festive greetings along with some reo Māori to practice over the summer break. Listen to our Virtual Christmas Card with images by, and voices of our talented ākonga. Check out the designs that were sent in vying for a place on our 2024 card. Ka rawe! We are really proud of the efforts and achievements of our learners this year. You can see examples of this in our recent pānui, Celebrating Student Mahi.

It is with great sadness we acknowledged the passing of Nikki Kaye recently. Nikki was a future focused leader who realised the potential of educational technology to make a difference in the lives of young people. Without her championing our mahi we wouldn’t be here today, we owe Nikki an enormous debt of gratitude. Moe mai ra wahine toa!

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned has just released its first report and its recommendations for the schooling sector make interesting reading. How can schools be better equipped to meet the challenges and uncertainties of future disruptive events?

Congratulations to our senior students who gained recognition for their achievements and commitment to their online learning. Special mention to Papakura High School student, Hine Fungavaka, who received an Overall Academic Excellence award for online learning. Our enrolments for 2025 are now in full swing, find out more about our secondary programmes and how to participate.

Our primary programmes are also underway, our team is keen for you to get your interest in early and have stumped up an NZSL clock as a prize draw for schools who register before the end of the school year. Find all the information you need for getting started with Primary online programmes in 2025.

Kōtuitui our PLD Network of Expertise had a busy and productive year, catch up with the activities of our eteacher professional network with our 2024 Snapshot.

Wishing you all a Meri Kirihimete me Hari Tau Hou!

Ngā mihi maioha

Rachel, Amanda and the Kōtui Ako VLN team

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Celebrating student mahi 2024
Nau mai, haere mai ki te Kōtui Ako Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

We’re coming to the end of another successful year of learning at Kōtui Ako. To celebrate the success of our ākonga from across the motu we have compiled some examples of the awesome mahi taking place in our schools.
- Aotearoa Histories – overcoming the pedagogical challenge of a wide age range in a whole class setting.
- Digital Tech – collaboratively designing future schools.
- Songwriting – teaching ‘just-in-time’ for personalised and relevant feed-forward.
- Physics – hands-on real-life experiments of student choice.
With the senior students, read about one of our students who has focused her online learning around sustainability, and see the spectacular images from learners in NCEA photography L2.

See also Education Gazette Tukutuku Kōrero articles:

How te reo Māori is thriving in virtual classrooms across Aotearoa

Setting ākonga up for success – Numeracy programmes

Thanks to the following primary schools whose ākonga are highlighted in this mahi: Balfour, Colville, Haast, Halfmoon Bay, Ladbrookes, Lake Rerewhakaaitu, St Joseph’s Waihi, Tapora, Te Rerenga, Toko, Whataroa, Waipahi-a-Tia; also Ashburton College, Bream Bay College, Orewa College, Selwyn College and William Colenso College.

Check out our programmes for 2025:

Primary & Secondary

Ngā mihinui ki a koutou katoa.

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Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui October 2024

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

Its time to plan for 2025! Our team have been busy behind the scenes preparing our programmes for next year.

Registrations are now open for our Primary programmes. Check out what’s available, discuss with your learners and whānau and register their choices. The sooner the better helps with our planning for the year ahead and helps you secure your registrations. Check out our student work from 2023 and 2022 for examples of what our ākonga are learning in their online classes. Want to know more? Join one of our intro sessions next month.

2025 Secondary courses are available too. Imagine introducing 35+ new subjects to your school across all NCEA levels, all taught by experienced teachers from our own school network. Find out how you can give your students this awesome advantage by joining Kōtui Ako.

The kaupapa of reciprocity is the magic that enables the learning opportunities we bring to our schools. Any school, and any learner can participate in Kōtui Ako VLN. By contributing a teacher or resourcing a programme your ākonga can choose from a wide range of learning opportunities shared through our network. Our job is to lead and coordinate this kaupapa – yours is to participate and contribute. Understanding and supporting the kaupapa provides benefits for all our schools and learners.

Try your hand at eteaching – opportunities to teach with us come up from time to time, register your interest with us and we’ll be in touch if there is an opening.

Our team looks forward to hearing from schools in preparation for the 2025 year ahead. Please share the kaupapa by passing this newsletter on to schools in your network.

Ngā mihinui,

Rachel, Amanda

Hikina a tātou ākonga kia haere kōtui tātou ki tua

Walk hand-in-hand with us to uplift our learners and safeguard the future

Read the full publication
Kōtui Ako | Virtual Learning Network Aotearoa Pānui September 2024

Kia ora koutou katoa, Kia orāna, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Nĭ hăo 你好, Annyoung haseyo 안녕하세요, Namaste, Assalām alaikum, Hola, Bonjour, Hallo!

🌸Spring is in the air! 🌸 With the promise of warmer days ahead and a well earned break at the end of the week, I invite you to take time to catch up with the activities of our learners and kaiako teaching and learning online through Kōtui Ako VLN.

Netsafety Week earlier in the term was a timely reminder to consider how we support our tamariki and rangatahi to thrive in the digital world. Our case study from Ngamatapouri School illustrates what it takes to become a great online learner. We provide links to Netsafe NZ resources for schools to help manage digital incidents.

The draft Secondary course list for 2025 is available now! Amanda outlines what is involved for schools and learners and the benefits of being able to access a wide range of curriculum for our senior students.

He taonga te pepeha was a professional learning focus for us during Te Wiki o te reo Māori. Thanks to Tewai for leading us in this PLD and sharing resources about researching and creating our pepeha and mihimihi. Did you see the recent article in NZ Education Gazette that profiled our Māori programmes? How te reo Māori is thriving in virtual classrooms across Aotearoa

你好 nǐ hǎo! To celebrate NZ Chinese Language Week this year, we are sharing free digital resources and details of our online classes.

We introduce two of our talented teachers: Suzy Carnachan, Photography e-teacher and HOD from Orewa College and Malcolm Belton Economics e-teacher from Thames High School. Their reflections provide useful insights into the pedogogies and practice of teaching online. We recognise Malcolm for his many years of teaching service and curriculum leadership (NZCETA) as he retires after 48 years in education.

‘Professional development for teachers in virtual environments: evolving online practice’ was a paper presented by Lucie and Rachel at the FLANZ conference at Waipapa Taumata Rau / University of Auckland on their work with the NEX Kōtuitui online teacher network.

Our primary age learners recently shared feedback about their online classes. This helps inform our Professional Growth Cycle and learner support processes.

Our team wishes you and your whānau a safe and restful term break.

Ngā mihinui

Rachel & Amanda

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