How it works – Primary

Online Platforms

Online classes take place in real time once a week through Zoom web conferencing. Students then spend another 30 minutes per week working on independent activities. This time is flexibly scheduled in school and supported by resources in Google Classroom or Seesaw.

Teaching time is broken down into two Semester blocks during the school year. Semester 1 classes run for a duration of 15 weeks beginning in Term 1, Week 5 and ending at the end of Term 2. Schools Semester 2 classes run from the start of Term 3 to midway through Term 4. Registration for Semester 1 opens in October the year before. Semester 2 registration takes place in June.

As all our classes are structured in Semester blocks your learners are welcome to try different subjects on a rotation. Most classes are aimed at the Years 6 – 8 age group. Younger children are welcome to participate but will need closer supervision and support from their home schools.

Participation Models

We have two participation models. Mixed school participation or whole class participation.

The mixed school model has small groups of students from each school participating together. A typical class size is 12 students from 3 to 4 schools.

In the whole class model, our eteacher beams into a classroom and with the support of the school based teacher provides a programme of learning. This model has the added benefit of being more easily tailored to the individual school, and can provide a professional learning opportunity for the classroom teacher who is more closely involved.

Schools’ contributions fund Kōtui Ako eteachers for the majority of our Primary programmes, although schools are welcome to provide their own e-teacher in reciprocity.