Adapting to life in lockdown can be difficult for some online learners, so one Dunedin secondary school is letting pupils decide what works best for their own mental health and learning.
Columba College pupils are not required to attend online classes tomorrow and have instead been asked to spend the time doing whatever they feel is best for them.
Principal Pauline Duthie said whether that was spending time with family or focusing on a particular area of study, the choice was up to the individual pupil.
It was also a chance for pupils to take a break from the large amounts of screen time that came with online learning, she said.
The self-directed day might stay if Alert Level 4 continued.
Although the specifics would have to be addressed as the lockdown developed, the concept of a self-driven learning day would remain in the works for as long as the school was learning online, Mrs Duthie said.
The time was not only beneficial for pupils, but staff as well.
The break from the classroom provided a chance for teachers to reconnect with their families and figure out their teaching programmes.
It was much harder to move the school curriculum to fit online learning this time around, as it was much further through the school year.
There was also less time to prepare for the transition to Alert Level 4, she said.
The time off would help smooth out any stress that came along with the change.
The pupils had been doing well and were engaged with their online learning, so a day off would not affect their studies significantly.
It was more important that pupils prioritise themselves and their own wellbeing, so they could keep up their studies sustainably, Mrs Duthie said.
