My study

While learning with Te Kura is similar to what happens at face-to-face schools, there are a few differences. However, learning at a distance doesn’t mean learning alone – help is only an email or free phone call away.

My teachers

If you are a full-time or fee-paying student, or in some cases, a young adult student, you will be assigned a learning advisor (known as a form teacher, class teacher or whānau teacher in other schools) as soon as you’ve enrolled. If you have a learning advisor, you should keep in touch with them regularly.

If you need extra support, you may be assigned a liaison teacher as well.

Many students from Year 9 and up will also have subject teachers.

How to contact your learning advisor or teacher

You can call your learning advisor or teacher free on 0800 65 99 88. If you know their extension number, you can then dial it to go straight through to them. Dial ‘0’ and ask the receptionist to put you through.

Because we have so many students, it helps when you have your student ID number on hand.

If you get the teacher’s voicemail, please leave a message and include:

  • your name
  • student ID number
  • contact phone number.

They will call you back as soon as they can.

You can also email your learning advisor or teachers. The standard format is: Firstname.Surname@tekura.school.nz.

When to contact your learning advisor or teacher

If you have a question or problem with your school work, you can contact your learning advisor or teacher. You should also contact them if:

  • you are running out of work or don’t know what to do next
  • you receive the wrong resources or something is missing
  • the schoolwork is too easy or too difficult
  • medical or family circumstances are affecting your schoolwork
  • you are having difficulties with online access
  • your home address, phone number or email address has changed.

My learning plan

At Te Kura, you can work at your own pace. If you need more time on a difficult maths problem, you’ll have more time to get it right than you would in a regular school and you’ll receive one-on-one support. Likewise, if you’re finding your work too easy, you can get in touch with your teacher and they can assign more challenging work.

If you study with us full time, we’ll work with you and your supervisor to develop a programme of learning that’s right for you and review this plan regularly. Depending on what level you’re studying at, courses can be added or removed after discussion with your learning advisor and subject teachers.

My day

Everyone learns differently, so there are no strict rules about how to structure your day. However, a regular learning routine is important to enable the best possible progress and achievement.

Many students find that creating their own weekly timetable helps to keep them on track. Some students prefer to work on several different subjects during the day, while others might like to go hard out on one topic or course for a whole day. You can choose what suits you best – just make sure you cover all the learning areas of your programme.

Primary (Years 1–6) students

We recommend that each day Years 1–6 students spend:

  • 60–90 minutes on literacy, i.e. reading, written language, oral language, handwriting and spelling
  • 45–60 minutes on mathematics
  • 20–30 minutes on physical education activity.

We also recommend that students spend about four to six hours each week on topic work/inquiry learning.

Students learning Te Reo Māori will need to allow time for this also.

Te Ara Hou (Years 7–10) students

We recommend spending an average of four hours each school day on your learning programme. This will include reading, writing, and maths. There will be other areas of sciences, social sciences, arts, technology and health/PE.

Together, these form the core programme. Additional option subjects may also be studied for up to five hours each school week.

Your learning advisor will support you to plan a suitable, personalised schedule.

NCEA Level 1–3 (Years 11–13) students

We recommend:

  • five hours a week in each course (25 to 30 hours a week altogether for full-time students) for NCEA Level 1 students
  • six to seven hours a week in each course (30 to 35 hours for full-time students) for NCEA Level 2 and 3 students.

Study tips

We all learn differently, but here are few tips to help you get started on your work.

Make a note of everything you receive

As soon as you receive your work, we recommend that you make a note of it in a dedicated place, such as a notebook or diary, and set yourself some deadlines.

Focus on one thing at a time

Pick one module or booklet to work on first and put any other booklets away for later.

Work through each module or booklet from start to finish

Work through each module or booklet from start to finish (or follow any instructions given to you by your teacher or learning advisor) and try to complete all the activities.

Return work for assessment when complete

Submit work for assessment online or send booklets back to us as soon as you’ve finished. If you are learning through booklets, start on the next booklet in that course. If you’re unsure what to do next, contact your teacher or learning advisor.

Pay close attention to marked work

Read through the feedback from your teachers carefully. They may ask you to go over an activity again – do this straight away and send it back to them if that is what they have asked for. When a booklet is completed, we recommend you keep it in a safe place to refer to in future if you need to. You can keep online work in your e-portfolio or save document files to your computer.

My course work

We'll allocate you work regularly, which you’ll need to complete within a certain timeframe. Your deadlines will vary for different units of work. As you finish each piece of work, submit it for assessment and feedback. Ideally, you should submit work in each course about every two to three weeks.

If you’re struggling with your school work, check first with your supervisor. If you don’t have one or you are still not sure what to do, contact your learning advisor or subject teacher.

You need to tell your teacher or learning advisor if you can’t send in your work for any reason.

Returning work online

Upload your completed assessment to the course dropbox in My Te Kura. In some courses, you might be required to use Google Docs so your teacher can see your work in progress. If you’re not sure how to submit your online work, talk to your teacher or learning advisor.

Returning work by email

You can send schoolwork to your teacher as email attachments. Here are some hints to help you.

  • Use a word-processing programme such as Microsoft Word for written work.
  • If you don’t have a voice recorder, use your smartphone or an online app to record oral language, music or voice messages.
  • Include your name and student ID number in the filename of any documents or audio/video files.
  • Use a scanner, digital camera or webcam to send photos of your maths workings, artwork or projects. Wherever possible, scan multiple pages together in a single file – there are tips for how to do this in the My Te Kura course on My Te Kura.
  • The standard email format for teachers is: Firstname.Surname@tekura.school.nz

Returning work by post

When sending in your work:

  • check that you’ve completed all the work, including any feedback or self-assessments at the back of booklets
  • make sure your name and student ID number are on the booklet’s back cover sheet
  • if the booklet has spaces for you to write the answers, return the whole booklet
  • if you have used your own paper, number each page, remove the back cover sheet from the booklet and attach the cover sheet to your pages
  • put everything you’re returning into one of our reusable posting bags, including any audio recordings on CD
  • make sure the address card is in the bag, with our address showing through the clear side of the bag
  • seal the bag with sticky tape and post it. No postage is required if you are sending it within New Zealand
  • if you are working towards a qualification such as NCEA, check the cover sheet to see if an authentication statement needs to be signed for standards assessment tasks.

Mailing from overseas

  • Don’t send any seeds, leaves or food to New Zealand through the mail. This is illegal.
  • Return your completed work by email whenever possible, or use the overseas address card to return hardcopy work by airmail.
  • To reduce postage costs, send in only the work your teacher has requested for assessment. Booklets do not need to be returned.
  • Return resource books and audio visual resources with your work.
  • Always include your student ID number and the topic code.
  • Your teacher will return marked work by email or airmail.

What happens if I don’t return work?

You should submit work as soon as you complete it so your teachers can give you feedback and you can move on to the next piece of work. There are minimum work return requirements, which each student must meet, or you could be removed from our roll.

If full-time students don’t submit work for two months or more, they are considered to be ‘truanting’. We will notify your family/whānau by letter if you haven’t submitted work for a month or more.

If you are under 16 years old and do not submit any work, we will refer you to the Ministry of Education’s District Truancy Service.

The library 

The library collections include a range of books and resource materials to help with your learning, as well as recreational reading, DVDs, graphic novels, magazines and audio books.

If you belong to one of the following student categories, you are welcome to borrow anything on our catalogue:

Other students’ borrowing is at the discretion of library staff. Your local public library is likely to be a good source of reference books and recreational reading.

Join the library

Joining the library is easy – just fill in this short online form. Other options are to phone the library during opening hours or email us.

We’ll need to know your:

  • full name
  • student ID number
  • reading interests.

With your first library posting we will include a welcome letter and library folder to record interests and feedback on books sent. Please make comments and return your library folder with your books. Your feedback helps us choose the best books for you.

Login to the library catalogue

Enter your student ID number as both your username and password and click login. You will be able to search the catalogue and view your current loans and loan history.

Opening hours

The library is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm, including during the school holidays.

The library is closed between Christmas and New Year, on public holidays and on the Tuesday immediately after Easter. Refer to our events calendar for a full list of dates that the school is closed.

Borrowing books

Search our online library catalogue to find out what’s on offer and email requests to the library for items you wish to borrow. You may borrow up to six library items at a time for a period of five weeks.

If you want to reserve or renew an item please contact us. You will need to either return overdue items or contact the library to renew before you borrow more items from the library.

Online resources

The library subscribes to EPIC online databases, which can be accessed from the library catalogue homepage. This gives you access to a range of online resources, including international and New Zealand articles from magazines, newspapers and encyclopaedias.

Contact library staff for the username and password.

Check out Study links for more websites to help you when you're studying or doing research.

Contact us

Phone: 0800 65 99 88 extension 8783 or 8502
Email: library@tekura.school.nz