The school that comes to you

The Correspondence School, or as it's commonly known, Te Kura, has been a lifeline for thousands of students who otherwise might have been left behind in education. A hundred years since its inception, it’s still bridging barriers in New Zealand society.

Adele Eparaima is a teacher at Te Kura, and a mother of two children currently enrolled with the school. She tells me that while most of the kids in her classes, including her own, have thrived with Te Kura, getting kids, especially in poorer communities, to attend huinga ako (face-to-face catchups) is not always easy.

“Like any other school,” she says, “we have kids that disappear and pop back up and we can’t find them, phones are disconnected, we try to do a letter drop at their house and find they don’t live there anymore.

“For lots of them, transport’s an issue,” she says. “We can’t pick students up, we don’t have the resources. We have huinga ako in different spaces throughout the week, and that’s constantly expanding, but it’s still not enough.

“If I had my way, I’d have a van and we’d be cruising around picking these kids up. Because I know they want to come. We just have to figure out ways to get them to us.” Keep reading...

Book awards ahoy

New Zealand Geographic writer Bill Morris (pictured) has made the longlist of the country's most prestigious writing awards, the Ockhams. 

His book of beautiful science writing, The Road to Gondwana: In Search of the Lost Supercontinent, is nominated in the notoriously tough general non-fiction category, which ropes in everything from memoir to history and political takes. 

He's up against Te Motunui Epa, by Rachel Buchanan, which we excerpted in issue 179. We've also covered many other finalists: click through for our reviews of Thief, Convict,Pirate, Wife: The Many Histories of Charlotte Badger, by Jennifer Ashton; Secrets of the Sea by Robert Vennell, and Robin White: Something is Happening Here, edited by Sarah Farrar, Jill Trevelyan and Nina Tonga. 

And to get a taste of what's put Bill on the list, check out his features on hybrid birds, firearms legislation, and whitebait. 

See it from the sea

Eleanor Hughes had experienced the wonders of Northland and Auckland by road many times, but she recently experienced the region in a different way when she travelled on Heritage Expeditions' Islands of the Hauraki Gulf voyage. And you can experience those places for yourself on a special New Zealand Geographic and Heritage Expeditions voyage with two special guests, Island Conservation's Richard Griffiths and nature photographer Tony Whitehead.

Griffiths will share conservation success stories on Te Hauturu-o-Toi / Little Barrier, Rangitoto and Motutapu Islands, while Whitehead will run a masterclass on Tiritiri Matangi Island and offer advice on photographing seabirds, like the thought-to-be-extinct New Zealand Storm Petrel. 

Just a few spots remain for this unique voyage, which departs in under two weeks, so book now.

DAYS: 8 / SHIP Heritage Explorer

DEPARTURE: Feb 12 – Feb 18, 2023

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Life hacks from a cybersecurity engineer

Though she can't discuss specifics beyond “you would have seen it on the news”, during an incident earlier this year Denise Carter-Bennett worked for 48 hours straight with one hour of sleep. She was then a blue team analyst—monitoring networks, devices and websites for threats, and responding when attacks occur—which means being part of a 24/7 roster. But she thrives on the work, she’s extremely good at it, and she credits her neurodivergence.

“Being autistic, I notice anomalies in data straight away. It’s hard to explain to people, but I can just look at something and say, ‘Yep, that’s not right.’” Keep reading...