Coronavirus: What does New Zealand's new school on television look like?

New television programmes for kids have launched to help students stay occupied and educated through the lockdown.

Two new TV channels launched on Monday both dedicated to home learning.

Papa Kāinga TV will provide English-language content for students up to Year 10.

The programming will be shown free to air from 9am to 3pm on school days.

The show will be targeted at kids aged from two all the way to 15. There'll even be some tips for parents!

The programmes range from Suzy Cato teaching maths to Les Mills providing physical education.

The second channel is Māori TV which will provide content focused on learning at home for tamariki, young people and whānau, aged between 0 and 18.

More than 300 hours of educational material for students and families will be broadcast by Māori TV over the next 10 weeks. 

Papa Kāinga will run for a month - but this could be extended if the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt daily life.

The launch is part of the multi-million dollar Government initiative to support schools across the country in their distance learning.

As part of the $87.7 million package the Government will also supply 17,000 devices to learn on, improve internet to around 2000 homes and deliver hard copy materials to homes.

A timetable for the shows can be found here