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Food Resilience School New Zealand is a free community learning platform for food and kai resilience across Aotearoa New Zealand.

You get:

• 48 published courses across six learning paths (Seed → Leadership)
• Progress tracking and Resilience HP (gamification)
• Community feed, groups, and events
• Optional creator communities (Skool-style) for independent providers

Delivered by Vector Group Charitable Trust (CC45966). The public directory for growers and listings lives on Kai Resilience.

1. Go to Join free and create an account with email.
2. Confirm your email if prompted by your mail provider.
3. Sign in at Login on any device.

You can browse courses without an account, but you need to sign in to enroll, complete lessons, earn HP, and post on the feed.

Your progress syncs to your account — grant-ready reporting is handled for VGCT programmes via OSVector integration.

Every course is open. Nothing is locked behind completing another path first.

Suggested entry points:

Use filter chips on the course library: All · My progress · each path name. Search by topic (compost, chickens, funding, etc.).

Higher-tier courses award more HP per lesson — skilled learners can jump straight to advanced topics.

For anything else, Contact with your account email and course/lesson name.

Resilience HP (shown on your profile) is your total engagement score — the same number stored as engagement_points on your account.

HP rewards real participation:

Course activities scale by tier — see HP tiers and multipliers. A Leadership lesson pays more than a Seed lesson.

HP feeds your level and leaderboard rank. It does not gate content — all courses stay open.

Each course belongs to a learning path with a tier (T1–T6). Higher tiers multiply HP for enroll, lessons, and course completion.

Course cards show +HP/lesson and a tier badge. Course detail pages show enroll bonus and completion bonus too.

Tip: Mix paths — finish Seed courses for confidence, then take Community or Leadership courses when you want bigger HP jumps.

Your level is calculated from total HP. Level titles celebrate growing involvement.

Levels scale with the catalog — when new courses publish (school or creator), thresholds rise automatically so early levels stay meaningful as the library grows like Skool.

Today 46 published courses set an HP ceiling of about 4,760 HP (course rewards + a small buffer for feed and events):

Your profile shows a progress bar to the next level and how much HP you still need.

Public profiles at /u/yourusername show level title and HP for community recognition.

Streak — complete at least one lesson on consecutive days. Shown on your profile when active. Missing a day resets the streak (today still counts as day 1 if you learn today).

Leaderboard — learners with HP > 0 are ranked by total HP. Your profile shows #rank of total active learners. Ranking is for motivation, not prizes (unless VGCT runs a specific campaign).

Earn more HP quickly:

• Complete lessons on higher-tier courses
• Finish whole courses (big completion bonus)
• Post and comment on the feed
• RSVP to events

Open the course library.

• Search by title or topic.
• Filter by path or My progress (courses you already enrolled in).
• Click a course → Enroll free (earn enroll HP).

All six paths are available:

1. Seed (8) — start here if growing feels new
2. Sprout (8) — compost, seeds, seasons, pests
3. Food Forest (8) — perennials, design, mini food forest
4. Home resilience (8) — cook, store, plan, chickens, water
5. Community (8) — gardens, networks, seed libraries
6. Leadership (8) — workshops, funding, capstone project

Some courses show recommended first links (e.g. site observation before food forest design). You can still enroll anytime.

After enrolling:

1. Open a lesson from the course page.
2. Read or watch content — many lessons use markdown, some use embedded interactives.
3. Complete quizzes and reflections where shown (reflections may post to the feed if you choose).
4. Mark complete or use Continue to advance — HP is awarded when a lesson is first completed.

Progress appears on course cards and your profile. Resume anytime via Continue on the course or profile list.

Staff mentors can preview courses without enrolling; learners need enrollment to save progress.

When you complete all lessons in a course:

• You earn a large course completion HP bonus (tier-scaled).
• You may receive an email congratulations (if email is enabled).
• Open View certificate on the course page or visit the course complete page (/courses/your-course-slug/complete).

Share wins on the community feed — optional but helps local food resilience spread.

The Community feed is the main social space.

• Posts earn 5 HP; comments earn 3 HP.
• Lesson reflections can optionally share to the feed when you complete them.
• Use the feed to show harvests, ask questions, or find neighbours.

Be respectful — VGCT community guidelines apply. Report issues via Contact.

Groups (/groups) — join learning cohorts or the main school group. Some groups auto-enroll linked courses when you join.

Events (/events) — workshops and gatherings. RSVP earns 5 HP. Cancel RSVP from the events page if plans change.

Notifications — bell icon in the header for enrollments, completions, and event reminders.

Two types of learning spaces:

1. Official school catalog — 48 VGCT-reviewed courses on Seed–Leadership paths (/courses).
2. Creator communities (/communities) — independent providers run their own space (Skool-style): their courses, feed, and members.

Want to teach? Seasoned providers apply at Creators. After review, VGCT sets up a creator community and mentor access.

Official pathways and creator communities are separate catalogs — browse both from Communities.

Profile (signed in) shows:

• Resilience HP and level progress bar
• Streak and leaderboard rank
• Courses enrolled / complete / in progress
• Progress by path bars
• Per-course progress with Continue links

Public page — set a username in Settings. Others visit /u/yourusername to see your level, HP, and lesson counts.

Update display name, bio, and avatar on profile/settings. Link RootyToot from profile if you use the network.

Some lessons include an AI lesson helper panel. It is off by default — many learners prefer human community support.

Enable in Settings → AI lesson helper. Admins can override for support cases.

AI answers are supplementary; always verify planting and safety advice for your local conditions.

Read our Privacy policy and Terms of service. VGCT also publishes a charity privacy policy.

Progress data (enrollments, lesson completions, HP) supports learner dashboards and grant reporting for charitable programmes. Aggregated stats may appear in VGCT reports — not sold to third parties.

Delete account or data requests: Contact.

Tools (/tools) — links to Troppo calculators, canopy visualiser, nursery map, and other grower utilities (mostly on troppo.nz subdomains).

Network hub (/network) — sister sites in the VGCT / kai cluster:

• Kai Resilience — directory and listings
• RegenOS — land planning (linked from food forest courses)
• Vector Group — charity hub
• Food Forests NZ, Kiwifruit.Capital, and more

Course pages may show RegenOS next step cards where relevant.