This paper explores a range of face-to-face and online communities of practice (CoP) that are used to support groups of learners or mentors at degree and diploma levels using Independent Learning Programmes at Otago Polytechnic's Capable NZ. The six writers each create a narrative linking the purpose of specific CoPs to their observable outcomes. The narratives demonstrate such CoP features as mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared repertoire. The value of the CoPs, over and above uniting colleagues in times of disruption, is outlined in each narrative of practice. Ahi kä ki uta, ahi kä ki tai, kia horahorahia, purapura o ahi kä | Let your home fires be seen inland, let your home fires be seen along the coast, and may the sparks from your fires rise up and be seen throughout the world. Capable NZ is a college of work based-learning within Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. Established as the Centre of Recognition of Prior Learning, one key focus is to work with experienced candidates who gain qualifications through an Independent Learning Pathway (ILP) which uses prior experiences to frame new learning through reflection. Ker (2017) interviewed graduates, concluding that many Capable NZ learners benefit from engagement in communities of practice in their professional contexts (Ker, 2017). It is logical, then, for community of practice pedagogies, with their capacity to embed resilience in times of disruption (Andrew, 2020, forthcoming), to inform the learner experience. Malcolm (2020, this issue) describes their value in one such programme, the Bachelor of Leadership for Change. In such contexts of work-based learning, where learning from reflecting on, in and for practice is key (Schön, 1987), CoPs become valuable sites for the exploration of facets of learning and teaching from practice for both learners and for their mentors.