Our Bus Depot mural

When we were invited to create a mural for the new Bus Depot in Miramar, we knew this was more than just a painting project! It was an opportunity for our students to leave a visible mark on their community and quite literally weave their voices into the landscape. Our amazing Learning Assistant, Cloe, ran the project which began with a sketch of the elements that felt unmistakably 'ours': pohutakawa in bloom, hills upon hills, winding roads, and bright blue bays. Once the design was mapped, the real work began. Large-scale painting brings its own challenges: scale, blending, patience, consistency...the kids learned that murals require collaboration at a whole new level. The negotiated colour choice, they adjusted spacing, they re-painted sections that didn't quite align. We are so excited to see our mural presented alongside a work by Tautoru and AUtahi, as well as many other schools on the peninusla. Keep your eyes peeled and in the meantime, have a look at the incredible up close detail in the pictures below!

An exciting start to 2026

 Wow! What a great start we have had to the year in Māhutonga Matariki. 

The feedback from our parent information evening last night was that kids were excited about coming back and navigating all the new and similar experiences that a new year brings. That's our experience as well with good vibes and lots of engagement marking a great first week and a bit.

Take the treehouse as good example:

Everyone is filled with awe at beautiful new space to work in which doubles as a good incentive for showing positive learning behaviours and positive relationships with others.

We've even begun exploring the world of botanical art that will add a whole new layer of colour and zest across the spaces.

For a new teacher coming into this space, I have been blown away by the Kindness, Teamwork and Leadership that our Worser Bay Learners have launched back into the new year with.

We are looking forward to connecting with you all next week in our goal setting meetings (If you haven't booked already then check back in the newsletter for details).
The learners have been reflecting on the things they can do and what their goal is to help them achieve even higher. 

Sailing and Moanamana.

 We are the luckiest people in the world! 

We have been learning so much with our hands in the rock pools, our feet in the sea and our hair in the wind. We are experiencing the interconnectedness of the tides, the creatures in the sea including phytoplankton, zooplankton, and their roles processing carbon and producing oxygen.  Beach week is an amazing learning opportunity for us. 

To see the confidence grow as students challenge themselves sailing is inspiring. 

We also connect with each other, in some cases for the last time as our Year 6 Students prepare for Poroaki next week and the great future beyond. 

We have been supported at the beach by our wonderful learning assistants, Kirsten and Cloe, committed, generous parents, and the wonderful coaching team at Worser Bay Boat Club. 

Thanks to all!!

  

 

Seniors at sea: Beach Week has begun!

This week our Seniors headed down to the beautiful Worser Bay for our annual Beach Week. We did a huge beach clean-up along Worser Bay beach and along Seatoun Beach, we filled up 3 big black bags! It was awesome to see the kids working together with real purpose, noticing how even small pieces of rubbish can impact the moana they love spending time in. We were lucky to be joined by Chloe from Enviroschools, who helped us explore how our choices affect local ecosystems. We love spending time with Chloe, she has a huge amount of knowledge to share and we always feel priveledged to be able to tap into it. One of the highlights was collaborating with Year 6 students from Kilbirnie School as our kids had the opportunity to share their knowledge of the Moanamana programme. They demonstrated how the science equipment works, how to collect data, and how to use the new app to record data. Beach Week continues next week when we head back down the hill for sailing with the Worser Bay Boast Club, always a huge favourite. We can't wait!

Build a bridge!

This week Māhutonga Matariki took on a new Survivor CHallenge: build a bridge using nothing but newspaper and tape. The task looked simple at first, but we quickly discovered that designing a structure that could actually hold weight required creative thinking, problem-solving, and a fair bit of trial and error. Before building began, the groups discussed what makes a strong structure. Many kids identifoed that folded newspaper (or rolled tubes) worked like beams, and that shapes such as triangles help spread weight more evenly, structures with added piles worked well too. From there, teams got straight into constructing as they only had 20 minutes to get the job done! Each bridge was put under pressure to see how much weight it could hold (in the form of Jenga blocks!). 5 out of 11 teams managed to hold all 63 blocks on their bridges, earning them full points for the leaderboard. Alongside the engineering challenge, we continued our Pos Ed focus on communication and Positive Relationships. The kids practiced clear instructions, active listening, and collaborative decision-making skills. We think they did a fantatsic job of it.

Makers Day: Mass Production of Amazing, To Die for Products...

 

We have been furiously creating, working to make the products we have designed in time for next week's Inventors Market Day!

The ideas are quite extraordinary and truly original, reflecting the highly creative thinkers in our whānau. 

The Market Day will be the culmination of a lot of work. This work includes studying the inventions and innovations of others, identifying the elements of the design process and then, after brainstorming, putting the design process into action. 

Some of us are still at the stage of making a prototype while others are well into MASS PRODUCTION!

Please keep an eye out for Inventors Market Day! details in this week's Newsletter.