Football Tournament

On Wednesday this week, three football teams headed off to compete in the Eastern Zones Football Tournament, with teams participating across all three divisions. There was plenty of energy and and excitement as the kids spent the day competing alongside schools from across the Eastern suburbs.

One of the most valuable parts of days like these is the oportunity to connect with the wider school community. The kids had the chance to meet and compete alongside children from other schools, strengthening their sense of belonging and understanding of what it means to be part of something bigger than themselves. Sport provides opportunities for students to challenge themselves, build confidence, and develop important life skills such as communication, cooperation, and grit. Well done to all players involved for their effort and positive attitude!

Wharewaka and Library tour

 This week we left our Kura to explore some of the amazing things in our city centre. We continued our relationship with Wharewaka tours where we learned all about waka and visited the remains of the Te Aro Pā site. Seeing that some of the bases of the structures are still here amongst the city buildings was a good reminder of the history of our place.

Our groups also had a tour of Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui the newly reopened Wellington City Library. I cannot speak highly enough of the amazing staff who showed us all around the new spaces, introduced us the range of texts available, checked out the new maker spaces and they even took us into the lower floors to see the earthquake proofing and the amazing sorting machines that scan the books and sort them for returning to the shelves.

I would highly encourage you to check it out when you have the time. There was so much to see and do that we barely scratched the surface. Check out some photos of the big day!

The amazing sorting machine!

Learning, connecting, and growing

On Wednesday we held our first Whānau Day of the school year. Students spent the morning working alongside others from different year levels, building friendships and contributing to the shared revitalisation of our school gardens.

One of our key focuses was sustainability. The kids helped install new compost bins, which was building on the learning that we did in Term 1 with our Inquiry focus. Alongside this, we explored the stories of Rongomātāne, the atua of cultivated food and peace (among other things too). Each stone represents hopes for good fortune, growth, and wellbeing.

"This taumata atua (resting place of the gods) was found on Mokoia Island in Lake Rotorua. Taumata atua were tapu stones placed in kūmara fields to increase the productivity of crops. They represented Rongo, the god of cultivated foods." (https://teara.govt.nz/en/object/30822/taumata-atua) We are looking forward to the next stage of our garden project: weeding, continuing to work on the compost, Spring planting, and placing our special Taumata Atua in the garden beds.