As part of our inquiry, we have been thinking about how to give back to the community. We were interested in animals and the SPCA. Some of us made toys for the animals and gave them to the SPCA today.
Some of us raised money for the SPCA. We did a bake sale earlier in the term. We gave the money to the SPCA today.
We have been interested in how to care for pets.
The 5 main things you need to know about taking care of a pet:
On Friday the 16th of October Molly, Milly, Meg, Emma, Evie and Hayley went to Rita Angus. When we arrived a lady named Barbara showed us around. We went upstairs to level 2 where the Hospital section for people who can’t manage themselves is. When we got there we introduced ourselves and we all read a poem, then we played a song and told them why we were there. After that we went round asking them some our branching questions and handing out some cactuses that we bought with our money we got by fundraising.
Barbara then showed us around level 1 of Rita Angus which is where they go if they can manage themselves better. On the ground floor there is a pool, a spa, a hairdressers, some ponds and some inside plants.
As part of our inquiry, we have been thinking about, "who is in our community" and about who we can help out. Me (Zoe), Jude, Teddy and Oto went to New World to fundraise for the Wellington Children's Hospital, We raised approximately $300. We would like to say a big thanks to Annette John for taking us along and getting us involved! By Zoe
Here are some photos!
Fundraising for Wellington Children's Hospital on PhotoPeach
Thank you to everyone who came along to our Grandparent day today. We sang some songs, read some poems and served some kai. Students shared their work with their grandparents and family.
It is that time when we invite family to come into school, but hold your horses that day is tomorrow! We will share some learning, give out some coffee, tea and morning tea. We all can't wait until that day. See you at 9.15 By Gemma
We entered the kowai ō tātou tīpuna (who are our ancestors) competition. I wrote about my great- great- great grandfather, Arthur Carkeek. He was a courageous man who fought in war.
I made it into the top 5 out of 1265 entries and so my entry made it into the book that got published. The school got 5 copies of the book and so did I. The book will be available in the school library.
My name is Davina Hughes and I have some great news to share with you regarding our annual Te Wiki o te Reo Māori competition.
One of your students – Emma R - was placed in the Top 5 of Category 3 (Years 5 & 6). While the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placings were awarded to other tamariki, being placed in the Top 5 will see Emma’s entry published in the 2015 picture book featuring the top 20 entries from the whole competition.
We received 1265 entries for Category 3 so making the Top 5 is an awesome achievement!
We will be sending copies of the book to herand the school before the end of next week.
Today we went to St Aidan's Church and we sang to the people in the community during Friday cafe. It was fun because at the end people came up to us and said things like, "well done" and "we hope you come back". It is great to be able to be part of the community. By Zoe
Harua and Fahima came in from the refugee services. They talked to us about what they do there. They help people that have come from overseas. People that have come from overseas usually have problems in their own countries for example, war. Fahima and her husband, had to leave her country and travel for 25 hours over mountains with 5 children, including a 2 month old baby. She travelled from Kabul to Pakistan.
We have been learning about different people in our community. We are also interested in what inspires people to write. Janet (Ben's mum) came in to talk to us this morning about her writing career. She has a published novel called, "the shark party." We all thought it was super interesting. She read us a page of her novel with a character called Carla. She also read us two poems, one was about swiss chocolate, and one was about muse. Muse is a cloud that has ideas for writing in it. Swiss chocolate is called chocolat. She came up with the muse poem when she was walking her dog on the beach. Most of us want to be writers after hearing Janet talk about it. Some of us had questions about her career and we found out her favorite writer is J.K Rowling, and some people had the same favorite children's author. When she was a kid, her favorite writer was Canadian writer who lived on an island.
Steve and Sister Josefa came to WBS to talk about the compassion centre/ soup kitchen in Wellington and the work they do there. They own a little breakfast/dinner place anyone can go there but mostly homeless people go. Homeless in New Zealand means people who live in uninhabitable dwellings with no power or water.
The soup kitchen opens at 7.45am for breakfast. They serve soup in the morning. They also serve dinner. At dinner they serve meals and these can be anything from pasta to curry. They don't work on Sundays.
A lady called Suzanne Aubert helped loads of homeless people in NZ. She came here in 1901 from France. She might be New Zealand’s first saint. Here is a link to their website: http://www.soupkitchen.org.nz/
By Zoe, Manaia and Betty
We had a visit from Two staff from the compassion centre, They talked to us about what they do to help the community. They talked about what they serve at the compassion centre. (They serve soup for breakfast with tea, milk and coffee, They have meat and veggies for dinner). We also found out how long they are open for.
Here is the timetable:
Breckfast
Problems
Dinner
In the morning they are open from 7:45 - 9:45 for breakfast.
Helping the people with their needs and problems with things.
At 6:00 - 8:00 They serve dinner. (For 2$ Just for the dinner)
If people have any money can pay 2$ for dinner, but if they don't, they will still give you a meal. But you need to save up to pay for it. They get around 40 people for breakfast and about 70 - 90 people at dinner. They get volunteers for handing out the breakfast and dinner so then the staff can make it. By Frankie, Emma and Meg
Suzane Aubert- Founder of the soup kitchen
Suzanne Aubert was a french woman who founded the soup kitchen. Who wanted to help people in need and who are living on the streets of Wellington. She travelled on a boat from France to New Zealand for many months.
She traveled miles and miles, weeks and weeks to Jerusalem and many more places. She had almost no transport so she walked thru the mountains. She helped many people.
By Felix and Ben
We had a look at some people's stories on the Soup Kitchen website. Here is Rusty's story told by Liv...
Rusty visits the soup kitchen for dinner. He sometimes visits for breakfast. When he was a kid, he was fostered by his aunt. He has seven brothers and sisters. Rusty's sisters live in Australia and even though he longs to see her, he can't as he has a criminal record. He went to prison. He is artistic and active. He used to be an alcoholic and took drugs, but he gave them up after being in prison. He stole a car once. Now he doesn't have a car and he isn't allowed to drive. He gets bored when he isn't doing anything. He visits the soup kitchen because he doesn't have much money.
As part of our inquiry, we have been thinking about how to give back to the community. We were interested in animals and the SPCA. 
