Tamariki and Rangatahi Arotahi

These wonderful artworks and the children’s writing was exhibited at South Library for the month of September.
The children chose their birds of interest and used observations to draw them. These were then collaged into a painted background that is the natural habitat of the bird. We took a trip to the library to see the show and gave each other feedback.

Parents had the opportunity to learn how to use apps like ibisPaint, ClipAFlip, Minecraft, and Onshape that we use in our arotahi, as well as play one of our favourite outdoor games, 'Bob Down' in the dance studio.

Congratulations to Miniah and Adele who achieved great results at the New Zealand Dog Agility South Island Schools Champs which were held last weekend.

Miniah won the Handler Agility competition, where competitors are given a dog they don’t know, to compete with, to show their handling ability. She also got fifth with her own dog, Echo, in the Experienced agility competition. Most importantly, she was also awarded the Most Promising Handler trophy (which is decided by a panel and awarded to only one handler from the entire competition).

Adele got a third in the Experienced Agility competition and a sixth in the Jumpers and then a fourth in the Handler Agility competition as well.

Below is an excerpt from an arotahi focus by Emma Servier as she works to make a difference to combat food insecurity in Christchurch. 

"How can we help? Well if you are 16 and over you can volunteer at the Delta foodbank. You can donate non-perishable foods and fruits and vegetables.  

Delta Community Trust is one of the partners of the Climate Action campus. Which is a satellite campus of Ao Tawhiti. As part of the NCEA Climate action course, we are doing a social action project for the Delta foodbank. We will be holding a can drive to help the Delta foodbank. We are going to have a box at the office where you can hand in your donations all week. " 

This arotahi went on to also include a Pyjama day and a kahoot session. 

Woodworking by Mika. Last term he made a dog bowl holder for his dog and currently he is making some steps for his home.

Sam has a number of ideas on the go but he found a short term project recently to resurrect a chocolate wheel that he made three years ago. This project was time critical as it was needed for the youth market in week 4. New learnings that came out of this were, learning how to use onshape to design a new arrow, figure out how to use the laser cutter and use trial and error to problem solve until he was happy with the outcome.

We also have a number of students writing scripts. These range from a Comedy about aliens travelling through space, to High school dramas. We are not sure yet if any of these scripts will make it to the performance stage but there is a load of learning to be had, from character design to storytelling and art.

Gryff is working on a recipe book. This includes his own creamy mushroom pasta with garlic butter recipe – homemade pasta of course, and will feature a range of Italian cuisine. Gryff is using a bit of experimentation as he learns about how flavours go together and online tools like supercook.com which helps generate meals out of what is in your fridge. Once the recipes are finalised, Gryffs next steps are to explore how to self publish and create his own book.

Tristan is working on a slideshow about some super cars, some trucks and some modified cars. He’s finding images and information, like speed, horsepower, price etc,  to share with his audience. Next steps are to try and use the Slideshow as a quiz for the audience. 

Jaxon is currently working on model making. He is constructing a Lancaster Bomber. At the moment Jaxon is working on the painting of many of the parts. He is predicting that he’ll have the Lancaster finished by the end of Term 2.

There are also students working on clothing design and drop shipping businesses, Dungeon and Dragons Campaign developers, Game designers and on Thursdays with the help of Andrew in the garage, there is a group of students who are helping the eco store by dismantling a range of E-waste computers and photocopiers for recycling.