Our class have been busy and buzzing with students arranging trips/phone calls, negotiating times to meet, who to help, what was needed, and what would be appropriate for their age group. They have come up with lots of ideas!

One group have arranged cricket lessons at our adjoining kindergarten over a 3 week period. They have arranged this with the kindy teacher via e-mail and phone calls and sourced resources themselves. Their feedback was that they didn’t realise how difficult teaching kids could be!

Another group are organising a triathlon (scooters, running and sliding). The students had to create their own permission slip, so they used an old permission slip from another event as a template. One boy commented that “there was much more to it than he had thought!”

Another group of students are making Christmas cards for deployed soldiers. There is a tight time-frame for this project, as they need to get to Christchurch to be sent to the soldiers by the end of November. The students are excited and proud of these cards.

One group are making origami Christmas trees which they want to take to the children in the hospital. They also want to teach the children how to make them, so they have something to do if they get bored. They chose origami design because sits easily on a flat surface. All they need to do now is add some colour and interest!

Many of our students are animal lovers – one group wanted to help at our local zoo that is run by our council. They found out after contacting the zoo that they were too young, but were offered the idea of making piñata toys that could entertain the monkey. Today they mixed and measured glue. It was an amazing project to see and be a part of.

We also have a dog walking service –  some of our teachers/teacher aides are having the students walk their pets. We know this will grow beyond the school boundaries, as the students look at how they can positively impact on others.

We are doing so much all over the community! One group are teaching fractions to a younger class through cooking, we are holding group beach cleanups, community clothing collections, and visiting retirement villages.

The students are inspired by all of their hard work and will continue volunteering all over the community.