Wednesday 1 July 2020





Hōngongoi/ July, 2020.
Issue 3.


Tēnā koe, talofa lava, malo e lelei, kia orana and warm greetings to you.

Welcome to the third issue of this blog!

In this issue of Ōtākaro Auahatanga we share some of the exciting learning related to Samoan Language week that occurred at Just Kids Early Childhood Centres.  Students from Avonside Girls High School outline their involvement in an environment project, Banks Ave students share images of their Lock Down Isolation Dance, and following in the theme of dance, senior students from Avonside share a dance choreographed by Fleur De Thier and a site specific dance. The dance students also offer a  short tutorial to teach a simple Tik Tok sequence and they issue a challenge to all members of the Kāhui Ako and all kura to learn the Tik Toc and send in the videos as a collaborative project.The collaborative music activity that was outlined in issue two is still open to ākonga participation and the final product will be shared in our next issue.


Samoan Language Week at Just Kids


Recently at Just Kids we celebrated Samoan Language Week. This years theme was 'Tapena sou oso mo lau malaga' which means 'Prepare yourself a gift for your journeys'. This links well to our preschool values of Respect, Love and Kindness. Something that we highlight and focus on each term. We had an awesome week of fun activities planned for each of our centres and classrooms. The children and teachers were all so eager and happy to learn more about the Samoan Culture. The week was a huge success!  As quoted by Lita, "In the Samoan culture we love to give. Whenever we plan to go on a journey or to visit friends and family, we always plan a gift to give to them. We believe that this shows respect for their hospitality". We want to honor and thank our Samoan kaiako, Lita, Victoria and Faith for leading us on this journey. 
Just Kids Community Preschool - Just Kids House - Just Kids Merrington



Eco-Action in Ōtākaro

Students from Avonside Girls' High Environment Council and our Gardening Club have recently become involved with the Eco-Action Nursery Trust. Shirley Boys High School are also actively involved in the initiatives run by the trust and have been involved for several years.
Eco-Action are a group who are committed to planting native trees in the Red Zone close to our school. They eco-source native plant seed from Travis Wetlands. Eco-sourcing means plants are adapted to their local environment and are more likely to grow well. The plants grown provide year-round food and habitat for native birds and other fauna like insects, lizards and invertebrates. The aim is to provide a green corridor from the coast to the city for native birds to use.
Seeds are germinated and potted on by student volunteers from eleven schools, of which AGHS is one. Students and teachers take delivery of the small plants and grow them on till they are ready to be put in the ground. All the growing equipment is donated to them from funds raised by Eco-Action, and from their generous sponsors, some of who are mentioned here:  CLS Canterbury Landscape Services (who provides the excellent potting and seed raising mix that grows such good plants), Envirowaste, Living Earth, Mainland Tanks and Drums, Isaacs, Stark Brothers, Blacks Fasteners, Tiki Wines, Cant Poly Pipe.
In week 10 of this term we received the first 500 tree seedlings to set up our satellite nursery. Within a few lunchtimes of fantastic work our students had re-potted these into larger pots to give them room to grow. These are now set up in one of our gardens.
Our students have also been involved in two planting sessions, giving up their Sunday mornings to help out. We have been part of a large team of volunteers including students from Shirley Boys High School, who in 2 mornings have planted 2200 native trees into their new homes. 

If any other kura in the Ōtākaro Kāhui Ako would like to explore getting involved in this environmental project, they can contact  David Newton at the Eco-Action Trust, ecoactionnt@gmail.com  




Banks Ave Primary School - Isolation Dance


Together the  52 students  and teachers in AWA at Banks Avenue worked to create a dance piece around their experience of 'Isolation' and Lockdown.

This was inspired by The Arts rich https://www.teritotoi.org/ resource. 


We started by thinking of a piece of music that our wider community could relate to and came up with "Conquest of Paradise'. In the photos you can see the we started with a large group, using the Mexican wave to depict large crowd events, then we broke into smaller groups and our movements demonstrated social distancing. We finish as we started - together again but somewhat different...

Ngā mihi nui,

Belinda Walsh





















Working Collaboratively through Dance

As part of level 3 Dance, students at Avonside Girls High School need to choreograph their own group dance, considering a specific space or environment. One of these group has shared their site specific dance, titled 'Levels'. The dance is performed by Zoe Hampton, Eve McAlister, Taylin Pearson, Liela Tupuhi, Charlotte Turner and Jadah Walker-Kelly.







The following dance called 'Traffic' is choreographed by Fleur De Thier. This performance is by level 3 dance students from Avonside and is an example of the Contemporary genre. All members of the level 3 dance class are performing: Sagal Abdullahi, Grace Carter, Zoe Hampton, Eve McAlister, Alessandra Morrison, Taylin Pearson, Phoebe Pierce, Marina Setu, Heresa Simaile, Catie Smit, Liela Tupuhi, Charlotte Turner, Jemmima Valavala, Katie Walker, Jadah Walker-Kelly and Fesney Situe.






Kāhui Ako Tik Tok Challenge

With the Tik Tok craze sweeping the world, we thought it would be a fun idea to create a Kāhui Ako Tik ToK challenge!!! Three students (Grace Carter, Alessandra Morrison and Katie Walker) have performed a basic Tik Tok and they have created a step by step tutorial to teach everyone how to do this dance sequence. The song they have used is 'I'm Ready' by AJR. Our challenge to all ākonga and pouako is...watch the video, learn the dance and then video yourself or a group of people doing the dance. Send the videos to vshaw@avonside.school.nz or drop them to this link 

https://www.dropbox.com/request/avAvDk80YmXSitJ0PiKf

We will edit the videos together to create a collaborative Kāhui Ako Tik Tok performance. Challenge your teachers to get involved. Get your whānau and friends involved. Videos to be submitted by Friday 31 July. That is the end of week two, term 3. We can't wait to see your efforts!!!




Ōtākaro Korero Podcasts

Over the last few months the Across School Team have been putting together a variety of podcasts that provide interesting discussion and information to inspire and engage both learners (ākonga) and teachers (pouako). There are 7 podcasts available that cover a range of topics, the two most recent ones exploring  'Hauora - Being an Upstander' and a subject specific discussion around supporting our Māori and Pasifika students in commerce. Episode 6 includes interviews with students from across schools in the Kāhui Ako and a discussion with the co-founder of  the 'Be the Change' organisation. These are well worth a listen. 

How to find the podcasts:

Either open up their spotify or apple podcast app and search “Otakaro korero” or follow one of the links below…



https://open.spotify.com/episode/6WIv4IztKiuAubNJItoJCb?si=UsJnBPfyQc6r9iU2OyJKmw



Chisnallwood Music Roadshow

The Chisnallwood Jazz, Irish and Ukulele bands had two days of performing to around 200 students in Early Childhood Centres in our Kahui Ako. Led by music teachers, and former early childhood educators, Judith Bell and Jody Keehan, 23 of our fantastic musicians traveled to 11 ECEs and performed different music songs and styles to preschoolers who loved every minute. They were dancing, singing, playing and interacting and really got into the performance. It was a great day for all of the students in our Kahui Ako.


Hōngongoi/ July, 2020. Issue 3. Tēnā koe, talofa lava, malo e lelei, kia orana and warm greetings to you. Welcome to the third is...