Our year 5 and 6 students had a wonderful time during our recent camp week. The ākonga who attended El Rancho with us were able to challenge themselves by participating in a range of different activities. We enjoyed watching our ākonga step out of their comfort zones and enter the muddy pond to show off their kayaking and raft building skills. Some of the rafts that they built ended up sinking, which provided some wonderful entertainment for the adults and other tamariki watching from the bank! We also got to see our tamariki challenge themselves by attempting the low ropes course, confidence course, archery, and orienteering quest. Even though it rained during our time at the campsite, our tamariki managed to spend some quality time playing in the swimming pool and flying down the waterslide!

Wednesday presented beautiful weather, which was perfect for our trip to Waikanae beach. Our tamariki had a wonderful time splashing around in the ocean and playing on the beach. After leaving the beach, we stopped at North City Tenpin for a game of bowling. It was awesome to see our ākonga show off their competitive sides as they strived to be the winners of their game! We had an awesome time and look forward to heading back there for another game in the future!

The students who did not attend El Rancho with us had a wonderful time hanging out with Gemma and Yeping in our own community. They headed out for some fun filled days at Pukehuia Park and Otari-Wilton’s Bush. Some highlights were: playing the Floor is Lava on the skate park, exploring the more challenging playground equipment, adventuring on the Nature Trail and a vortex-throwing competition.

On Thursday we headed to Scorching Bay Beach for a day of sun soaked fun! The ākonga showed off their aquatic skills during our swim in the sea and put on a fabulous display during our sandcastle building competition. Please take a look at the attached folder of photographs to see some of the wonderful sand creations our ākonga made.

Friday was a lovely calm day back at school. We spent some time creating a shared piece of art, played some games together, had a mini-talent show, and finished the day by watching some movies and eating lots of yummy snacks.

All in all, we had a wonderful time with your tamariki during our camp week and love watching them take part in the various activities with joy. Please take a look at our ‘Camp Week Folder’ to see some photographs from the week. We apologise for the sheer amount of photographs. All of our teachers and parent helpers took lots of snaps and we have compiled them all together for your viewing.

We would like to thank all of the caregivers who gave up their time to help support us with our camp week. We would not have been able to go ahead without your support and we value the time and energy that you dedicated towards our ākonga. 

Ngā mihi - Thank you.