During the Junior Curriculum Project Year 9 participated in a range of activities linked to the UN Sustainability Goals. Below is a sample of some of those activities:

Chalk Drawing (won by 9HTM)

Our goal is clean water and sanitation, and our shark design conveys that even the most powerful animals are affected by climate change and pollution. Lily and Ella (9DXS)

We are doing water sustainability because we think it’s important to keep the environment and animals healthy and clean. Ilona (9WHC)

We chose clean water and sanitation. There are two sides to our image. This is to show what the world would look like if our goal would be met, and what it would look like if it wouldn’t be met, because we want people to see what would happen if we didn’t have a clean environment. (9OTS)

Responsible Consumption

On Tuesday 26 November 2019 as a part of the Junior Curriculum Project the Year 9s of 2019 had a guest speaker, Samantha. Samantha had the chance to speak to them about fashion, the negative impacts it has on people, and the issues with fast fashion. 

She informed us about how much clothing we waste and what happens to the clothing when it doesn't sell. She stated that “it was the second-largest polluter in the world.” Samantha also gave them a deeper understanding of the people making the clothes and what they have to go through every day and told us some ways we could solve this problem. The Year 9 students were given the choice to choose the topics they were interested in learning about and wanting to focus on. 

This has given them the mobility to research on this topic, as one student in particular, Emily, has found out that according to a new study by ClosetMaid, “the average American woman has 103 items of clothing in her wardrobe. But she considers 21% to be “unwearable,” 33% too tight and 24% too loose, according to a survey of 1,000 women in America.”

What students think of this inquiry:

“It’s good that we can choose what we want to do depending on what we like.”

- Ilona

“The facts that we learnt were good and interesting but I think we should do more activities that involve moving around”

-Pippa

“It’s really interesting to find out new information and, it’s important for us to know what’s going on”

- Emily

“We learnt about how many beauty products were bought and how some companies can make their business bigger. Also, since makeup blew up everyone thinks it’s essential to have, and society and social media influence us to buy makeup. They usually show us the positives of makeup but not the negatives.”

- Naina, Sophia, & Bella

“We learnt about beauty products, and how to make them safe.”

Gender Inequality

G4 and G5 magazine cover

Today the 28th of November 2019 as a part of the Junior Curriculum Project the Year 9s were studying about the importance of gender equality, gender inequality and gender stereotypes and how it affects women and young girls. 

The girls started it off by being introduced to the topic of gender equality and proceeded to watch a video about it. They followed up by then playing a Kahoot about the video they previously watched. 

The girls were divided into three groups and one of these groups was split into classes G4 and G5 for magazine study. They were cutting up magazine pages and making collages along with studying different stereotypes.

What did the student think of this activity?

“We are making a collage of stereotypes. It is worth learning about because we are learning about the importance of issues and gender equality.”

• Rose, Amelia & Sophie

“I think they were quite educational, and I learned about global gender equality and inequality. I really valued learning about NZ women.

Holly

“We learnt about stereotypes for male and females, and I think it’s bad.”

• Ella, Lucy, & Gabriella

“We looked at how they show stereotypes in the media, and I think it needs to change because it’s 2019 and things don’t need to be the same as it was before.”

• Alex & Sammie

“Today we looked at gender inequality and we saw that men get paid more and have more power. And now we're making a collage to show the stereotypes. I think it's important we learn about this”

• Kate & Hailey

Art Project

During the preparation of the Junior Curriculum Project each student from each Ako was given the decision to decide if they would like to be part of a small Art or Drama project. On Thursday 28th of November the Year 9s who were part of the Art project had begun putting their ideas into their practice. Their main focus was on bees and why they are important to the environment. The students main goals were making an artwork which represents bees and what they do and of course have fun while doing this. A guest speaker, Ryan Bonnett, spoke to the students about his job. and his perspective of bees. This gave the Year 9 students a clearer understanding on how they could create an artwork with the concept of bees around it.

What students think of this project:

“We’re learning and drawing stuff about bees.”

• Hafsa

“I'm making a collage of bees. I think they’re important and provide things we need.”

• Saahiti & Cerys

“My drawing shows how bees pollinate, and it easily shows how they’re important.”

• Jasmine

Drama Project

All along the arrangement of the Junior Curriculum Project each student from each Ako was given the chance to choose if they would like to be part of a small Art or Drama project. As for the Drama project, the students started off the project by a documentary about underage child marriage. 

The essential main focus for the students was for this topic was to learn about what child particular girls in America and around the world experience which we, fortunately, don't. When asked about what they think about what they have learned, the girls thought it was necessary for them to learn about and that they have they are seasonably regretful for the opportunities which some girls won't have.

What students think of this project:

“We are learning about child marriage, we watched some documentaries and it was shocking and sad to see.”

• Hannah, Natasha, Cleo, Niamh

“I think underage marriage is sad and it needs to be stopped. There are a lot of people that get affected by this.”

• Scarlett, Rosa, Pippa

“Learning about this is interesting and we found out a lot of facts and statistics. I think it’s good to know about.”

• Nada, Lorane, Jane, Ayeka, Yasmin

Sustainable Cities & Communities

On Friday the 29th of November as a part of the Junior Curriculum the Year 9 students were focusing on sustainable cities & communities. They were at the PAC to watch some videos and had a guest speaker, Chole Wium, who is a Sustainability Engagement Coordinator at the UC to give them ideas and inspire them. They were looking at the UN Goal 11 (to make cities and communities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) but because this task is too big for them, their goal is to make our school inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. One of the ways they hope to do this is by managing our waste. In Session 2 the students were divided into their Ako classes where they got to choose a sustainable design project that would make the school more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable so that our school can fit into the UN sustainable Goal 11. Season 2

What did the students think of this idea?

“We’re trying to make the school more sustainable, we think it’s important for us to reduce littering, energy and transports like cars”

• Jenny, Meg & Sienna

“I think it’s important for us to learn about this at a young age because our generation is going to be affected in the future. We’re focusing on biofuels and reusable energy.”

• Meg, Lucy & Sophie

“We’re doing plants on roofs, and using water from sinks that has to be filtered to water the plants. The plants can produce food for the canteen and the leftovers can be made into fertilizers. I like this activity because it feels good to help the environment and take action, and it was cool how Chole showed us her ideas with borrowing bikes, it’s really efficient.

• Cleo, Brooke, Adibah & Zoe

“We’re thinking of rebuilding the school garden, we are going to plant fruit and veggies so that students can take them if they forgot their lunch and they can have healthier food. Usually in the city there isn’t much plants and I think it's cool to see what Chole’s doing. I think the more people that contribute the better the future will be”

• Grace, Ella & Kate

By the Roving Reporters team - Amelia Ashworth, Bree Cherry, Holly Findlay, Alaa Fouda, Ilaha Ghulami, Lucy Hansen, Muna Hassan, Sacdiya Ibrahim, Kate Koller, Jennifer Morrison, Bronte Phillips, Yasiira Sheikh-Ali