The year 7s and 8s enjoyed a busy four days in Wellington last week. Thank you for helping us with our fundraising for this trip, and a huge thank you to Micki Bell, Kim Glennie-Clinch, Pete Ozich and Lisa Hurry for giving up their time and joining us, helping make the trip run smoothly.

We made the most of our trip to the capital, with a busy schedule which encompassed a variety of activities.  

At Te Papa we followed an education programme called the Powhiri experience, which took us through the different stages of a Powhiri while moving through various exhibitions at Te Papa.  This culminated at the Te Papa Marae, where we sang the school song.  We then explored the exhibition, Gallipoli, the scale of our War.   

A trip to the Reserve Bank helped us understand how money and the economy works, while a quick visit to the national library allowed us to see and learn about three original documents that have helped shape New Zealand:   The 1835 Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand. the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi and the 1893 Women's suffrage petition.  

We visited Parliament, where we had a look around, and also did some role play,  enacting the third reading of a bill, voting to pass it as a law.  We also met our MP, Amy Adams, and asked her lots of questions.    A trip to the ecosanctuary, Zealandia, helped us understand how New Zealand wildlife can thrive in a predator-free environment. 

We visited Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, home to some beautiful memorials from various countries, and also visited the moving Great War exhibition.   A contrasting trip was a visit to Weta workshops, where we were able to explore the creativity and innovation that goes into moviemaking.  

At the Wellington Museum of city and sea, we learned more about the Wahine tragedy, and participate in activities which helped us connect with this history on a personal level.   Time at the Capital E On TV studio allowed us to create a TV News programme, the theme of which was the Wahine disaster.  Some of us enjoyed presenting to the camera, some preferred backstage roles, but we all learned that there are many different jobs to do when a TV programme is produced, everyone is kept busy and it is important that everyone gets their part right!

What a fabulous week: we learned and experienced so much,  and have plenty of ideas to take into our learning.