Swali Room 10 reports on a morning tea to celebrate diversity at Heaton and our Muslim Community.

On the 18th of June, our school held a special event for our Muslim Community. This event was based on diversity, one of our amazing Heaton values. We portrayed this by showing a range of cultural masterpieces including the multicultural sculpture which is being carved by the Art Extension group. The idea started at our school cultural club as we wanted to make everyone feel welcome to our school. Thanks to funding from the PTA we were able to make our ideas reality.

The Art Extension group created some amazing designs for this sculpture consisting of many meaningful symbols and messages. They are lucky to have the opportunity to work with the very talented sculptor Aaron Smith. Made from Oamaru stone, the central message of the sculpture is strength and unity in diversity. This message has become even more important in light of recent events both here in New Zealand and across the world.

Mrs Mundy, our ESOL teacher, organised the morning tea and a slideshow to illustrate how diversity is acknowledged and celebrated at Heaton. This also included a morning tea with food made by our Heaton staff. There were lots of inspirational speeches, creative artwork, and delicious food. Thank you to Mrs Mundy and all the students and staff who made this morning tea possible.