Throughout this year we have been exploring the idea of what it means to be “a Coaster”.

We are exploring some of our local history, in particular, who we are and where we come from. Last week we had a great time visiting Shantytown, learning about our 1860-90s local history. Our latest Drama Assessment, called Tales of our Town, requires us to understand stories of our past to be able to devise and perform a drama for an audience. 

Dressing up in costume for the day, we explored Shantytown. We listened to stories about pounamu and Maori traders, Ruben Waites - the first shopkeeper of Greymouth - and why DP1 cafe is named this, Little Biddy from Reefton, Richard Seddon, and the Chinese Market gardeners. We gold panned our own little taonga of gold and enjoyed dressing up for an Old Time Photo. We hope to be able to use our learning to create a story about resilience, community spirit, and the strength of a Coaster, as a way to express who we think we are and what it means to us to be “a Coaster”.