The trio at Kelston Intermediate, Diamond, Shannon and Yvonne, have had an incredible, tight-knit year!

In Term 1, we welcomed Shannon to the kura; she has been such a ray of sunshine to our little Provision whānau. We loved participating in the Toi Turi Youth Theatre programme. Shannon built her stage confidence, and Diamond presented an excellent poetic piece - WOW!!!

In Term 2, we celebrated New Zealand Sign Language Week with our incredible partner school and wider whānau. Diamond and Shannon taught the whole school how to sign sing our National Anthem! Everyone was so keen to learn and did so well. For our special award assemblies at Kelston Intermediate, our Tumuaki, Matua Bert, invited Diamond and Shannon to lead the NZSL National Anthem on stage! Such a proud achievement!

Term 3 started to get too quiet, so we decided to create a new maths programme with Kelston Primary Provision. Such a great idea! Diamond and Shannon made friends with the future Kelston Intermediate students. They learned together, learned from one another and practised how to be good Tuakana - thank you, Yvonne and Mandy! We invited Kelston Primary friends to come to our Provision to learn about wellbeing from Whaea Moengaroa, who works with St John's. She had a mindfulness meditating bell, which was calming.  

Diamond and Shannon enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to participate in Kelston Intermediate Culture Groups and the To Our Potential Studies (TOPS) class. They eagerly joined the Cook Island Group, immersing themselves in the vibrant cultural dances and finding immense joy in the experience. Yvonne, too, gave it her best shot, although Diamond and Shannon's natural flair made them stand out in the group. However, when it came to TOPS, Yvonne found her forte in the ukulele group, displaying impressive skills that surpassed her Cook Island dancing abilities. Diamond and Shannon, determined to excel, dedicated themselves to learning to play the ukelele, even mastering a New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) song on the instrument. Thank you to Whaea Sue from the mainstream school for including our Deaf culture!

One more important achievement for TOPS is that we offered an NZSL class, and some students from the mainstream school joined us! We have made some cool new friends; one in particular visits us daily! We all watched Tim Bray's NZSL Interpreted show for Roald Dahl's The Twits! The story was a bit scary, but everyone had a great time.

We blinked and suddenly it was Term 4, the last term for 2023. We anticipated it would be the best term EVER. Why? Because we had the privilege of joining our partner school whānau on many exciting trips! Kelston Intermediate Sports Day was just around the corner, and Diamond had the opportunity to participate in the Bike Skills Safety on Roads 2-day workshop. We also visited Orewa Surf Club to learn basic surfing skills, explore the Zoo with our syndicate Team Aroha, attend an NZSL interpreted NZ Ballet Performance, and enjoy a fun day at Pt Erin's pools. So much had happened!

We say farewell to Diamond, who is off to Kelston Girls' College next year; we will miss her and wish her all the best. We look forward to welcoming Kaya and Enayah to Year 7 next year!