This is our second year of running a Poutama Lifeskills course with our Te Toka Āhuru Learning Support students.

In this class, the students learn about a variety of things, such as; money, filling in forms, cyberbullying, how to search for information, listening techniques, how to write personal correspondence, writing a CV, and how to write a personal budget. 

The goal of our course is to ensure our young people are safe in the community and can leave school with the skills to have happy, purposeful lives. Our students also do community outings, fitness activities and work experience. 

We recently had a virtual visit from Rocket Lab and our Space Ambassador (Lara) introduced us to the amazing things that Rocket Lab does here in NZ; launching rockets into space from the Mahia Peninsula and 3D printing rockets. Lara said that Rocket Lab is an inclusive company as there are many different roles to suit different skills and interests; not everyone who works there is an Engineer or a Scientist. Afterwards, Lara said: "It was so great to meet with you and your class today! I really loved the questions about Venus, what happens to the rocket after the stages separate, whether we partner with NASA, and how we burn propellant in space – you have some very talented and thoughtful students". 

We also had a visit from Suzanne Hardie and John Sligo from Sports BOP/Parafed. They talked to us about the Festival of Disability Sport happening here in The Bay of Plenty on Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 April where anyone can have a go at an awesome variety of adaptive sports. We then played Boccia (bowls) and tried vision-impaired guided running, which was fun but really challenging as you really have to trust your guide! You can check out the festival here.