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by Denise Torrey

School Activities

Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo - April 14, 2024

Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo offers extracurricular activities to support the interests and passions of our tamariki.

Some of these are during school time, while others are before and after school.

Attached is a list of activities, the teacher in charge and when they take place during the year. More details will come out in the weekly newsletter or via email. This document is to support your conversations with your tamariki and help you to make choices as a family about extra activities for 2024.

View list of 2024 activities attached below 

Sports

Physical activity and sports are integrated into our curriculum, and play an important role in the holistic development of our students. They promote physical health, teamwork, discipline, and resilience, all of which are essential life skills. Participation in sports helps students build self-confidence and learn the value of fair play and perseverance. 

Our school partners closely with a number of community sports clubs to offer our students a range of sports. Our students are encouraged to always reflect our school values while on the sports field. 

Arts

At Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo we offer opportunities for our tamariki to participate in a variety of Arts.

Music and Performance Opportunities

At Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo we offer several opportunities for our tamariki to perform to live audiences. These include the Waka Tētē Choir and the Ukelele Orchestra performing at the Kahukura Music Festival at Cashmere High School, our ukelele students performing alongside children from across Canterbury at the Strum Strike and Blow Festival, and the Waka Tētē choir performing at the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival at the Christchurch Town Hall at the end of the year. In addition to this, we also take time to perform at local community events such as Matariki celebrations, in formal assemblies and events, and at local ECE centres and rest homes. Our school assemblies also provide a wonderful opportunity for us to come together as a kura and sing as one.

Itinerant Music Lessons

Keyboard and Ukelele itinerant music lessons are available to all tamariki at our kura. It has been wonderful to see growth in this area, and in 2023 the Somerfield Ukelele Orchestra and junior classes saw the largest number of children taking part on record! This is exciting for the future of our music programme as we anticipate that many of our younger children will develop their skills over time and that the talent and experience within the school will grow over the coming years.

Creative Arts Programme

At Somerfield Te Kura Wairepo we have a Drama and Creative Arts Programme led by Sam Bates, our Specialty Performing Arts Teacher. Throughout the year, Sam teaches across the school, working with each year group to develop an integrated Drama Creatives programme. She works alongside the classroom teachers to develop their knowledge around ways to use Drama to inspire Literacy and ways to explore Deep Learning topics through the Arts. Through this programme, the children develop a greater understanding of performing arts and as kaiako we love seeing how children grow, take risks, and flourish in this area.

Our performing arts programme is also supported during the year by inviting Live Performances to our kura and allowing tamariki to experience professional live theatre.

Visual Arts

Visual Art is also a curriculum area that is integrated across the school as part of our classroom learning. Tamariki are provided with opportunities to engage in a wide range of art techniques and use a variety of mediums to produce meaningful artwork. We also have a biannual Art Exhibition which provides our students with a chance to share their creativity with our school community.