Next year Aotearoa New Zealand will celebrate a national holiday on 24th June to mark the Maori New Year when the star cluster Matariki appears again in the night sky.

The stars of the Matariki cluster have special significance and our students have been learning about individual stars in the group - their names, the traditions associated with each of them in regards to food gathering, planting and harvesting.

Pipi 1 constructed stars for maths this week- the children were given sticks of various lengths which needed sorted into similar sizes in order to build a star. Our photo shows one group's constructions - Charlie, Maya, Charley, Claudia, Zara and Hali are very proud of their stars.

Pipi 2 learnt the Matariki Macarena dance which they presented at assembly on Monday which was a very easy way to learn the names of the stars in the cluster- the Macarena has a very catchy tune! Miss Fielden posted the dance on facebook so you can go back and look for it on the school's pages.