EOTC 2022 for Ropu Pihinga was a huge success. This year the children had three days of EOTC; a day exploring Devonport by foot and discovering the history of our Tūrangawaewae, a day at Lake Pupuke participating in a number of water sports, and a day at school taking part in outdoor activities and games.

Our Devonport exploration day demonstrated to the teachers and parents the resilience, respect and integrity that our Stanley Bay students hold. We walked a long distance in the heat to and from the Devonport Museum as well as up Takarunga (Mt Victoria). The kids dug in, even in the heat and thanks to the fabulous parent help, children even arrived back at school with smiles on their faces.

While up Mt Victoria, we were met by Alastair Fletcher from the Devonport Museum. Alastair is hugely knowledgeable about Devonport and its history and using our vantage point, he was able to point out areas of interest. We then walked down to Cambria reserve and had time to explore the park as well as look around the museum at their many fabulous exhibits sourced from our very own suburb. It was certainly worth the visit.

At Lake Pupuke, children had a go at canoeing, raft building, stand-up paddle boarding and wharf jumping! The highlight for me was seeing those children who felt nervous at the start of an activity, overcome their fears and come off the water beaming. The children particularly enjoyed jumping off the team paddleboards, clambering onto a questionably seaworthy raft, and jumping off the wharf at the end of the day. I was so proud to be a Stanley Bay teacher on this day, as the children showed true grit, confidence, and compassion and care for each other.

Our third EOTC day was at school where the children played games that enabled them to build their teamwork skills and just have a whole lot of fun! I am told that the highlight was learning a game called “Chuck the Chicken”.

We were so incredibly fortunate to be able to offer our children EOTC this year, despite Covid19 continuing to disrupt our lives, and this is down to the hard work of our staff to prepare the activities and groups, but also to the vast number of parents who gave their time to help. Thank you so much to everyone for helping to make it happen!