Term 4 provided the opportunity for Year 9 students from Waiporoporo house to participate in Stars sessions with their peer mentors. There was a big focus on messages around anti-bullying (in line with Pink Shirt Day), being an upstander to bullying, not a bystander, and enhancing communication skills and positive relationships.

The Stars peer mentors were also involved in running several activities during the week-long celebration of Pink Shirt Day. These young leaders were able to spread the message to stand up against bullying through lunchtime activities in the Te Whare Haumanu youth space, including t-shirt painting, a photo booth, chalk drawing and kindness challenges.

It was fantastic to see the youth space being used for a variety of activities to support student well being. The refurbishment of this room was the Stars 2020 Community Project, and involved cleaning and repainting an unused classroom for use as a shared space for students and youth service providers. This project was undertaken in collaboration with Strengthening Linwood Youth Trust who are now able to run many youth mentoring programmes from the space.

Our peer mentors have taken such pride in their work with this project, and have enthusiastically provided other students with opportunities to enjoy the new space. They have been running lunchtime sessions for the Year 9s they mentor, offering activities such as henna tattoos, arts and crafts, and card games.

A celebration to officially open the room was held at the end of Term 3, where the Stars peer mentors received much praise and gratitude from staff for their hard work to bring the room back to a usable condition.