An awesome group of LCŌ ākonga living our school values.

This year this group of fabulous ākonga have been actively assisting the amazing crew that works tirelessly across at the Richmond Community Gardens. We spent 2 hours a week with Cathy and her team and contributed greatly to the sustainable development of the gardens and spaces surrounding the gardens. The skills these ākonga developed from participating and contributing each week went above and beyond our expectations.

They have walked away from this experience with a developing horticultural knowledge, an awareness of sustainable practices within this and a great sense of pride. Their deliberate actions will have a wide and lasting impact for our wider community for many years to come.

The same group assisted a group of Year 13 PE ākonga and the Health and PE staff to awhi our younger ākonga to actively participate in a range of different sports. Not only did this have a positive impact on our Year 7/8 community, again our Year 11 ākonga continued to develop leadership skills, interpersonal skills, the ability to use their initiative, show personal growth, positive team-building skills and self-confidence.

Several teachers of this class have approached me and said how much positive growth, both personal and with their work ethic, they have seen in these ākonga since the beginning of the year and have attributed this to the authentic experiences they have been exposed to by participating in this L1 ALM class.

I would like to personally thank each of these ākonga for their great contribution to our kura community and wider community and congratulate them on their presentence, maturity and dedication to both of these fabulous opportunities. Personally, I have also learnt a lot from the work I have done with this class and I thank them for that also. I wish them all the best for 2021 and look forward to watching them grow and be successful as they continue on their learning journey.