This term the entire school continued to explore the concept of CHANGE.  The SOD turning ceremony marked the beginning of our new school build and sparked this term's inquiry: How has Grey Lynn School changed over time?

Check out the examples below of how Grey Lynn students have explored our school's changes this term...

Through accessing our students prior knowledge about Grey Lynn School we were able to find out about the interesting connections our current students and families have with Grey Lynn School's past.

Finding out: All classes explored 'Living Heritage" a website with an entire archive collated by our past librarian Dorothy, past teachers, parents and pupils on the school's 100 year centenary all about Grey Lynn School.

Students researched in different ways...

Our youngest students in the Puriri Team and their teachers created a visual timeline of important events in our school's history.  Some classes even experimented with virtual reality! With teachers using the app Aurasma on the class iPads. Children were able to scan pictures and up popped their teacher sharing important information about the photograph.

The Kowhai team explored the similarities and differences between the old Grey Lynn School and the new, along with comparing what school would have been like for past and present pupils. Kowhai lived the changes with their move to the new prefabs! Listen below to Erika read her writing about Grey Lynn School.

The Totara Team explored the different articles on Living Heritage and practiced writing different responses to the information.  

Here are a few examples...

A famous past pupil

A famous past pupil from our school was Jean Batten. She was originally from Rotorua but she and her brothers, John and Harold, came to Auckland and went to Grey Lynn school! For those who don’t know, Jean Batten grew up to be one of the world’s first women aviators. She died at the age of 73 in 1982.

By Naomi

The Dental Clinic

The Dental Clinic, known by some as the murder house. Sure the nurses were kind and tried their best but the drills were old and very slow and caused pain. My mother and father told me that they dreaded the trips to the painful scenes at the murder house. In this article it also includes a story from a former pupil Anthony Bovaird. It said when it was his turn to go to the murder house he couldn’t bear the screams coming from the clinic so he ran away into the sanctuary of the toilets. Myself personally, I would have done the same. The information stated in this article is very informative but me being me, I had to know more. I wanted to know… What did the nurses that worked at the clinic have to say? I want to hear more former pupil stories. This information is deemed critical in my point of view. 

 By Elliot

Our School Playgrounds

Our School Playgrounds, play a big part in our school. It is the perfect place for running around playing games with your friends, going crazy and screaming your head off and much much more. The playground has an awesome history. The playground as changed quite a lot throughout the time. It all started in 1954. A small but simple wooden house was built with ladders and holes to climb up and go through. It was mainly designed for little kids and like I said before it was simple. But then again this was back in the 1950’s. This was probably the most entertaining thing to do at lunchtime and it’s not every day that you get a new playground. It was then demolished in 1979 for a new playground to be built. The playground then kept on changing and changing with new ideas. Now we have two awesome playgrounds: One for the little kids and one more for the bigger kids. The playground has evolved so much at Grey Lynn ever since the first one in 1954. The thing that surprises me most about the playground is how it looked. From a simple little house to two playgrounds with monkey bars and slides. The playground is great place to play and hang out with your friends. 

One class even wrote explanations about why our Puriri tree is so important. 

Why is our Puriri tree so Special?

Beside our library is a treasured tree known as the Puriri. A fellow teacher by the name Alexander De Montalk went off to World War 1 and in honour of him the students of Grey Lynn School planted a tiny sapling.

Now, the Puriri tree is over one hundred years of age, and she has aged well! The puriri tree has been with us through renovations, highs and lows, and has and will greet past, present, and future students. The puriri tree has a rich history and that's just one of the reasons why we love her.

Our puriri tree will help us remember Alexander De Montalk, the fellow teacher who went off to war. It is truly a symbol of strength and evolution as a school. This is why our puriri is so important to us at GLS.

Everyone here at Grey Lynn school values the Puriri tree and hopes it will stand as long as Grey Lynn School grows.

By Meera Bai

Stay posted for more GLS learning updates!