On Friday 21 October, our ākonga had a wonderful time attending the Tauranga Girls’ College Green Gala celebration.

Traditionally, TGC has held an annual carnival, however this year our Kaitiakitanga and Learning Committees made some changes in order to make our traditional carnival more sustainable.

All of this year’s stalls were themed around sustainability and celebrating student businesses. There was the TGC Op Shop, harakeke (flax) weaving, Mr Rumbold’s vegan baking, a vegan sausage sizzle and a lemonade stand. Several games and activities brought some competition into the event, with sustainable period products being given out as prizes. Student businesses Tube Trinkets, B-Well and Tyce&Co were also there selling their handmade sustainable products!

External providers Precious Plastics and the Wednesday Challenge who we collaborated with earlier this year, also attended. Precious Plastics showed off the beautiful jewellery and gifts that were created with the recycled bottle caps collected by TGC ākonga, while the Wednesday Challenge discussed the importance of sustainable transport.

Another success was the Kaitiakitanga community mural which brought out everyone’s inner artist. The day was topped off by live music from our junior music and musicianship ākonga who did a fantastic job showcasing their learning.

The Green Gala raised almost $950 which will go towards next year’s environmental projects within the kura. Thank you to everyone who came along and got behind this great cause!

It was incredible to see the many different aspects of our kura come together to create such a fun event. A special thank you to Kaitiakitanga Prefects Maia Hulton-Wells and Inaya Sinclair and Deputy Head Prefect of Learning Sukhleen Kaur for all of the mahi that went in behind the scenes. While every day is a celebration of learning and togetherness at TGC, the Green Gala was a particularly wonderful showcase of community spirit and student achievement. Ka pai tō mahi to everyone involved!