Our year 3 and 4 classrooms have visited the recently reopened Arataki, Waitākere Ranges Regional Park known as Arataki Visitor’s Center.

All the classes were fortunate to have enjoyed a day learning about our unique environment within Te Wao Nui a Tiriwa that we are so lucky to live on the fringes of.

The trip was scheduled to increase awareness of using our senses to notice our native environment we live in and to appreciate the local area. Some activities were also designed to encourage cooperation and communication with each other. These all tie in with our concept for Term 1 which is Connected Communities.

Our inquiry will look into our community identity, local stories and places.

At Arataki, Park Rangers guided the groups throughout their day and all of the classes were able to engage in a variety of activities. These included nature trails, map reading, safety skills, pitching tents, camp cooking, seed hunting and planting, a visit to a 600 year old kauri tree, and understanding the importance of using the cleaning station for our shoes on the way in and back out of the bush.

We also learnt about the pou in front of the visitor's centre. The carvings on the pou all represent some significant tīpuna of Te Kawerau ā Maki, who are mana whenua of this whole area. We were told some special stories from long ago about each one.