Children from St Teresa's School, Bluff once again sent their art to Tui Motu magazine for inclusion in the 2017 December issue.

This is the third year that Tui Motu has used art by the children at St Teresa's Bluff in the Christmas issue. It is almost a tradition now that the 17 children in this little two teacher school in the very south of New Zealand interpret different aspects of the Christmas story for the December magazine. The first time was in 2015 — a highlight for Tui Motu — when the magazine put out a new design and layout to mark the milestone of its 200th issue. The children's vibrant art illustrated that collectible issue — it sold out completely — and as well the art was published on the Tui Motu website.

Last year the children again sent art which enhanced the 2016 Christmas edition of the magazine. "We would just love to do the art work — I’m sure we can meet the deadline. Rosi and I always get a real buzz when any of our students' work is published in any form. Thrilled that you asked us," responded Dianne Gilroy, Associate Principal when asked if the children would participate again. 

Our theme this year is Every Child is Precious — He Taonga Te Mokopuna. Three St Teresa's children gave us artwork for the issue: Kanon Boyce aged 5, Zamani Dimond aged 7, and Riley-May Taei Aluni aged 11. We've used Kanon's drawing as well as a nativity painting from the 2016 collection in the magazine which will be published at the beginning of December. The nativity painting is unnamed so we hope the artist recognises their work and lets us know. Unfortunately we were not able to print the paintings by Zamani and Riley-May in the magazine, but they are published below.

Each year we've given the St Teresa's teachers the particular theme we were using for the Christmas issue and the children have developed artwork that illustrates the theme. We thank the teachers, Dianne and Rosie, for encouraging the children to create for us. We realise that it just doesn't happen and we appreciate the way you motivate and guide the children. How fortunate we are at Tui Motu to have your support!