News from the Special Education Department

Mr Shirley recently asked our students if we could oversee the raising and lowering of the New Zealand flag each day. The flag, we have discovered, represents the people, the land and the government. Two students volunteer for the duties each day and when we raise and lower the flag we sing our National Anthem in Te Reo.

It is important that the flag does not touch the ground or that we don’t put it upside down which is the internationally recognised signal for distress! Our students are excited to accept this responsibility and volunteers are not hard to find!

Sebastian Crow has spent the last 6 months meticulously designing and constructing this model of his favourite cartoon character “Bob the Builder” using paper mache and carboard and paint.

Every Tuesday he attends the Community Arts Work venue in Nelson where for the last 25 years Faye Wulff has been supporting people who cannot access art programmes via the mainstream. This includes people with disabilities, disconnected youth, people with experience of mental ill-health or those referred through the justice system.

“Expressing yourself through art is an essential part of life. You don't have to be a fine artist to create art. If it pleases you and makes you happy then you need to do it," says Faye Wulff, Co-ordinator of Community Art Works in Nelson.

Sebastian says he loves being at the CAW hub, talking to fellow artists and working at his own pace and he is especially pleased with how bright the colours look.