Art Week
Some of the amazing work produced during Art Week.  From Miniatures to Maxi sized paintings, sewing bags and using other materials to create art works,  a great result.

Kaitiaki o te Ngahere
We have been learning about the forest and horticulture. This has involved learning about Māori and Pākehā use of te ngahere, including conservation which came about when Māori and Pākehā realised the consequences of their unbridled exploitation of the natural resources. It also involved learning about the needs of plants and how to grow them. As part of this our students and whānau have planted a vegetable garden, an orchard (with support from the TCDC), extended our native forest (with support from Paper4Trees) and have started growing native seedlings to plant around the school.  A special thank you to Kathryn for letting us know about the TCDC initiative and to Sandra for her mahi preparing the garden for planting at Matariki and for liaising with the TCDC to supply us trees and plants.

Conservation Day 2024
In Term 3 we attended the Conservation Day at the DOC station in the Kauaeranga Valley as part of Conservation Week to learn more about how we can be kaitiaki o te ngahere. We learned how to investigate the natural world using a scientific approach. We learned that taking a baseline reading before doing any experiment or conservation intervention is essential, as we can then compare the before to the after. We also learned how to collect native fish and insects to study them, and how to treat them. We also learned a lot about Kauri and how to protect them. We learned about pests, their impact on our native species, and how to neutralise their threat to our unique environment.

Youth Week Mural

In Term 2 connecteen Rangatahi/T-RAP group (Thames Rangatahi Advisory Panel) invited schools to create a mural which represents their school and Kotahitanga to be displayed at Thames High School. Our students collaborated to design and paint a mural that demonstrates our unique location between the mountains and sea at the mouth of the Tapu River and the different people which have come together to make our school an amazing place to learn.  - A special thank you to Kobi for helping the students to get the painting done before the deadline.

Ngati Maru Visit