The first day of Term 3 was seen as an ideal opportunity for staff and students across the school to work together on our Care value. Staff and students worked as a team to further develop sound Tuakana/teina relationships across the school.

In periods one and two, students in years 7-13 worked in random groups on activities that encourage thinking about friendship and what a good friend is. At the end of the session, they were allocated a Junior class and had to devise a programme of activities to work through in periods 3 and 4. In addition to adapting the original activities for younger students, the groups also drew on their own experiences of leadership camps and other team-building tasks. All the groups had unique ways of engaging their students and there was a great ‘buzz’ around the school.

Period 5 the whole school was divided into three groups of mixed ages and rotated through Spider Web, Shark Attack and Musical Chairs co-operative activities. Unlike the traditional versions, the objective of these games is for the whole team to ‘stay in.’ Creative ways had to be found to keep 30 students safe from imaginary sharks in one hula-hoop boat or all seated on an ever-decreasing number of chairs. All the students need to be commended for participating in the activities with enthusiasm.

The senior students did a great job of teaching the younger students, and I am sure some new friendships were made. In the debrief many of them said that it was hard work and they definitely did not see being a teacher as a future career!