A Trip to Opunake

Today I drove solo up the Surf Highway 45 to the pretty surfing village of Opunake. I was invited to the primary school by a teacher I met last week. Today was their last day before having two weeks holidays. They were displaying their Inquiry projects. Think science or history fair(which occurs once a year back home) and times it by 10 and they put these on for every term except the Oct-Dec term. For this term they always put on an opera or musical. Not sure if they call it a xmas concert or a holidays concert. But they include all 230 kids - and guess what- there isn't a music teacher. All the teachers work together and are in charge of their classes performance! They have 4 terms of 10 weeks each with 2 weeks holiday between each of the terms except their xmas break which ends up being 7 weeks off (Dec. 15-Feb. 1)
A neat thing also occurs here. Kids enter school on their 5th birthday no matter when it occurs. There was this class of 5 year olds being led around the school to look at the projects and one little guy really stood out with his behavior. The teacher looked at me and apologised for him and said that it was only his 2nd day in school and was still learning the rules!

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Well I had a very warm Kia Ora! Two kids were assigned as my guides and they showed me the projects. Each room decides on a topic that interests them and the kids brain storm on questions they are curious about. Then they are assigned or are asked to tackle one of the areas and they focus on researching and displaying their knowledge. For example, some of the younger kids researched about what lives underground. A gr. 1 room made mouse houses but they had to use planes, wedges, screws, wheels, fulcrums etc.

Older rooms ( the school was age 5-12 yrs) studied WWII or how things were invented or the 7 wonders of the world or Famous people. When one entered the school they had to pick up a card and upon entering each room you had to find a letter, enter it on the card then unscramble the letters to find out the mystery word. The kids were very excited about their work and were engaged in their learning. They seemed pleased as punch when I was taking pictures and were asking questions about their work.

The kids were very polite and the school was clean and bright. I'm still amazed at all of the bare feet! They are allowed to have bare feet all day long if they want. Hence the dirty feet and legs during this rain and muck we have been having. I might rethink our no-bare feet rule in the gym back home. They don't seem concerned about germs or warts!


The last hour of my visit I watched a class learning a traditional Maori dance. They sing while they dance and the girls have intricate hip movements and lots of steps, while they swing this ball of yarn around their chests and faces. The guys have more stomps and aggressive chest pounding moves. I think it is called a Haka dance and you can youtube it. The All Blacks Rugby team does a scary Haka dance to scare their opponents before a match.

I asked about substitute teaching (relief teaching). There is a special manual for these teachers and they are a profession of their own. They plan and teach their own lessons for the grade they are called for. Hey! That means no planning for the sub for the permanent teachers! That makes a lot of sense because it usually takes tons of time to tell someone what your program is and how you do it. For short absences it makes sense that the relief teacher would come in and do some music, art, gym, LA and math basics and learning games.
It is a break for the kids and the poor sick teacher. If they can't come in to work because they are sick they are probably not in great shape to make an excellent sub plan either. I don't know what they do for longer absences because now one has to think that the curriculum might not get taught.

Before I left the village I bought some Take-away (corn fritter and coleslaw) and ate it looking out over the ocean. There were some great rollers and the sea was a beautiful teal colour.
It takes 40 min to drive 42 km. I know why I like driving here. With the ups and downs and hairpin curves one feels like a rally car driver. Also with driving on the left one can't help but be thinking about what they are doing and being on their toes!
When I got home to Hawera, Cary, Simon and I went up the water tower. It is steeped in history and - steep! 207 steps. It was really blowing up there and it was neat to see the town from a bird's eye view.

Cary and I then went for a walk on Waihi Beach ( aka Denby Beach) and walked towards Ohawe Beach. The tide was out and it wasn't easy walking on the rocks. The cliffs were amazing. A poor cow met his demise  munching on grass too close to the ledge. There are warning signs up on top warning walkers about edges being dangerous. I guess the cow couldn't read- but I can, and I am going to take them seriously from now on!

 Tomorrow we are going to our first NZ garage sale and are going to try and find some second hand bikes. Also we have heard that Hawera has some hot pools so are going to scout those out too. On Sunday we are going on a tramp to Kahui Hut so stay tuned. Thanks for reading!