A Manurewa secondary school will be tackling some strange activities as an end-of-year series of events are rolled out. Rowena Orejana reports.
Year 10 Alfriston College student Madeline Boyd has been finding out that planning the year-end celebration for the entire school involves a lot of hard work.
"However, it's been a lot
of fun. We designed a 'Summer Fever' logo. We also created a jandal hunt, where students had to find jandals that were hidden around the school,'' Madeline says.
Summer Fever is the theme of the school's celebration of learning for three days of events. During this time, regular classes do not run. Instead, learners opt into special programmes in areas that won't normally be taught in classes. It runs on December 4, 7 & 8.
"I think the three-day episodes are a great idea," says Madeline. "They give us skills for our future after school. For instance, one of the three-day episodes is First Aid which is always useful. It gives us students a break from normal school work and gives us something to do that we are passionate about.''
Some of the tasks may sound peculiar butassistant head of technology Belinda Matthews says this style of learning is very focused. "This is popular amongst our learners and
staff,'' she says.
The culmination of the three-day learning will be a big bash on December 8 from 1.30pm onwards.
Says Madeline: "Students in the Event Management module have been planning this
celebration all term and we believe it will be a memorable event.''
She says it will be a festival where there will be dancing, food, fashion and crafts.
"My mates and I had heaps of fun. It's been a really enjoyable time for us as we've felt in charge of our own learning,'' she says. ``Students learn better when they find something they are passionate about.''
