UNESCO award for Paparore

RECOGNITION: Paparore School principal John Windleborn with the school's UNESCO Living Heritage award. See article for names. PICTURE/SUPPLIED

Paparore School principal John Windleborn and former pupil Kendall Stevenson were at the National Digital Forum in Wellington last week to accept a UNESCO Living Heritage award, won by the pupils with their Living Heritage website 'Nga Poupou,' recognised as a creative contribution to the preservation of New Zealand's history and culture.

Living Heritage is an online bilingual (English-Mori) initiative that enables New Zealand schools to develop content for and publish websites about a heritage treasure in their community (www.livingheritage.net.nz). The aim is to preserve history and culture in a digital format for every generation to enjoy, and to enable young people to share their view of New Zealand on the internet.

"'Nga Poupou' is a powerful, creative investigation into the real and symbolic relationship of school, whenua and community," said Barbara Craig, 2020 trustee and a member of the judging panel.

"We loved the simple, uncluttered structure of the site, organised around the carving yet packed with well-researched information."

"It was great to see such well researched and written sites on the Living Heritage website, and to see the students put so much time and effort into preserving their community's history," added Laurence Zwimpfer, from the 2020 Trust, which partners with the National Library of New Zealand in supporting the Living Heritage programme.

The purpose of the UNESCO Living Heritage award was to celebrate the achievements of schools that were successfully working with digital media in areas that contributed to UNESCO's objective of promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication.

An independent judging panel evaluated a total of 53 sites published since the last UNESCO awards in 2009, naming Paparore, Tiniroto School (Gisborne) and Waitakere College (Auckland) as the winners.

The awards were presented to representatives from each school, along with a plaque and a cheque for $1000, by Ian McKinnon, chairman of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO.

"The students really enjoy seeing their hard work on a website knowing that it will be stored by the National Library forever," Mr Zwimpfer said, adding that teachers recognised Living Heritage as a special learning opportunity with strong curriculum links.

-Go to the website www.livingheritage.org.nz to access the schools' sites and for more information about Living Heritage.

Names to accompany image: At the back - Tyneal and Kristy Windleborn, and Hayley Kay. In front - Barbara Craig (2020 trustee), former Paparore pupil Kendall Stevenson (currently pursuing a doctorate in Wellington, who also officially accepted the award), Angela Windleborn and Ian McKinnon (UNESCO NZ). Middle front - Paparore School principal John Windleborn.