ARL Lawyers Charitable Trust supports Epuni School Camp
The rain may have dampened the ground, but not the children’s smiles as the year five and six students from Epuni School clamped on their harnesses and flew down the zip line.
is activity is one of several that the senior students get to experience at Epuni School’s biennial senior camp at Kaitoke.
This year, the camp was made possible by ARL Lawyers Charitable Trust and other grants, donations, and fundraising—to the extent that the camp was fully funded. Janet Evans, Principal of Epuni School, said that without the support the camp may not have happened. “We wouldn’t run it with some children, it would be everyone or no one. We were looking for sponsorship to reduce the costs, so it was doable for families, but having it fully funded made a huge difference to our families. We are a decile three school and many families initially thought, my kid can’t go.”
And to see the children’s faces as they achieved something that they thought they couldn’t do, was amazing.” said Evans.
Akira, one of the students said she was scared of the abseiling and got stuck halfway down but when she got to the bottom, she wanted to do it all again!
School Camp provides students with opportunities to step out of their comfort zone, take risks and have a go at something different. The instructors are great and soon identify which students they can push a little bit more. “One of the challenges was the students were put in groups and had to get across a plank in age order, but they weren’t allowed to get off the plank. They had to rely on each other to achieve some of the activities.” Evans said.
The students are learning without knowing they are learning because they are having fun. “One little boy was told to wipe the table. He’d never wiped a table and didn’t know how to do it! So, they’re learning what we think are basic skills, but some don’t know about that sort of stuff” said Evans
What the students are learning at this camp is resilience and taking responsibility for what they’re doing, which fits in with Epuni School’s values — resilience, relationships, responsibility and respect. They are getting to live these values in a different environment.
“When I was down at archery this morning, when any kid got it into the bullseye, they all cheered and then when they got me to have a go and I hit the bullseye everybody cheered. It was so cool. It’s creating a real sense of belonging as well” said Evans.
If the supporters and funders could see the children’s faces, they would know they have impacted these young lives.
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Poll: Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?
The Australian Prime Minister has expressed plans to ban social media use for children.
This would make it illegal for under 16-year-olds to have accounts on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Social media platforms would be tasked with ensuring children have no access (under-age children and their parents wouldn’t be penalised for breaching the age limit)
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Do you think NZ should follow suit? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.
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85.5% Yes
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13.3% No
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1.1% Other - I'll share below
scumbags
There are some really awful people around at the moment. This is what happened on Sunday.
We live in Hinemoa Street opposite the Waiwhetu Stream. At around 3.40 in the afternoon I was looking out my window and saw a car pull up and start to feed the geese and ducks out the window. Then The passenger an asian man jumped out and threw himself onto a goose. he picked it up and put it the boot of the car.
I immediately ran over and stood in front of his car to stop him moving I also called my husband to help. A lovely man was riding his bike and saw it and stopped to help me. The driver tried to drive into me but I didnt move. He tried telling us it was his pet. These are wild geese.
They had a cage in the boot and some wire all ready to catch the poor bird like they have done it before. My husband took the bird from the car and released it. I then moved out of the way and after lots of abuse from the driver they drove off threatening to come back and get more.
No one should be allowed to take these beautiful birds and certainly not like this. they are all starting to have wee babies at the moment the whole thing was so upsetting to me. Another neighbour further down the road also saw it all happen.
Please keep a look out for this car and if you see them by the stream go over and watch them lets all stop this happening.
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