Capital Connections – Inquiry Trip to Wellington
By Sarah Austin | Posted: Wednesday July 27, 2016
This trip took place during Week 9 of Term 2, from 27 – 30th June. 39 eager students met at the airport on Monday morning ready for the much-anticipated trip to Wellington.
The trip was full-on with a variety of activities and programmes to offer students great experiences of what the capital city has on offer. Students’ experienced Thunder Birds are Go at Weta Studios, Te Papa Matariki - Footsteps in the Sand and Gallipoli – Scale Of Our War plus some independent exploring time. Many students felt the Gallipoli exhibition was the highlight for them. The educator, Laura was fantastic at explaining the exhibits and answering students’ questions. The Lone Star was a great choice of venue for dinner as we had an area just for us, which was brilliant.
On Tuesday we set off in three smaller groups of 13 students, a parent helper and one teacher. We walked along the waterfront, into the Art Gallery to have a look around and to have a look around the shops. We met Mrs. Keen at the food court in Courtenay Place for lunch, which was great! Wood Heaven Pizza that evening after another trip to Te Papa was a yummy venue for tea with lots of options for pudding, following that we headed to Carter Observatory. There we watched a film in the planetarium that was interesting and students enjoyed exploring the learning spaces there.
On Wednesday morning we went to the City and Sea Museum prior to heading out to Matiu Island for a guided walk around the island learning about it’s history and how the island is used today. In the afternoon we headed to Parliament and experienced some of Question Time, this was interesting and good for students to experience. That evening we went to the movies, enjoyed some popcorn and allowed our legs a little rest after a very busy day. By the time we got to the Lone Star students’ were ready for their dinner.
The following morning we had a sleep-in and got packed up. We visited the Jewish Temple Sinai then went to the Holocaust Centre; this was interesting for students to hear about the Holocaust from a child’s perspective. We enjoyed our Subway lunch then headed to the last visit of the trip, the War Memorial, this too was very well put together with fantastic exhibitions’ and displays that students enjoyed exploring. Then back to the airport for our flight back.
The students were fantastic ambassadors for the school and it was really impressive to see the students consistently show the school values and make the most of the experiences of offer!
A special thank-you to Bev Bell for assisting in organising the trip, to Mark Russell for joining us and for the wonderful parent helpers who were fantastic, Anne McClimont, Vicki McBratney and Bronwyn Comyns thanks for your time and effort it was very much appreciated.
Sarah Austin
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