The Journey of Paekākāriki Schools Play Storage Container
11 December 2023
What happens when council, community organisations and schools come together for the benefit of tamariki? An amazing play storage container, of course!
The journey started when Paekākāriki School had the Kāpit Coast District Council (KCDC) Waka Kori – Play Trailer come into their school. The trailer is full of weird and wonderful play equipment for the tamariki to use. All ākonga had so much fun and even noticed benefits such as,“more connections between Teina - Tuakana, fewer behaviour problems” and “improved social and communication skills” to name a few.
This got the school wondering if they could make a storage waka of their own to store play equipment in. Judith Smith (SENCO and Deputy Principal) formed a playground group, which included four ākonga aged between Year 3 and Year 8.
Their Healthy Active Learning Advisor Tania then connected the school to Waikanae MENZSHED through Cat Wylde (Play Lead at KCDC).
Judith and the playground group travelled to Waikanae MENZSHED and met with Ian and team to see if they could help them with their storage challenges. Ākonga shared their ideas and designs that were centred around a ‘train’ theme. Once the MENZSHED team and Ākonga playground group were mutually happy, the MENZSHED team got to work on constructing the school’s play trailer.
“One of my highlights was going in thinking that a box with a lid was going to be made, but due to the imagination and firm resolve of the tamariki that it was going to be a type of train, that is what is being created,”Cat Wylde, KCDC Play Lead.
The second visit to MENZSHED included ākonga checking on the progress and answering some extra questions around factors such as how they wanted to move the wagon around, how it would be fixed in place etc.
The communication back and forth between MENZSHED and ākonga has been the best part of this whole process, with questions being asked to ākonga as leaders in the process. One particular conversation went as follows, “You said you wanted a rope attached so you can pull the wagon along. We are a bit worried that you may pull the wagon and it may roll onto and injure your feet. So, we think you should consider the idea of having handles at each end, just like the towel rails in your bathroom, so that you have better control over the wagon when you are moving it. We look forward to getting your thoughts on this idea.” Ian, MENZSHED.
Judith took all questions to the playground group to get their input. “Cooper thinks the rail is a great idea and can see how it would be safer for the younger students. Laken thinks it could look like the ladders you get on carriages to climb up them. All in all, the group thinks it's a good idea.” Judith, Paekākariki School.
The train play storage container is due to be finished and presented to the school before the end of the year.
The final product will look amazing and will help to activate even more play in the school. But the real learning has come from the process and having the ākonga playground group form and lead this process from the beginning and right through to the end.
