William Pike Challenge Award

Our (expected to be the final) Outdoor Challenge was epic , and I am looking forward to making this an annual event. We drove south out of Auckland, leaving the motorway at Mercer and driving for 50 minutes through the stunning Waikato region to a gorgeous spot 3 kilometres from the coast. We were going  caving ! The Nikau Cave is situated on a farm belonging to our hosts, Philip and Anne. The idea of walking through an underground river for one kilometre was a little daunting, not that the Pikelets wanted to admit it! The dark yawning gape of a cave mouth that greeted us was gentled by the song of native birds and the trickling of a gentle stream as it played its music across the rocks. The stream flowed out of the cave, and that's where we were going! Our time underground was amazing. The first third of the cave was the most difficult, kind of like exploring rock pools at the beach - in the dark! The soft knocking sounds as heads bumped on the ceiling made us grate...

I headed out on a pre-visit to the location of our Mystery Challenge this week.  I had a fantastic time with our hosts, and am excited to take the Pikelets out next week. I got wet, scratched and cold - and had a wonderful time!  I expect this to be one of the more challenging challenges, and hopefully a grand finale to our year together. That said, over the next few weeks we still have a celebration evening to plan, videos to create, and thank you's to send. The students are also thundering through their community service and passion project hours with completion statistics reaching up to 600%. Applications for 2020 will be opening after end of year assessments are completed. We have some eager students keen to get involved next year which is great! Counting down the sleeps till Tuesday....

One of the (many) great parts of being involved with the William Pike Challenge Award is the opportunities that are opened up for us. The Young Inspiring Explorers Summit ,  in conjunction  with the Antarctic  Heritage Trust and the William Pike Challenge Award ,  was one of them.  The weekend included "meeting husky dogs and penguins, camping out overnight, being challenged to step outside [one's] comfort zone, and finding inspiration in the legacies of historic Antarctic explorers" and was designed to "encourage and empower... young, modern-day explorers to meet the challenges of life head-on by connecting them to the inspiring feats of early Antarctic exploration" (h ttps://nzaht.org/encourage/youth-inspiring-explorers-programme/ , September 22, 2019). A couple of our Pikelets applied, and I was proud of them for stepping outside of their comfort zone and putting in the effort to send in very good applications. Unfortunately not everyone can b...

Our Ski Challenge in August was a FANTASTIC trip and it would rank with one of the best times  to date that I've spent in Tongariro National Park .  Highlights for me included:  Visiting the National Army Museum Walking around Lake Rotopounamu A bluebird day up on the slopes at Whakapapa On our first morning in the National Park we made it to the base of Ruapehu where many of the students experienced their first snowfall. With the picturesque Chateau in the background, we had fun catching snow on our tongues and taking photos. Due to some not-so-favourable weather, we left the mountain to explore the National Park. Our warm welcome into the National Army Musuem was the start of a couple of hours of fun and exploration with their fantastic education team. Many of us would have been keen to stay for another hour or so, as there was so much more to see and learn! Lake Rotopounamu sparked h...

Our two days clearing land for native tree planting was a community service project that also presented some challenges . Carrying heavy and long branches up steep banks sounds like hard work, and it was! But the two days will be remembered mainly for the laughter , the banter , the funny moments , the miracle of no rain... and being the moment of our "most challenging challenge so far"! Noticing some problems with the sheep in a nearby paddock the owner of the land asked the students if they would like to help move the small flock up to the yards. The response was an enthusiastic "yes!!"  And it didn't take long for the students to guide the ram, ewes and lambs through the paddocks.  But we were very thankful the last person had shut the final gate when the flock decided that they had changed their minds, turned, and ran back the way they had come!  Now the challenge.... and I have no words to describe how difficult it was to guide these ...

Community service is all about good old-fashioned values such as  hard work, discipline , and a positive and self-sacrificing attitude .  Our two team community service days this term also made us draw upon our WPCA values: teamwork, enthusiasm ... and a determination to not give up ! Leaving the classroom behind, we drove into the rural Auckland area to help out with a native tree planting project. The project is being partially funded by  Auckland Council's Waterway Protection Fund  and the native trees were being supplied by Te Whangai , whom we worked with last term. Te Whangai are special members of our Wesley school community, and one of their tree nursery bases is on our school site. Our main role was clearing the land for planting. We developed an appreciation for the pioneers we read about in history as we carried branches of various sizes up the steep bank to build a pile for burning. We found out that so much work has to be done before th...

Sometimes it pays to ask.... During the school holidays I often volunteer on church camps for young people aged 10 - 16 years old. In April we spent a day at Tree Adventures in Woodhill Forest. It was a FANTASTIC day of climbing trees, maneuvering through obstacles suspended many metres above the ground, encouraging and supporting girls through the courses... and facing some physical and mental challenges of my own (after hours of clambering and climbing, Level 8 felt significantly high for my now slightly-quivering muscles, headache, and mometary feelings of dizziness). Of course, the entire time I'm thinking,   " this would be GREAT for the WPCA program! " So I touched base with the Tree Adventures team and discovered they had a great package for schools. It was exciting to be able to offer this to the Pikelets, and we were in much anticipation for Friday 14 June. The day turned out to be even better than we expected :) Highlights for me were... Hav...

We received an exciting email yesterday.... If not for the 14 years age restriction the teachers and I would have been submitting applications in a heart beat! WPCA have partnered up with the Antarctic Heritage Trust (AHT) to give all WPCA students in New Zealand the opportunity to apply for an epic experience. In September 20 WPCA students from across New Zealand will participate in something new for WPCA - the Young Inspiring Explorers' Summit in Christchurch (Christchurch, not Antarctica....) The summit includes:  - Antarctic virtual reality - Penguin encounters - Camping out overnight - Interacting with and learning about the role of husky dogs in Antarctic exploration - Seeing Antarctic artefacts before they are returned to Antarctica! - Stepping outside one's comfort zone - Drawing inspiration from Antarctica's exploration legacies - Connecting with other WPCA students from around NZ  - Spending the weekend with William Pike Fingers crossed to see ...

There have been soooo many highlights for me in this first WPCA year. Yes,  it has been challenging and a lot of work, but also so much fun!!  This photo captures one of my most favourite moments so far.  Over the months I had come to know William through second-hand accounts from his friends, and was looking forward to an opportunity to meet him in person. A generous invitation from St Thomas School to attend a presentation by William provided the opportunity, and I turned it into a "Mystery Event" for the Pikelets. What fun I had watching their distress at "not knowing"!  They did their utmost to find out what the surprise event was.... and a great shout out to the parents and students that kept the secret! I realise that I will never get to walk through a "first year" of WPCA at Wesley Int again. Next year our photos and stories will give away to future students what is going to happen, so I'm planning to make the most of the opportunity to...

For our inaugural year we are trialing a mix of group and independent community service. The group service is an opportunity for us to bond as a group, to work out the WPCA values together, and to set the expectation of what community service looks like. The group service projects will extend outwards over the year: Term 1 -Wesley Intermediate community Term 2 - Wesley community Term 3 - Wider Auckland community For the past two years the student library teams at WIS have sought to establish a reading room in the back section of the library. Both groups came close to achieving the goal, but lacked the manpower to make the plans reality. In comes the 2019 WPCA team.... Using the design created by the 2018 Library Team the Pikelets spent a few hours after school setting up the reading room.  Although work was getting done, it definitely sounded like a displaced slumber party was going on! The result of the group's efforts has been fantastic - an open space with a NZ bu...