First a bit of a history lesson ...
The initial idea for Children's Day came from a suggestion by the first Children's Commissioner, Ian Hassall, in 1991. His suggestion was developed and progressed by the Rotary Club of Wellington. In conjunction with the following Children's Commissioner, Laurie O'Reilly, the idea was then mooted to Government. The third Children's Commissioner and former Minister of Youth Affairs, Roger McClay, then endorsed the concept along with several other Ministers. In 1999, the National Steering Group was established to progress the concept of Children's Day. Interested government and non-government agencies were represented on this group.
The inaugural Children's Day was held on Sunday 29 October 2000 with the intention that Children's Day would occur on the last Sunday of October every year. In 2007 the date for Children's Day was changed to the first Sunday in March. Many schools hold their own Children’s Day as an event on either the Friday before or the Monday following.
Wairakei School held it's Children's Day on Friday 5th March and what a day it was!
From 11:00am on, children were placed in buddy classes and participated with their "buddies" on fun cooperative activities, usually craft based. There was a sharing session after this was repeated and there were some absolutely brilliant creations. The interactions between the younger and older children were just awesome!
During lunchtime, the Purua team had organised a sausage sizzle, a cake stall, popcorn and iceblocks to sell as a fundraising activity for their upcoming camp at Living Springs. Over $900 was raised!
The afternoon was again a fantastic event. All children were in their house groups and mixed into 12 teams. Each team then participated in 7 different tabloid activities. It was great seeing the parents involved in these too.
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