The tamariki from Marlborough Kindergarten are the latest poets to have their work featured on the Taylor River Writers' Walk. Their poem, Te Awa o Omaka, is a collaborative creation that combines the children’s perspectives to inspire environmental awareness. Marlborough’s seven kindergartens asked their tamariki how they felt after walking along the Taylor River, and their thoughts were compiled into a collective poem.

The Writers' Walk began as an initiative by Springlands School students in 2010, sparked by a water conservation project. Through the Council’s Whitebait Connection program, they studied local water health and noticed the scarcity of fish and wildlife in the Taylor River, motivating them to take action. As a Green-Gold Enviro School, the students aimed to shift attitudes and educate the community. After thorough research, they proposed creating a Writers' Walk to raise environmental awareness, which was supported by Geoffrey T. Sowman and the Marlborough District Council. Engraved rocks with poems were placed along the Taylor River Walkway, and each year, new groups of Springlands students join the project, ensuring its legacy continues.

On October 29th, the first ECE-written poem was unveiled on the Taylor River Writers' Walk. Despite the rain, students from both Springlands School and Mayfield Kindergarten opened the celebration with waiata. Several speeches acknowledged the significance of this addition to the river walk.

This year’s poem, a collective effort from the Marlborough Kindergarten Association, joins 21 other poems written by school students across Marlborough. The goal of representing every school in Blenheim on the walk has been achieved. The Taylor River Writers' Walk continues to remind the community of the importance of clean waterways and our shared responsibility in maintaining them.

Please click this link if you would like to read the poems from previous years

Learning Intentions the workshop covered: 

• To focus on the MOE priorities of improving assessment practices and having clarity around data.

• To explore how well schools use assessment data and evidence to improve teaching and learning outcomes.

• To develop a plan to support school leaders and teachers to set goals for 2025 using current data & evidence.

During this session we used tools from Niho Taniwha to:

• Explore what effective assessment practice looks like.

• Examine how this links to effective pedagogy using Tātaiko.

• Develop a rubric for your setting.

• Use the WAMT review tool for middle leaders to dig deep into their evidence of achievement .

• Link this to the Professional Growth Cycle for staff to set goals for 2025.