As part of our #LOVETAUPŌ inquiry, we decided to use some of the strategies and processes that a council would use to make decisions, when developing our town - Elevenville.
Our surveys asked people what they would like to do in a town.
Some people asked how people would travel around our town - if no one said cars then we wouldn’t need a road.
We need to include animal shelters and pet stores because the people I asked like spending time with animals.
3 out of 4 people I asked think that we should learn about our history in a museum.
The layout of a town can affect how its resources are used and also the people that use them. The new Taupō Town Centre plans have taken into account how the business and those that use them will interact with their surroundings - utilising the amazing lake views. In order to make sure that our town would function efficiently we planned out our town space as a class on our mat area. We also decided which businesses would need a bigger area in our town and where our town would be placed in the environment. A class vote decided that our town would be on the coast and some businesses would utilise the pedestrian traffic and ocean views.
When we planned where things would go in our town we had to think about everyone's opinions. We had to think about how business would affect their neighbours and if it would be good for the town to be there.
I thought that we should include a wharf in our town so that we could fish and swim off it.
The result is a well thought out town where the community will benefit from the decisions that were made as a class.
We created logos, websites, brochures and models of their businesses ready to place in Elevenville as an extension to their town planning experiences.
My journey in education has taken me down many different paths including teaching in an Area school, urban English and Welsh schools, small semi-rural schools and in a purpose built Innovative Learning Environment.
Teaching at Wairakei Primary School allows me to use so many of the skills I gained in these different settings - as well as acquiring so many more. I consider myself a life-long learner and continuously strive to build on my knowledge of teaching and education in order to create the best possible outcomes for students.
In my spare time I enjoy playing netball, reading, getting out and about with my two children and making the most of what this area has to offer.
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