Rangataua children make the news in Wellington

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 1, 3 June 1986, Page 3

Rangataua children make the news in Wellington

Rangataua School pupils, the first children ever to play a part in judging the Children's Literature awards, travelled to Wellington last week to see the awards presented. Several weeks earlier the children were given copies of the 35 books selected as finalists in the competition to read and evaluate. Their comments were taken into consideration when the final judging was made. The 25 pupils of the

school gathered at Turnbull House, a historic building near the Beehive, last Tuesday along with the three award winners, judges and two Government ministers. Award winners were Joanna Orwin for "The Guardian of the Land", Lynley Dodd for her picture book "Hairy Maclary" and Judith Bassett, co-author of "Story of New Zealand", a non-fiction book. The awards were organised by the Literary Fund

and sponsored by the Government Printer. Each award was worth about $1000. The Rangataua pupils were photographed for the Dominion with Internal Affairs Minister Peter Tapsell, and senior students Karl Pearson and Valmai Proebstel, both 12, appeared on TV. Karl gave a speech in Maori and Valmai gave a karanga or welcoming call. Rangataua School was nominated to evaluate the awards and chosen because of their need for library books. The school's library is now equipped with close to $300 worth of new books as a result of the competition. Although the presentation of the literary awards was the main purpose of their trip, it wasn't the highlight for many of the pupils. Many of the younger pupils were impressed with the animals at Wellington Zoo, their train ride in Wellington and the Donald Duck impersonations by their McLachlan's Transport bus driver, John Compton! Dominique Scarf and Hohepa Goulton liked the monkeys at the zoo best. Donovan Morris and Fiona Evans, both 1 1, were impressed with the mum-

mies in the National Museum. One of the highlights of the trip for many of the pupils was eating out at McDonalds and Cobb and Co. They were shown around the kitchen in McDonalds and many got a thrill from being locked in the freezer for a short time. Karl Pearson said bedtime at the Elsdon Youth Camp in Porirua, where they stayed, was not for sleeping but instead they chatted and shouted with excitement about their trip. The principal . of the School, Peter Miller, and teacher, Ruth Alpass, prepared worksheets for the children to fill out during the visit. Mr Miller travelled to Wellington during the May school holidays to prepare for the trip. Back at school the pupils will now be extending their experience of the trip. Their science lessons will be based on their trip to the zoo, and social studies on Wellingon city and its people, the museum and Taha Maori. Money for the trip was raised by a dance at the school and weekly raffles. The Government Printing Office contributed $250 and the arts branch of the Literary Fund $500.