Foundation Class Blog: Serendipity!

Today when we were getting ready for our walk to Mt St John, the girls realised that their gumboots were wet inside. At the risk of getting their flash tights dirty that they had worn for

mufti day, we opted to go for a walk over to Dilworth School.

Some girls were excited, others were apprehensive.

"But there will be boys there and I don't like boys" said Jacqui

(her parents will be pleased to hear that).

What a wonderful adventure we had!

First we stopped at the office to ask permission before venturing up the pathway.

Anna called out in an excited voice "look, there's a sculpture",

and she pointed out a cross she could see.

Examining the cross; it's shape, the designs and pictures on it, engaged the girls for a long time.

Then one of the teachers who was walking past (perhaps he was the Principal?), stopped to talk to the girls and he was able to tell us about the cross. He explained that it is a replica of a cross that is from

Donaghmore, near Ulster in Ireland.

The founder of the school, James Dilworth, used to walk past this cross

every morning on his way to school.

He told us that one side of the cross showed stories from the Old Testament, and the other side showed stories from the New Testament. Although this explanation was a

little beyond the girls understanding

we hoped that it lent to their overall knowledge building, that sculptures often have

stories and explanations about them.

We were then invited to go further up the driveway to look at the gateway into the quad area - a Maori waharoa. The girls were able to make a connection from the carving in the middle - hei tiki (a carving of a human form), to the ones that they had been looking at and sketching at school.