DRINK BEER, DO GOOD

Being on the infamous ‘Surf Highway’ of Taranaki, connecting students to the sea through surfing is something we are slowly developing as funding is available.
Last year we were able to secure a small amount of funding from Tu Manawa to enable a group of students to participate in the Surfing for Life course. The course itself was outstanding and despite hoping to continue with another course into the 2024 curriculum, our initial funding application was unsuccessful.

We would use the 5% project to support another suite of classes with Charles Gibson and his small skilled team at Surfing for Life. Each year we offer a basic surfing experience through school camps, and the interest is always there but often it seems too hard for students to do on their own. This course is more than just learning to surf, and if we can provide even a handful of students with a new sport that is accessible to them, then we would have succeeded.

Surfing for Life is a course that we are planning to offer to our at-risk students as the course focuses on creating positive pathways (with life skills, mental health and wellness) including learning practical surfing skills as a new sport. There are different areas of the school working with students who are considered to be at risk because of circumstantial (socioeconomic), behavioural or learning difficulties and we are excited to be able to offer this course as a way of creating another alternative pathway through physical and mental wellbeing. We are planning on two groups of ten students (male and female) doing 5 sessions each.
The discussion with the facilitators is to possibly include the final lesson out here at Ōpunake Beach to support their engagement with the sport in their own backyard.