While torrential downpours and flooding stopped some delegates from making it through to Christchurch, the 10th annual KidsCongress was definitely a success, organisers say.
The event organised by kids for kids – KidsCongress – marked its decade this year with the theme “Take a Break and Celebrate”.
Teams from Waimairi and Windsor Schools in Christchurch put the conference together, with the support of their teachers Jon Himing and Vic Highgate, and backed by CORE Education.
Helping out from CORE Education, Project Manager Matt Tippen says the students have to learn how to keep accounts, market the event, obtain sponsorship, organise catering, put together a website and talk to the media.
Around 240 of the registered 300 South Island students were able to attend the conference at Addington Raceway, along with a few presenters from the North Island. There were 18 breakouts for the delegates to choose from.
The KidsCongress Media Team (Laura, Marnewick and Jacob) talked to some of the delegates to find out what they thought, here’s some of their story:
“They went through heaps of rain and some of them even went through snow. These people include Kelsey aged 11 and Christie aged 12 from Parklands School, Motueka. They said it was worth the five hour trip and all of this has been a great opportunity. The thing they enjoyed the most was working together, meeting people from all over the South Island and making new friends.
“Then we talked to a girl called Brooke aged 12 from Omihi, north of Waipara. She had travelled one and a half hours in torrential rain. Every night and morning her mum drops her off and picks her up. She said her favourite part was making the scrapbook and visiting Christchurch.
“Gregor, from Tekapo, who is nine-years-old almost didn’t make it because of snow but he managed to come. The trip was a total of three hours but he said it was worth it. He said there are so many kids at KidsCongress compared to his school which only has 17 students. His favourite thing at KidsCongress was making the 2010 KidsCongress poster. He would like it if there were more breakouts on computer shortcuts and cheats.”
Matt Tippen says students and teachers take away all sorts of tips on how to use ICT in schools, learning key competencies noted in the New Zealand Curriculum about participating, contributing and self-management.
Guests included KidsCongress initiator Faye Le Cren and CORE Education General Manager Ali Hughes and Director Development Nick Billowes. Sponsors included CORE Education, Cookie Time, The Roxx Climbing Centre, Warehouse Stationery, Progressive Countdown Woolworths Foodtown and Renaissance.
Involved since the start, Waimairi School Principal Mike Anderson recalls when the event was first mooted, following former Prime Minister Helen Clark’s comments about needing to be a knowledge economy. He was working at Elmwood School in Christchurch at the time.
“It was at the Knowledge Wave conference in Auckland that Helen Clark said New Zealand needed to shift to be a knowledge economy and she invited stakeholders in New Zealand’s future. We realised she’d forgotten about the kids and thought we should get our kids to organise their own conference,” he says.
Since then, KidsCongress has steadily grown as teachers around the South Island realise what a great opportunity it is for their students and teachers.
“The kids get two days of close teacher attention, with a ratio of one to 10 kids. They use their thinking and collaborative skills – all part of the core curriculum, in an authentic setting. And the teachers get something out of it as they pick up new ideas.”
Mr Anderson presented a breakout session on using iphones and ipods to create virtual city tours of Christchurch.
“I always pick something I wanted to learn myself to present at KidsCongress,” he says.
Other breakouts included how to use the Garage Band application to create iphone or podcast content; and using KidPix for flash animation.
“It’s a wonderful learning situation,” he says.
For more about the event, visit www.core-ed.org/kidscongress/
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