The day before the ANZAC celebration, we shared with our Kea children why our school is going to be closed. 

We explained to our tamariki that it is a day when we pause to be grateful that we live in a wonderful, peaceful country.

It’s a day when we think about how important it is to look after everyone in our community, including our older people who helped make our communities such great places to live.

Our tamariki have seen many people wear red poppies. We talked about why people in New Zealand and many countries wear poppies to remember those who died in war or are serving in the armed forces.

We enjoyed reading the “Anzac Ted” book.

It was wonderful to see how the children enthusiastically drew the poppy flower for the fallen soldiers.

Our children showed their respect to all the fallen soldiers by listening, reading, discussing and painting many poppies on the day.