Karori Year 7 - 10 students enjoyed a very special ‘Experience Asia Day’ whilst their senior counterparts were on study leave. With funding from the Asia New Zealand Foundation, Marsden Head of Humanities, Fiona Crawford, organised a full day of Asian activities for our students. Fiona believes "If we want our students to thrive and contribute towards making New Zealand better, then it is our responsibility to equip them for their future with Asia".

The day started with a tranquil Tai Chi session in the gymnasium for the whole school including the Primary, followed by an introductory assembly. Young Old Girl, Amanda Cundy, Policy Officer, International Relations at Wellington City Council, gave an encouraging talk about the impact of Chinese studies on her life and how important it is for our girls to understand Asia and its effect on their futures. Amanda went on Marsden's very first exchange trip to China back in 2010.

LtoR: Academic Director Margaret Adeane, Prinicpal Jenny Williams, Old Girl Amanda Cundy

Then Year 7-10 students broke off into different sessions and activities including Judo, spring roll, sushi, dumpling and curry making, Shibori indigo dying, Manga and Gondo art, Malaysian Batik, Indonesian Angklung (bamboo instruments), Chinese Tangrams, Kung Fu, 3D Origami, abacus making, language learning, henna painting, sari dressing, lantern making, calligraphy, fan making, poetry (tanka/ haiku), kite making, folk dancing, bollywood dancing, Indian Kabbaddie, shadow puppets, rangoli designs and more. In all 11 Asian countries were represented during the day.

Well done to all who entered "Guess the Garment" and a special thanks to everyone who lent their beautiful traditional clothing for this competition, the foyer looked amazing. Aishani McGrath won, with Grace Chan second and Sarah May third. The high energy Korean games at lunchtime were won by Baber, then Johnson, Haddie third followed by Jellicoe.

It was hard to top all the wonderful activities, but our students found the enthusiasm for a fun inter-house KPop (Korean Pop) competition. Junior House Captains created the moves and rallied their teams for the final dance off which was jointly won by Johnson and Richmond. We must also mention the fabulous cameo dances from staff members in support of their Houses - who knew we had such talent on the staff?!

Students expressed the day in exclamation marks - “Awesome ... so much fun ... great learning about different cultures ...  hope we can do it again!!”

Many thanks to the Asia New Zealand Foundation for their assistance, and to everyone who contributed to make it such a fabulous, fabulous day! Our girls really enjoyed themselves and gained valuable insights into the many Asian cultures on show.

See more photos on our Facebook page.