Discovery School is celebrating 50 years of schooling this year, we officially opened in 1976.  We have a plan for bringing the celebrations to life and want to hear the stories of our last 50 years. The tamariki (children) will very much be part of the planning and organising of these events.  We will be asking for past staff, students, families and board members to share their stories by being interviewed by our tamariki.  

This year, we will be introducing a conceptual curriculum that brings together learning from different curriculum areas around one shared “big idea.” This approach helps students make meaningful connections across their learning.  

To celebrate our school’s 50th anniversary, our learning focus will be:

Whanaungatanga - Relationships to Thrive and Grow. We will explore how strong relationships have been the foundation of our school community over the past 50 years and how they continue to help us learn, thrive & grow. Through reflecting on our journey, students will celebrate our history while also looking ahead to building a strong and connected future together. 

Later in Term 1 and throughout Term 2, students will be learning about the history of our school and the people who have shaped it, both past and present. During this time, we will support students to plan and prepare a range of activities and initiatives leading up to our Student-Led 50th Anniversary Celebration, which will take place in the final week of Term 2.

The Culminating Event will be a Student-Led Celebration during the last week of Term 2, Monday 29th June - Friday 3rd July 2026  

The mahi throughout Term 1 and Term 2 leads to a week-long celebration that formally connects all the relationship threads, managed and executed by a student-led committee. 

1. The Celebration Committee serves as hosts, manages the welcome, tours, and entertainment logistics - including some dancing with school dances, Kapa Haka, Pacific groups, visit to the hall to see the 50th-Year Heritage Wall. Organise a party, cake and celebration.  

2. Powhiri to welcome past staff, students and families - have this opportunity for our Ako/Ropu Whakapapa groups to plan and organise this event. 

3.  The Unveiling: Formal unveiling of the 50-Year Heritage Wall, set up in the hall,  presented by each team from their learning. 

4. The Celebration: A whole-school assembly/open day where students share performances, stories, and artworks based on their inquiries, celebrating the thriving relationships built over 50 years. Past students, staff and community

5. We would love the opportunity for an event for alumni, former staff, student and community members, however we currently don't have the capacity to organise a large-scale social function as our focus is the learning opportunities for our tamariki. If anyone was interested in coordinating such an event, we would be happy to meet with them.

We would love to hear stories and start collecting names of those people who want to be involved so please share these ways to communicate with us at school with those interested:

Email:   jubilee@discovery.school.nz 

Facebook:  Please join our Discovery School 50th Jubilee Facebook page - you can add photos here, or stories, invite past and present people to join.