Avatea Primary School, Cook Islands

In June 2011, our friend Lauren was selected to be a volunteer in a school in the Cook Islands for 3 weeks, working alongside local people in the areas of education, health and physical activity. Lauren was placed in a grade 2 class (the equivalent of grade 1 in Australia) at Avatea School on the north of the island, which is the biggest primary school on the island with approximately 350 children.  Schools in the Cook Islands are not able to access funding to the level that Australian schools are able to so she gathered resources from Australia to take with her.  Upon request we were kindly given a box of children’s stationary and art supplies from the Narre Warren Officeworks and we also contributed $200.

“Thank you so very much for the generous donation of goods and the cheque to buy resources. I am pleased to let you know that I have bought exercise books, powder paint and glue, counters and attribute sets, a small whiteboard, and some art and craft materials. I am very excited to be shipping all these things off on Wednesday…I can’t wait to work with the kids over there. This will make a big difference for them.”

Lauren Snell

Photos courtesy of Lauren Snell, picture above, far right.