Tainui Full Primary School – Visual Poetry Jam – South Waikato – Tokoroa – (24 November 2023)

The kids I did have were thoroughly engaged and continued to impress me with their creative thirst and strong skill set for their age.  One of the students was obsessed with the concept of liminal photography so I challenged him to try and create a liminal series using the challenges I presented.  Many of the students already had advanced editing skills and had a great time pushing the challenges I gave them into new directions and creating beyond what I had suggested which was great fun to watch.  
One of the benefits of being at the school was the opportunity to be in the staff room over lunch, where I got to meet one of the TA’s who was very interested in our creative grit program we are developing as he worked in the youth justice system and could see the benefit of learning the methods we taught as a means of keeping kids out of the system. He also could see how it would work in the school.  I spoke to the principal during lunch, who was interested in learning more about the program. 
It was impressive watching the progress from their first images of the day to the ones delivered later with the new technical and composition skills layered on each other.

Support provided by
South Waikato District Council
South Waikato Creative Communities
COGS Waikato South
New Zealand Lotteries