Clayton Park School celebrates growth at recent Children’s University graduation in Auckland

One of the participating schools in Te Wānanga Nohinohi ki Te Kunenga Children’s University programme in Auckland has seen a rise from 15 participants in 2025 to 46 participants in 2026, with over 85 ākonga expressing interest.

The recent graduation at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium saw them receiving their certificates and graduating, with their families cheering for them in the audience.

Clayton Park School teacher Tiffany Watkins says the increase in students means the programme is having a greater impact.

“It’s reaching more students and classrooms in our school. They do a lot of the work at home, online, or going to different Learning Destinations. Then they come to me and say, ‘Miss, how many hours have I got? How many more until the next Award?’. They are all aiming to get higher and higher. That means we’re doing something right here. These kids are keen, they’re interested, and they can’t wait to graduate.”

There were a total of 122 graduands from Reremoana School, Riverdale School, Bayview Primary School, Clayton Park School, Beach Haven Primary School and Tirimoana School.

The ceremony was a joyous occasion, with ākonga in graduation regalia, and parents and family members adorning their kids with lei on their kids when they came off stage with their certificates. There were lots of parents calling out and cheering on their kids.

As well as involving whānau, the ceremony brought together their school community. Their names were announced by their teachers and after walking onto the stage, they took a photo with their school representative and Vice-Chancellor Professor Pierre Venter and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Māori Paora Ammunson.

It was a celebratory event, with confetti cannons popping to screams of excitement by the fresh graduates.

There was plenty for ākonga to enjoy before the ceremony too, such as Jenga and connect four. The iconic mascot Ferg came out and did a walkaround and he was swarmed by excited ākonga.

The programme has given ākonga from Clayton Park School an increased excitement for learning.

Clayton Park parent Meleana Tulahe, who has two children participating in the programme, said “it’s made them realise that there are better things to explore and to learn about our country and how exciting it is to be around the environment.”

For ākonga from Clayton Park School, it was an opportunity to try new fun activities during the programme and celebrate their achievement at graduation.

“I liked the big confetti boom [at graduation] and I enjoyed the trips, especially the Auckland Art Gallery because you can make anything out of clay,” student Sadhvi Kumar said.

Student Aryan Chand couldn’t choose one highlight and said that “everything” was a highlight for him.

Fonterra’s General Manager of Product and Process Innovation and Massey alumnus, Esraa El Shall, who led students in turning cream into butter on a Discovery Day outing, said activities like this turn dreams into reality.

“It was an opportunity to merge science into action straight away – it brings it to life. When you have someone from industry come in and say, ‘this is the science behind it and this is how you do it, and when you do it you’ve experienced being a food technologist – if that is of interest to you, dream big’, it brings it to life and gives you a taste of what the dream is like and how you can live it.”

The partnership between Massey University and local schools is an important one to maintain for the future. Pro-Chancellor Caren Rangi shared her thoughts on the collaboration between Massey and the schools.

“There’s huge mutual benefit to Massey University being in partnership with primary and intermediate schools. It’s a great way for us to connect with a community that we hope will become our student community. It’s a chance to send a message to communities that, as a university, we’d love to see anyone who would love to come here and here’s a chance to have an experience to see what it is like.

“Both for potential students and families, it’s a fabulous opportunity, in partnership with Massey, to get a taste of what university can be like in the future.”