International Day
Every year our immersion classes hold “International Day”. This is an opportunity for the children to take their “passports” and visit a number of countries. In recent years we have visited USA, Vietnam, England, Spain, Costa Rica and China to name but a few. In each country the children get

a taste of that country by eating food, making a craft or playing a game or dance from that country. During the fortnight before International Day our children display in our entrance, cultural objects from around the world which they bring in from home.

K3 Camp
At the end of the first term in July the K3 classes go on an overnight camp to a local young people’s nature centre at Momozawa. We have 2 fun packed days of activities including river play, hiking, a camp fire and outdoor cooking. It is an opportunity for the immersion classes to use English in a wider range of natural situations such as having breakfast, taking a bath, arranging their belongings and going to bed. For many children it is their first time away from home but every year we notice that our children are more grown up after this experience.

Kobato Concert
Our annual year end concert is an opportunity for our children to get up on the ‘big stage’ (at the City Culture Centre) in front an audience of several hundred. Classes integrate their production into their theme and plan, practice, and perform for several weeks before hand. Productions include singing, dancing, plays and sketches. Productions are unique and as much as possible our children are involved in creating scenery, costumes and props for their production.

Mochi Pounding
Pounding and then eating ‘Mochi’ (pounded glutinous rice) is a traditional Japanese activity usually undertaken in the winter after the rice harvest and before New Year. As a kindergarten we believe it is important for our children to maintain their Japanese cultural heritage, so we hold this event every year. Our children first enjoy pounding the rice, with the help of our parent volunteers, and then have great fun eating the Mochi with various toppings.

Summer Festival
Our Summer Festival is a time for the whole family to dress up in traditional Japanese summer clothes, come to the kindergarten and enjoy a late summer evening of events and dance. Each year we choose a different festival theme and previous events have included ‘Nagashi Somen’ (where we try to catch and eat noodles running in a stream of water); haunted house; Omikoshi (a traditional Shinto portable shrine) that is carried around the school grounds; food stalls and game corners. The evening ends with traditional Japanese dancing and fireworks.

Sports Day
September is the time when you will see our children outside running, dancing, singing and learning to line up all in preparation for our Sports Day. This event involves the whole kindergarten and is an opportunity for the immersion class children to interact with their peers in our regular Japanese program, as all events are by grade level. The morning races and events are followed by lunch and then comes the grand finale as our K3 Marching Band performs this year’s marching song.