Hello and welcome to International Womens’ Day!

When thinking of how we could celebrate this day at William Patten, we thought about all the amazing women that have inspired the children in our school.

We invited you to interview older women in your family and community that have inspired you.  We received many written, audio and video interviews and we would like to share them with you today.

We would like to say a huge thank you to the mums, grandmothers, neighbours and great aunts who participated.  We heard exciting stories about escaping fires, volcanic eruptions and political danger.  We heard about who inspired them when they were children; the similarities and differences between their school experiences and yours and the opportunities and challenges that were presented to them.  We also heard about life events that occurred when they were little – the first dog in space, the first man in space, World Cup wins, the Beatles, war and personal experiences about moving house and moving countries.

What was so very interesting to hear was the advice that these amazing women had to offer children: a common theme was resilience – picking yourself back up even when things go wrong.  These role models also encouraged children to be kind and respectful to each other, work hard and follow your dreams.

It was so lovely to hear children’s confidence shining through during these interviews.  Children asked very perceptive questions in a very clear and confident way.  It has been an absolute pleasure reading, listening and watching them.

Happy International Womens’ Day!

Written, oral and video interviews with our families

We have uploaded a collection of interviews of our children with their mothers/grandmothers onto Google Classroom. Please log into your child’s GC account to read, hear and watch them!

A selection of the women, and countries our International Women’s Day heroes were born in: