What better way is there to celebrate life than with new friends? Murrays Bay Intermediate School students recently did just that.

From their learning in the Life Education caravan, and with support from their teachers, a group of Year 7 students reached out to take a stand against bullying. They made contact with a wonderful young boy - Iziyah Moemai - who, as a result of a rare disease, has an appearance unlike his peers. A headline report asking for people to stop being cruel to Iziyah caught the attention of the students, and led an authentic and positive learning experience. Who better than the children themselves to tell the story...

We first heard about Iziyah Moemai thanks to our amazing teacher Mrs Mckean, who read about him online. We were really touched by Iziyah's courage, even though things were hard for him. So our class, Room 43, and some people from Room 20, decided to surprise him with a little gift to brighten his day.

Over the course of a week, we made cards for Iziyah telling him how great we thought he was. He got the messages from us via the people at Brighter Rainbows, where he went for his weekly visit. He was so delighted that he wanted to meet his new friends.

A couple of days later, we found out that we would get to meet Iziyah for the first time and also be on The Project, which we were so excited about. We were really interested by the fact that Iziyah’s favourite animal was a giraffe. So, who better than to invite to our meeting than Harold the mascot from Life Education Trust! After all, this was where we had learnt about the importance of building relationships, maintaining friendships and looking after each other.

We couldn’t wait to meet Iziyah! Finally the day arrived and we were really excited. At one o’clock we all met with Mrs Mckean and organised the last finishing touches to the welcome we had planned for him: We set up some tables of delicious baking that two schoolgirls had made over the weekend, we practised our roles and then the moment we had been waiting for finally arrived...Iziyah arrived with some awesome motorbikes, alongside Crazy Frog. We held out signs that we had made that welcomed Iziyah in big colourful letters. We also made a big rainbow out of colourful chalk. Then we all started to talk as a big group to Iziyah about a lot of things like rugby, football and lots of other things to get to know him.

He’s really bright and smart for a seven year-old. He’s also really nice, friendly and fun to hang out with. He was so joyful for who he was and what he could become if he follows his dreams. A couple of days after the big event, we hit big - appearing on national TV! More importantly though, was the opportunity to take our learning and put it in to action. What a day it was for all of us! 

Izzie Williams and Charlie Burge, Murrays Bay Intermediate School

All in all, a positive outcome, and Harold made a few new friends too!

Sandra Jacobs

Deputy Principal, Murrays Bay Intermediate School