Walk, study, learn | Auckland News | Local News in Auckland

Kieran Nash finds a local school tapping into the educational value in the resources outside its doorstep.

Did you know that many of the buildings in Sandringham's and Balmoral's shopping centres were built in the 1920s?

No? Then maybe you need to go back to school - Mount Albert Grammar will adopt both suburbs' heritage walks for this year's curriculum to teach Year 9 pupils about local history.

The walks are outlined in a booklet published by Auckland City Council.

Rebecca Ridgway is one Year 9 pupil who is excited to be learning about the heritage walks. She says it's important to know about the town you live in.

"We've got to learn about our community and our heritage," she says. "Because we know more about it, we can get more involved in community, and because we know more about it, we can do more to protect it."

Social studies is Rebecca's favourite subject, her main aim being to learn as much as she can about the world and national identity.

Her classmate, Phoebe Wedge, is also excited. "We're looking forward to going on the trip and learning from it."

Mount Albert Grammar School's head of social studies, Christine Cato, says the booklet looks like a valuable resource. "We'll definitely integrate it into our study. I can see it being really popular. I think it's a valuable resource. It's a good opportunity to get outside the classroom."

She says the booklets will help give young people a sense of their identity. They are a way to come back to grass roots since young people live in such a global world. "We thought they were great. We look at how the ideas and actions of the past impact on us today. A sense of place is important; for local residents it's really important to have a sense of history."

Ms Cato says having the students go on the walks is certainly just one of the ideas for using the brochure, but the school will have to sort out how to get 500  Year 9 children on the walk together. She says the project will be tried on Sandringham's walks as they are close to the school.

Architecture firm Matthews & Matthews  oversaw the booklets' research and production.  Architect Jane Matthews is all for using them in classrooms.

"It's great. I think it is wonderful that they are being used by schools as part of social studies programmes. It's now the seventh heritage walks pamphlet we've been commissioned to do by the Auckland City Council."

She says the company has developed a pamphlet for Auckland's central business district with the idea of developing a recognisable series with a similar design.

Local historian Lisa Truttman helped with the research, Ngarimu Blair furnished the area's Maori history and Graham Stewart provided some of the photos. Mrs Matthews says public records proved a valuable source of material.

"Looking at the public history of the area, street directories show which businesses have been there. Land ownership records show how the land has been broken up, and when and who to."

The visuals were helped by photos from Auckland libraries and museums.

Walking through the past

The Balmoral shopping centre walk features Potters Park and Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, shops, Capitol Cinema and churches.

The Sandringham shopping centre walk takes in early shops, Sandringham Reserve, Edendale School, Warren Freer Park, Gribblehirst and Eden Parks.

The establishment of  the shopping centres dates from before 1920.