NorthTec is having an open day on Friday to help Northlanders thinking about tertiary education. The open day, at NorthTec's Interactive Learning Centre, in Raumanga Valley Rd, Whangārei, will run from 12pm to 2pm on Friday. Prospective students can meet staff, talk to tutors about upskilling or career planning and meet the Student Support team, get financial advice and get enrolled.
Mixed bag of weather
It's a patchy start to the week weatherwise for Northland as MetService is predicting cloudy and occasional showers until Wednesday. Fine weather with light winds are forecast on Thursday and Friday before showers return over the weekend. Daytime temperatures will hover in the early 20C, plummeting several degrees at night.
The latest climate summary showed Northland has had three times its normal rainfall for October, pleasing farmers and local councils.
Help improve libraries
The Kaipara District Council wants to hear public views on how libraries in the district can be made more attractive. The consultation is part of a 10-year plan for the development of Kaipara libraries and feedback is being sought around creative use of library spaces, adding more collection of reading materials, presence of digital tools, and taking library services to remote parts of the district. More information and how to give feedback can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/r/kaiparalib.
Grant for kindy
BestStart Pipiwai Kindy has a working bee on Saturday after earning a Bronze Enviroschool award. The kindy has obtained a grant from the Northland Regional Council's leadership fund to plant a bank in native plants. The planting will get underway at 9.30am at the kindy, on Pipiwai Rd, Kamo, and workers are asked to bring a spade, suitable footwear and gloves. There will also be a tidy-up of some of the bigger plants inside and out of the front of the centre, and waste will be removed. The kindy will operate under Covid-19 protocols, which limit numbers to 100 people and requires visitors to sign in.
Maori language honour
The Māori Language Commission has accepted a global communications honour on behalf of all New Zealanders. The International Public Relations Association just named the commission's Māori Language Moment – which saw more than one million New Zealanders, including many in Northland, stop to celebrate te reo Māori to mark the moment the Māori Language Petition was presented to parliament in 1972 – the supreme winner of the 2021 IPRA Grand Prix for Excellence.
