46 students from Poolburn School took the opportunity to attend the Fifa Women's World Cup match between Argentina and South Africa at Dunedin Stadium last Friday. Photo / Harriet Lander, Getty Images
46 students from Poolburn School took the opportunity to attend the Fifa Women's World Cup match between Argentina and South Africa at Dunedin Stadium last Friday. Photo / Harriet Lander, Getty Images
St Paul’s Collegiate in Hamilton is making the Fifa Women’s World Cup part of class.
Not only are 55 students going to watch the final World Cup match in Hamilton, Sweden vs Argentina, tomorrow, but for the final assessment of a school project module, the students have to write a speech on the significance of the tournament.
St Paul’s sports science teacher Ryan McCarthy said the school has a strong football pedigree, with its top team finishing third in Aotearoa New Zealand’s secondary schools competition.
“We decided to give the students the experience [of going to a World Cup match], as it will enable them to better understand the impact the Fifa Women’s Football World Cup will have on themselves, others and New Zealand’s society.”
However, St Paul’s is not the only school in New Zealand making use of having a world-class tournament right in front of their doorstep.
Over 200 students from Dunedin’s Trinity Catholic College watched Argentina take on South Africa, and the school also decided to combine the curriculum, from English to health, social sciences and geography, for a major event in their own backyard.
Some of the St Paul’s Collegiate students who will head to the final Fifa Women’s World Cup match in Hamilton when Sweden takes on Argentina.
English teacher Maggie McGarry admitted she had no strong affinity with football, but recognised the opportunity for the students.
“We’ve been using the World Cup for a whole variety of inquiry-based learning. We took all our Year 9 and Year 10 students to the match,” McGarry said.
“The Year 9 students have been studying the topic of ‘Divides and Connections’, and the Fifa Women’s World Cup has been quite timely where we discuss how sport brings unity. We are all learning about the diversity that the 32 teams bring to this event.”
Fifa also has a special “community group sales” option that allowed a group of fans to attend games that otherwise may not have been part of the World Cup.
In the South Island, the rural settlement of Poolburn, which is located between Alexandra and Oamaru, was very quiet on Friday when the entire local school hopped on a bus for the three-hour trip to Dunedin Ōtepoti to watch Argentina take on South Africa.
Trinity College students at the Fifa Women's World Cup match between Argentina and South Africa at Dunedin Stadium. Photo / Harriet Lander, Getty Images
Poolburn School principal Melissa Gare said: “This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience a World Cup so close to us, so we were not going to miss that.”
She added that the population in the tiny Central Otago settlement is “very sporty”, but up until now was mainly interested in rugby, cricket and hockey.
Yet the World Cup, paired with a recent visit of a local football development officer, has encouraged some youngsters to form the first Poolburn football team and enter a local competition.
“They need to travel a lot for their games, but we are used to that down here, so the trip to Dunedin was not too far for us,” said Gare.
