This year for Mother’s Day, Dress Smart is celebrating our local love (and what that looks like) for all the māmas in our lives.

Onehunga Primary ākonga have been invited to draw, paint, create a picture of who they would like to celebrate this Mother’s Day and to answer a few short questions about them! All of that art will then be installed inside Dress Smart during May for the first ever Onehunga Primary School and Dress Smart Art Exhibition!

Because at Dress Smart Auckland and Onehunga Primary, we know the important role that mums, grandmothers, mum-figures (and absolutely dads and other men!) play in the lives of our tamariki.

We also know that one of the most amazing things about this school community is the strength that comes from our diversity. Lots of us don’t have a mum – we have a 阿媽, tinā, Mummy, māma, ਮੰਮੀ, or fa’ee. Our special people might be mums (or dads!) who have stepped into that role for us, such as aunties, caregivers, neighbours, friends’ families, and sometimes it’s some very lucky teachers.

We know that representation is important. Because when we see ourselves represented, it shows us the place we do and can hold in our broader world. This Mother’s Day, Dress Smart wants to play a role in helping to make that happen by offering our OPS ākonga the opportunity to celebrate what this looks like in our community.

This is a voluntary activity and there are a number of ways children can get involved:

• An entry sheet will be included in next week’s homelearning
• You can download it here
• There will be three lunchtime art sessions in the hall on Monday 27 March, Tuesday 28 March and Wednesday 29 March, complete with lunchtime snacks, music and loads of different kinds of art supplies, and parent helpers on hand to help
• There will be extra copies available from the school office

Yes! You can find these on the entry sheet or see below:

1. You can get an entry sheet from your homelearning, the school office, online here, or come along to one of our lunchtime art sessions!
2. Please fill in the questions on the entry sheet (your name, age, and classroom).
3. Please answer the three questions on the entry sheet – so we can learn all about your special person. The three questions will be
   • What do you call the person you’ve drawn? (e.g., Mum, 阿媽, tinā, Mummy, māma, dad, ਮੰਮੀ, fa’ee etc)
   • What do you love most about this person?
   • What is something this person always says to you?
4. Create a picture of a special person you would like to celebrate this Mother’s Day. We encourage you to get as creative as you like and you can use whatever you like – crayons, felt-tips, paint, collage etc.
5. Include something in the picture that gives us some more information about your person – such as your favourite thing to do together, their favourite food or colour, or a special place you like to spend at them with.
6. When you have finished your drawing, you can either post it into the entry box in the school office, or the centre management office at Dress Smart. Entries close on Thursday 27 April.

As well as every piece of art automatically being part of the Art Exhibition, all tamariki who create a piece of art for the Mother’s Day Art Exhibition go in the draw to win one of x30 sets of Dress Smart vouchers – a $20 one for them and a $40 gift card for the special person they want to celebrate. T&C’s apply. Prizes will be drawn in our school assembly on Friday 12 May.

We want to share with our community the amazing art being created by our tamariki! All art submitted is accepted on the understanding that you are comfortable with it being displayed as part of the exhibition, and by our school and Dress Smart on our social media platforms.

This is an activity that has been organised for the children who attend Onehunga Primary School. We appreciate there may be siblings at home who would love to be involved as well, and we welcome collaborative whanau entries as well!

Dress Smart also wants to hear from its community of customers about the special people you’re celebrating this Mother’s Day! Check out Dress Smart Instagram and Facebook pages to acknowledge that person, answer a couple of questions so we can learn about them, and be in to win a $50 Dress Smart gift card (3 to giveaway!).

This is an activity to be completed outside of classroom hours and children are welcome to do this at home, or they can come along to the school hall, during lunchtimes, on Monday 27 March, Tuesday 28 March, and Wednesday 29 March where we will have lots of art supplies available and parent helpers to support them. After each lunchtime session we can also carefully look after the art if children would like to spend several art sessions completing it.

We encourage you to get as creative as you like and you can use whatever you like – crayons, felt-tips, paint, collage etc. You can also come along to one of our lunchtime sessions!

Yes! This Art Exhibition is all about diversity and inclusion. One piece of art will be featured from every child who submits an entry.

Yes! We know that many of our tamariki will have more than one special person they think of and who they would like to celebrate this Mother’s Day and they are welcome to submit art that represents each of them, or that shows those amazing people together. Other children may want to create a number of pieces of art, and then choose the one they love the best and want to see in the Art Exhibition! To ensure that every child gets to see their art represented, if several pieces of art are submitted by one child, we will select one of those to feature.

This Art Exhibition is all about diversity and inclusion. One piece of art will be featured from every child who submits an entry.

No – we wanted to keep this Art Exhibition as open as possible so that our children were free to be as imaginative as they like to create what they see when they think of the special person or people they want to celebrate for Mother’s Day. We have created some guidelines to help, however, and they can be seen on the entry sheet.

You can get an entry sheet from your homelearning, the school office, online here, or come along to one of our lunchtime art sessions!

You can hand in your art from Monday 27 March and the last day to do so is Thursday 27 April.

When you have finished your drawing, you can either post it into the entry box in the school office, or the centre management office at Dress Smart. Entries close on Thursday 27 April.

No – this Art Exhibition is for all our children, of all ages, and differing artistic ability and interpretation of this activity. However, we are excited to say that every entry has the chance to win a $20 Dress Smart Gift Card for yourself and a $40 Dress Smart Gift Card for your special person (x30 gift cards to giveaway). T&C’s apply.

The Mother’s Day Art Exhibition will be on display in Dress Smart from Monday 1 May to Sunday 21 May. Come along to show your support for our local kids, and go to the Dress Smart website to find out more about the stories behind some of these amazing special people.

Yes! The exhibition will open two weeks before Mother’s Day on Monday 1 May, at 10am when the centre opens. We will be there with a number of our students to see this happen, and wish to welcome all parents and caregivers to attend as well. More information will be provided on this in future newsletters. You are also welcome to go along with your whanau and see the art at any time from Monday 1 May to Sunday 21 May.

Yes! One of the great things about Dress Smart being local is that we can easily pop down with groups of children during the school day to see this and we will let you know when this will be.

One of the great things about Dress Smart being local, is that it’s just down the road. We plan to take groups of children down to see their art as part of our school day, once the art is opened to the public.

Absolutely! That’s why it’s really important that children fill in their name, age and room number at the top of the entry form.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of our two parent helpers: Penelope at Penelope@ptandsons.co.nz and Laura Hulbert at laurashulbert@gmail.com