Thursday 31 July, 2025
Year 6 Service Week: A Journey of Action and Understanding
Connecting Learning with Community Impact

From 16-19 June, our Year 6 students stepped beyond the classroom and into the community for Dio’s Service Week, a powerful and purposeful beginning to their Primary Years Project (PYP) Exhibition journey. Guided by our school motto, Ut Serviamus (That We May Serve), the experience brought learning to life through meaningful action and connection.

A much-anticipated highlight of the Year 6 calendar, Service Week bridges classroom concepts with practical experience. Seventy students, divided into four groups, partnered with 16 community organisations across Auckland. Over four days, they took part in a wide variety of service initiatives, from planting native trees to connecting with residents in aged-care homes and supporting local families. Each activity offered a unique lens through which the girls explored how people and organisations respond to the needs of others, and how they themselves can act with empathy, purpose, and care.

This year’s PYP Exhibition unit, How We Organise Ourselves, focuses on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is a set of 17 global goals designed to promote peace, prosperity, and sustainability. Service Week allowed students to see these concepts in action as they explored real-world issues such as food insecurity, climate change, poverty, and wellbeing. Their classroom learning came alive as they met the individuals and teams working to address these challenges within our local communities.

We are deeply grateful to the organisations who welcomed our students and shared their knowledge: ATWC, Kura Kai, Fair Food, Ambury Park Riding Therapy, Pourewa Community Hub, Halberg, Sustainable Coastlines, Legasea, Oke Charity, BLAKE, Gabby’s Starlit Hope, KidsCan, School Start First Impressions, Nurturing Families, Ihumatao, and Elizabeth Knox Home and Hospital. Their generosity and guidance provided rich, hands-on learning experiences that will shape our students’ understanding of service and citizenship.

For many students, Service Week was a transformative experience. It challenged them to consider service not just as an action, but as an attitude, engaging their heads, hearts, and hands in making a meaningful difference. This reflection will inform the next stage of their Exhibition journey, as each group identifies a focus area connected to the SDGs to research and present through interactive displays for the wider school and parent community.

Student agency is central to the Exhibition process, and Service Week has laid a strong foundation for this by encouraging initiative, curiosity, and compassion.

Lucette Chu, Service Learning Manager, reflects:

“It was encouraging to see the girls engage with their community in such a thoughtful and caring way. Service Week offered them a meaningful opportunity to understand the value of service and the shared responsibility we have to support others. The students represented Dio with care and respect, and it was rewarding to see them reflect on what they learned. Service Week isn’t just about giving; it’s also about developing a deeper awareness of how we can contribute and what it means to serve.”

As our Year 6 students move into the heart of their PYP Exhibition, they carry with them new perspectives, a deeper understanding of the world around them, and the confidence that their voices and actions matter.


Discover the benefits of 
a Dio education
Experience Dio

Apply Online

Make an appointment
Make an appointment

Schedule a time to meet with a member of our admissions team to discuss your application.

Enquiry
Make an appointment

Schedule a time to meet with a member of our admissions team to discuss your application.

Name*
This field is hidden when viewing the form
Ask a question
Make an appointment

Schedule a time to meet with a member of our admissions team to discuss your application.

Name*
Register to attend
Register to attend

Visit us at our next Open Day.