On Tuesday of Week 6, our Year 12 cohort attended RYDA at the Trusts Arena. RYDA (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness) is a road safety education program for New Zealand high school students, focusing on developing safe driving habits and passenger behaviour. It's delivered through a one-day workshop that covers topics like speed and stopping, distractions, and the consequences of risky driving, with interactive sessions and local experts. This course is targeted at our Year 12 students, as statistics show that you are most likely to be involved in a car accident within one year of getting your restricted licence. One of the key messages on the day was that we can not avoid all accidents, but we can take steps to make sure they are not fatal. 

We want to give a huge thank you to all of the Tutor Class teachers who came along as supervisors, we couldn't have done the day without you all giving up your time. Although it was a long day of learning and listening, the cohort upheld the Waitākere Way and were commended on their behaviour by the Rotary facilitators. We hope they all had some good takeaways from the day and will remember some of the key messages the next time they get in a car. 

As one of the Rotary staff said, 'We can replace the car but we can't replace you!'. 

- Year 12 Deans - Miss Gardyne and Miss Storer