A new leadership team at Orama Oasis has revealed ambitious plans on Aotea FM’s Monday morning show.
Operations manager Dean Salthouse said the Christian community at Karaka Bay is planning a new charter school. The school would have about 20 to 30 beds and cater for students in the last three years of high school. He told the show’s host Tim Higham, the school would cater for parents looking for education in otherwise hard-to-get-in-to Christian boarding schools.
He said a Marine Education Centre would offer more water based sports and activities.
“Canoeing, paddle boarding and we want to do fishing, teaching them how to fish and clean fish – from the sea to the plate – we’ll cook over an open fire, smoke some fish and those sort of things… these are our points of difference.”
Art also plays an important part in the Orama experience with the barn recently being upgraded.
“When I arrived there was the old woolshed and pretty sacred cow for Orama because a lot of the young fellas wrote their names on the inside of it and chalk.” It has been turned into an art studio and has a new kiln.
He said the leadership team wanted to take Orama back to its foundational Christian values, a focus on transforming lives and cater for longer stay visitors.
The centre has up to 200 beds and has been a vibrant part of the island community since it was established in1963 by Neville and Dorothy Winger.
Words by Georgie Higham
Listen to the full interview here, on Island Stories Podcast with Tim Higham:
[…] The recent announcement of Orama Oasis’s intention to establish a charter school on Great Barrier Island should spark […]