by John Murrihy

Celebration Assembly

On the penultimate school day for 2021 the school came together to enjoy and celebrate with a selection of talent within the school.

With a livestream provided, whānau were able to watch along with the rest of the enthralled ākonga and staff. I case you missed it, the event is still available for viewing. Please refer to the link that was provided in the Hero link just prior to the start of the assembly.

The entertainment consisted of four bands, that Esther has been coordinating, each with their own brand of music. Band practice has been taking place on Mondays and, when the new build commenced, moved upstairs to the commons and allowing the Senior Leadership Team, who are directly below, to enjoy the music and the good vibrations that went with it.  We also had Regina's dance group who used the occasion to record their performance for the NZ Dance Challenge that they entered. This group has been practising every Wednesday this term. Angela's choir, who have been working so hard, provided us with a lovely piece which we sat back and enjoyed.

Eilis, our sports coordinator, then introduced the school's netball and basketball teams who have represented the school with pride and exhibited great sportsmanship and dedication throughout their respective tournaments in Terms 3 & 4. A special mention was made of the Amesbury All Stars who won their competition.

Those students who had worked so hard for and participated in the ICAS exams were presented with their certificates in recognition of their achievements. A previous article was sent out with results and can be found in this link.

We were able to then enjoy a Mandarin dance performed by Ruby, our Mandarin teacher. Her moves were elegant and flowing and fully engaged the school audience.

Last, but certainly not least, on the programme was Kapa Haka. This group has worked so hard on their performance in preparation for the Kapa Haka Festival only for it to be cancelled due to covid restrictions. Not deterred, they finally had their opportunity to perform in front of an audience and they did not disappoint. In fact they were magnificent. A real credit to the kapa haka teachers and Amaria who tirelessly coordinated everything kapa haka throughout the year.

Tamariki spent the rest of the morning on water play activities. Not to be outdone a few of the teachers were all in too!

Image by: John Murrihy

To finish off the day was the exciting task of tidying up for the year.

For all of the photos for the day please do to the following links - Celebration Assembly and Water Play.