Late last term we held the Year 7 and 8 Speech Competition and it was another resounding success. Charlee Cooper was a well-deserved winner on the day. Well done Charlee! Runners up were Neave O’Connell and Levi Downey. Our Head students, Abigail Paton and Ashley Robinson, kept the event moving along and the judging was handled by Jan Malloch and Yvonne Sharp. 

The speech competition for Year 9-13 is scheduled to take place at the end of Week three in Term four, just before the seniors go on study leave, so they are now beginning their preparations in earnest - will Abigail Paton or Paige Walker - last year's Junior and Senior winners - come out on top! 

The Year 7 and 8 have begun studying film and this term have been enjoying working their way through Niki Caro’s adaptation of Witi Ihimaera's Whale Rider. They’ve been getting stuck into film techniques which they will need for NCEA when they become Seniors. I was very fortunate to be invited to teach mini lessons to all three of the Year 7/8 classes and was impressed with the knowledge of film that some of them possess - that all bodes well for the future. 

The Year 9-10 students have been studying Survival texts with Bear Grylls and as soon as I figure a way to avoid them burning down the school, we shall have a go at seeing who is best at lighting fires following Bear’s methods. The other Year 9 and 10 class have been looking at how much stories and films about the past can teach us about history - I even managed to sneak in some William Shakespeare and the students had fun hurling Shakespearean insults at me. In fact, some of them seemed to enjoy it a little too much! 

The Year 11-13 students have been finishing off their NCEA coursework and, as soon as ski camp is out of the way for the Year 12/13 we shall turn our attention to preparing for the Practice Exams in Week nine. 

I’ll update you all later in the year with how things are going and tell you all about the return of an old favourite in a new form: Peer Reading.