Dear Parents/Caregivers

A big welcome to our newest student - Sarah Baird and her parents Jared and Laura. Sarah started school last Monday, the 21st August and has adjusted quickly into school life -  even performing  on stage  at Polyfest 3 days later - amazing!! 

Halfmoon Bay School made a stunning debut at Polyfest!! We were so proud of the poise and confidence the children showed prior to the performance. On stage they put their heart and soul into their singing, dancing and playing, appearing undaunted by the huge stage, lights and audience. Well done everyone!! A special mention to those who took a leadership role on stage; Summer led the singing, Iain, the school Haka and the Samoan Sasa, James accompanied on guitar and Kahu, our drummer during the Sasa. Out of all the performances we watched that day our school was the only one who had children playing instruments or who performed an item other than Kapa Haka. This is credit to Mary Chetty for sharing her expertise with the children and preparing them so well for their performance. Thank you Mary!! Thank you also to the parents and teachers who helped on the trip,  provided transport (and accomodation for the seniors); Holger and Nicolette, Letitia, Mary, Jess, Cherie, Belinda, Tam, Bonnie, Kath and Emily. Thanks also to Nicolette and Jo for organising and ironing the uniforms. A big effort by everyone!! It was also great to see parents travel over to watch the performance and to have family and friends there to support us as well.

The senior children attended the performances on Thursday evening and then an art class at the Museum on Friday where made their own clay tiki based on tiki from Haiwaii. They were also able to view the winning entries from the Polyfest Art competition, as well as go swimming and have an hour on Clip and Climb - we certainly packed a lot into the two days! 

The class will continue with the Polyfest theme in the reading programme this term, and later in September Pauline Smith, who organises  Polyfest will be visiting the school to talk about the "My Story " book she will be publishing soon. It is told from the point of view of a child during the Dawn Raids on Polynesian overstayers that were carried out in Auckland in the mid 70's-80's. 

Below I have included comments from the children about their Polyfest experience. One of my standout memories was watching the JHHS perform their item then the whole school (who were sitting at the back of the auditorium) standing up and acknowledging their performance with a haka. Awesome!!

Room 1

"I thought being up on stage was amazing." Tai

"When we were already to go on stage I felt a little nervous" Kahu

"I liked the sound of the pate drum" Roisin

"It was a great experience and a massive privilege that we were able to perform in front of a huge crowd" Nate

"When we got off stage I was proud of the whole school" Molly

"When we were on stage I felt nervous but in the middle of the singing I felt great" Zac

"The flower leis looked awesome but were a bit itchy. The Haka was nice and loud" Travis

"We did well on the Sasa and it was fun having outfits and leis" Summer

"I liked the way that everyone was in time with the beat. Everyone tried their hardest and chanted their loudest" Tommy

"I liked doing Savalivali because it was lively" Zoe

"Yah! I didn't mess up on the guitar or ukulele" James

"I did well leading the Haka and the Sasa" Iain

"By the time we got changed and ready to go on stage I got butterflies in my tummy" Maia

"We did the actions amazing!"   Victoria

Room 3

"I liked watching James Hargest  Senior School sing "Hareruia" (thats is Hallelujah in Maori)"  Sarah

"I liked when I was on stage. I felt like a star!" Ava

"I liked the big Haka the people did in the crowd. I liked it because no one was expecting it" Moby

"Polyfest was cool. I liked having lunch and watching the other schools" Charlie

"I liked getting up there and singing. I want to be back up there again" Tessa

"I liked James Hargest because both the boys and girls did the Haka" Violet

"It was nerve-wracking on stage with all of the faces looking at us" Ryan

"I loved Polyfest because when I went off stage I wanted to get back up again" Sayla

"I felt like I was a performer because I was singing songs for an audience" Guy

"I liked all the coloured lights" Liam

"I liked the people with the rakau sticks because they were doing cool moves" Shay

"It was awesome because we got to watch the people and I loved the song Hallelujah"  Tara

"It was amazing watching the other schools. I loved being on stage" Bella

The last few weeks have been very busy with Polyfest, Bush/Beach School, the Speech Competitions, a KiwiCan trip to Bathing Beach, Science Fair Projects... so we do want to say a big thank you for all the parent support given.

Assembly is on this Thursday at 2pm  instead of the usual 2.15pm starting  time as we do have a lot to share!

Kiwi Spotting Trip

This Wednesday evening (30th) is the first trip for school families on the Stewart Island Wild Kiwi Encounter. Real Journeys has asked that our numbers be cut back to 25 on the trip so will inform you when the second trip is being organised as the first trip is full.  At this stage we have 10 spaces left for the second trip so txt us if you haven't put your names down yet. If there are spare spaces we will offer them to Rug Rats. Thank you Real Journeys!

Science Fair

The senior class are working on their Science Fair projects at the moment with the help of Willy, Mary, Letitia, Rachael and myself so they are getting plenty of individual tuition! Because most of the projects require longer time to gather data I have decided we will only enter three Year 7/8 projects in the actual Southland Science Fair. We are planning to organise our own Science Fair competition here later in the term and will invite Lloyd Esler to spend the day with us to judge the entries and interview the children.

News From Room 3

Room 3 have been researching birds in different habitats. So far we have been bird watching at Bush School and on the beach. When we got back to school we each picked a different bird and had to research the bird. We had to find out their lifespan, diet, length, weight, habitat, 3 facts and what they looked like. We have made an awesome bird book which we will show in assembly this week! 

KiwiCan/Starfish 

This Friday KiwiCan will be held at school. The Starfish group will be biking and Emily will be in touch with the families concerned later in the week.

Tennis

Ten children have shown an interest in Tennis lessons to date. At this stage the coach has not given us a date but it is likely to be one Saturday morning in October. 

Until next time

Ka kite ano

Diane