Greetings everyone

It seems hard to believe I am writing  my final newsletter. The last six months have raced past and it has been an absolute privilege and pleasure to work in your school. I will take away many special memories of working and living amongst such a wonderful group of students and a very caring and supportive community. 

At the end of the year the school community will also lose three families; Zoe, Guy, Jo and Kyle who will be shifting to Wanaka, Holger, Chris and Nate  to Dunedin and with Tommy being the youngest Dobbin, Phred and Belinda - luckily the Dobbins won't be going anywhere! All families have contributed hugely to school activities, even while I have been here and are always happy to make time to share their expertise with the children, provide equipment, offer accommodation in Invercargill etc etc

Thank you and all the best!

Last week was a big week with so many outdoor education activities happening for everyone. The school has many parents and helpers to thank; the four leaders at Camp Columba (Rachael, Mike, Dale and Scott), the parents who supplied boats and kayaks for the Room 3 trip to Port William (Stu, Luke, Morgan, Kyle and Jarrod),  Phred for organising the Year 7&8 Solo Overnighter and row to Ulva Island with the assistance of Uli, Dale and Holger, and finally Holger and Chris for looking after the Year7&8's in Invercargill while they spent two days Orienteering and Surfing. The school certainly puts into practice the saying "It takes a village to raise a child" and we have had a village working hard in the last week... THANK YOU!! 

At assembly this Thursday we will put together presentations about each camp to give you an idea of some of the amazing things everyone got up to while they were away. 

Just to give you a taste of the experiences each group had at camp hear it straight from the kids...

Vicki "I learnt that if I push myself to do challenges I can complete them like with the climbing wall. My first time on it I got to the second board, my second time I got to the fifth and there was 8 boards altogether. Abseiling was a huge challenge for me because I like heights but I don’t like going down heights. I got stuck in the same spot for about 5 minutes and the man who was holding the rope ended up getting down to help me get down from that height and down to Rachael below"

Zac C  At raft building I think that I communicated with the others because I only go with my ideas but this time it started with Tyler’s idea and the group added things on and Voila the raft floated!! My other challenge was going down the concrete slide. It looked fun but when it was my turn I was terrified and then Scott pushed me and I felt like I was going to be sick. "

Ngakau "My challenge was the abseiling.  The voices in my head kept on telling me do not do it, you will fall and hurt yourself. But I did not give up. After a while it turned out to be pretty much fun. Step by step I got further down and before I knew it I was on the bottom!! I felt good" 

Summer I really pushed myself with a couple of things on camp this year. One was the concrete slide because I saw other people go down and it looked FREAKY ALRIGHT! I didn’t want to do it because when you got to the bump you went, weeeee into the air, and back down again. Everyone said that it really hurt. You had to sit in sacks and you were going down concrete yes CONCRETE! In the end after Miss Walker said “You can do this, you can do this”. I decided that I could do it! I went down with Mike. I really enjoyed it and was so relieved and happy that I did it. Then I decided to do it again! For some reason that was a challenge for me but I did it and I am proud of myself. I learnt that things I say I can’t do and don’t want to do I can if I believe in myself and get pushed a little bit by someone."

Gabby "Rowing was amazing. I definitely felt a tad bit of pressure during the row, feeling slower and that I needed to perform the same amount as the other students, even though it was only my second time rowing ever. My first time was a practice for the row to Ulva Island."

Tara "The kayaking was challenging because it was my first time and I got stuck. Maori Beach was challenging for me because it was such a long walk. It was hard getting on the biscuit. I enjoyed the treasure hunt and the whole camp."

Charlie "At Port William Camp I found two challenges. The walk because I was tired and it was long. The kayaking was hard because the big waves and the current made it tiring"

Betty  "At camp I found the walk from Lee Bay to Maori Beach hard. I enjoyed the treasure hunt, chasing the teacher, swimming in the water, seeing a paddle crab and seeing the octopus"

With little over a week to go until the end of term there are still a number of planned activities... 

The PreP Market Day will be held next Tuesday afternoon from 1.30-2.30pm. It is a scaled down version of the usual Market Day as we have only worked on activities this term as opposed to the two terms normally allowed for. All welcome. Come prepared to spend your skales (the currency being used for PreP) on gifts and treasures designed and hand made by the students. 

School Prize Giving  Next Thursday the 14th December at 1.30pm. Mary Chetty arrives this Friday for a week to work with the band and classes on their musical items. We will also be farewelling our three Year 8 students and giving out awards.

School Finish Date  Friday 15th December at 12.30pm

School Working Bee  Saturday 16th December Board members will be contacting you with details about the working bee but the main job is lifting the carpets ready for new carpet to be laid over the holidays

Calendars A request from Jeanette -  all calendar money is to be paid by this Friday (8th December)  and could everyone please return any unsold calendars to the office.  Thank you for your support with this school fundraiser.

Congratulations to Sinky who received a special  community service award at the Lions BBque last night for his work around the Bay. The list was very long!! Well done Sinky

2018 School Arrangements

Next year there will be some changes with Emily taking a year's leave, Kath returning from her 6 months Science fellowship and Jade and Alison coming on board for the year. Kath is looking forward to putting some exciting programmes into place, based around her Science learning with DoC and leadership work in Wellington.

It has been mentioned earlier but to check everyone is aware, there will be three classes operating in the mornings

Room 3   New Entrants Years 1-2   Alison Fitzsimons

Room 1   Years 3-6  Jade Pettinger

Room 4   Years 7-8 . Kath and Bonnie

I look forward to catching up with many of you at Prize giving next week. Until then

Ka kite 

Diane

Community News

Toyota Kiwi Guardians is a programme for 6-10 years to help promote walking and exploring new areas - a partnership between DoC and Toyota. They are organising two launches for walking tracks on the Island and families are welcome to join in with both launches The first one, “Ackers Trackers” Project is being launched on the 15th December. Meet at the stone cottage at 2.30pm to find out about the project, who it is aimed at and how the local kura can support efforts in introducing families to these special places. There will be a walk out to the point to complete the ‘track’. The second launch is “Ulva Island /Te Wharawhara Paradise “ the next day – Saturday 16th. Boat transportation (Hananui) is leaving from the Golden Bay Wharf at 9am taking people across to Ulva for the launch at Sydney Cove at 9.45am – transportation back to Golden Bay will be from 10.45-sharp. If people choose to stay on the island for longer they must make their own alternate transportation arrangements.