First up we would like to take this opportunity to wish Sarah Gilbert the best of luck with her soon to be born bundle of joy! I will be looking after the administration for both the middle and senior team while she is away. We would extend a warm welcome to Mr John Bish who will be teaching in Room 3 until Sarah's return.

Up and Coming Events and Dates

- ICAS Science (29th May)

- Queens Birthday (4th June)

- Life Education Visit (13th to 21st June)

- Parent Teacher Meeting (3rd and 4th July)

- Room 5 Assembly (6th July)

Term 1 Learning Continues for some Seniors

It has been fantastic to see Meg, Hope and Huxley from Room 1 continuing their learning from Term 1. They have been independently running an art programme for the juniors in the kitchen over a lunch time. Last week when I went to see how they were doing and they had about 15 juniors painting rocks! They were well organised, and the children were loving their art lessons. Well done! Please take time to see the pictures attached.

Crazy Hair day

Children loved the crazy hair day and really got into the spirit of the occasion. Please take the time to see some of the pictures taken by our students.

Book Week

Book week has been an amazing success. The children have got to meet 3 famous authors and illustrators. Their workshops were amazing and inspirational. The big messages we heard were, to love your mistakes, keep on trying, and believe in yourself. The children also got some fantastic tips on how to make simple steps to improve their drawings, both with using pencil and paper, and using technology.

It has also been great to have teachers from around the school read to different classes. We have had wonderful feedback from the children on this.

Finally we have had a number of buddy reading classes where older and younger children have read together and often produced some work afterwards. Room 1 particularly enjoyed working on diorama settings from story books with Room 10.

Middles Science

Fair testing in science (not to be confused with a Science Fair) will be a focus in the middle syndicate for the next month. Each class will be involved in investigating a range of science experiments which will include slime, rockets, magnets, and liquids. Through fair testing, children will be discussing the methods scientists use when experimenting to ensure their conclusions are valid.

Middles Trip

Children had a fantastic time moving around the hands-on interactive activities at Tūhura. Although many children had been before, their level of engagement was high and many didn’t want to leave. Spending time inside the Planetarium was also a wonderful learning experience. Children were taken on a journey through the solar system, sharing their own knowledge as they went. It has certainly been easy to maintain the excitement and enthusiasm for this topic back in the classroom.

New Furniture

As well as looking into life systems, the children from Room 2 and 2a are also investigating into the possible furniture that could go into their Rooms. They are looking at their class systems and thinking about how it could run with newer and varied chairs and tables.

PAL Leaders

Our PAL leaders have headed off to a winter sports coaching session at the Edgar Centre. We hope they will be able to share their learning and help coach the seniors in small groups during our PE sessions this term. They are also very fortunate to be going the NYLD (National Young Leaders Day) on Monday where they will hear from young inspiring leaders. We will be sure to get them to do a write up on this and share their experiences.

Senior Disco

Loud! Fun! Lights! And great music! The disco went off during this book week. The dressed up kids look amazing and many won cool prizes. FUN TIME INDEED!

Kaikorai Rugby