Middles News
We certainly have had an active start to the term with lots of fun activities already ticked off!
Swimming
I would like to say a big thank you to everybody for your support during our swimming sessions this term. Thank you for helping your child organise themselves for swimming each day, helping out with supervision at the pool, and being flexible with any changes that were made to the timetable. We even had parents helping out with getting equipment off the bus after our final session for the day - your sense of community was especially appreciated.
While the improvements and the sense of pride in achievement were evident from session to session, the results from our swimming block have shown the gains that students made over the 8 days. We have received certificates that detail the achievements of each student and these will be sent home next week for students to celebrate their success with you.
We would like to gather some information about our swimming sessions as we look towards planning next year's programme. For many years, the middle syndicate has taken part in a swimming block of 8 sessions in term 4 with JC Swim School. In 2024, we are looking at increasing this to two swimming blocks with one happening in either term 1 or 2, and a second being our regular block in term 4. These swimming blocks will likely be at the Wakari School Pool due to building work that will be carried out at the DNI Swimming Pool.
PBL & Collaborative Art
We've been working hard to prepare ourselves for our art exhibition. Room 2 has been learning all about the Kaikorai Stream and the animals that live there. Room 3 has been exploring street names in our area through the art medium of typography. Room 4 has been exploring significant events related to our school's history and symbols that are special to our school.
As a syndicate, we have collaborated to look at the history of our area. This included the naming of Kai Kārae (which later became known as Kaikorai), the significance of fishing in the area, the knowledge and skills Māori used in making hei matau (fish hooks) and the stories that they told. Students have created their own designs using some of the ideas we explored. They learned how to manipulate clay using different techniques and then had a chance to use these techniques to create something of their choice. Their final project was to use their designs to make their own matau using air-dried clay, pāua, and a toothpick to carve their designs. This has been a fantastic way to collaborate and work with people from different classes.
We also had an amazing session with Kirsten from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Thursday. She reinforced our understanding of the history of our area and then supported students in creating a 'Tuna in the Kaikorai Stream' artwork. Each class was also given a mural to work on in our own time, which will be a fun follow-up to practice some of our art skills.
Tirohanga
The forecast looks good for Monday, so we're crossing our fingers for an action-packed day. We have been busy discussing health and safety in our classes so that students will be well-prepared for a day of fun challenges. Thank you for all the offers of help - we look forward to seeing you on Monday, ready to go. Please make sure that you let your child's teacher know if, for any reason, you are no longer unable to help.
Reminders:
- Our bus leaves for Tirohanga at 9:15 am and will return by 2:55 pm.
- Please remember that students must wear their school hat (school t-shirts are not needed as we'll be wearing them for our school athletics day on Tuesday).
- An extra big lunch and a drink bottle would be a great idea as children will be burning lots of energy!
Ngā mihi,
Jill Kumar, Emma Anderson, Amy McBeath