Week 7 of term four saw the senior students go on exam leave, leaving just the year 9 and 10 students at school. This year it was decided that we would be reviving ‘Activities Week’ for the juniors and what a week it was!

Day One saw the year tens take off in the bus driven by Mr O’Sullivan to hit the Manawatu Gorge walk. Led by Ms Tucker the students enjoyed trekking through the bush and a highlight was throwing rocks into the river by the look out point. After the walk the students enjoyed lunch and an afternoon on the slides at the Lido. The year ten students spent day one walking down to Foxton Beach to the sand dunes. Once there they split into a boys group and a girls group and while the the boys competed in running races and relays, the girls made survival huts with Mr Culshaw. They then swapped over so that each student completed both activities. After a long, hot walk back to school the students spent the rest of their day cooling off in the school pool.

Day Two was an in-school cultural day for the year tens. The females were taught the game Ki O Rahi while the boys learned a Haka led by senior Students Mani Miller and James Birch. Mrs Archer and Annette provided a delicious barbecue for lunch while the students enjoyed a free swim in the pool. After lunch the students swapped over and completed the other activities.

While The year tens were enjoying their day of culture, the year nines boarded the bus and headed off on an orienteering competition at the Botanical Gardens in Whanganui. The students were given a range of challenges to complete, such as selfie competitions, and photo callenges.

Day Three saw the year tens head off orienteering in Whanganui while the year nines enjoyed a day of culture at school.

Day four was the Gorge walk and Lido day for the year tens while the year nines spent the day at School taking part in different activities. This began with a Tae Kwon Do self defense course taught by Mr Parrant with the girls and the boys taking part in a JuJitzu lesson with Mr Culsaw. After learning how to defend themselves from an attack the groups swapped over ensuring both boys and girls got some valuable lessons. After this the students competed against each other in an epic quiz with ten rounds focusing on geography, entertainment, name that song and history. This was won confidently by ‘The Constipaytons” who also won bonus points for the most creative team name including their leaders name ‘Payton”. After lunch the students went of the river loop walk to prepare them for their Social Studies time early next week. This allowed the students to see the boardwalk and a small part of Foxton. Finishing off the day the students were given time in the pool to cool off after the short walk into Foxton.

Friday saw the beginning of the ‘blocked timetable’ courses. For the final two weeks of the year the junior students ran on a timetable that saw the students blocked into subject areas to engage in hands on learning activities. While the year 10s were sitting their end of year asTTle and easTTle tests the year nine students were participating in their language faculty activities. One rotation consisted of weaving flax flowers and making frybread with Whaea Mere, and in the second the students enjoyed learning calligraphy, origami and making sushi with Sensei Mizutani. The afternoon saw the year 10s begin their science rotation. There was a Maths Amazing Race and an English trip to lazertag. Social Sciences fixed issues/problems within the community and a group even made $110 with a carwash!

It was a fantastic way to end the year and was a great way for the students to engage in some learning activities outside of the classroom.