On Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 September, Rangiora New Life School hosted a Mini-Casafest at their school. Casafest is a sporting and cultural festival where teams from Canterbury Area Schools come together for a couple of days of friendly competition and the opportunity to reconnect with students from the other schools.

Oxford Area School sent a team of 10 senior students. The first day started with a Mihi whakatau in the Gymnasium. 

After students were shown to their homerooms, Round 1 was underway. In this round, the students either played Turbo Touch or Lawn Bowls. This was a successful round for Oxford who took out first place in the Turbo Touch.

Round 2 was mixed volleyball and the Food Challenge where students had to prepare dinner for the staff. They were given two pieces of steak and then had to purchase other ingredients from the supermarket with a limited budget. Staff then had to judge the dinner that was placed in front of them without knowing which school had prepared it. The Oxford girls finished 3rd in this challenge.

After dinner, students either played 3v3 basketball or participated in a Quiz. The 3v3 basketball was very exciting with both Oxford teams playing at the same time on adjacent courts. 

The students then went home with their Rangiora New Life School billets after a very busy first day.

At the start of Day 2, everyone met in the gym for a game of Survivor Hockey. The object was to eliminate a school by scoring in their goal. Once a team was scored on 3 times they was eliminated from the gym. Oxford made it to the top 2 before being eliminated by Hurunui.

The students then moved to their Round 5 options, either playing Squash or Ultimate Frisbee. This was another successful round for Oxford, coming second in the Squash and first in the Ultimate. 

In the final round, students either went to the Mainpower stadium for a Fitness Challenge or remained at RNL School for Tchoukball. The students who were part of the Fitness Challenge had to complete a Prama class and a fitness class. The students worked in pairs and were scored on how many time they could do the activity in the given time. Back at Rangiora New Life, the Oxford Area School team took out top spot in the Tchoukball competition. 

At the end of the day, Hurunui College was named top overall school with Oxford Area School coming in a close second.

Oxford Area School Team: Jon Smoothy, Noah Crew, Earl Cacho, Sofia Tizzard, Abby Taylor, Caitlyn Tyson, Hillary Cooper, Jystarnia Millwood, Micah Stagg, Kody Stubbs

Well done to all the OAS students involved who displayed the school values, had fun playing with their friends, trying new sports and reconnecting with friends that they have made at the other schools.