In Hauwhenua hub, there have been some exciting changes over the last fortnight. Shortly after settling into our lovely new spaces, we said farewell (sort of) to Mrs Trowbridge who has moved into a new role within the school. We welcome Mrs McCombie who will be teaching in Kōtuku for the remainder of the year. We also wrapped up our science focus for the term - it was great to see Hauwhenua students mixing it up and working with different teachers and students throughout this weekly rotation.

Tūī: On Thursday the 24th August, the year seven and eight netball team (Amelia, Peyson, Layla, Ella, Kaisa, Cameron, and Zoe) competed in the Selwyn Netball Zones in Rolleston. At the start of the day we were all feeling nervous because most of the teams there were very experienced. In our team we had two new players who had never played netball in a competition before, so we all moved positions throughout the day to find the best one we all liked. In the end we all had fun and we were all proud of the way we worked together as a team. Special thanks to Claire, James, and Miss Rockell for helping with transport and supporting us throughout the day.

By Amelia, Peyson and Cameron

In Pūkeko, we have had a fantastic week in our new classroom. We have had to get used to a smaller space (It's hard to beat a whole hall as a classroom!), but it is warm and dry and clean and shiny...(one of the children said it smells nice too). We made sure that our new classroom has some of our art in it to feel like it's "ours", so we put up our The Rakaia Gorge Bridge at Sunset paintings up on our new back wall. To celebrate the end of the first week we had a shared kai and movie together and after we had eaten way too much sugar we invited our Buddy class to come and join us. We are all looking forward to spending the rest of our year in this amazing space.

It has been a busy fortnight in Kōtuku with our preparation and move into our new classroom. The students were very excited to finally be in their new learning space after beginning the year in Room 9. We completed our week by welcoming Mrs McCombie to the Kōtuku teaching team with a shared kai.

In writing, students have been using their skills learned from The Writing Revolution (particularly subordinating conjunctions and SPOs) to craft a range of different writing styles. In maths, we have been learning to use different strategies to solve equations involving multiplication and division. Students are looking forward to exploring digital technology later this term by unlocking their knowledge of computational thinking and designing and developing digital outcomes.

Kōtuku students thoroughly enjoyed their trip to the Rakaia Gorge with Pūkeko. We explored the area where our local story is based and students were creative in sourcing natural materials to re-create their own Tu te Rakiwhānoa and Te Maru. Investigating water samples for invertebrates with Siobhan from Environment Canterbury was also a highlight of the trip.