Athletics

This morning a large contingent of students went to the zone athletics meeting with Karen. Thank you to those parents who were able to offer their assistance in this.

 Eddie Norgate, the principal of Diamond Harbour School, and I met with some representatives from the Ministry of Education this morning to get an outline of what is expected in the cluster plan that we will be submitting to the Ministry in December. Every school in the greater Christchurch area is in a cluster and ours is with Diamond Harbour. As we already have a close working relationship, along with the Lyttelton schools, this will not be that new for us. What will be different is the opportunity to put our ideas to the Ministry and ask for assistance from them to further support us in what we are doing.

We also had the auditors in today to do an interim audit and after some discussions and a lot of paperwork I am happy to say that as a school we have everything in order. A big thanks to Rebecca for putting the paper work together, I just did the talking.

School athletics tomorrow afternoon for Piwakawaka and Kereru, looks like the weather will be all good for it.

Welcome back

After Val and Moira having professional development on Science yesterday, Karen and Sarah had professional development on Mathematics today. This is all part of our continual improvement and development programme. We are very lucky that we have highly skilled teachers who come to cover our classes during absences, so a big thank you to Helen and Bridget for the work they do.

In Kereru this afternoon we welcomed back Charlotte and Oscar who have both been abroad in England and Germany respectively. Everyone was very excited to see them, particularly as they got to sing the birthday song to Charlotte.

The year 4, 5 & 6 students had their second round of tennis this morning with the professional coaches who started with them last week. Again, this was very successful.

Bad weather

Tuesday 6 November

Unfortunately we had to postpone athletics this morning due to the weather. Even though the sun did come out in the afternoon, it was still very cold and the field is quite muddy in places. We will go ahead with athletics on Friday afternoon. Thank you to the parents who offered to help for today. Could you please contact the school if you are able to help on Friday afternoon.

I held another information session for parents on BYOT after school today. I had hoped to catch the 'after athletics' crowd but I was unable to change the session to Friday as I have another meeting after school that day. It was good to have a talk about some of the issues and share ideas. If you have any questions or concerns about BYOT please be in touch.

Athletics

 Tomorrow afternoon is athletics for Kereru and Piwakawaka, if the weather holds. The children have put in a lot of effort to practice for this and it will be good to see the results on the day.

After school tomorrow I am holding a BYOT session in the library to talk to you about hand-held devices in the classroom and what the Bring your own technology agreement is all about. After school care is available in Kereru classroom so you can leave your children in good care and come hear what it's all about.

The spoils

At morning tea today the students from Piwakawaka and Kereru were rewarded for their efforts in the performances over the week. The final night went well and was a fitting end to a busy week.

The photo of Koromako's books show off the covers they made for them at the start of the year. They are a great idea and make the books very personalised and identifiable.

My thanks to the parents who attended the information and feedback session this morning. We had a valuable discussion around a number of points regarding BYOD and the use of technology in the school. This session will be repeated on Tuesday afternoon.

Final Performance

Tonight marks the final performance in what has been an exciting week with everything coming together to produce a wonderful show. It's been very busy for the students with 3 nights of performing and a night of trick or treating thrown in for good measure. Ruby has had even more on her plate with an hour test in the final Otago Problem Solving maths challenge. Only a select few get to sit this test and Ruby is to be congratulated on making it this far.

Year 4, 5 and 6 were involved in tennis lessons this afternoon and that went very well under the guidance of the two professional coaches.

Painting

Wednesday 31 October - sorry it didn't post correctly on the day.

With the shade sails up (thanks to The Board) and the hot weather, the conditions were perfect today for the garden painting to go ahead. Thanks to Paul for pre-cutting the currugated iron the students were able to work in small groups on a piece each and they are looking stunning.  Paul was also busily involved today helping with the construction of a 'Bee Box' which has come together nicely.

Robina was in again working with the students on the garden which is also looking wonderful.
The gardeners were able to enjoy some of their fare for lunch today which is an important part of the process.

Another top performance last night and the chance for some students and parents to have a bit of a game of soccer afterward to round out the evening. Last performance Thursday night!

Top Show That!

Opening night was a roaring success with a range of talents on display. Everyone did the school proud with the part they played. There was another performance this afternoon for Cholmondeley House with some parents and grandparents and of course there is a 3rd showing tonight with the Mahy family as guests of honour. See you there!