Harvest Festival

The Harbour Harvest Festival was a great success today with all of the schools in the Harbour area combining to engage in a range of activities. The weather was just right for it and everyone got involved in what was a very worthwhile experience. Some activities had more interest than others and it's interesting to listen to the sharing of stories between groups. A lot of time went into the organisation of the day and Project Lyttelton is to be commended for the work they have done, particularly their coordinator, Sarah Pritchett. Thanks also goes to all of the people who ran their activities.

Slow day? No way!

Contrary to popular belief, turtles are not slow. I witnessed this first hand in Piwakawaka this afternoon. Donna Moot visited with a number of turtles and kept the class enthralled with her stories and descriptions. The turtles were of various shapes and sizes with a range of 'problems' that led them to being in Donna's care. It was wonderful to hear how knowledgeable the students were about turtles and the issues with caring for them. They also asked intelligent questions. A reporter from The Press had been invited by some students and he showed up and took a good deal of photos so hopefully we will see some of these in the paper soon.

Science, Rocky Shore and Turtles

After a couple of short weeks with Easter, we're back into the start of a full week with only one more to go after this one.

On Wednesday we've got the day at Orton Bradley Park. Each child has been placed in a group and will have a badge identifying them as a member of that group for the day. Thank you to those who have offered to help and if you'd like to but haven't been in touch please contact the office on Tuesday to express your interest. Everyone in Tui class will need to wear gumboots that day as their groups will be doing some investigating in a stream.

We've got our board meeting tonight at 6:30pm so feel free to come along if you're interested in seeing what happens at a meeting. Elections are coming up soon so this could be a good opportunity to observe if you are thinking of putting your name forward.

Dog Biscuits

Tui class have been busy baking dog biscuits today. (That's biscuits in the shape of dogs for humans to eat, rather than 'dog biscuits') They are selling them tomorrow (Friday) interval for $2 each. They look great and I'm sure will be very popular. The money goes towards the Red Puppy Appeal for guide dogs. More information on the appeal can be found here.

Happy Easter

This was meant to post yesterday but didn't for some reason.

I hope everyone made the most of the 5 days of wonderful weather over the Easter break, and of course enjoyed copious amounts of chocolate.

We were right back into it this morning to start off our short week. Alex, our board chair, and I had our regular Wednesday morning meeting, the Year 7 & 8s went off to Thorrington for Technology, I worked with the year 6s, along with Jacqueline on the gardens, Rachel and Moira were business as usual in their classes, Rebecca was her normal busy self in the office and Bridget was in this afternoon to take Kereru. I also had a meeting with a guy about shelving in the library and Rebecca worked with the fencing person to look at repairs on our fence.

Just a standard day at our wonderful school, always busy, always fun.

Farewell

We've had a busy week with Karen's farewell, Yr 6s in the garden and Tui class heading off to the rocky shore.

Karen's farewell was a lovely occasion and really captured the essence of who she was. As she handed out certificates at assembly it was as if she had never left. She is really enjoying her new job, which is not without its challenges, and was really pleased to be back visiting. It made her realise how much she misses the school and everyone associated with it. Her new job has made her realise just what a wonderful staff we have and how lucky we are with the children and parents we've got here. Thank you to those parents who were able to make it, to the board for their gift and to the PTA for putting on afternoon tea.

Tui class headed down to the rocky shore today but as I was teaching all day I was unable to join them. By all accounts it was a very successful trip with many an interesting and exciting discovery made. I look forward to seeing photos of the excursion.

Swimming

It was a wonderful day for swimming sports this morning. Thanks to everyone who was able to transport the classes up to Living Springs we were there on time and everything ran smoothly. It was an exciting morning with a number of close finishes. The event was well planned by Val and Rachel and the children were well behaved and organised, as usual. Thanks to the parents who were able to transport and be our audience.

Exciting News

When Shane arrived to run the sausage sizzle at lunchtime on Friday he brought with him a package that had just arrived. It was for Chloe and Ruby and contained a letter telling them they had made the last 28 in a video competition on the Erin Simpson show. They also won headphones for making it this far. Their movie, which is a music video of them singing a Nicki Minaj song, will play on the show on Saturday 13th of April and then voting will open. The videos with the top 3 votes go through to the final. I'll let you know voting details when they become available.

Great work, Chloe and Ruby, it is a wonderful video.

Planting time

Jacqueline was back again this morning and the Yr 6s were involved in tidying up a couple of the garden beds and doing the first lot of planting for the year. They then watered the beds and covered them to create the ideal environment for the next few days. It is great to have Jacqueline to share her extensive knowledge and guide us in our endeavours, we are all learning so much as a result.

Variety of work

It's exciting as I go around the school, to see not only the work the students are doing currently but also examples of work they are choosing to do in their own time. Today Riley showed me the wonderful work he has been doing in Moira's class with a report on Sea Anemones, it was beautifully written and showed his deep understanding and interest in the topic. Val's class were engaged in learning a ukelele tune and I look forward to hearing the finished product. In Rachel's class I had a number of students showing me the homework projects they had been working on of their own choice. There are a range of interesting topics and they were all well presented.
Scarlett returned to us today after being elsewhere due to EQC work and she had written an excellent account of her time at Elmwood school, particularly the bit at the end about being so pleased to be back.