Kauri Whānau Weekly Update: Term 3 Week 6

In this post:

• Final reminders for ski day
• Duathlon
• Assemblies
• Self-Defence
• Cantamaths Results
• From The School for Young Writers.
• Book Character Day photos

Final reminders for tomorrow's ski day:

• Be at school by 5:50, meeting on Sandwich Rd
• Masks for the bus
• Please give breakfast at home before coming to school
• Check the previous post for the clothing list. Sunglasses or goggles are essential.
• Bring a substantial lunch and a water bottle.
• No money or money cards. The mountain is cashless and we are avoiding an inequality situation between who has and who hasn't got a money card.
• Please leave cell phones at home. If they must come, these need to be handed in before getting on the buses or in cars.
• We will send out a notification to confirm our arrival time back at school. We expect it will be around 6pm.
• A big thanks to those who lent skis and boots for our dryland sessions. If you have yet to pick these up, please do so today if possible.
• An early night tonight, please

Duathlon:

Our school duathlon is next Tuesday. All competitors were given a paper notice with a course map and race details on Tuesday. A number of our students will also be helping with the running of this event. Spectators are most welcome.

Assemblies:

We are holding assemblies every second week for Year 5-8. Parents are now welcome at assemblies. Please wear a mask. This week we will be presenting Excellence awards from Cantamath. Highly Commended awards will be handed out at our next team hui.

Self-Defence:

This week our self-defence classes started for Year 8 girls and those who are non-binary. These classes are taken by Lynda Maindonald from Self-Defence NZ. This nation-wide programme has been running for a number of years and is always very well received. The children will have three sessions between now and the end of term, with a total of five hours of tuition. 

We are going to provide a parallel opportunity around keeping ourselves safe for the Year 8 boys on Friday afternoons. Each Year 8 boy will get two sessions. Sessions will include:

- How to stand up to peer pressure

- How to move/stand with confidence

- What kinds of situations have the potential to escalate and why 

- How body language/eye contact/tone can affect the outcome of a situation

- How to de-escalate a situation

Cantamath Results:

On Wednesday, August 24th our problem-solving teams took part in the Cantamath competition. A big well done to Noah, Weaver, Rose and Frida (Year 7) and Quinn, Fergus, George and Ben S (Year 8) who took on the challenge of solving 20 very tricky problems in 30 minutes, amidst much noise and distraction that comes with the competition. Special congratulations to the Year 8s who scored 75 out of a possible 100 points. 

Another part of Cantamath is the projects competition. Here our kura excelled, with a large number of highly commended and excellence awards. We were extremely proud of Noah Palmer who received an outstanding award (only two of these were awarded) for his dynamic model of a trebuchet.

As Cantamath has not gone ahead for several years due to Cantamath, some of our Year 8s entered two projects - as their Year 7 projects were selected to go into a competition that did not go ahead. 

Excellence Awards:

Dynamic Models:

Noah Palmer (Outstanding)

Rowan Hopwood

Fergus Macdonald

Maths Photography:

Stella Gillman

Publicity Motif:

Daniel Webster

Lilian Shelku

Static Models:

William Pooch

Caitlin McIntosh

Lillie Neame

Written Work:

Ella Coleman

George Smith (Year 7 and Year 8)

Quinn Clarke (Year 7 and Year 8)

Freya Braun

Highly Commended Awards:

Dynamic Models:

Weaver McDaid

Timon Spill

Maths Posters:

Lillie Neame

Emma Elphick

Overall Theme (Maths in entertainment):

Weaver McDaid

Publicity Motif:

Lola Harris

Static Models:

Harvey Graham

Katya Atlas

Keanna Hakeagaiki

Lola Harris

Oliver McLachlan

Stella Gillman

William Pooch

Written Work:

Alfie Moore

Ashlyn Taffs

Frida Corin

Jemma Sutherland

Ben Scalan

From The School for Young writers

Creative Nonfiction = True Stories Well Told

For our latest Write On Magazine competition, we invite young writers from Year 4 to Year 10 to write a piece of creative nonfiction that draws us closer to nature. Theme: It's Only Natural. 

The Rules: 

1.You can spin out a true story, present an article, write a memoir but you can't make stuff up — that's the "Nonfiction" bit. 

2."Creative” means we want you to use the techniques writers use to tell stories, but about real creatures, places, people and events, in a way that engages and entertains.

3. Word count: up to 400 words

4. Deadline September 20th

Prompts, tips and more information here. 

We also welcome open submissions for Issue 59 of Write On by the end of term of any form of writing, whether or not it matches our theme, It's Only Natural. 

See submissions here: https://www.schoolforyoungwriters.org/write-on

Some Book Character Day Pics ...