Term 3 Week 2

It's hard to believe we are past the half way stage of the year already! Term 3 has got off to a great start in the Senior School with the students and teachers full swing into the learning. Below are some highlights of the first two weeks of the term.

Butterfly Mural

You would have no doubt seen the butterfly mural is now firmly secured in pride and place in the junior school courtyard. What an absolutely outstanding creation! Our art ambassadors worked incredibly hard throughout Term 2 creating it. The attention to detail is brilliant. They have already started their next project... more details in the next few weeks!

Science Extension

Every Friday for the next 4 weeks Ms Coton will be working with a small group of our budding scientists. A large focus of these sessions will be preparing for their entries for the upcoming NIWA Science Fair later in August but they are also spending some time experimenting. Last week they were exploring the difference between exothermic and endothermic reactions. They have also enjoyed working with the new science equipment that has been recently purchased. For more pics and information check out Ms Coton's Science Blog

HRSA Hockey Tournament

On Tuesday the 29th of July ten of us from Muritai School went to Fraser Park to compete in a girl’s hockey tournament. We played five ten minute games. Our first game was against St. Josephs and they won that 1 - nil, followed by St. Orans who also won that game 2 - nil. We then played Wa Ora who we beat 2 - nil and Maungaraki who we beat 1 - nil. Finally we came up against St. Peter's and Paul's in the game for fifth and sixth place. Our team beat them 3 - nil, consequently finishing in fifth place. It was a very enjoyable day and our skills definitely improved as the tournament continued!

By Mia Treadwell - Burke

Commonwealth Games

What a very successful Commonwealth Games it has been this year for New Zealand. All the classes have really enjoyed following our athletes on their journey to win gold.

When major international sporting events are happening it is always a great opportunity to integrate some history and geography into the classroom programme. The students in Room 23 used Google Maps to plot the locations of host cities from previous Games. Check out some of these examples below.

Jake
 

Macey

  

Rosie

  

Debating

This term our literacy focus is based around debating. Our students always enjoy a good argument! To start this unit students in Room 22 had a go choosing and researching current issue and debating both sides of the argument. Here are a couple of examples.

William.
Tom

Lily and Neve
 

Careers Education

We started our Careers Education programme this week. This is an opportunity for our students to focus their thinking on their future and to explore the variety of pathways they can decide to follow when they get into the big wide world for themselves! Although it is still a long way off it is important for them to think about their interests and talents when transitioning to high school where they will have to make decisions on subjects that could impact on their future.

The focus of Careers Education in Year 7/8 is exposing them to different careers and what adults do in a typical day. On Thursday we had three parents from the school community share their experiences with us. Ann van der Veen who is  one of our local G.P's at Muritai Medical Centre, Anthony Watson who works at ANZ Bank as a Technology Risk and Security Management and Garth Johnson who is I.T Manager at Wellesley College.

It was really interesting listening to our three presenters and hearing how different their jobs are but interestingly enough we discovered several similarities. For example all three of them needed to have strong communication skills - being able to talk and listen effectively to others. A big thank you to Ann, Anthony and Garth. We really appreciate you giving up your time to be with us. We are looking forward to our next set of parents in a fortnights time.

Production Auditions.

 The planning for our whole school production in well underway. As usual our senior students will have the opportunity to take a lead role in this show. This week, Mr Chadwick and Mrs Hooke held auditions major speaking roles. All the children that have taken part have seriously impressed both teachers. Its going to be a tough decision choosing from such a strong pool of talent!

 Tournament of Minds

 We have selected our team for the Tournament of Minds which will be held on Saturday September 6th. Congratulations to: 

Lexi Hulbert 

Kieran Smith

Noah Daniel-Oakshatt 

Charlotte Barclay 

George Mirfin-Newman 

Mia Treadwell-Burke 

Hannah Moffat

This is a huge project that will require the team to work in their own time with little direction from adults to complete a challenge. It is a six week project and they are all thoroughly excited and are up for the challenge. Again, we had a huge amount of interest in this opportunity and it was incredibly tricky deciding on the members of the team.

  Room 22 and their buddies

 And finally, here's a great little clip from Room 22 and their buddy class - Room 2. Top job guys!