Term 3 Week 9

The Elements

What an incredible couple of weeks it has been in the senior school! Its fair to say everyone is pretty exhausted after the conclusion of our Arts Extravaganza - The Elements. It took a huge amount of effort and time to ensure the show was a success. We have received a huge amount of positive feedback from the community on the quality of the performances and the variety that was on offer. It really gave individuals the opportunity to shine in their chosen area of the arts. 

The teachers are particularly proud of our senior students over the past month. They have shown commitment, dedication and leadership throughout the entire process. They are a huge component in  making the show such a success.




 The shots from our photography group were AMAZING!! What outstanding quality - I can easily see these on the wall of an art gallery!

  Epro8 

 We have continued our success in the Epro8 challenge. Epro8 Challenge is a competition, an engineering and problem solving race where schools compete to build large structures, solve practical problems, engineer machines and construct electronic circuits. Our two teams competed in the semi-finals on Tuesday afternoon. Congratulations to Macey, Daan, Fergus and Keiran who have qualified for the grand-final at Raroa Intermediate this coming Tuesday evening. Well done guys, we are incredibly proud of you. Best of luck for Tuesday!

Tournament of Minds

 Along with the success of our Epro8 team, our Tournament of Minds team also competed in the National Final at Hutt Intermediate on Saturday. They also competed in a Maths and Engineering section. The team was locked down for 3 hours to create a solution to the challenge they were presented. Throughout this 3 hours they were also asked to complete a spontaneous challenge. Once again, they were not allowed any assistance from adults.

Great news, these guys won! The team were clear winners on the day and thoroughly deserve the win. The next stage is International! Traveling to Sydney to compete against teams throughout the world! Watch this space for more details.

Term 3 Week 7

Its been a while this our last update but that doesn't mean nothing much has been happening in our Senior School. Below are some highlights from the past three weeks. Special thanks to some of our students who have contributed to this post.

Football 

On Tuesday the 18th of August at 12.15pm a group of Year 7 & 8 students went to Bishops Park to play against the Wellesley B team. The Muritai team played really well and won 7-4. The goals were scored by Matthew Jones x2, Macey Caughley x1, Alice x3 and Ella Giles x1. Overall they really enjoyed themselves and would love to do it again. Thanks to everyone who came down and supported us!

By Macey Caughley

Netball

On Thursday the 20th of August the year 7 and 8 netball teams went out to Taita to compete in a Netball tournament. We played against a variety of different teams.

Our games were 20 minutes with 10 minute halves. The games started at 9.30 and our last game finished at 12.00.

Both teams played really well, thanks to our coaches and all the supporters.

Epro8

On Monday the 24th of August two Year 7/8 Muritai school teams of four entered a competition. Team 1 was Noah Oakshatt, Tilly Potter, Tessa Treadwell-Burke and Shannyn Thompson. Team two was Kieran Smith, Fergus Hart, Macey Caughley & Dann Tokeley. The competition we entered was an engineering and building competition called ePro 8. We were set with limited supplies and had four tasks and had 3 and a half hours to do as many of the tasks as we could do. The first task we decided to do was to make a Mars space rover that could carry 5 kg and for more points we could make it remote control, go back and forwards and or stop if it hits any objects. When we had finished we pressed a big red button that lets off a song and lights to mean we are done. We had made a mars rover that could carry 5 kg. After that we had 1 and a half hours to make a crane that had to be 1.8 m high and carry 1 kg. We managed to complete the task in the nick of time, we had 2 minutes till the time was up. Once we had finished it was prize giving and team one came 3rd and team two came 4th! This means both teams qualify for the semi-finals on Tuesday 15th September.


By Noah Daniel-Oakshatt

Art Show - The Elements preparation

Last week the students have been working incredibly hard getting prepared for their art extravaganza in week 9. We have had students involved in a variety of creative experiences including the art of taking the perfect photo, learning lines for a play (William Shakespeare's MacBeth no less!), creating a music/dance act with percussion, painting on fabric and of course wearable arts. All the acts are inspired by 'The Elements - Earth, Wind, Water and Fire'.

The teachers have been incredibly impressed with all the students creativity and enthusiasm over the past week - what incredible kids we have at Muritai!

A special thanks to all our wonderful parents who volunteered their time to help out during the week. We could not have done it without you!

Don't forget to purchase your tickets from the school office. Its going to be a great show!

Scratch Projects

As part of our Technicraft programme, all students have a six week block working with Ms Coton on computer programming. They use the 'Scratch' tool for creating games and activities. Below is an excellent example of a project completed by Emily B in Room 22 - excellent work Emily! For more projects, check out Room 22 classroom blog.

 

  Gardening

 The sun was shining for a little bit last week so it was great to get out into our garden. We spent the session planting new plants which were purchased through a grant from the Bayer Institute. We are looking forward to seeing them get established over the coming months.

Tournament of Minds

 Yesterday we had two teams represent Muritai at the Regional Tournament of Minds competition. This is an accumulation of six weeks work on a maths and engineering challenge. One of the key rules of this tournament is the teams must not seek any outside assistance from adults. Both teams works incredibly well throughout the process and delivered great solutions on the day. One of our teams stood out from their competitors and were awarded 1st place! This means they now qualify for the National in a few weeks time. Well done to all involved!