Week 7 Term 3 2022
Kia ora koutou
Kia ora koutou whaanau,
During week 7 our AIMS teams have been away at the AIMS Tournament in Tauranga. We are incredibly proud of how our teams have performed and the great sportspersonship and values they have demonstrated during the tournament. We will provide a full report on the teams achievement in our next newsletter.
This week we also held our Science Evening, which was a successful night with our students displaying and talking about the learning in science over this term.
It was with sadness we received the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth this morning. A woman who has dedicated her whole life of service to others. We New Zealanders will remember her with great fondness and huge respect. This morning we took a moment as a school to mark this moment in history - the death of Queen Elizabeth.
Hei konā mai
Susan
RVLTN - Revolution Assembly
This week we had Revolution Tour come to the school assembly and entertain our students with song, dance and games, as well as deliver a message about asking for help. The main message that was delivered was that when things get a bit tough, that "Help Helps' however it is important to think about who you ask for help. Make sure you seek help from someone that cares for you and is a bit further along the track from you, as not all help is helpful.
Our students enjoyed the energy, fun and games the youth group bought to our school.
Talent Time - Term 3
We have had two sessions of Talent Time this term, and the students have been settled and engaged in various activities. We include Talent Time in our curriculum so that students can practice making decisions about their learning and understand the things that influence their decision-making - friends, teachers, subject choice, being comfortable or having the courage to try something new. It also allows them to meet and work with new combinations of people - students and adults, try new activities and follow existing interests. An interesting aspect of this is practising how to come and ask for help or change when things haven't worked out how they thought they might ask. We consider these all important skills to have as they progress in their learning.
The students have had a choice of Futsal, Outdoor Sports, Pasifika Sports and Games, Rock Painting, Art, Origami and Japanese Culture, Felt Work, Clay Creations, Aboriginal Art and Dreamtime Stories, Printmaking, KPOP, Christmas in Nature, Jump Jam, Minecraft Education version, The Block: Maeroa, Making Movies, Making Music, Digi Tech, Trivia Fun, STEM, Culinary Fare, Debating, Kapa Haka.
Koru Badge Update
"If you can dream it, you can do it."
-- Walt Disney
A big congratulations to the following people who have earned their koru badges in the last two weeks.
Bronze: Zoe Yagolnitzer, Zoe Gribben, Keiran O'Brien, Mason Gilchrist, Ethan Hobson, Kaya Iane, David Jong, Dhruv Patel, Alex Allardyce, Mack Holah, Dylan King, Rebekah Smith, Carlos Koroheke, Campbell Walters, Reuben Clear.
Silver: Zoe Gribben, Dhruv Patel, Anmool Ali.
Gold: Lily-Anna Vann.
Star: Danica Raethel
Super Star: Freya Douglas
Science Night
This week we celebrated our Science Learning with an open evening. Students were excited to share their thinking and learning about our Forces in Motion unit of inquiry.
A range of learning activities has been designed over the past six weeks for students to think with a scientific lens, develop technical language to explain their thinking, develop hypotheses, test them and report on their success.
Thank you for supporting our evening, as it provides a genuine opportunity for our students to talk about their learning.
Forces in Motion
Forest Flora Nursery Visit
On Monday, 29th August our Enviro team travelled to Forest Flora Nursery in Ngaruawahia to look at an established nursery of native plants and learn more about how a plant nursery works. We met Wayne (the owner), who has been living in Ngaruawahia for the last 40 years. He shared with us his journey into native plant production. They take seeds and cuttings from local native trees/plants and have established a nursery that sells approximately 150,000 plants per annum. Their commercial nursery is near Whatawhata but Wayne is kept busy at home with a smaller, but still very extensive nursery in his own backyard.
Wayne has developed his property, including a riverbank, by studying what nature does best and then trying to mimic this in his plantings. When she left school, his daughter studied ecology and is now managing the nursery.
We wanted to get some ideas of how we could improve our nursery here at school and make it more effective and user-friendly on wet days. Wayne showed us the space where he pots up plants (under some clearlite roofing). He has a variety of shade houses, hot houses and spaces outside where plants can be nurtured from very small seedlings to established plants just waiting to be planted into their final home.
We were able to discuss with Wayne the kinds of roofing that would help us to continue to work with our plants during the wet Gully days. He also explained the sprinkler system to us and suggested that any irrigation system we set up should have water that sprays and overlaps to ensure all plants are watered well enough.
Our team of students buzzed with ideas for our nursery here at school. The students were considering the need for wet day space, work benches at a good height for potting plants, pathways that enable safe moving from one place to another when carrying trays of plants and the irrigation system for our young plants. Finally, Wayne took us a wee way behind his property to look at some of the more mature plants he put in 25 years ago. This is what we can look forward to in the future, with our gully here at school.
Our team on this trip included: Oliver, Benjamin, Eva, Adanna, Hawaiki, Tumaia, Dallas, Saxon, Ivy, Holly and Grace with Mrs Yeoman, Whaea Oriana and Whaea Linda.
Eleven lucky students were able to visit a plant nursery in Ngaruawahia. We could get ideas for our school's plant nursery and gully. With amazing stories about the 40 years the nursery had been in use, there wasn't a moment we weren't interested. The owner Wayne, told us a lot about what he has learnt over the years he has spent seeding, potting, and planting. Wayne grows and sells more than 150,000 plants a year and is definitely an expert. With his ideas and expertise, in 20 years, our gully will be a beautiful outdoor learning environment.
Oliver - Room 26
Super Smash Cricket
Earlier this term, a large number of students were able to participate in a cricket programme run by Hamilton Cricket. The students learned some cricket skills through fun activities and games and may have developed an interest in the sport at the same time.
Teachers and students all commented on how well the programme was run and organised and the interest level of our students. A fantastic programme, and thank you to the cricketers who ran the programme for us.
Look out for information about the upcoming cricket season. If we have any parents or family interested in supporting a team here, either coaching, umpiring or managing, please contact Raewyn Hollinger to register your interest. rhollinger@maeroa.school.nz
Gully Restoration Community Newsletter - August Edition
After School Workshops and Saturday Working Bees
The Tuesday and Thursday after-school workshops have continued over the winter months, with an average of 8-10 people working in the gully each day until 4.30 pm. They have removed weeds around small trees, set rat traps, pricked out and potted seedlings, planted hundreds of trees and added nearly two truck loads of mulch around areas of newly planted trees.
The number of people attending the end-of-the-month Saturday working bees has dropped a little over the winter months, but the group of people that come are absolutely amazing!
Everyone is welcome to join us at our next Saturday Working Bees, which will be the 24 September and 29 October from 9-12 pm. You may want to come to lend a hand or just simply check out the progress we have made. If you have any suggestions or can support our Gully Restoration Project in any way, we would like to hear from you.
Julie Yeoman jyeoman@maeroa.school.nz
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