Tuesday, 27 February 2018

Swimming Sports Info:

Departure for competitive - 9.30am by bus from school.
Venue - Wharenui Swimming Pool.
Attire - togs underneath your school uniform PLUS a house colour t-shirt.
Non-competitive - will be working in Team 5/6 until they depart at 10.30am.
Bring - two towels, a big packed lunch, drink bottle, plastic bag to put wet gear in, your school bag.  Make sure EVERYTHING is well named please.
Returning - we will be busing back to school at 2pm with school to finish as usual at 3pm.
House points - every entry/race achieves a house point.  Placings receive 5 points for first, 3 points for second, two points for third and one point for fourth.
Order of events - 25m backstroke, 50m backstroke, 25m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke, open butterfly, 50m freestyle, 25m freestyle, 75m medley (backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle) but we are not giving specific times for each event sorry.

Good luck everyone - we will see you in the morning!

Friday, 23 February 2018

Week 5, Term 1 2018

Congratulations to our new House Captains and Student Council who were announced yesterday. The teachers were all really impressed with the quality of the applications and had a tough job deciding on the roles.

Thank you to everyone who has offered to take on a responsibility this year.  Term 1 service duty monitors will be announced on Monday.

School swimming sports are coming up this Thursday at Wharenui Pool. Students entered themselves in events during the week.  An email came home today with more detailed information.  
Key information:
Date and time:  Thursday 1 March, 10:00am - 2:00pm (25m and 50m events); 11:00am - 12:30pm for non competitive students (those who are unable to swim 25m unaided).
Where:              Wharenui Pool

Order of Events:
25m Backstroke
50m Backstroke
25m Breaststroke
50m  Breaststroke
50m Butterfly
50m Freestyle
25m Freestyle
75m Medley


Choice Friday began today.  Students opted into 1 of 4 writing groups and 1 of 4 maths groups.  We kicked off with writing - plays, interviews, fairy tale reports and captions.  Maths was next with the choices being Geometrocity (designing and building a city using 2D and 3D shapes), mapping, enlargements and outdoor measurement (area and perimeter).  After morning tea we had our second session of languages (students have opted into Spanish, French, German, independent languages and Sign language).  After lunch we launched sport which we are doing with the Year 5/6 team - choices included ultimate frisbee, volleyball, water safety/flippa ball, softball, petanque, gymnastics, tennis, cricket, athletics and flag football.


A very happy birthday to Mrs G who is 23 again today and Mrs Moore who is celebrating a 'big one' tomorrow!!

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

House Captain Announcement!

Thank you to all of the stunning students who applied to be a 2018 House Captain.  It was a tough decision but we are really excited to have announced today in the HQ who are 2018 House Captains are.  Congratulations to:

Rimu - Tui Pau'u and Jae Hatton
Kowhai - Addison Jones and Bhavil Patel
Rata - Isabella Parmenter and Sam Hamilton
Kahikatea -  Nadia Mateni and Isaac Weir


Their very first job is planning and leading our first house meetings on Monday next week.  We know you will be amazing and will continue to work hard, enhancing your leadership skills!

Good luck and well done you lot!

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

Lyric Writing Workshop...

If you are interested in the following workshop, please see Mrs Busfield.  If several people choose to go, we can help organise transport...



Thursday, 15 February 2018

Week 4, Term 1 2018

Hello everyone!

Technology started this week with the students travelling to Kirkwood on the bus.  This continues for the rest of the year, so just a reminder for the children to be at school by 8:30am on Tuesdays.

We have been discussing the Winter Olympics during reading.  It is really important all students are reading every night - trying to find out a cool fact about the Olympics is a great thing to do!

Monitors and duties have been outlined with the students and they have chosen everything they would like to do for the year  - these will be allocated to the students this week.

Today is the start of Chinese New Year and we are lucky enough to have some Lion dancers perform for us at lunchtime to bring good luck and fortune to them and us.  If you would like to know more about the Lion Dance, please click here.

Watch this space - the Huxster mountain bike event has been approved.  Mrs Moore will be sending home a notice with more information next week. It is in early April at McLeans Island.

Students may bring their togs for swimming in the school pool on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.  The current dodge ball champion is Ella - can she maintain her crown??

Term costs will be coming out soon. These will include our Top Team event, Attitude speaker, Swimming lessons (for the end of March), and Technology - I hope I have included everything!

Trials for our Lit Quiz teams will be held next week. If you enjoy reading and read widely, this is for you!

Mr Rodger has shared a great website to practise maths on
https://maths.prototec.co.nz/


Have a fabulous week everyone.



Tuesday, 13 February 2018

Test Post

This is a test post as I've adjusted our blogger address to read 2018 rather than 2016.

WANTED!!! Media team members

Are you a creative thinker?
Do you have a strong interest in digital media?
Do you have exceptional written language skills?
Are you a fabulously confident communicator who loves the stage?
Are you passionate about our Avonhead community and eager to showcase our people?
Are you an excellent coordinator who has a talent organising people and meeting deadlines?

If you are any of the above then…..

Applications are now open for the 2018 Media Team.
In your application you need to tell us WHY you would be a fabulous addition to our team and what skills and experience you have to offer.  Your can choose what form your application will take.  It might be a short video clip (if you are showcasing your presenter, videography or editing talents) or it could be in the form of a letter or CV (if you are showcasing your written language).

Applications must be submitted to mdempsey@avonhead.school.nz no later than Wednesday 21st February.  If you are submitting a video clip then this needs to be uploaded to Google Drive (with link emailed).  The media team coordinators and your teachers will then meet to discuss your applications and suitability for the role.

Thursday, 8 February 2018

Week 3, Term 1 2018

What a great start to the term you have all made!

We have had a great week of leadership activities - listening to some inspiring speakers and taking part in some team building.  We learnt that leadership is about having strong values, clear communication and respect for others.  Leadership comes in lots of different forms.  One that really stood out for me is leadership can simply be standing up for what is right.

Week 3 sees our reading, writing and maths rotations beginning.  Students may work with different teachers in each of these subjects.

On Tuesday, technology begins.  Students, please ensure you are at school by 8:30am.  If you have not returned your Kirkwood technology form, please do so on Monday.

Some other reminders:

  • Hats are needed everyday this term to help protect against the sun.
  • Togs may be brought for lunchtime swimming.
  • All stationery should be at school now.  It needs to be named - we will add the subjects over the week.
  • A personal reading book is needed at school everyday - please visit the library if you do not have something suitable.
  • Please return any forms that you haven't already - Photo consent (for most, this was done during the interviews), Kirkwood technology forms, HPV form, ICT Responsibility use agreement (for those who have had it sent home as we do not have it on record)

Have a fantastic week everyone.

Monday, 5 February 2018

Week 2 - Leadership Week in the HQ!

After our Powhiri to welcome new staff and students in the hall on Monday, we kicked off our leadership week with a guest speaker from ATTITUDE.  The senior students had a workshop on "Who Am I?" led by Emma.  She got us thinking about different personality types and their strengths and weaknesses.  She had a heap of humour in her presentation which we all enjoyed.  She challenged us about how we can help and support others that are different to us - a great life skill to have - and how to be the best kind of person we can be.  Emma had some great top tips that are now on our FYI wall in the HQ.


Next up we had Mr Rodger, our team leader.  He talked about different leadership styles and top tips for being a successful leader or growing our leadership tool box.  We can all be leaders if we choose to be.  He talked to us about a variety of notable leaders from all around the world and finished with his own leadership journey.


Finally we had Sports Canterbury in the afternoon who ran "Top Team" with us.  Talk about fun!  Check out some of the challenges and tasks we had to do....







Our winning top team group!  Congratulations!