Week 7, Term 3

Last week saw our current events teams compete against others in Canterbury at Cobham Intermediate in the 2018 Extra! Current Events quiz.  They answered questions on NZ and World current events, famous people, mapping, flags and the newspaper. While they didn't place, they represented Avonhead School superbly.  Thank you for your efforts team!

On Friday the Student Council organised a Daffodil Day mufti day to raise money for the Cancer Society.  Students came to school dressed in mufti and some wore yellow.  There was a colouring competition for the younger students and prizes awarded.  Thank you to the Student Council and Mrs G for organising this event and helping to raise money for the Cancer Society.


SKI TRIP
Next week we have our annual Ski Trip on Monday.  Thanks to Mrs Moore for organising this well anticipated day!  A final notice was sent home yesterday and can also be found on the blog in the previous post.  Please ensure you bring everything on the list.  See you at school at 7:15am Monday morning.


SEUSSICAL Jr UPDATE
Tickets will go on sale this week.  More details about how to purchase these will follow shortly.
Ted has made a video but it is too big to be uploaded here.  Hopefully it will be on the school website early next week.

Key dates: 
Wednesday 26 September 7:30pm
Thursday 27 September 7:30pm

Students in the cast will be expected at school from 5:30pm, depending on their character

Help needed:

I will send out an email this weekend of extra things we need, as well as asking for some help with costumes.  We have most of the costumes from Impact Dance and Stage School, but still need to create a few costumes for our leads.  Any help will be much appreciated.  

CULTURAL FESTIVAL
All the best to our Kapa Haka and Pacifica groups who will be performing at the Cultural Festival on Tuesday.  You have been working really hard to perfect your items and we hope you enjoy the experience of performing on the BIG stage.

Ski Trip Final Notice!

FINAL SKI TRIP NOTICE: 30/8/18

Check your school emails and the school website on the morning of the trip for confirmation of the ski trip going ahead OR being cancelled.  I will send notifications out by 6.30am once I’ve made the call on the day.
Arrive at the HQ by 7.15am ready for the roll with your home room teacher.  Do not be late please. Parents who are coming as parent helpers need to be in the ‘boardroom’ in the HQ at 7.15am ready for the safety briefing with me.
Programme for the day:

• 7.30am load on to buses and depart
• 9.30am arrive at the Hutt top car park
• 9.40-10.20am go through rentals and get all equipment
• 10.30am-12pm ski/snowboard lesson
• 12-1pm lunch break
• 1-3pm skiing/snowboarding and then returning gear at 3pm
• 3.30pm roll call at the buses, depart Hutt to return to school
• 5.30pm arrive back at school (we may be earlier however)

Arrange for someone to be at school to pick you up please.  A good time is 5.15pm ready and waiting!
On the bus, wear you bottom base layer and ski pants.  On the top half wear your base layer (polyprop or thermal), t-shirt and warm top eg a sweatshirt or merino.  Your ski jacket, gloves, goggles, ear warmer or beanie need to all be in your school bag along with your lunch and water bottle.  You will put all these things on once you arrive. The full gear list was on the initial permission form.
Devices are permitted on the trip, however it is important to note that these are the responsibility of the student and no teacher will be responsible for damage, theft or loss of a device.  No posting to social media of another student is permitted.
Any other questions, feel free to email me on kmoore@avonhead.school.nz

We are looking forward to a great day on the snow!
Karalee Moore & the Senior HQ Teachers

Week 6, Term 3

This term is flying by. I can't believe it is Week 6 already, and only 5 weeks to go until Seussical Jr is on!

What's been happening this term so far?

• Cantamath - congratulations to our Year 7 (Chi, Max, Rahil and Shivam) and our Year 8 (Isaac, Ted, Misha and Larissa) teams who competed at the Horncastle Arena on Wednesday.  They competed against 100ish other schools with the aim of solving 20 questions in 30 minutes. Both teams did really well, with the Year 7s scoring 65 points (13 questions correct) and the Year 8s scoring 80 points (16 questions correct). The Year 8s finished 11th!  A huge thank you to these students for representing Avonhead and also to the students who were part of the  Cantamath training squad

• Another part of Cantamath is the display category.  All students were supposed to create a Publicity Motif and a second project.  We chose the best ones to enter.  Congratulations to the following students who received awards.
• Highly Commended: Skye, Sahaana, Lara, Dylan, Jenny (Publicity Motif); Arabella and Nicole, Charlotte (Games and Puzzles); Jorgia, Jennifer (Posters); Josh, Hamish, Nadia, Lucy, Larissa, Dylan (Models)
• Excellence: Mia (Photography); Ilze, Jennifer, Bella, Ava, Zannia, Antonella (Publicity Motif); Zannia (Posters)
• In addition, Zannia and Antonella's Publicity Motifs have been taken by the organisers as possibilities for the advertising poster for 2019 - a great honour.

• Finally, a huge congratulation to Jae, whose Publicity Motif from last year was chosen as the winning design and featured on the certificates and posters for this year's Cantamath.

• We have also held our Senior HQ Science Fair.  All students followed the scientific process and investigated something of interest.  I was really impressed with how well students did follow this process - starting with a question, forming a hypothesis, determining a method, carrying out the investigation, recording results and analysing them and finally making a conclusion.
• Congratulations to Isaac, Ted, Joel, Addi, Annabell and Kennadie whose exhibits have been chosen to be entered into the Canterbury Westland Science Fair.  This is going to be held at the University of Canterbury, in the Engineering Core and the Ernest Rutherford Building on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 September.  Public viewing is from 2pm-5pm on Saturday and 9am-12 noon on the Sunday.  Please feel free to pop down and see what Canterbury kids have been investigating!

• We had students competing at the Winter Tournament in Week 2 which was lots of fun!  The netball and football teams qualified for the Centrals - congratulations teams!

• Seussical Jr rehearsals have increased, and we are very thankful for extra talents and help from Elizabeth Grubb (acting) and Andrew Withington (singing).

What's coming up?

• Annual Senior HQ Ski Trip - Monday 3rd September- Mrs Moore has been very busy organising this awesome day for all of us.  Please make sure you have all the gear you need from the gear list.

• Current Events quiz - Wednesday 29 August, 6:30 - 8:00pm - we have 4 Year 7/8 teams entered in this.  Good luck guys!

• Seussical Jr - Wednesday 26 September and Thursday 27 September - all cast and back stage crew (TBA) will be required at school on both evenings please.  More details with times etc will come out in the next week.  Tickets will go on sale next week (Week 7).  We will be looking for some items to borrow, as well as some parents to help with some sewing and other bits and pieces please - a list will come out this week!  Thanks in advance :)

• Our Kapa Haka group have been rehearsing for the upcoming Cultural Festival on Tuesday 4 September.  I had the privilege of being taught the poi by some of our Kapa Haka students - what great teachers they were! All the best for your performance!

Reminder time!

Our Senior HQ ski trip is fast approaching, taking place on Monday 3rd of September.  The majority of forms are in but we require ALL forms completed and returned by this Friday the 10th of August please to home room teachers.  Please get a form off your home room teacher or from in the notices drawer in the info space if you need another one.  If you ARE NOT attending the ski trip, we require a signed note from home please.  This allows us to determine if a teacher is staying behind or whether students will be allocated to help in other classes on the day of the trip.

We are also asking for improvement with school uniform.  The teachers have noticed non school uniform items such as hoodies and shorts (with big branding all over them) being worn.  Students are only permitted to wear the school polo, plain black shorts or pants, tartan tunic, school sweatshirt, school polar fleece and the senior jacket.  Other items of clothing will need to remain at home or in school bags please.  With the cold weather it is useful for students to have a sweatshirt or senior jacket please.  Nail polish, jewelry and makeup are not permitted either, aside from small studs.

Finally, all science fair presentation boards and displays were due in last Friday (or Monday for Seussical leads).  If you haven't met this deadline please ensure your presentation or your update are given in ASAP to home room teachers.  We will let you know shortly when the 'open afternoon' will be so you can invite parents to view everyone's science investigations.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please email home room teachers directly.

Week 8, Term 2 Update

Good afternoon all.

Wow, unbelievable that it is now only two weeks until the school holidays. We have had a really busy term with a lot happening.

Science Fair
These are now at the stage where students need to conduct their inquiries at home over the next 4 weeks. These are for our students to complete, parents are not expected to have to do any work. Any help you can offer is appreciated.

Weekly Sport
Unfortunately that was cancelled again today. We a really hoping that it is on next week!

Uniforms
We are noticing the standard of dress is dropping. A number of students are choosing to wear hoodies instead of school uniform. There are a number of girls wearing nail polish. We just need to sharpen this up a little. There is no issue with wearing a hoodie or jacket to and from school, but it is not appropriate to be worn in the classroom during the day.

Paid Union Meeting
Just a reminder that this is happening after lunch on Tuesday. We have 80% of the forms returned. We would really appreciate the rest so that we know what each student will be doing next Tuesday so that we are well staffed ready for those who are staying at school.

Farewell Katrina and Nora
A big farewell and thank you to Katrina Gilfoyle and Nora Niddery - our student teachers who have been with us for the past seven weeks. We have really appreciated their excellent input, support and enthusiasm. We REALLY appreciated the crepes and pancakes they made over the last two days! We wish them all the very best for their future teaching careers.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm. Fingers crossed sport will be on for those of you involved this weekend!

Warm regards,
Bruce, Karalee, Sandie, Darelle and Hayley

Senior HQ Speech Competition 2018

Today we had the grand final of the Senior HQ Speech Competition for 2018 - for Year 7 and 8 students.  Competition was tough, the final was long (20 speeches in total) and we did have the distraction of being dressed in house colours and accessories!  We are delighted to announce the following finalists:

YEAR 7

1st   Nyella Thompson - If I was Prime Minister for a Day

2nd  Rahil Uddin - Do Actions Speak Louder than Words?

3rd   Mia Anderson - Should Rodeos Be Banned?

YEAR 8

1st    Lucy Willis - Do Actions Speak Louder than Words?

2nd   Ted Eason - Should Rodeos Be Banned?

3rd    Tayla Johnson - Should Rodeos Be Banned?

    

Week 8 Term 2 2018

There are lots of bits and pieces happening this week.  They are all on the school website, but for easy access and as another reminder, here we go....

Tuesday:
Technology - please be at school by 8:30am
Fish n Chip lunch for HQ 1 and 2

Wednesday:
Cross Country Centrals were to be today but are postponed until 27 June
Teachers' CRT day - planning for Term 3

Thursday:
Choir 8am
Fish n Chip lunch for HQ 3 and 4 (thanks Student Council and Mrs G!!)
Otago Problem Solving #3 (may be postponed until Monday of Week 9)
Senior HQ speech finals
House Colour mufti day
Musical Soiree (5:30 - 6:30pm in the hall)

Friday:
Miss G and Miss Niddery's last day
Weekly sport (.......really???????? here's hoping!!!!)
School disco (7:00 - 9:00pm in the hall) Tickets can be purchased before school from outside the hall

Some of our techno savie kids have made this really cool video to advertise the disco.  Check it out...

Science Fair:
Students should have:
* come up with a question
* started a log book (or log 'doc')
* completed a KWHL in their log book
* written a hypothesis (Science) or drawn 3 prototypes (Technology)
* written or be in the process of writing their method
We are almost at the point where students need to be carrying out their investigation.  Just a reminder that this part of the Science and Technology Fair needs to be done AT HOME.  School time will resume for the Science and Technology Fair next term when we give the students time and help to present their investigations.  It is essential that investigations are underway as soon as possible, especially for anyone who needs to test things over time!

Seussical Jr:
We have cast a few more roles.  Congratulations to:
Mr and Mrs Mayor:    Luka and Annabell
Bird Girls (soloists):   Addi, Ella and Tanin
Bird Girls:     Lucy, Nyella, Mia, Sahaana and Eleana
Wickershams (soloists):    William R, Daniel R, Rahil
Wickershams:    Joel, Isaac Wi, Max, Aidan, James D

Entertainment Books:
Please could you complete your purchase of these, or return these to school, this week.