Category Archives: School News
Cleaning Up Our Community, One Park at a Time
Surf Life Saving
Snorkelling at Goat Island Marine Reserve
As a part of Term 1’s “Fight for Life” learning context, Year 9 students from Water Whanau travelled to the Goat Island Marine Reserve on Thursday 31st March.
Students viewed the sealife by snorkelling from the beach under the care and supervision of PADI Divemasters and teachers. A large range of species were visible in the marine reserve, such as large 40 year old snapper, blue cod, red moki, sting rays, jelly fish, sea urchins and kelp.
Thank you to Miss Young for planning this wonderful EOTC experience!
KDEC Community Focus Trips
Year 9 KDEC students, Jordan, Charlie, Ula, Adam and Courtney visited Saint Paul’s Church this morning as a part of their Maths learning with fractions and financial literacy (money, prices and change). KDEC students prepared fruit to serve to guests following their service.
KDEC students enjoyed the opportunity to develop personal leadership and inter-personal communication skills with people beyond their MHJC classroom. The students also taught community members numbers , basic everyday words, greetings as well as the alphabet in New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). This sharing proved valuable as the priest has progressive hearing loss!
Piha Camp a Winner for Water Whanau
On the 16th March Year 7 students from Water Whanau set off on an exciting camp with twenty Year 10 leaders. Day one started with a splash as students participated in a day of water safety fun at the Massey Park Pools, Papakura. Students capsized out of boats, learned life-saving and floatation techniques and experienced the currents of the lazy river. At the end of the rotation cycle students particularly enjoyed some free time in the wave pool.
Campers then jumped back on the bus and continued the long journey to Piha. After many sing-alongs students finally arrived at Piha Mill Camp and were placed into ‘tribes’ for the next three days. The competition between the six tribes was evident from the beginning. After a fun afternoon participating in different activities at Piha Beach students returned to camp for some dinner.
Thursday saw an early rise followed by a quick breakfast before heading off for an action-packed day of camp activities. Students all participated in archery (“Mockingjay”), camp cooking (“MasterChef”), problem solving, the Amazing Race and hiking to the beautiful Kitekite Falls. Throughout these activities students had the chance to earn points for their tribe, as well as earning “camp money” from the Year 10 leaders.
The camp show was next on the list. Students all showcased a variety of talents, including magic card tricks, singing, extreme make-overs and even a performance by the teachers! It was a fun-filled night, during which the “winning tribe” was announced. Congratulations to the Green Tribe who took out Water Camp 2016. It was fantastic to see such strong relationships grow between Year 7 and Year 10 students throughout the camp.
Thank you to Mr Field-Mitchell and Miss Young for organising the camp and to all students who made Water’s Camp 2016 such an awesome and memorable experience!
The Road to Slower, Safer Travel
Four students attended the annual Travelwise Student Workshop to plan their communication plan for the year. Wasan Abu Nada (8M2), Victoria Kree (8M1), Leon Lei (7C1) and Aliza Azba (7W2) participated in activities to identify how to advertise, develop key messages and tag lines, and also had the opportunity to use a speed gun on local traffic.
The photograph (below) shows the girls participating in a ‘Road Safety’ relay race. Stay tuned for further information from the team, who have decided to focus their efforts on reducing the speed of drivers around the school this year.