Progress or perfection (part two)

Following my previous blog I have enjoyed several conversations relating to the topic and listened to several interesting talks. The first was by a sports psychologist who has assisted athletes to improve their performance by staying what he defines as the “green zone”. This is where the athlete focuses on process not outcome. This could mean the mechanics of a golf swing, the set up, body position and pre-shot routine. These are things the athlete can control while he/she cannot control what others are doing in the tournament, the weather conditions or the crowd. He argues that if athletes focus on what might happen next or what others are doing he/she moves into the “orange” or even “red” zone and the focus on the outcome can have a harmful effect on the process. Put simply by focusing on the process, the results will come.

In an educational context I would urge teachers and parents to focus on the process. Setting goals is a good way to motivate ourselves but we should not be consumed by the goal, particularly if it is beyond our control. So students may set a goal of gaining a top scholar award or improving their e-asTTle scores, however what we need to focus on are the processes that will take students in that direction. These include regular times for homework and completion of Maths Buddy and Reading Plus; integrating assessment deadlines into google calendar etc.

If we focus on the process, results will come.

Growing greatness – Kia mana ake

Rotorua Cultural Experience

Year 8 students from Water Whanau enjoyed their first day in Rotorua, visiting the Te Puia geothermal valley and the Tamaki Māori Village.  The photos below show students standing in front of the famous Pōhutu geyser that they visited following a guided tour of the Kiwi house and National Wood Carving School.  Students enjoyed their first Hangi buffet experience, surrounded by wonderful cultural performances and an ancient Tawa forest. 

On Day 2, Year 8’s visited the Agrodome Show where Jackson enjoyed the opportunity to feed a lamb and Yolisha milked a cow! Students then headed to the Skyline Gondola and Luge. See highlights from both days of the ‘Rotorua Cultural Experience’, below…

Piha Mill Camp – Day 2 & 3

Water’s campers enjoyed a camp-based activities rotation on Thursday, comprising of a Hike to the beautiful Kitekite Falls, Bumper Ball , Archery, a Master Chef outdoor cooking challenge and Poles & Planks problem solving.  Camp concludes this afternoon following a day rafting the white water rapids at Vector Wero.  Piha ’17 was certainly a special, memory-making experience – well done to all campers!

Piha Mill Camp – Day 1

Year 7 students from Water Whanau have had a wonderful day rock climbing at ‘Extreme’ and playing beach games in their tribes, lead by Year 10 camp leaders.  Here are a few  fantastic shots showing highlights from Day 1 and the beautiful Piha Beach landscape, courtesy of our talented camp photographer, Aly Grant.

Active Cup 2017

MHJC have kicked off their Active Cup campaign with a resounding victory over Al-Madinah School.  Put into bat by the opposition,  the MHJC innings got off to bad start,  losing skipper Max Herbert (8W1) in only the second over.  Kabir Sikh (8M1) and Mantej Singh (7F1) set about rebuilding,  putting together a superb,  unbroken partnership of 154.  Positive running between the wickets and the ability to punish any wayward bowling,  allowed MHJC to post a commanding total of 161 for 1 after 20 overs.  Mantej finished on 77 not out and was ably supported by a 30 not out from Kabir.

162 to win was always going to be a tough challenge for the Al-Madinah batsman and so it proved,  as wickets tumbled regularly throughout their innings.  The pick of the MHJC bowlers was Ashwina Krishnakumar (7F1) 2 for 10 off of her 4 overs and Jainish Kumar (7W1) who finished with the impressive figures of 4 for 10 from his 3 overs.  Max Herbert supported the bowlers in the field with two direct hit run-outs.  MHJC couldn’t quite manage to the bowl opposition out,  with Al-Madinah finishing on 50 for 9 from their 20 overs.

There will be tougher games to come against Viscount and Pakuranga Intermediate,  however this is a great start from our new team.  Good luck for the rest of your first round games.

Photo is Mantej Singh,  celebrating his 77 not out.

 

 

“Progress not perfection”

This phrase is on a poster at my gym and it has given me much food for thought. The first is that I should not take it personally as an observation of my efforts at the gym! More importantly I think it is a valuable lesson to us all that while we should strive for excellence this should not come at a cost to our personal wellbeing. Perfection is an ideal – the perfect note, speech or performance may be unattainable but progress towards this goal is still worthwhile.

This is particularly relevant at this time of the year as students reflect on their progress and articulate the short term and long term goals for the year during Student Led Conferences. Their e-asTTle scores are available and these will form the basis for the progress they will show in reading and Mathematics through the year. A key message to everyone at the school is that we analyse this data very closely, not only to assess individual and collective progress but also to evaluate the impact of our teaching.

Another phrase which is relevant to goal setting is that we learn more from our mistakes or failures than our successes. So set the bar high, strive for excellence but keep a balance and acknowledge that if we don’t quite make it there is nobility in making the effort.

Growing greatness – kia mana ake

Sports Report

SPORTS REPORT

Colts Cricket:
Another spectacular performance by the colts boys over the last 2 weeks.  On the 25th February the boys played the Saint Kentigern 2 Colts Team and won! They showed they were true contenders in this competition as the ‘win’ seemed to come with ease.

Final Score:
MHJC 160/5 after 31
Saint Kents 2 159/10 after 38 overs

Last weekend the boys played Macleans College at Macleans. The boys didn’t let playing away deter their focus in a nail biting finish in cricket fashion. A few late wickets seemed that Macleans would strip the boys of their win and end the winning streak. However, with resilience, the boys triumphed to victory.

Final Score:
MHJC 85/5 after 20 overs
Macleans 84/10 after 39 overs

This weekend the boys are playing Takapuna Grammar at MHJC. Good luck boys! Hopefully the weather holds.

Y9 & Y10 Boys Blitz Cricket:
The Blitz boys demonstrated their grit when they played Pakuranga College on the 1st of March. In a game that kept stopping due to rain, the boys never let that interrupt their flow. They finished the game really late in the afternoon but won!

Final Score:
MHJC 106/8
Pakuranga 92/8

Unfortunately due to the tremendous rainfall we had this week the Blitz was cancelled. The boys will play their deferred game next week against Papatoetoe at Kolmar.

Y7 & Y8 Girls Blitz Cricket:
What an improvement! The girls played Holy Cross 2 and showed what a small amount of training can do. Although they still lost, the run rate was much higher reaching over 100 runs. The girls are also very lucky as Mission Heights has secured Regina Loili from Papatoetoe Cricket to help coach and improve the skills of our young female cricketers.

Final Score:
MHJC 105/8
Holy Cross 2 129/8

Likewise, due to the heavy rain the girls were not able to play Redoubt North on Wednesday. Arrangements are being made to play catch up games since many of the girls are away at camp next week.

Y9 & Y10 Girls Blitz Cricket:
This competition is starting! Although only against Ormiston, it will be a starting point for the girls and allows the school to develop our female cricketers for more competitions next year. Again Regina is coaching the girls passing on her cricket knowledge to our girls. First Game is next Thursday at Ormiston Junior College.

Active Post Cup:
The Active Post Cup is a cricket competition played between intermediate schools. Our boys will be facing 3 local schools in the running for this prestigious prize. Our first game is against Al-Madinah School on Tuesday the 14th March.

Orienteering:
Congratulations to all the orienteering students who have been improving drastically over the last few weeks. Times have decreased as distances increased. Needless to say these students would probably never get lost in the Waitakere Ranges. Special mention to our Junior boys, Jasper Carpenter and Caleb Jurgens who placed 7th and 17th respectively out of 109 competitors. Keep it up team!

Tennis:
On the 7th March the South Eastern Zone Tennis competition was on. Our students won some and lost some, but played very hard in testing conditions. Unfortunately the competition had to get cut short as the rain had set in. The students played very well and as a school we are proud of them.

Netball:
This year we have 7 netball teams (3 senior teams & 4 junior teams). Thank you to everyone who trialled and congratulations to all the students that made it into our various teams. Next step is training ready for the competition which starts in Term 2.

Football & Futsal:
Almost all the football teams have or are being named in the next week or so. To all our footballers make sure you check your emails to ensure you don’t miss out!

Hockey:
Last Hockey trial is next week Tuesday lunchtime. A select few have been invited back! Make sure you go to the trial if you want to play Hockey this year. You must have signed up before. Come see the sports office if you didn’t.

Rugby:
Boys make sure you sign up at the sports office if you want to play rugby this year! Email will be sent out next week to remind you all again.

Basketball:
Email sign ups for Yr9 & Yr10 students are still open. Make sure you email your name age and whanau in response to the email or come see the sports office. Trials are the 22nd & 24th March for girls and 23rd March for boys.

Swimming Sports:
The 9th Annual MHJC Swimming Sports event was held last Friday at Howick Intermediate. A warm crisp morning turned into a scorcher day with 160 students taking part in various events.

Each whanau were awarded points for every participant they had on the day and for every participant that placed top 3. The battle was set! Club swimmers got to show their stuff, and many students quickly realised that swimming is a very different type of fitness.

The points were as follows:

  1. Forest – 400pts
  2. Coast – 362pts
  3. Water – 359 pts
  4. Mountains – 308pts

Top Swimmers

Yr 7 Boys: Zain Ismail & Ethan Chen
Yr 7 Girls: Jessica Kand & Melika Zeyni

Yr 8 Boys: Douglas Gould & Safee Aziznishikaji
Yr 8 Girls: Marissa Dodd & Michaela Rohm

Yr 9 Boys: William Chen & Ashton Narayan
Yr 9 Girls: Niamh Beattie & Olivia McSaveney

Yr 10 Boys: Eugene Chua & Alston Chong
Yr 10 Girls: Nicole Fraser-Hall & Megan Strydom

A big thank you to all the staff, students and parent helpers who made this day a huge success.


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