Spider Day

The Totara Year 8 students hosted a very successful Spider Day this week.  It might sound simple, but managing the icecream in warm weather is very difficult!  Georgia, Machar, Dylan and Amelia did a fantastic job of organising everything, and making sure everyone enjoyed their spider.  They have decided to donate the money raised to the Halcombe Community ANZAC Day Fund.  Great work Totara!

Interhouse Flippaball

The 2019 interhouse competition has begun!  In keeping with tradition, our first event was flippaball.  Everyone was very excited to see how each house would shape up after loosing such a big group of Y8 students last year.  

Everyone was keen to start of the year well, so there were some mighty battles in the pool.  Totara and Matai faced off for 3rd and 4th, with the game ending in a 4-4 draw.  In the final, Kauri played Rimu in another tight game.  Rimu stepped it up in the second half though, and were convincing winners in the end, 4-1.  Congratulations Rimu!

Fun Day Friday Highlights

Triple A Values

Our Triple A Values are an important part of our school.  They help us to be so super awesome and cool.  Over the last few days, we've been thinking about what the values really mean - and we've made a video... please enjoy!

Dry Weather

We had the drone flying around the school today - it sure is dry at the moment.  We need some rain!

Yummy Yum Yum!

Diving

To see where you need to improve your diving, watch the video and replay the part where you're in action.  What do you need to improve?

Kawhatau Camp

We have just spent a fabulous three days at the Kawhatau Outdoor Education Centre, which is inland from Mangaweka.  We did loads and loads of fun and exciting activities, which all helped to establish our class culture and allowed us to learn more about each other.  The weather was fantastic, and we certainly enjoyed the chance to swim the river!  You can read more about our favourite camp moments below.

Thank you to the parents who came along to help - you were awesome!

Here are our favourite moments from camp:

Fun Day Friday - Week 2

Today it was time to really test ourselves - could we catch the ball?

Totara Reserve Trip

What a cool day we had at Totara Reserve in the Pohangina Valley today!  We joined in some fun games with our buddy class - relays and playing on the playground and a bush walk and playing with the parachute and even a scavenger hunt!  It was very hot, so we were all looking forward to a swim in the mighty Pohangina River after lunch.  And it was worth the wait - it was 100% awesome!

Thank you so much to all those parents who came along - we hope you had a great day too!

Fun Day Friday

Our awesome swimming tradition of 'Fun Day Fridays' continues!  After swimming lots and lots and lots of lengths during our daily swimming lessons during the week, we were able to enjoy some crazy-fun activities on Friday.  This included Human Towers - well done to Rebekah, Rhianna and Abbie for being the first (and only) group to successfully make a triple tower.  Also, the Human Cannonball was back in action!

Buddy Class

We are very lucky to have Room 4 as our buddy class this year - we think they are a cool group of kids!  On Friday, we joined them for swimming.  After introducing ourselves, the Room 4 kids showed off their swimming skills, and then we made a massive whirlpool!  Fun times!

Cup Lifting Game

In today's Team Challenge, we had to work together to 'lift' cups off the ground and stack them into a pyramid formation.  We rigged up a rubber band and string device that we had to control.  Once everyone got the hang of it, most teams did really well!

Crazy Water Fun

Today we competed in our first team challenge of the year - there will be LOTS more to come!  The aim of the game was to 'pass' water from person to person.  Easy peasy!

Constable Cree

Today we had a special visit from Constable Cree, from the Feilding Police.  She talked to us about keeping ourselves safe online, and reminded us about important rules we need to follow.  These included:

• tell an adult if something online makes us uncomfortable or scared.
• never give out personal information eg. address or phone number.
• remember that people who are online might not be who they say they are.
• be nice to others online.
• never share passwords.
• don't open emails or messages from people you don't know.

After this, Constable Cree also met with our new bus monitors.  She talked to them about what to do in an emergency, and how to keep all the kids on the bus as safe as possible.

Thanks Constable Cree!

Welcome Back!

Kia ora and welcome to the 2019 school year!  She's gonna be a goodie!  Here are a couple of important reminders to help you ace the first couple of weeks of the school year:

• bring your togs and towel every day - make sure they are named
• make sure you've got your hat organised
• make sure you have some roll-on deodorant in your bag
• have a good breakfast each day
• come to school with a great attitude and get ready to work hard, and have fun!

Prizegiving Items

Fun Day Friday

Wow!  Fun Day Friday was AWESOME!  Thank you to all the students in Room 8 who helped to set up the massive obstacle course, and for being such wonderful leaders and role models for the other students in your house.  Well done team!  Thanks to Mr Blanchard for taking more fantastic photos too!

Mr Blanchard's Photos - Click Here

DISCO!

Touch Photos

Mr Blanchard took a few photos at touch last night - thanks Mr Blanchard!

TOUCH PHOTOS - CLICK HERE

Wheels Day!

Nydia Bay Camp

WOW!  What a week we had!  There are way too many highlights to list, and we consider ourselves very lucky to have been able to experience such an awesome part of our country.  Thank you to the fantastic parents who spent the week with us - we hope you had loads of fun.  We know we're going to remember our trip to Nydia Bay for many years to come.

MR BLANCHARD'S PHOTOS - CLICK HERE