Wow, what a year it has been! We have done so many cool things, learnt lots and had heaps of fun along the way.
Thank you to all our friends and family who have supported our blog this year - we appreciate the interest you've shown and the comments you've made!
To the Year 8 students - have the most AWESOME time at high school. Work hard. Make lots of great friends. Have fun. Make good choices (and learn from the times you don't!) Be nice. Most importantly, don't be stranger! We wish you the best of luck.
To the Year 7 students - see you in six weeks!
Today the Year 8 students had their traditional end-of-year lunch at Essence Cafe in Feilding. Lunch was provided by our school PTA - thank you!
On Friday night, we held the social. Everyone looked awesome and scrubbed up pretty well! We had lots of fun dancing, eating supper and playing crazy games. What a great night!
Wow, what an awesome morning! We started off by doing a huge variety of activities - everything from a dress up race, to sack races, to an obstacle course, to target throwing. It was heaps of fun. After morning tea, we held the finals of the 100m for the Athletic Championships - congratulations to Elen and Stefan for winning these races. Following that, we had loads of sprint races and the final of the 400m - congratulations to Elen and Alex for winning these really tough, exhausting races. The final events were the house chants and relays. Well done to Matai for winning the Junior relay and Kauri, who won the Senior relay.
Here are some highlights:
We've been keeping a track of how much we've grown this year. We measured ourselves in Febuary, June and December. Today we analysed the information:
- Average Height February: 1.50m
- Average Height December: 1.56m
- Average Growth Girls: 6.38cm
- Average Growth Boys: 5.90cm
- Olivia C has remained the shortest person at 1.34m
- Stefan has remained the tallest person at 1.80m
- Alex grew the most - 10cm!
We have been busy practicing our sprinting and baton changing technique in preparation for the house relay finals to be held on Wednesday. It is very exciting!
Today we had a special visit from Mr Darling and Mr Johnson from the Halcombe Fire Brigade. They reminded us about some really important fire safety messages. We all agreed it was good to be reminded of these things! We also watched an incredible but tragic video clip of a fire that destroyed a stand in a football stadium in England in 1985. Many lessons were learnt from the disaster and it was good for us to discuss what happened. Key messages to remember are:
- if you realise there is danger, ACT STRAIGHT AWAY
- never assume that someone has dialed 111 - better to do it than not
- if you see an emergency exit has been blocked, inform someone
- do not judge people for the way they react to a disaster
Here is what some of us had to say:
- I thought the fire was scary and it was sad that 56 people died. I learnt not to be afraid to call 111 and that I should talk to my parents about our escape plan. Hannah.
- The film reminded me of just how dangerous a fire can be and I was also reminded of some really important things that could potentially save my life. Jago.
- The film was very graphic and I didn't know a fire could spread so quickly. Seeing the people on fire was quite alarming. Tammy.
- I was shocked to see how big the fire got in such a short space of time. I was reminded to 'stop, drop and roll' when you are on fire. Victoria.
- I thought the DVD was really interesting as it was real-life footage of how people reacted. I can't believe that 56 people died, because the police did a good job of getting everyone out. Elen.
- I was surprised that noone took action when they saw the fire. Kyle.
- The movie was pretty hard core, because I've never seen a fire grow that big before. It was also scary to know that people caught on fire from the heat and not from actually touching the fire. I learnt that I should never underestimate a small fire. Cody.
- I learnt that if someone is on fire, you shouldn't try to put it out by flapping material at them - this will make it worse. Jasmine.
- I found it quite shocking that all the fire exits were locked. It was good to reminded of how to be firewise. Trevor.
Our library has had a bit of an upgrade over the last week. In addition to the new carpet, we've done a lot of rearranging and sorting out of books. The Student Council has made a significant donation to the library, with the purchase of some cool furniture! Thank you Student Council!
