The Blue Light Canterbury Schools PCT Competition

On Wednesday the 14th of March four of our year 7 children – Manahi, Grace, Eru and Leishan – attended the Blue Light Canterbury Schools PCT (Physical Competency Test) Competition held at English Park. This physically demanding inter-school competition is in its seventh year and includes schools from all over Christchurch. This was the first time that Woolston School had been involved in the event; therefore it was an exciting and totally new experience for all concerned.

The physical test, which each team had to complete, is the same physical entry test Police must undertake as a part of their training. To say the test was challenging would be an understatement!

Each team was comprised of two boys and two girls who had to be of a ‘moderate to high level athletic ability’- this was imperative for those children involved as the physical demands of the challenge were of an extremely high standard.

Constable Cole Lemalu, who is a regular face around Woolston and the events held within the community, was the event’s M.C. Our kids remembered him as the ‘cool police officer doing the Makarena’ in the Christmas in Da Hood concert last year. He was an entertaining M.C and kept all those that attended in good spirits. Along with the warm, beautiful weather, the atmosphere was fantastic!







Unfortunately our team did not make it into the top 3 spots, however the teamwork and comradeship displayed by our kids throughout the day was outstanding. As the teacher in charge, I was extremely proud of our kids and how they conducted themselves during the entire event.

Matua Te Rau.

One Year On ...

Since the devastating earthquake at 12:51pm on February 22nd, 2011 we have received help and support from many people and have learnt to be resilient and strong.


We commemorated this day at school by creating mosaics for our school Resilience Garden that is being established and will grow over the next few months.

First the tiles had to be broken into smaller pieces

Next the pieces of tile were glued to a base tile

Adding tile pieces to create a 'Helping Hand' mosaic

Everyone in the school got a turn to help create one of the tiles for our new Resilience Garden. We created 20 'Helping Hands' tiles to represent all the many different people, schools and organisations from around Aotearoa who helped us in lots of different ways.

We also created 6 large tiles representing different things - a large heart representing the aroha shown to us; a picture of the Cathedral to remember this iconic building that crumbled in the February quake; a large koru fern representing new beginnings; a sun to represent the bright future that lies ahead of us; two hands reaching out in front of a mound of earth with a seedling beginning to grow to represent the help and support we have to help us rebuild our lives; and lastly the Rise Up Christchurch symbol to represent our resilience, strength and determination to be strong and move on with our lives.

The large heart mosaic, ready for grouting

The tiles will be placed throughout the garden.

At 12:51pm we all gathered together to remember those who passed away or were injured or had their homes damaged. We observed a minute's silence.

Matua Te Rau & Mr Boyd planted the first tree in our Resilience Garden

Matua Te Rau said a karakia


Later on in the afternoon some kotiro from R2 made a giant heart in the sandpit.

School is Back for 2012

School has resumed and both the grounds and the students are looking great.

We welcomed more than 30 new pupils at a pōwhiri in the first week.

Our students have been delighted to play on the new playground markings added to our court area over the holidays. Here is Pīwakawaka 3 playing a game on one of the markings.

                 

A new company has added lots of exciting new markings for students to play on.

Here they are marking out Gutterball.

 

The sandpit is very popular too.

Year 8 Trip to Wellington

On Tuesday November 1st the Year 8 students were lucky enough to venture to Wellington to experience a number of new places and activities in our capital city.

First the Year 8's flew to Wellington

After we arrived we settled into our accommodation at Camp Wainui

which is a  number of lodges set in beautiful natural bush and provided

a quiet refuge after our busy days in the city.                   .           

The following day everyone bussed into Wellington City then took the Cable Car up to the Botanical Gardens. It was a great view of the city below.

After that we took the cable car back down and walked to Te Papa.

There were lots of very interesting things to see inside this magnificent building.

Back at Camp Wainui we tried out the Ropes Course.

It was very high and fairly challenging!

The next day we headed into the city again and visited Parliament.

We were very lucky to visit our local MP's office in the Beehive and have a lesson on how Parliament works. We also got to visit the debating chambers and had lunch in the Members dining room.

Thanks Ruth Dyson!

Following our visit to Parliament we visited Zealandia at the Karori Wildlife Centre.

We saw many of our endangered native animals while we were there, 

such as baby tuatara and takahe.

The following day we boarded the ferry to travel to Picton and then relaxed on the new train travelling the Coastal route back to Christchurch.

It was a fantastic trip we will never forget.

Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony

Woolston School held its own Rugby World Cup opening ceremony on Friday, September 9th.

Each class adopted a different country and paraded in support of that country.

P2 paraded as Argentina

Marching to the National Anthem, P3 supported France

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie

P4, dressed to impress

  

  P5 supporting Scotland

K1 backing Wales

K2 adopted South Africa, with each class member bearing the name of a South African player.

K3 - supporters of the English team

K4 backing the luck of the Irish!

 Karawhiua Itaria!

R1 as Italy, won the best chant

Hamoa

R2 are right behind Samoa