Exploratory Learning time

The Otawhito children have been having a fantastic time exploring all of the new equipment that we have available in our block.  Most days we have little people waiting (impatiently) at the door to get in and get started!  It's great to see the enthusiasm and the amazing creations they they come up with each day!

Buddy Time!

Last Friday we had our first buddy session. 
Buddy time is an awesome feature of Halswell School.  The older children get to spend time with the younger children and develop relationships that often last for years.  We love being able to give our children this opportunity to mentor each other and create a supportive school community.
Buddy sessions will take place every second Friday, straight after assembly.

Neil Shaskey Art Session

Neil taught us how to create portraits.  He focused specifically on positioning the features on the face, their size and shape and the use of shading to enhance the art.  The children had fun drawing Miss McFaul.  We created some amazing artworks that the children are very proud of!

  

Piano Awards!

Congratulations to Jacob Wallace and Anastasia Bell who have just taken out the top placings in the Open Piano Awards for 2017.  Jacob was awarded second place and Anastasia took out first place.

"It was nerve-wracking and I had no idea what the outcome would be because everyone is so good" said Anastasia.  Jacob commented, "I had a strange feeling in my stomach and felt worried that I might not do very well."

Well done to you both!  A fantastic achievement!

  

Year 5/6 Zones Netball

Netball Mainland Session
On Thursday 6 July Tamika and Geni from Netball Mainland came to Halswell School to train with the 2017 Year 5 and 6 netball teams going to zones. They taught us a few games and they were really fun! My favourite one is called Around The World. It is where 4 people are in a square and 5 others are in the middle catching the balls and counting how many they catch in a minute. We all loved them coming in and hope that they will come again. By Kimberley

Netball Zones

Last week the year 5/6 A and B teams travelled to Lincoln on the bus for zones. We put our bags on the stand and started warming up. After that we put our bibs on and went to our courts. Each team had one bye. Overall our A team played 6 games the B team played 7 games. The A team lost only one game and made it to Canterbury's. The B Team won all games but sadly they can’t go to Canterbury's. We all had such a great time and everyone was very supportive. We wouldn’t have have been able to do with out all of the supports and our amazing coach Mrs Hurford. By Kate M

Clifford!

This morning, as part of our Book Week celebrations, we had a visit from Mr McCullum and his special guest Clifford!

Olympics Ambassador

To conclude our Olympics Inquiry, we welcomed Olympics Ambassador, Nicola Coles to share her Olympics story with us.  Nicola is a rower and represented New Zealand at the Olympics games.  Nicola was inspirational to listen to - her determination, perseverance, set backs and triumphs.  We all thoroughly enjoyed her presentation and made links between the Olympic values and our Halswell School values.  The best thing we learned from Nicola was to never give up!