As part of our Inquiry unit on Community we have learned about ourselves, our family communities and now we are learning about our wider Halswell community. The Otawhito children have been working really hard to create a mural of our Halswell community. The children have being creating a part of the community, whether it is a landmark, shop, place of education or place of health. Once completed, the murals will be on the wall in our blue room so you are welcome to come and check them out!

Last Friday we had our Commonwealth Games day! We worked hard in all of the different activities we had to do. Every Otawhito child represented their country well and showed off their different talents! It was great to see everyone have a go and really enjoy themselves. 

Awesome Achievements!

We have a learning centre full of amazing children who are involved with a number of different sports, clubs and other activities outside of school.  We have children who dance, drive go karts, do gymnastics, play instruments, do parkour, play sport, compete in downhill mountain biking, sing, volunteer, go to Brownies, Cubs and St Johns...the list goes on!  It is wonderful to hear about what our children are learning, working on and enjoying with their out of school activities.  We love to celebrate the learning and success of our children.

Izaak Fletcher had a very busy Easter weekend competing at the 2018 Kartsport New Zealand Sprint Championships.  He competed in the Cadet ROK class with 23 other drivers from around New Zealand for the title of 1NZ.  This has required a massive commitment from Izaak, his family and supporters.      

Izaak raced very well!  He was sitting in 5th place during the final when a red flag came out.  Unfortunately, and much to Izaak's disappointment, he didn't get a great restart and lost a number of placings.  He finished 11th overall and even managed to get the 3rd fastest lap time over the weekend of racing.  

Over the next few months Izaak will travel to the Hawkes Bay for the WPKA Goldstar and to Blenehim and Nelson for the Sunbelt Series.  He then has the opportunity to represent Halswell School at the National Schools competition later this year!

Whanau Day

Thursday afternoon was whanau afternoon!  We are organised into vertical groups and get to enjoy learning some Maori topics with our senior children who lead the sessions.  It is a great opportunity for us to interact and learn with others while demonstrating our ACTIVE attributes. 

School Kit Writing

We have had so much fun with this writing experience.  We have learned how to write words in braille, metaphors, found poems and we have created an awesome poster full of special bits and pieces.  One of our activities was to find a special mauri stone.  While stone hunting we investigated special and historical parts of our school (our precious and very old oak tree) and community (Halswell Quarry and the quarry stone).  We are excited to be able to share information about our school and local community with another school.  This is a great opportunity for us to make a connection with another school and we can't wait for our packages to be delivered! 

Kowhai's Carnival Newspaper

Kowhai's Carnival Day press is out! Have fun reading all about the challenges the Year 4's were faced with.

Click the link below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s5ZTtYJTAvEMxIxxHHR2-njIjR5EBa3UMYvucPgU4RQ/edit?usp=sharing