School Events 2018
Final farewells
The end of 2018 saw not only our 12 amazing Year 8 students leaving, but also Mrs Amanda Ferguson and Mrs Donna Watson. Mrs Ferguson (12 years at Wakanui School) has taken the Deputy Principal role at Hinds School and Mrs Watson (11 years at Wakanui School) has taken a teaching role in Rarotonga. We thank both Mrs Ferguson and Mrs Watson for their hard work and dedication to our school throughout their time at Wakanui School, from camps to school activities and their everyday passion to delivering innovative learning programmes. Wishing all our leavers the very best in all future adventures.
Rural Day
What an exciting day we had on Tuesday working our way round 6 "rural" stations. Mrs Begg had worked with Dads from the Year 3 age level to come up with activities for all students to have a go at. There were build a fence, guess the seed, drench target, tug of war, gumboot throwing, tractor/wheelbarrow racing and move the seed stations. Big thank you to Mrs Begg, and the Dads: Michael, Trent, Iain, Andrew, Blair (plus Bronwyn) and Mr Smith. Such a fantastic afternoon - we can't wait to see what events there will be next year.
Year 7/8 Camp to Abel Tasman
What an amazing adventure our senior students had tramping one of New Zealand's "Great Walks". Most days involved at least 4 hours of walking up and over the hills, down to the beach and along the coastal track with packs bulging with clothes and food. We split into two groups to walk the track and ate dry freeze meals which was a new experience for most of us. A huge thank you to Mrs Watt for organising the camp and to our parents that helped - Rachel, Sarah, Iain, Steve, Carlos, Dean, Michael and Mrs Watson. After all that hard work we had a lovely soak at Maruia Springs.
Year 5/6 camp to Spencer Park
Mrs Ferguson and Mr Stoddart took the Year 5 and 6 students on an action packed camp to Spencer Park. There they surfed, boogie boarded, biked, played and went on a high rope course at Adrenalin Forrest. Big thank you to the parents - Kylie, Andrea, Vicki, Gayle, Julia P, Chris and Blair.
Sharing our thoughts about "KiwiCan"
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Jack, Charlotte, Joelle and Mrs Watson went and spoke at the Ashburton Rotary Meeting about KiwiCan. The students told them about the themes we have been focusing on - responsibility, integrity, respect and resilience. Then Mrs Watson shared how the teachers feel the programme has a positive impact on our everyday learning and behaviour. Every class enjoy working with Ross and Tia our KiwiCan instructors. |
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Life Education
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Harold and Jane came to Wakanui School for 3 days. They shared messages about:
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Deano Yipadee
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Deano came to school to hold a writing workshop with the seniors. Together they created a story using ideas from the group. It was quite a challenge to combine all of their ideas and the resulting story was very funny.
Then he gave a whole school performance using the books he has written, such as "Stink-o-saurus", and "Nee Naw the Little Fire Engine". Our afternoon was filled with singing, dancing, a little bit of shouting and even some shrieking from teachers as Lucy squirted them with her mighty water hose! Deano signed copies of his books and we will enjoy sharing them in all the classes. |
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School Skiing
Fantastic conditions up at Mount Hutt enabled many students to develop resilience, patience, and new skills as they took to the slopes. We are very lucky to be so close to the mountains to be able to offer such an awesome experience.
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Altrusa Bookmark Competition
Many of our students took part in a 'design a bookmark' competition run by Altrusa. Isabella won the Year 7-8 category. We love taking part in local competitions, especially ones that make use of our creative skills. Well done Isabella. There is a display of bookmarks at the Ashburton Public Library.
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Senior Production
"History Rocks"
Jackie (played by Joelle) struggles with bullies at school after the death of her father. She just wants to sing the songs he loved, but the bullies say she is a weirdo. Tiana (Jackie's friend, played by Charlotte) defends her and gives great advise on how to cope with bullies. Their teacher Miss Parsley (played by Isabella) just wants to teach history but her students are reluctant. The show is told through songs as history lessons become interesting.
Bowls with members of the North Island Indoor Bowls team
Ashburton was hosting the North Island verse South Island Indoor Bowls Tournament and some players came out to school to show us how to bowl. Grant, Maureen, Matt, Joy taught us which way to hold the bowl and how to aim for the 'jack'. It was a lot of fun and we were all soon sad to know our time was up.
Cross Country
We were lucky to have gorgeous weather on Friday 18 May so off we all went in the buses to the Ashburton Showgrounds. The Year 8 and 7 students ran 3km, the Year 5 and 6 students ran 2.5km, the Year 3 and 4 students ran 2km and the Year 1 and 2 students ran 1km. Congratulations to 17 speedy students in Years 5 - 8 that ran fast enough to make it into the Counties competition.
Restoration Planting at Wakanui Beach
Students in Year 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 spent time at Wakanui Beach planting plants that had been grown from the native seeds collected from this beach last year. In 2017 Mrs Ferguson and her class Kanuka began an inquiry project into the biodiversity that occurs at our beach. In conjunction with the local council and a group of local residents they have planted over 1000 plants to restore the beach area. Check out the following link for a video www.odt.co.nz/news/the-south-today/young-tree-planters-rejuvenate-beach-near-ashburton
Duathlon
Our duathlon was held on Friday and everyone participated in this run, swim, run event. At the end there was a 'competitive' race for any student from years 4 - 8. There run and swim lengths were longer! Well done to everyone for showing resilience and persistence. Many met their goals and all will sleep well tonight.
