Otago Rippa Finals

What a Rippa of a day we had at Forsyth Barr Stadium today. All our students made us so proud, on and off the field. All our games were very close indeed with some awesome skills displayed and stunning tries scored! We all look forward to the fabulous movies our supporters are making of the Rippa Journey. There was great team spirit and school pride flowing in abundance. Thank you to all the parents and grandparents who were there to support us and to George our number one supporter! Well done 
Warepa!

Week two at Warepa term 3

Welcome the lengthening days with spring like weather. 

The staff and many of our parents enjoyed an inspiring Friday night's entertainment with Lisa O'Neil; a great tonic for a Friday, after a busy first week. 

Monday night saw Mr Hyslop, Mrs Bissett and I attend a meeting with all the local schools Board and staff reps to share and discuss  where to from here with digital learning. It is a very exciting time for us all and we look forward to sharing with our parent community. On Monday and Tuesday of week four Mrs Bissett, Mrs Puna and Mrs Hyslop will visit schools in Auckland to visit schools and see programmes in action and see where Education is heading for our 21st century learners. We have a Board Meeting on Thursday this week at 7.30pm  where we will set a date for a parent information evening which will happen before I head off for my op.

We are part of the Big River Learning and Change Network which has been on a journey together for over two years. The main focus is on raising student achieviement with a focus on engagement in learning for all including  self regulated learning.  The aim will be to create connected learners who learn anywhere, anytime, any place. E learning play a big part in the learning process. 

The Board is investigating our infrastructure to ensure we have robust systems. We will soon be SNUPPED, which means we will be involved in a School Network Upgrade process, we are in the process of securing robust technical support and purchasing more devices for the children. 

All these changes will be developed around sound teaching and learning pedagogy and practises.  So please look out for more information soon about a parent information and consultation evening so we can all move forward on this exciting journey together.

The Senior Class is heading to Dunedin tomorrow to support our Year 5 and 6 Rippa Team in the Orago Finals. The supporters will be engaged in a range if activities as they support our team. All the best to our 'Warepa Winners' team.

Mrs Adcock

Welcome to Term 3

I hope everyone had a wonderful and refreshing break and are ready for a very busy term three! The weather has played it's part today with a chilly welcome to our week. Those of us who were lucky to have fun in the sun and warmth will sure be feeling it today with the bite if snow!

Some of the features of our term are:

Firewise, Cross Country, Otago Rippa Finals, Speeches, Swimming and a Marae Visit. I am of course off for part of the term to have my knee op, not really looking forward to all that it brings and will be glad to have it behind me. We look forward to hearing about all your wonderful holidays. Here are a few snippets of our South Island tour and our beautiful country.

The Kaikoura Coastline.

  Mount Cook.

    

The Southern Alps, near Tekapo.

          

Ready for the Highlanders Crusaders game in Christchurch, not the best result but heaps of fun with family and friends.

Nigel and the far North

Snippets of Thursday in beautiful Paihia .

As always a presentation from Nigel Latta yesterday was stimulating, thought provoking and entertaining.

View at breakfast, so breath taking,

Flag pole on the Waitangi grounds.

Hobson house on the treaty grounds.

The meeting house at Waitangi.

Two of New Zealand's oldest buildings are situated in the Kerikeri Basin. Kemp House and the Stone Store.

Kemp house

Built by Maori sawyers and missionary carpenters from the London-based Church Missionary Society in 1820-21, Kemp House predates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi by almost 20 years.

Lunch at the Workd famous fish and chip shop, VERY nice!

Mission accomplished, we made it on our afternoon off to Ninety Mile Beach in the far north.

A stunning welcome

Come together, reignite the       passion- the conference theme.

The conference began with a welcome. It was held at the Treaty Grounds at the site  Hobsons Beach in front of the Waka House  where the Waka are launched every Waitangi Day. 

           Another stunning day in Paihia.

One of the highlights of day one for me was listening to Doctor Lance Sullivan, who was recognised as the New Zealander of the year for his work in the far north in Health Education.

He was told

'You can't treat people that don't have money', that was the ignite to start his own practice.  

He now has the opportunity to provide fairness in the system-he can break the barriers, with a focus on access to care for Maori who are 95% of his patients.

He said- ' Schools not just venue for learning but health as well. 

Healthy children-optimal learning.'

He set up school based health service two years ago. It's exciting! '

He spoke about his current initiatives in schools to identify and treat children who are sick. He spoke about the correlations between the Health and Education Sectors and the use of digital tools to facilitate change.

The passion for him has been reignited!

We arrived safely in Northland at Keri Keri airport.

Hi all from Paihia, beautiful place for Principal's conference.

The South Otago Principals travelled to Paihia via Auckland today to the Rural Principal's conference, leaving behind a very chilly Balclutha. After a perfect flight to Auckland we boarded a 'pencil plane' anyone who knows me will understand my trepidation, it was amplified when I discovered I was in the back seat!! Well, I was stoked to have a wonderful flight with the amazing views below soothing my nerves. Here is a taste 

We travelled by ferry to Russell to explore and take in the amazing tranquil sites, what a beautiful country we live in! Did I mention it was 17 degrees?

After a stunning sunset and some delicious chocolates we had a scrumptious meal at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel.

A very elegant hotel with amazing food and service. We were delivered home to our hotel by water taxi as we soaked in the views under a  starry night.

Good night all, bring on the conference!

Treemendous School Makeover Application

Week 3, term 2:
Well, after a fun filled few weeks the Year 7 and 8's have finally completed their application to win our school a Treemendous School Makeover. The children have worked very hard designing their project by completing a brief of the project, concept drawings and recording this on a DVD. There were many laughs as they made the DVD and realised how hard this is. The first part of the DVD had about 8 takes! Below is the final brief and two of the concept drawings which were constructed by the pupils on google drawing. 

Treemendous School Makeover

Our school aims to build an amphitheatre on the tennis court bank.

Our tennis court is in a bad state, there has been a huge puddle in one corner all winter. This year the Board of Trustees has jumped into action and the drains are being replaced.

Stage two is to cover it with tigerturf, the court will be a multi-purpose area.

We would make it of ekologix timber, made of recycled products. It is low maintenance and non-slip, a great thing for the environment and safety!

We would like potted plants (all natives) down the outer edges of the theatre, to make it attractive and to provide shelter.

Our amphitheatre would be a great for place students to do our work on a nice day, talk, play, have school singing and lunch, it would become an outdoor classroom.

We would put planter boxes on each side of the entrance, we could plant natives or make an edible garden which the students would plant and look after.

To keep our awesome students safe from the sun’s rays we would put shade sails over a part of the amphitheatre.

Treemendous Organisers, please consider our application, we know we deserve it.

Holly Bissett and Tiana van Schalkwyk, on behalf of the students and teachers of Warepa School.    

                     

                     

Fingers crossed we get to stage 2 of the competition.

Week three is another busy one for our pupils. Today our year 8 students attended the National Young Leader's Day in Dunedin. The aim of the day is to develop student leadership and be both inspirational and practical.  Thank you Mrs Wilson for taking the students, we look forward to hearing about their experiences tomorrow.

With the Rippa Tournament fast approaching on May 29th for year 3-8 students we are practising our rippa skills. Please bring a change of clothes and footwear daily.

I would like to encourage all our parents and any members of our community to attend the meeting below. Please let me know by Thursday the 22nd of May if you would like to attend so I can pass numbers onto the organising committee.

DIGITAL LEARNING - WHERE TO FOR OUR LEARNERS?

7.00 p.m Rosebank School

Monday  26 May 2014

SPEAKERS:

Introduction: Big River Bridge to Success

Rob Mill (Ministry of Education):

A brief outline of the goals of working with the Big River Cluster.

Main Speaker: Dorothy Burt

Dorothy Burt is a teacher at Pt. England School in Auckland. She is widely acknowledged for her work in e-learning. She leads the Manaiakalani Professional Learning and Development programme for a cluster of schools in Auckland. She will talk about how students across the cluster have the opportunity to ‘be at home in a digital world’ so they can learn ‘anywhere, anytime and at any pace’.

The Manaiakalani Education Trust and participating schools have forged cross sector partnerships to sustain programme innovation and development to make digital technology accessible to the students of the cluster.

This is an opportunity for our community to think about how we can lead developments in e-learning for our students in the south.

Supper and networking to follow.

TERM 2 2014

Welcome to the Warepa Principal's Blog.

We are a rural full primary school in South Otago.

Our wonderful teachers are Mrs Hyslop and Mrs Adcock-Senior Class, Mrs Bissett-Middle Class, Mrs Puna Junior Class. Our super support staff are our teacher aides - Mrs Wilson and Mrs Hewitson, and Mrs Broad is our office assistant. 
Mr Puna keeps our school spick and span and maintains our school gardens and buildings.
Mrs Adcock is also our Principal.

Our School has 50 super kids who mostly live in Warepa and in nearby Balclutha.

We have a very supportive Board of Trustees, Mr Hyslop is our chairperson, Mrs Stephens our secretary, Mrs Greer is our treasurer and Mr Benington is our property manager. The Board is complete with Mrs Bissett, staff rep and Mrs Adcock Principal.

We are all new to the exciting world of blogging, let us share our learning journey with you.

Here is our school from the air!

Our term 2 inquiry is 'Watch this Space'. Please talk to your children about their class inquiry and follow their learning journey.

Welcome back to term 2, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break and are refreshed for a very busy but short term ahead.

Some exciting things we will be involved in during the term are:

• Learning Sign Language
• Holding a School Science Fair to celebrate our learning in our inquiry 'Watch this Space
• Developing our sports skills in - volleyball, rippa rugby and hockey
• Visiting a local Marae
• Competing in the local Rippa Rugby and Hockey Tournaments
• Learning about exciting SPACE in a variety of ways
• Learning about and using google docs and sharing our learning journey with our parents and others through our class and individual blogs and receiving feedback on our learning - exciting times ahead.
• Holding a Parent Evening during the term

Thank you very much to our wonderful Support Group who have generously donated funds for our Board to purchase 3 new i pads and blinds for the Multi Purpose room, and Junior and Middle classrooms - these will enhance our learning opportunities and environment.

Our Board employed Demi Contracting to upgrade our tennis court drainage. The work happened over the holiday break. We all look forward to using the court, free of water! Thank you to Demi Contracting.

I hope you all have a wonderful term and look forward to sharing it with you. Mrs A

Week One, Term 2:
We have had a wonderful start to the term in all classes and enjoyed some success on the sports field. HUGE congratulations to the Wonky Woodchucks who won the Year 5 & 6 South Otago Football competition. Thank you very much to the teachers, teachers aides and parents who braved the chilly weather conditions to support the team which ended in a drop off to two players and our team won!

Friday 9th May:   WOW what a day! We were very privileged to have Highlanders Jo Wheeler, Malakai Fekitoa and Aaron Smith visit our school. Our students and staff were buzzing before they arrived, during their visit and in fact ALL day. Thanks to the Highlanders, Silver Fern farms and Heli South for the amazing experience for us all. GO HIGHLANDERS!!!!!

                 

Farewell Highlanders watch as they head to Waiwera South School-enjoy our friends.

It was really exciting to watch the Highlanders visit to our three country schools today: 

Here is the link if you missed it.

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/highlanders/301813/video-highlanders-visit-country-schools

Week 2, Term 2:

Congratulations to both Malakai Fekitoa and Aaron Smith who were both named in the All Blacks training squad today, we will watch your progress and achievements with interest!

It was also wonderful to hear today that the other Highlander to visit Warepa School on Friday, Joe Wheeler, remembered one of our students when he was signing signatures after the game on Saturday night against the Lions-how cool is that? 

It made our pupil feel very special! Thanks Joe.