Tawhai School

Tawhai School was a blaze of colour on Monday with the running of the ‘Relay for Life’ Cancer Society fundraiser. Ex-Tawhai students Ryan Poole, Finn and Devon McMillian and Jack Kilty did an outstanding job organising the event which had students dressed in one of 10 assigned colours. Student groups were dotted round the running track which meant runners were cheered on and encouraged as they made their way round the 400m course. Each lap completed added to the team total with ‘DJ Finn’ providing regular updates. It was wonderful to see the children challenge themselves to run as many laps as possible and to see many of our senior students support the junior members of their team. It is events like these that play a special part in a schools culture, as they promote a strong sense of togetherness and importance of community. Special thanks must also go to Janette Page for all her hard work helping the boys coordinate things behind the scenes; all the parents who helped with the sausage sizzle and to Richard Te One for providing the great sounds! Together we raised $1000 for such a worthy cause. What a fantastic start to the week!

Click here for the photos………..

Relay for Life, Photos by Rosa

Relay for Life, Photos by Dawn

Click here to view a short clip of the teams walking around the course…..

The Teams walking around the course.

On Thursday the 8th March 2012, twenty one lucky students from Tawhai School visited Maidstone Intermediate for the Science Roadshow. There were many interesting activites to watch and to have a go at doing; like a gravity machine that showed how forces work. There was simple pole-driving machine. Another fun thing to do was being in the wind tunnel. Two people would stand in front of the the big fan and someone would turn on the switch. The wind started slowly and then became greater and greater until our hair blew right up straight and our faces were stretched like rubber bands.

There were also shows to watch on screen. These were put on by the organisers and we learnt a lot of different things. We learned about physical and chemical changes in things. The ‘hidden world’ show taught us about types of tools, cameras and things that can help us in our everyday life. We were shown a laparoscope that the Doctors put down inside our bodies instead of operating on them. It’s a long tube with a camera that can take photos inside the body. Going to the roadshow was a fun thing. We all enjoyed learning lots of things about science. The photos that Vicki Foss and Michelle Clout, Two parent helpers, took of us at the show were great.  Thanks to Mrs Young for organising this visit for us.

Kerenza & Hamish Room 15.

Here are the photos taken by Vicki and Michelle.

Science Show

March 26-30 Wellington Schools Travel Plan Prgramme are celebrating the region’s safe and sustainable travel champions – all the children who walk, wheel and bus to and from school! Movin’March 2012 is all about students gaining the skills they need to keep safe when walking and cycling to school – and celebrating their journeys!
This is what Tawhai School plan to do during ‘Movin March’ Week:

Fancy Feet Parade-March 26th

At 1.30pm, the students will be having a ‘Fancy Feet’ parade straight after lunch. The Children will be encouraged to decorate their shoes in the most creative ways possible and a prize will be awarded for the ‘best dressed feet’(one per class) The ‘Movin March’ Mascot will hopefully be at the School to award the prizes.

Decorate the Gate- Monday  March 26th

The gate is going to be decorated and as many children as possible will be encouraged to to walk to school, or use other forms of transport (scooters, bikes) instead of coming by car for ‘Movin March’ week.

Walk to School Bus Promotion- Tuesday March 27th

This is currently operating from Wagon Road, and will be promoted in order to get more to join in and walk together. Spot prizes will be awarded to those who turn up: Everyone will leave by 8am and will be joined by Sherrie from Hutt City Council. Eventually it is hoped that the Walking School Bus that departs from Stokes Valley Pool will be back up and running.

Scooter -Wednesday 28th.

As many students as possible will be encouraged to bring their scooters to school. A designated course will be set up for them to ride their scooters on at lunch time with supervision from Brigit Stevens who is the Walking School Bus Coordinator.

Staff Challenge-Thursday 29th

Brigit Stevens is hoping to have a Staff Pedometer challenge (whoever walks the most in a day will win a prize) She is having difficulty sourcing free pedometers, so is there anyone who can help please?

Friday 30 th,

No acitivity planned.

The whole of Tawhai School came together in the third assembly of the term. As the students walked into the hall, they were treated to a slide show on the data projector of photographs taken of the students doing their day to day work, whether it be writing, numeracy activities, white board work or playing educational games.
Co-hosted by Alysha and Jasmine, there were a variety of items featured in this assembly. Firstly, 2 students from each class were given Principal’s award certificates(1 blue & 1 yellow). Those receiving the blue certificates were chosen by their teacher for good work done over a 2 week period. Those who received the yellow certificates were voted for by their classmates. The awarding of these certificates will be done on a fortnightly basis to coincide with The Whole School Assembly.
Also featured in the assembly were Room 15 showing their optional homework. Justin and Dylan spoke about their chosen subject: The All Whites Football team.
Room 11 proudly showed their writing. Room 5 had created some faces out of different coloured paper showing examples of various moods.
Mrs Poole spoke about the 4 ex Tawhai Students: Devon, Ryan, Jack and Finn (these boys all attend Hutt International Boys School) who are fundraising for the Cancer Society. Tawhai School will be supporting them by running a mini version of the Relay for Life which will be held on the 12th March.( See poster already published on website for further details)
Lastly, Mr Skilton announced that of all the children who had received Neighbourhood Community awards, Blair and Brad were the lucky students drawn to go for a ferry ride across Wellington Harbourand a helicopter ride.

3rd Assembly term 1

This is a recount by Jasmine C from Room 1 of her experiences dancing at the Summer Carnival.

The Summer Carnival

The other week, I danced at the Summer Carnival. First we had to get ready, which includes putting on makeup, getting into your costume, doing your hair and warming up. After that, I started to go though all of my dances to see if I had forgotten any of them. Next I was ready to perform.

The first dance I did was called,’Move your body’. I wasn’t the only person in this dance, there were four others. I then started to get into my other costume for the next dance I was going to do. I started to watch the end of my sister Holly’s dance. After that, it was time for me to go on and dance my dance called 5678!

I had finally finished that dance. I had a drink and then got changed into my next costume. Me and my sister Holly were going to perform a duo called.” I Dream a Gene”. After that I had another quick drink, and got into the very last costume. I went onto dance for the last time in this year in the Summer Carnival, to a song that was called. “Move it like this.” After that I went to my ballet for another hour of some more fun!

Jasmine Dancing in the Summer Carnival

Three of Tawhai School’s Middle Syndicate Students, Brierley M, Jorja C, and Anneliese S came up with a wonderful idea to run a cake stall at the weekend to raise money for Tawhai School and the Wellington, S.P.C.A and with the help of Heilee C, that’s precisely what they did . Below is a recount by Heilee.

On Sunday 26th Feburary, Jorja , Brierley , Anneliese and Heilee held a cake stall. They wanted to raise money for both Tawhai School and the Wellington S.P.C.A. They had the bake sale at Brierley’s house on the foot path. They sold cupcakes, Lollie cake, popcorn, homemade lemonade and a huge amount of fudge cake. It began around 10.30am and finished at 12.00. One lady asked for the recipe for the homemade lemonade because she liked it so much. They raised exactly $104.70. They took the money into Mr Skilton’s office. Mr Skilton asked what they would like to do with it and the girls said,” We don’t know” Mr Skilton said. ” Well, do you see that garden in front of my office? Do you think we could buy a plant that you girls like and you could plant it there.” The girls said, : “That’s a great idea!” They then handed over the money to Mr Skilton.

The other half of the money raised will be taken by the girls to Wellington S.P.C.A at a later date.

Cake Stall

Thanks to Naomi Cooper for photos.

Farewell to our very hardworking, popular year 6 students. Tawhai wishes you all the best for your next schools.

Click below to view more photos and upload if you wish………

Year 6 Students 2011

Here are the first of the camp photos as promised. These ones are from Dawn Buckley & Fiona Morrison, about 900 photos altogether. Many thanks for sharing. I will add others when I have sorted through them.

Camp Photos, Dawn & Fiona.

Tawhai School once again held their end of Year Assembly and prize giving at Taita College. After a warm welcome from our Principle, Matt Skilton, who outlined the events of the evening, the audience heard speeches from the Board of Trustees Chairperson, Paul Barker, & Wendy Bartlett, the P.T.S.G chairperson. The Artsplash choir sang 3 delightful songs from their repotoire. Our very hardworking sports co-ordinator, Sharon Gilmour was presented with a gift from Sarah T and Nikita F.
Raewyn Young acknowledged all the parent tutor readers who have helped the students so much over the year.
Road Patrol certificates were then handed to the students who have faithfully braved all the elements to make sure that everyone crossed the road safely,both at the beginning and at the end of the school day.
After the graduation certificates were presented to the year 6 students, Jenni Adams, Raewyn Young and Janette Page read out a poem, written by them dedicated to all those year 6′s.
The came the business end of the Assembly when the Ghandi awards,certificates and trophies were presented.
Our leaving teachers,Amanda Neemia and Prue Von Keisenberg were farewelled & everyone sang The first Noel and Jingle Bell Rock.
Lastly the audience were treated to the staff rendition of ‘Rock around the Christmas Tree’.

For a list of the recipients of the Ghandi awards, Certificates and trophies, please click below………

Ghandi Awards, Certifcates & Trophies.

Click below to view the photos of the evening………….

End of Year Assembly & Prize Giving 2011

Click on the link below to view the poem read out by Mrs Adams, Mrs Young and Miss Page……..

The Poem for the Year 6's

On Friday 9th December, Janette page organised another fun sports afternoon filled with action pack obstacles and a little H2O involvement.
click on the photo below to view what happened……….!

Fun Afternoon at Tawhai