Final blog post of 2020

Wow! What a year. We acknowledge our students and the community for demonstrating persistence and resilience (Grit) in the past year. We have so much to celebrate! Our students have continued to flourish, demonstrating all kinds of Character Strengths, humour being the one that has come to the fore most reliably across the board. The curiosity and creativity have also been evident and much of the work has been stunning.

Our friends at Brindas School in France have made us a movie to wish us all a well-deserved break: http://cm1.galligani.eu/auroa-school/friends-2020-2021/

Here are some memories from 2020:

We would like to wish our Year 6 graduates and other students leaving Worser Bay School all the best for their next learning adventure. We would also like to wish Madi all the best in her future endeavors. 

Have a wonderful summer break. Happy Christmas, stay safe and look out for one another.

The Wrap 2020

 Yesterday at 'The Wrap' we performed Taku Manu for welcoming. Then Tika tonu for coming of age!

Year 6 students recited the poem "Spring Morning" by AA Milne. 

And the Grand Finale...

Year 6 V The Teachers

As part of a Worser Bay tradition the Year 6 students played the teachers at Football and Netball. 

Beach Week 2020 - Sailing at Worser Bay Boating Club

The finale for Beach Week 2020 was sailing with Worser Bay Boating Club. Ngā mihi nui to Polly, Harvey and Hugo for showing us the ropes! We revisited our learning from the Kōkōkaha program we did in class (see Float My Boat, Sail Power, History of Sailing & Sail Away). Tāwhirimātea had been active this week, but was kind to us for two and a half of the planned four days. Many of us were sailing for the first time and with just a little wind we were able to get a feel for the Opti dinghys.

 

During Kōkōkaha, we learnt about boat stability and keels/centreboards by experimenting in class. Sailing for real, we learnt that the centreboard is also used to lever the boat upright after capsizing. 
 

 

Polly and Harvey kept us right in the IRBs. Conditions were such that we could choose whether to capsize or not. The water wasn't too icy so some of us got in quite a lot of practice! 

 

I pai tēnā wiki, ka rawe koutou! 

Year 6 Dinner 2020

Our Year Six Students had an absolute blast at the Y6 dinner last night. 

And here is a little blast from the past that we shared: 

Wellington High School- Beach Activities

Thank you Wellington High School students for running activities for us on the beach today. 

Beach Week 

by Mae S

Beach week is where we all go to the beach for a couple weeks. We do activities like swimming, sailing, kayaking and sand castle competitions. Students from Mahutonga and Matariki go to the beach near the end of the year, and learn how to do activities related to the ocean.

So far beach week has been spectacular! On Wednesday we had an awesome long walk around 8km. We went to one of the beaches just like we do every year, but this year we had a little environmental art competition where we all had to do nature related art and the best won, and on Thursday we had kayaking. First we had to be with one of the awesome Wellington High School students to remind us or show us how to kayak, but then we got to kayak with a buddy without the Wellington High School students. We also learnt how to do a few beach activities like volleyball and soccer.

Normally it happens around early December or late November and we normally have two weeks of it. We don’t always go to the beach, but we do so many other fun activities at school anyway.

We are so grateful for beach week and these awesome activities.

Wellington High School 

by Rudy

Today was a big day. Wellington High School students ran activities for us. It included sand castle building, volleyball, tug of war and Kayaking. Doing these activities was so much fun! I really enjoyed building sand castles and kayaking. When I went kayaking with Lillian, we used seaweed as ammunition to throw at other people that were also using the kayaks. Sandcastle building was also fun because me and my friends built together. I had fun today and I hope tomorrow is the same!

Peninsula Walk

We had a wonderful day exploring the peninsula. We explored rock pools, had a long lunch at Breaker Bay, made artworks inspired by Andy Goldsworthy and visited O-rua-iti Pā. We had to use Grit for our long walk. 

Sail Away - Parts of a Boat

 We have been trying out Yachting NZ's 'Kōkōkaha' sailing education programme. No better time, given Beach Week is upon us! Goals are being set and Māhutonga Matariki are about to get out on the water. 

In this rotation we thought about the different parts of a sail boat and how they contribute to the stability, power and movement of it. 

We connected to last year's learning around Polynesian Navigation. Many of us were aware of how double-hulled boats give more stability for ocean voyages. He waka hourua tēnā! 

Learning about the keel (or centreboard in the boats we'll use) was especially useful for those of us who worry about capsizing! We prototyped, testing our designs in an icecream container and blowing a gale at them. 

Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence- Art Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy

We have been inspired by the artwork of Andy Goldsworthy and have created our own environmental art. We have been thinking about the Character Strength of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence.

By Marnie and Cleo

The Character Strength of Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence is about an emotional experience, and appreciating beauty around us and in other people's skills and talents.

We have been doing close observations of precious things in nature, looking at all of the wonderful colours, shades, shapes and uniqueness of the objects. 

By Sam, Finn and Alex

This is our child developed Character Strengths poster: