Syndicate Newsletter

Celebrating Success on Mathletics

Once again, I am blown away by the commitment to learning in Room 18/19.  Since the beginning of the year, 19 students have earned a Gold award (20 weeks of 1000 points); students have earned 105 Silver awards (5 week of 1000 points) and there have been 559 Bronze awards (1 week of 1000 points).  

In total, Room 18/19 has spent over 1000 hours practising their Mathematics skills and knowledge online - earning over 1 million activity points.

This week alone, there have been another 2 Gold awards earned, 3 Silver and 32 Bronze.

Mr P and I feel so proud and privileged to be working with such 'Seriously Motivated and Respectful Tweens' (SMART kids!).  

Gold Award recipients to date:

Jake

Nina

Chloe

Lily P.

Jonas

Rosie

Holly R.

Lauren

Anu

Giles

Ella

Paris T.

Max Cr.

Paris D.

Leila

Molly

Patricia

Lydia

Nyah

Keep up the great work Pateman Pod!  If you are yet to achieve your 1000 points this week, please complete your 10 set activities over the weekend.  Tasks will be reset on Sunday or Monday. 

PARENTS/FAMILY: WE NEED YOUR IDEAS AND YOUR HELP!

Term 4 Challenge Week

Our teaching team has been discussing the possibility of a Week 9 challenge week next term - Tues 8th, Wed 9th and Thurs 10th December.

We are looking at offering a range of activities that students can opt into.  We have brainstormed the following ideas:

A syndicate break up at the Groynes, with a high ropes course, kayaking, orienteering and BBQ

A Year 8 Amazing Race challenge around town

Cheap Skates Skate Skool

Orana Park - behind the scenes with the zookeepers

rock climbing

self defence workshops

yoga/fitness workshops

dance workshops

cake decorating

making sushi

Xmas decorations

different arts and crafts

photography

CALLING ALL PARENTS, FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!

If you have a particular skill, interest or hobby area that you could share with our students, then we want to hear from you!  Are you a yoga instructor, personal trainer or martial artist?  Do you enjoy photography, arts and crafts?  Do you work with digital technologies as part of your job?

We know that we have a huge number of talented parents, grandparents and older siblings out there.  Please email Mr or Mrs P. with your ideas.  

                                      

Cultural Festival Tues 1st Sept

Last night I witnessed a brilliant display of culture at the Primary Schools Cultural Festival held at the Horncastle Arena.  Our senior kapa haka group showed maturity and commitment in their performance!  This year they have worked really hard to learn and incorporate a number of new skills - i.e. rakau, poi and the conch shells.  Great job!

2015 performance video

Alice, Nyah and Amelia looked beautiful with their chin moko and feathered cloaks.

Noah, Max Co., Torian, Quincy and Louis led the boys strongly. 

Amelia and Alice with matua and whāea.

Rakau routine

poi

Amelia on conch shell

Alice on conch shell

Syndicate Speech Comp

Today eight lucky kids got to battle it out for a spot at the Rotary Speech comp next week.

Our contestants were Paris and Lily S. from Room 18; Molly and Rosie from Room 19; Eliza and Jake from Room 22 and Louie and Hamish from Room 23. Congratulations everyone for making it this far but a huge congratulations to Paris and Rosie who placed 1st and 2nd in the year 8s. And Louie and Molly also 1st and 2nd for year 7s. Here's some photos from today. 

By the student bloggers Molly and Thomas

Periodic Table work

In Room 18/19, we have been learning about the Periodic Table.  The challenge has been set - to learn the whole Periodic Table song.

How cool are the new Nana Trays! :)

Koru Games

Not long now until the Koru Games tournament (Tues 15th-Thurs 17th September).  Exciting!

Look what we came across online from the 2014 tournament.  100 scholar dollars if you can name three St Martins students who feature in the clips (email Mr or Mrs P.).

Try this link for photos from 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/KoruGames/photos_stream?ref=page_internal

The Menace Rock Quest 2015

What a great night out at Kaiapoi High School last night.  The Menace were the first act of the evening, and boy... did they set the bar high!

They came away with 3 impressive awards:
Rocking Drummer Award - Alan
Rock Solid Bassist - Adam
Killer Guitarist - Sam D.

Special mention to Giles, who I thought did a fab job on lead vocals!