Month: March 2023

Helping out with Weetbix Triathlon

After a wonderful school picnic at Pt England Reserve, teachers’ jobs don’t always stop in the classroom.

A group of teachers volunteered to help out with the Weetbix Triathlon held at Pt England Reserve. We arrived just after 5am, and people were already trying to find parking close to the reserve and dropping off their children with their bikes to get ready for the big event.

We were assigned to man the car park for VIP guests. It was great to see how many families were ready for this event, post-COVID. The atmosphere was positive and lively, with many grandparents among the biggest supporters of their grandchildren.

My highlight was meeting these celebrities:

A New Zealand Olympic weightlifter
A New Zealand Silver Ferns netball player
A Te Karere TV presenter

Can you guess who they were?

Term 1 School Picnic

This week, we’ve been practicing for our Fiafia Cultural night, but the weather has been so beautiful that we’ve been able to head to Pt England Reserve to enjoy the sunshine and water.

When we arrived at the reserve, we saw that the Weetbix Triathlon was being set up for their event on Sunday. They were kind enough to let us use their marquee for our Team 4. Hooray!

The weather was scorching, so we made sure to wear plenty of sunscreen, drink plenty of water, and find some shade. This year, Mr. Jacobsen organised for us to have bikes, which the cyclists rode down to Panmure Yacht and back. We even had a coffee truck!

Our students played volleyball, soccer, touch football, and even slid down the cliff. The highlight of the picnic was a treat from Meki’s mum: the best Tongan Otai fruit drink ever!

Our students had a blast at the picnic. What’s your favourite thing to do at school picnics?

 

Fiafia Practice

It’s time for our school’s biggest event of Term 1: Fiafia Night!

Over 500 students are preparing, practicing and participating in over 15 diverse groups, from cultural dances to rock bands. Each student selects their top four preferences for groups to get amongst in.

One of the largest Fiafia groups is Tongan Boys. This year, we are fortunate to have Chris Hiko, Jordan Tito, Greg Va’afusuaga, and Osiasi Kupu as mentors. Our Tongan boys are excited and ready for this big night. Chris Hiko wears many hats: he is a Youth Mentor at Tamaki Community Development Trust, a Counselling student, and the head coach of a local college’s 1st XV rugby team.

Our young men are blessed to have mentors who are rich in culture, empathy, and discipline.

What kind of atmosphere will they create at Fiafia Night 2023? Let’s go!

 

Healthy Lunches

This year we’ve had a new provider for our school free lunches called ‘Kiwi Canteen’.

Kiwi Canteen supply lunches across South and East Auckland schools.  Our learners have been loving their nutritious, well-seasoned lunches, especially our fussy eaters.

The lunch comes with a main meal, fruit and a snack (eg: banana cake, biscuits, pop-corn, corn chips and our learner’s favourite chocolate brownie).

Our lunch ranges from sushi, chicken burgers, pasta, fried chicken, with mash
potatoes and peas.  During Samoan language week, we even had chop suey and rice on the menu.  It’s better than the chop suey Mrs Siō makes.

We haven’t decided what our favourite lunch is yet, but we wonder how does Kiwi Canteen make the lunches tasty?

Ted Manson Foundation Transportation gift: Kea & Tui

Today we had a special assembly to acknowledge the Ted Manson foundation who sponsored 2 large vans called ‘Kea & Tui’.

The purpose of Ted Manson Foundation is to reduce the barriers schools face when trying to access a greater range of teaching and learning experiences that complement and enhance student learning. By providing vehicles free of charge to our school, this allows us to transport our sports teams across Auckland.

Our school has multiple sports team that either ‘walk’ down to our local Dunkirk park or use other people’s vans to transport them to tournaments.

A huge thank you to Ted Manson Foundation to allow Pt England School to have these vehicles. We love the art work that is on the vehicles.  Can’t wait to see many more teams and sports played by our athletes.  Nga Mihi Nui.

2023 Year 5 & 6 Camp

The Year 5 and 6 students at our school get excited about their annual camp at the beginning of the year.

Our camp group was called Piwakawaka (orange fantail), and our camp leaders were Noa and Sa. They were both extraordinary leaders who guided us through our camp activities and always looked after our team.

We had a lot of fun dancing to “Happy,” but the highlight of the camp for our team was having a new experience of camping away from home, canoeing, eating delicious dinners, and having a big swimming day at Panmure Pools.

I wonder what our next camp in 2024 will be like. Who will be our camp leaders? Will we get to do outdoor cooking? (lol!)