Ex GHS Student Making Great Music!

Ex Gulf Harbour School student Nicola Morrison has just placed in top 50 of 'Play It Strange' NZ Secondary Schools Songwriting Competition. She composed and sung  a wonderful song called 'Paper Planes' and got to do a professional recording for a CD coming out later in the year. Her song is currently available on iTunes, so go and buy it. Go Nicola!!!


What a great song, check it out!!!

Great Things Happening with Food and Music!

GHS Chefs

A group of Year 7's and 8's chose cooking as their 5 week elective. 'Brunches' has been the topic and we have had fun following recipes, learning techniques and creating our own dishes. This week we have a chef from Sparx, Little Manly Village to taste our 'Brunch Tortilla' we have designed. Simon Roadley, owner of Sparx, not only gave 3 GHS 'chefs' the awesome opportunity to visit his restaurant kitchen, if he is impressed with it, Simon has generously offered to trial our dish on Sparx menu! Fingers crossed!!!! All our tasters so far have enjoyed it and the 'chefs' definitely have - 

here's hoping Sparx likes it too!

What's Cooking in Food Tech!

Recently Year 7/8s have been looking at technological modeling - the brief - " Design a pasta shape that will hold a sauce of medium consistency. We learnt to make our own pasta, models and prototypes and came up with some interesting shapes!

Musical Profits

Profits from this years musical production " A Kids Summer Night's Dream" by our talented Year 7's went some of the way towards the purchase and installation of these fabulous mirrors in Room 8 - Performing Arts. The Drama Elective have made the most of the mirrors, Year 1's are finding them useful in helping them prepare for their production, there are dance/movement classes happening and GleeHS are enjoying the mirrors- working towards their debut later this term.

Music from Junk.

Year 7's have been combining junk instruments with other percussion, working on creating and layering rhythms and have come up with some unique arrangements. Check out this video  with our lovely Korean students showing us their rhythmic skills. They all play orchestral instruments too so hopefully we will manage some more videos.

Room 29 Animators in Action

Room 29 are busy creating Claymation and 2D Animations for the Animation Festival they are putting on week 9.
Watch them in action in our short film and be sure to enter our Animation Festival - click the link below for more details
http://gulfharbourschoolnews.blogspot.com/2011/08/taking-entries-now-for-ghs-animation.html

Gulf Harbour School Welcomes Japanese Rugby Team

What great excitement for the school today as we welcomed the Japanese Rugby Team. There were flags waving and signatures being signed all over the place. The students got their first real taste of World Cup fever as we lined up outside the lodge to greet the players.  It was especially exciting to see All Black legend John Kirwan there, with the team as coach. I'm sure the players appreciated the welcome and we certainly enjoyed the moment.  Good luck to the team!


Check out the Youtube clip below...

Knights and Princess Ball - What a night!!!

Wow, what a fabulous night!

Our Princesses and Knights looked amazing and a magical

evening to remember was enjoyed by everyone. Dancing,

'how well do you know your daughter?' quiz,  games, belly

dancing & jump jam performances, delicious princess food

and great music all helped to make it a fantastic evening. It

was so special to see Dads walking in arm and arm with their

Princesses. A really big thank you to our wonderful committee

of parents who worked with such passion to make this evening come together.

Ms Wesley Visits Gulf Harbour School!

“Yippee!” shouted Room 16. Ms Wesley was finally visiting us! Ms Wesley worked at New Century International Elementary School in America and Room 16 have been communicating with the class most of the year. We have exchanged movies, slideshows, photos, emails, voice threads and more. It has been such fun and we have learnt a lot about each others schools. In term one made them a movie for them about the Christchurch earthquake. (see below)

Did you know Ms Wesley taught here at GHS in the past? She then went to America to teach and came back to New Zealand a couple of weeks ago. She brought letters for our class from New Century School. She also bought American coins and even lollies!  (They do not call lollies, lollies in America, they call it candy)

The class really liked meeting Ms Wesley. She is so nice! We had lots of questions for her and it was great to meet her. She is off to Dubai to teach now and we wish her well with that.
By Mirin

Year 8s Win Mathex Competition

Our Winning Team

Last week we took part in the Yr 7/8 interschool Mathex competition (Math Problem Solving). It was held at Stella Maris School and was a fun, energetic race to the finish. Congratulations to our Year 8 team who came in first place out of the 18 teams attending. They not only won but did so by a landslide gaining 18 out of possible 20 points - second place came in with a total of 10 points. Our Year 7 team also did well coming in 6th equal - we look forward to seeing what they will be able to achieve next year!

Yr 8 team
- Charlotte Doocey
- Brae Southern
- Jenny Cho
- Mia Davis

Year 7 Team
- Tarushna Dayah
- Erica Simmonds
- Tessa Weston
- Jasmine Tufuga.

Walking School Buses had a Penguins Day!

In celebrating the release of Mr Popper's Penguins, 20th Century Fox and the Walking School Buses had a Penguins Day for our Walking School Bus during the week of 8th-12th August.  We were encouraged to dress like penguins and "waddle" to school (keeping in mind to stay road smart whilst doing so!)

One Walking School Bus from each Auckland region will win a double movie pass and a Mr Popper's Penguins stationary set for each child.  All children who participated will receive a set of Mr Popper's Penguins stickers.

Our Walking School Bus for Gulf Harbour School called "Alec Craig Sloopers" had around 15 kids altogether whom participated on each of our Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday WSB days. All were spectacular- and "PENGDIFFERERICUOS"- some kids made their own individual masks, body suits made from black clean sacks- beaks, hats, bowties. It was FUN!

A big thank you to Chad Phillips (Father of Logan) who made x10 cardboard Penguins like what you would see at the actual cinema over the weekend, leading up to the event -they were lifesize, complete with hand and arm movements and eye holes and velcro to stick together at the back for complete "Penguin look"- these were AWESOME!

Thanks also to Mrs Southgate, Miss Wium and Mrs Vrettos for participating, and joining in the fun too!
Its great to have our Teachers on board our BUS TOO!

WE SHOULD WIN THE PRIZE GUYS-SO WATCH THIS SPACE OK!


Gaylene Chambers 

New Gulf Harbour Sign

Have you seen the new Gulf Harbour School sign out by the front car park?  It has our new vision statement   'Be the difference'  on it.

Wow that looks shiny and clean because it's brand new. The old one was over 10 years old and needed replacing. The new one was put up in the holidays and matches our new website.

So next time you are at the front gate, have a  little look!  We hope you enjoy it.
by Isabel and Lily.

School Goes Crazy With Ned Yo Yos!

The Ned Show
On Tuesday 'The Ned Show'‚ came to GHS. Clyde, who hosted the show, was there to show us how to work a Yo-Yo and give some advice. The advice was what NED stands for...
The N stands for 'Never Give Up'
The E stands for 'Encourage others' and...
 the D stands for 'Do Your Best'.

Clyde was really funny! He brought his friend Ned. Clyde told a story about what happened to NED before he got to GHS. While telling the story he was also showing tricks with his Yo-Yos. It was really cool. The story was about Ned and how he got into so much trouble by doing the wrong things. Everything came right for Ned when he decided to do the right thing.

There was also a competition and James won. He got a hat made out of balloons and a free Yo-Yo that he could clip onto his waist. Some of the tricks he did with his Yo-Yo were - the Eiffel Tower, Spaghetti, Elevator, Ski Lift, walk the Dog and go around the world. Clyde said that practice makes permanent not perfect. 

After, when The Ned Show had gone everyone at GHS went crazy and started buying Yo-Yos.
If you want to buy a Yo-Yo, a DVD of  how to use one, extra Strings or a Yo-Yo Holster then go to the office.
Here is the NED website.  http://www.thenedshow.com/
By Amelia and Kera

DOODLE 4 GOOGLE COMPETITION!

2009 Winner

It's time to sharpen your pencils! Doodle for 4 Google is back in 2011!


Google like to reflect the ever-changing world of users through the logo designs on their homepage. These ‘doodles’ celebrate different people, events or special dates and are designed by a team of Google Doodlers.


In 2011, they’re asking young people from across New Zealand to design their own doodle. The theme is ‘My Wish for New Zealand’. Google would love to see how young people want New Zealand to look like.

The best doodles will be voted on by the public, and one winner will be shown on the Google New Zealand homepage for a day, to be viewed by millions of people. You will also win technology prizes for yourself and your school!

The competition is open to all students at GHS, once you have completed your Doodle 4 Google along with a title for your doodle and a supporting statement that explains what you have portrayed and why (no more than 50 words), hand in to Miss Mills in Room 29 by 16th September.


Click here for the design guidelines:
http://www.google.co.nz/doodle4google/info.html


As a school, we will vote on our top 8 to enter into the competition.
Get google-doodling everyone! Good Luck!

Year 5 and 6 Speech Finals

The speech finals for the Year 5 and 6 children were held today (14th July) with a great group of finalists. It was really exciting for all the students who took part and also the audience who watched on eagerly to see who the winners were.

The speech finalists spoke very clearly and confidently in front of their peers (even with the heavy rain to contend with). This made for a fun, informative and interesting morning.

We would also like to thank the guest judges Miss Pride and Mr Brown for their time and the hard decision of picking the winners. Well done to all the competitors!

The winners were:

Year 5

1st - Nick Rm 27

2nd - Chelsea Rm 29

3rd - Alex Rm 27

Year 6

1st - Deanne Rm 30

2nd - Josie Rm 25

3rd - Michael Rm 28

By Ben and Alfie Room 30

Red Sock Day!

Sir Peter Blake made a big impact on this planet. He gave up his career and free time to let the people know what they are doing to their environment.  He also informed them how it affects the animals but most importantly us.  Sadly in the year of 2001 Sir Peter Blake was shot.  Room 25 think it’s important that we carry on his legacy.  

First Room 25 learnt a bit about pollution. We then found a website and learnt how other schools had been making an impact.  We decided to make an impact too.  We found a trust called the Sir Peter Blake Trust and decided to participate by celebrating RED Sock Day.  

As you may know Sir Peter Blake had a famous pair of RED socks.  The one time he didn’t wear those socks lost the race. The Sir Peter Blake Trust provides RED socks to sell.  The money goes to the Sir Peter Blake Trust and they then use the money to clean up the environment.  We celebrated Red Socks Day because we wanted to let the people know that the world is very close to dying.  We need to stop pollution. NOW! 

By Lucy 

Room 25

Great Night at the Disco!

The disco was a real success and it was great seeing everyone up there dancing the night away! Mr Westbonk, Mrs Southgate and Miss Wium were right there in the thick of it showing their dance moves. What a great way to celebrate the end of the term! 

Library Open Day - Check Out New Books!

A big thank you to all parents for your support and generosity with food days and fundraising in our school. As a result we have purchased some fantastic new books for our library. It’s really great to see our children benefiting from your support. Please come into the library and see all the new books. They're WONDERFUL!


Jenny Vincent

Room 16's Movies About What Makes New Zealand Unique

Awhile ago Room 16 were working with New Century International Elementary School in America. We made a movie to tell them about the Christchurch earthquake. Then we started looking at the differences between the two countries and two schools. 

We made some movies for them on youtube about what makes us unique. We decided to have a contest to see who could get the most hits. Here are the winners. They are Amelia, Lyndon and Jamie. You can check out the other little movies if you like.

By Eadie and Isabel

Getting To School with Travel Wise

Last week we had Travel Wise in our school. Travel Wise is a organisation that encourages kids to get to school under their own steam. Travel Wise developed the  Walking School Bus and ensures options for safe active travel are available to students.

A large map of our school community was set up in Room 14 for classes to visit.  Each student was asked to use a ‘monopoly house’ to mark where they lived. You had to put a colour coded sticker next to your house showing your type of travel e.g. blue sticker if you walk, red sticker if you come in a car. We shared problems we had coming to school like scary dogs or busy roads.  Parents were also invited to view the completed map and add their ‘issues’. 

Overall it was a great success and an informative couple of days. We would like to thank Bridget Framiloe (School Transport Coordinator) and Yvette  Nicholls for running these 2 days. 

Did you know that 179 tonnes of carbon dioxide are released by vehicles travelling to school in the Auckland area alone! That is the same weight as 76 hippos!


Here's the Travel Wise link  http://www.travelwise.org.nz/

By Arabela and Miss Wium

Drawing like Quentin Blake with Eadie

In Room 16 we have been looking at the drawings of Quentin Blake. That is because Eadie has inspired us with her fantastic drawings. Quentin Blake is a famous illustrator who has illustrated hundreds of books. He is particularly well known for his illustrations of the Roald Dahl books like the BFG and Witches. Here is a great little movie that Eadie and her Dad made. Check it out! Quentin Blake has a lovely scratchy style with a great sense of fun and movement. Thanks Eadie and Matt!

Stunning Year 7 Performance!

A Kidsummer Nights Dream


The Year 7 students were great tonight with their wonderful performance of A Kidsummer Night's Dream. The singing, dancing, costumes and acting were stunning. Get in on the last performance on Wednesday night. You'll be in for a treat!


The Year 7 students, Lynda Morrison, Silvie Watts and Wendy Turton have done an amazing job!

Mr Widdowson gets hitched!

Congratulations to Mr Widdowson who got married on Saturday in Devonport.
It was a great day had by all, even members of Room 21 attended.


We wish you all the best Mr W!