Special Bees Playgroups

A safe place where pre-school children with special needs and their carers can socialise and meet others.  The playgroup offers opportunities for pre-school children with special needs to become more independent, widen their horizons and have new experiences.  It gives both children and their parents and carers the chance to form friendships within their local community.

When:      Every Wednesday 9.30 - 11.30am

Where:     Hibiscus Coast Village, Red Beach Road

Cost:        $4.00 per family (includes morning tea for caregivers)

Please contact Gaylene for more details randgchambers@xtra.co.nz Ph: 027 615 0783

Final Total of Pages Read 606 546!

We have added up our number of pages read . That is, pages you read and pages read to you...
606 546
Isn't that amazing! Don't forget to get your sponsorship money in.
The power of reading!

'The Great Stick Your Head in A Book Athon' Comes To An End

We have been so excited to watch as 450 children have enthusiastically read and read and read for the last 2 weeks.  Their efforts have resulted in more than 300,000 pages being read. The readathon finished on Monday with the whole school 'Read All Day Celebration'.  The students and teachers arrived as characters from books and followed Sir Readalot around the courts in a parade.  The school also had the opportunity to guess some of the characters from each class and join the teachers in a Jump Jam number.  Stu Duval shared his love of reading and writing with the school, producing from his magical suitcase, wonderful examples of books he loved as a kid and of course the fabulous adventure stories he now writes for children.  Thank you so much Stu!  You were captivating and we can't wait to get our hands on some of your books.  The children also listened to other students read stories over the school intercom and many classes read with buddies and visitors.  The end of the day saw many calculators and brains counting frantically each students final tally.  Although the reading is now over the next stage has begun - collecting the money from sponsors.  We are hoping all sponsorship money can be collected and returned to school as soon as possible and by Friday November 9th at the latest. As a thank you for all the efforts the students have put into reading and collecting money for the school we will celebrate with a whole school banana split next Friday afternoon (November 9th).  This will be amazing to see!  To get 450 lots of ice-cream and toppings out all at the same time will require many hands.  If you are able to spare an hour or two on that afternoon between 1.00 and 3.00pm we would appreciate your help. (See notice below) We would like to thank New World in Orewa for their generous sponsorship of all the food items needed for this celebration.  Please help us thank them by taking your business their way.

Reading at the Domain with Room 29 & 30

What a wonderful scene!  Room 29 and 30 reading at the domain while on a school trip. Great stuff!

Knighted for Services to Reading...

Ellen and Jamie are knighted for services to reading by Sir Readalot. They both were brave enough to read to the school in the library, and what a great job they did!

Paper Bag Princess Reads to School!

The Paper Bag Princess reads to the school on a cold Tuesday morning (and warms our hearts!) What a great story.

Anchor milk competition comes out tops!

Last term the school went all out for milk. Anchor milk to be exact.

The competition was simple. Each class had to collect as many milk bottle lids as possible for a month.

Families throughout the school participated and over 500 were returned. The school received a cash donation for all the lids that came in.

There was a great prize up for grabs and the winning family was Anna Nelson’s from room 22. They received a year’s supply of Anchor milk.

Local Gulf harbour shops were involved and the dairies and superettes that took part reduced their milk prices to below the price at supermarkets as a way to encourage local shopping.

Anchor is keen to run the competition again, so here’s to next year’s Anchortastic competition!

Gulf Harbour School Help Out With SOSSI

Gulf Harbour School Help Out

Students from Gulf Harbour School planted over 2,000 trees at Shakespear over two days during June. The standard of planting was very high in spite of the mud and the steep slopes. Everyone was pleased with the result except the cows in the vicinity of the barbeque who looked on with some alarm at the enormous consumption of beef sausages by the children.

The school has also been involved in other ways. One group of students planted native trees in the school grounds, fed the tuis and used monitoring pads to detect the presence of pest animals that threaten native birds. Another group made items for sale, ran raffles and raised $500.00 for the Sanctuary. Yet another group joined the Tuesday volunteers one day and helped out with more planting.

Our relationship with the school continues and we are planning for students to be involved with voluntary activities at Shakespear during term 4. 

SOSSI website: http://www.sossi.org.nz/home-content

We have read 154815 pages!

The school has read 154 815 in our first week of the readathon. What can we achieve by the end of next week?

We have got $4200 sponsor on the Funda website. Keep up the good work!

Follow this link for readathon forms
http://sirreadalot.wikispaces.com/home

Online Sponsorship  http://www.funda.co.nz/gulf-harbour-school/the-great-stick-your-head-in-a-book-athon
Make sure you sign up!

Reading in The Island. Readathon News!

Mr Brown read to the whole school in 'The  Island'  Boy, it was a bit of a squeeze! We have got our total of pages read to over 100,000. Keep reading!!!!

It's Mr Wesbonk and Mr Barrow's Turn to Read - CRAZY!

What a great place to read! Mr Barrow and Mr Wesbonk read to the school at the front gate. Actually, they were on top of the front entrance!!!

View from the top (Students don't try this)

Mr Petrie Reads to the School for Readathon!

Mr Petrie got the whole school into the corner of the top field and read '
Hooray for Diffendoofer Day' By the end of the first day the school had read 66 932 pages. Go GHS!!!

Open Day / Country Fair

Open Day / Country Fair

Sunday 4th November 2012

11.00am - 3.00pm

Everyone Welcome

Free Entry, easy parking

Come & meet our lovely horses and volunteers

Fun activities, raffles, pony rides available

North Shore New Zealand Riding for the Disabled

79 Aubrey Road, RD 2

Stillwater, Silverdale

09 426 8110

Website www.northshorerda.org

Sir Readalot arrives at GHS!

Sir Readalot arrived this morning on his mechanical steed and told us all about the upcoming Readathon. Student packs are being given out today so start getting your sponsors!  

Follow this link for readathon forms
http://sirreadalot.wikispaces.com/home

Online Sponsorship  http://www.funda.co.nz/gulf-harbour-school/the-great-stick-your-head-in-a-book-athon
Make sure you sign up!

Platinum Community Care - The Art of Giving

On Friday 24th August, twelve from Room 22 went to Platinum Community Care to help out with the elderly. It is based in Red Beach, Hibiscus Coast.

We interviewed the elderly and got some of their names, we also asked them what their previous jobs were before retiring and also their hobbies when they were younger. Some were very funny and talkative.

We played some card games and shared some laughs untill it was finally time to go. We had baked some cookies for them, they were delicious and went down a treat - chocolate chip cookies and Anzac cookies. Finally it was time to leave and leave our volunteering for another week. Two of the students felt like crying because they didn’t want to leave, but we had to get back to school to hear about the other group in our class who went to the preschool in Gulf Harbour.

The following week all of us students were so excited about another few hours spent at the Center on Friday 31st August but we didn’t no what to bring,so we did lots of research and planning for the day ahead - like what some appropriate games could be, what they said they enjoyed doing in their previous interview, and learning about some of the things the patients suffer from including Dementia, Alzheimer's and Strokes. It was very interesting and has helped us understand our role as volunteers and how we can help them. 

Friday 31st finally came for us to hop into the cars and travel down to 7 Greenveiw Lane to PLATINUM!! Monica who runs the Community Care center was there ready to welcome us in with her lovely smile and caring nature. The volunteers who worked there had everything planned.First we told them our name and our dads name for fathers day, them we split up into two rooms and got into pairs. We worked as a pair and created our cards for fathers day! It was interesting how some of them remembered their fathers name - we thought that was pretty cool!

Finally all the fun came to an end and we had to get back to school, but we know that it won't be the last time, as we are booked in for the next few weeks and we can't wait!!

By: Amy and Georgia

End of Term Assembly

Term 3 Assembly 

Thursday 27th September, 9.30 - 11.00am

Wentworth Sports Complex

Everyone Welcome

Visit From Japanese Students

We had a visit from a group of Japanese students for last two weeks. We really enjoyed having them in our school and in our classrooms. Here is a movie that Room 21 made about their time with the students. We wish them well back in Japan.

Sloop TV Episode 3 Term 3

Daffodil Day 2012!

We had a fun day on Friday raising funds for the Cancer Society. We raised $887. Thanks to all the people who got involved and donated money. Thanks to all those people who volunteered their time.   http://www.cancernz.org.nz/

Happy Birthday Mrs Swaffield!

Mrs Swaffield had a birthday on Friday.  We are so lucky to have her working with us at Gulf Harbour School. We gave her a school hug!