Episode 6 of SloopTV

Check Out Episode 5 of Sloop!

Here's episode 4 if you missed it...

Diamond Times

The Queen Celebrates In Style.

The Queen looked beautiful as she celebrated her  Diamond Jubilee in England. Her Royal Highness was wearing a white hat and a sparkly suit with pretty earrings  and a neckless. She was in a carriage travelling along the streets to London waving at the crowds who were cheering for her.

The Queen arrived at Buckingham Palace and stepped out of the carriage looking glamorous. At the Palace she came out on to the balcony with her royal family and waved to the crowd. Later this evening the Queen will attend a special music concert to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee with Jesse .J, Adele and Beyonce singing.The evening ended with spectacular fireworks and was a fabulous event.

By Caitlin and Ellie

The Island

Mathletics Fever!!

Congratulations to Jamie Cockle from Room 22 who was Number 1 on NZ's Top 100 students in New Zealand and ranked Number 2 on the Top 100 Students in the World. Well done!!! Check out www.mathletics.co.nz every day to find out if you have made it to the list.

Check Out The 'Orbiting The Arts Festival' From Sloop TV

Camp Bentzon Year 6 7th May - 11th May

Wow! What a week! From early morning rises, bush walks, yummy food, exciting activities, wharf jumping, spot light and so much more its hard to think that 44 children and 10 adults could have so much fun!

Well thats just what we had. We set off on Monday 7th of May a little anxious at what camp was going to be like. After a fairly smooth ride on the ferry from Sandspit we arrived. Our camp was nothing like we’d expected - it was better!

Big cabins, right on the waterfront, wallabies (if you were quiet), wekas, kayaks, sailing boats, FISH oh and of course all our friends to share our memories and fun times with.

We had such an awesome week out at Kawau Island, the walks were fun - we saw dolphins at Coppermine Bay, that was a highlight!  All of us learn’t how to sail and kayak. The challenging confidence course tested us, as with the orienteering and bivouac making. 

Our nights weren’t boring in the slightest. We had spotlight one night, a movie another, cooked marshmellows on the fire and then the parents and teachers created such a fun and yuck burma trail!! Ask someone in Year 6 to describe it to you - if you like (but beware, you might not feel so good!). 

When Friday came, some of us were happy to pack up and head home, while others of us just wanted to carry on into the weekend. l it was such an amazing time at Camp Bentzon - even if we did have to do PT every morning and have silent dinners!

Can’t wait to share the camp movie with you all soon. 

Year 6 campers!

Gulf Harbour School has become a WasteWise School

Gulf Harbour School has become a WasteWise School.  We would like to reduce the amount of waste that we send to landfill each year so in order to do this we have become part of the WasteWise Schools Programme.

This means that we will:

·      Engage in a whole school approach with the WasteWise Schools

             Programme for a minimum of 2 years.

·      Involve all school groups including students, staff, parents and

Board of Trustees

·      Engage with the community where appropriate

·      Develop a long-term waste reduction strategy

·      Annually provide waste audit data to Regional Coordinator

·      Annually review actions to reduce waste.

On Tuesday 27 March, Mrs Vrettos and Miss Cassidy attended a workshop on ‘Introduction to the WasteWise Schools programme and how your school can reduce its ecological footprint.  Strategies to successfully implement the programme’.

On Thursday 29 March, Shelley Hackett from WasteWise came to school to help us with our waste audit.  She spoke to the year 1 classes from Rooms 18 and 20 about waste and the different types of waste found in our schools and homes.  Then they headed out with Shelley to conduct the waste audit.  It was quite a job, but the little ones were great at sorting out the various types of waste.

Our next step is to develop a long-term waste reduction strategy.

2012 Interschool Swimming Sports - Yrs 5 - 8

This years Swimming Sports was held at the Northern Arena pools on Thursday 29th March. Gulf Harbour School was one of 14 schools involved. We took 17 students to the event (3 x Yr 8, 5 x Yr 7, 3 x Yr 6 & 6 x Yr 5) and well done to all of you! We were a great support to each other and have some fantastic swimmers amongst us. Congratulations to Tessa Weston (Yr 8) for coming 1st in the 25m Freestyle, Backstroke & Breaststroke events and for coming 2nd in the 25m Butterfly & in the Medley, and also to our Yr 5/6 Relay team who came 4th out of 7 teams. All in all, it was a great day for Gulf Harbour School and thanks so much to the Parents who took us there and stayed all day to support us.

Fantastic Crazy Hair Day!

We had a great CRAZY HAIR and mufti day on Friday to support Child Cancer. It was organised by Jackson and we raised over $400. GO JACKSON!

Our very own Shakespear Park. What a place!!

It was a very bad start to the morning, with black grey clouds never ending all around the Auckland region. Room 22 were rather disappointed when Miss Morris told us that we wouldn't be going to the woolshed.

Suddenly there was a miracle, the rain stopped and a glimpse of sunshine began to break through the clouds. Miss Morris told us to grab our bags and asked if we had raincoats (just incase), thankfully for the children who didn't have one they were able to borrow one from the camp gear that Mr Petrie helped us get.

Next minute we were speed walking down the road, past Okormai and up into Waterfall Gully, which gave us a little bit of shelter from the tiny specks of rain that began to fall. Up, up and up we went through the trees and onto the paddock, finally we reached the lookout, and ate our lunch.

Little by little the rain began to get heavier, so we thought it best to leave the awesome views and make our way down to the Woolshed. At the woolshed we were greeted with two Rangers who explained some of the history of the park - especially what life was like before it was a park. They also shared with us what the park is like now days and the importance of keeping it pest free.

We had a great time, but knew that we had to make it back to school. So off we ventured into the rain, up past the lodge (the old Shakespear's home) and down across the mud flats and back to school.

A very fun, enjoyable day - I think the rain made it that way!

By Lukas

Tree Adventures

Welcome to 'The Island'

We have renamed Room 2 and 3 'The Island'. It is our combined class of year 3 and 4 students. It has been really exciting to set the room up in an open way with completely new furniture. We wanted to create a special feel and look for this new space and have used the Island theme. We have really enjoyed our first few weeks of school and had a special 'Island' day. Check out our video...




Here is our website address http://islandghs.wikispaces.com/

Here's Our Staff this Year!

We have a fantastic staff this year and here they are...


We are looking forward to a great year!

Welcome back from Mr Petrie

Welcome back to everyone. We are excited about the new school year. Here is Mr Petrie's new video.

Walking School Bus

It is with great regret that I need to inform you that the Walking School Bus that meets every Tuesday and Thursday outside 8 Alec Craig Way, will not be continuing for 2012 - due to my commitment and responsibility in transporting our autistic son to Red Beach Special Care Motoura Unit by 8.45am each morning.

I am very much hoping that someone else would like to take over from my role as Co-Ordinator not only for this Bus Stop, but for the Gulf Harbour School Walking School Bus project in the future.

If you would like to find out more about this role, please contact me anytime, Gaylene Chambers, rangchambers@xtra.co.nz  Phone 424 8032 or 027 615 0783.

The walking school bus is a safe way for your children to get to school without the hassle of carparking or traffic congestion, plus they are getting exercise too.

Hibiscus Coast Writers

The Hibiscus Coast Writers (HCW) would like to congratulate all the Year 5 & 6 children who participated in the annual writing competition aimed at Hibiscus Coast primary schools.  43 children submitted over 100 pieces of writing.  20 Gulf Harbour School students are amongst the 35 successful authors whose work was selected for HCW’s 2011 publication, ‘Kids in Print’.  This is available for purchase from the HCW for $10.  Contact Tanya Gouws on writers@xtra.co.nz.  Info available on HCW website www.hibiscuscoastwriters.weebly.comhttp://hibiscuscoastwriters.weebly.com/.

                                                                                                               

The category winners were:-

Overall winner                  :  Alexandra Wood - Gulf Harbour School

Fiction winner                   :  Angus Wilson - Kingsway Primary School

Non-Fiction winner           :  Estelle Davidson - Whangaparaoa Primary School

Poetry winner                   :  Wendy-Joy Richardson - Red Beach School

Illustration winner            :  Isabella Miller - Kingsway Primary School

HCW would like to convey their thanks to parents and teachers for their support in nurturing and encouraging these young writers and artists.  There will be a 2012 writing / illustration competition aimed once again at the Year 5 & 6’s.  Details of this should be available mid to late Term 2. 

Gulf Harbour Village Markets

Gulf Harbour Village Markets every Sunday between 10.00am - 2.00pm in the Gulf Harbour Town Square.  Many new stalls this week including fresh produce, eggs, cheese, gourmet breads, mediterranean foods, mussel fritters, bacon butties, arts and crafts and so much more with over 50 stalls.  Santa will be back this week due to the high demand between 10.00 & 11.00am in his grotto offering free photos.

Gulf Harbour School's Website features in Interface Magazine!

Our new website has featured in an important educational magazine called 'Interface'. It is one that looks at current digital thinking in schools. Check it out!

WATERWISE @ Manly Beach Rooms 25 & 30

Thank you to all the parents and helpers that made our days down at Manly Beach so enjoyable! We had so much fun learning to sail and kayak, as well as the sand sculptures and beach play that we took part in too. 

We couldn’t have done it without you!

On Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd December we went down to one of our local beaches Big Manly for a waterwise focus of sailing and kayaking. I did sailing first and when my partner and me got out in the optimist (type of boat) we realised that we were pretty good at sailing!

We tacked our way up to the buoy in the distance more than ten times! Ittook us a while but we persevered.  My favourite part of sailing was using the tiller (which is like a steering wheel in a car), because I was really good at it. I nearly got hit by the boom as it was pretty gusty out there, I just had to make sure my partner warned me before taking.. It was so much fun!

Sailing can be quiet hard as it matters if the wind is strong or not. Both days had times where it was rather strong, and we had to make sure we sailed into the wind as it helped us not to capsize. Capsizing is when you tip the boat over and generally you fall out. Although if you get stuck there is always a pocket of air to breathe from.

It was such a fun two days, and was awesome doing this so close to home at one of our local beaches. I’ll definitely be wanting to do again sometime soon.

By Max

Room 30 

Learning Your Times Tables With Jamie!

Here's a Video that Jamie from Room 16 made about learning your times tables. He starts off with a grid showing you the answers to multiplication problems from 1 x 1 to 10 x 10
He than examines how you can learn a lot of the tables with certain rules. In the end there arn't that many difficult problems to learn. Check it out. Go Jamie!