Make-A-Wish Field of Dreams - Gulf Harbour

From 28 February to 24 March 2013 Make-A-Wish® New Zealand is hosting a series of week day, evening and weekend events at Fairway Bay, Gulf Harbour.  The festival is a major fundraiser for Make-A-Wish to assist us to grant the most amazing and magical wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.

At Fairway Bay, 90,000 sunflowers have been planted for Make-A-Wish as part of the festivities.  By March these sunflowers will provide a breathtaking backdrop to the already stunning scenery. People will be captivated by the spectacular display of the sunflowers on mass and will be drawn to the excitement of the festival!   It is anticipated that 10,000 to 15,000 people will be drawn to the Make-A-Wish Summer Festival where they will eat and drink at cafés, play in the water, shop at markets, picnic, enjoy entertainment, be involved in a range of competitions and activities, and enjoy movies under the balmy evening starry skies.

There are many people and organisations already committed to the festivities.  By becoming a sponsor you will also help make dreams come true for sick kiwi kids, enjoy the association with a highly trusted, reputable, well-recognized and loved children’s charity that makes a real difference to children, families and communities, and connect with a wide target audience of potential prospects.

Join us and help wish children hope their hopes and dream their dreams, through Make-A-Wish making the impossible possible by granting their one true wish.  Like the seed and growth of a sunflower, wishes are nurtured, the children are taken on a magical journey of discovery of their one true wish, and absolute joy occurs when the wish is granted; just like the joy experienced when sunflowers bloom.

Events taking place during the festival include:

·        Farmer’s markets

·        Live music performances

·        Dragon boat racing

·        Classic car displays

·        Coastguard displays and educational courses

·        Fishing competition

·        Open air movie screenings

·        Golf challenges

Meet the Parent Evening - A Warm Welcome to Everyone!

Thanks to everyone who came to the 'Meet the Teacher' evening on Tuesday.
A warm welcome to everyone and we hope you enjoyed the opportunity to visit the class and see your new teacher. A special thanks to the Year 7 and 8 students who organized the games for the children.

Using Paper 53 with Room 25

We had a lot of fun in Room 25 making pictures with an App called Paper 53. Room 25 are great drawers! What do you think of their drawings? We also used Toca Monsters which the juniors love!

iPads in Classroom

We have completed or first week using iPads in the classroom. Students have been super excited about the learning possibilities as I have moved around the different classes. We have been working with 'Maps', 'Pic Collage' 'Snapseed' and other apps. We have a pod of 30 iPads so students are using the devices 1 to 1 in class sessions.  
Mr Brown

                                                     Room 5 students

Images created with Snapseed

Great Writing from Room 28

Room 28 have been doing some amazing writing about the sea.
Here are Jason, Sena and Bailey sharing their work.
Go Room 28 we want to hear all about the sea!

Cooling Down on the Water Slide

A waterslide, a rush of powerful energy exploding as kids scream and slide.

What a great way to start school, 7 days in and WOW there’s a waterslide just there with Mr. P at the top squirting kids as they slide on down.

Pierre

I think with the students at Gulf Harbour School if there’s anything that involves fun they’ll be there, the waterslide proved to be a hit - the opportunity was there and they seize it   Cool!!!! The water slide was a fun and awesome way to start the term, and I think everyone enjoyed it. I know I certainly did ( and I have the bruises to show for it!!!)

It was really cool for Mr Petrie to give up his lunch break for us and I'm sure everybody is grateful. 

Thanks so much Mr P.  I hope you got a turn. You sure deserved it !!!!!!

Alex 

Great Writing from Crystal!

I am
fun loving.
I am
happy as can be.
I am
singing a song
and dancing along
as happy as a bird
chirping in a tree,
look at me!
I am Crystal.
The stars at night,
shine oh so bright,
and the moon glows
at night, oh so bright!
I am as happy as can be,
and I am Crystal.
I like to ride my bike and go to school.
I also love to swim, in the sea
I am Crystal!
I am as happy as can be
Come and sing and dance with me!
Yes my name is Crystal!

2013 Term Dates

Term 1      Monday 4th February - Friday 19th April
Term 2      Monday 6th May -  Friday 12th July
                  (Includes 1 Teacher only Day)
Term 3      Monday 29th July - Friday 27th September        
                  (Includes 1 Teacher only Day)
Term 4      Monday 14th October - Friday 20th December    

Teacher Creature Cards Hits GHS - Series 2

The school has been hit over the last two days by Teacher Creature fever! Everyone is buying cards and they are selling like hot cakes. Look out for all the new characters!

Add caption

Waterwise Sailing at Manly Beach

Wow! What a fantastic way to wrap up the year and reapply our skills learn’t at camp earlier in the year, than to go sailing and kayaking at Manly for two days! 

Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th December, saw our Year 6 children take part in a waterwise programme!

The weather was stunning both days and the children loved being outside and enjoying the wonderful resources we have on our door step. 

It was so fantastic to see their faces, as the optimists began to take off, and their confidence grow over the two days at the beach with kayaking and water confidence also. 

Our school values of being BRAVE, showing RESILIENCE, RESPONSIBILITY and having FUN were more than evident. 

A huge thank you to all the parents (and siblings) who came down and helped out either in the water or on land, it was so appreciated, the children and teachers were very thankful to have you there with us and hope you enjoyed your time. 

Another special mention to Julian Heath, Sue Lott, Lou Heath and Wendy Turton our wonderful waterwise instructors for your help in guiding our children out on the water and providing them with such memorable experiences. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Rooms 17, 1 and 22

Miss Morris, Miss Paget, Mr Hawke.

The Island Launches it's Readers!

The Island had a fantastic book launch on Wednesday 5 December. The room was jam packed with people and we sold lots of books. We officially launched all 10 of our readers.

The Island greeted everyone with a song and we had speeches, and thank you's as well as some delicious food courtesy of our parents. We finished the evening with  fabulous Christmas story from our own local talent - Stu Duval. Books and stickers are still available from the Island, so have a look because they make great Christmas presents!

GHS Erupts on the Front Page

Red Day Raises $471.70

We raised $471.70 for the Manly Fire Service's First Response Unit. 

Great effort!

Biggest Banana Split on the Hibiscus Coast!

What an exciting afternoon! Eating our giant banana split to celebrate the readathon!

We made over $13 000 and read 606 546 pages.

That's something to celebrate. Go GHS!

Readathon in North Harbour Times

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.