They have experienced the amazing Universal Studios in Osaka, taken the bullet train to Hiroshima, and visited Miyajima Island where they ate Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes).

Visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum was a very sobering and confronting experience for all and they came away understanding the devastation of war and were grateful that we live in such a peaceful country. 

Currently they are with their homestay families and enjoying school life in Japan as well as creating aroma stones and trying to master the art of calligraphy at a local community centre. 

We wish them a safe journey home next week and can't wait to hear more about their amazing adventures.

The students had a great time swimming in the heated pool and enjoying the Juicies and Sausage sizzle that were on sale.

The judges (from local colleges) were really impressed on how well prepared and practised the finalists were. It was certainly a difficult decision for them to pick the winners.

The finals consisted of the students who were the winners in their year level from their whanau.

Year 7

Aarav Lal 
Mikayla Wilson
Yoshini Anantharangan
Cerys Gibby

Year 8

Mikaylah Tupu Tuia
Angelika Timofeeva
Kate Berry
Harrison Eagle

Congratulations to:

1st Place:   Harrison Eagle -  With his inspirational speech about “The Best In Me”.
2nd Place:  Angelika Timofeeva - For her interesting speech about Crocs 
3rd Place:   Kate Berry - With her informative speech about Yawning.

The sun was shining and students and helpers got vey muddy.  They really enjoyed doing something practical to restore the ecology of our local area.

For many of us it was our first time being on a farm, so smiles were plentiful as we began this new experience. A big focus for our term's inquiry question was ethics, so we went to examine how a local farm could show ethical treatment of its animals and of the environment. While there, we took part in many exciting and engaging activities that are a part of everyday farm life. These included checking out the milking shed (including having our thumbs 'milked'), standing in awe of the 500kg bulls, feeding newborn calves and even getting to touch a reduced voltage electric fence! It truly was an enjoyable day and one that we learnt so much from. 

They had to explain their work to the judges and talk about where they got their ideas from, what their next steps could be and the importance of their research.  A huge congratulations to Connor Nankivell who has won a special award, Angela Clark who was highly commended in the the living world category, Niko McConnell and Ty Hatton who placed second in the living world category and to Harrison & Bethany Eagle who won the living world category with their project looking into the energy contained in nuts based on how long they will burn for and what temperature.

They had to do a variety of challenges including building a working small scale elevator and calculating how many balls it would take to fill the hall as a ball pit.  Both teams showed great team work and creativity.  Well done to Annabelle Harrison, Ruby Purvis, Reagan Stewart and Samuel Muggleston who placed first in the competition!