Challenge Awards begin!!

Challenge Awards have begun throughout the Year 5-8 Moa Team. Students have been working hard on the challenge(s) of their choice and collating the necessary evidence. It is expected that two challenges will be completed by every child by the end of the term. Pictured are some students from Learning Community 5 sharing their challenge work with their class. Kaitlin has some work related to the Mayfield A&P Show. Looking good!!

Physical education programme in LC6 and LC7

Learning Communities 6 and 7 have recently begun a physical education programme designed to improve children’s gross and fine motor skills. The Perceptual Motor Programme, or PMP, requires children to complete a series of activities specifically designed to improve different physical skills, including balance, memory and physical agility.The children LOVE the activities - in fact they go out to help set theequipment up and have fun with it before school starts! The programme runsfor 15 minutes each day, Monday to Thursday.
LC6 and LC7 have great support from a number of parents who come each morning toset-up the equipment (and pack it away at the end of the session), and theyalso help support the children at each of the six stations. We reallyappreciate all this wonderful parent help.

Bad taste!!

Staff held a bad taste day on Tuesday. All staff were encouraged to wear clothing that reflected the 'bad taste' theme. What a lot of fun!!
Pictured: 1. Mrs McHarg and Ms Phillipson (trainee teacher in LC6) have a natter at morning tea in their bad taste gear.
2. Mrs Jackson hangs out in her awesome red and pink outfit, complete with stripey tights!

Staff Assessment after school workshops

AtoL - Assess to Learn Contract.
This week all teaching staff have attended two after school sessions with Steve Edwards from the AToL Contract. Staff have been learning and applying assessment strategies related to student writing, and reviewing the use of learning intentions/success criteria in the classroom. This has been the first of many workshops WM School teaching staff will be involved with throughout the year as part of the ATol Contract.
Pictured: 1. Mrs Sinclair and Miss Green (trainee teacher) take notes whilst Steve Edwards (background) provides 'food for thought' related to assessment practices.
2. Steve uses the whiteboard to reinforce key points during an after school assessment workshop.

LC10 visit Science Alive

Learning community 10 recently visited Science Alive, and participated in a Super Senses programme. The class completed activities related to all 5 senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. These activities included using string telephones and tingling tuning forks (hearing), kaleidoscopes and fly eye lenses (vision), feely box and Braille alphabet (touch), as well as smelling and tasting mystery substances, and discussing how the senses of smell and taste work together, e.g. your nose tells you a jellybean is sweet and your tongue tells you its favour. They also explored the Botanica exhibition (including a beehive and a butterfly house) which related to a Newspapers in Education study in their class; 'What's that bug?. Some super brave LC10 students also tried the gyroscope and vertical slide! In the picture you can see Zara, Charlotte and Angus trying out the feely box.

New Entrant Meeting

Parents of current and prospective New Entrant pupils were invited to an information evening at West Melton School on 24 March 2009 in Learning community 7. Over 30 parents attended the evening, and were treated to an informative presentation by the New Entrant teachers, Mrs Jackson, the Principal, Mr McNeill, the BoT Chairperson and Mr Watson, the PTA Chairperson. Parents were empowered with tips to help their child with the transition to school life, and a very handy information pack including a DVD of life as a New Entrant kid at West Melton School. Special thanks for Mrs Herring for all her hard work in organising such a successful evening for both our current and future WM School parents.

Pool Party Proves Popular!

On Friday afternoon at 315pm the year7/8 class hosted a Pool Party for all keen WM School pupils in the school pool. The Pool Party was held to fundraise for the Year7/8 Wellington Camp. Many hardy swimmers braved the chilly waters to splash with their friends. The weather was kind, and the sun shone brightly. All pool party participants received a sausage and a drink to keep the after school tummy rumbles at bay. Hannah, Amy and Keiran did a great job of dispersing the food to the hungry hoards. We look forward to more innovative fundraising ventues this year from the Year 7/8 class.

Grace and her horse win at Mayfield AMP show

Grace, from LC2, won first place in the Novice 3 horse grade at the Mayfield AMP show. Grace is pictured holding the newspaper article with her name and horse mentioned. Her horse's paddock name is Cuddles. Grace regularly competes at AMP shows with her horse. Way to go, Grace!

Teachers versus Year7-8 softball game

Mr Dawson organised a game of softball duirng Long Play on Thursday; staff versus Year7/8. It was great to see the competitive sportsmanship of both teams. Everyone who participated was a winner. Thanks for organising a great game Mr D!

Farewell Mrs Donaldson

This week we farewelled our lovely cleaner, Mrs Donaldson, who has worked at our school for over 3 years. She is moving to the lovely alpine setting of Hanmer Springs. Thanks for all your hard work keeping our school tidy, Mrs Donaldson. We will miss you!

Congratulations Miss Scoble!

Miss Scoble, from Learning Community 10, had some exciting news this week - she is engaged! You can see her brand new engagement ring in the photo. Congratulations Miss Scoble!

Zone Triathlon Placegetters

Pictured are placegetters in the zone triathlon who were presented with their certificates today at assembly. Great effort!! Tom 2nd 10 year boys, Sam 3rd 9 year boys, Junior Boys team 2nd (Sam, Jack and Matthew )Junior girls team 2nd (Isabella, Toni and Olivia).

Teacher trainees making a difference

The University of Cantebury currently has four teacher trainees on placement at West Melton School. Part of their requirements are to teach their respective classes for a period of 12 consecutive days. All of the trainees are enthusaistic and are having very successful teaching placements in conjunction with their mentor teachers (associates). Miss Green(LC5) : "I have found WM School to be very welcoming and I'm enjoying working with Ms McKendry and the great children in LC5." Miss Jemison(LC9): "It's been fantastic to be at WM School and work with wonderful LC9. Maree is a very supportive and caring associate and I'm learning so much from her and my class." Miss Millar(LC3): "I'm enjoying the challenge of Year 7/8 and love how their indepth knowledge challenges my thinking." Ms Phillipson(LC6): "Im really excited to be working with the great children in LC6 and their wonderful teachers Mrs McHarg and Mrs Cockburn. This is a happy classroom with a lot of awesome learning happening. I am learning lots too!!!"

Words on wheels - famous author visit for Year 7/8

This year the NZ Book Council’s ‘Words on Wheels’ (or WOW!) tour took a unique and talented group of five NZ writers, who collectively share a host of literary awards, on a bus tour throughout the Selwyn and Mackenzie districts. Their whirlwind tour over six days began in Christchurch, and ended six days later in Queenstown. West Melton School was extremely fortunate to be chosen as a destination for the tour, and was indeed the only primary school in Selwyn on their busy itinerary to be visited by the writers. The Year 7-8 children at WM School were treated to an inspirational hour-long sitting with the authors, which included Shortland Street script-writer Stephen Braunias and crime ficiton writer Vanda Symon. Students were given an insight into the process of publishing written material, gained an understanding of career paths in the field of writing and overall were enthused and inspired by the accomplishments of these esteemed NZ writers.
Pictured: Crime fiction writer Vanda Symon, playwright David Geary, Young adult fiction writer Anna Mackenzie, journalist, scriptwriter and non-ficiton writer Stephen Braunias, and poet Janet Charman.

Can you do the Cha cha cha?

Today Mrs Oh taught the Moa team the Cha cha cha...have a look at our great grooving.

ICT conference in Rotorua - two WM teachers attend

West Melton School is currently in their third year of the ICT contract. This year two staff members attended the Learning@school2009 conference held in Rotorua from 25-27th February. Chris Quinn and Karen Sinclair spent three days listening to guest speakers from around the world presenting their views on the direction of ICT in education today. The conference provided excellent networking and product update knowledge in ICT. Workshops provided in depth discussion between teachers from NZ wide related to their experiences in ICT and their journey. Mrs Quinn and Mrs Sinclair will share many of their ‘good ideas’ from the conference with WM School teachers, and will enthuse and educate our staff to trial new technologies and innovations in their classes.

More wonderful walls of West Melton School

Here are Kiwi Team classroom walls within our school. Can you match the photo to the classroom?

The wonderful walls of West Melton School

Here are Moa Team classroom walls within our school. Can you match the photo to the classroom?