Trophy presentations at assembly

On Friday trophies were presented to students for swimming and cross country achievements. Swimming trophies were presented to: Kirsty -Senior girls swimming champion; William - Junior boys swimming champion; Toni - Junior girls swimming champion; Absent was Tom - Senior boys swimming champion.
Cross country trophies were presented to: Nadia - Senior girls cross country champion; William - Junior boys cross country champion; Olivia - Junior girls cross country champion; Absent was Tom - Senior boys cross country champion.

Zone Cross Country competitors

A group of 30 students participated at the Zone Cross Country at Halswell Quarry Park on Thursday 28 May. All students demonstrated determination and a friendly, competitive attitude and were excellent representatives for our school. A special congratulations to Briar Leckie, placed 4th in the 9 year girls event, and Sam Darry, placed 6th in the 9 year boys event, who will represent the Lincoln Zone at the Canterbury Cross Country event in two weeks time. Pictured: Hannah , Amy and Kirsty who were all placed 39th equal in the 12+ girls event.

Kiwi team trip to Museum and Art Gallery

On Thursday 21st May Learning community 6 and 8 went on a trip to the Art Gallery and Museum. The excited children boarded the bus shortly after 9, with our band of willing parent helpers. The first port of call was the Museum for learning community 6. We studied the Living Canterbury area and tried to answer the questions provided by the Museum personel. We ambled through the Antartica area, which is our next inquiry unit, intereacted with the displays in the "Big Kids room" and viewed the paua house.
We gathered up all the groups and headed down to the Art Gallery, waving to Mrs Sinclair and Learning Community 8 as we swopped venues.
As we ate our lunch we were entertained by two School choirs singing to the public, which was rather lovely.
We ventured around the Art Gallery and studied the "Rita Angus" collection, with our focus this term on "Landscapes" The children answered the interesting questions in the "white on white" room and photographed their hands putting eyes in the appropriate places to make unusual creatures.
Our conclusion at the end of this term is for the children to paint landscapes in the West Melton area.
We met up with Learning Community 8 and filled in our last valuable moments, letting off abit of steam(after our very rainy week) and exploring the huge, amazing tree in the garden area.
A happy and educational day was had by all, and a big thanks to all our willing and able parent helps.

Stories from students in Learning Community Six
"My favourite part was the Paua House. The shells were on the wall." By Harry

"We climbed the trees. I got up to the top. It was freaky and cool. I like the museum. The big kids room is cool because there was a skelton." By Felix

"I like the big kids room because I turned on the light on the man so you could see the bones on him. In the smelling room it was interesting because you had to guess the smells in the clowns." By Jenna

"At the museum I liked the movies and the smells and the nose. The nose was scary. We got to look through the magnifying glass. The smells were nice. Ella smelled them too." By Caitlin

"I liked the Art Gallery because I liked the painting. My parent helper was Rita. The Art Gallery was beautiful. I liked the people paintings. Rita Angus painted the pictures." By Brook

Kids Congress

On the 28th and 29th of May I went to the Kids Congress. We chose what activity we did and I chose 'Sportees", which involved making our own t-shirts. First we took pictures with the digital cameras. We loaded them onto computers and used Pixelmator or Photoshop to change our picture. My picture was of a hydroslide. I used sepai tone which made it gold and ghostlike. Then we made our poems. We used chain poetry. We then put the poem on the picture and used a laserjet printer to print onto transfers to put on our t-shirt.

By Kate in Learning Community Three

School wide New Zealand inquiry learning focus

All classes at WM School have been focusing on New Zealand for their inquiry topic for Term Two. Classes have been involved in all manor of activities to do with our country - Kiwiana, Maori placenames, Te Reo Kori, NZ Music, Major NZ events.....the list goes on!! Pictured are students from LC2 working on their relief maps of NZ with paper mache. Looking good LC2!!

Year 7-8 technology at Branston Intermediate

Year 7/8 pupils at WM School attend Technology classes at Branston Intermediate everyWednesday morning. This semester the students are involved in Food Technology (cooking) or Design Technology(woodwork).

Book Council "Rev it Up" performance

On Monday 25 May WM school attended a Book Council concert in the WM Community Centre entitled "Rev it Up". The show was based upon the children's books that have been nominated as finalists in this year's NZ Book Awards. The show's script was cleverly crafted to reflect the theme's of the NZ books, and was met with enthusiasm and a few giggles from the audience!!

Te Reo Kori Interchange

This term the Moa Team are involved in a Te Reo Kori Interchange every Monday afternoon. All students are participating in lessons in each of the 5 Moa Team classes, that include taiaha, poi and haka. Pictured are students using the rakau sticks to perform a sequence of rakau stick movements.

Year 6 Leadership training

Year 6 students have been completing a course of leadership training with Chris and Moth from the Joshua Foundation. Pictured - some fun team building exercises!!

Parent Education Expo

On Wednesday 20 May West melton School ran a Parent Educaiton Expo from 2-8pm, with a variety of guest speakers talking about Junior Reading Programmes, Basic Facts, Dsylexia and Phonics. The seminars were well received and feedback from parents was 100% positive. Pictured - parents attending the reading seminar, and Yolanda Soryl presenting the Phonics Parents evening.

Rugby Funday at Ilam Fields

On Friday 15th May, 3 teams of keen rugby placers from WM School attended the Rugby Funday held at Ilam University Fields. There were 61 teams at the event, from almost 40 different schools throughout Christchurch, making it a very large event to organise. Thank goodness the weather was kind!! All 3 teams represented our school exceptionally well and acheived an amazing 8 wins from a total of 9 games played. Mr Dawson was very proud of you all!! Thanks to the parents who provided transport and support during the days events, and Mr D for organising this fun day for our WM Rugby enthusiasts!!

Cross Country!!

On Thursday the 14th May, on a beautiful Indian Summer day, West Melton School had their cross country at Preston Farm. All children from Year 0-8 competed in the various running events, and had a great time running as fast as they could, whilst avoding stepping in animal poo or a rabbit hole!! It was a great afternoon, with heaps of parent support both around the track and as spectators. The 'Coffee Guy' was even there to supply fresh hot coffee for those parents who needed to quench their thirst, organised by our fabulous school PTA. Another successful West Melton School event!!

Joshua Foundation Leadership Week for Year 7-8

Last week the Year 7-8 students were involved in a host of activities, facilitated by Chris Allen from the Joshua Foundation. Students were challenged to 'move out of their comfort zones' and complete practical based activities designed to improve self esteem, build confidence and promote team builing within the class. Looks like a lot of fun, with a fair dollop of challenge to boot!!

Mothers Day Raffle winner

Congratulations to Breanna from Learning Community 5, who won the PTA Mothers Day Raffle. Looks like there are lots of goodies in the gift basket for your Mum, Breanna!!

Rugby Fun day trainng session at school

Lee Golding, from Canterbury Rugby, spent last Wednesday afternoon with our Rugby Funday participants in a training session which involved a series of warm up drills, ball handling skills and a friendly game. All these students will then get to showcase their skills at the Rugby Funday, held at Ilam Fields on Friday 15th May.

New class at West Melton School!

Welcome to Mrs Serena Moore and her gorgeous class of

New Entrants - introducing Learning Community 11!!

Tactix players training session with West Melton School pupils

Two members of the Canterbury Tactix netball team, Jodi Brown and Angela Mitchell, visited West Melton School to hold a training session at lunchtime. 40 students were treated to a question and answering session with the two netball stars, learning about their progression from school netball games through to competing at international level representing New Zealand as members of the Silver Ferns. The students then had a training session with Jody and Angela, firstly learning a series of stretches before commencing a series of quick-fire passing and dodging drills. Before the netball stars departed their was time for an autograph signing session. Five lucky students also won double passes to a Tactix netball game.

Thanks to Ms Riley for organising this special event for our keen netballing students.