Lest We Forget

The A.N.Z.A.C Stamp

Characters: 

Sergeant Little

Lieutenant General William Birdwood

Simon

Bob

Scene: 1916 In the post office.

(Simon and Sergeant Little stamping letters.)

Sergeant Little: (writing out stamps for letters with a bored expression on his face) Man, this takes an extremely long time to write all the stamps out in longhand, I wish there was a much quicker way to do this.

Simon: (writing stamps very slowly looking bored) I agree with you Sergeant Little, I wonder what is happening with the wa…

(About to say war when Bob comes in and interrupts)

Bob: (walks in with a cheerful look on face) G’day mates, deliver my mail for me would ya. (While Bob is throwing his mail at Sergeant Little and Simon)

(Simon and Sergeant Little groan as Bob walks away)

Lieutenant General William Birdwood: (marching into office) Mail please boys; the S.S Mckenzie is coming in 1 hour exactly.

Sergeant Little: (looking very worried) Sorry Lieutenant Birdwood, Bob just came and dumped some extra mail on us.

Simon: Also writing Australia New Zealand Army Corps in longhand is really slowing us down.

Lieutenant General William Birdwood: Chop chop then, unless you can think of a way to make it shorter, you’re stuck with this.

Sergeant Little & Simon: (Looking annoyed) Yes Sir. (Then salutes)

Lieutenant General William Birdwood: (Salutes then marches away.)

Sergeant Little: (Looking surprised) I just had an amazing idea. We can make it a rubber stamp.

Simon: But Australia New Zealand Army Corps is too long to put on a stamp, (suddenly says) quick, hide here comes Bob.

(Sergeant Little & Simon dive under their desks to hide from Bob)

Bob: (Looking in the office suspiciously) Simon, Sergeant Little, where are you, I have got some more mail for ya. Oh well I’ll just take my mail elsewhere.

Simon: (Looking relieved) That was close, let’s just get back to writing out the stamps.

Sergeant Little: I just thought of something while I was under the desk, we can make Australia New Zealand Army Corps shorter by just using the first letters on a rubber stamp.

Simon: (looking like it is a good idea) Do you mean like A.N.Z.A.C, and say it like AAAA-NNNN-ZZZZ-AAAA-CCCC.

Sergeant Little: ANZAC that’s it!

Lieutenant General William Birdwood: (comes marching in looking serious) Mail ready boys, the ship is coming.

Simon: Yes Sir here it is.

Sergeant Little: Lieutenant Birdwood, we were thinking of putting A.N.Z.A.C on a rubber stamp.

Lieutenant General William Birdwood: Sounds like a good idea boys, I will go and see if that can be done after I drop the mail off. (He marches away)…

(10 minutes later)

Lieutenant General William Birdwood: (marches in with stamps in his hand) Here you go boys, here are your rubber stamps saying A.N.Z.A.C.

Simon & Sergeant Little: (looking very pleased) Hooray! Thank you Lieutenant Birdwood!

Simon: Here are the letters for the ship.

Sergeant Little: Tomorrow we will have the letters on time now that we don’t have to write the stamps out in longhand.

(Lieutenant General William Birdwood walks away.)

The End

By Madison D

Stunning New Signs

Check out our great new signpost and signs for the classroom blocks. Thank you All Signed Up!

K9 Capers

On Friday the 16th of March the K9 natural sled dog team sponsored by CRT came to West Melton School to talk about their husky dogs. The person that brought the dogs and spoke to us was called Mark Roberts.
The dogs are Siberian huskies. The huskies have hair between their paws so when they are training they don’t get snow in-between their paws. The dogs are very friendly with children and the team. The dogs have very funny names like Cheesy, Zoom and Shadow. The dogs are very fun and soft. They go into competition and they are natural winners. The dogs are not named by Mark. They are normally named by their previous owners. The dog at the front of the carts job is to set the pace so normally the fastest is at the front. The strongest one is also normally at the front. All the dogs have special jobs that they do when they’re on the cart. Mark Roberts is the dogs’ personal trainer. He trains them on ice and on land. To train them on ice he sits behind a sled and ties them up to it. For training he can train up to 8 dogs at a time. When he trains them on land he uses a three wheeler bicycle. He does the same with the ropes. He normally gets them from people who don’t want the dogs anymore. Mark can also get them from the SPCA. Everyone wanted for them to come back to school again. We also wanted to have a go in the cart with the dogs pulling us.
By Charlotte D

Shave for a Cure

Teachers Mr Tomlin and Mr Dawson, caretaker Mr Blondell, parent Mr Barnes and pupil Zane T all had their heads shaved in a very successful ‘Shave for a Cure’ fundraiser for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation.

Super Cyclists

The Year 3 and 4 children of the Pukeko team celebrated their cycle safety skills with an action-packed ride at McLeans Island.

Joshua Foundation

The nerves, as everyone woke up to come to school
in mufti. They got ready for what we’ve all been
waiting for; the Joshua Foundation. The whole idea
about the Joshua Foundation was to teach us about
leadership. The young year 6 Brodie W very
much enjoyed the rafting activity and Jak P
liked the activity too. Great thanks to Chris A for
setting up this great leadership programme for the
year 6 students.
By Jack H

Peer Mediator Training

On 22nd of March the Peer Mediators did peer mediation training at McLean’s Island. First we blindfolded each other and listened carefully to our partner’s instructions. Then we played a game called blob tag and identified the types of conflict.
After morning tea we got in groups of two and three to search for the stations on the map. There were seven stations to go to. At the stations we followed the mediating process with a scenario our parent gave us. We got in the cars and went back to school just before lunch time. Everyone had a great time.
By Mika W and Olly K

Thank you Little Big Tree Company!

Thank you to Kate Duthie and The Little Big Tree Company for organizing the donation of a large number of trees for the school. These have been planted by John our caretaker and Janet T from the Board of Trustees, along the western fenceline. This area is being developed as an extension of the Podocarp Forest.

Canterbury Primary Swimming Sports

This year the Canterbury Primary Swimming
Sports were held in crowded conditions at
Wharenui Pool. Thank you to our parent helpers
and congratulations to competitors Sam D
who came 17th in the 11 year old boys
backstroke and Grace M who came 20th in
the 11 year old girls 50m freestyle.

Canterbury Primary Triathlon

This year the Canterbury Primary Triathlon was run on a challenging course in Pegasus Town.
Thank you to our parent helpers and congratulations to all competitors, particularly the following placegetters:
Sarah P 6th 10 year old girls
Bailey H 12th 11 year old girls
Jack R 14th 12 year old boys
Sam D 14th 11 year old boys
Cody A 15th 9 year old boys
Samuel K 17th 10 year old boys

20 Years with the fabulous Mrs Heyde

Mary Heyde, our fabulous Office Manager recently celebrated 20 years of great work at West Melton School. Our Principal, Board of Trustees representatives, staff, family and friends helped Mary celebrate with speeches and cake!