Kia ora koutou

A number of our classes have had visits to the Marae over the past two weeks, learning about tikanga and protocols.  The Year four team spent a day at Tauhei Marae, while the Year 1 and 2 tamariki were welcomed onto Kirikiriroa Marae today. A massive thanks to the teams at the Marae, as well as our staff and whanau that were part of these trips.

Learning about the local histories was a focus for the Year 3 students as they went for an outdoor experience to Hammond Park today. Matua Andy shared what it would have been like pre european times.

Unfortunately we have had to fence off and secure the covered court area outside of our hall. We regret that this means the public will no longer have access to this out of school hours. While we had intended that this would be a great space for our school community, due to the misuse from some members of the public, regrettably we have had to take this action. We will ensure that this does not disrupt the current training schedules.

Congratulations to our two teams who participated at the regional Lit Quiz last night.  We were so proud of the way they represented our school.  Thanks to our staff and parents for coaching and supporting our students.

Noho ora mai

Marie Bramley

Principal

Junior School

This term the Year 0-1 classes are focusing on exploring relationships by learning to show respect through sharing and cooperation in groups. We worked together to tell the story from the book I am a jellyfish by Ruth Paul. We noticed in the story that we can shine in different ways and in different situations. Just like jellyfish managed to shine. Together we used our bodies and imagination to step into the story to retell each moment. Some of these moments were uncomfortable for swordfish!

Within Room 4 we have been using our Numicon Math Resources. We have been learning to become familiar with the Numicon Shapes and their colour names, to notice the size order of Numicon Shapes and to use the language of size and make simple size comparisons, e.g. big and small. We also covered the whole Numicon Baseboard with Numicon Shapes by matching and manipulating them to fill the available spaces. We have had great fun exploring.

We have also been learning about positional language. The children had to draw a map so the bear could get to Golidlocks’ house. We had to use words such as through, past, over, under. 

Middle School

The Year Four students went on a trip to Tauhei Marae last week. When we arrived at the bus, we climbed up the steep stairs and quickly found our seats. As we twisted and turned on the country roads, our voices joined together and made a beautiful waiata. When we arrived at the marae, we put our bags down at the waharoa/gateway and gathered together. This was the start of the powhiri! We walked slowly and silently towards the wharenui while listening to the karanga. Everyone removed their hū/shoes before entering the wharenui. First, George (kaumatua) did some kōrero/speaking and the tangata whenua sang a beautiful waiata. Matua Andy replied and we also sang. The adults did a hongi and we headed off to have our morning tea kai. When we had finished our kai we listened to George tell us stories about himself, the land, the marae and more. It was then time to start our rotations in our classes. The rotations were poi, rakau, maui matou and kitchen duty. Room 13 prepared the items for lunch and it was soon time to eat. We made our own buns which had ham and lots of salad vegetables. Yum! After a big tidy up it was time to return back to school. The bus trip home was noisy but fun and we all had a great time. Thank you to the parents who were able to spend the day with us.

By Avleen and Saaral (Room 13)

Middle School Ako Update – Exploring Early Māori Life

Our middle school students have been diving into the world of early Māori life as part of our ako focus this term. We've been learning about how Māori communities lived around the year 1500, how they fished, built, and gardened using beautifully crafted tools like toki, bone and shell fishing hooks, and weaving implements.

We've also explored the structure and purpose of pā sites, fortified villages built on hills or ridges for protection. Students studied how these were designed with defensive ditches and palisades and how people lived and worked within them.

To bring this learning to life, the Year 3 students recreated Te Pā o Ruamutu, a local pā site, and visited Hammond Park to explore what life may have been like in a real pā. The Year 4 students went on a trip to Tauhei Marae, where they learned about different te reo Māori practices.

It’s been a rich and hands-on journey into Aotearoa’s past!

Senior School

This Term, the Senior School has been learning and playing Ki-O-Rahi, a traditional Māori game that pays tribute to our ancestors. 

Here are the main rules of Ki-O-Rahi:

There are two teams, the Taniwha and the Kīoma. It is a pretty confusing game at first when you are learning, but once you have played it a few times, it’s a little easier! The Taniwha scores points by throwing the kī (the ball) at the tupu (the barrel in the centre). The Kīoma score points by charging the kī up by touching the nga pou and running in and dodging defenders to score a try in the pawero area. Two Kīoma defend the tupu, and three Taniwha try to throw the kī at the tupu. After a certain amount of time, the teams change roles. 

This week, we started a Ki-O-Rahi tournament throughout the senior school. All of the Senior classes will compete in a round-robin tournament. 

The first games this week are:

Room 7 vs Room  23

Room 8 vs Room 22

Room 6 vs Room 24

Room 9 vs Room 10

We will update you with some results after a couple of weeks of games! 

Sara, Pippa, Rylee & Jack 

Last term our school took part in Movin’ March;  a Hamilton City Council month long initiative designed to get our tauira moving actively to and from school. We were pleased to see lots of happy bikers, scooters and walkers during March, which helps decrease the congestion at our front gate. Some of our students were lucky enough to win prizes for participating in Movin’ March and room 9 won a class trip to Ninja valley.

On Wednesday night, we had 8 year 5 and 6 students participate in the annual Lit Quiz contest hosted at Berkley Normal Middle School. Wayne, the quizmaster, asked questions and they were put in different categories. There were 55 teams, mostly year 7 & 8, but some primaries too, each with four people. When Wayne asked a question you would write down your answer. At the end of each round he would give you the answers. 

There were 10 rounds. Each round had 10 questions and the questions were really hard. At the end of each round there were two random questions, one for the audience and one for the contestants. You had to shoot up your hand and whoever got the answer right would get 5 or 10 dollars in cash. At half time we went outside for a snack for 15 minutes.

The first round was about mythology which both our teams chose as our double point round. The double points round is when you choose one round and in that round they double the amount of points you get. The mythology was quite hard. We thought it would be easy but turns out the ones that we thought were hard were easy and the ones we thought would be easy were hard.

There were 8 people in two groups and two reserves from each school. In HNS 1 from our school we had  Riley in room 8, Ariana in room 6, Elias in room 10 and Elodie in room 9. In group two there was Junelle in room 8, Rebecca in room 24, Emma S in room 22 and Charlotte A in room 10. The two reserves were Mikayla in room 7 and Charlotte S in room 8. 

We really enjoyed that evening. It was exciting and we had so much fun even if we didn’t get a major place.

Written by HNS Lit Quiz Team 2

Junelle H, Emma S, Charlotte A & Rebecca S

Over the Easter weekend, from Good Friday to Easter Monday, three of our students represented Waikato under-12 girls' basketball at the Mel Young Easter Classic. There was a gruelling schedule of playing multiple games a day for the first 3 days and then finals day on the last day. The team bounced back from an early loss to find themselves in a playoff for third and fourth which they won.

Congratulations Mila, Pippa and Isla on representing Waikato and the school so well, as well as your third-place finish in the tournament.

Kia ora whānau,

Next Friday, Mr Green will be shaving his head in the school hall to support Stu Lye, who is heading to Shanghai, China, for CAR-T Cell Therapy, a specialised treatment not available in New Zealand and one that comes with significant financial cost.

Stu has strong ties to HNS, he’s Mrs Lye’s husband and Mrs Green’s father. Over the past few years, he’s also become a familiar face around school as part of our caretaking team.

If students would like to contribute to the cause, they are welcome to bring a gold coin and watch the big head shave! (Students without a coin are, of course, still welcome to attend.)

For those who would like to donate online, here’s the link to the Givealittle page: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/going-bald-for-stu 

Thanks for your support, HNS whānau!