Awakeri School

Here was the 2015 News

18 January 2016 Here are some cool photos from last year's Fancy Dress.
Good luck to our year eights as they get themselves sorted for high school. They are sure to follow in the footsteps of the 65 or more ex-pupils who received awards at their various high schools last year.

18 December 2015 The water fight is done (Mr Fitz turned up in a fire engine!), the wrestling is over, reports have gone home, now it's the end! Happy Christmas and Good Luck for the New Year everyone, especially to those leaving Awakeri School. Haere ra! Haere ra! Haere atu ra! Check out more photos from the senior social here.

The year eight girls look glamorous for the senior social. Jana, Luella and Shayna were just too late for this pic.	Then the boys join them!
The final assembly, Mr Fitz says we can all go home! The water fight weapons have been well used!	Hugs and tears, joy and watch out here we come!

17 December Wow! Another year gone already. Last night's Fancy Dress was amazing. The orchestra were sublime, the Year 8's haka was petrifying, and the teachers dancing was, well, interesting to say the least. Our two year 8 speakers, Marco and Nicole had prepared a fantastic speech and delivered it with great style and flair. The leaving certificates produced a moments where many members of the senior school were giggling at all the little in-jokes. Congratulations to Keeley Lawton, Kevin Paulsen and Ethan Patterson for winning the Principal's Award. Photos from Fancy Dress are on the way, so keep an eye out. See you next year!

15 December See you at Fancy Dress tomorrow night. Be there before 7 pm. Say goodbye to Ms Sisam, Mrs Geor and Mrs Papesche and the year eights of course!

13 December Awakeri students achieved some amazing successes at local high school awards recently. Altogether 65 different ex-Awakeri students received awards (a grand total of 237 awards).
Special acknowledgement to:
Hannah Van der Horst (Best all round year 11 girl at WHS)
Emily Julian (Best all round year 9 girl at WHS)
Taryn Forbes (Prefects' trophy for year 9 at THS)
Linette Lengkeek (Year 9 Dux at THS)
Hamish Inwood (Head Boy at THS)
Elise Howe (Outstanding Service to THS)
Bryce Coulter (Kia Manawanui Award at THS)
We are proud of you all!!

10 December Yesterday was Bay of Plenty Athletics everyone did very well. Emily Robbie and Kaya Hodson of Room 14 are the fastest 800m runners in the Bay of Plenty for kids. Those were open races. There were other great placings too in people's age groups, like firsts for Jana Longney for discus, Campbell Forsyth long jump, Codi Laurent 400m, Kevin Paulsen 400m, Katie Mahy shot put, Well done to all of the people who got to the Bay of Plenty athletics. Check out photos of the EBOP athletics here. Check out the Library page for summer holiday reading tips. Very useful!

2 December Today we had dress-up like a book character day. There were some pretty creative costumes, like Spongebob, Wally and even Captain Underpants (we had a lot of very emotionally scarred students). Well done to everyone who dressed up.
This morning Marco Turner was filming his movie for 'Genius Hour'. There were some very interesting scenes, including one where a member of the cast was slapped repeatedly with a banana!

Where the Wild Things Are!!	Lots of awesome book characters!

30 November Last week the year 7 and 8's had intensive. The year 8's had boot camp, swimming, self defence, and basketball on Thursday. On Friday some people went to golf and the rest went to the skate park and went to a pa site to have a mock battle. Then they went straight to Thornton to meet up with the year 7's for a sausage sizzle and have a swim. It was great fun. On the Thursday the year 7's played mass soccer for an hour or so. Then they read stories to the juniors and organised games for them. In the afternoon the year 7s created new flags, signs and chants for their houses for next year. Ryan Mapu reckons Tawa's chant sounded the best! On the Friday morning the year 7s shared what they did on Thursday, after that they left for Thornton. There they did all sorts of neat team building activites, after that whole hour of exertion there was a sausage sizzle with the year 8's. Then the teachers got their hopes up saying they were going swimming!! But instead of in the ocean everyone went into the river next door! Have a look at the cool photos of intensives.

25 November Next Wednesday (2nd Dec) is Book Character Day. Check out the Library page for Mrs White's helpful hints on dressing up. Tomorrow and Friday are the year 7 & 8 Intensives. They will be doing leadership training, team building, etc.

20 November Today we had a visit from 4 Trident High School students, who were talking to us about underwater hockey. They are having an information evening on Monday evening at the aquatic centre in Whakatane. The general knowledge quiz finals were held today in the staffroom. There were 30 questions to answer, and all four contestants did very well. Ben White came first, Ella Jones came second, Kevin Paulsen came third and Tessa Dodson came fourth.

16 November Interschool athletics is postponed again today! It is now on tomorrow at Te Teko School! (Hopefully!)

15 November Kapa haka break up is on Wednesday at school in the lunchtime (12.30pm). Bring your lunch to room 14. Parents welcome, we will be watching the DVD of this year's performance.

13 November As well as being Black Friday, today was Jandal Day, which raised money for the Surf Life Saving Club to carry on their great work over the summer.

12 November Interschool athletics are now on Monday!!!! GO AWAKERI! Check out great Fairy Tale ideas on the Library page.

10 November Sadly senior interschool athletics was cancelled today. We are waiting to find out if there is a postponement date. The middle school interschools went well yesterday, with lots of good Awakeri performances. Dayyan Van Veen was a star!

8 November Great news from Christchurch where Absolutely Awakeri came second over all in the national jump jam competitions! Our star performers nailed it, getting three out of four awards to get their second place. Congratulations to the team and to coaches Kendyll Reeve and Louise Howard. They have worked very hard for several months for this.

Awakeri on stage with Brett Fairweather and their fellow placegetters.	Ella Jones, Brodie Nathan, Luella Howe and Tayla Jones have done our school proud.
Here are the girls in action on Wednesday, showing their moves to the school.	Then they got everyone up!

4 November Today the Jump Jam group showed us their Absolutely Everybody jump jam. Luella Howe, Ella Jones, Tayla Jones and Brodie Nathan have worked really hard for 2-3 terms on their moves. They encouraged the crowd to join in. On Friday they will go to the airport and fly to Christchurch for the national finals. Good luck!

2 November Athletics is finished now, and we had lots of records broken. The high jumping finals were very dramatic, with Kevin Paulsen breaking the record for the 12-year-old boys, and Jana Longney breaking the record for the 13-year-old girls. Check out our updated athletics records here.

30 October Athletic sports was a big success. Click here to see some photos. The winners of the field events were emailed out with Thursday's newsletter. Check out Hairy Maclary's friends on the Library page!

22 October Today we had a visit from two very special people. The director of Beauty and The Beast (Dean McKerras) and Belle (Eve Lyford). They came and talked to us about the show, answered a few questions, and Belle even sang for us! Opening night is on Friday. Tickets are on sale now, but get in quick or you'll miss your chance to see an awesome show. It even has three Awakeri kids in it: Ben White, Alex Robbie & Bonnie-Marie Wetting-Davidson.

21 October This afternoon the senior extension group organising a Rugby World Cup got all the 20 countries together and taught the kids about their country. Everyone had to make a flag for the march past on Friday. All te school, from 5 year olds to 13 year olds have been put into countries. Ryan taught the kids in Scotland about that country. Alex taught his kids about Namibia, as so on. On Friday afternoon we have an opening ceremony then the kids play five games involving rugby skills against other countries. The extension group students have made up the games. We will be playing: Rugby Rush, Tug of War, Shoot to Win, Rippa Rush and Shuttle.

19 October Ag day was great! There were lots of animals on show, from calves to canines, and one child even had a sun lizard! The indoor show looked really cool as well, and there were some pretty fabulous decorated cakes on display. Group Day is today, so best of luck to all the competitors and their animals. Click here for some cool Ag Day photos.

14 October Animals are in mind at the moment with Ag Day this week. The library page has some great ideas for reading about animals, both fiction and non-fiction. Check it out!

13 October Welcome back to term four everyone! We are getting ready for Ag Day on Friday. Your child should have brought home a notice yesterday about the indoor show. We are making our indoor show entries on Thursday at school. Your child needs the right materials to be able to do this. Good luck to all those bringing animals on Friday. May your lambs lead well, etc!
Calendar art is now on show in the office, so you can order calendars with your child's art work on them.
Watch out for a health survey coming with the newsletter on Thursday. You can have your say on what our Awakeri health curriculum includes (e.g. to do with sexuality education, drug education...).
We are also practising hard for athletic sports which is only two weeks away.

24 September Wow! Production is going really well, with ticket sales through the roof and spectacular performances every time. Opening night went perfectly, apart from being a bit too long, but we managed to make it fifteen minutes shorter on Wednesday. The backstage crew have pretty much perfected the scene changes, which means that the show runs along very smoothly. The Kapa Haka are as loud and as tuneful as ever, and the flutes are very melodious too. It is the last night tonight, so hopefully we go out with a bang! Check out these cool photos.
This afternoon the juniors performed their production "The Awakeri Way". There was lots of great singing and dancing, and there were many children who could be main characters in a few years time. Congratulations to all their performers. Here are some awesome photos of their show.

19 September This weekend we are setting up the Little Theatre ready for Sheik Rattle n Roll next week. Thursday's tickets have sold out, so get your Tuesday tickets ASAP! Extra bonus... kapa haka and flutes!

Cody Hall is the narrator, he keeps the story flowing.	Alex Robbie is Princess Jasmine. Does she marry her prince? Can she sing? Come and see Sheik Rattle n Roll and find out!

16 September Want to help your child choose books to read? Child have trouble choosing something to read? Go to the Library Page for advice on this from Mrs White.

11 September Yesterday the tickets went on sale and today there were a lot of tickets that got sold today. Hopefully the tickets get sold out at the end of the 2 weeks. Practices are going well hopefully everyone will be able to remember their lines. The orchestra is going well most of the time, but sometimes we go out of time and have to stop! Some amusing incidents from rehearsals this week: Luella pretending to be a shark when Jaws music came on, when Taylor M fell over and got dragged around, Cambell reading his lines off his hand (Mr Fitz soon noticed!), Marco's tacos, Cambell getting hit in the head by the box...

Emily's advertising poster for our show.

10 September Lots of stuff happening next week. Check out the calendar! Plus production rehearsals Mon, Wed, Thurs.
Tickets for the show went on sale today.

9 September Great news! Luella, Ella, Brodie and Tayla have got through to the national finals of Jump Jam. They have to go to Christchurch on the 6th of November. They are in the X Factor section, which is for leadership. There are five teams in the finals. Go Awakeri!

8 September Awakeri's runners did very well at the AIMS Games cross country. With fields of well over 100 of the best runners from all over NZ and even Australia and Asia, congratulations especially to Kevin Paulsen 10th, Kaya Hodson 14th, Jana Longney 20th in the year 8 events. Click here for a few photos.
Seniors: Want to win a trip to Australia through reading Diaries of a Wimpy Kid? Follow the link here to sign up for a readathon!

6 September Good luck to our AIMS games sportspeople. The cross country is today. Go team! If you want an early look at the Ag Day indoor programme for next term week one, click on the link to the left.

3 September Check out these cool photos from the kapa haka intensive yesterday.
Two doves have taken up residence at the school, and they have already made an impact. Miss Reeve was surprised by one of them a few days ago. Maybe they have flown over from a wedding? Or from a zoo on Mars? Wherever they're from, we can expect more dove dilemmas, and soon.
Yesterday Kaylia Best, Samanthat Yuill, Cambell Julian and Lucy Knott represented our school at the EBOP speech finals. They all did really well and got excellent responses from the judges. Congratulations to Cambell, who got 3rd in the year 7 & 8 section!

2 September Ideas for Dads on the Library page. Happy Fathers Day! Plus a few photos from our authors visit on 20 August.

26 August Kapa haka intensive is next week, Monday and Wednesday, Mr Hawkes made a mistake on the dates on the notice. It is Mon 31st and Wed 2nd! There are so many things on.... production rehearsals, four kids in EBOP speech contest on Wednesday, AIMS games cross country one week away, rugby kids seeing some All Blacks on Thursday, kapa haka....

25 August Production rehearsals have started! Mr Fitz was working with scene one acting in the events centre yesterday. We did two singing practices last week. Two things we found out.... People need to work at facing the audience (too many bums showing!) and catching people when they jump into their arms! Quite a lot of people knew their lines so that was good.

20 August Exciting news today on the Library page with the visit of a famous author Stacy Gregg to our school library at lunch time.
Make sure you read the school newsletter. You can find it here. Important items, like the AGM of the Events Centre are on it. The committee is desperate for some new people to share the load. Can you contribute?

18 August And the winner is: Alex Robbie! This morning, after a very interesting jump jam (involving the song "Hey Baby" and some terrible singing from yours truly), the winner of Awakeri Idol was announced, and it was Alex. Congratulations to all three finalists, especially Alex.

17 August Today Lucy and Jonny from Rythym Interactive came to Awakeri School to teach the senior syndicate a little bit about African drums. There are Dun Duns, Samba and a Nick Nick to go with the usual djembe drums. They also told us that the purpose for Rythym Interactive is to show kids that actions speak louder than words. O yaka ombai e, Together we will make that change. Click here for some photos.

14 August The final of Awakeri Idol is this Monday afternoon, at 1.20pm by the library. Good luck to our three finalists: Keighly McNeil, Alex Robbie and Marco Turner.
Fantasy Spanish Pepeha??? Only in Room 14. Check it out!

13 August Yesterday was our annual Soccer/Hockey day. We raised $1400 for new books to go in the library. Everyone had a great time playing Hockey and Soccer, and there were lots of great skills on display. Some former students came to referee which was pretty cool. Click here to see a few photos.

9 August The roles for production have come out, and with it scripts to learn! Luella is the evil Queen, Reaf is the even more evil Caliph, Ben is the naive hapless prince Abcess... just what you would expect really!

6 August Some great results at the EBOP Science and Technology Fair last night. Kevin Paulsen was awarded Best Science entry and the fair with his project Sweet As Bro (it's all about baking!). Matthys Wessels got Best Sports Related entry with his Spray and Bike Away project. It keeps his mountain biking goggles free from dirt. Matthew Reihana and Kevin got gold awards. Matthys and Ethan Patterson got silvers. See all our results on our science fair page.
Today we had class photos. The rain on the way made our hair shiny. The wind gave our hair plenty of body and style! But first, the staff had their photo taken. Who was the photographer? It was Emily Robbie! She told the staff to say "Cheese" and all that traditional stuff. Good luck getting a good photo out of that lot Emily! Oh well, there's always Photoshop....
Today is the semifinals of Awakeri Idol. Good luck to our singers: Maci, Rheet, Marco, Reaf, Ben, Keighly, Bianca & Alex.
Some of these had the practice of auditioning for production roles yesterday. There were 80 people auditioning to get a role in Sheik Rattle n Roll. Mr Fitz will be telling everyone who got parts tomorrow!

3 August Good luck to our students entering the EBOP Science Fair this week. Judging is tomorrow. The fair is at the Whakatane Intermediate School gymnasium. It is open to the public on Wednesday, from 3 - 5pm. The prize giving is at 5.30pm in the WIS auditorium, then there is more public viewing. There is more public viewing on Thursday, from 10am to 4pm.

31 July Aims Games training has started this week, they have to do running a lot around the court. Next week are production auditions, so kids need to practice and memorise the words which is a probably going to be a bit hard. Soccer and Hockey day is coming up. There are a lot of kids who chose Soccer, there are only two senior teams for Hockey, usually there is double that.

24 July Check out the Family Reading Challenge on the library page.

22 July The science fair judging was today. We were all really nervous but it was okay once we started. The judges asked us lots of questions, like: Why did you choose this topic, and: How did you find this out. Then they gave us some feedback, and then we were sent back to class.We are waiting to get the results back. Good luck! The events centre is open to the public tonight, so everyone can go and see if they got a prize. Once the winners were announced we will put a list on the website. We finally got the results at 5pm. First place for science was Jana Longney and 1st place for technology was Callum McNeil. 2nd place for science was Ethan Patterson and Matthew Reihana-Asquith and Olivia Sheaff was 3rd. 2nd place for technology was Matthys Wessels and Tayla Jones was 3rd. Congratulations who got commended, highly commended and participation. Click here to see results and some photos of science fair.

19 July The ERO report on the school has just been released. It's a very good one. Click here to read (it's a PDF file). Good luck to our year 7 and 8s putting their final touches to science fair entries ready to be handed in on Tuesday, either before school or after school (8 - 9am; 3.30 - 4.30pm). Judging is Wednesday, with scientists and technologists from Fonterra, CCH and Norske Skog coming. Viewing is Wednesday evening (5 - 6.30pm) or Thursday morning (8.15 - 9am). Prize giving is Thursday 12 noon. All welcome.

2 July Today the students beat the teachers in the football challenge! The score was 5 - 3. The students passed the ball around well. Mr J kept the teachers in the game with a hat-trick.
We also enjoyed the visit of the Rangitaiki Tai Mitchell rugby team. Tylar Hall is in their team and he made a good speech to the senior school about it. Then they performed an impressive, long haka.
Now it's the holidays, although some people will be doing lots of science fair work!

1 July Today a group of kids have organised a Maths Celebration day for the senior syndicate. They have made games for the kids to play after morning tea time. Check out these cool photos of some of the Maths Celebration activities.
On the 21st of July is Science and Technology fair. Many senior students will be working hard on their science fair entries over the holidays.

26 June What a game!!! In a thrilling game, Real Madrid beat Argentina to win the final of our lunchtime football World Cup. It was a very fast-paced game, with both teams having lots of chances, the final score being 5-2 to Real. The two teams will join together to face the teachers on Thursday. It promises to be a very good game.
Click here to see more photos of the Prime Minister's visit.

25 June Today has been an exciting day for Awakeri School. John Key himself came here to look at the school. 12 children have been chosen to ask some questions and meet Mr Key. BREAKING NEWS! Some of the students who got to speak to Mr Key have arrived back in class, and have revealed the answers to the questions, such as: What were you before you were a the Prime Minister? A banker, and: Why did you become PM? To make a difference and to make NZ wealthy.

Mr Key and Mr Fitz in the library.

24 June More great cross country results. In the BOP champs, Jana Longney won the year 8 girls race, with Emily Robbie 4th; Codi Laurent won the year 7 boys race; Kevin Paulsen 3rd and Kaya Hodson 4th in the year 8 boys; Dayyan van Veen 4th in the year 4 boys. Congratulations!!
Check out book reviewing on the Library Page. Talk about it!

23 June Rooms 6 & 7 had a cool Matariki celebration day last Friday. Here are some photos.

17 June We had some great results at the EBOP cross country champs at Opotiki yesterday. 33 of our students went, representing the Rangitaiki area. Now 23 students will go next Tuesday to the BOP champs! Rangitaiki did very well to win the teams section for the intermediates, beating Whakatane, Opotiki, and Kawerau. Jana Longney set a new record in winning the 12 Year Old girls race, with Emily Robbie coming 3rd. Kevin Paulsen won the 12 Year boys race, with Kaya Hodson 2nd and Ethan Patterson 5th. Codi Laurent won the 11 Year boys place with Cambell Julian 3rd. Tayla Jones was 5th in the 11 Year girls. Lara Longney was 4th in the 10 Year girls. Elijah Wetting-Davidson was 3rd in the 9 Year boys, with Kalib Schuler 4th. Brilliant results!
Trident High School has come to Awakeri to do a sports leadership mini olympics for yr 4 and 5's. Area 1 did a game where you kick a ball around and then, when you are close to the netball goal, you try and shoot a goal. Area 2 did a game that is kind of like tag when there is a midpoint and the people who are in can't cross the line but when the one of the other team's team mate crosses the line, they can tag them. Area 3: they have to grab the bat and run across without getting hit by a ball. Area 4: it is kind of like soccer but to get points they have to hit the net and there are three goalies who have to stay in a oval like box. Area 5: you have to pass it to your team mates and the other team tries to stop from getting the ball in between the tyres. Area 6: they have to hit the soccerball with a tennis racquet, then run to the other side without their tags being ripped off. Thank you Trident, it was great!

11 June Check out the cool message from Mrs White on the library page. You can travel the world easily!!

10 June The stage challenge performance today was excellent! Click here to see some photos! Good luck for tomorrow! It will be amazing under lights and with backdrop.

9 June Wow Awakeri did well at the interschool cross country at Manawahe on Friday! All of our A teams won their races! Lots of individuals did really well too and we have a big group going to the EBOP champs on Tuesday. Kaia Skipps and Kalib Schuler won the junior races; Codi Laurent won the intermediate boys race; Jana Longney and Kevin Paulsen won the senior races. There were also lots of high placings. Congratulations!
This week we have some special visitors in the school. Welcome to three people from the ERO who are here to have a look at the learning done at our school.
Tomorrow the Stage Challenge team is going to perform a dress rehearsal for us at 12.15 in the Events Centre. Their competition is on Thursday evening in Tauranga. Let's hope Luella's ankles don't hold her back. Go Awakeri!

3 June Congratulations to Cambell Julian who triumphed at the Speech finals last night. The night was started off with an amazing speech by Nicole Curtis, who managed to come 3rd. Lucy Knott came second with her fantastic speech on There's Only One Of Me. There was humour, information and it was a great evening. Click here for some photos.

2 June It's Speech finals tonight! All welcome. 7pm start in the library. Very entertaining speakers.
Cross country postponed till Friday! Children were given a notice today about the postponement, transport arrangements etc. Make sure you get the notice if your child is in the squad!

29 May Today we had the speech semi-finals. Well done to the 16 people who spoke. Only 7 have gone to the finals, they are Tayla Jones, Nicole Curtis, Matthew Reihana, Jana Longney, Lucy Knott, Marco Turner and Cambell Julian. Well done! On the 2nd of June is the final at 7:00 pm. All welcome.

28 May Interschool cross country is next Wednesday 3 June. We have plenty of transport to get our team to Manawahe. Children need food, water, warm clothing, something warm for under the school shirt. Shirts collected from room 12 before they leave. Children were given a notice about it today.
For the past 4-5 weeks Awakeri School have been doing a soccer world cup at lunch times.

27 May Hmm hmm. Mrs White has a serious message on the library page!

26 May The first frost of the year! The kids are out scraping frost off the tables and collecting it. It reminds us of when some kids made a massive ball of frost and Manaia decided to wrap it in his jersey and take it home in his schoolbag. At the end of the day, he picked up his bag and water poured out of it! And, no, it wasn't his drink bottle leaking!
Congratulations to the following year 7 & 8s, who are through to the semifinal of the speech contest on Friday: Ella J, Ethan P, Jana, Lucy, Luella, Ben W, Jake R, Keeley L, Olivia B, Reaf, Cambell J, Marco, Matthew R, Nicole C, Tayla J,Tessa.
We will see who gets to go to the final next Tuesday 2 June, 7pm. All welcome (to the final).

21 May Awakeri's Lit Quiz A team went to Wellington on Monday for Kids Lit Quiz New Zealand. They came third over all. We are all proud of Emily Robbie, Alex Robbie, Amelie Clements, Ben White. Their strongest category was first lines. They also went to Te Papa to the Anzac exhibition.

3rd in New Zealand! Coaches Ann Petersen and Margo White Kids: Alex Robbie, Amelie Clements, Emily Robbie, Ben White. Outside of Te Papa.

Soon a group of boys and girls will be going to Tauranga and dance in this competition called Stage Challenge. Luella Howe is one of the main dancers, as well as Ella Jones. They have made some excellent dances and they are working very hard at lunchtimes..

19 May Awakeri finish a very creditable 3rd in the national finals of the Kids Lit Quiz. Southwell School from Hamilton was first and Wanganui Intermediate second..

17 May There are some cool new books in the library. Check them out on the Library page. This week our great Kids Lit Quiz team heads off to Wellington to try and defend their NZ title. The quiz is at 1pm on Tuesday. Watch out here for updates.

12 May Go to Room 12's page to connect to photos from the camp at Ngongotaha last week. Looks like it was fun and challenging!
Because of teacher training day this Friday, there is no kapa haka. Actually there is no school! Whaea Andrea will have lunchtime teaching sessions on how to make a poi. It will be Tuesdays at 12.35. Any kapa haka girls welcome. You all need your own poi. Whaea Andrea has already decided our programme. It sounds cool! Tino pai!

8 May Check out Room 14's page for a funny incident in class.

06 May Room 11 and Room 12 have gone on camp for 4 days at Tui Ridge which we hope they will have a great time there. The top ten runners in cross country (8-13 yrs old) are going to Manawahe on the 3rd of June which is not far away. On Monday it had been 12 months since Mrs Cronin passed away, which was very sad to remember her. Barrie Cronin a.k.a Mr Cronin and Mr Chelley planted a Tawa Tree and there are also two benches outside the library so you can read Mrs Cronin's favourite quote by Roald Dahl which is on a plaque on the library wall.

30 April Wow! What a night! Last night it was the regional Kids Lit Quiz, which is run by Wayne Mills, who compiles all the questions that the teams have to answer. Awakeri had three teams: a year six team and two year seven and eight teams. At half time the Awakeri A team (Ben White, Emily Robbie, Alex Robbie and Amelie Clements) were winning by two points. At half time the coaches, Mrs White and Mrs Petersen, talked to the teams about how they were doing and strategies for the next half. It was a nailbiting second half. Awakeri were half a point ahead of Whakatane Intermediate going into the last round, which was Poetry Lines. Awakeri team A got a score of eight and Whakatane intermediate got five, meaning Awakeri Team A had defended their title. They now advance to Wellington to face the best teams in New Zealand at the national library on May 19. The year six team did really well and got a prize for being the best year six team. The B team did fantastically well too.

29 April Cool photos here of the Fun Raiser last week. A fine day for the cross country, (or happy country as Mr Hawkes calls it). Congratulations to Jana Longney who broke the 12 and 13 girls record. She now holds three girls cross country records!! (Check them out on our Sports Records page)
Have a look at the ANZAC poems on the Library page. Many thanks to our lovely librarian Margo. Good luck to our three Kids Lit Teams competing in the BOP regional finals in Tauranga tonight. Defend our title A Team!! Will the KLQ teams still be wearing their house paint from cross country this afternoon?! Emily and Amelie had green hand prints all over their legs!

26 Check out these photos from the ANZAC ceremony. Photos of the Fun Raiser are coming soon too.

24 April Today we had our ANZAC day ceremony. There was a huge turnout, and everything went really smoothly. Miss Dowzall's brother gave a speech about the meaning of ANZAC day and his time in the army. We listened to the Australian national anthem and sang the New Zealand national anthem. Two people from each class laid down the wreaths the classes had made. Nicole Webb and Tayla Jones recited some war poems, and at the end of the ceremony Jordan Andrew played the last post.
At lunch time Rooms 11, 12 & 14 Had their Fun Raiser. A big thank you to everyone who brought money along to spend. Altogether we think we raised about $1700 towards our class camps. Well done to all the children running the stalls. They all seemed to go really well. Lots of happy customers. A big thank you to the parents who helped us as well.

21 April Yay school is back. Wow have a busy week. Room 14 are going to tech today. The Kids Lit Quiz teams are getting ready to compete in the BOP regionals next Wednesday. Can they defend their title?? This Friday we have a special ANZAC Day ceremony at 9am. Parents are welcome to come. On Friday lunch time, Rooms 11, 12 and 14 are having a Fun Raiser to raise money for their camps. All children are invited to bring along a few dollars to spend.

14 April There's a holiday challenge for you on the Library page. Check it out!

10 April On the last day of school, our winning World Cup cricket team - India, led by Ethan Forbes played the staff. The staff won by about ten runs in a good close battle.
Check out these cool photos of our Top School event.

31 March Last Thursday Thornton played Awakeri in a cricket match. It was a good match and Awakeri won. Man of the Match was Samuel East and the highest run scorers were Corban Toone and Isaac Clements who scored 26 runs in their partnership. The top wicket taker was Ethan Forbes who got 4 wickets.

The winning team! Back row (from left): Corban, Kieran,Wyatt, Fearghus. Front row (from left): Samuel, Isaac, Ethan, Jamie.

This Thursday, the last day of school, one of our cricket World Cup teams, whoever wins, will be playing the staff, starting at 1pm.

23 March Awakeri are the winners! They did a great job: running, lifting and throwing and in the end they were the joint winners with Kawerau South School. Both schools get to have the trophy for six months, and Kawerau have it first. The cheerleaders did really well too, getting second place for their efforts. The highlight was Kaya shooting a massive 70 points in the last event Up Up and Away. He was in the chair on the flying fox, catching the balls thrown to him by Kevin, being pulled right up close to the drums, going for the 5 pointers and nailing 14 of them! The next highest score was 35. Nicole and Emily did an awesome job pulling the chair up close, they have the blisters to prove it!

19 March Awakeri School is a hive of activity today (no, that's not a pun about Room 13 running into a wasp nest on camp last week!). The fields are starting to be readied for Top School. Tractors are carrying heavy equipment around, posts are being put into the ground. It will be even busier tomorrow and Saturday. Then on Sunday the teams abnd cheerleaders arrive, the gala, and garage sale are on and the fun begins.
Can the Awakeri team win their section, like they did last year??

Awakeri's Top School squad: Back: Gene Brown, Jana Longney, Luella Howe Middle: Kaya Hodson, Emily Robbie, Callum McNeil, Nicole Curtis, Amber Fort, Rylee Looney Front: Tylar Hall, Cambell Julian, Kevin Paulsen.

13 March Watch out everybody, it's Friday the thirteenth! Today is the last day of swimming for lots of the classes:(, but there'll probably be a chance this summer. The top school teams have been selected and are already in training. Go Awakeri!!!Yesterday was the interschool swimming sports, and the pupils did really well, swimming hard and cheering loud.

11 March Room 13 are on camp this week at the Lions Hut. Hopefully the weather is being kind. There are some cool camp photos of Room 8, Room 9, Room 10 and Room 14's camps recently. Go to their pages and have a look.

6th March Check out some cool advice on the Library page about reading non-fiction books. Hopefully everyone got a lot out of the teacher-parent interviews yesterday and today.
Remember Monday is a teacher training day, so the students have an extra day at home!

3rd March Last week we had four classes going on camp, so the school was quite empty for a few days. Yesterday was swimming sports and there was some great athleticism on display. Tawa won the house relay which meant they had to race the parents! The parents won quite easily though:(

20 February Check out some new helpful advice on the Library page.
Announcing the web site monitors for the various classes:

19 February Hi! My name's Ben White. Stacie Martin and I will be your new newspeople for the year. We will keep you up to date on all the events around the school. BREAKING NEWS: India beat Pakistan in what's being described as a thrilling game. India won by nine runs! The dental clinic is back so everybody make sure you brush your teeth really well! Room 14, 8, 9 and 10 are going to camps next week so hopefully we'll have loads of amazing photos to show you. This week we have been doing some PATs. Can Awakeri spell? Or will they crumble beneath the might of words like A or I? ( Cue for dramatic music).
Also today the website monitors started work, so the class pages are up and running!
Also.... the Top School squad was named. Congratulations to: Kaya Hodson, Kevin Paulsen, Callum McNeil, Tylar Hall, Gene Brown and Cambell Julian; Jana Longney, Nicole Curtis, Luella Howe, Emily Robbie, Rylee Looney & Rhylee Mahy!
Today at a senior syndicate assembly we had a surprise visitor!

Carrie Fynn captures the audience with her amazing voice. She sang us three cool songs from Pink and the Dixie Chicks. Carrie used to go to Awakeri a long time ago. She has just returned from Saudi Arabia and is off to study at university.

18 February The final Top School trials are on today. The first day of Awakeri's cricket world cup is also on at lunchtime. India v Pakistan!
Web site monitors have their first training tomorrow.
Soccer enrolment forms come out on Friday.

15 February Today at assembly Mrs Howard announced the new House Leaders and Mr Fitz congratulated Miss Moore on becoming engaged!
The new leaders are:
Kowhai: Luella Howe, Kaya Hodson, Ben White & Reaf Bruce
Tawa: Ethan Patterson, Tylar Hall, Nicole Webb & Cambell Julian
Rata: Marco Turner, Tessa Dodson, Kevin Paulsen & Campbell Forsyth
Rimu: Tayla Jones, Brodie Nathan, Amelie Clements & Caleb Marshall
Congratulations!!

13 February Black Friday? We hope not, specially since Room 15 have gone to tech. Let's hope they get back safely!
At assembly today the house will perform their new house chants. Click here to have a look at the chants.

Marco helps teach Rata house their new chant.

12 February It was good to see all the Top School team hopefuls have their first trial at lunchtime yesterday. There were 33 people all trying to be one of the six boys and six girls in the Top School team squad for this year. They have four more trials to go. Good luck everyone!
Netball registrations are being taken at school. Netball starts in a few weeks!
This afternoon we had House Captain elections. It was very exciting. First, all the year eights and those yr 7s standing for election, had to teach their houses the new house chants for this year. The yr 8s had made them up at leadership intensive last year. Then the people wanting to be voted for made a speech to their house and then everyone had two votes. Four leaders for each house will be announced at assembly on Monday (because Room 15 will be away at tech for tomorrow's assembly). Congratulations everyone who was brave enough to stand.

10 February Meet the teachers and BOT tonight!! 5pm at school, barbecued sausages. Children and parents welcome.

5 February Have a good Waitangi Day tomorrow! Kia pai to ra!

4 February School is back and busy. It's great that most students have their stationery already. Classes are swimming, the senior rooms have done a 12 minute run to see how fit they are, there is lots of testing of maths, spelling etc. Names are being taken for people who want to get into the Top School team, to be librarians, web site monitors etc. The house captain applications are going to Mrs Howard with the election next Friday. It's all happening!
Check out some cool tips from our chief librarian Mrs White.

1 February School starts tomorrow. Hopefully we will see all our students fit and well and ready to learn! It's great that so many have already got their stationery sorted out. Welcome to our new teachers: Mr Fynn (Rm 15), Mr Johnstone (Rm 11) and Miss Moore (Rm 5).
Our best wishes and sympathy go to our principal Peter Fitzgerald, whose mother passed away last week. He and Cathy will be away in Taranaki for the first day or two of school.
The class pages on this web site will not be updated until new website monitors have been appointed for the year. Senior students will also be considering whether to apply to be house leaders and librarians too and whether to go in the Top School team trials starting soon.

23 January Welcome back to the new year. A reminder that class lists will be posted at school on Wednesday 28th and stationery will be available Thurs and Friday 29 and 30th. Teachers are attending training days on the 29th and 30th, although of course many of them are at school setting up already. Enjoy the last few days of the holidays! School starts Monday 2 February.

Old News Do you want to look at the news from last year and before that? It is reeeeaaallllly cool. Click here to find that interesting old news from 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 or even 2002 and before.