Southen sinfonia

It’s Tuesday the 8th of December. Kids are pouring into the hall, whispering excitedly.
Mrs Caldwell introduces us to the Southern Sinfonia, saying what an honour it is to have them with us.
One of the members introduces us and starts us off with a tune from Pirates of the Caribbean™. Then we get introduced to the sections of the orchestra and the players who have come to visit us today.
As the concert proceeds we listens to stories, explanations, and tunes.
They finished with Beethoven’s symphony number nine. We clap and cheer wildly.
In conclusion it was a fantastic performance.

Otago Champs

The freezing cold air rushed over our faces.
Everybody was squished in the seats trying to keep warm.
The speaker blabbed on as the day
Finally started for us.
Sprints, long jump, relays, high jump
Last of all 800 metres.
The under 12 girls were up first for relays. We came second in the first heat.
We got into the semi finals. In the semi finals we came 4th but sadly, we didn’t get in to the finals. We were happy at where we got though because we had been versing people older then us. The day pressed on with more and events were being called. Finally the day ended. But not for some people because we still had to do the 800 metres.

Co-operative sports day

“Let the games begin” shouted Mrs Wood into the breeze of the cold wind. Kids were shouting the yelling with joy as they walked to their first activity. Already you could see teamwork everywhere with the seniors leading and helping out the juniors. You could see this was going to be a fabulous day!
The cheering, laughing and support of all team-mates went through all the activities. All sorts of different skills were being used. Long jump, 4 square, egg and spoon race – with small potatoes, three legged race, obstacle course and rob the nest were some of the many activities we did.
By the end of the day everyone was very tired as we walked into the hall to hear the final results. We were all dying to hear the results when the teacher handed us all our participation certificates. The Mrs Wood told us the winners were… team 1. Everyone was happy as they cheered them on. It was the end of a wonderful day.

There I was, waiting on the sideline then all of a sudden over the intercom ‘all under 12 75m sprints to the field’ as I was walking to the field I caught up with the other sprinters Daniel R B, Daniel, Taine. I was up next along with Daniel, ‘ ready set’ BANG!!!! I sprinted as fast as I could when I past the finish line I felt great and I found out I came 1st . i walked back to my seat,an hour later it was time for my under 12 200m relay my team was up Taine,Daniel R B, Daniel and myself. So there I was ‘hi Rawiri’ says Mitchell from the stands.any way so there I was ‘Rawiri over here’ (sigh) so there I was ‘ are you death or what’ ‘would you be quite’Anyway there I was waiting for Taine to come. I heard the clapper, then Daniel R B sprinted to Taine once Taine got the stick coming sprinting around the corner I got ready, my hand out ready. He started coming closer so I started running running… then SPRINTING, zooming through the track the I past it to Daniel and we WON, 2nd !!!!!!!!! we made it though to the semi-finals we came 2nd ,finals we came 4th and Otago Champs.


The End
Rawiri

South Zone Sprints

“Hurry up” I cried to my mum “I told you last night I’ve got to be there by 8:25” “yeah yeah I know ok” yelled my mum. Woops I just realised that I’ve still got 20 minutes to spare “sorry mum” I mumbled” with a snigger. I like to make her rush its fun when she rushes.

Ok were here got though all the instructions but were on the bus now about ten minutes later were finally here “what a rush” Now my next event is at 10:15 sprints. “Now could all under 11 boys in 75 meter sprints please report to the sub station immediately thankyou” “well wish me luck”.

Bang were off my feet are squelched on the damp grass but my legs are going as fast as they can like pistons on a speeding cars but my speed up against all the others wasn’t fast enough and across the line fifth place if only it was third next is long jump and relays but that’s another story.

The end

Tsunami Appeal

Today at St Clair School we are supported the Samoa Tsunami by wearing our pyjamas for a gold coin donation. The School Council drew a wave and wrote Samoa onto the court and we filled it up with our coins in a trail. It totalled $372.40. Why did we wear pyjamas? Because the tsunami happened in the morning and one of our teachers caught up in it had to run to the hills in her pyjamas. The money raised will be taken to the Red Cross.

St Clair School Middles and Seniors Disco

Ever since I held the disco ticket in my hands I’ve been excited. I’ve been picturing it in my head for ages. Now yes right now it was time. The dull music suddenly became louder the door was now ajar. Wow… flashing lights, balloons and snacks to buy.
Kaite and I couldn’t wait, we headed straight to the coloured popcorn. Hands full and wanting to dance we stored our goodies under the green chairs. Too soon it was time to leave. Lots of tall adults appeared at the back of the hall, mum included. I sighed and the bright light invaded my eyes as I left.

Callie

Current Events Quiz 2009

Yesterday the 21st of October the St Clair 2 team came first in the annual Otago Daily Times EXTRA! Current events quiz. There were 53 teams of three and the team consisting of Braeden, Jake and Luke with 96 points. We each won and ODT pen, a $20 Paper Plus voucher, a gold medal and a certificate. It turns out that all the hard work really paid off, I can’t wait for next year!!!


The hustle and bustle, the scraping of chairs and the loud sound of talking children is what you would expect from over 150 kids in one room for two hours. But there were some quiet moments too. These moments were brought on when we were thinking or the top ten teams were being announced. So overall when your name is called for second place you feel on top of the world. And congratulating your teammates Max and Kea you truly know that you have represented your school in the best way possible. But as well as having the privilege of being in second place you get a $15.00 Paper Plus™ voucher a pen and a certificate. Then when you look at your photo in the paper the next day all the fantastic memories come flooding back.


I was there we were frustrated, a room of madness thinking madness. At the fifth round we were annoyed because we kept messing up. We aimed for in the top ten and we achieved that goal and got better then we expected we almost got in the top three all we needed was two points to get 3rd but in the end we got 4th .

Well done to Braeden, Luke, Jake, Casey, Kea, Max, Josh, Toby and William.

I POD NANO

I POD NANO

Today Mrs Faithful received the 8GB I POD NANO that she won at the Conference in Christchurch in the last week of the holidays. Mrs Faithful is over the moon with HAPPINESS & JOY. An I POD NANO can use the Radio, Games, Music, Take Photos, A voice recorder and a video camera. And a special thanks to Edtech and Steve Ford.

Southzone Athletics

Today Friday the 16th some of the fastest and fittest children from the under tens to the under twelves will be running and jumping all over the school.
The children will be competing in several events including long jump, high jump, relays, sprints and maybe even hurdles.
For high jump the qualifying height for girls is1 metre and for the boys 1.10 metres and for long jump the qualifying length is 3 metres or more for both boys and girls.

Otago Champs

Six of our senior students were very lucky to get into Otago Cross Country Champs
Julia ,Jazmin, Jorjia, Riley, Tinnelle, Matt,Taine and Daniel.
The year six girls got very good placings this year with Julia first place Jorjia third and Jazmin fith place. Riley got a credible 29th with Tinelle in front in 20th position. Taine, after a fall, came thirty second with Daniel in front of him at twenty seventh,
Julia Jorjia Jazmin got awards two of the girls got medals and we nearly won the Otago cup.

What's new

New Things Are Happening At St Clair
Things are changing at St Clair!
While we were all relaxing in holiday mode people were hard at work in the school grounds working on a new classroom.
So as well as getting a whole new bunch of juniors to our school another change was in stock for the teachers.
The staffroom they know and love was going to the juniors and they had to move to the lovely tech room which is of course now their staffroom.
So thank you to all the builders that helped this change and a big welcome to all the new juniors in the school who will arrive here in a few days.
Another change is that we have some new playground equipment.
The bridge has been made flat so it is easier to run across when playing games in the playground.
Another big difference is that in the spot where the tyre mountain used to be is now a bigger hut than the ones built last holidays.
Little wooden poles in the ground give it easy access to all the other playground equipment.
So next time your at St Clair feel free to come in and check out all the new things that have changed.

Reporter Casey and Isaac

Athletics

On your marks get set CLAP!!! That was the sound for go then every body in my heat bolted down their lanes I made a good start I started off first then I lost one place it was over, I came second. The second heat was up my friend Matthew was in that heat he sprinted hard and got a solid second. There were three to five heats.

Junior Team Jump Jam

Every morning the junior team participates in a Jump Jam session for their daily exercise. The junior teachers encourage them by leading the dance moves. The moves are simple but yet tiring. Jodie Anne says her favourite song is who let the dogs out. Jump Jam is a fun healthy way for the juniors to play.

KapaHaka

On the 10.09.09 the KapaHaka group went to the Edgar Centre to perform their piece, which was between 5-10 minutes duration. We had 120 children in our kapahaka group. First we went to the hall to get changed. We were all dressed in our uniforms and ready to go. We stopped at the back of the Edgar Centre and we got off the buses and got our fore arms stamped with the word paid. We watched one performance before we were called backstage. Our performance is about Tangaroa the sea god. We got in to our positions and waited till we got called to stage. We started our performance and when we finished and we went back to our seats to watch two more performances. And one of them had the same song as us. We got back on the bus and someone came in and said, “We are having a competition between the two buses to sing to the bus drivers. The bus drivers will pick the winner”. We sang The wheels on the bus and Twinkle twinkle little star. We got back to school and got changed back into our clothes. By that time it was lunchtime. It was the best performance ever.


By Matthew.C.

5-aside soccer

At St Clair school we’ve been making up a 5-aside tournament with one of our teachers.
We have many teams and we put them in the tournament. We have 5 teams. They go by the names of Mighty Maniacs, Mystery, No Names, Penguins and the Unknowns. They have all been competing to represent St Clair School. Every week two teams compete in a 5-aside soccer match. On the 17th of September the Mighty Maniacs bet Mystery and set the new score record of 8-0. We haven’t finished the tournament yet but we are up to the semi finals. I’m in the team Mighty Maniacs along with all my friends. We’ve only lost one game and we’ve been scoring high every match. We sure hope that we win the tournament and get to represent our school in a
5-aside soccer tournament.

Senior Cross Country

On Thursday the 11th of August the seniors headed down to Kettle Park for the senior cross-country. When we got there we all sat on the steps and waited for all the seniors to arrive. Once we had all settled in, the Boy’s race was FIRST…On your marks get set GO!!! The battens clapped & the boys were off. We watched them go up the hill but then they vanished. The first boy to cross the finish line was Harry Proctor, second place Matt Horne and third place Daniel Metcalf.

When the girls race started all of the boys were on the steps. The battens clapped again and …on your marks get set go!!! The battens clapped we all started to run as we came past on our first lap every one cheered on our second lap every one was waiting for the first to cross the finish line. And the first was Julia Murphy coming in second was Jorja Casswell and in third place was Jazmin Williamson.


A round of a applause to every one who participated
in the senior cross country

By Julia Murphy and Jazmin

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During our inquiry unit 'Is Art for Arts sake?' we had five visiting artists. A Composer, musician, actress, animator and artist. We learnt that they all had seven things in common

1. inspired by experiences
2. they are imaginative
3. work for hours on one project
4. they love what they do
5. need to be in the right mindset to work
6. that they all studied their craft
7. they put their emotions into their work

Book Week

Last Friday we had a dress up day to celebrate national library week. There were lot's of book characters in our room. Even Mrs Faithful and our princepal got into the spirit. Can you spot them in their costumes. The children around the school came in many different characters like Thing One and Thing Two who were very cool.

We have made it all the way to the to Cape Regina at the top of the North Island. We have been working so hard on the school’s new fitness track 5km on the journey from Invercargill. It all paid off because we are at the top of the North Island and we bet all of the other Senior classes. On Thursday we compete in the cross country.

The Kahurangi Dance Group

Kiaora everyone. Kiaora.

The Kahurangi Dance Group performed in our school hall this morning. It was an amazing performance. They told us about the beginning of the Maori world and how everyone became to be.

They told us about the poi and rakau, that they used, and the meanings of them. The long poi represents birds and the short poi the beat of the heart - our life force.

The show lasted for an hour and all the school enjoyed listening, watching and learning.

Daniel

An amazing fitness track

A place to enjoy, called the new playground

An amazing fitness track built specially for the great children of St Clair School.

We all are looking forward to having a wonderful time playing on the walkways and huts.

All of the children are enjoying the playground and having a great time.

The playground is a place to go and have some fun at St Clair School.

On Thursday the 23rd of July Room 13 went to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. We talked about Parihaka the Maori war against the Europeans who tried to take over their land. Afterwards everyone designed their own pictures of Parihaka.

By Casey Brown