News

On the 12th of November Roxanne Reid took the Whakatane Intermediate Jump Jam team to nationals with assistance from Anne Lepper and Nana Coulter. The girls did great winning the 3rd place trophy in the Novice section of the Kids Aerobics National Jump Jam competition against 5 North Island teams made up of around 100 other year 7 and 8 students.

Congratulations to, Jaidan Atutahi, Aroha Tihi, Cassie McGaffin, Ngaire Coulter, Chloe-Rose Crabtree, Bailee McNabb, Julia Broadmore, Sophie Anderson, Tegan Coffin, Jasmin Lee and Danielle Giordano. All the Nation-wide results are available online at www.kidsaerobics.com

The whole school got together this term to help raise money for Molly-Mae Cossey, a student in Room 16 who earlier this year was diagnosed with cancer.   Her class decided they were going to fundraise to help her out. Miss Wereta, Molly-Mae’s teacher plus some other staff members said they would be wiling to have their heads shaved if we raised a certain amount of money.  

If we raised $1800, a haircut was picked out of a hat and if we raised over $2000 Molly’s teacher Ms Wereta would get a full head shave.

In the end we raised over $2700 so Miss Wereta had a full shave along with Support Staff - Matthew Gregory and Rick Simpson.

The Friday formal assembly was a very special one as the brave cutters had their hair cut in front of the whole school. Molly Mae was there herself and she supported Ms Wereta.

Thanks to everyone who supported this event.

Recent News in our Area

Beached Whale on Ohope

Beach

On the 21st of October a group of 5 girls from Room 19 headed off to Ohope beach to help out with a beached Pigmy Sperm Whale.

The whale was under a gazebo and had soaked towels over it. It also had buckets of water constantly being poured over it to keep it cool. Apparently it had been beached up from about 3:00 am approximately and local’s had been there since 7 am. There was a crowd standing taking photos and watching as it gained movement in its tail. It had multiple scratch wounds around its tail from what we could see.

It was great how the community pulled together to try save this whale. Luckily on the beach there had been no oil to mess up the rescue. All five of us jumped in line and waited for a bucket to be passed to us. We then ran into the shallows and filled our buckets with water. We then handed our buckets to another line and they passed it along to the whale.

It was a hot day and hard work but luckily sometime in the afternoon it was set free.

Written by Hannah Bakker and Stephanie Hutching, Rm 19

Auditorium Improvements

Recently the auditorium has been undergoing much needed improvements. Heaters have been put on the roof to improve conditions in the winter and windows have been put on the walls at the back of the auditorium to allow for greater ventilation in the summer.

I did an interview with Mr McLean about the improvements.

What gave you the idea for the improvements?

“The climate in the auditorium”.

Do you think the project is going as planned?

“Yes better than planned actually”.

How will this benefit the students of the school?

“Cooling in the summer and heating in the winter”.

Are there any other ideas for the schools improvements?

“The school is going to be painted the colour of the admin block, and some classes will be getting decks.

(Interview with Mr McLean)

By Samuel Vivian

Christchurch Earthquake Fundraising - Mufti Day

On Thursday, March the 3rd 2011, our school  had a mufti day supporting a school in Christchurch. If you wore mufti you were asked to make a donation of more than $1. Students were encouraged to wear black, red or gold. We had a class competition to see who could raise the most money. Room 23 won and were closely followed by Room 8. Room 23 also provided fun and games, that were 50 cents each, they were: Guess how many lollies there are in the jar, Painting faces and Bomb the Teacher. The teachers who volunteered to be bombed were Miss Chapman, Ms Stein, Mr. Mita and Mr. Henton. Our Principal Mr. McLean volunteered but did not show up - I wonder why??. Since he did not show up he gave Room 23 a donation.

There were prizes provided for the best dressed students. Our class councillors all got the honour of letting helium balloons go. On the balloons were little tags that said: This was let go to show our support of the Christchurch Earthquake. If found please contact Whakatane Intermediate School.

A few days later, a man close to Gisborne had found one of our helium balloons on his farm, he contacted our school and told us that he found it.

Our school fundraised $1200! Thanks to everyone who fundraised and supported our mufti day, and every extra dollar was appreciated.