Busy term at Matahui School
Term 3 was an intense term at Matahui School so we do hope that all our families are enjoying a restful break.
We celebrated Te Wiki o te Reo Māori – Māori Language Week - an important week for all of New Zealand. We aim to give the students an appreciation and interest in the culture as well as basic language skills. At midday on Monday 14th September, we joined millions of New Zealanders across the country in a ‘Māori language moment’. To acknowledge this ‘moment’ the students sang a waiata, learnt a game, and some phrases that they were challenged to use in our everyday conversations.
In September, students from the senior class participated in the Bethlehem College Ngā Tākaro Sports Festival. In what would have been AIMS week, Bethlehem College instead hosted a mini-tournament for local BOP schools. The Matahui hockey team played six games and only lost one, and the netball team won half their games, which was a fantastic achievement considering many players had never played netball before.
The year 3-4 class visited the Waihī Martha Mine education centre the last week of term. The mine was a great way for the students to see how technology has helped the industry and how it has evolved over time.
Inquiry-based learning is at the centre of our school curriculum, which means
learning begins with an idea and then evolves through questions and discussion. The junior class ( years 1-2) expressed an interest in rockets and moon buggies, so last term, their learning rocketed them into space by making moonrocks in class and with a trip to Stardome in Auckland.
The year 5-8 students worked hard on speeches. Topics ranged from Tutankhamun to dangerous animals, to urban myths and fairy tales. The focus was ‘how to engage your audience and hold their attention throughout’. Oral language is an important part of our programme at Matahui School, with students learning to be comfortable on stage, to speak clearly, and using their voice effectively. On Tuesday 15th September Matahui School hosted the North Cluster Speech Contest.