Soil survey

On Friday,5 June, our team had a change of focus for our environmental studies. Instead of being at the Wetlands area, we were at Aranui Park which is next door to the wetlands area.

We had a special task to accomplish. David, Janet and Claire, a guest scientist, set us the task of testing the soil in an area that is to be planted in the near future.
The soil needed to be tested so that they can figure out which plants will grow best in that area.

This task had to be carried out using the rules of fair testing. We had to be as careful as possible with our measurements and systems so the results were true and accurate. There were 3 sites and we had to measure the depth and PH levels of the peat (soil with a lot of decaying plant material) and clay layer. We were hoping we would be able to get right down to the gravel layer. We were also trying to find out at what depth the water table was.
The diagrams below show the results for each site.





This was a great opportunity to develop skills and understand more about the scientific method used to decide which plants should be planted in the area. Everyone enjoyed the task and worked well in their teams to achieve the goals.

Wetlands Reflections

22 May 2009

The second session at the wetlands started with a review of the hazards and safety plan we set up to refresh our memories and get us on the right track for our activity.

We made our way to the shade house to check on the seedlings that were potted up last year. The growth amazed us. They had at least trebled in size and looked as though they were good healthy titoki specimens.

The next task was to get stuck into some weeding. To make it a bit more exciting and fun, there was a competition to see which group could get the longest and fattest dock root.
The Toitoi group won the longest root competition and the Hebes won the fattest competition.

Our last task was to plant some maire trees in the newly cleared ground amongst the grasses and other sheltering plants.

Environmental Education at Mapua Wetlands


May 8th was our first visit to the Mapua Wetlands for 2009. Most of us had been part of the Environmental Education programme last year so we were excited about going again because we had great memories of the activities carried out to help preserve and restore this wonderful habitat. The students who were new to the project were looking forward to finding out what it was all about.

Janet and David, our educators, met us and told us they were glad so many students had come back and welcomed the new students.
The session was an orientation and review session setting the scene for safety and knowing our way around the different areas within the wetland. We were amazed at how much the plants had grown. Some of the paths were overgrown and we had to bend down and push our way through the branches.
The first activity was to ensure we were aware of the hazards and dangers and more importantly how to minimise or eliminate the dangers by working out what to do or wear to be safe. For example we need to walk carefully over the plank bridge leading to the Golden Triangle, wear gloves when handling compost to avoid infections.
The second activity was an orienteering competition. Each group had to follow clues to find letters that made up the name of a plant in the wetland. The Hebe Team won the race.
We are thankful that Janet and David are giving us this opportunity and we are looking forward to the rest of the programme.

Mapua School goes Mad!

The hair styles at Mapua School on Friday 1st May were weird, wacky and gooey! And that was just the teachers! The students were colourful, creative and gelled with style. Take a peek at the animoto movie to see what we mean.

Try-athalon and Swimming Sports

On your marks! Get set! Go!
Cars race to the pools like V8 super car racers, but only short cuts help with speed limits.
We are there, age groups split us from our friends. The first swimmers nerves are bubbling, but first, rules are explained over the loudspeaker.
The swimmers line up. 'BANG!'
They're off and the winners sure were fast.

Hayden Squance lines up for the 12 and overs finals, ready to get some points for his house colour!

Better hope there aren't any sharks in there. They would think the swimmers are very fast dolphins.

Kynan





Take your marks..... Go!
The crowd cheers with enthusiasm, they're neck and neck, who's going to be first? Mapua school started off Term One by working off some energy!
The long running course, the tiring bike ride, the freezing swimming laps and the sprint to the finish! This is what creates a challenging tryathlon! The students of Mapua School definitely strived to be all they could be on this succeeding day!
In each age group they had a distance of running swimming and biking to challenge themselves. Every single child set their personal goals to achieve ran with competitive skill!
Now, who's getting these certificates?

Eden

Literacy Quiz 2009

What is the name of the man that demanded a baby?
Rumplestiltskin.

People were trying out for a literacy quiz that could get them to represent Mapua to compete against Nelson and Malborough Disrict schools. It was a very difficult task at school when we did tests to select the top four that could go to Nelson Intermediate. Lucky for me I sneaked through and was with the other three finalists, Nikau, Lucy S and Jessica.
At Nelson Intermediate School Mr Wayne Mills, the Quizmaster, gave us sets of category questions which we had to answer to get points. Every team got to choose a category that they could get double points on. In the end 3rd place was awarded to Waimea Intermediate 2, 2nd place was St Joseph's School and Fairhall School won it.

It was a new and challenging experience and I was glad to be a part of it.

Sam

Underway for 2009!

To keep the amount of written work recording school events manageable, the web events entries will be written by the school's magazine team. The articles will be collated for the annual school magazine issued in December.

We hope you enjoy the articles that will be appearing here as and when time allows.

Teressa
Editor - Mapua Magazine and Website

Yes! The end of year disco is coming up! Press out your tops and wash your skirt! And guys please, get out your tuxedos!
The theme is 'A White Christmas' chosen by the house leaders.Every one was having a great time the last disco and this one is by far going to be the best! I asked Lydia on how she looking forward to the disco."I can't wait to dance with all my friends!" replied Lydia. Same! Even though I am going to be leading the disco with all the other house leaders, I am able to see my friends down in the dance floor! Check back soon for a detailed account on the upcoming disco!

Hola

Hola! In Room 5 and 6 we are learning to speak Spanish ...and it’s going well! I still know how to say hi in Spanish! So far we have learnt how to say all of the different greetings, the alphabet, ask people how they are and to respond with how we are feeling. We are now starting on learning the numbers.

Libby said “I like their accent” Hmm, nice comment Libby.

I think it’s been going great. We were given folders to keep our work neat and make it easy to find for reviewing what we have learnt so far.

"Hmmmm I think it is a great opportunity to learn a new lauguage as well as learning about another culture," Jade says.(Room 6. Me too Jade. I also think it's a great thing to learn a different language! Maybe this term we can have a pinata! (Hint, hint teachers!)

Trip to Prince Caspian

On Tuesday the 21st of July, the Senior Syndicate of Mapua School went to the Motueka State Cinema to watch Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian is the latest Narnia movie, but the fourth in the Narnia series by CS Lewis. A trip to movies wouldn't be complete without a few treats so everyone was able to buy one refreshment (including combos!).

The movie was quite long (two and a half hours) but it was action packed with loads of fighting so there was no time to get bored.

Some of our favourite characters in the movie were Reepacheep (a sword fighting mouse), Trumpkin, other wise known as DLF (Dear Little Friend), Aslan, Trufflehunter and of course Prince Caspian himself. The majority of the people who went enjoyed it and thought that it was much better than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
By Libby

Yay! The disco's been and gone. Everyone was really excited during the build up to this popular event.

But before we put on our dancing shoes, (this disco was not just any ordinary dance) had to be organised and be prepared so that everyone could have a good time. But who, you may ask, took on this challenge? Well the House Leaders of course. The House Leaders did a tremendous job at getting everything organised. From music to decorations. Wow! It would be so cool to be a House Leader and help organise everything. We all helped and pitched in - all of the students in the different rooms helped by bringing in music.

Welcoming Mr Chalmers

Today we held our mihimihi to welcome Mr Chalmers, our new Principal. It was a fabulous day - the weather was warm and sunny, we were dressed up for the occasion, we spoke and sang from our hearts and we met some wonderful people from Tua Marina.

The mihimihi ceremony made it a wonderful occasion for us to all remember. Willow, Bailey and Jade called the Karanga, Kieran and Mr Gemmett spoke on our behalf, Mr Hepburn said the karanga and the whole school sang to support them. It felt wonderful to be a part of such a special ceremony. After the Karanga (calling the visitors onto our grounds), whaikorero(speeches), waiata (songs), hongi (pressing of noses) and karakia (prayer or grace) we shared kai (food) together. And of course we also shared our playground - those boys were pretty good at soccer.

We are looking forward to having Mr Chalmers as Principal of Mapua School next term.

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter is always a time to look forward to!

Mad Hair

First week back and we were into the crazy stuff at Mapua School. It was amazing to see the outrageous hair styles people had come up with. Some were very funny, some were very artistic and some of them had a whole container of gel!!!

gym

The gym festival was a success all our hard work paid off. We had been working so hard. All grades worked hard to be all we can. The competition was on the 5th June and B Grade was on the 6th June. For A Grade we had to do beam, long vault,cross vault and mat 1 and 2 and of course our team flow routine. We were rated out of 100 for all the events. Our score was 74. There was also a competition grade too. Natasha, Lydia and Zara entered it. The sort of stuff we did
was mat activities, long vault and cross vault and we did time flow with the A grade competitors. They did everything that A grade did except skipping. The amount of people from our school that went to the festival was 13 girls and one boy. After the competition they gave out the certificates. Every school got a certificate for B Grade.
For A grade and competition grade. We are looking forward to next year.
written by Ellie and Natasha.

Experiments with Chemical Changes at Waimea College

Mapua has a bang at Waimea!

On Thursday 15th Room 5 were on the road to Waimea College to have a very special science lesson......

Room 5 met the science teacher. His name was Paul Croskey and he taught the older students of Waimea College. The first 10 minutes was wasted on a safety instuction and Room 5 started to get restless. All they wanted to do was to blow up things!

But then the real fun started! They had to listen closely to the instructions and watch out - if any drops fell on their hand it would burn. One of the acids Room 5 used was hydrochloric acid.

Near the end of Room 5’s lesson, they got to do what they wanted to do KABOOM!!! Yes they got to blow up an egg! Libby got the pleasure to not only hold a flaming stick but also to be blasted in the face by eggshell! There were two holes, one at the top of the egg and one at the bottom.Then Paul put acid in the in the bottle and stood back while Libby looked around nervously. We waited and waited and waited. Nothing happened so Paul did the same procedure and this time.....KABOOM!!!! We were shot by eggshell and Libby seemed a little shocked to say the least! After that we were to go back to our cars and drive to school after a cool afternoon doing science at Waimea College.


By Charlotte

Mr Wemyss' Farewell

The whole of Mapua school joined together to farewell our wonderful one and only principal Mr Wemyss. It was a wonderful day,the sun was shining and who could of ask for a better day to farewell our principal?

We had two presenters, Shaen and Jessica from Room Five and the person who controlled the sound system, Nic, was from Room Five as well.

The assembly involved two people from each class contributing something to Mr Wemyss. Things that we contributed were: Cards, Models of his office and we can't forget the special green, covered with lots of colorful paper, hat that was given to him from Rooms 1 and 8, and to funk up the assembly he even wore the hat for the whole time - how cool is that?

But it was not only us who contributed to Mr Wemyss it was the teachers as well. They contributed glasses and a bunch of flowers. Of course losing a brilliant principal wasn't that great so the whole school got ready to sing a couple of songs to him as a present to show him how much we loved having him as our principal.

The one year and one term that we had him as our principal may not sound like a lot of time but it was enough for the whole school and teachers to bond with him and laugh with him. It was a great opportunity having having Mr Wemyss and hopefully he will come and visit us sometime....

By Jade

What was hot on the Room 1 and Room 8 camp?

Amazing Damper toasting

We lit the roaring fire next to the rippling sea. I twisted the sticky dough onto my sharp stick and lay it on the embers.
When the toasting was done I poured on golden syrup and munched on my bread. We got some more pointy sticks and stuck on some melting marshmallows and roasted them on the embers.
When the marshmallows were ready I took them off the flame and put them in my mouth. Yummy!

Next day we put on our togs and jumped in the kayaks. Splash! All the boats bobbed around in the water. We had lots of races and I won nearly all of them but I fell in getting out!

Molly


Melting Marshmallows

At camp we made some damper. It was delicious. We also roasted marshmallows. Yummy. The adults made the damper. We got some sticks and put some damper on them. We also had golden syrup. It was delicious. We did all of this fun on the Leisure Park beach.

Harri

Gone Fishing

We baited our hooks and cast our rods out to the glistening cold ocean. We were getting lots and lots of bites but no fish. They just kept eating all our squishy bait. Just then Mac caught a sea creature with a slimy tail and one slippery fin on each side. He put it back and we started fishing again.

I went to get some bait from a parent helper and plopped my rod back in the glistening ocean.

Then it was time to go so we packed up and got on our bikes and rode off.
Bethan

Skateboarding

Barbra and Laura went to see what the guys had to say about the new skating area?
They said that they are pleased that the teachers decided to give them a bigger skate area and now every day the skate area is jam packed with skateboarders, scooterers and anything with wheels on it.

A couple of the roller bladders, Nina and Wills said that they're very thankful for the skating area, but it’s not really big enough because there’s more skaters and scooters on the skating area than the kids roller blading. But at least they're having a good time and have somewhere to roller blade.

As for the skateboarders, they're still trying to learn new x-treme tricks on their skateboards. One of them is Josh. He thinks that it’s pretty awesome to skate on the new skating area and it has a really solid kind of gravel ground to master new skateboarding tricks. He thinks that having a skating area’s pretty cool and that once the senior syndicate have a playing area for us to do anything we want on it.


The scooterers are having an amazing time too and think that the new skating area is really cool and that it’s really mint. Everybody wants to thank the staff members of the school, for having the pleasure of giving us the new skating area.

Room 6's camp

Room 6 camp was awesome, exhilarating and exciting. There were tons of challenging activities to do at Camp Hanmer and one of the best activities was tree climbing! It was hard and exhausting but it was fun at the same time!


Another great part of camp would probably be getting to know your friends a little more as well as the teacher and the parents!

The activities that we did at camp Hanmer were a lot of fun and challenging too. Some activities that we did were driving the village cruisers. We had to go in groups and drive around Hanmer Springs. We were given a sheet with questions to answer at certain places. We would drive to that place using a map and write down the answer. of this challenge is "Go to the house with the white rocks in front of it. What is the name of the house?" So we would go and try to find that house and write down what that house was called.

Other activities were: Mini golf,going around and around the maze trying to get to the exit and as with the village cruisers, we had a sheet and tried to find the symbols that were on the sheet and write down the word that was under the symbol. Of course they had to make it difficult and there were some obstacles where you would get wet or frightened and that was awesome!

The other activities that we took part in were walking up a huge hill called Conical Hill but most of us thought it was boring! But other then that it was pretty cool walking with your friends and maybe the teacher and the parents as well.

Another great part of camp was the awesome food. On Monday we had morning tea at the Kawatiri Junction with the food that we made at home, then we had lunch at Lake Daniel's car park with the left over food from morning tea, and at dinner time we had Lasagne with lettuce salad. After dinner we got to put our greedy little hands on an ice cream sundae then for supper we gobbled down a cup of milo or just a drink of water with scrumptious home baking. On Tuesday it was breakfast time, yes the most important meal of the day, we had toast with an option of spreads or cereal with an option of tined fruit to go on top. There was plenty of more wonderful delicious , delectable goodies that we ate on camp but I just don't want to give you a sore tummy.

Camp was really awesome.

Try-athalon

On your marks! Get set! Go!
These were the first words that launched the first race of the Mapua School try-athalon. The sun was gleaming down, people cheering, yelling, supporting and the competition was fierce.

Every student took part in the try-athalon, everyone gave it their best. There were stories of success and many examples of people competing hard and playing fair.


Examples of fair play were:
Alex who went back and touched the wall to make sure he swam the whole length so that he wasn’t being unfair to all the other competitors in his age group. It’s not a win if you get there by unfair actions.

Molly knew that Ellie was not confident about her abilities to complete the running section so she decided to encourage her all the way by saying things like “You are doing well” and “You can do this, Ellie” and “Nearly there Ellie”.

Ellie had been given permission to only run half the number of laps for her age group if she wanted to. But with Molly’s encouragement and her determination to persist, she managed to complete all the laps.

Way to go Alex, Molly and Ellie.

The other fantastic thing you can see in the photos was how the Year 8 students helped the Year 1 children as they competed for the first time.

The grand finale was the race between students and adults . The exhilarating speed of this race was overwhelming. All students wanted to beat the adults and the adults didn’t want to get beaten by kids. And the outcome - the parents’ teams won and the students came in 3rd while the teachers came 4th.

2008 Happenings start here!

Yay! Finally we are underway with our 2008 Events group. Last Term we were soooo busy with our vision launch, getting to know our new classes, camps and sporting events that we found it hard to get together as a group and make a start reporting on the great stuff that was happening.
This Events blog is powered by a small group of talented (even if we do say so ourselves) writers at Mapua School. Please keep coming back to check on the updates to this blog.




One of the first events for this year was the launch of our new school vision, To Be All I Can.
We all wrote down our dreams and goals for our futures, tied them to the string of a helium filled balloon and released them after Mr Wemyss talked to us about the meaning of the vision.
Our vision goals are: To be responsible community members, To have high academic success, to be competent in communication, to be active, to be creative and to be effective thinkers.
To help us achieve our goals we are learning about the habits of mind that we need to have to be successful. Last Term we tried oto improve our abilities to persevere and to step outside our comfort zones with whatever we were doing. This Term we are working on our listening and questioning skills.

An Evening with Dr Seuss

Combine a small school full of creative young brains with a talented writer and you’ve got an amazing Seussical Production. This year Mapua School’s production was directed by Leanne Hough and was based on the one and only Dr Seuss and his stories. The show was an amazing and strange insight into the world of Dr Seuss.

Half the time I was laughing and the other half marvelling at how a bunch of schoolkids, a couple of teachers, a few books (Sneetches, The Lorax, Oh the places you'll go, What was I afraid of, One fish, Two fish and Dr Seuss Alphabet) and a lot of hard work could produce such a startling play. It was so brilliant it weaselled it's way onto the front page of the Motueka/Ruby Bay News with the title " To think I saw it at Mapua School!" Which is exactly how I felt about it myself.

The main characters were The Cat in the Hat (Marley), The Mother (Alice), The Children (Sarah and Ellie) and Thing 1 and Thing 2 (Fabian and Rosie). Of course you can't have a production without main characters.

“Screech!” Tom's ear splitting scream echoed around the room ending the dance of the green pants. Frightful music started up again and the pants danced in time to the beat. The green pants were from the “What was I Afraid Of?” story and was directed by Mrs. Hosie. The stars in the pants were Tom S, Lorna S, George R, Nic L, Rueben K, Shaen G and Josh G-M.

The next scene, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish was based on the book by the same name. This astounding performance was brought to you by Room 9. Splashed with many droplets of comedy this show created lots of laughs.

“I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, which you seem to chopping just as fast as you please.” The scene of the Lorax was the most decorative because the many different props brought the stage to life. They went to a lot of trouble to create a silver-chopping machine controlled by Dan Sutherland. The choir provided the sound track for the chopping and, combined with Dan’s acting, was very effective The act had many different songs and dances to add to the entertainment.

Big A, little a. What begins with A? Aunt Annie's alligator a a a. So began Dr Seuss's ABC, played by the students of Room 2 and 1. The Ohh's and Ahh's rang out from the audience.

The Sneetches, written by Dr Seuss, another of his many wonderful books. Room 4 was given the task of creating a skit out this book. Ben (one of the Sneetches) stole the stage with his amazing acting.

"The money or the bag? "
"The money!"
"No, the bag!" the voices rang out loud and clear before being silenced by a wave from Selwyn TooGood (Henry). Oh the places you'll go was the last scene for the production. The skit was all about going through your life, meeting different challenges, trying new things and always coming out on top.

New arrival

Hi. Are you new in a school? Are you worried about having to start over again, learn new things like customs, languages and even religions! Well in Mapua I went through this and much more! So listen up for my experiences.

Imagine losing everybody - all of your friends. Yes, that's what happened to me. But don't worry it won't be for long. There are always people who will get along with you even if you don't want them to! I mean when I got into Mapua it was only a matter of a couple of days until I had a load of friends. Everybody was so understanding and helpful it was impossible not to make friends!

One of the major problems for me was that most people had a different accent so it was hard to understand what they were saying. But luckily not everybody had a different accent. I soon learnt that there were a wide variety of accents and languages within the school. (including about 7 British people in my class alone!) I still got asked and still am asked to say some words that others find amusing like majestic for example. Eventually (in my case a week) you get used to it and people stop doing it, but until then just hold on!

Imagine not having a house of your own yet and waiting while your mum and dad are finding "the right one". Well here are some of my experiences about this.
I had to live in a rented house by the beach. Living by the beach has it's advantages like driftwood, sand and interesting wildlife. But the prospect of having to live there for 2 months without any of my stuff wasn't pleasing at all. Nooooooo! How am I going to survive without the x-box, computer or books to keep me going! That's how it felt at the beginning and it still felt the same 2 months later. It nearly made coming to N.Z not worth it. (I said nearly!) But I overcame it and here I am now.

Another major problem at school was having to learn all those difficult new customs and languages but eventually you'll get into the swing of things like I did so don't worry!

Another problem was that I didn't have most of my school stuff. I spent half my time worrying about not having the right stuff. This can be a real downer for some people but all you've got to do is stop worrying and check the night before that you've done everything you needed to. This is a great way to succeed as a new arrival!
Another thing you really need to get on top of is homework. In Mapua all I had to do was a Maths Mate sheet and I was struggling just with doing that so I understand how you feel.

Now you understand about being a new arrival don't be scared. Act just like you would at your old school and you will be fine. Thanks for checking out my story and good luck!

Written by Will Simpson
(One of our new arrivals at the end of Term 2)

Leadership Day

The stones crunched beneath our feet, as we wandered over towards frost-coated grass. As we arrived at the grass, children from other schools began to arrive. Quiet murmurs spread through the group ready to start the day’s activities. We were ready and rearing to go. Our instructor came to separate us into the groups we would be working in. We started the day off with a game of Shark (aka Seaweed).

One of the first activities was leaping to a trapeze. The aim of this activity was to trust each other.
We looked up at the trapeze dreading our turn on the top. We got harnessed up one by one. Each of us climbed slowly to the top where we would jump. The trapeze hung in front of the next victim who had to leap to it. As you stood in position to jump you could hear the voices of the students counting down - 5...4...3...2...1...JUMP! As you leapt through mid air, the rush of wind whipped your hair across your face stinging your eyes. Just as you thought you were falling, you suddenly feel the cold but yet comforting feel of the trapeze.
You hung there just holding on to the trapeze waiting to be let down. On the ground a sense of relief washed over you, knowing you have made it safe and sound.

As we moved on to our next activity the grass that was once frost coated is now mud squishing beneath our feet. The next activity was ball transfer and the aim of this activity was to work together as a team. You had to transfer a set of ping pong balls using half pipes. The trick was not to drop them which was difficult as the pipes didn't reach the end and you could not walk with a ball in your pipe. Once a ball reached the end of its frightening journey a sigh of relief passed down the line. For each of the activities you had to work together or you would not succeed.

Another one of the activities was purposely designed to make you use your brain. You were placed with a partner who you sat back to back with. You were then both given the same amount of straws in the same colours. One of the buddies would design a shape using the straws. They would try to explain their design without showing it to them while the other buddy tried to make it. To complete this activity you used your brain and tested it in different ways. Being able to think outside the square like this can help us become better leaders.

Throughout the day we learnt to work together as a team and share our ideas to make better ideas. Another thing was to learn new skills to help and direct others and try new activities with students.

We left with mud-clogged shoes and a head filled with new skills and activities and also knowing some of us had overcome fears. Being at Whenua Iti was a really good experience to help us progress as House Leaders.


By Tegan and Amber.

The Easter Egg Hunt

The annual Easter Egg Hunt was held on the 5th of April. It was a Thursday and by lunchtime everybody was buzzing with excitement.

After lunch the clues were hidden and everyone lined up outside Room 5 and waited for the last of the clues to be placed.

The each house was split in half and everyone raced off to find the hidden clues. When each group had collected all the clues they went back to Room 5 and made a bunny. This bunny gave you the location for your group’s Easter Eggs. Each person got an Easter egg and everybody was happy.

The day was a good one and everyone entered into the spirit of the activity and had a good time and a yummy Easter egg.

Mad Hair Day!

Mad, wacky, wonderful hair. Those are only three words to describe the hair-do’s we saw on Friday 27th April.
Birds’ nests, coloured hair spray and matted frizzballs are some of the styles we saw.





Who would win the mystery prize?
There were three winners for each syndicate: 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The winners of the Senior Sydicate were: Alice and Reuben (1st equal) and Rosie (3rd Place). The winners of the Junior Syndicate were: Hannah (1st place), Emily (2nd Place) and Tiana (3rd).




In the end the prize turned out to be something that would please everyone - LOLLIES!!!!!

Te Awhina Marae

As part of our topic studies for Term One, the whole school went to Te Awhina Marae to learn more about how the Marae is a store house of taonga (treasures) and of stories of past and present generations.
Gemma wrote this recount of events from that special day.

At Te Awhina Marae we started with the Powhiri. The men from the Marae came out to check whether we were friendly or not. This is a traditional part of inviting people onto the Marae. After the men sat down the Wahine sat behind them, then the children. Men from Te Awhina started to talk and after they had finished talking they sang to us. We did the same but gave them a gift as well.

After the Powhiri we went to the Wharekai (dining hall). At the back of the Wharekai there is a mural. The mural is of things important to the Motueka people. It has lots of native birds that are alive and also some that are extinct. Then there is the ocean. In the ocean there is a colossal whale’s tale holding up food from under the ocean with a school of snapper going past. There is Talley's boat heading towards Nelson city.

Finally we went into the Wharenui (meeting house). In the Wharenui, it wasn’t like any ordinary house you would just walk into, you had to take care and take your shoes off. The Wharenui use to be part of the Nelson hospital but it was moved to Te Awhina in 1987. Traditionally the rooves of wharenuis are sloped with rafters that represent ribs of the ancestors. At Te Awhina, the roof was as flat as the carpet in there.

The Tekoteko on top of the Wharenui is of Turanga Apeka. Turanga Apeka was the first Maori man to go to Antarctica. He holds a mere to shade his eyes from the glare of the sun and the ice.


The visit to Te Awhina was very inspirational because of the ceremony we took part in. The activities were special and interesting too. I was glad that I went and took part in the activities that the Parkland students and Te Awhina people set up for us.

By Gemma.

Swim of the year!

The Swimming Sports


At the swimming sports each house competed in a variety of swimming activities. Freestyle, Backstroke, Butterfly, Breaststroke, Flutter board and carrying a teacher on a chair from one end of the swimming pool to the other end. The first race was Freestyle. The pool area was shaking with the sound of cheering. The pool was warm and the swimmers zipped down the pool like a fish in a pond. The swimmers that came 1st and 2nd got into a final and if they won they would go to the Motueka swimming sports. In Backstroke there was more than one person who crashed into something or somebody. By now Yellow house was in the lead followed closely by Green house. A Butterfly demonstration was performed by a few people from each house. Breaststroke was the next on the list. The we had to have a demonstration done for the younger students. There were many people who entered the Flutter board races. There were no finals in the Flutter board races but you still got a point for entering. The last and final race was the teacher on a chair race. Blue house won, closely followed by Red house and Yellow house. At the end of the day the points were counted and the winner of the swimming sports was... Yellow House!!! We had a awesome day and everybody had fun. The Motueka swimming sports will take place on the 6th of March.

By Hamish, Bryn and Marls.

Events 2007

Watch this space for reports and photos of events taking place at Mapua School.