Pt England Ambassadors meet teachers of the future

Our year 6 ambassadors presented today to a group of teacher trainees at MIT, Manukau Institute of Technology. They are actually in their third year of training - so they are very near graduating.

This was a great opportunity for our students to share what we do at school as well as educate the trainee teachers of what school is really like for students today. Our year 5 and 6 extension class have put together short movies where our year 5 students interviewed the 6 ambassadors who presented at MIT today.

Teaching teachers from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Warriors on Camp...

"This is the best last day of camp ever!!" Many excited year 7 and 8 students of Pt England School couldn't help but say this as they looked on to one of their favourite NRL teams.

It's the final day of camp, we're at our local pool Swimarama - the Warriors arrive to train at the pools. None of the children knew this was going to happen so it was a huge treat for the campers. This is how we typically wind up our 3 day camp where tents are pitched on our very own school fields and all events and activities are local. A day to relax at the pools after all the hard work over the previous two days.

Thanks to our parents, teachers, helpers and the Warriors for making this such a memorable camp for the year 7 and 8 students of Pt England School. Well done to Joshua and Kayde, on the spot reporters for PENN (Pt England New Network)
Go the Warriors!

Warriors on camp... from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Symbols Represent...

Part of the KC's or Key Competencies is the knowledge and use of signs, symbols and texts. This year the extension classes have worked on a short project that had them thinking all about symbols that would communicate important features about themselves and their whanau.

All the year 7 and 8 students have posted their creations online using flickr. You will find them by clicking here. The example I have posted here belongs to Chante and Cruz who worked very hard to complete the task before the deadline. The rest of the class soon joined them with their completed symbols.

The students will also be sharing their creations via their individual class blogs. Be sure to leave them some feedback.

Learn: about symbols, signs and text to communicate

Create: Digital graphics to communicate their personal symbols

Share: Sharing online where there is opportunity to receive feedback and contributions towards their work. Reflection is also part of this sharing on their personal blogs.

Goodbye 2011, hello 2012

Greetings! 2011 came to end beautifully with prize giving and a year 8 leavers dinner. They were both events that were celebrated creatively with team items and speeches from both our Principal and students.

Many parents whose children have movied on this year happily shared memories of the years their children shared at Pt England. For some it was their last child to travel through the school making it even more special.

Here's a movie showing you items that our year 8's taught themselves. We will also post our closing school song.

You can look forward to posts from our new extension classes soon.

Manaiakalani Film Festival

This the year 5 and 6 extension group movie entry for the Manaiakalani Film Festival. It's about the joy and the positives of being able to smile in any situation. The song we used is called 'I smile' by the artist Kirk Franklin. Crusader and Brooklyn were our presenters on the day. Footage of them in action will be posted soon.

International Carnival comes to Glen Innes

On Saturday the 15th of October 2011, the local town centre and it's surrounding streets were transformed into buzzing sight of many countries showing and sharing special parts of their culture. There was a special focus on Samoa as the Manu Samoa rugby team were Glen Innes' adopted team.

The movie has snapshots of the different cultures present. A wonderful day with a lot of local talent on show. Have a look and see if you can spot yourself or your whanau. Go GI!!

Introducing the NZ Intermediate Sevens Champions

National Seven's Champions 2011 - AIMS games Part 1 from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

As we shared in our earlier post - Pt England entered the AIMS Sevens tournament which was held in Tauranga, Monday 29th August - Friday 2nd September 2011. AIMS - Annual New Zealand Community Trust and Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools National Sporting Championships. nzaimsport.co.nz/​

This movie introduces the members of the team who returned to Pt England School Champions. It was one huge week, kicking it off was a face to face meet with the legend - Gordon Tietjens, amazingly successful coach of the NZ Sevens. Our boys were in turn amazing. Tino pai to mahi boys!

Pt England Sevens Rugby - AIMS tournament

It's a very exciting time for Pt England Sport! Our year 8 sevens rugby team are away in Tauranga this week at the 8th Annual New Zealand Community Trust and Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools National Sporting Championships.

A number of the players have reported over the year about various sevens matches.

We've just received news about their first match of the tournament. Before playing they had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Gordon Tietjens the famous sevens coach for New Zealand. How special is that!! Their first game saw them win against Cambridge Middle School, the final score was 50 - 0.

They are now preparing to play Whanagarei in approximately 10 minutes. Wishing you all the best boys, heads down and play hard.

We've attached footage from a sevens game last term with Ferguson Intermediate. We hope to bring you action from the tournament soon.

Pt England v's Ferguson Intermediate from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Update
Game 1: Cambridge Middle School. Win 50 - 0
Game 2: Whangarei Intermediate. Win 32 - 5
Game 3: Bethlehem College. Win 79 - 0
Game 4: Kaitaia Intermediate to come...

Award Winners! I am making movies 2

I am making movies 2 is a movie competition organised by the Auckland Museum. This year Pt England School entered seven movies. A range of documentaries and dramas were made as entries. Wonderful news!! We won three major awards this year.
Room 13 Kings 'Don't forget your roots' won the 'Best Production' Award,
year 8 extension girls 'Our history our heritage' won the 'Best Creative Storytelling' Award. Our year 8 extension girls also won the 'Supreme Award'.

3 other movies made the finalist rounds, year 8 boys 'Men of Courage', year 5 and 6 extensions group -'Past Connections' and 'Brave Men and Women'. This movie shows you the first part of the Premiere Award Evening. Part 2 will be posted soon as well as the actual entries. Congratulations to all the students and teachers who worked on the 7 entries.

I am making movies 2 Pt England Wins from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Sevens Open Weight Winners!

Intermediate Sevens Rugby Competition April 2011 from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

Auckland Rugby Union alongside the Suburbs Rugby Club organised a Sevens tournament for Auckland Intermediate Schools. Pt England entered for the first time ever and came away from the event being the winners of the Open Weight competition. This is a set of highlights of the day. Well done boys! Tino pai to mahi. Be sure to check out the individual players blogs to read about their views on the tournament.
Tamati, Charm, Jonty, Tanielu, Ieremus, Feki, Zane, Raven, Ilalio, Sione and Junior.

School TV now online

History...
schooltv was born in 2001 because of the popularity of the Pt England School Network News (PENN,) our school wide television broadcast. Mr Burt, the principal of Pt England School, investigated a variety of options for broadcasting the exciting things that were going on at the school, and using community television turned out to be the most efficient and economic method for doing this.

schooltv became that public television programme. Produced by the staff and students of Pt England School, it went to air every Wednesday on Triangle Television and could be viewed across the city of Auckland and, in later years, the whole of New Zealand.

Pt England School funded this entirely and it has been a great way to share our learning with the people in our community.

Today...
And now schooltv has transformed into a web based broadcast; reaching not only our local school community, the city of Auckland, and all of New Zealand, but THE WHOLE WORLD - 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week.

Here's an example of what you will find on our school website, every episode is ready for you to view. Check out our very talented presenters and the fun learning we have going at Pt England School. This part of episode 6, shows our year 5 and 6 students sharing their autobiographies. They worked with Dr Helen Barrett and her daughter Erin on these projects. Thanks again for your help, we loved being taught by you Dr Barrett and Erin.

Prayers for Christchurch

Dear Christchurch,
On behalf of Pt England School, we hope that you all find your way through this time of trouble and need. Your feelings of sadness and worry has made us think, what if we were you how would we know that people knew where we were and if we were okay?

We all feel helpless, and this is just a bit of our love and care to give to you. We hope that this will lift your hearts even the tiniest bit we also hope it will give you comfort,support and motivation to keep it together.
Yours sincerely Yr 5 and 6 extension group Chante,Shoal,Brooklyn and Kaycee from Pt England School Auckland,New Zealand.

We are feeling so sad about the people that have passed away in the earthquake. We want to give you some beautiful flowers but we cant right now so we drew you some. On behalf of Pt.England School in Auckland, we would like to give our support to encourage the people of Christchurch to keep going. Darius, Waata and Crusader.

We are sorry for the loss of your city. We all hope that you find your loved ones. Carry on don’t lose your faith, keep a hold of your hope and strive on. Our blessings and prayers will be with you all. Stay safe.
With all our love - Pt England Primary School. Jacob,Calvin and Rita

Dearest Christchurch,

This morning before starting our school day, we all met in our school hall to offer prayers for the people of Christchurch. Our principal explained to us why we were meeting and how we could help. We spent time today talking and looking at ways we can help the people of Christchurch. We hope that we will all pull together to help in any way we can. God bless and keep you Christchurch. Arohanui.

Rewind inspires!

Our year 5 and 6 students were very interested in the method St Pius used to produce their film festival movie 'Rewind'. They were so keen to find out more that they grabbed cameras and tried to film their very own 'Rewind' movie. Their task was much easier than that of St Pius as it had to last only 3o seconds. Some of the group figured it out very quickly, others had to stop and think it over a couple times before getting it right. We now understand why people looked a little awkward in the rewind movie. Click on the following names to see how we got on.
Shoal
Litia
Vivienne
Kingston

Wake up G.I.

Wake up G.I. is an MTV using the song 'Wake up everybody' which is sung by the artist John Legend, Melanie Fiona and 'The Roots'. This version is a remake, the original artists were Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes - recorded back in 1975.

The song has a very strong message of waking up - becoming more conscious of how we can keep improving together. We love living in Glen Innes and thought this would be a good reminder of how everyone has a part to play.

'The world won't get no better, we gotta change it yeah...just you and me'.

Wake Up G.I. from KPE TV on Vimeo.

Year 5 & 6 Extension Group Manaiakalani Film Festival 2010. The extension group would love to read what you thought of their MTV. Talanoa mai!

Term 4 - Little Critters (schoolwide enquiry)

It's term 4 already of 2010. At our school, we typically start the term off with an immersion assembly. Wondering what that is? Well it's where the teachers dress up and act in ways that 'immerse' the students into the new schoolwide enquiry. This term's enquiry is all about 'Little Critters'.
The movie attached gives you a glimpse of what our staff and students enjoyed on this very first day of term 4. If you visit our class blogs you will get to read and see the specific parts of the assembly our students hold as 'favourites'.

Mrs Tele'a to Maps

Learning about scale and perspective when mapping...

Our year 5 and 6 extension group had the task of drawing me from different angles. It was a very quick exercise where they had only 20 minutes to draw me. The rules were - no moving off their chairs and they could use any draw programme they chose.

All students selected hyperstudio to draw in. They were very focused, while I sat as still as could I kept reminding the students about the skill of 'look, look, looking' at the subject and then 'draw'.

After 20 minutes we travelled around the classroom, observing one another's attempts. Here's some of the things we found out...

- proportions are important - using a scale is a must (some drew my head too large in comparison to other body parts and positions)

- draw just what you see not the extra bits you imagine might be there

- cannot change the scale you are using - same scale for the entire picture. All the students have their own personal post on this learning experience.

Check out Room 15 and Room 17 blogs.

Tua brings comfort

I have no doubt that every Tua supporter would be very happy at this time. If you understand Samoan you would agree with me that the song which he made his entry to was perfect. Perfect in that it so right with the great tragedies we've had to face. It sang of Samoa and it's people - to not fear in that God is our protector. It sang of the many values that our parents install in us as we grow...to be respectful and caring. Values that any good parent would want their child to possess. A great choice David Tua! This seemed to only add to the calm look and manner in which David approached the ring. I have no doubt all Samoans who were watching this boxing match wanted David to win for a much bigger reason than beating Cameron. To win to bring - even if just a little joy and healing to Samoa's grief stricken people. I think and feel it did.
I wonder if the screening of this on a big screen in Samoa would have maybe brought some joy to our people at home in Samoa, just something to lift the morale...
I found it difficult to watch the adverts in between the boxing matches that advertised holidays in Fiji, showing beaches etc. My family felt a lack of sensitivity in light of the tsunami this week, but I suppose the world does not wait and business etc must continue.

God bless and keep those who are working tirelessly in Samoa and further to ensure the well being of individuals and of a nation. Ia fa'amafanafana atu le Atua i lenei taimi i si o tatou atunu'u peleina o Samoa.

Talanoa mai, o se tasi fo'i auala e mafai ai ona fesoasoani le tasi ile tasi.

Tsunami Samoa

More Photos from Radio Samoa Website. My district / village - Falealili

Talofa e i si o tatou atunu'u peleina o Samoa. Mafatia le loto...
12.30 this afternoon Australia is also sending assistance to Samoa, search and rescue assistance. Help coming from the ground in Samoa with medical professionals who were on holiday now in the Samoan hospitals assisting...human spirit has been stirred and rises again to show what really lies deep in us.

I've sat watched and listened to the half hourly reports on TV One. Towards the end of the midday report a tourist was interviewed. They shared of being in the Lalomanu Tourist Fales. They were moved to safety first by the resort staff. They pointed out how these locals tended to them first before tending to themselves and their loved ones. It wasn't until all tourist were safe did they return to the shore to get their own to safety and find loved ones who had been killed.

Our people put others first...others first...o le tagata Samoa - o se auauna fa'amaoni- o le fa'amuamua o leisi - i taimi uma. O se a'oa'oga taua lea mo'i tatou, a'oa'oga na fa'alia muamua e le tatou Matai o i le lagi.

Talosia e maua e i si o tatou atunu'u le fesoasoani e tatau ona o'o atu i ai. Ia maua fo'i i tatou nei o lo'o nofo mamao atu - le loto alofa ina ia tatou taumafai i so'o auala e fesoasoani atu.
Ia fa'amafanafana atu le Atua i lenei taimi i si o tatou atunu'u peleina o Samoa.

Talanoa mai, o se tasi fo'i auala e mafai ai ona fesoasoani le tasi ile tasi.

Under the influence

No not under that influence...
We had a chat today in class about 'influences' that may have caused people to make some major decisions in life. This lead me to give an example from my own life experience. Mmmm what to tell and what to leave out...
I chose to share with my class about influences that lead me into teaching. Now I've heard some very sad stories which have prompted people to become teachers - as in 'I had the worst teacher...and I became detemind that I could do a better job'...Well for me it's more than one thing that lead me to teaching.

First off - as a bilingual child of the 80's, attending Grey Lynn Primary School - it seemed in all my classes I would have a child from Samoa who could not speak a word of english. I became the self appointed interpreter for these students. Without getting too emotional - I quite like the fact that I acted as a bridge at time for these students. I was blessed in that all these students were kind to me and I suppose I could say in reflection they certainly 'had my back' if ever needed. The idea of me being a 'teacher' for the Hamo's I was becoming pretty good at. So that was my Primary Teaching Career underway...

I was schooled up to 3rd form in Auckland central before moving out to Mangere. Here I was taught English by a very good teacher. He wasn't too much of the emotional sort but very professional as in - he taught us well. We were what they called the 'top class' so instead of the cool baggy basketball short wearing boys, we had the guys with tight shorts and uncool socks and sneakers who enjoyed nothing more than comparing their calculus and statistics homework. This English teacher of ours did his job well, so well in that he influenced me to become a teacher. I liked what he did with us to help us succeed. Plus the minor fact that it was the only subject I enjoyed and would pass well...

Now that I am a teacher I begin to wonder about this teacher of mine, back in Mangere - was he one of the few teachers that was truly professional in his dealings with students? Does he stand out for me because he treated us like students who were capable of moving into successful tertiary studies and further into careers? So does this mean others were likely unprofessional in their attempts to teach and lead students to success? The Power of Influence...

Having gone through Teachers Training College and University, now a teacher...it sounds sad but it's the experiences of my life as a child in school that I draw upon mostly to guide me in my career as a teacher today. This plus the experiences of teachers that I have and continue to work with. That's the power of influence...we as teachers are in powerful positions of influence aren't we?! How are we influencing the children in our care? What's influenced you to become a teacher? Tell us your story.