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.

Time is up! Food in a day!

We have just completed a task that was set to be completed in approxiamately 50 minutes.  Some students are looking exhausted, some happy, some lost and some very frustrated.

We had to put together a presentation that would show what food we ate in a day with a conclusion or reflection on whether the food we ate was good for us according to the food pyramid.

Here's how the students felt about this task - having only 50 minutes to complete it.

-Confusing

-fun

-frustrating

-difficult

-hard

-under pressure

-alright

-'got my brain working'

-interesting

-complicated 

-challenging

-awesome

-easy

What did this task challenge to do?

-Get it completed!

-Focus on the rubric

-Pressure to get recording ourselves right

-Focus on the most important part of task - which WASN'T to make it pretty!

-making real attempts to finish

-challenged my mind

There's more to come!

Time is up! Food in a day!

Speak to me!

Zooming around, helping this and that child with things - now that I have a moment to reflect - they could have and should have fixed the problem they had independently! But time is ticking and I can't wait!

No it's not me being grumpy - on reflection I kept the 'Mrs T will fix it quickly' going, rather than get the 'student to work it out'. In our rush to get the job done, we are at fault causing our children to often not work things through to the end as we 'don't have the time' to wait around for it to happen?

Due to the 'rush' behaviour, I think it's helped the culture of pointing, grunting and incomplete sentences to rise. Now being more concious of the almost nil response or clear requests that need to be made when needing assistance, I am reminding myself and those I help to 'speak to me'. I've failed to pick this up often. I am making more of an effort to remind myself and my students that we must speak in a clear and concise manner to assist each other.

How have you been communicating in class? Have you found yourself in the same situation? Overcome it? Never had this problem?

Our favourite things to eat are treats

Yesterday we ran a quick survey in our class. Our goal was to find out what our favourite meal was - that included dessert.

Around 90% of our class chose fast food as their favourite meal. Burger King coming out on top.
KFC was a close second. A couple of students shared that Subway meals were their favourite.

We then had a close look at a food pyramid that you can find on the Harold website. We discovered that nearly all our food choices fell into the 'Treat' section, where the food is described as 'Sugary, sugary, fatty, fatty!'.

After some discussion we came to the agreement that we did not eat this type of food daily and so hopefully we were not in danger of eating too much sugar and fat.

Today we are going to look at what we actually eat everyday, using the food pyramid again we hope to discover that we have a more balanced diet than that that which was discovered with our favourite food survey.

Sonny Fai

Talanoa mai...o se tama e tausi aiga, o se tama e usita'i, o se tama e alofa...

At the moment Sonny is on the minds of many in our communities, in Aotearoa and further. And so he will be for a long time to come.

Samoan and further, this tragedy has caused many to come together to support and help the Fai family in any way possible. The Warriors have been at the forefront of this which is such a blessing to the family and to the New Zealand nation. Times like this whilst very sad, show the great people we have in our country. Whether it be management in the Warriors or a school mate to Sonny, a fan whose never actually met Sonny - people have been moved so much to do anything to help, and so they've turned up all over the place. The beach, at the family home, Warriors HQ, websites, tributes on youtube - everywhere.

Having been in the midst of family losses often, I know for a fact that presence of people alone comforts the soul. So the flow of people to the beach and family I believe have been a source of strength in this harrowing time.

I would like to invite you to share your thoughts, feelings in whatever language comes easy to you. Talanoa mai, o se tasi fo'i auala e mafai ai ona fesoasoani le tasi ile tasi.

Ia soifua, ona o Iesu.

Ulearn 08

Hi Pt England! I am preparing to go to Christchurch with other teachers from Point England. We are travelling to Christchurch this coming Tuesday evening. I have been given the opportunity to share with teachers from all over New Zealand about PENN.

We are very blessed to have PENN, and so it is only right that we tell other teachers and schools about all the wonderful things that come from having PENN. Mrs Lagitupu is going to be alongside me sharing with about 21 teachers the impact PENN has on the teachers, students and community of Pt England Primary.

We are both very excited about this upcoming event. We are going to invite people to blog on this site and also our school blogs about what they think of PENN. Of course they won't be able to do this until after Mrs Lagitupu and I have completed our workshop with them.

We will do our very best to show the teachers in our group how useful and effective PENN is. Maybe we'll be able to help other schools to start up their own news network!!

We'll be seeing you all very soon, we hope you'll get to read more from the teachers we will meet in Christchurch too.

Mrs Tele'a

Muddy Freezing Toes!

Alright, take off your shoes and sweatshirts and roll up your trackpants. Take off your socks. We are going for a run on the grass today for Cross Country training.

Could all the girls line up here to run said Mrs Lagitupu. Go! The girls went off then Mrs Lagitupu told the boys to line up. Go! The boys were off!

It was cold. My feet were muddy and yuck and slippery. I was passing Mr Palmer and my feet were freezing at that point. I just wanted to finish but I still had a long way to run before I would finish.

By the time I had finished, I had lots of mud on my feet. My toes were freezing and sore. I washed and got in my group then we did some stretches. It was a good run but freezing.

It felt yuck when the mud oozed between my toes.

Meshaq