The Year Is Almost Over!

 2016 is coming to an end as 2017 approaches. Soon term 4 will be all over. We are all anxious about the new beginning.Year 8s will become Year 9s and their new future will begin.

  Classes will be soon cleaned up and form a new layout. As the year is nearly over Mrs Buchanan will be leaving our school and finding more opportunities at another school. We are dearly sad she is leaving and hope her new school treats her right.

  Our prize giving and upcoming  important events are coming and we are all practising our Cultural groups. This year it will be different because we are having them on the same day as our Prize giving. Hope the day goes smoothly and we all enjoy ourselves.

No Longer Cold Winter Days ☔

  Cold days are gone and no more wishing warmers days are here. Now we can enjoy the beautiful Spring days where students are cheerful and happiness is in the air. As we have Sports every lunchtime to enjoy with our peers. 


More time outside and less time monitoring the junior rooms. Having the chance to do more activities and our upcoming Athletics just a day away the weather has helped a lot towards our practices. The warm weather filling the air as a cold breeze comes by doesn't it just make you feel happy.

  Maybe the weather will stay fine for our School Athletics day and for the many upcoming events to come.  


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Class Feud 2016

Like many traditions,  the senior block has one where each classroom from Rooms 9-12 have the chance to host our assembly. We have a special clap which we do once certificates are presented for students who are working and learning more. 

  It was Room 12's turn and we were struggling to figure out our assembly. We all thought and finally came up with the idea of hosting our second Class Feud. A group of students then wrote a script and then practiced and we did our dress rehearsal.

It was finally the day of our assembly and it was a success with a few technical issues. Maybe next time it will work out better. 

Practice, Practice, Pratice

As we all know Term 4 is the busiest terms of them all. Test are coming up and we have to work harder for the next new year.We are all studying and preparing for our upcoming assessments.

Some of the year 8 students will soon be heading off to College and be developing more on their learning: a new year, new opportunities  to face.

Time to set goals for our next year to focus on and attempt to succeed. Hopefully College treats our Year 8's right next year.

Exploring The Botanic Gardens

Our school had the opportunity to visit the wide variety of plant life at the Botanic Gardens. We all had worksheets to fill out where we had to explain what they are and a little description of the plants.

We passed through the Rock Garden near the lake to get to the Urban trees where we found our first answer. Next we followed the signs to get to the Native ID Trail where we spent most of our time searching for answers.

We all learnt lots of things we had not known before. But we only had a few minutes left which we used to admire the Rose Garden.


By the end of our trip most of us were exhausted from walking around all day. We enjoyed our day very much and look forward to our next visit to the Botanic Garden.

School Time!

We have now come back from enjoying our 2 week holiday and it is now time to get stuck in.

Term 4 as we all know is the busiest term of them all and the Seniors have test to complete. New goals are set to accomplish and more and more work to complete which are preparing us for College.

Since coming back to school we are still figuring out the schedule to our normal day. Last term the senior block was fenced because of the Asbestos testing and we weren't allowed back in.

We are now back in our classes focusing on our learning and what we need to work on. I wonder what the term will bring to us and how well we will do in our tests.

School Shutdown!

Last week our school was being tested for asbestos, a deadly fiber if tampered with. We weren't allowed in our classes so the school was shutdown for a week. 

The next day there were 3 buses waiting for us so that we could be transferred to Tamaki Primary. They welcomed us with a powhiri performed by their School's Kapa Haka group. We were then informed on where we would be for the rest of the week. We didn't have the resources we usually worked with so we just had to go day by day. 

I can't wait to be back in our classroom and have all our resources back. 

Training To Be Better

We have just started basketball training with a coach. The coach has come to teach us the proper ways of playing basketball.

Our class greeted our coach with a warm welcome and we soon got started. First we had to get in to 4 even groups. For our first session we did some warm up drills to understand the sport more. He showed us a variety of skills we should use while playing basketball.

Some of  them were  how to dribble and even a new skill we didn't even know called Jump Stop. We also got to experience dribbling with our hand we aren't experienced with. We all participated very well and enjoyed it very much.

Mini Olympics: Brazil

Since the Olympic Games have began our school has come up with the idea a mini Olympics. The senior block was in charge of organizing each country's flag and working on a slide to see if we understood the country's significance.

In a few days the Ruapotaka School Mini Olympics will be held. Our fitness groups were divided and we ended up with sixteen teams. My team was Brazil which is where the current  Olympics are being held.

Winter Learning Journey!

Last term Rachel from Auckland University came to tell us about the Winter learning Journey she had created for all Manaiakalani Schools. The site had fun activities we had to complete. But before we could start our work we had to register. The theme was the Rio Olympics and different items of the Olympics over the years.

The site required us to blog and Rachel blogging back to us. The participants who joined the activities received certificates. From each school there were three winners who soon received prizes in a school assembly.

Can't wait till the next activities. This will happen during the Christmas holidays.

3....2.....1....Action!

The 9th Annual film festival is around the corner and we are all preparing. This year is my first time creating a movie for children and teachers to watch. We have to think of many ideas that would be suitable for children our age. 

Our class was split in half and each group brainstormed ideas where each group came up with creative ideas. Right now we are still in the process of writing the script. Soon we will be onto recording and editing. Our teacher has the decision to chose which movie will showcase in the Film Fest.  

Every year like always the short films are projected at Hoyts Cinema Sylvia Park. Wish us Luck. 

The Amazing Room 12 !

  Just last week Room 12 hosted the assembly for the second time. The concept of our assembly was Class Feud which is a sequel to Family Feud. We began with a welcoming to the classes then we went on to a song.

  Two students from each class received a certificate for behaving and completing their class work. A couple of our school prefects then briefly said some notices and reminders. Soon after we began the "Class Feud"  where each student from each class came up to represent their class. It was close but Room 9 won with 10 points.

Museum Trip !

  Museum Trip !

Just recently Rooms 9 and 10 had the opportunity to go to the Auckland museum. They went to see the many historical ANZAC objects since we have been studying ANZAC Day.  When I went last year we went to see the Big poppy where people would put little poppies inside to make a collection. Sadly us Year 7's and 8's did not go but got the chance to go during the School Holidays. The museum was a fun place to explore and to educate ourselves. 

First Time Hosting Assembly!

   This week Room Nine got the chance to show off their learning by hosting our Senior Syndicate assembly. They started off with a warm welcoming, followed by them showcasing their ANZAC Poems which they recited.

  I really enjoyed their poems because of the language and emotion they put into them to express how the soldiers felt.

  Soon after we sang a song, next it was time for an ANZAC quiz since ANZAC is coming up. Each class had two students representing their room and the questions were asked.  Some of the questions were hard and challenging for us.  It was a close game but Room 12 won! To finish it off we sang a song and headed back to class.

Lava Lamp Science Experiment

For the past few weeks we have been collaborating with Room 11 for Science.

Coming Soon !

Just last week we were told that we were going to create another short film. The subject was to do with our Inquiry Healthy Food Choices. 
We were separated into two groups. We then got started to plan out our concept. The group I was in compromised and we came up with the idea of explaining what not to eat and what foods to include. Our finish product ended up really well.  

Practice Makes Perfect !

Just recently the Year 7 and 8 students of Ruapotaka School went to the Softball Interschools at Dunkirk. We practiced and practiced as we all know practice makes perfect. Sadly we came tied 7th but all that matters is we tried our best. I really thought our team tried our best  we had some good games but our nerves got to us in some.
Team Mates:
Front Row:Samuel, Min Zin, Quros, Suliasi. (Captain).
Middle Row:Anavea, Me (Sophie), Heilala.
Back Row:Timote Junior, Maranatha, Mele, Sione
Absent:Mika

Directing and Producing A short film

Every second week the senior classes have the opportunity to host the Senior Syndicate assembly. This week it was our turn. We prepared our assembly earlier. Our class all compared our ideas in groups and we came up with the idea of the Celebrity Show Awards. 

We started as soon as possible so we weren't delayed when it was the day of our performance. All of our ideas we included so all we had to do was start filming. There were many roles in our film that were played really well.

Accepting Our Roles As Lunch Monitors

Just recently some of Ruapotaka's Year 7 and 8 students have taken on the role as lunch and wet day monitors. Every second Monday our School has an assembly where our principal , Mrs Vickers reviews all the things that will be happening and our behavior .

Not long after some notices we were all called up to the front. One by one Mrs Vickers handed our badges out . We were also told the expectations of being a responsible monitor. It is a privilege to be a school monitor for my school. 

5+ A Day

   We spent  a sunny Wednesday afternoon doing tabloids to become familiar with our 5+ a day learning. The activities we played were very enjoyable but there was a catch. Most of our activities had either fruit or vegetables included in them.  My favourite activity was Mr Reid's. His activity was knock the coconut off. I thought is was easy but it was actually really difficult. I'm glad I participated in the 5+ a day challenge.

The New Beginning

School has just begun and everything has changed  from the teachers to my classmates. Sadly some of the original Year Sevens from last year are in a different class to me. I realized that this year I have to focus on my school work since this is my last year in intermediate and I am going to College next year. I can't wait to settle into my new class and get to know my classmates as well as my new teacher Mrs Golder.