What's+happening

WELCOME TO 2016

CHECK OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND THE PLACE AT OUR BLOGSITES

[] http://ardgowanmisspaterson.blogspot.co.nz/ [] [] []

[] http://missmclay.blogspot.co.nz []

You may also want to make sure your kids can do their spelling homework, even if they forget to bring their lists home. Here are the lists in full.



=__**FOR ALL NOTICES FOLLOW THIS LINK**__=

=__**TERM TAHI**__= =TERM 1 IS 'NO HAT NO PLAY' in line with sun safety. Make sure you put a school hat, sunscreen, sunglasses and water bottle in your child's bag EVERY DAY. =

====SURPRISE - the children were all excited with our surprise visitors today - it had been difficult to keep it a secret - but we got there and it was worth it. Many thanks to Adam and Shaq for bringing====

Baby T.
Our Head Boy and Girl blew us away with their instrument skills. Way to go kids.

==

GOLDEN TIME was a treat for the teachers this week, with 26 kids choosing to wash our cars for us!!!!

= = = = =__ **WELCOME TO 2014** __= =FOR ALL NOTICES FOLLOW THIS LINK= = = __//** TERM WHA **//__ =TERM 4 IS 'NO HAT NO PLAY' in line with sun safety. = = Make sure you put a school hat, sunscreen, sunglasses and water bottle in your child's bag EVERY DAY. = GREASED was a great way to end the year and showcased the varied talents of our Ardgowan Kids. I was really proud of our great school. Well done to everyone and have a great Christmas break.

YEAR 8 LEAVER'S DINNER started at the Galleon for a bowling competition and ended at The Star and Garter for dinner and speeches.

MISS FOSTER planned an amazing day for Room 3 Take a look.

SURF LIFESAVING DAY was lots of fun with a very important message.

ROOM 1 had a wonderful time exploring our wonderful town. Thank you to Ms Koorey for offering the kids this exciting day.

ROOM THREE WERE EXHAUSTED, BUT HAPPY on their return from camp at Gore. Well done to all the adults who survived this busy week!!!!!

ROOM 5 HAD A FANTASTIC ADVENTURE AT THEIR 'OVERNIGHT AT THE MUSEUM' CAMP. Thank you to Mr Mosedale for organising this exciting trip.

ROOM 4 HAD A WONDERFUL TIME AT THE CAVING AND WETLANDS EXPERIENCE. Thank you to Mr Abraham for organising this wonderful opportunity for the kids.

ROOM 2 had so much fun at camp. Thank you to Mr Bokser for giving up his time to make this a successful and fun week.

YEAR 8 WET AND WILD DAY AT GLENAVY SCHOOL - lots of water, lots of fun.

QUIZ NIGHT - was lots of fun. The rounds of questions were sometimes challenging, sometimes ridiculous, but the create a wedding gown challenge at the end was my favourite part of the night. Take a look>

WAY TO GO FUNDRAISERS!!! The Room 2 car wash was a great success raising $187 and the Room 3 Pet Day sausage sizzle was a great day out raising $724 towards camp costs. Thank you to all the helpers who came along and gave up part of their weekend. You are amazing!

ATHLETICS DAY was great fun. Good weather and a well organised event. Thank you to everyone involved, especially to Glenavy School for hosting and co-ordinating the event for the Waitaki Rural Schools.

SPLISH! SPLASH! The kids kick off the term with some fun at the pools.

__//** TERM TORU **//__ The COMMUNITY BBQ LUNCH - to raise funds for the camps, was followed by our VARIETY SHOW - Ardgowan School is packed full of talented kids.

SCIENCE FAIR - who will be victorious in the science challenge to be Ardgowan Scientists of the year??? Congratulations to Josh, Lewis, Zani and Charlie in Room 2 and Jessica and Cameron in Room 3. You are awesome.

WAIMATAITAI school came and shared their amazing talents with us on Tuesday. Their brass band was pretty amazing and entertained us well. Our kids had a go at conducting, percussion, tuba and dance as part of the show.

WAKE UP!!!! ITS 5.30AM!!!!! TIME TO GO SKIING!!!!!

SKATE AND SOAK day was lots of fun. The Oamaru penguins did a fine job of supporting our skaters before having a relax and a warm up in the pools. Thank you to everyone who took part.

CROSS COUNTRY - we had great weather for our event this year, which included a sprint up a huge hill at the start and tired, but proud children at the end. Well done to everyone. Thank you to Five Forks School for organising the event for the Waitaki Rural Cluster.

The gym festival was lots of fun as usual. The Waitaki Rural Schools event, organised by Ardgowan school each year, was exciting, with every child stepping up to new challenges and perfecting their skills. Thank you to everyone with their support on the day.

Works to the classroom frontages is well underway. What a smart looking school!!!!!

__//** TERM RUA **//__ Farewell celebrations for Miss McDonald - she is certainly game for a laugh. We will miss her and Mrs Goodall next term.

ANIMAL DISCO - what a lot of amazing dancers, games and costumes. Take a look ANIMAL DISCO

Congratulations to our 4 speech winners Lewis, Alysha, Jessica and Molly. Well done to all of them.

SUBWAY SPECIAL was awesome. We raised $257.50 for the school. Thank you for supporting this fundraiser and for coming to share it with your family.

AVRACS TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE - was lots of noisy fun. Check out what the Juniors got up to.

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Words Alive and Sounds Alive meeting tonight. We really enjoyed seeing you and hope you found it useful. Handouts are posted here.

It was so exciting having the snow yesterday. We all went outside to have a look at the heavy, all be it brief, drift of snow. Four seasons in one day!

Take a look at our wonderful choir performing at the Kids For Kids World Vision concert at the Oamaru Opera House

All the classes are busy making gum boot planters, tissue paper vases, flax weaves, spoon garden signs, mobiles, lunch wraps, pet rocks and many other creations to sell at the Farmers Market in term 3. This is part of our "Keep It Green' sustainable living project, introduced by Sue Foster.

Windows are being given an artistic twist in Room 3. Take a look at our stunning - but temporary masterpieces.

Mr Ardouin has been working with some of our gifted artists on flower paintings. These and other great works from the kids will be displayed in the Forrester Gallery. Take a look

Mr Bokser encourages the children to develop a love for music by offering guitar lessons at lunchtimes.

Today we had Suzie Bates come to visit and talk to us about being an Olympic Ambassador. She competed in the Beijing Olympics in 2009 in basketball and is currently the Captain of the NZ cricket team. Take a look.

Congratulations to Teo, Zani and Kase who appeared in the production of "Alice in Wonderland" with Musical Theatre Oamaru in the holidays. They did a great job and it was great to see Rhianna who left Ardgowan in 2012 after appearing as Captain Hook in our Peter Pan production. Ka pai everyone.

//__** TERM TAHI **__//

The last day was lots of fun and ended with an EASTER TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE. Take a look at the wonderful costumes created with an Easter theme.

The school was 'buzzing' at the weekend with the biggest turn out we have ever had for our garden working bee. What a great community - thank you so much for your time and efforts - the school looks amazing!

Learning new things is always fun! Take a look at our hockey training in Room 3.

Our wee 5 and 6 year olds love writing. Take a look at the budding authors from Room 4

SCIENCE this term is 'FORCES' Take a look to see what Rooms 4 and 3 have been doing.

SWIMMING SPORTS was lots of fun. We were so proud of all our competitors - those who shine in this sport and have great talent, those who really challenge themselves to step up to a new challenge, and those who just get into the spirit of the day and have fun. What a great bunch of kids. Thank you to all the teachers and staff from Ardgowan, Glenavy and Papakaio for their hard work and to the Ardgowan Parents who are always ready to lend a hand on the day.

SUNSHINE AND SINGING! We enjoyed a wonderful "Country Music Festival" and picnic on Friday. John McCabe was the star, giving up his time to present this fundraiser for a sound system.. Children, teachers and parents could not resist getting up on stage to show their talents too, which made for a very enjoyable afternoon. Thank you to all who supported us, especially John.

MEASURES is one of our maths topics. We have had fun using various tools, solving problems and learning lots of new things.

We are looking at 'being a New Zealander in Inquiry. Here Room 3 are exploring using Te Rakau sticks.

Welcome back everyone. We have all had a great first day with your wonderful children, hearing all about their exciting news from their holidays. They have shown interest and excitement about the term ahead and the teachers are all excited too.

The works to the Rooms 1– 4 planned for the holidays did not go ahead and have been re-scheduled for the next holidays. Room 5 however, did get a make-over and looks great.

This term we welcome Diane Sage, who has taken over the role of gardener from Jennie Gibson. Diane is one of our ex-parents, with daughter, and ex student, Monique now at High School. We thank Jennie for all her time and effort maintaining the gardens previously. We also welcome Katrina Ramsey who is our relief cleaner for the next term. She has fitted in straight away and is doing a wonderful job. Our thoughts are with our wonderful Noelene Rawson, who is recovering at home. We send her all our best.

Coming home today are a number of notices about donations, contact details, swimming, permissions for EOTC, internet use, publication in media and bus use (for bus children). Please read these and return them as soon as possible.

Thank you to all our dedicated teachers who took so much time out of their holidays to get their rooms looking stunning, organizing groups and activities, planning exciting learning, and attending meetings. We are very lucky to have such a highly skilled, highly motivated and professional group of educators at our school. Thank you also to Julie who took time out of her break to organize accounts, order, organize and sell stationery, so that the children can all be ready on day one. She is a very special lady.

There is no newsletter this week, as Thursday is WAITANGI DAY, but you can find copies of all notices, dates for your diary and much more on our wikispace. REMEMBER TERM 1 means NO HAT NO PLAY. Regards, Jules French

= = =__**WELCOME TO 2013**__=

Read about some highlights of the year as viewed by our students. = = Our Culture Day was a lot of fun. It was nice to share a picnic with our community and to share some of the activities we had been doing.

HOCKEY day was so successful that we now have 2 teams entered in the league this year.

The visit from the guide dog was a hit with the kids.

Hot chip day - we used the potatoes from our vegge garden to make this special lunch.

SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE - when this ship came to town we all travelled down to the harbour to take a look.

LITERACY EVENING - come along to check out how your children learn reading, writing and spelling at school. Handy tips of how to help at home.

RELAY FOR LIFE - all the teachers went along to spend 24 hours walking in relay round the field at Centennial Park to raise money for the Cancer Society. We were lucky to have so many kids turn up to take a lap and show support. We raised $1210 in total and got 2nd best dressed team. Lots of fun for a very good cause.

WHEELS WEEK - has been a lot of fun. Children using bikes, scooters, skates and walking to promote fitness and get healthy. Take a look.

GOLDEN TIME - this is always popular. This term we have arts, technology, wheels, quiet time happening. Positive rewards for good behaviour. We have great kids and great teachers. What a great schooll!!!!!

MEET THE TEACHER - Thank you to all that attended. The information shared is available in digital form if you click here.

=__**HAPPENINGS OF 2012**__=

END OF YEAR PRODUCTION OF PETER PAN - relive the excitement of this event.

=**__Term Three__**=

The school term ended with our annual Science Fair. Students have been busy formulating and carrying out various experiments this term. They have had to consider aims and hypotheses, apparatus, fair testing, method, observations, results and conclusions. Parents and families were invited to the school hall to see all the presentations and to quiz the students on their discoveries.

9:26 AM, 26th September. Over 1 million New Zealanders took part in the Great Shake Out. Ardgowan joined the nation in practising earthquake procedures and remembering the Christchurch earthquakes.

Ardgowan sent two teams to Timaru to take part in the Otago Daily Times Current Events and Social Studies Quiz. The students represented the school well and made us proud.

West African drummer and dancer Epiza Bangoura along with Ra McRostie amazed our school with a spectacular performance.

Room 2, our senior class, were invited to take part in the Project Gold scheme which is bringing kowhai trees back to North Otago. The children did a great job making 'seed bombs', planting various bushes and kowhai.

We love BOOKS and we love to share them with our buddies.

The OLYMPIC DAY was a huge success. We had teams from Tonga, Kenya, Bangladesh, Brazil, Japan and Greece all competing with pride for the ultimate victory. Take a look.,

The Junior children were all very excited today, when PORT FM arrived with certificates and subway vouchers to reward them for being "BEST CLASS". Mrs Fraser, Mrs Goodall and Mr Mosedale all agreed that the children thoroughly deserved their treat. What a great group of children!!

The multi-purpose room became a boogie wonderland, complete with mega sound system, flashing lights, glitter ball and smooth moves, at the annual Ardgowan disco. We raised $260 for Alick Tembo, our World Vision sponsored child from Malawi. There was a fancy dress theme of 'Heroes' and children danced the night away in an assortment of imaginative costumes. Fun was had by all. Take a look.

=__**Term Two**__= On the last day of term our 3 whanau leaders organised a PJ day to raise money for our sponsored child, Alick from Africa. It was lots of fun and Ms Foster used the opportunity to have a 'pamper day' with her whanau group. Take a look.

Sports are always popular. Take a look at some of our teams.

We ended the term with a spectacular TALENT SHOW. We were very proud of the children and amazed at the huge range of talents that they have. Well done everyone.

Our two spelling teams had a lot of fun and success in the Timaru spelling quiz. The year 5/6 team achieved 11th out of 38 teams. with our Y7/8 team coming 4th out of 50 teams. What a great achievement and a great experience!

The children have been studying famous artisits this term and creating artworks in their style. They have had a lot of fun and created some mini masterpieces of their own.

The AVRACS speech competition was a wonderful event. Our four winners, Lochie, Jacob, Luca and Jayden presented their speeches with clarity, charisma and confidence. We are very proud of them all. Congratulations to Luca and Jayden who both achieved third place.

Our fabulous choir joined other schools from the Waitaki District in a performance at the Opera House. Suzanne Prentice led the 'Kids for Kids' event to raise money for World Vision. What a great cause. Our school took the opportunity to sponsor a child - more details to follow.

Our Head Boy and Girl received our HEART START AWARD on behalf of the school. This is to acknowledge the healthy lifestyles of our students at school. With our vege garden, worm farm, recycling, brain break, water bottles and PE programmes we certainly deserve this. Well done everyone!

It was all excitement as the children tested their rockets ready for the BP Challenge. See how they went, along with some other great pictures from the day of the event.

Greg O'Connell entertained us with a whole day of steampunk. He presented an hour long, interactive poetry show which was entertaining and inspiring. This was followed by a workshop for some of our talented writers and a performance workshop for those with a flair for presentation.

Some of our leaders went down to Dunedin to join the NATIONAL YOUNG LEADERS CONFERENCE. They listened to inspiring speakers and improved their leadership skills.

Our children love to read together. Each week we have a buddy reading session, where the children can share stories.

We are in the middle of the 'Keeping Ourselves Safe' programme at school. In room 3 the children were discussing different feelings. They created some pictures to show different emotions. Take a look and see if you can guess what they were trying to show.

Our Senior Students went on a visit to see the Mayor this term. He set them a challenge to write an essay about being a responsible community member. Congratulations to Bronwen for her winning essay and to Joshua, Brookelyn and Rhianna, who were also highly commended for their work. Take a look at some of their ideas.

In Room 4 there was much excitement when Rueben presented the children with stationery packs courtesy of Steampunk.

The children have been preparing for the BP Technology challenge. Here they are using their skills to create the tallest portable tower.

=__**Term One**__= What a great first term we have had. In basic facts we have been working really hard and the children have been having great successes. Come and take a look at our MATHS WIZARD HALL OF FAME. ALL THESE CHILDREN HAVE ACHIEVED 95 OUT OF 100 BASIC FACTS QUESTIONS IN FIVE MINUTES.

Take a look as Room 3 enjoyed planning and making a healthy lunch as part of their inquiry on Hauora and health and well being.

Our whanau leaders organised a great dress up day which was lots of fun. Lots of creative ideas and fun costumes.

Our school Hangi and Wellness Event was a huge success. The Hangi was organised by Miss Foster and involved every student in the preparation of the food or the digging of the pit and building of the fire. The students in Room 2, led by Mr Fraser organised a range of informative displays about how to keep yourself physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually well. Take a look.

Our senior class took a first aid course to help them cope in any emergency.

=**HAPPENINGS OF 2011**=

Room 3 have been writing some amazing myths about how different animals got their special markings or features. Take a look at some.

The __**SCHOOL DISCO**__ was a huge success. The theme was 'people from the past' and the children came in some amazing costumes. The money raised will go towards an end of term treat at the swimming pools for the whole school.

The students at Ardgowan School have been celebrating __**Maori Language Week**__ by doing a range of activities. The juniors have had fun practicing their Korari skills, Room 3 have been playing with te rakau sticks and have been drawing some wonderful kowhaiwhai patterns while the seniors have been learning about the Maori body parts and have also been drawing some amazing kowhaiwhai patterns. Amy McLeod (age 11yrs) said “I liked learning the new songs because you learnt what they meant and had to try to pronounce them. I also liked the art side of it; because it was a good change in colours and patterns.” The whole school got together to make poi from plastic bags, newspaper and plaited wool and have been singing some old favourite Maori songs which sounded brilliant! Noelle Brew (age 9yrs) said “The poi was really fun when you tried them out and I liked doing the kowhaiwhai patterns because it was different.” We have also been reading some interesting myths and legends and been doing lots of other activities. “Maori language week is a great way to keep Maori language alive and learn great things about the Maori culture.” said Jade Plant (age 12yrs) By Jade Plant click here to see more.

ROOM 4 had a wonderful time exploring Victorian Oamaru. They really looked the part as they enjoyed their Victorian Day out.

We were so excited to get our __**new school fort.**__ Thank you to our Home and school Committee for all their hard work in fundraising for this. Click here to take a look.

We are lucky to have so many sporting legends at our school. Take a look at some of New Zealand's future sporting stars.

The __**CHESS TOURNAMENT**__ was a lot of fun. We now have about 25 children in our chess club. We hosted teams from Dunedin and Oamaru in a series of games to find a winning team. Although we did not win overall, we played well and challenged ourselves to be the best that we can be.

Room 3 went on __**camp to Dunedin.**__ They visited the Chocolate factory, stayed overnight at the aquarium and enjoyed the hydro slide at Moana pools on the way home. It was a lot of fun.