There were some very proud tamariki today with their artworks showing their dreams and aspirations. We loved seeing their wonderful ideas and plans for their futures! Soheilla Stephanie, Mikayla, Scarlett, Kirsty & Riley Hamish, Lucy and Fenix

We have been learning about the difference between dreams and aspirations. Our dreams are wishes that can’t come true. Our aspirations are things that we can work towards and make happen. Nikau - Dreams are when you think about what you want to do. We watched a video called the Spectacular Flying Frog. Isaiah the frog didn’t know how to swim. He couldn’t get across the river to go to the carnival with his friends and was feeling very sad. He took advice from his forest friends and made himself a set of wings from feathers and leaves in hope of flying to the carnival instead. He had an aspiration to fly. His idea worked and he flew to the carnival, much to the amazement of the other frogs. They gave him a ribbon for being the most amazing frog at the festival. Isiah said, “I took a leap of faith”. He took a chance and had a go. Lachlan - He could do it because he wanted it really, really bad. Daisy - If you try something and keep trying it might work. Benaiah - The ...

Today we had an amazing afternoon with the inspiring William Stedman. At only 16 years old William has won two bronze medals at the recent Paralympic games in Rio. We loved having him here and all the students were buzzing when he left. Thank you so much William you are an inspiration! This was the favourite part of the day for many, racing William. Man he is fast! Please take the time to listen to William's inspirational words. You too can achieve your dreams and aspirations!

This week the awesome Millard Family brought in some fantastic pool noodles for us to use during our swimming at school. Many of the children used these at the swimming school and it is so cool to have them to use at school too! Thank you so much you guys are amazing!!

We are amazed at the progress that so many of our writers are making at the moment. We love seeing the pride on their faces as they share their hard work and achievements with the Junior Hub. Have a read! David created this writing all on his own during Action Stations time. He has learned so much about our Casey the Caterpillar programme and even wrote his name on one of the branches. Awesome work David! Dakota has written an amazing story about his time at swimming. He is attempting wonderful words in his writing and showing us his awesome sound knowledge as he tries to spell them! Phoenix is also using fantastic sounds in his writing. We loved hearing about how much he enjoyed his lessons and his goals for his future swimming!

We had a very small, brave turnout at school today with lots of people choosing to stay home with families after last night's earthquake. We practised our earthquake drills and how to evacuate to our safe place on the field. Little did we know that we would have to do the real thing in the afternoon! We are so proud of the tamariki and how they reacted to the 6.3 earthquake that hit our school today at 1.34pm. When alerted to the earthquake they protected themselves with the best turtles that we have ever seen. They stayed in their turtle positions until given the all clear then sensibly walked out together to the field. We are in the safest position when we pretend to be turtles. We make sure to cover our heads with our hands We are all safe and so proud of ourselves for doing the right thing in an emergency! Kia manawanui whanau. Hang in there. :)

The children having been having some fun at action stations this week. They have especially liked the new member of our classroom Mr Teddy. Mr Teddy has been very lucky to have so many people reading their stories to him below are some videos of some of the awesome Junior Hub children in action! Cody did an amazing job of reading to Teddy!   Kirihama read his whole story all by himself, Teddy loved listening Boston read to Teddy and the rest of the class!   Dakota did a great job of reading his story teddy was very happy.   Phoenix and Teddy both like Greedy Cat!

Check out these superstars zooming down the pool. There were more than a few proud and amazed teachers and parents with a little tear in their eye watching our wonderful tamariki set goals for themselves and achieve amazing progress in the pool over the last week. It is so wonderful to see! Go Brodie! Way to go Alizae!

This week we started swimming at the Canterbury Swim School. All the students are enjoying learning in the water with their instructors. All of the students work in groups according to their abilities. It is great to see their improvement after only one week so many of them are facing their fears! We will continue swimming at the Swim School this week with our last lesson on November 10th. After this we will continue to swim in our school pool! Getting their jet packs on ready to swim!   Sitting on the bench to learn some skills before getting into the swimming.  Go Lachlan!  These amazing swimmers have graduated to the big pool! These guys are learning to do freestyle.  Working hard in the pool.  Practising kicking with boards.  Thanks Canterbury Swim School we're having a great time!

The Junior Hub teachers have been thrilled to see how excited the tamariki are about our school garden. So many of our children have been inspired to create their own little fairy gardens at home. We absolutely love to see whanau supporting the tamariki by making links between their learning at school and learning at home. Tino pai rawe Gilberthorpe whanau! Marsali has shared photos with us of the amazing fairy garden that she created at home with her whanau. Check out her wonderful ideas and hard work that she has put in to create the fairy garden of her dreams.