TE RĀ NUI KI WAHO

Over the past week we have hosted three of our Catholic primary schools at the college. In week eight St Mary's Kaikorai and Sacred Heart School visited us and on Monday of this week our whānau from Ōkaihe (Green Island), St Peter Chanel School, spent the day at Kavanagh College. 

All three schools were an absolute pleasure to host and produced some outstanding work. Their 'ready to learn' attitude was evident from the start of the day where students were challenged to recreate a traditional Māori village that had been buried by ash during the 1886 eruption of Mt Tarawera. Students authentically created their own versions of the village in using unique blocks and materials that are found in an Aotearoa New Zealand modification (or mod as your child will say) of Minecraft that was launched by the Ministry of Education in 2019. This digital world set in the 1700's in the Far North of Aotearoa is called Ngā Motu (The Islands).

In the afternoon science sessions, the students enjoyed learning about the chemistry of dry ice while conducting a range of melting and combustion experiments. Mrs Christine Donnelly, Mrs Nicky Bell and Mr Jeremy Morgan from St Mary's, Sacred Heart and St Peter Chanel respectively did a wonderful job supporting their ākonga (students) in their learning. 

The visits were also supported from our Year 7 students who showed their rangatiratanga (leadership) and manaakitanga (hospitality) to the manuhiri (visitors). Thanks to: Keziah Porthouse, Henrik Ng, Theodora Clarke-Wallace, Samuel Marsden, Daphne Kendrick, Feile Ryan, Lachie Hodge, Stani Cherkun, Matthew Rietveld, Christiana Jaquiery, Bethany Jackson-Sem and Ryan Webb. 

Next week we welcome Miss Amy Fitzgerald and the Year 5 students from St Bernadette's School.

Mānawa maiea te putanga o Matariki, mānawa maiea te mātahi o te tau!
(Celebrate the appearance of Matariki, exalt the New Year!)