Thank you to those that made it to our Matinee and Evening performance of Robin Hood and the Sherwood Hoodies. The kids did an absolutely amazing job. It's almost as if they were a 'team of highly trained professionals'. Everything came together absolutely beautifully and we couldn't be prouder of the kids. Twenty-two children ranging in age from 5 to 13 all with speaking parts and they never missed a cue. The audience was in stiches - even though it was no time for embroidery - and the applause at the end of the performances truly reflected the fantastic show the kids put on.

Pulling together the show in the midst of Covid Levels was no small feat. The week that we went into Level 4 lockdown was the week we were beginning to practice on stage with sound and music. Unfortunately none of that could go ahead while we were schooling at home, instead the kids had Google Meets twice a day to run through the various scenes in the script. 

Once back at school we were into it. Instead of the plan of rehearsing only in the afternoons  it became a full day affair. Running through the play at least twice a day and sometimes more, involved getting stage positioning right, figuring our what props to use, how their costumes looked and how they would move to the songs and sound.

This last week we were finally able to move our practices to the stage at the Community Hall (and it's a pretty impressive stage) and we had to re-work stage positioning and entries and exits while learning to keep very quiet in the wings.

Finally all the hard work paid off and the kids put on two absolutely stellar performances. The evening performance was videoed so watch this space for when the video becomes available.

Putting on a production like this really highlights the great group of kids we have here at school, not only are they resilient but they coped amazingly well with the condensed rehearsal schedule and they have done so with high levels of patience and minimal complaining. Full credit to Mike and Alison for all the hard work they put into the production, props, costume and stage design. It really all came together beautifully in the end.

Some comments and feedback

"Such an awesome show. The kids did a fantastic job keeping us all thoroughly entertained throughout the show. Amazing talent by all involved."

"Amazing show lake school people! Well done everyone!"

​"They were fantastic"

After three weeks working and learning at home, we were finally able to get back to school. However, we did it in style. Why go straight back to the classroom when you can skiing instead? So we did.

Thursday saw us once again up at Rainbow Skifield for a say of ski lessons, free skiing and seeing friends. The weather wasn't great but the snow was fantastic and the kids enjoyed being able to spend time and catch up with each other without book work getting in the way.

Now we're back in class and our next week is going to be heavily production focused as losing three weeks of rehearsal time has really set us back. The kids are working hard though and we'll be up and running like a well oiled machine ready for Wednesday 22 September.

Although we were in lockdown and children were learning from home, plans are in place to add responsibility and more outdoor education to the curriculum here at school. We have adopted Beebys, a DOC hut in the Nelson Lake's National Park.

Adopting a hut means we will be making trips up to Beebys (at least twice a year) to look after and maintain the hut.

In doing this, we’re giving the children the responsibility of looking after a part of our community.

Taking on this task has seen Lake Rotoiti in the news again. Read about it here:

School students take DOC hut under their wing | Stuff.co.nz

After going into a snap lockdown last week due to COVID-19 being found in the community in Auckland, we swung back into action with home schooling. Mike and Debbie made the rounds last weekend delivering devices and teaching packs to homes (a loop covering over 150km).

​For the students of Lake Rotoiti School education doesn't stop with the schoolwork as the kids get out and about helping on farms, mustering sheep, building huts, feeding animals and exploring the Nelson Lakes environment.

So while we can't go skiing, our awesome school has made the news with our lockdown antics.

Covid-19: Children muster sheep and build dens under 'frustrating' snow view | Stuff.co.nz

So far this term we have managed two days of skiing at Rainbow Skifield. While the first day was grey and gloomy our second was spectacular. Blue skies and fresh powder...what more can you ask for.

While the whole mountain isn't quite open yet, the more experienced skiers have still been able to ski from the top down and work on their skills and our newer skiers have been working on their skills on the lower slopes.

This year we've implemented a new Health and Safety measure while skiing. Identifying children on the slopes has always been tricky, especially since we encourage the use of helmets. Instead of going traditional with hi-vis vests, we've supplied kids with bright green mohawks to apply to their helmets. There's no mistaking a child from Lake Rotoiti School now!

Days of significant frosts in St Arnaud meant the ice skating pond froze solid enough for some skating and we jumped at the opportunity to takes the kids out for their physical education lesson. 

The kids had a brilliant time skating (some wobbling) on the ice and pushing each other around on chairs.

This term we have had Tim in to teach the seniors the Ukelele. They're all picking it up relatively quickly and with great enthusiasm.

It's always a fun day when snow hits St Arnaud. Not enough this time for a snowday but definitely enough to make snowballs and snowmen. We're hoping for a nice cold snowy winter and an excellent ski season!

Thanks to the time and effort of Frith Dollimore, we were granted funding from MPI for 320 native plants as part of the One Billion Trees Project. With the plants delivered to school - thank you again Frith - the next step was of course a planting party.

It's not often you see kids arriving at school in gumboots and with shovels (ok, we see gumboots fairly often here but the shovels were new) but this is exactly what happened yesterday. The call had also gone out to the parents and community for help and they turned up, shovels in hand, ready to work.

I wish I could say it was a sunny day but no, as we watched the weather during the day it rained, drizzled, stopped and then rained again. We could only cross our fingers that when we actually got out there for planting it would ease, and it did...mostly.

With so many hands we made quick (if muddy) work out of digging the holes (this was helped by John with his post hole digger), dropping in fertiliser pellets, planting the plants and then adding guards and stakes.

Alison was hard at work manning the BBQ and it was great to have a hot sausage sizzle after the hard work was done.

Thank you everyone for your hard work, the area by the pool is going to look truly amazing once the plants have grown some and it's looking pretty good now.