book week
Every year, in Term 3, we have a book week. Our Librarian - Jan, organisers a Book Fair over inthe hall. 2018 we had Page and Blackmore. Other fun events we do - hold a book character dress-up day and a book quiz (where student teams pitch against the parents!) In 2019 we plan to hold the Book Character Triva night at the Lodge. Members of the public can join us!!!
brass band
In 2007 Nick Sharpe introduced us all to Brass. We've been playing ever since. Our tutor for Brass this year was Jeff and we also had Maria teaching us Piano and strings. There are opportunities for all learners to perform in various contexts and to take Trinity College Music exams if they wish.
Field Day
What better way to connect with tamariki and their whànau than through a field day. This annual event is where kaiako get to meet all the special fury friends of the tamariki. As a kura we spend learning time inquiring in to the rights of the pets we introduce on field day. The big understanding is exploring the needs of our pets in 'field day' conditions to make this as less stressful as possible. We learn about taking responsibility to meet the needs of the pets in our care. We know the importance of water, shelter, space, quiet time and food.
Forest Rangers
One of our highlights at Lake Rotoiti School is Forest Rangers. We spend time learning about bush survival, fire lighting, crossing rivers and eating toasted mashmallows!! We explore local walks in our area, have an overnight under a 'fly' and enjoy kayaking on the lake.
During 2018 we walked Paurangahau (Mt Robert), and 6.1. We planned to walk Beebees, but the weather kept us all indoors at school.
During 2018 we walked Paurangahau (Mt Robert), and 6.1. We planned to walk Beebees, but the weather kept us all indoors at school.
Mahi Toi Mahi Ora
Below are photos from the 2014 productionMahi Toi Mahi Ora is our Arts programme. Every year we do a concert - where the kaiako and our whānau stand back and enjoy being entertained. The secret to our concerts is - we do all the work. We select an arts discipline, (Dance, Drama, Waiata, Photography and technolgy) and with support from our kaiako we develop our own concert. We also select if we wish to compare, work with the IT or just get out there and dance!!! 2018 - we had the pleasure of Tanya Nock introducing us to a new way of thinking dance, music, story telling and stilt walking. We loved it!!! We hope she can come back next year.
This coming year we are planning to join the Nelson Arts Festival and be part of the Mask Parade and Rock Da House.
Next year - it maybe production year again.
This was our 2014 production
Sailing on the lake
Yachting New Zealand spend several days with us each year, teaching older children to sail in Optimist boats. We value this activity as one of the ways that we get to learn new things in our unique environment. In 2018/19, there was also the opportunity for our children to sail after school with the Lake Rotoiti Sailing Club.
School Camp
We aim for the whole school to go on school camp every year. This is paid for by Kea Kai fundraising, which is why it is so essential that every family supports Kea! In recent years we have had camps to Kaikoura, the West Coast, Mistletoe Bay, the Marae at Golden Bay and Totaranui. The photos below are from Mistletoe Bay, 2014.
Stream care programme
In 2018, Faye from Whitebait Connection visited our school. She introduced us to many new ideas and special little micro organisms. We spent time at two of the local streams accessing how healthy the water ways were, by the amount and types of orhanisms we caught. 2019 we lead us in to continuing with this programme, monitoring the streams and sharing our information with Doc.
swimming
During the summer months we swim in our pool every day! We have intensive lessons from qualified instructors - we believe that living in a lakeside environment, which also has lots of rivers, it is vital that our children are competent swimmers with basic life-saving skills. Our new pool is built - and we are loving it. We will be holding a swimming carnival this year 2019!!
winter sports
Our alpine environment offers the ideal opportunity for our students to take part in winter sports! Skiing has long been a key element of our sports programme - we aim to ski for 5-7 days during Term 3. We also like to skate on the natural skating pond when the opportunity arises.
Tryathlon
2018 saw our first tryathlon. All of us agreed - we want to do it again!! We will have a different course for 2019, and hopefully Wairau school will join us. We will keep you posted!!!
year 7 and 8 city experience
We like to take our students to experience the city at some point during Year 7 and 8. We find that taking just the older students allows us to pack lots more in to our days away from St Arnaud and can visit places more suited to older children. Most recently we've been to visit Wellington; we visited the Beehive, the observatory, the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, various museums (Te Papa of course!) and the Bolton Hotel (we had a private tour - including the suite where Katy Perry stayed!). We were able to fly from Blenheim to Wellington - it was the first time some children had been on a plane.