On the 13th of August '09 four 8KW students - Hayley Haskell, Amy Sun (me), Robin Carrick and Emily Wong - entered in the WaiMaths Competition involving more than 30 Waikato Teams of Year 8 Students. Hosted at the Hamilton Gardens, these teams of three (and one reserve)take part in this Mathematics Competition hosted every year for Year 7 to High school. It was a tough competition with 20 questions and 45 minutes. Rows of desks with competing teams on each side were placed with the Audience in the middle. The tension was high with Peachgrove creaming up the competition in 20 minutes, getting all the answers right on the first go in the shortest time, thereby ending the Year 7 Competition. Meanwhile, the Year 8 teams were still battling it out with the top teams being within seconds of each other.
But in the end, the best team won.
Do I even need to say who that was?
YES, YOU ARE CORRECT... SOUTHWELL!
With only one point between First and Second and only two points between First and Third, it had been the closest competition yet. There had even been a tiebreaker between Peachgrove and Marion. In the end, the placings sat at
3rd: Marion Catholic School
2nd: Berkley Middle School
1st: SOUTHWELL SCHOOL!
The prize was a $110 Graphic Calculator plus two movie tickets. Perfect! We were the first team to win the Year 8 section since 2003. This is, without a doubt, an amazing achievement (if I do say so myself) and is a great cause for a party.
Winning WaiMaths is a definitely a highlight of the year.
GO SOUTHWELL!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Hey 8KW
Hey bros, howz the last and final year of Southwell School??? Congrats and well done on all your individual and collaborative achievements. Your the most hooked up kids I know. Enjoy the learning journey and stay true to yourselves!!!!! Luv and hugs E
Monday, June 22, 2009
TV Ad Slurp! Juice Company
Here is one of our videos we made to advertise our Juice Company and Smoothie.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Smoothie Launch Live:Tuesday 23rd June 2009 10.00am to 11:00am
Watch 8kw launch their Smoothies live on ustream
Stream videos at Ustream
Stream videos at Ustream
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
An Unremembered Tune By Christina Wilson
Winner of the New Zealand Post Book Awards Short Story Competition for the Waikato and King Country: 9-12 year old category.
An Unremembered Tune by Christina, 12
Harold Spiller was inside All Hallows Chapel that night… although no one knew it.
He sat in the shadows where no one would see him, and whilst the congregation buzzed with noise, he waited. The Reverend Edward Strange approached the podium, a red poppy pined to his cassock. It was April 25th. ANZAC day. The day to remember those who died in the Great War.
As the congregation stood for the hymn, Spiller stood with them. Now, he thought. Now’s the time. And may God forgive me.
All of a sudden, during the last verse of the hymn, the lights blinked out. The chapel was swallowed by darkness. Spiller acted quickly, weaving in and out of the petrified people. When the lights came back on, they saw before them a terrible sight. The Reverend Strange lay dead before the altar, seemingly untouched. But a look of sheer terror was fixed on his face, as though he had died of fright.
“Ghost! People yelled. “The ghost of All Hallows Chapel! He’s here!”
The congregation swarmed to the doors and ran into the dark.
This was a strange world to Spiller. A world he’d once imagined. A world where trenches, mud, barbed wire and bloodshed were no more. Where the German guns had ceased. The Great War had ended, and the world was a peace. Spiller felt glad that all those friends of his, whose bones still lie in Flanders’s field, were not forgotten.
Soon, only Spiller and the dead Reverend were left in the chapel. He crept up to him, and whispered in his ear:
We fought at Armageddon for the freedom of mankind:
I fought, and you fought, and here our bones lie strewn.
The flesh is stript from off us, and the chains remain behind,
And the freedom that we fought for is an unremembered tune.
“So this is the world of my dreams. Where war is no more. The world I imagined, but I did not live to see. Every little boy should live to see his dream come true. But not me. The imaginary world I’d hoped for when I was a child, before the Commanding Officers drained us of hope that such a world may someday exist, was gone for me”.
Spiller straightened up and, in his worn uniform, walked over to the Honour Roll. There, at the very bottom of the list, in bronze lettering, was his own name: Harold J. Spiller 1895-1915. A brave soldier who’d fought in the front lines and was taken back from No Man’s Land. November 1st 1915.
Spiller removed his slouch hat and silently, as a ghost, sunk into the wall, saying quietly, “Age shall now weary them, nor the years condemn…I will go on haunting this world. This strange world of the living, of my imagination…for ever.” The honour roll did not mention the truth – he’d been shot by General Richard H. Strange. But now, by visiting his imaginary world, he’d taken his revenge …
This May I entered the New Zealand Post Book awards short story competition. The story I wrote included a little bit of my family background, Harold Spiller being my great uncle who died in WW2. I found the results soon after the due date and was stunned that I came first in the 9-12 category. This is a big step towards my goal of becoming a published author.
Christina Wilson 8KW student
An Unremembered Tune by Christina, 12
Harold Spiller was inside All Hallows Chapel that night… although no one knew it.
He sat in the shadows where no one would see him, and whilst the congregation buzzed with noise, he waited. The Reverend Edward Strange approached the podium, a red poppy pined to his cassock. It was April 25th. ANZAC day. The day to remember those who died in the Great War.
As the congregation stood for the hymn, Spiller stood with them. Now, he thought. Now’s the time. And may God forgive me.
All of a sudden, during the last verse of the hymn, the lights blinked out. The chapel was swallowed by darkness. Spiller acted quickly, weaving in and out of the petrified people. When the lights came back on, they saw before them a terrible sight. The Reverend Strange lay dead before the altar, seemingly untouched. But a look of sheer terror was fixed on his face, as though he had died of fright.
“Ghost! People yelled. “The ghost of All Hallows Chapel! He’s here!”
The congregation swarmed to the doors and ran into the dark.
This was a strange world to Spiller. A world he’d once imagined. A world where trenches, mud, barbed wire and bloodshed were no more. Where the German guns had ceased. The Great War had ended, and the world was a peace. Spiller felt glad that all those friends of his, whose bones still lie in Flanders’s field, were not forgotten.
Soon, only Spiller and the dead Reverend were left in the chapel. He crept up to him, and whispered in his ear:
We fought at Armageddon for the freedom of mankind:
I fought, and you fought, and here our bones lie strewn.
The flesh is stript from off us, and the chains remain behind,
And the freedom that we fought for is an unremembered tune.
“So this is the world of my dreams. Where war is no more. The world I imagined, but I did not live to see. Every little boy should live to see his dream come true. But not me. The imaginary world I’d hoped for when I was a child, before the Commanding Officers drained us of hope that such a world may someday exist, was gone for me”.
Spiller straightened up and, in his worn uniform, walked over to the Honour Roll. There, at the very bottom of the list, in bronze lettering, was his own name: Harold J. Spiller 1895-1915. A brave soldier who’d fought in the front lines and was taken back from No Man’s Land. November 1st 1915.
Spiller removed his slouch hat and silently, as a ghost, sunk into the wall, saying quietly, “Age shall now weary them, nor the years condemn…I will go on haunting this world. This strange world of the living, of my imagination…for ever.” The honour roll did not mention the truth – he’d been shot by General Richard H. Strange. But now, by visiting his imaginary world, he’d taken his revenge …
This May I entered the New Zealand Post Book awards short story competition. The story I wrote included a little bit of my family background, Harold Spiller being my great uncle who died in WW2. I found the results soon after the due date and was stunned that I came first in the 9-12 category. This is a big step towards my goal of becoming a published author.
Christina Wilson 8KW student
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Super 6 Cricket Champs
After 4 games of 3 wins and 1 loss, the Hobbnobbers(Abe, Theo, Gareth, Matt, Jack and Josh) were in the final of the first ever Super Six Cricket Knockout Tournament.
The game was 6 on 6, 6 batters, 6 bowlers and 6 overs.
The final was between the Hobbnobers and the World6 team(Nick, Rishi, Ben, Danyon, Ayden and Logan). World6 batted first and made 10 runs all out. In reply the Hobbnobers started poorly with Abe and Josh opening and both got 0 runs(ducks. We were in trouble! Luckily, Theo was able to come in and score 2 really helping in the current situation. Gareth was in now, almost our last chance. Gareth made an unbeaten 6 runs, Matt backing him up with 4.
"YYYEEESSS" we did it. Jumping up and down with relief, everyone nicely shaking the oppositions hands before, "WWWOOOOHHHOO" yeah everyone celebrating. We all then proceeded to the stairs to recieve our prize... 2KG of chocolate.
As the team distributed the chocolate, we all celebrated with heart and soul, Abe was able to scoff it all down within 10 minutes of having his share!
Nobody can wait for next year to do it all again.
The game was 6 on 6, 6 batters, 6 bowlers and 6 overs.
The final was between the Hobbnobers and the World6 team(Nick, Rishi, Ben, Danyon, Ayden and Logan). World6 batted first and made 10 runs all out. In reply the Hobbnobers started poorly with Abe and Josh opening and both got 0 runs(ducks. We were in trouble! Luckily, Theo was able to come in and score 2 really helping in the current situation. Gareth was in now, almost our last chance. Gareth made an unbeaten 6 runs, Matt backing him up with 4.
"YYYEEESSS" we did it. Jumping up and down with relief, everyone nicely shaking the oppositions hands before, "WWWOOOOHHHOO" yeah everyone celebrating. We all then proceeded to the stairs to recieve our prize... 2KG of chocolate.
As the team distributed the chocolate, we all celebrated with heart and soul, Abe was able to scoff it all down within 10 minutes of having his share!
Nobody can wait for next year to do it all again.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
BUBBLESHARE: Camp Turangi 2009
Here are some photos of Camp Turangi using Bubbleshare
BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing
BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
White Water Rafting Experience
Recount on White Water Rafting
As the sun rose, colours of red, pink and purple filled the morning sky. Cabins began to awake and a thick cloud of excitement for the unknown filled the air. I couldn’t contain my excitement because my next activity was none other than the wet and wild adventure of white water rafting.
After a hearty breakfast, we walked for about ten minutes from our camp to The White River Rafting Adventures centre. There Garth, the manager, introduced us to the crew, explained the rules and what to wear.
Screams of laughter echoed through the small changing rooms as we struggled to put on the tight wetsuits and got familiar with our new, rounded, bouncy ball like padding. We all looked like we had gained about ten kilograms and most of us felt like it too. We were all wearing a polar fleece underneath our wetsuits and a big red life jacket on top of that. On our heads we wore a helmet and on our feet a pair of cute little water boots.
“ Right get into the buses”, an instructor yelled over all our chatter and no one could control the exhilaration, the collision of children resulted in a pile up outside the bus’ doors.
The rush out of the bus was much the same as the first. It was so fast that it felt like we were in a fast flowing river already. We were told to line up and boy did that happen quickly, tallest at one end, shortest at the other. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5”, an instructor numbered us off into groups. The instructor in charge of my group was the tall Gordon and in my group were Alex, Josh, Alle, Millan, Mrs.Beattie and my teacher, Mr. Williams.
After carrying the raft down the small hill, the time had finally come! WE WERE RAFTING and I was even more ecstatic because I had the very best seat in the house, the front.
It was time, our first rapid was approaching. It was very shallow so we had to bounce up and down while Gordon pushed. After we made it over we realised that we had masses of paddling ahead of us.
As we heard the next rapid approaching we all paddled as hard as we could. “And Stop”, shouted Gordon. We all obeyed and sat very still, thoughts of anticipation flooding our mind. When suddenly the rapid had us in its grasp. It threw us around and rebounded us up and down like balls. At the front it even hurled bombs of water at us. But we fought back and stabbed it with our paddles. As if at a flick of a switch it’s energy ran out. But our batteries were still fully charged so we eagerly paddled on to meet our next rival.
We battled many more rival rapids and pretty soon we came across another kind of rival, the other mean, keen rafters. As we approached one another world war three broke out. Spears, bombs and bullets of water flew everywhere. When the water hit us it seeped into our clothes as if to symbolize blood. But time and time again this was, unfortunately, not a battle we won. Now we were beginning to wear out.
After our water war we needed to ice our bruises but since we didn’t have any we settled for a swim in the freezing cold water. Even though we did this twice The relaxation didn’t wear off and I would have enjoyed doing this more.
At some point, sadly, our water world had to come to an end and after a few more rapids it did. We lifted up the raft and held it on our heads, using this technique we carried it up the hill and loaded it up onto the trailer. Finally after we got back to the rafting centre we got changed into our clothes and walked back to camp.
I thoroughly enjoyed white water rafting and one day hope to go rafting again on a higher river grade. If you ever get an opportunity to experience rafting I suggest that you don’t think twice and seize it with both hands you’ll never regret it.
As the sun rose, colours of red, pink and purple filled the morning sky. Cabins began to awake and a thick cloud of excitement for the unknown filled the air. I couldn’t contain my excitement because my next activity was none other than the wet and wild adventure of white water rafting.
After a hearty breakfast, we walked for about ten minutes from our camp to The White River Rafting Adventures centre. There Garth, the manager, introduced us to the crew, explained the rules and what to wear.
Screams of laughter echoed through the small changing rooms as we struggled to put on the tight wetsuits and got familiar with our new, rounded, bouncy ball like padding. We all looked like we had gained about ten kilograms and most of us felt like it too. We were all wearing a polar fleece underneath our wetsuits and a big red life jacket on top of that. On our heads we wore a helmet and on our feet a pair of cute little water boots.
“ Right get into the buses”, an instructor yelled over all our chatter and no one could control the exhilaration, the collision of children resulted in a pile up outside the bus’ doors.
The rush out of the bus was much the same as the first. It was so fast that it felt like we were in a fast flowing river already. We were told to line up and boy did that happen quickly, tallest at one end, shortest at the other. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5”, an instructor numbered us off into groups. The instructor in charge of my group was the tall Gordon and in my group were Alex, Josh, Alle, Millan, Mrs.Beattie and my teacher, Mr. Williams.
After carrying the raft down the small hill, the time had finally come! WE WERE RAFTING and I was even more ecstatic because I had the very best seat in the house, the front.
It was time, our first rapid was approaching. It was very shallow so we had to bounce up and down while Gordon pushed. After we made it over we realised that we had masses of paddling ahead of us.
As we heard the next rapid approaching we all paddled as hard as we could. “And Stop”, shouted Gordon. We all obeyed and sat very still, thoughts of anticipation flooding our mind. When suddenly the rapid had us in its grasp. It threw us around and rebounded us up and down like balls. At the front it even hurled bombs of water at us. But we fought back and stabbed it with our paddles. As if at a flick of a switch it’s energy ran out. But our batteries were still fully charged so we eagerly paddled on to meet our next rival.
We battled many more rival rapids and pretty soon we came across another kind of rival, the other mean, keen rafters. As we approached one another world war three broke out. Spears, bombs and bullets of water flew everywhere. When the water hit us it seeped into our clothes as if to symbolize blood. But time and time again this was, unfortunately, not a battle we won. Now we were beginning to wear out.
After our water war we needed to ice our bruises but since we didn’t have any we settled for a swim in the freezing cold water. Even though we did this twice The relaxation didn’t wear off and I would have enjoyed doing this more.
At some point, sadly, our water world had to come to an end and after a few more rapids it did. We lifted up the raft and held it on our heads, using this technique we carried it up the hill and loaded it up onto the trailer. Finally after we got back to the rafting centre we got changed into our clothes and walked back to camp.
I thoroughly enjoyed white water rafting and one day hope to go rafting again on a higher river grade. If you ever get an opportunity to experience rafting I suggest that you don’t think twice and seize it with both hands you’ll never regret it.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Bear Hunt
"We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one..."
No, your eyes are not deceiving you.
Four 'mature' Y8s opted for the Bear Hunt on Skit Night during Camp Week. We all waited with baited breath on Thursday Night, not knowing what we were in for...
"Open the gate, close the gate..." Oh our golly goshes. The Bear Hunt had begun!
Phony accents and dramatic facials dominated the stage with many of the audience joining in with stitches from the laughter.
To no one's surprise, they came first equal, but we thought it was by far the best performance of the night!
Go Alex, Daniel, Abe and the Bear (Josh)!
Click HERE for The Bear Hunt 2009
Expect the Unexpected... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-LRRldTmmI
No, your eyes are not deceiving you.
Four 'mature' Y8s opted for the Bear Hunt on Skit Night during Camp Week. We all waited with baited breath on Thursday Night, not knowing what we were in for...
"Open the gate, close the gate..." Oh our golly goshes. The Bear Hunt had begun!
Phony accents and dramatic facials dominated the stage with many of the audience joining in with stitches from the laughter.
To no one's surprise, they came first equal, but we thought it was by far the best performance of the night!
Go Alex, Daniel, Abe and the Bear (Josh)!
Click HERE for The Bear Hunt 2009
Expect the Unexpected... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-LRRldTmmI
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Xbox Collaboration Project
Late in 2008, Southwell School proudly won a Microsoft Competition, earning us a state-of-the-art offer of Microsoft hardware. We chose Xbox 360 as our educational device, and this led us into the Xbox Collaboration Project. As part of this project we involved Cambridge Middle School and St Andrews Middle School to aid in the educational investigation to see if this project would be suitable for the classroom. This exciting project will develop our Collaborating and Communicating skills in relationship to the Key Competencies and our Southwell School values.
For the project we are playing the co-op game 'Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise' which involves making a garden and attracting pinatas. On a deeper level, this involves team work to improve our garden and collaboration with the other gardens from other groups, classes and schools. We all have our own group roles; Player, Leader/Organizer, Watcher, Blogger and Researcher, each with their special roles to aid the group. We are learning all about blogging while having lots of fun on the Xboxes.
For the project we are playing the co-op game 'Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise' which involves making a garden and attracting pinatas. On a deeper level, this involves team work to improve our garden and collaboration with the other gardens from other groups, classes and schools. We all have our own group roles; Player, Leader/Organizer, Watcher, Blogger and Researcher, each with their special roles to aid the group. We are learning all about blogging while having lots of fun on the Xboxes.
Here is our link to the project using wikispaces http://moodle.southwell.school.nz/mod/resource/view.php?id=8603
Here is some student voice outlining why we are doing this cool project.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Camp 09
This is our class walking to the Whitewater Rafting center.All was well until TERROR the dreaded headband had dropped around our teacher's (Mr Williams's)neck DEAD ANT DEAD ANT everyone dropped to the ground and flung their arms and legs around in the air. We all had lots of fun on the rapids,. but many of us wished that they were bigger.
Later that day we abseiled down a rocky cliff face - there were a lot of screams but we all made it down in the end.
Tuesday's schedule started with a nice tramp into the Waipaki valley with our packs that were almost bigger than us. We crossed freezing rivers, over sharp rocks, treacherous mud and battled fearsome three headed serpents until we had finally reached the campsite (OK, the bit about the serpents weren't true, but the cutting grass made up for it). We pitched our tents just when the rain started coming down. We chucked all our thermals on, ran inside our tent and waited. Eventually the rain stopped. We ran outside and bathed in glorious sunlight. That night we cooked marshmallows (and wet socks) over the bonfire. Later that day the headband dropped and we all dropped with it hoping we didn't have to do burpies.After a hard nights sleep we were off again over the rivers and sharp rocks. We were very glad to see the last of the 'toilets', which were actually holes dug in the ground. Monster flies and much worse haunted the area.
Thursday began with the early start required for THE TONGARIRO CROSSING the moment we'd all been waiting for. We began the ascent of the Devil's highway - one of the hardest parts of the mountain. We arrived at the top red faced and puffing (apart from the teachers of course. They strolled through it without breaking into a sweat).Though after that we went for a swim in the Tokaanu hot pools.
Friday began with a sluggish start for our class as it was the last day of camp and we had to pack. We all eventually arrived back home safely, much to the relief of our parents.
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