middletongrangeschool

news
m i ddlet ongr a ngeschool
Newsletter No. 6
30 Acacia Ave, Chch 8041
D
t: 348 9826
f: 348 8317
e: office@middleton.school.nz
20 16
13 September
www.middleton.school.nz
Coming Up
encouragement about ‘Why do I send my child
to Middleton Grange School?’
o you need some
Do you need convincing about Christian education?
Do you need to know that it is more than just nice teachers, good
values and a safe, welcoming environment?
I want to share with you just two examples that I as Principal and a
parent experienced recently which reaffirmed my commitment and
love for Christian education. I want for my children and for your
children an education that attends not just to the head, but also the
heart in a way that draws them closer to the Lord.
Last week I spent three days in Tauranga with the First XI Boys’
Football team during Tournament Week. Apart from having to cook
for the team, which was a great test of my minimal culinary skills,
I had the pleasure of listening to the evening team talk and devotions. The first evening one of the boys led the devotion based
on Romans 8:28 ‘And we know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose.’
What a beautiful testimony this young man gave of the Lord’s work
in his life; of God’s faithfulness to him during difficult times in his
life. As he wept during his devotion there were tears from others
(team members and adults!) as our hearts were touched by his
words – words of God’s grace, God’s love and God’s faithfulness. I
sat there and praised God in my heart as Principal, and a parent of a
team member present, that the sons of families in this school were
being impacted with words of eternal consequences.
What was of even greater joy was that the young man leading the
devotion was an International pupil! How great is our God! This
continued on page 2
These dates are subject to
change. Regularly check the
calendar on the school website
for amendments.
Abbreviations:
PS-Primary School
SC-Senior College ppd-postponement MS-Middle School
IC-Intl College
LC-Learning Centre
September
Mon, 12 - Wed, 14
PS Music Festival Area Rehearsals
Festival 26-28 October
Mon, 12 - Fri, 16 Chinese Language Week
Mon, 12 Victoria Uni Enrolment help
Library - lunchtime
Tue, 13 -Thu, 15 Y7/8 Koru Games
Tue, 13
Y13 Solo Performances
Y6 Trek-about Tuesday -ppd 20 Sep
Thu, 15
Music Arts for a Day ARA)
Uni of Auckland Enrolment help
Library - lunchtime
Y11 Maths MCAT assessment
Performing Arts Awards Night
Location: Grange Theatre
NZ Blood Service at Middleton
Tuhono Festival
Fri, 16
Y11-13 2017 Options Forms Deadline
Sat, 17
Argentina Trip Departs
Mon, 19 & Tue, 20 PS Visual Arts Display
Mon, 19 Y11 Clowning Assessment - date 1
Grange Theatre - 7-9.30pm
Tue, 20 - Fri, 23r
National Manu Korero Speech Competitions
Whanagarei
Tue, 20
ppd Y6 Trek-about Tuesday
Y11 Clowning Assessment (if req’d)
Wed, 21 Neil Shasky (Primary)
Thu, 22
Entrance Testing Y7 & Y9 in 2017
Fri, 23
13DTC Field Trip
Term 3 Ends
October
Tue, 4
Argentina Trip Returns
Mon, 10 Term 4 Begins
Mon, 10 UC enrolments open
Wed, 12 - Wed, 19 SC Prelim Exams
Thu, 13 & Fri, 14 Limitless Conference
Mon, 17 & Tue, 18 Y7/8 Volleyball, Basketball &
Titetrial Canterbury Champs
Tue, 18
SIT Open Evening
Thu, 20 Y13 DVC exhibits - Grange Foyer
Fri, 21
Y7/8 MGS Athletics
Mon, 24 Labour Day
Tue, 25 - Thu, 27 Year 1o Market Week
Wed, 26 - Fri, 28 PS Music Festival
Wed, 26 NZ Tertiary College Open Day
Fri, 28
International Col Leavers’ Dinner
Character
Excellence
for the Glory of God
Service
1
focussed on the day’s events and the next game. Those
are important and a big part of doing well at a football
tournament – but they are temporal. They are quickly
forgotten. Pupils move onto the next event. However,
the devotions and the chats about the heart, can have
eternal consequences. They get to the ‘heart of the
matter’.
continued from page 1
young man has lived with a Christian family that not
only opened their home to him, but also their hearts!
The second night the devotion was led by one of the
coaches - an ex-pupil of Middleton Grange who spoke
to the team on Philippians 1:27 ‘Whatever happens,
conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel
of Christ.’
That is why I love Christian education. It is an education that attends to the head, the hands (action) and
the heart. In fact, all education attends to the heart. A
Christian education is one that encounters Christ!
Here again was a testimony aimed at the heart and
what a Spirit filled heart looks like in action. For a
young man, what does it look like practically, to walk
with the Lord? How should I conduct myself?
In the last newsletter I made the statement ‘Middleton
Grange School should not strive to be the best school
in New Zealand, but the best school for New Zealand.’
How can we help our pupils to be ‘best’ for New Zealand? It is through an education that naturally and authentically helps our pupils to critique and be engaged
in contemporary society.
Yours in Christ
To hear the coach talk about his faith when he was a
pupil at Middleton Grange, the same age as them, to
his walk with the Lord now, was of huge encouragement to the boys.
Some people may think that this sounds like youth
group and what’s the big deal? This happens each
week at our church! The big deal is that this is school!
I could only feel a sense of loss if the team talk only
Richard Vanderpyl
Principal
Poverty
Simulation
What would we do and how would we
feel if we were like many poverty-stricken
people around the world, or even in New
Zealand? Year 9 pupils had an opportunity
to find out. At the end we sat in ‘our families’ and talked about what we might be
able to do, now that we had experienced
and understood what poverty is really
like- but will we do even one little thing
differently?
Here are some of their comments:
The experience showed me how the
poor are treated and how difficult it is to
survive every day.
I felt guilty because I resorted to stealing
just to survive.
I felt sad for people who have to live like
this every day with no hope of change.
I liked that they did it [the Poverty
Simulation] because it shows us how
hard some people’s lives are and they
don’t have any money left in the end. It
changed me when I played one of the
people in poverty.
My thoughts and feedback from yesterday after going to the ‘Poverty Simulation’ gave me
quite an insight into what the poverty of some countries have to endure as a daily life. Not
even by choice, it is the lifestyle they are given. The work I had to do in that hour was anxious work, not knowing whether you would be able to pay all the bills for rent, food, clothes
and health. Basically everything we ourselves in a first world country take for granted. Even
though it wasn’t exactly the most tiring work in that hour or so, after a full day of work I’m sure
you would be totally exhausted, physically and mentally. It takes a lot of perseverance and
determination, and you have to be a great team to get the work ahead of you done. You could
essentially say we were all a bit paranoid as to what consequences we could face if the bills
weren’t paid. The possibility was very concerning. Going to the poverty simulation yesterday gave me a massive insight into what
so many people’s lives are like daily. I had
never really thought what it would be
like to live in a slum before. It was quite
hard and stressful but I know it must be
so much worse if it was actually your
life, because you would feel so hopeless
and it would be nearly impossible to get
out of it. For us it was an afternoon but
for them it could be their whole lives.
The simulation gave me a quite a good
partial understanding of what it must be
like and how hard it would be doing a
menial job like making paper bags all day
just to get enough money to buy food for
your family. We were tired after 2 hours
but it would be so exhausting to do it for
a whole day, knowing you had to do it
the next day. It would be so tempting to
give up, but you would know that that
wasn’t an option. We were all a little on
edge, wondering what could happen if
you didn’t pay the bills. We argued a bit,
and it could really test your relationship
with your family living in such a stressful
environment.
Kezia 9LI
Emily 9LI
2
Primary House Olympics
On Friday 12 August,
15 Year 12 and 13
pupils spent a fun
and interactive day
learning a number
of life-saving skills
to gain a certificate
in First Aid.
On Thursday the 25 of August 2016 Years 3-6 had a House Olympics.
The house was divided into 4 groups. Events included Cat and
Mouse, Hoopla Hoops, Skipping Rope, Relays, Tug of War, Musical
Statues, Basketball shots and Creative bodies. You had ten minutes
at each event. You got 5 points for a win and 1 point for encouraging others, 1 point for a loss and 3 points for a draw. All afternoon
we were doing the House
Olympics. We had a great
time with the High School
Prefects. We were all winners and no one gave up!
No one had to stop. All the
house groups did well and
persevered, even when it
got hard. We all enjoyed it.
Thanks to the teachers, Mr
Thompson and the prefects.
Joshua Jansen
in a 1939 Moth
airplane on his
Gateway Aviation
placement
by Micah (Y4 - Ruma Tekau)
On one hot Thursday
afternoon, we all assembled on the Primary field
for the House Olympics.
The teams were our
normal house groups
but divided by 4. The
Prefects came from the
High School to host the
games.
NCEA Credsta App
Available from iTunes and Google Play, Credsta’s main aim is to
make tracking NCEA progress easier by having all your details
in one, easily-accessible place. Developed at Massey University,
this app uses colourful cartoon characters to turn the chore of
recording NCEA credits into a game and thus a more motivating
and enjoyable experience for users. Try it out! More information
is available from http://www.credsta.co.nz/.
Some of the games were:
Cat & Mouse, Relays,
Musical Statues etc. Many
people had different
strengths for each activity. A lot of these activities
needed team work and co-operation. Everyone was determined to
win. Everyone was a winner!
Thanks to the Prefects.
By: Zoe & Julia (Y4 - Ruma Tekau)
Preschool Olympics
On Thursday 11th of August Room 15 held a mini Olympics for the
Cornerstone Preschool. There were six modified events: Equestrian
Cross Country, Straw Javelin , Long Jump, Balance Bike Cycling ,
Soccer and Beanbag Shot-put . Each event was well organised by a
Year 6 desk group. We made chocolate medals for everyone, pink
ribbons for the girls, blue for boys. Each group also made certificates for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
All the pre-school kids were aged between 2-4 years old, so we
had to make sure that all of the events were fun and safe for them.
For the horse riding there were objects to jump over. In the Straw
Javelin the children threw drinking straws as far as they could.
Jumping off the stage onto a mat was a great idea for Long Jump.
The kids balance-biked around the hall for Cycling. Like Javelin,
the Beanbag Shot-put was easy and fun to throw. Finally, the kids
scored as many goals as they could in 2 minutes for Soccer. All the
kids had such a great time.
By Mia and Gabriella (Y6 – Rm15)
3
The Great Annual MGS FIESTA!
WHAT
is fiesta?
FIESTA is our annual school fair, the major fundraiser to
purchase equipment and resources for all areas of our School.
It is a highlight in the school calendar year and a great
school and local community event, stretching well back in
Middleton Grange School history.
MGS
FIESTA!
5-8pm
It is an evening event and there is something for everyone …..
a delicious dinner menu in the FOOD TENTS, a LIVE AUCTION, Garden,
Sweets and Baking PRODUCE STALLS, bargains in the PRE-LOVED STALLS and
exciting SIDESHOWS, ATTRACTIONS and RIDES!
HOW
CAN I HELP NOW?
We are blessed to be part of a fantastic school community. FIESTA is a great
opportunity to celebrate this, and to offer your Time, Talents and Treasures.
Requests for specific staffing and donations will be sent out Term 4. We
have no storage at school for stall donations, but these can be dropped
off the Thursday and Friday of Fiesta week.
We would love to hear from you now..
…. to provide financial sponsorship/donations to defray equipment
hiring and food costs (sponsor a ride or stall).
…. if you have a contact for: bulk food ingredients (particularly meat);
hiring of inflatable rides, cooking equipment (bains-marie, fryers)
…. Seedlings, plants etc for our Garden Stall
…. to suggest an idea for a Stall or Attraction.
***We would also love to hear from anyone keen to join our enthusiastic planning team,
with several ‘vacancies’ in Stalls Coordinator and Food Tent Managers.
You are welcome to come along to our meetings to see what is involved.
WHO
DO I CONTACT?
You can chat to us or email us at f.fiesta@middleton.school.nz
The team: Welcome to Christina Davison, our new Fiesta Coordinator 
The others on the team are Robyn Bosma, Michael and Lea Richardson, Henry Tseng, Julie Fraser, Susan
Broom, Mandy van der Pyl, Linda Vanderpyl
If anyone serves, they should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised
through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. 1 Peter 4:11
4
Cantamath
In August the annual Cantamath event took place at
Horncastle Arena. Middleton Grange continued to
achieve at a very high level in both the team’s competition and in the displays.
All Year 7 – 10 pupils undertake a Cantamath project
and the best of these are taken to the competition. This
year we gained 24 Excellence awards and 32 Highly
Commended awards.
Congratulations to our Year 7 team of Caleb Giddy,
Isaac Milne, Michael Phillipps and Jeremiah Lau, who
were placed 2nd out of approximately 90 Canterbury
teams. This was an outstanding effort and the team
only missed being 1st by a couple of seconds! Our Year
9 team also placed highly, finishing 4th. Congratulations to all four teams (Year 7, 8, 9 &10) for your effort
and enthusiasm.
Hot Air
Balloons
In Room 12 (Y5) we
have been making
hot air balloons with
Mr Thompson. We
made them from
tissue paper and
used wire to give
them some shape
around the opening.
Mr Thompson put
some Meths onto a bit of cotton wool and lit it. This gave enough heat inside
for the hot air balloon to rise and float. A few of our balloons worked really
well - they floated away so far we couldn’t see them! A couple of our balloons
caught on fire and that was pretty exciting. We were all very safe and nobody
was hurt - it was a lot of fun learning about how hot air rises. Above: The Year 7 team left to right: Caleb, Isaac, Michael & Jeremiah
Below left, in clockwise direction:
Hayden Inglis Y10 (static model)
Sarah Matthews & Emma Malcolm Y10 (Wearable Maths)
Mana Kubota Y10 (Static model)
Middlet right: Joachim Castillo Y10 (Dynamic model)
Year 10s Hannah McKinnon, Izaac Wilson,
Luke McDonald, and Natalie Amersfoort
(above, left to right) received their UC
Student Volunteer Army UCan programme
completion certificates. Year 9s are learning to make
measured timelines with a scale
so we started outside with a
9Li birthday timeline- now we
get it!
The Middleton
U17 netball
team played
Rugby School
from England
on Thursday
11th August.
Middleton
won 27-4.
#upstand
A number of past and present pupils participated in the making of the ‘Be the Hero – help stop bullying’ #upstand video which is part
of the ‘Be The Change NZ’ campaign and features as a key part , a newly developed interactive website at www.bethechangenz.org.
Alumni Nakita Turner’s song ‘One Voice’ plays in the background at the end. This video has a powerful message and can be found at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMeLEKvjVF0
5
Tournament Week
Girls’ Football
The season didn’t start off as smoothly as we had
hoped, with lots of new players added to the team.
However after the first few games we started to gain
some confidence. After losing only 2 games, we finished
2nd overall in the Secondary Schools’ Girls’ Football
League for Div 2. The final was really close with most of
the game tied at one apiece. Unfortunately Lincoln was
able
to steal the victory in the last 10 minutes. Tournament was
great fun. We dominated our pool games and took out both the
quarter finals and semi finals without conceding until the finals,
which was an awesome achievement. The finals were played on
Thursday morning and proved to be our most challenging game
yet. In the end we had to settle for silver, but the team was still
stoked with the outcome. We had Heidi Gwynne, who won Golden
Boot for the whole tournament, scoring a whopping 16 goals. Also,
Sarah-Grace Thompsoin won Golden Glove, only conceding 4 goals
throughout the whole tournament, and Marisa van der Meer was
MVP for our team. We made
such good memories and
the year 13s are sad to be
leaving but wishing the best
to all the girls in the future!!!!
Thanks to Caitlin Steele
for coaching us this year!
#loveyouGortyandBoon
#SK8RS
Boys’ Football
It’s been an extremely successful season for the Boys’ Football
1st XI, a.k.a. The Raiders. Fresh off of finishing 4th in the league and
winning the Connetics Challenge Shield, the team headed off for
Nationals held in Tauranga, with the goal of placing higher than
any Middleton team had done before. Day 1 of the tournament
saw us play a resilient Rongotai side, and although we left it late
we managed to win 1-0, an excellent start to our campaign. Day
2 saw us finish 2nd in our pool following a strong 2-1 victory over
Timaru Boys’ and a disappointing 3-0 loss to Marlborough. These
results confirmed that we had made it into the middle 16 for the
tournament, the 1st ever Middleton team to do so. In Day 3 the lads
would go up against Hamilton Boys’, one of New Zealand’s ‘elite’
footballing schools; although the boys fought hard we would fall
to a 3-1 defeat. This result saw us play local rivals Burnside in the
next round; with tired bodies we would take the unfortunate loss,
capping off a disappointing day for the team. However, Day 4 saw
the boys play our best game of the competition, a 3-0 victory over
King’s meaning we would play off for 21st and 22nd on the final day.
Facing Marlborough yet again, we were gutted when we conceded
defeat to a last minute winner, confirming 22nd place. This was
an excellent result for the team as we had achieved the goal we
set prior to the tournament. The lads and I are very proud of the
result and what we have accomplished throughout the season.
Congratulations to Seth Clark for being named our team’s MVP for
the tournament and a special thanks to coaches Isaac
Stanton, Sam Rees and Harrison Bowman, as without
them, none of this would have been possible.
Heidi and Meike
Elliott Jenkins
Connetics Challenge Shield
The Middleton Grange Raiders beat Lincoln High
School 1-0 on August 10th and secured the Connetics
Challenge Shield for 2016. This is the
first season that secondary schools’
football has run the shield in a ‘Ranfurly Shield’ like scenario and we are
honoured to have our name on it first.
This is a huge effort from the boys and
we are proud of their achievements.
Prior to the match, Lincoln were undefeated, having dropped 0 points in 13
games, and had always had scored at
least one goal in a fixture.
Girls’ Basketball
In their quarter final Senior Girls’ Basketball took the lead for the
first time in the last 20secs and held out to beat Burnside - 68 - 67.
This means that they have qualified for Nationals. Mr Stanton (Coach)
6
Canoe Polo
Girls’ Hockey
We had a very tough season, losing some of our main players last
year and struggling to regain the skill and tenacity we once had.
The tournament began strongly, with our team prevailing 4-0
against the team we lost to in out finals last year, but sadly it went
downhill from there. The rest of the tournament was hard not just
physically but emotionally as we put our all into the games, but
sadly were not up to the standard needed, losing our two pool
games by quite large margins. It was a big disappointment to place
so lowly in our pool and this was felt heavily through the whole
team, but we pushed on and worked hard in our next matches,
losing the first by just one point and then winning the next 4-0,
putting us in 13th place. I am very proud of how the girls dealt with
the hard losses and moved forward to really enjoy our week away!
Although we aren’t all too happy with our results this year, we will
use them to motivate us next season. We have a lot of work to do
moving forward, but we are prepared to do it! With the potential
coming through in the younger girls and some intense coaching I
think we could do incredibly well in the near future.
SOUTH ISLAND SECONDARY SCHOOLS’ CANOE
POLO CHAMPS 2016
Six MGS teams travelled to Oamaru for this event, held over the
weekend of 5th-7th August. Big congratulations to our title-winning Senior Open and Junior Girls’ teams, but all of our teams did
outstandingly well, achieving the following placings:
Senior Open A
1st
Senior Open B 4th
Senior Girls’ A 4th
Senior Girls’ B 6th
Junior Open
2nd Junior Girls’ team
3rd Junior Open team
Junior Girls
1st
Congratulations to those selected for tournament teams, Girls:
Kayleigh Gouman and Ava White; Boys: Matthew Carter, Renzo
Childs, Bradley Taylor and Thomas Malcolm.
Grateful thanks to our coaches. Thanks also to all the parents
who came and supported. We had 38 players but a total party
of over 80. It was great to have so much support for what has
become one of the big events of the Middleton year.
Rebekah Fenton
Girls’ Netball
This year’s netball tournament was held in Nelson. It was a week
full of laughs, great intercepts, and fantastic shooting. The team
environment was full of positive energy and encouragement. This
year we improved by 5 placings from last year, coming 13th out of
32 teams in our grade. Throughout the day we had a competitive
spirit and played to the best of our ability, with arguably the loudest
bench at tournament. In the evenings we had team challenges at
various locations, which helped build our teamwork and friendships, whilst being amongst God’s beautiful creation. A massive
thank you to everyone who contributed to making Tournament
Week very memorable. We thoroughly enjoyed representing our
school on and off the courts, and most importantly, representing
God.
Loisi Talivakoala
From the accommodation provider for the
Senior Boys’ Basketball team:
What an absolute pleasure it was to have your team here to
stay. The boys are a credit to you, the school and their parents. Alumni Team Member Success
Please thank the boys very much for their wonderful card and
the chocolates. I could have cried when I read the card. Please
also thank them for leaving the place so immaculate!!
Luke Anderson (leaver 2008) was part of the first MGS team to win
the Canterbury Inter-schools’ title. Luke is now Assistant Coach of
the NZ Women’s Canoe Polo team which won the World Championships in Sicily early September, defeating Germany 3-2. He
is also Head Coach of the Under 21 Women’s team who took the
bronze medal in the U21 Champs
Kind regards
Prue Harper
7
Swimming Lessons
At the beginning of this term all primary pupils had their annual
swimming lessons. For two weeks we travelled by bus with a
buddy class to Jellie Park and had a great time in the water. On
the last few days we participated in a boat and water safety programme. The pupils used flutter boards to make white water and
then they had to swim through the rough water to simulate being
in a river or in the sea. They did some activities with life jackets and
also climbed into and then under a small boat. It was a very successful event and we look forward to doing it again next year!
Materials Recovery Facility
As the bus pulled up the drive, the smell filled the air, it was awful!
The bus came to a halt and the engine cut out; off we went. There was
an oldish looking man wearing a Hi-Viz vest waiting for us, and a young
lady was standing beside him. The man spoke; his
name was Chris and the lady’s name was Celia. We
went inside a container-shaped classroom and
the man talked to us in a friendly upbeat voice. He
asked us questions and we gave what we thought
was the answer. He gave us a card each with a recyclable product name printed on it. Mine said corrugated cardboard. Chris then tipped a small pile of
rubbish out of a yellow bin that was in the corner
of the classroom. He called out recyclable products
one by one and when he called out corrugated card
board I had to sort through the pile of recycling and pick up the corrugated cardboard and place it in front of me. That was just one of the
small educational tasks that Chris had planned out for us. Throughout
the day I learnt heaps about rubbish and recycling. For example, did you
know that coffee cups cannot be recycled, no matter how clean they
are? Anyway I thoroughly enjoyed the day at the ECO-SORT and learnt
so much. I was also reminded of my not very eco-friendly habits! By Elise Robinson 7Ke
Tournament of
Minds
Middle School pupils spent a lot of time
preparing for the Tournament of Minds
Regional Challenge, and their hard work
paid off in the Language/Literature
section. The Year 9 & 10 team won first
place and will head to Wellington for the
Nationals at the end of term. The Year 7 &
8 team came second, and were the only
team to receive an Honour Award.
8
Congratulations
Zac Wallace (Y5) gained a place in the Christchurch Boys’ Choir.
Dana Jung (Y8) is the Canterbury Open/International level Aerobics Champion. Tyus Dimbleby (Y10) was selected for the Canterbury Metro U15 Rugby team.
Gloria Agnew (Y10) entered an athletics competition in Australia which included
350 top American athletes competing against some of the best in NZ and Australia.
She won two silver medals, one for the 100m and the other for U16 long jump. • Rebecca Allan (Y11) earned her Silver Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award. She
attended an award ceremony at the Mayor’s office with the Mayor, Lianne Dalziel.
•
•
•
•
Zac
Friday Y7-8 Sports
• Canterbury Primary Netball
• Y8 A Netball team won the 1st Division. • Y7 A won the D grade • Y8 Boys’ Football are the West Zone Champions and went on
to win the Primary Champs. Thanks to Logan Hall (Y13), who
has done a great job coaching the team.
Dana
Rebecca
Gloria
Junior Tall Black
Angus McWilliam (Y12) was featured in a Basketball New Zealand Article today after his selection to the Junior
Tall Blacks (New Zealand’s U19 Basketball team). Read the article and watch the video featuring Angus at this
link:
http://basketballnz.imgstgdev.com/News/junior-tall-blacks-preparation-continues-towards-oceania-championships
Angus
My Japanese Rugby Experience
In early June, I travelled to Japan on a
two-month scholarship to go to school and
play rugby at Higashi Fukuoka Junior High
School, in Fukuoka.
Fukuoka has a population of just over
five million. Fukuoka is located on the
southern island of Kyushu that has a population of over 13 million.
I stayed with a host family whose son
was also in my team. The family was very
nice and extremely helpful. I found that
everybody in Japan was very welcoming, polite, respectful and enjoyable to be
around.
Despite my taking Japanese lessons
before I arrived in Fukuoka, the language
barrier was very challenging, but became
easier as I became more familiar with it.
The main reason I was there was for
rugby. Rugby is a very big thing at Higashi
Fukuoka. Over there, they play rugby all
year round – not just in the winter. The
High School team are the reigning Japanese national champions, and the school
are very focussed on improving the Junior
High School team.
I played games on the weekend and
trained for three hours every day, apart
from Mondays. Training started at 7 in the
morning and would run for an hour before
school started at 8.30am. School would
go until 4pm. After school we would train
again from 4.30pm till 6.30pm. The training was intense and was made even more
challenging with the 35 degree temperatures and high humidity. Some days, the
temperature was over 40 degrees.
We played in the Fukuoka Prefecture
Championship and posted the Junior
High School’s best result ever by
coming third - meaning we qualified
for the Kyushu regional tournament
for the first time ever. We performed
very well in this tournament and
finished third in this as well. The team
and everyone involved were extremely happy and very emotional about
our results.
9
While I was there, I managed to experience a lot of new things. The food and
culture in general is quite different. The
main religion is Shinto, and there are a lot
of Shinto shrines dotted all over the place.
I think the most memorable experience
outside of Rugby, was travelling on the
bullet train to Hiroshima to visit the site
of the atom bomb attack, and the peace
memorial there.
I would like to thank Mr Steyn for putting
my name forward for this awesome experience. Japan is an amazing place. I would
love to go back sometime, as I have made
some great friends.
Tyus Dimbleby (Y10)
Cornerstone Christian Early Learning Centre
Middleton currently has vacancies.
Cornerstone provides quality preschool
education in an environment where
biblical truths are taught and lived.
If you are interested in enrolling your child
please come in and visit us, or
contact us on 343 6941 or email
office@cornerstonecelc.co.nz
KAMAR Phone App
HARCOURTS GOLD
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LICENSED REAL ESTATE CONSULTANT REAA 2008
Specialising in Residential Sales
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A donation will be made
to Middleton Grange
School as a result of a sale
and on mention of this ad.
Contact Julie today on
03 352 6166 or 027 245 1350
julie.proctor@harcourts.co.nz
www.julieproctor.harcourts.co.nz
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NO. 23 HARCOURTS
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100
Many of you already make use of the Parent Portal to access
information about your child (attendance and contact details
for example) and also general school information (for example
the events calendar). This information is also available via a
KAMAR app for both iPhone and Android devices. Over
time the notifications section of the app will also enable us to
send critical information to app users directly.
To download this app search KAMAR in the Apple
appstore or the Google playstore. Or use this QR code from
your phone or tablet.
When you load the app you will
need to connect it to the Middleton
Grange web server. To do this when
you first run the app enter the following information.
Server Address: web.kamar.
middleton.school.nz
The username and password are the same as you would
use to access the Parent Portal currently. These have been
emailed to you recently. If you have more than one child at
Middleton you can set the app up to access details for each of
them. To do this, log in with the first child, select settings and
use the ‘ADD’ button to add name and password details for
any other children you have at the school. When you start the
app you can then select the login to use.
All logins will access the calendar; however, details related to
a specific child require their login to be used.
A big thank you to Konica Minolta for
printing our newsletter free of charge.
Disclaimer. Newsletter advertising does not imply endorsement of a particular product or service.
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