MBAS Newsletter, Term 2, Week 7

Term 2, Week 7, 29th May 2020

Marine Academy students enjoying being back in the water.

Kia Ora – Greetings to you all

It’s a marathon, not a sprint
but the finish line is getting closer
and we are travelling well!

We are now at the close of our second week at Alert Level 2 and we have had a very settled fortnight. Thank you all at home too in helping make this time an easeful reintroduction to schooling for all of our young people. After Queen’s Birthday weekend we will have five weeks of learning that will take us through to the close of term 2 – a total of 12 weeks overall. We certainly will be ready for a break at that time! And with such a long period of learning ahead of us, I expect we will make good headway through to the mid-year phase of 2020.

The impact of the lockdown and the various Alert Levels on learning and teaching, our mid- year reporting of “achievement” will be some what different. At this stage we are working on what that will look like, but it makes sense to us that we will have much of our “mid-year” reporting/conferencing early in term 3. We will keep you posted on our thinking.

At this stage we do not have any great detail on what Alert Level 1 will look like for schools like ours – I expect that we will continue as we are now, with opportunity for some larger gatherings (sporting teams, performances etc). I will update you when I have more information at hand. I expect that there will be some “winter sport” that may well commence shortly and that will be fantastic for our young people (and families).

So… in my view I believe we are travelling well as a kura and will continue to do so. Our heightened hygiene protocol is working well, students are settled, calm and engaged and learning is progressing well across our kura.

I know this is a time of tension for us all, and if there are things you need to communicate to me at any time, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please feel free to read the Parent Covid-19 Communication Letters sent out from me this week below.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vvJ1KcGMYAVsjdybUeffIp3W2LLII7Mv
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rRovLmmteMjKgVEUPQY6BoJj41_ClLKz

Kia kaha
Kia manawanui

John Wright
Principal
John.wright@mbas.ac.nz

Y7/8 Immunisations

The Year 7 and 8 Immunisation will be happening on Tuesday 2nd June. This will be administered by Public Health Nurses. Parent Consent Forms should have been returned . If your child is away on that day then the Public Health Nurses will be in contact to organise a follow-up.

Uniform Update

Our new school hoodies are in New Zealand at the embroiderers and the Warehouse are trying to get these items to the Whitianga store as soon as they can.

Due to lock down the ability to process a lot of stock as fast as they usually would has not been possible. Thank you for your patience and we will send out a message as soon as they are at the Warehouse for purchasing.

Also cheaper but equally good quality soft shell jackets for secondary school students will also be available at the Warehouse in the very near future ($80 instead of $120). Stock is currently being processed after covid-19 delays, but shouldn’t be long now.

Canteen and Lunch

MBAS Online Canteen!

Working together with Kindo, Mercury Bay Area School can now bring you a fantastic way to order canteen lunches online!

Ordering online for Primary Years commences on 2nd June 2020 here

(Ordering online for Middle and Senior Years commences 16th June 2020)

Foundation Class

LEFT and RIGHT, UP and DOWN, ABOVE and BELOW, BESIDE and NEXT TO...

This week for maths we are learning about positions and directions.

Today Whaea Jess had a little house where she placed objects inside and we had to help her put other objects “to the right of...” “to the left of...” “above the...” and “below the...” She then asked us questions like, “what is to the left of the...?” etc.

Afterwards, we got our own Tic Tac Toe board and with a partner and loose parts, we practiced using our positional language. We asked our partner similar questions to what Whaea Jess was asking us.

Has your child been talking about left and right at home? They know the trick about the L for the left hand when you hold it out in front of you. ⭐️

Room 17

Room 17, Year1 students have been exploring shapes and patterns.

Room 18

Bubble blowing, bubble writing and bubble art. So much fun!

Bubbles from Room 22

Room 24 Reading

We read 88 library books in Rm 24 from the beginning of Term 1. Their teacher promised a special treat for everyone and they enjoyed an ice block on a sunny Friday afternoon!

Well done everyone!

What a lovely idea and look at those happy faces.

M10 Music

Lunch time saxophone concerts on a rainy day!

Hei 7

Hei 7 students were asked to choose one disaster, read about it, then make a timeline of the events

Sienna Reader chose the White Island Disaster (she apologises for the spelling error) and Angel Scobie chose the Tangiwai disaster.

Marine Academy

Our Marine Academy students were pretty stoked to get back into the water last Friday after the enforced break.

The students are working in 5 different groups doing 5 different PADI certifications. We had 3 groups go to Opito bay to shore dive to complete their PADI Open Water skills. Dive mask removal under water and regulator removal underwater among other skills.

PADI Advanced Open Water divers were completing their Navigation dive where they learnt to use their compass proficiently underwater and completing various tasks. Moving onto their Peak performance buoyancy dive where they learnt to master their buoyancy - one of the best skills that you could learn!

Finally PADI Rescue Divers learnt beach rescues in the surf. We also had 2 groups out on the Dive Zone boat “Mystery Machine“ to Mahurangi Island which is in Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine reserve (Cathedral Cove). One group who were just doing a refresher dive and the 2nd group, who have already worked their way from Open Water, Advanced and Rescue and are now training to become PADI Dive Masters (the first PADI Professional rating) practiced assisting with planning and executing the dive.

Lots of learning and fun was had by all. They are all working hard to achieve their next PADI certification level with the big trip to Northland Dive coming up in June. There they will be diving the wreck of the HMNZS Canterbury. The top of the wreck is at 14m and drops beyond 30m so they will all need to be competent divers with good buoyancy and dive skills. It is an epic dive site and we are very excited!

Sports Director

Winter sports have been delayed for students due to COVID-19. For coaches, players and supporters it has been very tough for everyone involved who wants to participate in MBAS sport within the senior and middle years.

This is also difficult when your position is solely set on sports as for our Sports Director Leisa. So with cancelled sport, Leisa McCleery has been busy writing procedures for sports events. This is for whenever she’s away, or to give instructions to others that might run swimming sports, cross country etc.

Therefore, anyone can properly coordinate these school sports events in her absence, without her guidance in the future. It’s one of those jobs that you do and gets done, but only when you have the time. Hopefully sport begins very soon and everyone can stay fit and healthy and Leisa can resume assisting our sports teams.

Y13 Daniel Cunningham

Umpiring - Netball

If want to be an umpire this year please email Linda Kendall - kendalll@mbas.ac.nz

Last year we had seventeen year 7, 8 and 9's complete the Introduction to Umpiring course and become members of the MBNC Umpiring Squad.

We are running the course again this year. The theory will be run over zoom meetings and the practical component will be completed during term 3. We offer a lot of support to new umpires and the year 7 and 8 umpires will umpire year 5 and 6 players.

TVSS Rugby

As we move to bigger gatherings we are gearing up for a welcomed return to sport.

Last year we finished 2nd in the Thames Valley Secondary school rugby competition and represented at the prestigious Condors 7’s tournament, we also farewelled almost the entire team of Year 13’s.

This season we have a fresh new squad for First XV and an exciting new Coaching team. Simon Mills will be head Coach & Mike Reihana Assistant Coach.

A little bit about our new head Coach:

Simon Mills has been a Primary and Secondary Physical Education teacher and 1st XV rugby coach in New Zealand and overseas for many years. He also worked full time as a rugby coach in Japan and more recently for KiwiSport as New Zealand’s first community sports coach.

He was Head Coach of a premier rugby team in North Harbour. His most recent work has been in Vietnam working for the United Nations Int. School as a “coach of coaches” in PE and sports. He presented at an international conference on “Why coaches need coaching.”

Some teams Simon has coached are:

Mt Roskill Grammar School 1990-1992. The team reached the elite A division of Auckland rugby.

Sendai Ikuei Gakuen Japan. 1992-1995. Won regional championship 1992. Made national final tournament. Returned in 2001 and made the final of Sanix World Rugby Youth Championship (2002)

Mahurangi College Warkworth 1st XV coach 1997-2000

Mahurangi Premier Head Coach 2009-2011

Kristin School 1st XV co-coach 2009

Community Notices

Free Guinea Pig

Lovely little Guinea pig, male 2yrs old, plus hutch, free to a family that will enjoy caring for him. Needs another guinea pig as company. Ph Suzanne 027 7155920.