P I O P I O C O L L E G E

Piopio College Newsletter

Te Kura Tuarua o Piopio 2 8 J U L Y 2 0 1 6 P A N U I 2 1

COMING EVENTS: 1-5 August The Wool Shed 3 August Eddie Alcock Memorial Netball 6 August (4.00pm-5.00pm) Unveiling of Replica Bus 27 August Senior College Ball 29 August Teacher Only Day 12 Sept Music Performance Day Phone: 07 877 8173 or 0800 240 173 Website: http:// piopio.school.nz Acting Principal’s email: lsheeran@ piopio.school.nz

Term 3 is upon us. Our challenge is to keep the momentum of the end of Term 2 running

through the school and ensure as individuals that we keep our personal goals and academic

challenges in sight.

For Seniors they have the pressures of NCEA, meeting those deadlines. Week 6 has been

set aside for assessment and mock exam testing. A little over a week before on

27 August they have the College Ball. Those who are looking to next year may need to be

applying for courses, accommodation, scholarships and jobs. It is important that they talk to

Mrs Draper and Mrs Rauputu if they are unsure about what they need to be doing.

On Monday 29 August, we will be having a Teacher Only Day. Seniors are expected to use

the time to prepare for the following weeks assessments. Part of the day will be devoted to

upskilling the staff on Google Classrooms as we move to support all staff and students

feeling confident in using e-learning effectively in their teaching and learning.

Winter sports continue and I am aware that a number of students have made representative

teams. Watch out for the lists of those involved in up-coming newsletters. Our Y7 and Y8

netballers are working hard to raise the funds needed to attend the AIMS Games in Tauranga

from the 4—9 September.

Our Music Performance Day is Tuesday 12 September. It is great to see the enthusiasm of a

growing number of students towards Music. With Room 24 set up with piano and drums we

hope to encourage the formation of groups or bands passionate about making “their” style of

music.

Remember that the College has a variety of facilities that may meet a number of needs.

We want our community to feel welcome, to experience a sense of belonging. Please con-

tact the office to discuss how we might work together to the mutual benefit of all.

Finally, if you have any ideas, concerns, questions and/or praise about anything happening at

the College or for our students, please let us know. If we don’t know about it, we can’t fix it.

If you don’t ask we can’t explain why (or even question our own practices). If it is good, we

know we are on the right track.

Ki te kahore he whakakitenga ka ngaro te iwi.

Without foresight or vision the people will be lost.

Louise Sheeran

Acting Principal

MATARIKI—KAPA HAKA

P A G E 2

SCIENCE SPINNERS AT RUAKURA

Science Spinners was a day long program of activities with the goal of raising interest in Science as a

future career option. Eight Y10 students participated in this recently at the Ruakura research facility in Hamilton.

On arrival, students were given a pack containing a mix of materials including snacks to be eaten through the

day (lunch was also provided) and then divided into four groups with a mix of students from the 6 different

schools present.

The program included four main areas of interest – sports science, food/product development, technology,

heart/human health and water quality/invasive fish species in the Waikato. Groups moved between these areas

and then also rotated around specific activities within each area.

Sports Science activities related to balance and hand eye coordination under the auspices of a NZ Pro BMX

rider. The Product Development area related to the process of developing and taste testing food as well as a

dress up activity as if one was going into a high risk hygiene area of a factory producing goat milk powder. The

Heart and Human Health area had images of ulcers related to diabetes that resulted in amputations. Students

also got the opportunity to use the instrument that surgeons use to place stents in blocked heart blood vessels.

In the Water Quality activity students got to complete or observe a range of water quality tests and heard about

the wide range of fish in the Waikato rivers. This included pest invasive species such as carp, rudd and catfish

– samples of each were there to see ‘hands on’.

Here is some student feedback on the day:

- The highlight of my day was seeing everyone’s faces when they ate the nasty chocolate. The

other highlight was when we were doing the basketball. The boys missed every one. It was very

funny when we were shooting backwards and everyone missed. It was funny to see when a boy

got tested on how gassy he was – he only got two. (That’s the amount of Hydrogen in a person’s

stomach and related to how much someone would express wind.)

- It was fun, enjoyable and cool. My favourite thing was the BMX with the lady because she told me

how to get where she is and how it feels to be a Pro BMX rider in New Zealand.

- Knowing how to make a good milkshake.

- Improving hand eye coordination by shooting basketballs with our eyes shut. The balance game

was fun as well because we were all falling over.

Richard O’Dea

MUSIC PERFORMANCE DAY This has been set for the Monday 12 September of Term 3. All instrumental musicians and singers (students learning with our ITM teachers but as well as piano, bagpipes, harmonica, drums etc…), start to talk to your teachers and prepare a little piece to perform in front of 2 friendly adjudicators in a relaxed environment. If you know how to play any instrument (and do not take lessons) please don’t be shy and hide your talent away, come forward and play a piece for us. For more info contact Noelle Turner.

NETBALL PPC Red Rebelz vs PPP Panthers Court 4 at 10.00am PPC vs Pukenui All Stars Court 5 at 12.00pm PPC Red Ferns vs TKHS Junior Court 1 at 12.00pm PPC Red Rebelz vs St Jo’s Magpies Court 3 at 1.00pm Y8 Reps vs TWOM Court 5 at 11.00am Eddie Alcock Primary Netball tournament is next Wednesday, 3 August.

RUGBY 1st XV

Sat 30 July 10.30am PPC vs HBHS @ Piopio

Wed 3 July 4.00pm PPC vs St Pauls Red @ Piopio

Wed 10 July 4.00pm PPC vs St Pauls Black @ Piopio

Sat 30 July 9.00am u13 vs Tongariro in Turangi

BASKETBALL

Tues 2 August 7.30pm

PPC Girls vs Hadditz PPC Boys - Bye

MATHEMATICS - MATHS WEEK MON 8 AUGUST - FRI 12 AUGUST Maths Week is fast approaching us and this year we are going to step it up a gear, not only are we going to continue with our daily Maths questions and Estimate the number of lollies in the jar, but we are going to be holding a Mathematics challenge during Whanau Comp on Wednesday. On top of this students will be registered for the Maths Week activities website www.mathsweek.org.nz where there will be a range of activities for them to get involved in and use their Mathematics outside of the classroom. Activities will include: The new largest Prime Number. Discovered in January 2016! Maths Millionaire? Interactive game at three Levels. Year 5 to Year 11. Survivor Series class tasks. Daily Dollar questions. The Dam Busters. Maths that was needed in this historic bombing raid. Championship Darts. The Sound of Music. Maths from the famous movie! The Maths Chaser. Popular game at three Levels. The Motorway Planning problem. Steiner Points. Travelling on Route 66. Maths on this famous road trip. Olympic Games. Mathematics from competitions involving kiwis. Skiing in France. A week at Meribel. Every young person's O.E. dream! Please encourage your son/daughter to get involved and enjoy Mathematics. R Gray HoD Mathematics

INVITATION TO UNVEILING OF REPLICA BUS A function to mark the completion of completion of construction of a replica of Piopio’s first school bus is to be held in the College Hall on Saturday 6 August at 5.00pm. Residents of Piopio and districts are most welcome to attend. Please acknowledge your attendance by txt to 0274 135 400 or email to brianmargaret.tegg@xtra.co.nz by Monday 1 August. THE WOOL SHED So you've seen an unusual container in the Rec Centre car park.... well here's a peek inside.

The Wool Shed is a mobile shipping container packed full of detailed information about wool. It is part of an educational project partnered be-tween the CFW NZ and PGW Wool and specifi-cally designed to engage the interest of Y7 & Y8 school students—although older and younger pupils have also enjoyed visiting the Shed. Students can see and feel the different stages of shorn wool, try out a fleece for size, test the strength of it when made into a yarn and do one or more curriculum based activities in class or at home.

Today some Y7 & Y9 students started an exploratory journey learning about the wool industry using the amazing resources provided by the educational project. Over the next two weeks Piopio College and other local schools will continue taking advantage of the opportunity to explore in a tactile way. Marina Rauputu

RURAL SCHOOLS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FAIR Hosted each year by the Aria Primary School, the fair attracts entries from a number of local schools. This year Piopio College’s Y7 & Y8’s managed an impressive 20 entries and came away with some prizes to boot.

The students were permitted to work alone or in groups to complete a science investigation ( a fair test) of their own design. Once they settled on a topic they then researched background information and worked out a design for their experiment. Once that was sorted they then carried out the experiment and recorded their results, drawing a conclusion based on these. With any good investigation comes a discussion on what the results suggested, what limits there were and how it could be done better. As they progressed through their investigation groups were required to record what was done each day against the date it was done, as an evidence trail of work completed.

Most of this was done during Friday’s Project Based Learning program. Each group was then required to set up a display board using the fair test headings that scientists around the world use to report investigations and their findings. Some awesome effort went into this and some fantastic boards were produced. Topics ranged from whether it was easier to push or to pull a plough, to which chocolate melted the fastest, to making slime, bouncing eggs and to separation of colours using chromatography.

On the last Wednesday of the last week of Term 2 all the display boards and their accompanying log books were set up in the Aria Town Hall for judging. Three Year 10 students (Julius Kaiki, Jade Frater, Selina Noun and Janelle Elliott) assisted the judges through this process.

Prize giving was held the next day with a number of our groups winning prizes. When the judges ran out of prizes to hand to the youngest winners, Thomas Pease did us proud by surrendering his group’s prizes so the young primary students could each receive one instead of missing out. Tumeke Thomas Next year’s goal – keeping up the number of entries but lifting the standard of the log books and filling in the gaps on some of the display boards.

Prize winners: Technology Section: First Place with Mr Cleaner – Nicholas Ovilla and Conrad Fourie Science Section: Second Place with Rock Candy – Alicia Keightly and Kendall Burton Third Equal with Rusty Nails – Heidi Austin and Natallie Foss Third Equal with Dirty Surfaces and Bacteria – Te Wai Ora Iti and Keeana Randell Richard O’Dea HoD Science HEALTH NURSE CLINIC - Monday lunchtimes Self referral clinics– information for students A self-referral clinic is a health service for youth that attend secondary and intermediate schools. This is run by a public health nurse. A “self referral” clinic means that it is your decision to see the public health nurse– you just need to make an appointment at the office or drop in when she is there– The Health Clinic sign will be displayed outside the office. Public Health nurses support youth development through: Health assessment , Health education, Access to health resources, Referral to other health and social services. Public health nurses are part of the Waikato District Health Board Community Services team and they work along-side to promote student health and well being. As a health service, self-referral clinics are private and confidential. Surietha Malan —Public Health Nurse