Waikino School Students enjoyed attending the Hockey Big Day Out in Ngatea. We got to play teams from all around the area, and learn new skills while at it. Here are some photos from the day.
 Some of our Waikino School Students showing off their new book bags.
Our year 5 and 6 competitors enjoyed a brilliant day yesterday at the Waihi Cluster Athletics event. Here are some great photos of the day that was thoroughly enjoyed by all. 
There were some very excited children arriving at school this morning, as we prepared for our whole school excursion to the Waihi Beach Hop Warm Up Party....one of the biggest events of the year for Waihi! And what better way to travel there, than to utilise a local treasure that is right on our doorstep, and catch the train to Waihi, departing from Waikino Station! Each child was issued with their own train ticket, before boarding the Goldfields Historic Railway for the scenic and leisurely train ride to Waihi. Arriving in Waihi Train Station, we met with our wonderful parent helpers, and headed into town to check out the amazing collection of hotrods and muscle cars assembled. The atmosphere was pumping, with rock 'n' roll tunes belting out, people dressed in costumes, dancing, and cars of all colours, shapes and sizes. The children had a great time wandering around, and checking out all the sights and sounds. Thank you so much to all the parents and whanau who came along today, and supported us during this outing. We couldn't have done it without your help. It was such a great opportunity for the kids to get out and see a great event, that happens in our area. Here's some photos of the day.... What an amazing effort by the army of helpers at our Step into Spring Garden Working Bee on Friday? Wow – we are so lucky to have such a fabulous bunch of whanau & friends at Waikino School! Not only are they not scared of hard work, they are not scared of the rain either! Keep scrolling down for heaps of photos   With a great turnout we managed to get straight into things and had heaps done by the time the rain arrived. But the rain didn’t dampen our spirits, and the hard work just continued. By the end of the afternoon our garden was looking great, we were all drenched, our tummies were full and our kids had a great time helping, playing and splashing in the rain & puddles. It was fantastic to not only see parents joining us, but also aunties, grandparents and even some of our neighbors! For our children it is a valuable life lesson to see their family muck in and do their bit for the school. They also see that helping out can be heaps of fun. It is also worth noting that the children did an awesome job of enthusiastically helping with the various jobs and had lots of fun doing so. We planted the 4 beautiful, big pear trees in the orchard area and removed the dead mandarin trees. We harvested buckets full of vermicast from our worm farm and started some fresh new layers for our worms. We now have a huge drum full of vermicast and worm juice ready to use for the growing season. The entire vegetable garden was weeded and the star shaped beds re-established with new panga logs. All the paths were weeded and thoroughly covered with mulch. Many wheelbarrow loads of home-made school compost were added to the soil and with all the weeds we pulled out, we started some huge new compost piles. Last but not least, we planted a huge amount of strawberry plants. Thanks to David for keeping the BBQ going and feeding us all, and to Susanna for baking the delicious chocolate cake. Thank you to everybody who came along! It was evidence again that our Waikino community is strong and very special indeed. We achieved so much, and as parents and whanau it is a great way to give back to the school and the teachers who do so much for our children. Ka pai team! PS: Feel free to come and spend a bit of time in the garden at any time. Many parents and friends expressed an interest in doing this, and that would fit right in with the enviroschool kaupapa and the whole idea of the garden being there for the entire community.       On Thursday night a group of Waikino School piano students had an exciting night out in Hamilton. The students attended “Swing into Spring” at the Claudelands Arena and enjoyed a full concert by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Rodger Fox Big Band and international trumpet virtuoso Allen Vizzutti.
We would like to thank Ting, our fantastic piano teacher, for organizing the trip and encouraging the children to go. It was a great opportunity for our students to experience a full symphony orchestra in a light and upbeat way – everybody loved the jazz twist! The brass band magic with saxophones, trombones, trumpets, bass, guitar and drums left everybody in awe and was a huge inspiration for our young music students. Even though it was a freezing cold night, and a long drive back from Hamilton, everybody had a great time and agreed that a night at the symphony is a wonderful treat!  Congratulations to our 10 gymnasts who represented Waikino School at the 2016 Gym Sport Competition in August. Competing at Gym Sport requires students to take on the responsibility of learning their 2 routines and their vault skills all by themselves and the hard work and practice mostly happens at home. We are thankful to parents for supporting our gymnasts - it was clear that the children took this responsibility very seriously and practiced hard at home. The Waihi Event Centre was buzzing with children jumping, tumbling, balancing, rolling and stretching. The Waikino kids competed with pride and confidence against teams from as far afield as Whangamata and Kerepehi. Boys perform a mat, floor and vault routine and girls perform a floor, beam and vault routine. We cleaned up in the boys competition, with Angus taking first place, Duncan taking second place and Stuart fifth place. Sianna triumphed in her group, claiming a well deserved first place. Well done however, to the entire team, you made us proud. It looked like you had loads of fun and that is, as always, the most important! Thank you to Mrs Bartram for coordinating our students this year and for the a very special treat she surprised the children with after the event! Enjoy the photos.  We are so lucky to have parents (and younger siblings - thanks Lewis) who are game to jump in and help out in the garden. This past Wednesday we had a fantastic turnout for the Garden Gang's first gathering. We managed to make a huge dent in the weeds - well done team! What we did find out, is that the Waikino garden is a very fertile place - the soil is jam packed with huge, fat worms. No wonder the weeds have grown so well! If you ever have a bit of time to spare, come and join us - it's a great way to catch up or get to know each other better.   This season The Waikino Celts made us all super proud. So what is all the hype about? Well, it’s a bit like David and Goliath… let’s start at the beginning:
The Celts entered the Waihi Year 5 & 6 soccer tournament with a team consisting of mostly Year 4 and 5 players (which included every single Year 4-6 boy in the school). Some of the team members had never even played a single game of soccer before and we were the smallest school in the tournament. Some schools even entered 1st and 2nd teams, and we often played against predominantly Year 6 teams. But the Waikino Celts pitched up with passion, with heart, with soul. We pitched up with a coach who believed in every single player, and who never doubted the team’s potential – you are awesome, Mr B! We also pitched up with an assistant coach who raised the skill levels and ranks right up there with the best of the best – thanks AJ! As you may have heard, the Celts pitched up with the best & loudest group of fans & supporters who faithfully spent their Friday afternoons on the side line. Most importantly, they pitched up with a team who loved being there and who loved playing soccer together. The team put in lots of hard work and practice. Their progress over the duration of the season was phenomenal – and towards the end they made for a feared and formidable opponent – even to the top teams. Thanks to Noah, our year 6 player – we will miss you next year. And watch out world – the Celts are going to be unstoppable next year! The Celts celebrated their successful season with a pizza lunch at the Falls Retreat – thanks to Brad & Emma. Iain wrote this piece about his season as a Celt for his Kauri Award: “Kauri award challenge: Compete in a sport for an entire season This year I competed in the Waihi yr 5-6 soccer. I played in the Waikino Celts team. During my “career” I scored 2 goals and saved at least 4 or 5. We won most of our matches (which, of course, is good) and lost only about four. My role in the team was midfield/striker. Our average score was us 2 the other team 0. Our humble goalie Ace is the best goalie I’ve ever known. Noah is so fast that if you manage to get the ball off him you will be watching a green flash shoot past you and the ball you have will be slipping from your feet in seconds. Elliott is no different and he is the best ever dribbler. Hamish is amazing when it comes to long distance passing. Jacob makes an awesome ball-stopper. Sky is too agile to trick. Matthew is always there to help you when you think all hope is lost. Kyle has to be the best scorer ever, along with Ciara, who, despite being a girl, has to be one of the top players ever. Angus is a brilliant backup goalie when Ace has had too much. I… well, I think I’m really good when it comes to catching enemy throw-ins.”  Join us as we celebrate our older netball players - Casey Davies tells us more about the Year 3-4 team's successful season.
This year saw a first, for both the Waihi Netball Association and Waikino School, as the Year 3-4's participated in 5 a side version of Netball. The aim is to build on the skills they learnt last year while introducing different positions, such as attack, defend and centre. Like with the Year 1-2 teams, there is a focus on fun and encouraging star helpers to continue supporting the players during the game. As the players continue to move through the different levels of the ANZ Future Ferns, they are given the opportunity to embed the basic skills of passing, catching, movement, stable base position, defending and shooting. Our team consisted of Zara, Erana, Lasini, Shavarn, Skye, Asha, Lachie, Lucy and Sianna. Although half our team hadn’t played netball before they quickly began to find their strengths and gain confidence in themselves - from those that mastered the art of shadowing and reading players to our point scorers and those that enjoyed connecting the two ends of the court continually running back and forth. The team where given skills, support and space to grow as individual players and together in partnership with each other. Their progress as a team was noted and I look forward to working with them again next year. A massive thank you to the parents who show up every week, your commitment and support is appreciative. Thank you to Grace for her work on court supporting the players. |
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