Inline Hockey

During term 2 Rooms 5 & 6 were taught the skills of Inline Skating, this term they have progressed to learn the skills of Inline Hockey. Every Friday morning they travel to the Stingrays skating rink at Harmony Lane, Waipapa to have an hour and a half lesson with Sophie.

Each week the skaters are taught a new skill and also go over skills already learnt. To start with the skaters had to become familiar with holding a hockey stick and skate at the same time, this proved challenging for some however they soon learnt the correct hockey stance. Once comfortable with skating with a stick, soft pucks were introduced. The skaters then realised why they had to wear knee pads and a helmet, soon it no longer mattered that they didn't look cool.

Time was spent learning how to correctly pass the puck backwards and forwards to each other, using the stick. It's actually a lot harder than you think to get the puck to go where you want it to go.

Last week saw the skaters put all of their skills into practice as Sophie allowed them to play their first game. It was great to see the skaters flying around the rink with big smiles on their faces, having gone from the start of Term 3 learning to skate to now being able to manoeuvre a puck around the opposition to score a goal!

Inline Hockey has definitely been a much needed confidence boost for some of the skaters. It is a great all round activity for fitness, co-ordination and balance. If you have not given it a go before, I highly recommend you do.

Ms Horsfield 

How the World Works

Room 5/6 recently shared their learning for their How the World Works unit of inquiry by exhibiting their science fair projects. The students chose science tests which they were interested in an conducted fair tests following the scientific process. This year we decided not to use the traditional science fair boards to show our process, data and results and instead created slideshows to present this information.

The children also included a piece of explanation writing to this to make connections between their test and the scientific facts which they witnessed. Our focus was not for the children to present information which would be read by the audience but to come up with a provocation to encourage conversations about their tests and the scientific knowledge. The students came up with imaginative ways in which to interest the audience in their work and were able to have discussions about their findings.  

We had an excellent turn out of parents and whānau who came in and had lively conversations with the students about their work. I think we all were in agreement that it was a much more effective use of our time to spend more time doing science and less time crafting a display. The students also have a digital copy of the learning in a slideshow which can now be shared with a much wider audience.The student's confidence and ability to have discussions about their learning is really growing. A big thank you to everyone who came and spent time talking with all the students.

Something for the upcoming holiday break!

From the principal

A new Vision, Mission Statement and Strategic Goals

We are currently working on our new vision for the future and have invited your feedback. The background and opportunity to contribute are here and here. We understand this is can be a difficult process to participate in and as a result are trying to make it less 'education' speak and more common speak. We'll keep working on improving that but welcome you again to have your say. 

The 3 key strategic areas we believe will help us reach the vision and mission in the next 3 years are summarised as:
1. Even more relevant and engaging learning for children, with a much greater action component.
2. Growing self managing and empathetic children who are resilient, positive and cooperative.
3. Learning more closely with you in the community and in school for reciprocal benefit.

The 'plan on a page' is included below for your interest. If you would like to offer comment or thoughts you are also welcome to email principal@boi.ac.nz.




Student Led Conferences
A reminder that these will be held on Wednesday 19th beginning at 1pm. There will be no classes after 1pm and alternative arrangements should be made for childcare. To book a conference please visit www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and enter the code zg97w.

2019 Dates
We have set dates for the 2019 school year, beginning on Monday 4th February and finishing, tentatively on the 19th December. Confirmation of the closing date for next year will happen shortly as we liaise with our fellow Kerikeri schools.

Building Progress
We are very pleased that the successful removal of the asbestos is now completed. Builders and sub contractors are once again fully active on site in both the classroom and the new toilet block. You should see rapid progress from this point, with a likely completion on both parts of the project about the middle of term 4. Thanks everyone for your patience to date.

Friends of the School (aka our PTA)
The latest meeting of parents and teachers took place on Wednesday evening. It was great to see a good turnout. Topics of discussion focussed on key areas of fundraising need for the school, and lots of great ideas about how and what we could do to raise these funds. For more information and to get involved go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/993353617535024/ or contact Keshama at keshama@gmail.com.

“Millions saw the apple fall but Newton asked why” Bernard Baruch

The IB Learner Profile ‘Inquirer’ encourages students to nurture curiosity and develop skills for inquiry and research. Students know how to learn independently and with others. Students learn with enthusiasm and sustain a love of learning throughout life.

At the start of each inquiry teachers set a provocation to inspire and engage students in the upcoming inquiry. These provocations have ranged from a staged staff argument, a room full of materials, science experiments, to unknown suitcases turning up at the school.

Children have natural curiosity and this should be the drive for learning. Our celebration of science day last Thursday was an outstanding collection of mini inquiries, displayed by our senior students using provocations to invite us to ask questions. This process showed that students were knowledgeable about their science and also thought about how to provoke thinking in others.

We love reading at the BOI Academy!

Lots of fun and creativity at book character day this year. Lots of children getting into character to celebrate their love of reading.

Project Island Song Trip

On Thursday, 23 August, Room 4 ventured out on a crisp, sunny Winter's day on the floating classroom with Project Island Song,  ferried from Paihia to Urupukapuka Island, and back again.

So, what is Project Island Song?

Project Island Song as a  Floating Classroom, offers conservation education and leadership to Northland schools on the pest free islands of Ipipiri (Eastern Bay of Islands). We visited Urupukapuka Island where there are plants to be planted and the building of pest trapping construction kits for the field based component of the programme.

For many of the students, this would be a rare opportunity to get out into the Bay. The classroom learning about the local sea life and birds that are being reintroduced to the Bay, was fantastic. We learnt about

endemic trees - which are important to feed the bird life - learning solidified by seeing the trees in their natural environment, as well as the planting that the students undertook.

We also learnt how they catch and control pests on the island so that that bird life population can increase. The students did this by building of traps and tracking boxes, which encouraged the students to understand the importance of maintaining pest free zones on the Islands.

As Keira Featherstone noted in the pre-visit lesson “this would be very expensive” if the Project was left to volunteers alone. Students had leadership jobs in Health and Safety, Biosecurity, Planting, Construction and Media.

It is with much gratitude that the sponsors, Explore NZ and the Joyce Fisher Charitable Trust, made the outdoor education of students of the BOI Academy possible.

We would like to thank our volunteer parents without whom this trip would be more challenging: Patrick, Pete, Maaka and Rachel. Whaea Xani and Mrs Roessler had a really wonderful trip and were glad that the students learning was solidified through action.

Most of all we would like to thank our Floating Classroom teachers: Ria, Debby and BJ. You were truly amazing!