Mercury Bay Area School eNewsletter

MBAS Calendar

Ken Rush - First Principal of MBAS

It is with regret that we inform our school community of the passing of Ken Rush. Ken was the first principal of Mercury Bay Area School when it started in 1977. The school at that time was on two sites with little in the way of facilities. Ken had the challenging role of establishing staffing and programmes. He was a great guy and attracted many staff to the school in the early years. As an acknowledgement of his passing the flag was flown at half mast on the 1st of November. Our condolences go out to Ken's family.

Kua hinga he totara i te wao nui a Tane.
A totara has fallen in the forest of Tane.

Kia Ora tātou – Greetings to you all

Senior Students of 2023

This past month has been an eventful one for our senior students in particular as the year comes to an end. Many emotions circling but also many thank you’s given. As our years 11-13’s get ready to partake in external exams, there is much reminiscing that has been done. In particular, by the year 13’s and some year 12’s who are leaving school to do great things!

Gumboot Friday:
Before many students leave school, we decided to partake in the Gumboot Friday initiative a week early so that our seniors would still be able to participate. It was a great turnout from our kura to show that we stand with those who are struggling. Our idea to gain more engagement and awareness of the cause was to create a gumboot-throwing competition. This was a wholesome activity as students from all across the kura participated; it was a great opportunity for our students to connect from years 1 - 13.

Staff Morning Tea:
The year 13’s also held a morning tea for the staff members in the school which was held in the staff room as a big thank you to all the teachers in the school. To express the gratitude we have for all the work they have done and how much they have helped us throughout the years. It was a lovely event where all year 13’s brought some kai to be shared and a few words were said to help convey how much we appreciate their efforts.

Handing over leadership to 2024 leaders:
Another opportunity our school has had to connect with all years was our whole school Lifer's assembly and the announcement of the 2024 leaders. On Friday the 27th of November this assembly was held to commemorate the students that have spent the whole of their schooling days at Mercury Bay Area School. From years 1 - 13, we had our students celebrating the success of 5 lifers in the class of 2023, which were Violet Robinson, Maia Ganley, Kael Robertson, Milly Lamason and Devon Grigsby who all got a pohutukawa tree in recognition of their time spent in our kura. Once this was celebrated the 2024 leaders were announced

Prior to this assembly, we had the opportunity to connect with the 2024 student leaders, we held a morning tea and shared learned experiences with each other in hopes that they would implement our learnings to their next year of leading and inspiring our tamariki. We have learnt a lot about who they are and their abilities and are more than confident that they will contribute incredibly to our kura.

Prizegiving
Senior year’s prize giving was held on Wednesday 1st of November. Big thank you to the 2024 leaders who helped to set up this event. This was an awesome celebration of the achievements and successes the amazing senior students had in 2023. The leaders would like to congratulate all the prize winners from this event.

Leavers Dinner
Wednesday the 1st concluded the end of school for many students in year 13, we had an amazing send-off with our leaver’s dinner at Stoked. Recounting all the good memories we had in our time at school and getting a final warm goodbye to many teachers we have known for many years. This event was only possible with the help of Mercury Bay’s up-and-coming leaders for 2024, many thanks especially to the new head students, Hugo Smith de Zeeuw and Francie Lidgard and the deputy head students, Samuel Ribet and Te Kari Mataiti who emceed the whole night for us. We all shared many laughs throughout the night, including the reading out of our special “most likely to's” and our “about us sheets from year 9” A special thanks to our wonderful dean we have had through all of our senior life at school, Miss Judy Evans, who has helped us through so much adversity, we would not be where we are today without her.

Final words as 2023 leaders:
Being Senior Student Leader’s for 2023 has been an absolute honour. We have picked up numerous skills and learned to overcome hurdles with perseverance and most importantly, as a team. A huge goal of ours this year was to build connections throughout our kura from years one to thirteen, and we feel as though we have implemented measures to see this goal fulfilled. Thank you to our parents, teachers, and students for being so supportive of our initiatives and having taught us new things along the way, we cannot express our gratitude enough! It has been amazing witnessing the improvement of our kura and can’t wait to see what our 2024 leaders have in store! We would like to formally say goodbye as the Senior Student Leaders of 2023.

Upcoming Questionairre

A paper copy of this questionnaire will be coming home with your child next week. However, if you would like to have the conversation with your children over the weekend and email your responses to: farrellyk@mbas.ac.nz you are welcome to do so.

Nga mihi
Ross Dunn

Trophy Return

Please make sure you return all 2022 Middle Years Trophies to the office as soon as possible. Thank You.

2023 MBAS School Magazine

Remember to reserve your copy of this years MBAS School Magazine by paying for it online or at the office.

Once again it is only $35. It will be filled with lots of stunning photos and events from throughout the year!

Senior Prizegiving

It was an absolute privilege to be a part of the Senior Years Prizegiving and final farewell to our Year 13 students with their Leavers Dinner on Wednesday this week.

The prizegiving is an opportunity to acknowledge the cumulative successes brought about by a year of hard mahi, resilience, perseverance, strong learning relationships and a fair bit of fun! Our students are incredible, over a vast array of disciplines, be it academic, sporting, cultural or as citizens of our world. Each and every one of them embody our KAURI values of kindness, achievement, unity, respect and identity.

The Leavers Dinner was a more informal affair and really conveyed the spirit of our kura as both students and staff sat down together to share kai, stories, tears and laughter. We could not be prouder of the people you have become and can't wait to hear all about your exciting adventures to come as you embark on the next part of your journey.

This month our lads have started with a clean top lip with the hopes to raise some funds as well as some understanding. Our focus is to put all of our efforts towards mens mental health. As teachers we are role models and have a very influential position, we hope to use this to support young men that are going through some tough times. If you’re in the position to do so, please donate and help us start those hard conversations. Please see our school facebook page for the link to our page, keep an eye on us as we add our progress throughout Movember!
https://movember.com/m/14987436?mc=1

Y3-6 Athletics Day

We were blessed with a stunning day yesterday for our Y3-6 Athletics Day after a wet start to the week.

We had one record broken in this age group with 9 year old Harry Sharman throwing the discus into a new record distance of 16.10m.

Everyone enjoyed the mix of field and track events and Parents joined in with the relay at the end of the day.

Final House points were -
Buffalo 580
Mercury 461
Tainui 412
Matahaourua 398

Full results can be found here.

M8's have been sprouting kumara on window sills for 15 weeks and they have finally grown and are ready for planting. But before that, we did observational drawings, measured their growth, learned about the functions of the parts of a plant, and prepared the earth for planting. Next autumn we will harvest them for eating. So much learning! (and pretty amazing drawings for Year 2's!)

Room 23 have been learning about the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly. We have been observing the caterpillars as they grow. We have seen a caterpillar turn into a chrysalis. We have illustrated the lifecycle. Now we are waiting for the butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis.

Hei5 - Rangiriri Learning

Hei 5 have been learning about the Battle of Rangiriri in the Waikato. They created a slide show and wrote some beautiful poems. Two of which you can read below.

Rangiriri By Ngahuia Holmes Hei 5 Year 7
The land of Rangiriri
Watching reality.
Listen as she spoke,
As the news broke.

The heartfelt truth.
As us youth
May not be aware of the abuse.
In 1863 land wars began
And soon I started to understand.
What people went through
It makes me feel so blue

Gunshots, cuts and spears too
The Māori and British just couldn't agree
The Māori got imprisoned and couldn't get free
But the Māori stayed strong
And keeped pushing on.

Hearing these words made me feel sad
Just imagine being an afraid mum or dad.
With your child holding your hand.
In the moment I didn't know how to feel
There were lots of emotions
that I didn't want to conceal
So here is my poem
This is the truth
As I have introduced.
This is the story of Rangiriri
Ka whawhai tonu mātou.

Rangiriri By Jacob Manukau Hei 5 Y7

I was sad when we were in a circle at Rangiriri
I think if sad had a color
It would be blue as the sky
If sadness had a taste it would not taste good.
If sad was a feeling it would
be emotionally sore like getting run
over by a car.
If sad was a smell,
it would smell as salty as the sea water.
If sad was a sound,
it would sound like somebody crying.

Rangiriri Slide Show

THH - Y7/8 Wood

In Y7/8 Wood technology, students have been designing and building their own Taonga box. Their design had to incorporate a lid and a design feature which made it unique to the person it was being made for. Here are some of the creations from THH2.

Y11 BCATS (Wood)

Throughout the year the Y11 Wood students have been completing one wood project for their Level 1 assessments. They had to learn about health and safety, design, plan and cost a piece of indoor furniture and finally construct it using a variety of joints, materials and hardware. The students came up with some amazing final outcomes which they should be really proud of. I hope to see a lot of them again at Level 2 in 2024.

Sports Weekly

Mercury Bay Secondary School Rugby AGM

Mercury Bay Secondary School Rugby notice of AGM meeting

Tuesday 21 November 6pm at MBAS School Library

New and existing Committee members are welcomed for the 2024 Season

Y5-8 Basketball

Wednesday School Gym

Year 5/6 2.15pm - 3.30pm
Year 7/8 3.3pm - 5pm

Must wear shoes

Tertiary Tidbits

The latest School Leaving Magazine (#28) is now ready for you to digest! Follow the link below to read it online.

Leaving School issue 28 | Oliver Lee Publications

Nurses Notes

DENTAL CARE IS FREE TILL YOU TURN 18
YEAR NINE STUDENTS AND ANY NEW SENIOR STUDENTS AT MBAS– A REMINDER THAT
YOU NEED TO REGISTER WITH LUMINO DENTIST

IMPORTANT TIPS ABOUT TEETH AND MOUTH HEALTH

• VAPING CAUSES BAD BREATH, TOOTH DECAY AND GUM DISEASE
• WATER IS THE BEST AND IMPROVES BRAIN FUNCTION AND CLARITY AND IS PREVENTATIVE AGAINST TOOTH DECAY
• SUGARY DRINKS CAN LEAD TO TOOTH DECAY AND GUM DISEASE
• WEAR A MOUTH GUARD FOR CONTACT SPORTS – A BROKEN TOOTH IS DAMAGED FOR LIFE

Community Notices

Private Tutor Wanted - For Primary Aged Student

One of our primary school whānau is looking for private tuition for their primary aged student. If you are interested please leave your contact details with our admin staff so they can contact you directly.

Women's/Girl's Basketball Tournament

Summer Sailing - Registrations Now Open

Registering your sailor for courses is a two-step process:

1. If your child is not a junior member or family member of the club for this year 2023_2024, please click on this link to join. Participants in the junior sailing program must be MBBC/YNZ members either via the family membership or individual junior membership. Click Here for the 2023_24 Membership Form.

2. Once your child is a member of MBBC, click on this link to enter the pertinent details and choose the course(s). You can choose one course in Term 4 and one or more Block Courses during the summer if you wish. Please fill out one form per child and upon sign up you will receive an invoice to confirm your spot. Click Here to Register for a Course.

Thames Valley Basketball

To pre-register for Representative Trials please click on the link or copy and paste to a browser.https://forms.gle/YhzBD77typr7r7Lg6

TVBB Tournament

TVBB Rep Coaches Needed

Corosounds Under 18's Music Fest

OCT 28 - COROSOUNDS UNDER 18's MUSIC FEST - Seeking expressions of interest. Are you a solo artist, duo or band? Do you want to play on a festival line-up to other Under18s...with a fantastic headliner band (deets on that to be released soon). Send us some info on your act - artist/band name; genre; band members etc to corosounds@gmail.com, including a brief clip of a performance. Submit by noon, Mon 23 Oct. It's going to be epic!!

For more information, check out www.beatfairy.com. Festival will be in Whitianga, but is open to all acts across the Coromandel.

Boys Brigade

Dravuni Primary School Donation Request

Lifeguard Summer Job Opportunity

Hello,

My name is Caitlin and I am a manager for WaterWorld waterpark. We have a park coming to Whitianga Brophys Beach this summer from 27th Dec - 17th Jan.

We are looking for competent and enthusiastic people who may be interested in joining our team to work as a lifeguard at our park during this period.

You need to be 16 years old or over and be confident in the water to apply.

Please if you are interested email me at admin@wipeout.co.nz with an application.
I look forward to hearing from you.

Caitlin