MBAS Newsletter, Term 1, Week 10, 5th April 2024

MBAS Calendar

Kia Ora tātou – Greetings to you all

Senior Students Update

Kia ora koutou, we hope everyone had a relaxing Easter break! As the term is finishing up, remember to stay motivated, and keep up all of your hard work. The end of term can be a stressful time for both students and staff, so please remember to spread kindness to your peers, teachers, whanau, and other members in our community. 

In week 8, our student leaders gathered to have our first whole-school leadership hui. Led by Indaria and Meila, primary, middle, and senior student leaders were able to express their ideas about how we can push positive change throughout our kura, and how we can connect all the areas of our kura. There were a lot of creative suggestions, and the senior leaders loved connecting with and working with the younger leaders! It was a great opportunity for our primary and middle school leaders to voice their opinions about what was important to them, and for all of us to discuss how we can improve different parts of our kura. 

A couple weeks ago, we had a shuffle up with student-led lunchtime activities. On Tuesday (as usual), board games are available to play (including Cluedo, Uno, Chess, and Bananagrams) in the library. Open Mic has moved to Wednesday, and you’re encouraged to sign up using the google form, which will be sent out the Wednesday before, each week. On Thursdays and Fridays, Sports activities will be held on the field at lunch, and the games/activities for those days will be posted on the notices. It’s been awesome to see other students involving themselves in these activities.

Breakfast club is open from 8am in the cooking room every morning, where those who don’t get the chance to have breakfast at home are able to get cereal, toast, and hot chocolates before class. We’ve loved seeing senior students and staff stepping up with helping out and volunteering in the mornings, so keep up the good work! All of your help is greatly appreciated. If you need a warm place to hang out and have some kai in the mornings, remember that you’re always welcome at Breakfast club!

Thank you to everyone who has made the first term of the school year positive. Have a fantastic last week of school team!

A Stand for Climate Action

Today was a proud moment for our kura when all of our students made a stand for Climate Action. As part of a nation wide schools 'stand up for climate action',  our amazing year 10 leaders took the lead and created a "NO Co2" with all of our children from year 1 to year 13 as well as our staff and made a statement on our field. It's so good to see everyone coming together like this and we are so proud of our students. 

Policies Open for Review

Dear Parents

The following policies are open for review this term:

· Te Tiriti o Waitangi
· Board Responsibility
· Parental Involvement
· Communicating with Parents
· Community Conduct Expectations
· Documentation and Self-Review Policy
· School Planning and reporting
· Reporting to Parents on Student Progress and Achievement

If you would like to review and comment on any of these policies go to:

https://mbas.schooldocs.co.nz/ and click on the top right green button ‘Search for your school’
Username: MBAS and Password: kauri

On the front page you will see Reviews click on the blue button and follow the instructions.

Year 7/8 Immunisations Tuesday 9th April

The Public Health Nurses will be at Mercury Bay Area School on Tuesday 9th April to administer the Immunisation Programme for year 7 and 8 students. This will be for those students who have written consent from whanau.

Year 7 Immunisation (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis/Whooping Cough)
In Year 7 students are offered free vaccine against tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough.In New Zealand, babies and young children are given vaccines to protect them against these diseases. As children get older this protection wears off so Year 7 students need to boost their protection against these three diseases.

Year 8 HPV Immunisation Programme
HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination helps protect from cancers caused by this virus. This immunisation is now being offered every year as part of the school based immunisation programme.

Uniform Shop

Uniform Shop Hours until the end of Term 1

Wednesday 10th April - 8.30am - 9.30am

Then back to usual hours after the holidays

SPECIAL OFFER * Wool/Nylon jerseys - many brand new - gold coin donation. Sizes 10 to XL. Cold machine wash or handwash. 

All other uniform (except Canterbury) $5 per item - Canterbury $10 per item

WANTED Canterbury long pants - please donate any that are no longer required to the office. Plus any other clean items of uniform such as Rain jackets and Fleeces

Photolife Class, Sibling and ID Photos

Thursday April 11th

See full details below

Primary Be Bright, Eat Right Magic Show

These are our words to describe the magic show we saw this morning!

"We saw a magic show this morning and it was about food. It was fantastic, super awesome, amazing. It was WOW!! The magician had a bunny called Lollipop, some birds, some fire. He had another bunny called Zuzu but that was in Auckland. He didn’t tell us the names of the birds. He told us about vitamins, minerals, vegetables, proteins, dairy, fruit. He showed us a virus and told us that eating healthy kept viruses away. He made some money by folding a piece of paper that turned into money and then he shook a clear case and money appeared in it. He had a wand and he gave it to someone and it flopped everywhere. Someone else put on an Ironman outfit. He turned a black scarf into a rainbow. He turned a scarf into a bird and pulled a bird out of a box that had been on fire. He pulled a bunny from a hat. He turned a bird into a bunny, but we actually think that the bunny ate the bird! He showed us how much sugar was in a soft drink – he made bottles of coke appear in a case that was empty – the bottles disappeared from the bag that he had them."

M6 - KAURI Challenge

Our KAURI challenge this term was to create a collaborative display that shows our expectations (KAURI) and our motto - growing good people. Judging is next week. I think we have this one in the bag!!! The children have spent lots of time on the many different parts of our display, including coming up with the idea. Not bright enough was what they thought this morning........ let's add a 🌈. Amazing perseverance resilience and unity shown to get this looking soooooo good.

Coromandel Cricket Festival

30 Students travelled up to Coromandel for the Coro Cricket Festival.  The conditions were perfect and 4 teams enjoyed competing against other schools with some great skills on display and wonderful sportsmanship among our students who assisted other players and shared their skills. Thanks to Denise Harris, Kylie Shepherd, Mike & Rachel Cornwall and Jody Bower for assisting  with transport, reffing and managing teams.

Whitianga Bike Park Experts

On Wednesday the 3rd of April students from THH and the year nine and ten forest guardians went to the local Whitianga Bike Park to learn from some experts.

The experts:
Dave - Dave works at Waikato Regional Council in Hamilton as a Senior biosecurity officer
Elaine - Elaine works at Waikato Regional Council in Whitianga as a Senior catchment Management officer
Aaron - Aaron is a Field Support team Leader from Predator Free Hauraki Coromandel Community Trust
Noel Hewett - Noel is the Bike Park Founder
Jon Maud - Jon is the current Bike Park Coordinator 

We looked at native species, by completing a scavenger hunt, native and introduced bird scavenger hunt, and bark and leaf rubbings. We then listened to experts talk about their perspectives on conservation and predator control. The forest guardians went for a walk in the bush and looked at animal spoor and identified what the predator had been eating. 

Things I remember
-John Maud took over running the park in 2017
-The bike park used to be swamp and blackberry and there were no trees, everything there has been planted
-Kiwis are in the hills at the top of the bike park
-There are 3 species of mustelids
- Bats, beetles and moths pollinate lots of native plants

I learnt…
-There is only 20% of our native forests left in NZ
-There are 60 species of lizard in New Zealand and they give birth to live young
-There are about 40 traps at our local bike park
-That possums, mustelids (stoats, weasels and ferrets) and rats are the biggest threats to our native animals and plants
-That we use DOC200 traps to target mustelids
- How trapping and predator control is important to help protect our native species
- The largest trap at the bike park is the DOC250 and it is really hard to set
- There are 30000 introduced plant species and only 2500 natives
- The Coromandel has many rare plants such as the green and yellow rata

1 question I have…
Will New Zealand reach its predator-free goal in 2050?

I really enjoyed…
Meeting the experts and having them talk to us about all the threats to our country's environment and how bad predators like mustelids are to our native trees and animals.

By Jessica Allen 

Y11-13 Japan Trip

This Sunday, 7 April, ten Year 11-13 students from MBAS, accompanied by two teachers, will head off to Japan for the trip of a lifetime. The group will land in Tokyo, where they'll spend four nights, before heading into the mountains of Gifu Prefecture, where they'll visit Takayama and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Shirakawago, before arriving in Gujo Hachiman to meet the families they'll be staying with for three days. After that, the group will head to Hiroshima where they'll explore the history of this beautiful city and visit another UNESCO World Heritage site, the stunning Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island. The trip will give the students the chance to put their classroom language learning into practice and to be immersed in the sights and sounds and the culture of Japan.

Pictured in the front row, from left, are: Baylee Russell Y11, Reo McQueen Y11, Jade Wootton-Murphy Y11, Isobel Warwood Y12, Caden Swindlehurst Y13. Behind them are: Cerys Green Y12, Taingarunui Hinds Y11, Te Whakatūroa Hine-Rhodes Y11, Katelyn Mokaraka Y12, Hektor Soanes Y12. Behind the group, Japanese teacher Judy Evans. Also accompanying the group is Deputy Principal Jenny Bloom.

Breakfast Kitchen

We are so lucky to have an amazing team of staff and senior students who are at breakfast every morning in the hospitality kitchen serving up breakfast, hot milo and making lunch rolls from 8am to 8:35. All welcome.

TVP Swimming

TVP Swimming Results
Our year 3-8 Swimmers who qualified for Thames Valley Swimming enjoyed a busy day poolside over at Thames Centennial pools last Tuesday.  The Morgan and Shepherd sisters and Sharna Proctor qualify to go onto Waikato Full Primary School year 7/8  Swimming at St Peters in Cambridge next week. Well done to everyone who participated.

Thames Valley Results
Madison Morgan
1st 50 Breast
1st 50 Back
1st 50 Free
4th 100 Free

Paige Morgan
2nd 50 Back
3rd 100 Back

Coco Shepherd
2nd 50 Breast
2nd 100 Back
4th 50 Free

Riley Shepherd
3rd 25 Breast

Levi Jacobs
3rd 25 Breast

Armani Tupaea
4th 100 Freestyle
2nd 50 Breast
4th 50 Free

Deim Stanley 
4th 100 Breast

Sol Kurth
4th 100 Backstroke

Dylan Castle
2nd 50 Breast

Sharna Proctor
3rd 50 Back

Photo 1 - TV swimming
Photo 2 - Maddi Morgan
Photo 7 - Sharna Proctor and Libby Van de Ven
Photo 6 - Paige Morgan
Photo 4 - Dylan Castle
Photo 3 - Coco Shepherd

Coast Guard Cadetship

Plane Build 27th March 2024

Acid Etching, Parts Preparation, Mid Fuselage Section, Vertical Stabiliser.  Open the photos below to read the full log.

Tertiary Tidbits

Otago University Presentation - Yr12' and Yr13's

If you are Yr12 or Yr13 and thinking about your tertiary options, we have the following presentations coming up:

Thursday 11th April - Otago Uni - 9am-10am in Puahape WHA (block 1)
Wednesday 1st May - Victoria Uni - 9am - 10am in P6 (block 1)
Thursday 2nd May - Massey Uni - 12.20pm - 1.20pm in E9 (block 4)

Please go directly to the room stated and your attendance will be taken there.

8 May 2024 (REGISTER HERE): Pathways into Medicine and Dentistry Live Webinar (FREE event)

Nurse's Notes

Vision, Hearing and Ear Health for Students

Community Notices

Whitianga Lions Children's Day Picnic

Whitianga Run Fest

A short 3km beach run has been added to this event.

Check it out!

The organisers of the Whitianga Running Festival are generously allowing students of MBAS to enter the run for free. This year there is now also a 3km option. Use the code MBAREASCHOOL when registering.

Cape Egmont Virtual Half Marathon