MBAS Newsletter, Term 3, Week 1, 18th July 2025

MBAS Calendar

Kia Ora tātou – Greetings to you all

Kia ora koutou and welcome back to Term 3 at Mercury Bay Area School.

We hope everyone has had a chance to recharge over the break.

A warm welcome to our new entrant students and their whānau. We’re glad to have you join the MBAS community. We also extend a special welcome to our new international students. We’re proud to be your school while you’re here in Aotearoa, and we look forward to the cultural exchange and friendships that will come with your time here.

During the holidays, a group of our senior students travelled to Invercargill to take part in the Area Schools Sports Tournament. They gave it their all and represented the school with pride. Congratulations to those who were selected to compete at the next level. Your hard work and dedication is something to be proud of.

We also want to celebrate Isabella White, who travelled to Wellington to represent the Coromandel as our Youth MP. She received high praise from MP Scott Simpson for the way she spoke and carried herself throughout the event. She represented both our school and our wider region with thoughtfulness and strength—we’re all incredibly proud of her.

You may notice a new array of signs going up around our kura. They have a dual purpose. Firstly and most obviously to assist navigation and secondly to highlight our schools cultural narrative. We have a range of buildings with significant names and we are working on how we educate our kura around these.

Nominations are now open for the Mercury Bay Area School Board of Trustees. This is a great opportunity for parents and caregivers who want to make a positive difference at a governance level and help shape the future of our school.

The Board plays a key role in setting the strategic direction of the school, supporting student achievement, and ensuring effective management. If you’re passionate about education and want to contribute to our school community, we encourage you to consider standing for election.

Electronic nomination forms have been sent out. If you have any questions about what’s involved or how to put your name forward, please contact the school office.

We have a very exciting fundraiser on the go with the “Colour Run 2025.” Please get in behind your child and encourage them to participate no matter what year level they are. This is the first fundraiser that is kicking off the efforts to create an astro turf for both the School courts and the Junior courts. Both surfaces are coming to end of life and this will reinvigorate the spaces for greater longevity and usability. As you can imagine, such investments are not cheap and we will be playing the long game to accumulate the necessary funds to get this project off the ground. 

Although it has been a wet and wild first week back, we know we are in for a full and rewarding term. Thanks for all you do to support our learners.

Ngā mihi,
Ross Dunn

Principal / Tumuaki
Mercury Bay Area School

Attendance Matters!

We have just completed week 1 of Term 3.

We have had students away this week with various forms of winter illnesses.  It is important to let the School Office know your child is away and the reason.  There is a noticeable increase in parents/caregivers not letting the school know their respective child will be or is away.

Another reminder is that the school bell rings each morning at 8.40. If  your child arrives after this time please ask them to sign in at the front office and not just head off to class.  On signing in they will be issued with a green slip to be handed to the class teacher.  If you could send a note with your child and a brief explanation of the reason they are late this would be appreciated.

Thank You
Sandi Lowe
Attendance

MBAS Upcoming School Board Elections

School Fun Run’s Crazy Colour Day - 20th August

SCHOOL COLOUR RUN WEDNESDAY 20 AUGUST

Are you Fundraising?

Currently we’re still a long way from our goal, so we need everyone to pull together to help.  The easiest way to help your child raise money is through online fundraising, where students raise an average of $120. Go to schoolfunrun.co.nz, create a student profile page and share your online fundraising link via SMS, Email and Social Media.

If you are currently fundraising, THANK YOU! We hope you will continue to share your link and fundraising for the school.

Trophy Returns

Welcome to MBAS!

We are excited to welcome 16 new international students to our community in Term 3. The majority are from Germany but we also have students who have arrived from Austria, Italy and Japan. We will also have a French short term student arriving next week. It has been a full-on week for them transitioning into a new school, meeting new teachers and classmates and sorting out timetables!! No doubt plenty of early nerves. However with the support from our wonderful staff they were warmly welcomed and settled in quickly to their classes.... and well fed!!On Monday we had a gathering at Buffalo Beach for all of the new students and the host families. Tawhirimatea was gracious and ensured the skies cleared for us and the Bay provided a perfect backdrop. It was great to see the students and their families mingling and new connections being made. No reira, ki a tatou tauira hou, nau mai ki Te Kura o te Whanganui a Hei!

Room 18 - Letters

We are revising our letter, sound and formation of letters learned. Today was Aa, our new tamariki are working hard.

Room 19 - CVC Words

This week we have been learning about substituting letters in CVC words. E.g. fax-max what letter do I need to change if I have max but I want fax?

M1 - Maths

In math at the moment we are practising identifying tens and ones.

How can you support this at home? Practise skip counting in tens, eg 10, 20, 30 etc.

M9 - Technology

Our technology challenge was to create a ball game. We had to follow instructions, persevere and do lots of problem solving to create this. Try it out at home!

Prev

Showing images 1 - 8 of 10

Next

NZ Area School Nationals

This year NZ Area School Nationals was held in Invercargill. The first 3 days of tournament were the 4 regions -Northland, Central North Island, Top of the South, South of the south then there is team naming where the best of the south & best of the north in all codes are chosen to compete against each other h other on the final day. Codes played are Football, Netball, Basketball, Rugby, Volleyball & Ki-o-rahi. 

Selected to play in the North Island teams from our group are the following;

Football
Arlo Hert
Ben Collins
Tom Lamason 
Samantha Chamberlain 
Ella Simpson 
Malia Herbert
Ellie Mikkelson 
Lila white

Rugby
Ngaru Hinds
Reo McQueen 
Ty Willigers

Basketball 
Millie Gold
Angel Scobie
Meg Harper
Tyron Cummings 
Ngaru Hinds

Congratulations to the students named in NZ Area School Tournament Teams in Invercargill 2025. 

NZ Barbarians Rugby - Taingarunui Hinds & Ty Willigers.

Boys Football -
Tom Lamason & Ben Collins.

Girls Football - 
Samantha Chamberlain, Malia Herbert & Ella Simpson. 

Well done on your performance,sportsmanship & dedication to your code.
Massive thanks to Pub Charity and Aoetorea Gaming Trust for the funding recieved to make this event possible.  

MBAS Central North Island Squad
Back- Taingarunui Hinds, Arlo Hert, Ben Collins, Reo McQueen, Ty Willigers, Jacob Chamberlain, Tyron Cummings, Tom Lamason.
Front- Malia Herbert, Brooklyn-Jade Mark, Angel Scobie, Samantha Chamberlain , Lila White, Meg Harper, Ella Simpson, Ellie Mikkelson, Millie Gold.

NZ Tournament team player - Taingarunui Hinds, Tom Lamason, Ben Collins, Ty Willigers, Ella Simpson, Samantha Chamberlain, Malia Herbert. 

Sports

Liam Clothier - Heartland U14 Development Camp

From Liam Clothier on his Heartland U14 Development camp experience.

His words...During the school holidays I travelled to Taupo to play in the Heartland U14 development camp.It was pretty cool to be representing MBAS in the TVU14 squad.  I was very proud of myself for making the team as I have been working hard on my rugby all season thanks to my coaches.

I was a bit nervous to start with as I was the only one from Mercury Bay. However the 2 day camp in Taupo was cool.  I met a lot of new people to do with rugby and made heaps of new friends. I was also picked as one of the captains. The coaches were really cool and taught us a lot. I really enjoyed learning new skills and hope to share some of these with my school team.

We ended up playing 4 games and won 3 which was pretty good.  It was good fun. Our team was pretty stoked with our efforts.It was a great experience I will never forget and encourage others to have a go if you get the opportunity.Thanks to everyone who made this possible. Liam.

Sports Results

Rugby
Girls 1st XV HPC 55 v MB 5
Player of the day Sarah-Kate Lusby

Plane Build Weekly Log 16.07.2025

Plane Build Log 16th July 2025 - Mid Fuselage Section, Wing, Wing Light, Auto Pilot Servos. Open the photos below to see the full log.

Sports Fixtures

Tertiary Tidbits

Ngā Rā Tūwhera | Wintec Open Day

Explore your future study options at Ngā Rā Tūwhera | Wintec Open Day! This annual event hosts people from around the Waikato region and beyond across our City and Rotokauri campuses in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton.

Wāhine in Trades and Engineering

Discover your future in trades and engineering! Join us for this opportunity to hear from an inspiring group of wāhine excelling in areas of trades and engineering and how you can discover career options in these fast-paced, fulfilling industries.

Follow the link for more information and to register:

https://www.wintec.ac.nz/about-wintec/events

Careers Corner

What is NCEA?

NCEA is the qualification most ākonga study for at secondary school in Aotearoa. The assessments you do in Year 11, 12 and 13 are the first steps on your journey to find a career that’s best for you.

To find out more, follow this link: https://tahatu.govt.nz/school-and-ncea/doing-ncea/how-ncea-works

Community Notices

Junior Boars Training

Take a Kid Hunting

Let's Get Becs To Belgium!

 Mercury Bay Museum Fundraiser

Mercury Bay Library

Oscar Explorers - After School Care

Skool Loop - One Stop School Information App