LAWRENCE AREA SCHOOL

Community Newsletter
9th August 2012 No 10

Dear Parents and Friends of the School The London Olympic have attracted everyones attention. The performance of New Zealanders is inspiring to our students. Patriotism, pride in ones own country and the feel good factor of seeing your fellow countryman excel on the world stage, the olympics, the very pinnacle of sports is just great.
All of our olympians warrant support, the high standards set by New Zealand sport bodies before athletes gain nomination is as tough as any other country, only the best are sent. Our rowers, our cyclist, our yachtsman, our hockey players and track and field athletes are indeed world standard. Rowing is a beacon for other sports. Its brilliant result are based around a high performance programme second to none. Each year our elite rowers are based for six months at Lake Karapiro where the mind and body are prepared for major competitions - would cup - Olympics. Three golds and three bronze medals is outstanding. Whilst the focus has rightly been on our medallist many other athletes have performed brilliantly but are unheralded. Take Matthew Stanley. He posted a 1minute 47 second time in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. That would have won every Olympic gold up to and including Los Angles in 1984. Lauren Boyle posted a 4min 3.65 time to qualify for the 400m freestyle final, a time good enough to win every Olympic Gold up to and including Seoul in 1988. Whilst times, distances and weights continue to improve the most important aspect of the Olympics is the inspiration and encouragement it provides for young people to take up and compete in sports. Secondary school rowing in New Zealand is at an all time high. Hockey and soccer will benefit from the profile created by competing at the Olympics as I am sure will many other sports. On a completing different note many of you will have been interested in the debate about Charter Schools New Zealand currently has a very strong schooling system with state, state integrated and private schools all of whom operate as self governing schools (Board of Trustees) but are all obligated to meet the requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum and staff their school with qualified teachers. Charter Schools will be essentially private enterprise schools, schools for profit, schools that will have lesser requirements, schools that will not have to have qualified teachers. Rather than strengthening the schooling system charter schools, by whatever name, are very likely to weaken it. In order for them to work money will be thrown at them, they will ultimately cost the Kind Regards government more rather than less; and achieve poor outcomes for students.
John Auld

Invitation to Te Ao Maori Afternoon

All interested parties are cordially invited to our Te Maori afternoon Friday 10th August 1.15pm - 3.00pm Students will be engaged in a range of activities: art and craft, waiata, food etc. Welcome to come and join us for the afternoon.

--Year 12 & 13 leadership with Daniel maze -

- MAKING A Difference - leadership -

-Year 12 & 13 leadership with Daniel maze -

Beaumont jet

- MAKING A Difference - leadership -

NZQA Fees - reminder that fees are due Monday 3rd September.
Financial assistance forms are due in 20th August.

Sports Round Up: - Friday Nite Basketball - this team is playing

really well with two wins and a loss in games played this term and seven wins and four loses season to date. Week 1 a gritty 33-22 win over St Hildas. Week 2 a 43-30 win over Columba Steel. Week 3 a 30-17 loss to a very good Kaikorai Valley team. Wednesday Nite - Recent Results: Girl Power 22 vs Yr 9/10 18 MVPs Steph and Brooke Scott Slammers 35 vs Yr11 8 MVPs Sid and Holly Westies 43 vs Green Gorillas 30 MVPs Isaac and Chris We are now into play-off rounds with Westies as top seed, followed by Green Gorillas, Scott Slammers, Girl Power, Yr 9/10 and Yr 11

Congratulations
Ollie Kenny - for making the Otago Rugby Under 48kg team James Dennison - for making the Otago Rugby Under 38kg team Kylie Lyders - for qualifing for GSNZ Nationals in Aerobics after being placed 4th at the regionals. Also good luck to Kylie who competes at the NZCAF regionals in Invercargill this weekend. Brooke Cameron - for winning the Junior Clubsman Motorcross title

W r it

e c e s from g pi Ro in om SLEEPIN G OUTSID E

Great! Smash goes the door. Im hearing the door getting locked. Great! She will probably forget about me. So I walk over to the dogs and I say to them, W hat are you looking at? I jump into a spare kennel and go to sleep. Its small, cold like an ice-block, stinks like garbage, with bones everywhere. In the morning, someone blew off a stink bomb. W hy Mum, why? I learnt my lesson. N ever be naughty again. I walk inside. Mum, my clothes stink!

4
Blake Macdonald

FIR ST D AY OF SCHOOL

Tears poured down my face; my heart was pounding. O h Emily, youre five, suck it up and get in the car. Youre going to school if you like it or not, Mum yelled. I shook my head and refused to move. Mum picked me up and put me in my car seat. When I got to school my teacher, Miss Rain, was really nice. Are you Emily? she asked. I nodded. O ne kid who was at least six called me a baby and made me cry, but besides that I made five friends and one best friend. My best friends name is Charlie and shes a tiny bit bossy, but on the other hand shes awesome. I dont even know what I was scared of. School is fantastic!
Rylee May

In the second week of the holidays Oliver and I joined Blue Mountain College on their tour of Australia. After leaving on Monday morning, we had a whole day of travelling including 8 hours of flying and 5 hours sitting around Sydney airport before we arrived in Cairns. We were instantly hit with the heat of Australia; even though it was one in the morning when we landed we were all sweating and struggling with the humidity. The next day we had a tough 2 hour long rugby training, which made us realise the heat was going to make the rugby a bit tougher than we thought. On Wednesday, after another tough rugby training and heaps of sweating, we had a bus ride to Innesvail, about an hour from Cairns, where we played our first game of rugby against Good Counsel College, on Billy Slater Oval. It was a pretty tough game, but we won 36 12. We spent the next two nights billeted in and around Innesvail, and going on a bus trip seeing the local sights. The next day, after another rugby training we bussed back to Cairns and played Trinity Anglican College. This turned out to be our toughest rugby games, in 30 degree heat, with no wind. After a hard physical game we ended up winning in the final minutes 43 38. The next day we spent the day on a reef trip on the Great Barrier Reef, it was a really hot day, even for the middle of winter, we spent the day snorkelling, and all got a half hour scuba dive which was really cool. The next day we bussed to Port Douglas, and stopped at a crocodile park on the way. The following day, a week into our tour we played our final game of rugby against Mossman High School in Mossman, although they rated themselves as a rugby school, after a big haka we ran away with the rugby 64 12. That marked the end of our rugby, but we still had 4 more days in Australia. The netball girls had won 3 of their six games of netball between the two teams while on tour with us. The next day, the Tuesday before heading home on Friday, we flew to Brisbane and then bussed to Surfers Paradise. We spent the next couple of days at Movie World and Dream world, before flying back to Dunedin. Oliver and I would both like to thank all those members of the community who supported us in our fundraising to go on tour. We would especially like to thank the Lawrence Lions Club for their generous donation, all those who donated us batteries in our battery drive, and anyone who supported us in any other way. We really enjoyed our trip and gained a lot from the experience.

- Blue mountain college rubgy tour - tom blackmore & Oliver Forbes -