Japanese Classroom

こんにちは、そして歓迎私た 日本人の教室へ

Kon'nichiwa, soshite kangei watashitachi nihonjin no kyōshitsu e

Hello, and welcome to our Japanese classroom. All Year 9 students are encouraged to take a language this year and some of them will do two. Newlands College offers Japanese, French, Te Reo Maori, and German in Year 9. Learning a language not only teaches you how to communicate, but also the history and culture of another country. I have attached a great video below which outlines the reasons learning a language is so popular, and shows why we value the languages department at Newlands College. Many thanks to Bailey in 9CN for the great photos and Mr Skinner for showing off his classroom.

Music Classroom

Our Year 9's have a wide range of subjects they will take this year. Languages and Financial Literacy are on a half year rotation (will change for Term 3). However, the subjects of Music, Drama, Art, Soft Tech, Hard Tech, and Food Tech are on third-year rotations, and are compulsory for all students. The rationale behind this is that students are exposed to a wide range of experiences in Year 9. As the years go on the subject choices narrow, from the 13 they take in Year 9,  to the 5 they will take in Year 13.  It also means some students have started this year with subjects others haven't experienced yet. One of those subjects is Music and Mitchell from 9AT has some sweet snaps of what goes on in Mr Lau's classroom. Today they were doing revision for an upcoming assessment, hence the lack of drums, guitars and ukuleles. I must add a big congrats to Mitchell as he is the first of our student-media gatherers. 

Attitude & Form Representatives

This morning we were lucky enough to have a Year group presentation from an organisation called Attitude who specialize in student-targeted advice. Today's theme was friendships. It covered what it means to be a good friend, how to meet new people, and the impact bullying can have on social matters. Our visiting speaker, Johnny, engaged the students for a full hour, recounting tales of his own high school experience, what they can expect from a friendship, and how to deal with bullying. I enjoyed it thoroughly (he might as well be a stand-up comedian!) and am hoping every student in our year group took something from today. I'm sure a great conversation could be had at home this week as to what each student got out of today's presentation. 

On a different note, now seems as good a time as any to introduce our Year 9 student leadership team for 2016. These 12 students make up our Year 9 Form Representatives who will work closely with our Year 13 Student Executive to plan events, activities, and convey the other students views to School management. These students were elected through a Form Class vote. There are two representatives from each Form Class. 

Introducing (from left to right below): 
Te Rangihuia Gilgen, Bailey Norman, Georgia Rainey, Mitchell, Chelsea Laing, Johnny (from Attitude), Abbie Bartlett, Alani Butters, Emma Chang, Demi Licence, Mr Broadbent, Samuel Wong, Ray Wu.

Outdoor Mathematics

To kick-off our new Mathematics topic of Perimeter & Area we took all the students outside! The activity was designed to draw on the students previous knowledge of topics such as size, area, units, shapes, and much more. The enthusiasm they showed was fantastic. Students were asked the simple question of "how big is this shape?" and given a variety of measurement equipment to arrive at a group answer. The supplied answers showed a wide range of knowledge and helped students identify those skills they need to develop further. Now it is time to master the skills back in the classroom (and of course at home!).

Drama Trip

On Wednesday and Thursday this week our entire year group attended a performance entitled "Chalk About" which was part of the  New Zealand Festival of Drama. The play was delivered by two outstanding actors who delivered messages of personal identity, cultural heritage, and self pride. The show was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, including the lucky staff who got to attend. Below is some snaps of our Year 9's outside the theater (no photography inside) and a video of the show's trailer which will give you an insight to what we, the lucky ones, experienced.