Tamaki College Open Day - Year 8s!

This week, 72 Year 8s from Team 5 spent the day at Tamaki College trying out life as a high school student. 

We started in the library with Mr Hingano and we were introduced to a group of Year 9 ambassadors  (mostly ex-Pt Englanders from last year including Ash and Maria were from our Room 2 Home Class) taking care of the students for the day.

Students got to experience moving around the school to take part in lessons with 4 different teachers. 

In the PE rotation, students got to play sport in the gym and ONLINE! Check out Damien from Room 2 putting his gaming skills to work in the E-sports room. 

A big thank you to Mr Hingano for organising such an awesome day! We really appreciated the rides back to school to avoid the massive downpour!

Kapa Haka - Manaia ki te Rangi - Te Kotuku Cultural Festival

On Saturday 21st November, the third annual Te Kotuku Cultural Festival took place just down the road at Ruapotaka Marae in Glen Innes.

Primary schools from all over Auckland turned up on a beautiful sunny day to show off their awesome kapa haka skills.

Pt England entered a roopu for the very first time. Tutors Whaea Kiri, Whaea Mary-Anne and Matua Levi worked put in a huge effort with practices and on the day, 15 performers and 2 guitarists took the stage. 

A dress rehearsal at school assembly on Friday was a chance to be in front of a live audience.  On the day however, Manaia ki te rangi took it to another level and gave it 1000%! The four boys in particular just blew everyone away  - what they lacked in numbers they absolutely made up for with sheer kaha! 

Kia mau te wehi Manaia ki te rangi!

Check out part of the their performance:

Arts Alive! Alberto Giacometti - Reinvented sculptures!

Today we got the chance to start a new set of art rotations - this time we get to make an art piece based on the artists we have been learning about. 

In Room 2, Ms. Tapuke has introduced us to a famous Swiss sculptor called Alberto Giacometti - read Valessa's poster for facts about the artist.

Giacometti's sculpture pieces were mostly made from bronze - instead we used wire, masking tape and tin foil to try and recreate the tall, slender figures that he is famous for!

Starting with a sketch... then bending 3 pieces of wire into a frame. We used masking tape to fix the head in place and moulded a head shape out of tin foil. 

Watch how Madison folds tin foil around her wire frame to finish off her sculpture and checkout the details in Simon's sculpture in the video below:

                                               Man Pointing (1947) - Bronze.                              

Not bad for our first attempt. Next time, we're going to try covering the wire figures in paper mache or  bandages soaked in plaster of paris. Please check back in a couple of weeks to see more of our reinventions of Giacometti's famous sculptures!

Athletics Day @ Pt England School 2020

                                              L to R: Kauri, Valeli and Bradley - Go Room 2!

It was Guy Fawke's last night and the weather was pretty wet so thank goodness it stopped so today the annual School Athletics Day at Pt England could ahead. 

For the intermediate students, events like the tug-o-war, bike races, dodgeball and ski races were lots of fun - mixed in with shot put, discus, high jump and 100m sprints with the top 3 winners for each event to represent the school at the Eastern Zones competition in a couple of weeks time.

Check out some of the Athletics Day action!

Tug of war: Year 7 Girls vs. Year 7 Girls!

Right! Left! Right! Left! Great team work! (The short rain shower was not going to stop the fun!)