Blue Mountain College

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1 Blue Mountain College N E W S L E T T E R - T E R M 2 W E E K 1 May 2016 Dear Parents/Caregivers He aha te mea nui o te Ao He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata Ti Hei Mauri Ora Tena koutou nga Matua me nga Kaitiaki Tenei te mihi atu kia koutou Mrs Stark has had information on pleasing swimming results from the Otago Primary and Secondary Swimming Championships in April. Congratulations to Lachlan Cronin (Year 8) who swam an amazing 50 m Freestyle race in seconds and Ben O Meara (Year 7) who did a personal best of seconds. Jack Clayton (Year 10) competed in 4 events, gaining personal bests in 3 of them, knocking over 7 seconds off his 50m Butterfly time, 3 seconds off in Backstroke and completing his 50m Freestyle in seconds. Mr Chris Jacobs ran a very successful LAN event with 35 members of the Computer Club over the first weekend of the holidays. He was very pleased with the event and felt the school values were evident in spades in the way the students participated, rose to the challenges before them and supported each other.

2 Seven Year 11 students completed a PADI dive course run by Dive Otago in the holidays which was made possible through STAR funding. The feedback from this has been fantastic, including a delegation of the students making an appointment to come and thank me for the opportunity. This speaks volumes, not only about the quality of the learning experience but also the calibre of the students involved. I believe there are further students lining up to attend a similar course in the next holidays.

3 Our Head Girl Olivia Butler attended the National Youth Drama School in the Hawkes Bay for a week in the holidays. This was the second time she had taken part and came back absolutely buzzing, saying if anything she loved it even more than the first time she had gone. We were very well represented at local ANZAC Day services including at Tapanui, Heriot, Waikaka and Dunrobin, with a large number of students in attendance, many of whom were in their school uniforms. It was very pleasing to hear some of our boys mentioned in dispatches for volunteering to set up the venue at Tapanui. Wreaths were laid by our Head Boy, Taine Rarere and Deputy Head Girl, Tessa Kelly (some great photos in the Clutha Leader from Heriot) and Charlotte Smith Year 8, in the case of Waikaka. A big thankyou to Mrs Mandy Butler who has made the wreaths and organized students to lay them at Waikaka services for the last several years. In breaking news we have just heard that our Head Boy, Taine Rarere has been selected in the South Island Under 18 Maori Rugby Team. This is the second year he has made the side but he is even more excited this time as they have planned fixtures on the horizon beginning with a triangular tournament in Rotorua in the July holidays.

4 Students who gain sufficient points to earn Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) awards are presented with these at assembly. Year 7&8 students work towards Achieved and Merit certificates and the top award for them is a badge, while Year 9-13 students have a three tier badge system: Awa symbolizing journeying on the river in the right direction, Maunga symbolizing climbing the mountain and Rangi symbolizing reaching for the sky. The badges also feature the words Courage, Maturity and Benevolence so when all three have been earned they visually encapsulate BMC. Any student who earned points during the preceding week also goes into a draw for a prize. This week was a particularly good one for Year 10 student Catherine Spencer who won the draw and was also awarded with her first badge (Awa). Others to receive this award were: Hayden Shearing (Year 11), and Mathew McKee, Bailey Pilgrim and John Steele (all from Year 10). Grace Kelly (Year 10) and Toby Burdon and Thomas Knowles (both of Year 12) received their Maunga badges and Year 12 student Alex Davidson received the top Rangi badge. Catherine Hayden Mathew

5 Bailey John Grace Toby Thomas Alex Our annual Cross Country will be run on the afternoon of Friday 13 May and it would be great to have family members in attendance to cheer the runners on. No reira Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa. Naku na Lindy Cavanagh-Monaghan Te Tumuaki

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