​Year 10 Camp at Borland Lodge

The Year 10 Borland camp will run during Week 5 in Term 4 (Tuesday, 10th to Friday 13th November). 
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A letter and medical forms were given out at Form Time, Friday 11th September.

Camp Contributions:
Providing school camps to our school community as you will be aware, is heavily reliant on the contributions being made by parents/caregivers towards the cost of organising these. Without financial contributions for each attending student, the school would simply not be in a position to provide the outdoor experiences in our amazing own backyard that we have always had the privilege of being able to undertake.

We thank you and appreciate your contribution towards the $270 per child required to run this camp. The contribution amount has been added to your child’s school account for full or part payment. Please contact the Executive Officer, Mrs Paula Robertson, if you have any questions about this. 

As always, we are looking for a group of parents to come with us and so far, there have been some parents who have expressed an interest already. However, if you are keen to help, could you please let me know ASAP by writing a brief note about what experience and skills you could bring to the camp (e.g. current 1st Aid, experience in the outdoors, etc.) This needs to be handed into me, the Main School Office or email me at: ronniekotkamp@stpetersgore.school.nz  by Monday, 21st September, at the latest.

Ronnie Kotkamp
 
 
 
 
 

​Whanau Conferencing
 
Kia ora Parents and Caregivers,
 
Thank you for your patience in waiting for whanau conferencing to take place this year so you can meet with your child's teachers to discuss their learning progress.
 
Unfortunately, due to Covid restrictions this has been difficult to schedule. Therefore, we will be embracing our technological skills and will be going online next Thursday, 17 September – 3.30-7pm, with interviews via computer. This will allow teachers time to meet with as many of you face to face without the risks to health and safety. It does also mean that we are limited in the time available, so I encourage you only to book appointments if you are concerned about your child's learning progress. If you are happy with how they are doing, and you don't have any questions for the teacher, then please do not make an appointment.
 
Instructions on how to book an appointment are:  go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and the code is 4evka. Once you have booked your appointments you will receive an email (please do not discard this).  Beside each appointment will be the words ‘Video Interviews’.  This is a hyperlink to the video conferencing with the teacher.  You will need to click on each ‘Video Interview’ for every appointment you have.  After you have clicked the link it will take you to the website and there will be a button that says ‘knock’, this allows the teacher to know you are there and they will let you in as soon as they are ready.
All appointments are for 5mins each.
 
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the office.

This week we welcomed Emilie Crossley, the Otago Polytechnic Liaison Advisor and Shelley Mitchell, the S.I.T. Liaison Advisor.  Emilie spoke to Year 13 students about their career pathways which included engineering, design, business studies, early childhood and sport.   Some students who were away on the biology field trip will participate in a zoom meeting with Emilie and complete their enrolments in midwifery, nursing and occupational therapy.

​Shelley Mitchell spoke to Year 12 students about the courses offered at the Southern Institute of Technology.  A highlight of the talk was the free fees scheme.  A range of courses will be studied by our students next year and include nursing, beauty, tourism, mechanics and commerce.
 

Deep Cove  – By Hannah Hargest and Shalvi Permal - 8KS

Day One - We arrived at school ready for four days of gripping fun, we all left in our assigned cars and stopped in Lumsden for a toilet break. When we arrived in Manapouri we all hopped on the boat, all humming with excitement as we were able to go on top of the boat and look out at the crashing waves cutting across the lake. When we got to West Arm, we were ambushed by swarms of sandflies as we were bitten! We loaded the bus and were on our way to Deep Cove. We unloaded, unpacked, and got geared up for a walk to Helena Falls. It was a short fun filled walk and we were able to stand meters away from the crashing spitting waterfall by cutting across the creek and scrambling up the slippery rocks.

Day Two – Sadly it was raining all day but we made the most of it. We started off with splitting the class in two groups and half of the class went fishing and the other group did the Brassel point track with Alex our Real Journeys guide. Fishing went well as Martin (Bronte’s dad) and Brent (Ashton’s dad) helped us put the bait on the fishing hook. We were waiting patiently for our first fish then we heard Mitchell say, “I caught one! I caught one!” We all went to take a look and it was a Jock Stewart. We caught a lot of fish after that and everyone caught something. On the other side the Brasell point walk was very slippery we had a lot of people slipping, sliding and puddle jumping which was fun but we got really soggy. At the end of the day we all had fun, got to know each other better and made good memories.
 
Day Three – We woke up to the disappointment of rain pelting down on the hostel roof meaning we were unable to walk Hanging Valley, but we knew weather was just part of camp so, we decided to do some inside activities.  Later that day we were able to have the experience of a lifetime, ride the Navigator, which is a boat that cruises the bone chilling waters of Doubtful Sound. We played UNO, K&A’S, the logo game and other fun board games, while we were on the boat and we also got to have some amazing hot chocolates.  Most importantly of all we were able to explore outside of the boat on the deck and we were hardly able to stand up for the first part of the three hour trip as it was so windy! When we got to the hostel, we had the choice either to fish, walk Helena Falls again or practice for the camp concert which was held later that night. The brave people who decided to walk the Helena Falls track were delighted to see that the waterfall was massive and you could hear it thundering down on the rocks from the hostel. On the way back we all took advantage of the rain and got soaked hopping in and out of the slippery puddles. When we got back the Helena Falls group got to go fishing and caught plenty of fish, which was great. We then went back to the hostel and started practising for the concert. After we had all eaten dinner we were under way with our concert with some funny skits, quizzes and other performances. Mrs. Sinclair performed a remarkable mash up of songs, she sang while Jacob laid her a beat.

Day Four – We all woke up at around 7am excited and all packed up to go back home. On our way back on the boat to Manapouri we talked about one of the best and most important aspects of camping and how it helps us build and strengthen friendships. At Deep Cove we all got to learn new things about each other, made new friends and our bonds with people got stronger. In the four days we learnt to appreciate nature’s beauty. While walking all five senses are activated to take in the beauty of outdoors, how good food tastes after a long day outdoors, respect for the wilderness and how to get comfortable when we feel uncomfortable.
 
 A huge thank you to Mr Kotkamp for organising this amazing camp and to our parent helpers for making camp such fun.
 

Career Pathways Department
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Last week Greg Heller, Liaison officer from Otago University spent some time with our Year 13 students discussing their courses for next year.  He also talked about scholarships and hall applications.  Students came away with a plan for their study next year and some good advice for next year at Otago.
 
Last Thursday Year 12’s headed down to Invercargill Hospital for their last Health Hub visit for the year.  They had presentations from a district nurse, a doctor, and a medical imaging student.  They also undertook a personality test to decide which Simpson character best represented their personality.  Interesting results were had!