Our Outram School rugby team is in the finals of the school competition!  YAY!  We are very proud of our team.  Many of the children are not experienced rugby players and there are quite a few girls playing in the team as well.

The final is next Wednesday and we were hoping to take the whole school to watch the team play at Carisbrook.  It would be very cool to have the whole school cheering them on from the grandstand or terrace.  Trouble is our game is due to finish so late there would not be time to get back to school to meet the school busesandd get everyone home on time.  A real shame!

Oh well – best of luck to the team even without us being there to watch.  GO OUTRAM!!

School was closed today because of the snow.

About half of our teachers live in Dunedin rather than Outram so there are times when those of us who travel to school will not be able to get there.

Dunedin woke to a thick blanket of snow in places this morning and it has been snowing much of the afternoon.

The Outram team has played 2 matches in the ORFU 10’s competition and has had 2 big wins. Last week we played Abbotsford and won the game 72-5. This week the team came up against Fairfield and won the game 77-0. The team were runners up last year and this year are looking at going all the way.

Players to stand out in the first 2 games are Daniel G with his committed running and huge boot, Sam Y driving hard in the forward exchanges and Jordan B working tirelessly in the forward pack.

Our next game is against Brockville at Brockville.

The cross country that was to be on tomorrow afternoon has been postponed until next week (Wednesday afternoon and with all the sam organisation). This is because while the weather has finally cleared up the ground conditions are terrible on the paddocks we use. There is a notice about this coming home today.

On the 28th of May the student council will be holding a ‘Blue’ day which means that on the 28th (Thursday) can you please dress up all blue and bring along a gold coin to donate to the Heart Children Otago to help Kids with problems with there hearts. We will come around to collect the money and Choose a winner from each class who’s photo will be printed in the newsletter and it will also be on the blog! so please dress blue!
Thanks!!!

Student Council

We had Lee Stream School join us this morning to watch a performance from the Wellington based percussion group STRIKE.  You can see a video of one of the items we saw below. This is not our actual performance but this is how they began the show at our school:

It was certainly a high energy show and the rhythms were incredible. It showed what a lot of perseverance and dedication to your music practice can achieve!

On Tuesday we had a great day with Tony Ryan the australian educator.  I have worked with Tony a number of times in the past and have a huge amount of respect for his ability to gently challenge and push along people in their thinking about learning and teaching.  He is the develoer of the Thinkers Keys that we use  in many parts of our programmes.

There was been a lot of discussion on the day (and since) about the things we can incorporate and include in programmes as a direct outcome of the day.  A number of things happened on Wednesday – a real testament to the quality of the day I believe.

We looked at the Key Competencies from the new Curriculum, thinking programmes and ideas, and how we can be even more effective in promoting learning in our classsrooms.

Teachers Only Days are powerful learning opportunities and the day with Tony Ryan was a great success for us.

The Junior syndicate had a triathlon on Friday.
This photo shows everyone getting their instructions at the beginning

Well done to all the children who took part in teams and individually. It was pretty cold but you all did VERY well.

We SWAM.

We BIKED

and we RAN

We gave certificates to the place-getters at Assembly.

The percussion group STRIKE from Wellington are coming to Outram School next term.
Click on the movie below to see the kinds of things they do. We may not see this actual performance but I have seen them live before and they are fantastic!

This week we have had a coin trail to support those who have been effected by the terrible bush fires in Victoria.  We have all seen the images and news stories on the TV and heard about the losses many of the communities have suffered.  This was a very beautiful part of the Victorian countryside and some families may even have travelled through this area in the past.

Many schools were also affected and this makes it even more real for us.  So a big thankyou to all those who have supported this fundraising!

We will let you know the total raised and the winner of the “Guess the Objects in the Jar” competition tomorrow at assembly.