Cats

The musical 'cats' consisted of prodigious singing which was enhanced by an adept orchestra, combined with excellent lighting and props. The cast sung beautifully especially when they sung together while doing harmonies.

Their costumes were also made astonishingly but all were quite unique, also the dancers were amazing to watch as they were flexible, fire works at the end made the night even more magical as they flew from the ground.

Overall the night was exceptional and is one of my favourite productions I've seen.
By Violet

Music lessons

Adrienne Hale is a pleasant teacher who indoctrinates us with her musical knowledge every Monday. This year so far we have started to play the recorder, learning new chords. We are also currently composing our own music and later in the year we will focusing on the annual end of year play, where all students participate in a wonderful production. By Violet

Each and every Monday, Adrienne Hale comes to Sacred Heart school to share her wide knowledge of music with the students. They go to learn a variety of skills class by class. During room 7's lessons, although it has only been a few weeks, Adrienne has began to teach the students how to play the recorder, write note, what certain notes values are, about rests and even how to compose their own music. Many of the children are extremely talented in this area and can creatively write a piece of music and play it on the recorder. These lessons are very enjoyable and personally I am delighted to attend them.  By Willow

Zone Swimming 2014

The day had arrived in a flash, before we knew it we were travelling to Wharenui Swimming Centre. Everyone sat anxiously waiting for their event to start. When that time came, some competitors were timidly walking while others bravely ambled towards the pool. Diving or bellyflopping into the wet blue blanket we swam, splashing as we reached the finish. When all the races had been completed, we dried ourselves off and arrived back at school just in time for lunch!   

By Violet

Memorial Prayer Service

The Memorial Service was held on Friday 21 February.

Room 7 started with the sign of the cross and read a few prayers. It wasn't a celebration since the silence was so thick that you could slice it like a cake.

We all still remember what had happened on 22 February 2011. During the minute silence, we all still remember terrible flashback of the ground shaking. Building collapsing on television and people being crushed and hurt. memories that will scar us mentally, emotionally and physically.

It was a day to never be forgotten and a tragic event that would be remembered throughout the generations to come.

The service ended with arranging flowers on the fence that surrounded the memorial tree for Ivy, who had died in the earthquake. We stayed for a few minutes on the field and then quietly left without a word.

By Bi Ling

Last Friday  21st February we had a memorial service to remember the devastating events at 2011 and to remember the loving mother Ivy, who died during the earthquake on 22nd February.  The whole school gathered around the memorial tree and thinking about Ivy.  After Bi Ling's prayer Rommel asked everyone to have a moment of silence to think about Ivy after about one minute we sat down and listened to Daniel's beautiful prayer.  When Willow,Daniel and Charlotte completed the reading Emma and Violet stood up and gave two flowers to each class.T hey put the exquisite flowers around the tree.  After the prayer service was over everyone went back to their classrooms.  By Mart

On Friday we gathered for a memorial prayer service to remember lvy, the twins mother , and all the people who died in the earthquake. we said prayer and put flowers around lvy's tree. it was a sad time for us .  By Emma

February 22, 2011 was the most unforgettable moment to the lives of Christchurch people. It was on this day when after all the series of aftershocks shaken Christchurch and made all the buildings frail. On the midday of that day, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake stroke the land of Christchurch again and damaged some buildings. The biggest effect landed on the CTV building when it did collapsed to the ground. If I were mistaken, there were almost 200 people died on that day. All the people mourn on this horrible incident as there were many lives lost. So, that we had a memorial service on 21st of February 2014 to remember the devastating events.  By Abe

A service was held in tribute of the tragic event that struck Canterbury like a lightning shot which ended in grieving for those who had lost their loved ones in the destruction. The school gathered and prayers were said along with a one minute silence. The service was finished off with members of each class placing a flower letting it nonchalantly rest on the fence around the memorial tree of Ivy Cabunilas.  By Violet

Beach Education

I actually thought it was going to rain on Monday morning.

The clouds looked so gloomy and depressing; not a ray of sunshine. The senior school of Sacred Heart were going to North Beach for Beach Education.

It was quite a long drive on the bus. Since I was sitting somewhere in the middle I was hoping that we wouldn’t crash into anything since the driver was making REALLY tight twists and turns. At first we made it to the wrong beach but then we just drove onward for a bit longer and we knew we were there when we saw the surf club building.

We all put our bags in the changing rooms, the area between the door and the room was small, so the girls had to take turns walking in and walking out. There were a few lolly wrappers on the floor and an old half-eaten jam sandwich which was stuck onto one of the hooks. Girls being girls; we completely avoided that hook. It must’ve been from a previous school.

We made our way upstairs and sat on the cold ground. The volunteer lifeguards ran through the sun-smart rhyme.

1. Slip on a shirt

2. Slop on sunscreen

3. Slap on a hat

4. Wrap on some sunglasses

5. Step into jandals 

6. Slide into some shade

7. Smudge on lip balm

After that we talked about identifying a rip current; which was calm water between waves. They informed us on how they could use the rip to rescue swimmers and what to do if you were caught in a rip. Morning tea flew by quickly and so did lunch.

We played a few beach games such as ‘Octopus’, a game where you grab the ‘flag’ from the sand, a relay and a sand sculpture competition. Samantha, Rommel and I had built an entire village; too bad the tide washed it away. It had looked really good with the mountainside heads; okay, so the heads were really lumps of sand with holes poked into them.

After all the sculpting I sat on the dry part of the beach where the sand was really warm and talked with Charlotte, Violet and Willow on random subjects. Suddenly a large group of seagulls flew over us, we practically screamed in fright of being pooped on. Later on we were called in to get changed into our togs. We were all split into class groups and followed them back down to the beach. The lifeguards let us run into the water and scream on top of our lungs at the same time. I waded deeper into the water until it was waist length. I dived into the body of H20 and felt it rush into my nose even though I was holding my breath. I pulled up for air, my eyes stung and the over-salted water burnt my throat like acid.

I jumped up in the water with everyone else as a large wave headed towards us. We spent ages in the sea. Surely enough I had looked at my hands and they were wrinkled from the time spent in the water. I didn’t know what time it was but we got back to school five minutes past three.

I changed my mind about it raining because it turned out to be a beautiful day in the end. I had thoroughly enjoyed myself and had liked everything about Beach Education…well, apart from the mouldy half-eaten sandwich in the changing rooms. 

By Bi Ling

A day at the beach

On Monday 10th of February Rooms 7,6 and 4 went to North Brighton for beach education

When we arrived everyone ran out of the bus and went in the surf club, we put our equipment away and went up. The four lifeguards introduced them selves, then after that we talked about Sun Safety. About all the things we need to do and what to have while outside on the beach, Slip, Slop, Slap, Wrap. Later on we learnt about Surf Safety to know what the rules are and what to do when someone is in trouble

Later on the day we ate our morning tea then went out for beach games, we played octopus, built sandcastles and did many more things.

After the fun games we headed back to the club and ate our lunch, once we finished eating we went out to the beach and played for a couple of minutes then we changed our clothes and got ready to go into the water!

Finally it was time to swim! We went in the water, it was freezing but as we got use to the ice cold water we had so much fun! We were jumping onto the waves and had a lot of fun! 

Sadly we had to get out, when we got out it was so cold we changed our clothes and went back on the bus.

Everyone was cold and tired after one of AWESOME day at the beach!!

By Adrian

I woke up. my vision vague, my mind still unconscious, feeling lethargic. Nonchalantly getting up the gelid air brushed against my bare skin. Hauling the tepid blanket over myself, I could barely get up, too cold, too tired. Checking the time, nearly 7:50 I rapidly parachuted out of my bed and quickly got changed. Moments later I found myself scurrying through the gates and stumbling up the steps and into the classroom where I greeted a couple of my friends and waited impatiently for the bell to ring for us to travel to north beach to learn the requirements for being sunsmart and being intact in the water . Nearly an hour later we disembarked the bus and strutted towards the surf club building where we met a numerous amount of instructors, we observed on what they had to say such as the 7 sun smart rules; slip,slop,slap,wrap,step,slide and smudge. After morning tea we were all frolicking in the damp sand, crab walking, running and just having fun playing the convivial games. As lunch ended we were finally allowed to go into the water, everyone zoomed in , prancing and splashing, while others dreaded to get wet were awkwardly stumbling in, trembling in the cold water.

Overall the day was filled with teamwork, cooperating with one another and just having fun, cooling off in the hot sand and learning about beach education. 

By the one and only Violet !

New Year 8 Stories

My Last First day at Sacred Heart School.

I woke up, my eyes adjusted to the sun glaring through my bedroom window, gazing through the glass I felt alive as the birds perched nonchalantly plucking the sunflower seeds.

Memories reminded me of what it was like to be a Year 7 and all this gave me a nostalgic feeling.  Then suddenly my alarm broke the silence, I quickly muted the sound and got dressed as if it was a normal and typical school day.

I was getting emotional before entering the school gates, ‘my last year at primary’.  Mixed feelings flowed through my body.  What was I going to expect this year?

Plodding into the classroom my friends were calling my name, directing me to my desk.  I settled in quickly but was still quite emotional, thinking that this is going to be my last year at Sacred Heart School.

By Violet

First day of Year 8

I woke up to the shrill ringing from my alarm clock.  The bright light blinded me as I peeked through the curtains, it seemed too early for the sun to rise.  I wasn’t excited like last year.  Everything felt emotionless during breakfast.  The cereal was dry and crunchy.  It felt like just another day of the holidays.

I only felt emotion when I actually set foot inside the classroom. I was worried and a bit confused, how was I to find my desk?  Humiliation rushed at me like water as my friends called me from the other side of the room.  I was at the wrong table.

The day went smoothly with a lot of humour.  I was exhausted at the end, my energy had been used up on laughing, running around and mostly talking.  It seemed to be the best last day of primary school.

By Bi Ling

Cycle Safe 2013

On the 25th November Room 7 of Sacred Heart School had their first day of learning about cycle safety. To teach the students about cycle safety, the cycle safe team spent the day at Sacred Heart. Cycle Safe is a program sent around Christchurch by the Christchurch City Council. The team is split into two units and each unit has a certain amount of schools each. The Cycle Safe Crew teach students about road rules, what road signs mean, how to bike safely on the road, how to do a 4 step safety check on bikes and many other interesting facts that will help students later on in life. In conclusion, it was a fun filled day of new learner facts and skills. 

The end

By Willow

The morning was opaque and a bit nippy due to weather the previous day but the day endured on to be a pleasant climate to be learning the requirements for biking on the road harmlessly. Firstly we observed on what the cycle safety team had to say and they then briefly informed us about what we will be doing later in the morning.

Each individual was spilt into groups of approximately 10 people then we ambled towards the other instructors who were inspecting our bikes seeing whether they were in good condition.then we continued to repeat four simple steps to check if your bike is road worthy to be driven.

Then we followed each other towards the main court and drove our bikes around cones we imitated this for several minutes while signalling with our hands we continued with a 20 minute interval and returned back to be tested on the basic cycle safety rules this persevered until each person in your group had finished when so they had spare time to ride around on your bikes this lasted until lunch time.

When lunch time was finished so was biking due to weather conditions but we had inside session defining what the road signs meant, this was ended by a couple of convivial games.

Overall our first day of cycle safety was a success learning about the basic road and cycle rules.

By Violet

Speed Date an Authour

We all arrived before 9am, waiting in the midst of a sultry and casual morning outside the doors of christchurch south library, to observe and to take note of these adept authors and illustrators who were to define there occupation and to briefly inform us about how to create a more surpassing piece of writing.

We first gathered together to listen to the organiser who elucidated us about the eminent authors and illustrators history. As the minutes continued we followed on to our first writing learning session with Tusiata Avia who guided us through the steps of making a poem then continued after with Helen Taylor who defined what it is like to be an author while an illustator she taught us to cope with criticism and changes exposed . After Andrew M.Bell talked about the 5 senses- smell,sight,touch,taste and hear. We continued with a 20minute interval and endured on to our next lesson with Bill Nagelkerke who talked to us about how to catch the readers attention then carried on with a skilled artist Ant Sang who helped illustrate 'bro town' and informed us about how to create a comic strip, next we moved on to our final lesson with Ben Brown who spoke about how changing words can make a difference and where the beginning of a story is, the title.

Overall it was an educational and pleasant experince that i among many enjoyed.

By Violet

Our Kiwiana Art

This lively, vivid and prolific collage brimming with kiwiana was muralled into a single portrait. everyones hardwork completed and now hung up at the back of the classroom, portraying new zealands heritage representing iconic kiwi elements.  This was accomplished by these adept artists who neatly replicated a kiwi image which is now revealing New Zealand's famous items and icons.  By Violet

The Kiwiana poster that Room 7 created turned out to be a success. It took a few days because of the delays caused by Zones Athletics, entrance tests and the accidental use of printing ink. But the poster turned out to be a wonderful piece of art work made individually and put together by a few students.

We chose a Kiwiana icon which was drafted, copied on a nice square paper and thickly outlined by black vivid. A few Room 7 girls who didn't go to Zones Athletics did not realise that they used printing ink, which took a long time to dry. The year 8's had entrance tests, so they had to work hard to finish the painting. Everyone finished their painting.

Finally, a few girls put together the 27 paintings to make a huge, colourful poster and put it on the back wall of Room 7. Many staff and students were amazed to see the Kiwiana themed poster. Colourful and astounding, those are my words to describe the artwork put up by hard working Room 7 students.  By Timothy