Teacher Only Day with Nathan Wallis

What a day the staff at Raroa have just had with Nathan Wallis, 

neuroscience educator and child development expert!

Due to the weather, Nathan was unable to make it into Wellington last night for his public presentation last night, but we were lucky he still made it in time for our Teacher Only Day today.   

Fortunately, a new date has been set for the postponement. Details from Nathan:

Apologies again for the postponement of last night's event at Raroa Normal Intermediate. We can't control the weather unfortunately!

A new date has been locked in for the Teen Brain talk. It will now be:

Wednesday June 12th. 7.00-8.30pm.

A reminder that if you purchased a ticket to last night's event, this will still be valid on the 12th and you will just need to present it at the door. This event was sold out, so at this stage there are no new tickets available to the public.

If you purchased tickets for the 30th May and cannot make this new date, please contact Sharon to organise a refund at: xfactoreducation@gmail.com

I definitely recommend this evening to you!

Enjoy our videos about our AMAZING students and school!

Writings from Ext(reme) Writers

Roxy5 Film Screenings tonight!

Congrats to our 2 teams who entered the Roxy5 Film Competition.  The films were screened tonight at Victoria University, along with all the other schools who have entered.  Thanks to the families who could join us for the celebration.  Photos to follow.

Finalists will be announced tomorrow.

Scott is back with Chess Classes at Raroa

 Chess class with former NZ Chess Champion.

After-school classes on Fridays during school term from 3pm to 4pm at Raroa. The cost is $90 per school term.

Please contact Scott Wastney kiwichess@xtra.co.nz or 021 1557403 for enrolments or further information.

Big ups to student leadership!

The leadership skills being developed and put into action 

are such a pleasure to see!

I would like to acknowledge the students who are running the Dungeons and Dragons groups and the Warhammer Club.  These lunchtime activities were instigated by students and continue to be able lead by them.

In addition, 👍 to those students who represent us all as Student Leaders and Student Ambassadors.  You make us proud!

Term 2 update

Three weeks have gone by already!  The students have hit the ground running and it is exciting to see their enthusiasm as they continue to challenge themselves.  

It has been great to welcome new students to the Mathletes programme.  Alongside the continued development of the skills that mathematicians use, new learning is in the following areas:
         
         Geometry & Measurement:  Teams 1, 2 & 4 
         Algebra: Teams 3 & 4

These topics align with those being explored in each team. 

Ext(reme) Writers have also welcomed new students.  The term's focus is on discovering ways that authors show character,and putting those skills and techniques into their own writing.  A highlight so far was having Neal Shusterman visit Raroa and share his inspirations for character and plot, and outline his writing process.

Tournament of Minds trials have been taking place over the last couple of weeks.  This year has been the most challenging selection process for staff.  The high level of creative and critical thinking skills seen in trialists has been exceptional. The squad for this programme will be named today.

The Kapowai group has also welcomed new students - we have been focusing on problems/worries/concerns that seem to grow in size - identifying them,  unpacking them and finding opportunities within them.

A call-out has been made for students interesting in trialling for Raroa's Chess Teams.  They will be participating in the Inter-School competition on 17 June, and represent the school at the exchange with Hutt Intermediate the following day.

I have been so impressed with the commitment to learning from the Science Fair students - what a wide range of investigations being explored!  Many new skills are being developed, especially in research and the planning of a fair test.

Ext(reme) Readers are loving the challenges of learning with Angela Stanley.  Welcome to the new students in those groups.

It has been so great to see the students take up the many opportunities offered by all the staff across the school.  Whether it is in their team, enrichments, sports, DPE or lunchtime activities.  Raroa students are lucky to have such a wealth of passionate staff to learn with.