Corbett Award Tree

Many of you may be interested in the tree that was planted at the Queen’s coronation by Des Corbett’s father with the spade that forms part of our ‘Corbett Award’. The photo is courtesy of Luke Goodwin, a past pupil of Okato College. His father Dudley was a longtime caretaker, and Elaine also worked at the school.

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National Culinary Fair Success

Last weekend, Kara Brown (on behalf of the Taranaki/Whanganui Region and Coastal Taranaki School), and Dylan Wilson competed in the National Culinary Fair competitions in Auckland. Dylan competed in the open section with experienced chefs. Kara has continued building on her earlier successes in August to be awarded Runner-up National Junior Service Person of the year, 1st Novelty Table Setting (earning a Gold Award), and a Silver Award for Mocktail Mixology.

Remarkable achievements, Kara and Dylan – congratulations!

Junior Playground Back in Action

We are extremely grateful for the resourcefulness and energy of the following parents who gave most generously of their time and ‘connections’ to improve the drainage and replace the protective bark covering on this area. We are especially thankful to Steve Gibson for co-ordinating the project and arranging the necessary equipment.

The weather of the weekend of August 7 and 8 was not the best for this sort of hard graft, so the achievements were all the more impressive.  The Board, students and community thank Steve and Amara Gibson, Kgystern and Paul Manuel, Richard and Milly Carr, Richard Corry and Andrew Hooker for a job very well done.

Friends of Coastal Taranaki School

Those who have Yummy Apple stickers ready to be brought back to school, please hand into your teachers and check out yummyfruit.co.nz. We need to have entries in by September 24.  Hopefully, we will be able to get some nice new sports gear for the classrooms.

A big thanks to farmers for their support again this year with bobby calves, so far we have made around $250. Phone book deliveries should all just about be finished by now. A huge thanks to our families who do a run every year and to our new families who have picked one up for the first time. We hope it all went well; I know my kids love hanging out the window dropping them off. We raise around $2,300 through this fundraiser.

Thanks once again to Steve Gibson and his family for the many hours spent in the last month at school with the playground and also the delivery of the sand. Thanks to Andrew Hooker for the use of his tractor and all the other people who help get the playground up and running.  Also thanks to Winstones who donated the sand to the school, so if you are in there please make sure you thank them for it.

Have your say on how you would like to see fundraised money benefit your children, come to one of your meetings, it’s a great way to meet new families.

Our next meeting will be September 16 at 7.30 in the staff room.  Everyone’s welcome.

Calf and Lamb Day

- If you need any information on calf rearing, check out the calfclub.co.nz website.  This has a diary and loads of info which you can download.
- Lambs are not to be bleached or coloured in anyway.
- We will be updating Calf and Lamb Day booklets shortly, these will be available from the school office once they have been done.

Principal’s Report – Term 3, Week 6

Kia ora Parents, Caregivers and Students of Coastal Taranaki School,

Firstly we welcome the following students to our community:
- Samara Rouse, Year 9
- Milly Dennison, Year 6
- Xanthe Hawksley, New Entrant

eLearning Update
As our e-learning strategy 2006 – 2010 is essentially achieved, e-learning Lead Team members Hamish Hislop and Joel Dodd, and I visited (with Omata and Oakura School Principals and lead teachers) a number of Christchurch Schools with a view to gaining some insights into how others are integrating IT into learning programmes. I believe the consensus is that we compare very well, but that we do need to accelerate a more general acceptance of the critical role IT can play in personalising learning. One key area that we need to develop, and the main reason I include this ‘taster’ in the newsletter, is that of increasing the electronic connectivity between home and school.

Sports Report – Term 3, Week 6

Coastal sports teams and individuals continue to thrive on the sports fields with the month of August being one of the most successful for a number of years.

The Coastal Schools boys 2^nd XV, playing out of our school, completely upset the form book to win the Taranaki Secondary Schools Premier 5 competition. Having lost to both NPBHS 6ths and Central 2^nd XV they were not expected to cause many problems at the semi final and final stages. Unfortunately, for them they did not reckon on the Coastal spirit as first the team beat NPBHS 6ths 14-12 in the semi final and then dispatched the Central 2^nd XV in a big way 49-10 in the final. The Central team was the same one the boys had lost 5-48 just 4 weeks previously.

Methanex Maths Spectacular

Congratulations to all the students who took part in the Methanex Maths Spectacular this year. Below are a list of the students who recieved awards for their work.

Year 8
- Merit  in 2011 Central Design – Phillippa Grayling

Year 9
- Merit in Group Project – Ashlin Dobbin and Billie Cameron

Year 10
- Merit in Group Project – Christine Thomas and Ariana Hickey
- Merit in Hand-Draw 2D Artwork – Joel Wilkie

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Off The Wall Disco

On Friday night, our school got together for an ‘Off The Wall’ disco. We would like to thank everyone who helped to make this event successful, especially our student leaders, an enthusiastic bunch of Year 12s, and the group of teachers and parents who supported us. This was a fun night – it was great to see plenty of great outfits and dancing, and a huge turnout of senior students. All of the proceeds from school discos are contributed to our School Council, and are used to support our students, community, and organizations we care about. Thanks to the people involved for their huge effort, and we hope to see everyone at our next event!

Calf and Lamb Day

Our Calf & Lamb Day will be held on either the 21st or 22nd of October 2010.

Okato Vet Clinic will be providing free lamb vaccinations again this year. This should be done before you dock your lamb. If need be, there will be a judge off by judges for all sections.