PowerCo Challenge

The library was full of enthusiastic teams of young lads who were set a challenge to construct the tallest tower for an emergency flashing light. It was 25 minutes of furious activity with a noise level to match.

                                         Winning team of Finlay, Finn, Kian, Logan and Blake

                                    Team that placed second: Alfie, Toby, Michael, Tahanga and Corey

Noughts and Crosses - book review by Joshua

This is a review from one of our Year 10 students who reads widely and was willing to offer his thoughts about this book. He has done a great job. Well done Josh.

Noughts and Crosses, by Malorie Blackman is a fiction novel of two teenagers who are trapped in a world of two sides where they can’t be friends. The story is set in a current day setting of worldwide racism between black and white people. Resulting with white noughts and black crosses. Callum is a 15-year-old nought who is poor and is tired of the unfair rights towards noughts. Persephone (Sephy) is a cross and is the daughter of one of the most powerful people in the country but is against the unfair rights towards noughts.

Noughts and Crosses is and inspiring book for teenagers that expresses life values and concepts. It spreads a powerful message against racism, discrimination and violence. The author portrays these themes in a way that makes the reader think about the reality of harm they cause.

Fantastic new series and curriculum resources

New books for research topics. The have been chosen for the subject areas Science, Health, Social Studies and History. However, they are all interesting and also useful for general interest.

Your Body For Life series. While not in-depth they have comprehensive coverage about each topic, they have quizzes, timelines, suggested websites, and a glossary of words and terms for better understanding.

The Inside series has terrific pictorial information to aid learning, particularly the cross-sections images. The Explore Your World series has a high percentage of images and basic information, aimed at younger age learners.

Days of Decision series covers some important people and events in history. These are useful for background reading, or for intermediate students who might need them for research. Throughout the books there are highlighted key speeches and decisions, as well as topics for discussion and debate.

Welcome Back

Hope you all enjoyed your holidays. Learning doesn't need to stop just because we aren't attending school. I visited the Picton Maritime Museum which houses the Edwin Fox. This sailing ship was built in India in 1853 and was used as a troop carrier, an immigrant ship, a convict transporter, storage for frozen sheep before exported, and coal.

It is exciting to be able to walk aboard a piece of history and imagine what it must have been like for the crew and passengers.

The first photo is an example of a cabin that wealthier passengers could afford, whereas the one below is the cheaper quarters under deck. Three people or more (within a family) were expected to top and tail in this small space, not an overly comfortable rest.

                                            Above is the type of seating for dining. 

I was very impressed with the way the information was presented, it was concise (not loaded down with too much text to read) and visually interesting (pictures, artifacts and walking through the ship). Well worth a visit if you are in Picton, and really brings history to life.

 For more information go to Edwin Fox