End of year round up.

What a whirlwind!  We dived headlong into Tournament of Minds in September, winning both categories at the Regionals and progressing again to the Nationals in Wellington.  The Primary team there earned Honours!  I was so proud of all their hard effort - it takes real stamina to take on the three hour challenges required at the National Final  - our students were terrific!

In the background, a group of students had started working on their DigiCREST award.  This was completed early in term 4.  This award is put together by Tahi Rua Toru Tech, an affiliate of Te Aparangi (The Royal Society of New Zealand).  The students work through a number of modules looking at the building of computer programming, without ever actually using a computer.  Our students all completed their Primary Team CREST award as a a part of this programme.

The weeks have progressed and an introduction to our new topic "Community Heroes" has occurred - we had a very energetic session on the new school sewing machines as a part of this.  This work will continue in the early part of next year.

GATE has had a busy and productive year, with some well recognised successes and a lot of great learning.  I am excited about some new ideas I plan to implement for 2020 and will be working towards these over the summer break.

Have a wonderful holiday season with your families.  For those of you not returning to Whakarongo School in 2020, I wish you all the best.

Nga Mihi,
Mrs Zhou

The completed Kahu Huruhuru, now displayed in the library.

Tournament of Minds Regionals 

Tournament of Minds National Final

DigiCREST modules underway

And the final Community Heroes Intro to a sewing machine session - lots of fun!

Thanks for a great year everyone!