TAUPO INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
Striving for Excellence
Kotare Street, TAUPO 3330 Telephone: (07) 378 8097
Kia ora koutou te whanau o tenei kura,
te kura Waenga o Taupo
Greetings to all of our families
Fax: (07) 378 8618
Email: [email protected]
Newsletter Number: 16
Date: 1st July 2016
In my opinion
“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a
sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its
beauty, its riches or its romance.”
–Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest President in United States history at the age of 42.
Goodness haven’t we seen some interesting things happening this week here and across the world, isn’t it about time we
perhaps referred to the quote that I have put up this week.
You would have to agree that the sense of patriotism is being truly tested in Great Britain at the moment with the planned
exit of Britain from the European Union, and the fall-out from those who either failed to vote or failed to vote with
seriousness. The country is completely at a loss as to what they voted for, for their country or for ………what?
Much the same thinking with our flag referendum, where we had an opportunity to vote for change to reflect our country,
and to show the world that we do cherish our nation and fly under a New Zealand Flag. When I ask people if they voted many
would say they didn’t – it wasn’t such a big thing. Then it happened and now we want something done. The same in Britain –
the vote was taken and the results are out to exit the European Union and now 3 million plus people have just signed a
petition to be given another chance to vote.
We are capable of uniting as a country with a common cause, as was proven with the marches around the country on
Monday, not for one particular child but for our treatment of our children in general across the spectrum, let’s not just march
about it, let’s show some support for each other.
We do live in a special country, with natural wonders and resources, and our resources include people, so let’s treasure our
way of life in this country and protect it for the future of our children and their children, and in my opinion that means keeping
our land and our traditions. Without land you could end up being a stranger in your own country. Speaking of our country,
here is some information that might help you understand what Maori people are celebrating. Our students are taking the
opportunity to visit the Matariki exhibition set up at our Museum/ Art Gallery.
What is Matariki? - Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. It rises in mid-winter – late
May or early June. For many Māori, it heralds the start of a new year. Matariki literally means the ‘eyes of god’ (mata ariki) or
‘little eyes’ (mata riki). According to myth, when Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatūānuku, the earth mother, were
separated by their children, the god of the winds, Tāwhirimātea, became so angry that he tore out his eyes and threw them
into the heavens.
Cycles of life and death - Traditionally, Matariki was a time to remember those who had died in the last year. But it was also a
happy event – crops had been harvested and seafood and birds had been collected. With plenty of food in the storehouses,
Matariki was a time for singing, dancing and feasting.
Modern Matariki Matariki, or Māori New Year celebrations were once popular but stopped in the 1940s. In 2000 they were
revived. Only a few people took part at first, but in just a few years’ thousands were honouring the ‘New Zealand
Thanksgiving’. A special feature of Matariki celebrations is the flying of kites – according to ancient custom they flutter close
to the stars.
 Our school carries on with our major building project still happening, and will continue to happen for the next few weeks
into July and one day we will move back into our offices again at the front of the school.
Thank you to all our students, teachers and parents for your cooperation as these projects continue to stretch our
patience and inconvenience.
 Huge Congratulations to our Mathematic Teams with their success at the Hawkes Bay Mathletics. Results below:
 On Thursday 30th May 2016 we began our Focussed Interviews for all the students in our school. These will continue
today and into Thursday next week.
You will have received a letter asking for you to make a time available for yourselves and child to work with the teacher to
find out where their learning is at, at this stage of the year, and what the next steps for learning will be for the remainder of
the year.
You also will have received a letter concerning our Cross Country being run today Friday 1st July 2016 and also about the
arrangements for Tuesday 5th July 2016 where we will be finishing our classes at 1.pm which will then allow us to run parent
Interviews through to 9pm.
 You will have filled in the tear off slip indicating to us what your child is to do between 1:00pm and 3:00pm
 No student will be allowed to leave the grounds without this permission slip – they will remain until 3:00pm
 The school buses will be running the usual timetables with pick up at 3:00pm from school
ANY DIFFICULTIES WITH THIS ARRANGEMENT PLEASE CONTACT THE SCHOOL OFFICE ON- 3788097.
Have a fantastic weekend and please look forward to spending some quality with your children when we finish the term on
Friday 8th July 2016 – I think I can hear the faint whimper of the sea calling…….?
Isn’t it great to get the Super Rugby back on the TV.
Wiremu
BOP/Poverty Bay Mountain Bike Champs:
On Friday 10th June, in wet conditions, we hosted the BOP/Poverty Bay Intermediate Mountain Bike Champs at Craters of
the Moon on the ‘Tourist Trap Track’, and attended by approximately 100 students from 9 schools. Our ‘#1’ team of Alex
Rainbow, Dan Pietersma, Ben Raven, Kitty Prier and Mia Cameron, came first, beating our ‘#2’ Team of Marc Koorey, Max
Voss, Marijn Lenoir, Stacia Haitana and Meredith Bowler into second place. A great effort by both these teams, along with
our #3 team (Coen Nicol, James Officer, Jakob Bussell, Lily Raven and Sasha Larsen) who came 7th and our #4 team (Sean
Onishi, Kurtis Morgan, Wil Yeoman, Amelia Funnell and Kensie Gard) who came 9th.
Best individual results were: Girls- Stacia Haitana 4th, Kitty Prier 5th, Meredith Bowler 8th.
Boys- Alex Rainbow 1st, Dan Pietersma 3rd, Ben Raven 5th.
A big thank you to the many Taupo Intermediate parents who helped make this event run smoothly.
BOP/Poverty Bay Climbing:
Last Friday 24th June Taupo Intermediate held the
BOP/Poverty Bay Intermediate Climbing Champs at
the Taupo Events Centre. Our team of Amber Liddell,
Emma Cook, Amber Roach, Kitty Prier, Millie Thurston,
Jasmine McKenzie, Amelia Funnell, Stacia Haitana,
Katie Lambert, Anton Lamprecht, Joe Beetsma, Mano
Fournier, Zac Maulder and Renata Ngata initially
completed two scoring climbs each. Scores then
went towards their team points and enabled some to
enter a further climb for the individual competition.
Alongside this we ran a table climbing competition,
where students were timed from lying flat on a table,
climbing over one edge, underneath and up over the
other edge to back on top without touching the floor.
Results were: Individuals - Yr 7 Girls – Amber Liddell 1st,
Amber Roach 3rd, Emma Cook 4th. Yr 8 Girls – Kitty
Prier 2nd, Millie Thurston 4th; Yr 8 Boys – Joe Beetsma 3rd;
Table Climbing – Anton Lamprecht 2nd (4.63 sec);
Teams – Yr 7’s 3rd, Yr 8’s 2nd. Thanks again to the
parents who helped with belaying, supervision,
scoring and timing.
Waikato/BOP School Duathlon Champs:
This event which was to be held on Wednesday the 22nd has been
postponed until week 2 next term.
Sponsored Clean-up of Taupo:
Thanks to all the parents who got in behind this event, helping
both prior to the event and on the day with supervision, we
couldn’t have done it without your support. 780kg of rubbish
was collected by classes, from areas which included roadsides
leading into Taupo, beaches from Waitahanui through to
Whakaipo Bay, along with tracks and parks from the Control
Gates through to Aratiatia. Thanks also to Nimons and the
Taupo District Council for their support. An excellent effort by
all involved. Sponsorship to date has raised in excess of $21000.
Congratulations to Olly Monkman has been selected for the
2016/17 Bay of Plenty Danny Lee Golf Academy. This is a
fantastic opportunity for Junior Elite Golfers. Also been selected
preparing for the Inaugural South Pacific Golf Open in New
Caledonia in August. Great accomplishments. Sue (his caddy!)
Mathletics Trip
This week, 6 teams of 3 students from Year 7 & 8 travelled to Hastings Intermediate
School to compete in the Mathletics competition. This comprises of 3 sections: Team,
Problem Solving and Individual. Each section is marked separately and then all scores are
added together to give Overall results.
The Year 7 night comprised of 32 teams from various schools achieving the following:
Year 7 Team 2: 7th Place Overall; Makayla Dick, Douglas McIvor, Andrew Bullock
Team 1: 8th Place Overall (Martyn O’Brien, Julio Messenger, Caitlin Stevens)
Team 3: 15th Place Overall (Ella Rutherford, Boston Flight, Amelia Dale)
Pic is Year 8 Teams
Douglas and Caitlin were also finalists in the Individual Competition.
The following night, the Year 8s also competed with the following results
Year 8
Team 1: 2nd Place overall! Scoring 345 points.
Team- Kees Manders, Mano Fournier & Ashleigh MacKay. Kees and Mano were finalists in the
individual comp, with Mano taking out 1st Place on the night!
Well done on taking part! Team 2: Anton Lamprecht, Rhea Paalvast & Evelyn Hall
Pic left is Ashleigh, Mano & Kees
Team 3: Zac Maulder, Paris Grant & Riley Knox.
Taupo Half Marathon:
If students want to complete the Taupo Half marathon for their Bevan Docherty Award, online entry is as follows: Go online to
www.taupohalfmarathon.org.nz select “enter online now”, select “I’m a participant”, are you part of a group “yes”, please select how you
wish to enter, select “series events individually”, select “Taupo Marathon”, group name “Taupo Intermediate School”, select “join”, fill in
details, select “half marathon”, choose run or walk. Cost is $18 ($20 less 10% discount for being group member).
SPECIAL MUFTI DAY
To be held on Wednesday 6th July with a base cost of $2.00 for the privilege. You may wish to donate more if you wish in
support of one of our pupil’s Quinton Ruthe from Room 4 who has just undergone brain surgery to remove a ‘tumor’,
which will also need to treated with Chemotherapy.
The funds raised will go toward supporting the family during this very traumatic time.
We want to send very positive prayers and messages of support to Quinton and family and wish him a full recovery.
END OF SCHOOL TERM: School will close for vacation on Friday of next week 8th July 2016 for a period of
2 weeks at 3:00pm and will reopen on 25th July 2016 at 8:50am – We will not be moving back to our offices
until the 1st August??? so our present offices will still be in the Library block.