Sixty Mt Carmel children formed 6 teams who completed against a number of teams from local Eastern schools at this year's Top Schools Competition organised by the Rotary Club.  Well done to all the children who worked brilliantly together and undertook the adventurous activities with enthusiasm and congratulations to the Year 3/4 team who were awarded Bronze medals.  Overall the water slide proved to be the most popular, particularly as the area at the bottom got very boggy over the course of the day!

At the beginning of March, all of our Year 6 students travelled to Long Bay to visit the Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre. The children first took part in problem solving games, which relied on them working as part of a team to complete a series of challenges. After this, the children split into groups to take part in abseiling and body boarding taught by the MERC Instructors. During the body boarding sessions the children first learnt all about rip tides and staying safe in the water, followed by a great time catching some fantastic waves.

As part of our topic for this term, ‘Our Place’, the Junior Team visited Mangere Mountain last week to learn more about Auckland’s volcanic field. Pūkeko, Ruru and Korimako visited on Wednesday, with Kea, Kākāriki and Hihi visiting on Friday. We started the day with a guided tour of the mountain before finishing the day with a variety of hands-on activities. Here are a selection of photos from the day.

Last week our Senior School students had a trip to Rangitoto - it was a gloriously sunny day.  We travelled into the city in style on a double decker bus, took a boat ride to the island and a walk to the top of the peak (a first for many children).  The children took many "selfies" with the views in the background and they explored other parts of the island as they descended, particularly enjoying the lava caves.

Photos Credit: Michelle Marsden

Last week our Junior School children enjoyed a visit from Surf Lifesaving who ran a session for each classroom about staying safe in water.  The children were shown how to dress for the good weather - slip, slop, slap and wrap, how to recognise dangerous water situations and what to do around the water.  As well as the educational element, the children took part in a 'flags' game which is a Surf Lifesaving competitive sport.  Our thanks to the visiting Surf Lifesaving educators for providing these fun sessions.

On the first day of Term 1 we welcomed 29 new children to Mt Carmel School - we managed to catch a photo of most of them as they turned up with their families to wish them well on their first day here.

As part of R8 - R12's Ancient civilization inquiry work they had a celebration of Ancient civilizations by dressing up as the one they had been researching.  The children have been learning about Ancient Rome, Egypt and Greece and have enjoyed learning about these different people and their cultures and beliefs.  They have been working collaboratively in class to come up with a design of an ancient monument that they could build together out of recyclable materials.  They worked hard throughout the day to create their creative designs.

The teachers were all very proud of the effort they have put into their work throughout the term and into their costumes.

What a wonderful show!  Our whole school production of 'Dancing Through the Decades' was an excellent showcase for our talented dancers and the enthusiasm on the children's faces was clear for all to see.  A DVD of the show is available for sale - click here to order.  To view our photos click on the images below (you will have to click on each of the three galleries to see all the photos).

Last Friday we had a beautiful day for our whole school Cross Country Competition - all of the children took part in this challenging event and we saw great effort (and emotion!) from our participants.  The winning house was St Francis and the individual winners were:

Year 6: Grace Greaney & Eamon Deevy
Year 5: Emilia Goldsmith & Calvin Quinn
Year 4: Jasmine Summerville & Joe Gregory / Ollie Norden
Year 3: Amy Towers & Micah Cocker
Year 2: Elsa Cooper & Ollie McLauchlan
Year 1:Harriet Florence & Reuben Rutter
Year 0/1: Juliette Goldsmith & Tate McKeown