From the Principal

What an exciting Term 4 we are having. It is very busy but so rewarding to see Waituna Creek students excelling.

At swimming all students are achieving their goals and are absolutely fabulous to take to the town pool.

The A and P show was a success with our BLT’s selling out and numerous prizes for our children in the Home Industries section.

Thanks you to the Parents who helped with our BLT fundraiser it was a great success. Our PTA are a true asset for our school.

We are learning to (WALT)…

Junior Class

  • Maths: count backwards, and in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. We are learning our doubles and halves.
  • Writing: about punctuation and how to use speech in our writing.
  • Reading: in addition to the individual reading goals, we are learning how to read expressively so the listener really understands what we are saying.
  • Physical Education: jump high and far, and how to use our whole bodies to throw a ball. Manage ourselves and our belongings while swimming and changing at the pool.

Senior Class

  • Maths: from next week, identify patterns in number sequences and use rules to make predictions.
  • Writing: focus on shape, size and position of our letters in all our handwriting.
  • Physical Education: set individual goals so we will swim more effectively and also manage ourselves and our belongings while swimming and changing at the pool.

Appointment of new teachers

Waituna Creek School welcomes the following teachers for Term 1, 2012:

Miss Annalese Patterson will be teaching in our Junior classroom


My name is Annalese Patterson and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to teach at Waituna Creek School this year in the junior classroom. I am 21 years old, come from Dunedin and have just graduated from the University of Otago College of Education. I am a keen netball player and love to participate in a range of different sports. I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I look forward to getting to know the people of Waimate and working alongside the children, staff and wider school community. Please feel free to pop in and say hello.

Miss Cat Cochrane will be teaching in our Senior classroom


My name is Cat Cochrane and I have spent the last two and a half years teaching in Oamaru. Upon leaving college I taught for 9 years in London, where I had an amazing experience teaching children from an array of backgrounds and cultures. I grew up and went to school in Oamaru, before studying in Dunedin. I have many interest from horse riding to art and have enjoyed being involved in local activities and events in and around Oamaru since my return, from Relay for life last year and coaching a future ferns Netball team to the school production in 2010. I look forward to being an active member of the Waituna Creek school community in 2012.

Artists in Action

The senior class have been creating still life drawings to be entered in the Waimate A and P show next weekend.

Juniors will be entering paintings and both classes vegetable creations.

We are asking all children to bring 2-3 vegetables to school next week. We will supply some extra vegetables and the tooth picks and skewers needed to join pieces together.

Make sure you visit the home industries at the show and check up our creations.

Edible Gardens

Garden Progress: All 3 gardens have been planted each group has also grown seeds inside and have had a great germination success.

We plan to transplant these to our gardens next week. The next challenge is to design something to deter the birds from our gardens.

We will be adding more photos as the gardens develop. Check them out in our photo gallery.

Wonder Wall What is a wonder wall...?

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Happiness by Robbie

Yellow is happiness
It is like flowers
It tastes like diet coke
It looks like lollies
It sounds like fizz
It feels like smoothness

Robbie has been learning how to use descriptive words to make the reader really understand his feelings. He is developing excellent strategies to stay focused and to attempt words he is unsure how to spell. His writing is becoming very neat. Well done Robbie – You are a writing superstar!

At the Waimate 50 by Jaxson

It was loud. It was fast. What was it? It was CARS! There were heaps of them! It was so loud it nearly made my ears sore. They went very fast.

There were little cars and big cars.  Some of them crashed and went BANG into the walls.  Some went out of control and I got frightened.

It was a very noisy day. There were lots and lots of people at the Waimate 50.

Jaxson has been learning how to use a hook to make the reader want to read his story. He has also used a question to make the reader think about something. Jaxson is using descriptive words to make the reader really understand what it was like to be there at the Waimate 50. Well done Jaxson – You are a writing superstar!

The Sky Rumbled

As we came outside to play, the clouds were grey as an elephant.

I turned and looked at the hills. I blinked. I saw a flash, it was as bright as the sun. Two seconds later the sky rumbled.

I went back to class. I got inside it rumbled again. My heart pumped faster than ever.

Another group of thunder started. It was like sirens in my ears. The thunder was angry and ferocious.