PURAKAUNUI SCHOOL

By Bridget Davidson

We loved the North Coast Cluster Crosscountry and Orienteering event at Waikouaiti. Congratulations to Ransome Rogers who gained first place in the Year 4 boys' race. Seniors enjoyed a sports day at the Edgar Centre recently, also with our fellow North Coast  schools. We rotated around activities such as futsal, netball, gymnastics, ultimate frisbee, cricket and our favourite, wrestling! Thanks to all the great tutors and volunteers who took us.

Our Quiz Night was again a huge success and thanks to Steve Walker and all the organisers, and to everyone for the fabulous raffle donations. Look out for it again next year.

Our Term 3 end-of-term community assembly was held on Thursday 27 September. These assemblies are a great way to get together with the wider community and showcase the exciting learning we have been doing over the term. We are thrilled with the children's academic progress in all areas and like to share this with our community. We always follow with a pot luck supper in the library.

Our annual School Fair is to be held on 18 November from 11am-2pm. Mark this date in your diary now and feel free to donate goods at the school office. We always have fine food, coffee, plants, preserves, good used clothing, bouncy castle, children's treasure hunt and other activities, raffles, books and all sorts of other pre-Christmas goodies.

Mrs Allen and Mr Cook have been busy doing professional learning in the music and e-learning areas and are also attending an orientation visit to Mount Cook to look at running a possible camp there  next year. This year's camp will be a local one in December, making the most of the rock climbing, kayaking, tramping and camping activities on our doorstep at Long Beach, the Purakaunui Estuary and the Mopanui, Mihiwaka and Ecosanctuary areas. Our camps are an all-inclusive experience where we take all of our children away for two nights, along with a large proportion of our parent community.

Our Tiny Pipis pre-school group meets at 10am in the school library on Thursdays and this continues to be very popular. Contact the school for more information.