Showcase
Our New Building is Almost Complete
The builders have been working hard on our new building this term and it is almost complete. There are still some finishing touches to be completed and the landscaping will be done over the holidays. At the start of next term, all our year 4 classes will move into the new building.
Below are some photos of our new building.
An Aerial View of our New Building
On Thursday the 2nd of March, Mr Richards took this stunning aerial view showing the progress on our new building.
The Framework Goes Up
Over the summer holidays, the framework for our new building began to go up. The building is starting to take shape as the steel frame for the walls and ceilings is put into place.
A Massive Crane Arrives
On Wednesday the 23rd of November, a 100 tonne crane arrived at PCS. It was here to move the reinforcing steel into the building site. The children were fascinated with the heavy steel being swung overhead into the building site. Great fun!
Groundwork has Begun
The groundwork for our new building has begun with the area being marked out, dirt removed and string lines put in. The students have watched the diggers and dump trucks arrive with great excitement.
Classrooms Moved During the Break
Two rooms have been moved over the break to make way for our new building – our school looks very different. Below are some pictures showing some of the classrooms being moved from their old position to their temporary position beside the field.
Classes being separated Up on jacks Being loaded onto truck Being moved into position
Classroom re-sited
New Building Project @ PCS: (May 2016 – May 2017)
We are very excited as our new building project is about to begin. The first stage is to clear the building site. Therefore, over the April holidays, rooms 17 and 19 will be moved off site and rooms 16 and 18 will be re-located alongside the fitness trail.
Our new building will have four classrooms upstairs and four downstairs. The Ministry of Education has included two additional rooms for roll growth.
We plan to keep you informed of progress, so please check out our Showcase regularly for updates.
Kind regards,
Marilyn Gwilliam (Principal)
Above is the artists impression of our new building.
Term 3 2017
Camp Stalls
On Tuesday the 31st of October, the Year 6′s held their Camp Stalls to fundraise for the Year 6 camp, held this term in week 5. There was face painting, games, toys and food to purchase and we were lucky to have lovely, fine weather for the Camp Stalls. See below for some photos of the students enjoying the Camp Stalls.
Gymnastics Zones
On Tuesday the 26th of September PCS sent 6 teams to the Gymnastics Zones Our teams competed against teams from other local schools and they did very well. They all competed well and we gained some very good placings.
Placings were:
Year 3/4
Girls team = 3rd equal overall
Qyahna = 1st Vault
Boys team = 3rd overall
Calvin = 1st Vault
Year 5
Girls team= 2nd overall
Chanae = 3rd vault
Boys team = 2nd overall
Kace = 2nd Vault
Year 6
Girls team = 2nd overall
Boys team = 2nd overall
Thank you to teachers Miss Fok and Miss Rands-Trevor for their excellent coaching and supervision for the Zones.
See below for some photos of our teams at the Zones.
Year 3 & 4 Girls Team Year 3 & 4 Boys Team
Year 5 Girls & Boys Teams Year 6 Girls & Boys Teams
Cross Country Zones
On Tuesday the 19th of September PCS competed in the annual Cross Country Zones with several other local schools. Although the recent rain had made the course extremely muddy, our students ran very well with a few gaining top 5 placings and a couple more in the top 10. Our teams also did well with the 9 year old boys team coming in third and the 11 year old boys team also placing in the top 3.
A big thank you to Mr Cowan and Mr Richards for training our runners and accompanying them to the Zones.
See below for some photos of our students before, during and after the Cross Country Zones.
Papatoetoe Junior Sports Awards
Here is a photo of Kimora and Ford (both Room 27) – our 2 PCS nominees for the 2017 Papatoetoe Junior Sports Awards which were held at Kolmar on Friday the 15th of September. Although they didn’t win their respective categories (there is some AMAZING young talent in Papatoetoe), they represented our school wonderfully and each received a medal, certificate and New World goodie bag. Their parents looked as proud as punch, which was priceless.
An excellent evening overall and a very positive sporting future lies ahead for Papatoetoe. Well done Kimora and Ford – PCS is very proud of you.
Book Week
This week (September 18 – 22) is book week and PCS has many book related activities planned this week.
We have ‘Guess who is Hiding Behind the Book?’ (where students have to guess which staff member is hiding behind a book), a Poetry Slam on Tuesday, a Puppet Show on Wednesday, a Book Swap on Thursday and ‘Dress up as Your Favourite Character’ on Friday.
Below are some pictures of the activities students have enjoyed this week.
Who is Hiding Behind the Book?
Poetry Slam
Puppet Show
Book Swap
Dress Up as a Book Character
Visit to the Breakers
On Wednesday the 13th of September, 30 basketball-mad PCS students were taken by Mr Curry and Mr Robinson to the Sky City Breakers’ training base in Mairangi Bay for a Breakers experience.
We were greeted by Tony (The Breaker’s Community Manager) and taken into their gymnasium to watch the Breakers train. After training each student was given a Breakers basketball to keep, then we split into 3 groups. Each group had three Breakers players teaching them cool basketball skills and drills. Then we all got autographs and a group photo.
Thank you Sky City Breakers for an awesome day. GO THE BREAKERS!
Rippa Rugby
On 22nd of August our two PCS Rippa Rugby teams competed against other Papatoetoe Schools in the 2017 Zones Tournament at Aorere Park. This tournament was of a very high standard.
Although our teams weren’t successful in gaining top 3 placings, they did play well at times and improved as the day went on. Both teams were expertly coached by Mr Curry and demonstrated great sportsmanship and effort.
Well done to both our teams – we are proud of your efforts. See below for pictures of our teams in action.
Mathex
As in previous years, Papatoetoe Central School hosted the local cluster Mathex on Thursday 31st August, where the other Papatoetoe primary schools come together for a major morning of Maths action in our school hall. Children work in teams of four and solve maths problems in their teams. They have to be fast, smart and accurate and our kids are definitely all of these. Once again PCS won in each year group – Year 4, 5 and 6. Well done to our Maths Enhancement Teacher Gurmeet Baidwan for all her expert coaching, class teachers and the students themselves – just wonderful. Special thanks to Ross McGowan for his great organisation and hosting of the competition.
Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Students In Action at Mathex
Our winning Year 6, 5 and 4 Mathex teams with Maths Enhancement Teacher Mrs Baidwan
School Cross Country
On Thursday the 10th of August, our senior students ran the annual cross country. After days of rain, we thankfully had a break in the weather which allowed us to go ahead with the cross country. The students all ran well and below we have some images of our runners and the winners in each category.
Student Council’s Visit to St Christopher’s Open Day
On Thursday, the 3rd of August, the Student Councillors went to St Christopher’s Open Day. It was a very exciting experience for all of us. When we walked inside, we were greeted by the delightful caregivers and the nurses. Next we met Tuini, the activities coordinator who was really nice, kind and funny. She took us upstairs where we had to put our rain jackets.
After that we came to the lounge where the lovely residents were waiting for us. Tuini played some lovely fitness music and we danced together with the residents. After sit dancing, Ms Nand divided us into three groups. The first group made slime, the second group made pom poms and the third group helped the caregivers to serve morning tea to the residents. This group also played bowling. All these activities were done with the residents and they enjoyed having us. Finally it was time to pack up. After packing up, we were treated with an amazing morning tea. We had sausage rolls, sandwich, scones, fruit juice and even chocolates. The manager of St Christopher’s gave us balloons and took our lovely group photo. We had an awesome time at St Christopher’s and we would love to visit the residents again. We were very pleased to contribute to the outer community outside of school.
By PCS Student Council
Making slime
PCS Student Councillors
Making pom poms
Term 2 2017
Netball A Team
At the netball zones the ‘A’ netball team had great team spirit throughout the day even with the unpredictable weather.
All members of the team tried hard to practise what they had learned at trainings. For some of the team this season was their first time playing netball.
It was good to see that after playing many games they were still smiling and enjoying their day! Tino Pai girls!
Netball E Team
The E netball team had a great season this term. A lot of players were learning the game for the first time but soon knew their position inside out. We scored some excellent goals and everyone improved in their passing, catching, pivoting and defending. Most importantly though, the E team had so much fun!
Hula Hoops
On Thursday 15 June we had a visit from Mandy at in2hulahoops. She took three lessons for students from Year 1 to 6 classes about the great sport of hula hooping. Teachers and Learning assistants all joined in for a great time. We are very grateful to Mandy for teaching us some very cool hula hoop moves.
Term 1 2017
Environment and Sustainability Group 2017
Our Environment Group has been busy looking after the worm farms while our gardens are being set up. Check out the photos below of our Environment Group with enthusiastic Mr. White collecting worm tea to bottle and sell.
Student Council President
Kia Ora, my name is Jasleen Kaur and I am the President of the Student Council. I would like to send my hearty message to all my fellow student here at PCS. I would like you all to encourage others to reach their goals to the fullest. I would like to see each and everyone of you helping others and being their good friends. In this school we are like a big family. We should help others, solve their problems, think about others feelings and treat others the way we want to be treated.
I look forward to a new and exciting year, filled with fun activities. Without a doubt, this year will be one to remember!!
Thank you,
Jasleen Kaur.
Student Council Vice President
Hello, my name is Navid Panah-Fischer and I am this year’s Vice President of the Student Council. I am very pleased to be in this role and I would ensure you all that I will do my duties as a Vice President diligently.
I will make sure that you all develop in your abilities both academically and socially. My message to you all is to try your best and never give up. Always aim for the best! You all should abide by the PCS values which are: Being PCS, Honesty, Determination and Responsibility.
I wish you all the best during this school year. Don’t forget to see me if you have any issues or are unhappy about anything. Remember I will always be there to help you all.
Thank you,
Navid Panah-Fischer.
Student Council
RATIONALE:
The student council will consist of one student from each class from years three to six. It has been established to give an opportunity for the development of leadership in these students. Each class will elect one student to represent their class at council meetings. The council will meet weekly (Mondays/ Wednesdays) in the ELL Room and will be led by the designated staff member.
PURPOSES:
- To develop leadership skills in students.
- To provide all students with a voice about matters within school.
- To allow council members an opportunity to select a project and develop it through to completion.
- To provide council members with the responsibility of collecting concerns, ideas and suggestions from their class and bringing them to the meeting.
Playground Role Models
What do PRM’s do?
- We help you to solve problems
- We play games with you
- We help you be sensible in the playground
Term 4 2016
Sewing Group
Our Sewing Group, led by Celia Talbot, have again been busy this term, making cushions. They cut up old shirts and sewed them into cushions. Below is a picture of our sewing group with their fantastic creations.
Year 6 Camp
On Monday the 14th of November, most of our Year 6 students and teachers, and quite a few parents, headed off to Carey Park in Henderson for our annual Year 6 Camp. Despite some grey skies, they have had a fantastic time. Below are pictures of some of the activities they have enjoyed at camp and the beautiful surroundings. Thanks to all our Year 6 teachers and parents for giving up their time, allowing our students to enjoy this wonderful experience.
Chess Championships
Our chess team went to the North Island Chess Championships in Palmerston North during the school holidays and below is a picture of our star chess players Likent Laio and Joanna Lee facing their opposition from Manchester St School in Feilding. Our team came 6th overall which was a great result. Special thanks to our chess lead teacher Celia Talbot for taking our team and their families to Palmerston North for the North Island Chess Championships. Henry Luo enjoyed every minute with Mrs Talbot and the others.
Term 3 2016
Gymnastics Zones
On Tuesday the 20th of September our Gymnastic Team went to the Gymnastics Zones. All the children did so well and they should be very proud of themselves! Here are the results from the gymnastics competition. As you can see we got a few placings. Below are photos of our fantastic Gymnastic Teams.
Year 4
Zion – Floor 4th, Beam 4th and Overall placing 4th
Kace – Floor 4th
Year 5
Keira – Floor 1st, Beam 2nd and Overall placing 1st
Zeddah – Bar 4th
Year 6
Amber- Floor 2nd, Beam 3rd, Vault 3rd and Overall placing 1st equal
Latishna- Beam 1st
Year 4 Year 5 Year 6
Cross Country Zones
On Tuesday the 13th of September we had a fantastic day at the Cross Country Zones. Below are the placings of our top performers.
10 year old boys - 1st in the 10 year old boys team event
Kimora Iakapo - 3rd in the 10 year old girls
Zeddah Te Ao - 5th in the 10 year old boys
Arnav Naicker - 8th in the 10 year old boys
Saurav Chand - 10th in the 11 year old boys
Grace Wu - 9th in the 10 year old girls.
Our students did us proud everyone ran their best. Special thanks to our awesome Cross Country coach Sharlene Howe. See the pictures of our students in action below.
Mathex
As in previous years, PCS hosted the local cluster Mathex on Thursday 1st September, where the other Papatoetoe primary schools come together for a major morning of Maths action in our school hall. Children work in teams of four and solve maths problems in their teams. They have to be fast, smart and accurate and our kids are definitely all of these. Once again PCS won in each year group – Year 4, 5 and 6. Well done to Gurmeet Baidwan, class teachers and the student themselves – just wonderful. Special thanks to Ross McGowan for his great organisation and hosting of the competition.
Year 4 team Year 5 team Year 6 team
Reading Challenge
Friday the of 2nd September was the finale to the Reading Challenge that the students have been doing for the last 4 weeks. The winner from each class was given a book, donated by Scholastic. Well done to all the students and special mention goes to Luca in room 12, who read 125 books! Thanks to Rachel Cromie and her team for organising the Reading Challenge. Below are some photos of the prize winners and the prizes.
Book Week
This week (August 29 – September 2) is book week and PCS has many book related activities planned this week.
We have ‘Guess who is Hiding Behind the Book?’ (where students have to guess which staff member is hiding behind a book), a Poetry Slam on Tuesday, a Puppet Show on Wednesday, a Book Swap on Thursday and a Te Reo Reading on Friday.
Below are some pictures of the activities students have enjoyed this week.
Students trying to guess “Who’s Behind the Book?” Students enjoying the Poetry Slam
An amazing Puppet Show Participating in the Book Swap
Art Festival
The annual Art Festival was on at Papatoetoe North School from August 30th to September 1st. Our Art lead teacher, Ellyce Best, has once again co-ordinated a brilliant art display. Below is some of the amazing work on display from our talented students.
A Visit from Eliza McCartney
Our school was honoured last term to have a visit from Eliza McCartney as she prepared to compete at the Olympic Games in Rio. She was a very inspiring speaker and talked of how much training and dedication it took to qualify for the Olympics and how proud she was to be representing her country. Last week we were thrilled to see Eliza win the bronze medal in the pole vault.
Eliza McCartney with some of our students
Rippa Rugby Zones
Our Rippa Rugby teams had a great day at the recent cluster competition at Aorere Park on Tuesday the 23rd of August. We were so proud the way they played and it was so good to see their skill levels improving throughout the day. Thanks to coach Darian Curry and all the helpers for their support.
Our Rugby Rippa A Team Our Rigby Rippa B Team .
Chess Champions
Our Chess players went to the South Auckland Chess Competition on Wednesday 17th of August. We again had a strong showing, taking out the trophy and the top spot for the 12th year in a row. Our A Team of Henry, Max, Likent and Joanna won the gold medal. Thanks to Celia Talbot and James Richards for their coaching and support.
Our winning A Team – Henry, Max, Likent and Joanna
Term 2 2016
Science Fair
On Wednesday 6th July and Thursday 7th July, PCS held our annual Science Fair. Our Science and Technology teacher, Lena Erakovich again organised a fantastic exhibition of students ideas. A big congratulations to Lena and her team of teacher and student helpers on this year’s amazing fair. The robots were terrific. Our families loved it too. Below are some of the exhibits.
Sewing Group
Our Sewing Group, lead by Celia Talbot, has again been busy this term, making cushions out of old shirts, which ties in to our Recycle, Reuse and Reduce topic for this term. They are pictured with their amazing cushions below.
Making Tiles for Hunters Plaza
Our Art Lead Teacher, Ellyce Best, was approached by Hunters Plaza to enter an art competition called ‘Paint Our Community’. Students from years 2-6 were selected to paint a tile. The paint and tiles were supplied by Bunnings. All the painted tiles will be used for a community wall at Hunters Plaza and the winning school receives a $500 Bunnings voucher. Below are pictures of the students in action and some of their amazing tiles.
Dolls Cots by the Sewing Group
The sewing group has been busy this term with two projects. The first one was making serviette holders for Mothers’ Day. For those mothers who received one, we hope you enjoyed them. Our second project was making dolls’ cots for the children at Kidz First Hospital. The children worked very hard on these and the results were great as you can see from the photos. We delivered them to Kidz First on June 8th and they were very well received.
Botany College Art Students visit PCS
On Tuesday 31 May, six Year 11 students from Botany College and their teacher Megan Cunningham, spent the day with our top PCS artists and our Art lead teacher Ellyce Best.
They worked in our school’s art room and designed and produced beautiful tivaevae patches for a quilt for our cluster art festival next term. We can’t wait to see them all stitched together.
Everyone had great fun. It was wonderful to see senior secondary students working with our primary students. Sincere thanks to Ellyce and Megan for this very special collaborative project.
Cake Walk
The annual Cake Walk was held on Friday the 27th of May. This is organised by the Year 6 team to fundraise for their camp later in the year. Many people donated cakes and students and staff were able to purchase tickets in the hope of winning a cake. Thank you to all who donated cakes and to the Year 6 team for organising another wonderful Cake Walk.
Some of the fantastic cakes donated Cheyenne (rm 26) watching over the cakes
Gardening Group
Our Gardening Group has been busy planting vegetables in the garden. Check out the photos below of our Gardening Group with the new plants and some of the older ones which are growing very well.
Term 1 2016
Student Council 2016
Student Councillors are selected from Years 3 to 6. The major roles of the Student Council are:
1. To be actively involved in decision making.
2. To be a role model to the other students.
3. To listen to and value the opinions of others.
Term One Papatoetoe Schools’ Cricket Championship
On Tuesday the 22nd of March, our boys and girls cricket teams went to the Papatoetoe Schools’ Cricket Championship. Our boys team won, winning all 7 of their games and beating Holy Cross by two runs in the final. Our girls team won 5 out of their 6 games and came third on points difference. Well done to all our players!
Our winning boys cricket team with proud coach Mr Duncan.
Our girls team in action.
Student Council President
Hi, my name is Navdeep and I am a Room 26 student councillor. I have been a student councillor for three years now and I was fortunate to be elected as the student council president. It is my job to ensure the voice of every student is heard and to make the school a better place. I take on much responsibility with my role but I devote my time and effort to my tasks to accomplish them.
Student Council Vice-President
Hi, my name is Khushdeep and I am a Room 26 student councillor. This is my second year as a student councillor and I am fortunate to be elected student council vice president. It is my duty to ensure that every student’s voice is heard in this school. My responsibility requires me to devote my time and effort to accomplish every task given and I will do that with sincerity. I will make sure everyone at PCS has a great year. If you have any concerns or issues, please do come and see me. I will happily help you out.
Our Stars. Winners of the 10 year old Girls Relay.
On Tuesday the 8th of March 2016, we sent a group of students to the Papatoetoe Centennial Pool for the Swimming Zones. Our 10 year old Girls won the Relay. Well done girls!
Our fantastic swimmers: (front left to right) Kimora Iakopo, Maia Garland and Rebecca Church, (back left to right) Brooke Aiono, Ritorya Tamilo and Lucy Smutz.
2016 PCS Playground Role Models
Meet our fantastic playground role models for 2016, their role is to:
• help students if they have problems with their friends • help students if they get hurt • help find friends or play games with students at the friendship stop. • help choose sensible games and teach them as well
Our Lovely Crocus Garden
At the back of the Year 5 block we have a small garden which has recently bloomed with a beautiful crop of crocuses.
Our PE Specialist
In 2016 we have a new Sports Specialist teacher, Peter Robinson, who takes each of our classes for PE for 45 minutes each week. Here are some photos of Peter in action with his PE programme.
