Tuesday 30 May 2017

Excellence Blog Post #6 Leadership Around The School ( Student Leaders CBD Trip )

On Monday at 8:30, all the Student Leaders went on a trip to the CBD. We traveled by bus and we got to bring our devices with us to take photos. When we got there, we took a walk to the Council Office Area and met an instructor called Celia. First thing we did was, we went inside the building and went into the Function Room. We learnt about all the different things that the Councillors do and the different areas they have. We got into groups of 3 and met with an expertise to tell us what their part of the council is. We were with Kelly and her part of the council is working with Park Management; and preparing Sports fields/parks for everyone to enjoy. One of the hardest parts of her job is making decisions about the sports fields and the cost of money to repair grass and adding new fields to share with everyone.

Something I learnt during the session with Kelly was that the popularity of Rugby is going down because of bad injuries such as head injuries. She told us that nowadays, there are more elderly s than young kids like us and Biking and Walking are now getting more popular than Rugby. The most interesting thing about her job is that she has to make good decisions with sports teams and clubs. Its not always easy managing parks and making everyone happy. We also visited the Chamber and where the decisions are made. I got to sit in Pauline Cotter's chair, and we all got to use the microphones that was on our desks. My favorite part of the trip was the lunch that we had because I tried something that I've never tried before and it was delicious.

The CARE Values that I showed during this trip was Respect and Active Thinking.
I showed Respect by listening to the instructor and not talking when she was and showing respect throughout the whole trip.
I showed Active Thinking by contributing to the lessons and giving good ideas to my group.

I demonstrated Leadership by using my manners when i'm outside of school and representing Oaklands positively.

Friday 26 May 2017

Excellence Blog Post #5 Key Leadership ( Bake Sale )

On Tuesday, the year 8s bought in food to for the bake sale to fundraise for our Wellington Trip in Term 4. Half way through our dance lesson, the House Captains got called over to set up the tables before morning tea. There were three stations to put our food on. 1. By the Basketball Court. 2. Near the Chess area. 3. On the juniors deck outside the old music room. Alex, Jacinta and I were running the station by the Basketball Court. At first there wasn't many people coming over; after awhile it felt like we were celebrities signing autographs for other people. The food was going away really fast, we made a heap of money from our station, which was really good.

At the end when it was the House Captains turn of getting something, all the good food was gone, we didn't have much choices left but the good thing was that all the prices got lower.
Our first Bake Sale was a success overall. We made around $900 all together and we got a lot of people coming to buy the food.

The CARE Values that I showed during this Bake Sale were Excellence and Community.
I showed Excellence by being flexible when people took forever to choose what they wanted.
I showed Community by cleaning up at the end and helping put the tables back.

Excellence Blog Post #5 Leadership Around The School ( Dance )

On Wednesday at 10:20, the year 7/8s had their 3rd to last dance practice. We are learning two different routines and we are going to perform them both on Friday. Our first routine that we learnt was a Hip Hop routine; we did it to the song Uptown Funk. At first, I thought it was going to be hard because ive never done hip hop before. Lucky for us the instructor ( Dean ) make it simpler and more easy for beginners. I really like the routine because I have learnt some new moves and the routine involves lots of energy which I think is good. We have finished our routine for the hip hop dance, but also working on making it look nicer and tidier and keeping in time. My favorite bit about this dance is the energy and a lot of moving around.

Our other routine that we are doing is call the Jive. It involves working in partners and the steps need to be precise. The jive is also energetic and has a bit more difficult moves than the hip hop. This dance is really challenging for me because I forget the moves sometimes and it happens really fast. I also really enjoy learning this one because I like to try new things that ive never done before. Something that I like about this dance is that it is very different to the other styles dance I have done but I like learning new styles.

The CARE Values that I showed were Respect and Excellence.
I showed Respect by listening to the instructor so I know what to do.
I showed Excellence by trying my hardest even if I got stuck in the middle of the dance.

I demonstrated Leadership by not mucking around when the instructor was giving instructions.

Wednesday 24 May 2017

Excellence Blog Post #4 Leadership Around The School (Tech)

On Thursday, the yr 7/8s went to Technology at Lincoln. When we got there we went straight into our classes/groups. I was in group C and we were doing Wood Work. In Wood Work, we are making speakers. The first step we did was to plan a few different designs for our speaker. We then chose our favorite design and make a bigger copy of it with all the exact measurements. After that we had to get all of our pieces of wood and start putting it together using PVA glue. That step was the hardest because the glue wasn't that strong when it was wet so we had to ask other people to help us hold it in place.

The next step we did, after our basic structure has dried, we had to start sanding the edges to made it smooth so the speaker doesn't have have rough edges. We were also told that we could use the Sanding Machine to sand our edge s and I found that so much easier because it gets the job done faster instead of using your hands to sand. Then the next week we started painting our speaker boxes and designing them however we want.

The CARE Values that I showed were Community and Active Thinking.
I showed Community by helping others if they needed help.
I showed Active Thinking by using good techniques with sanding and painting so I can get the most out of it.

I demonstrated Leadership by helping others and sowing all the CARE Values outside of school kind of.

Monday 22 May 2017

Excellence Blog Post #4 Key Leadership

On Tuesday, at Morning Tea, the Student Leaders had a leadership meeting about our trip to the City Council in a few weeks time. We also discussed at the start about how we are going with our leadership responsibilities and what is something that we get frustrated about our leadership position. A lot of the same things were said such as to do with flags and bins. But the main thing about that meeting was about our trip to the city council. All the leaders got sent a google form and we had to fill it out. It was about the food choices on the trip and what we would like to eat for lunch on that day.

The CARE Values that I showed during this meeting were Respect and Excellence.
I showed Respect by listening to the person that was speaking.
I showed Excellence by completing the task that was set to us on time.

I demonstrate d Leadership attending the meeting and turning up on time so I don't miss any important information.

Wednesday 3 May 2017

Excellence Post #3 Leadership Around The School (Getting Involved)

On Wednesday, at Morning Tea, I played a great game of Basketball. It was 4 against 5 because we didn't have enough people to play a proper game. I quite enjoyed the game because I like basketball anytime. We firstly decided the teams with Noah as the captain of one team and Wariesha for the other teams captain.

We had 4 people in our team but we managed to win the first game. Noah got the first goal, then I got the next few goals. Before half time the score was 4-2. I think our team did really well because we worked together to get across the court. I was playing attack with someone else and the rest was on defense. We carried on our game after half time. The second half was so intense, but I loved it. We also played Basketball at Lunch as well. The teams kinda changed at lunch. Firstly it was 2 v 2. then after a while it became 2 v 3 because we had another friend join our game.

The game we played at lunch was also really good but we lost 3-? Alot. Equally they were both fun games and I would definitely play again another day.

The CARE Values that I showed during this Basketball Game were Excellence and Active Thinking.
I showed Excellence by having fun and trying my best because I love what I do.
I showed Active Thinking by making sure at the start of the games that everyone is clear of the teams and rules.
I demonstrated Leadership by getting involved positively and playing fairly.

Excellence Blog Post #3 Key Leadership

On Tuesday, at Morning Tea, all the student leaders gathered up and had a quick and brief meeting with Mr Ladbrook to clear up all our duties and discuss about term 2. Firstly we talked about our trip to the council in Week 5 or 6. Everyone got really excited after this had been announced. The trip was only towards us as student leaders during school time. After taking about the trip we talked about our badges and how we had to get to a certain point with our excellence. There will be consequences if we do not complete our tasks.

Speaking of tasks, we were all assigned to do a task in our own time. What we have to do is to give the council all the knowledge that we know about the council so they can see what we know already and what they can teach us. This meeting was just to catch up again from the holidays and maybe a few reminders about our goals.

The CARE Values that I showed were Respect and Active Thinking.
I showed Respect by listening carefully to the teacher and respecting the person who was talking.
I showed Active Thinking by reminding others who forgot that they had a meeting on at Morning Tea.

I demonstrated Leadership by making sure I was on time for the meeting and putting myself in a positive mood.

Tuesday 2 May 2017

Term 1 Book Review

                    The Impossible Clue

This book is about a young girl called Alice who is a big Maths-Whizz, and who loves to solve mysteries. One day, Alice was persuaded by her sidekick Sammy to solve the mystery of the scientists disappearance while creating a new experiment. They have claimed that when the scientist walked into his science lab, he never came out ever again. They had cameras in the room but showed no sign of the scientist disappearing. This was a true case to solve. Alice had found clues along the way and had to face hard challenges to do with codes. But it shouldn't be a problem for Alice, as she is one of the smartest in her class. Could she be able to find the scientist and solve this massive mystery of his disappearance?