Christmas Holidays & Final Post!!!

It's nearly the end of my time at St Benedicts and time has gone by so fast. I've had so much fun in 2014 and will take all the things I've learnt and all the wonderful memories I've had to college.Christmas is coming up and I'm really excited. Usually, I'd spend the Christmas Holidays overseas, but this year It's going to be different. I can't wait to celebrate the festive day in New Zealand. My dad's coming to visit from the Solomon Islands so that's definitely a bonus.

As well as Christmas, I'm very sad to say that this may be my final blog post of the year. As i said in previous posts, It's been a great year and I'm very sad to be leaving. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to the responsibility in college and all the good memories I will make.

I'm going to miss blogging very much and I really appreciate you all reading my posts!!!

Byeeeeeeeee!!!

My Highlights of 2014

It's been an outstanding last year at St Bens and I've grown so much academically and as a person. I remember when I came to St Benedict's three years ago and I was really enthusiastic and eager to start a new school. Ever since then, my love for the school has grown. There have been many highlights of 2014 and here are a few.

- OPC was definitely one of my biggest highlights. It was a week filled with adventure and I learnt to trust one another and use teamwork to complete obstacles and challenges. It was a wonderful experience for all of the year 8's and I made lots of new friends.

- Production was a very nerve racking and exciting time for me and I thought it all came together perfectly on the two big nights. I was delighted to play a big role in the event and enjoyed it so much!

- Speech Competition was a lot of fun this year and I am very proud of the effort put in. I think I've improved in public speaking and am going to miss speeches at St Bens lots.

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better year. OPC camp, production and Speech are three of my favourite memories of St Bens and I wish everyone the best for 2015.

Off to college

It's been a spectacular last year at St Benedict's and I'm really going to miss this school. I've learnt a lot and will definitely use the skills I have learnt at college. Next year I'm off to Onslow College and I'm both excited and sad that I'm leaving. In college my main focus will be fitting in to a new school and making new friends.

As I said before, It's been a spectacular year at St Ben's. I'm looking forward to the new life as a year nine and will cherish the memories I've had at this school. Good luck to all the year 7's, not that you'll need it!

My Speech

I think my speech went well, there were a few things I could have done better, but overall I think I gave it my best shot. I started off a bit shaky, but once I finished the intro, the nerves disappeared. If I had to choose I'd say my speech last year was better, but I'm still proud of the effort I put in. There were many great speeches and I'm sure many more to come.

I'm both relieved and sad that speeches are over. I'm going to miss this event lots and hope that I get many opportunities to do speeches in college!

The Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid is a fantasy and adventure novel written by Rick Riordan and is the first book in the Kane Chronicles series. It's an action packed, interesting story which is based on ancient history. Rick Riordan did a great job at creating the characters and It was no surprise that he would link it in with his best selling series "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." The story focuses on siblings Carter and Sadie and their mission to find their archaeologist father, who accidentally blew up the British Museum and was mysteriously absorbed through the museum's floor.

The Red Pyramid is a great book and managed to keep me on the edge of my seat from the beginning to the end. I'd love to continue reading the series and would recommend this book to children 10 years and older.

Speeches!

We've just started doing speeches and so far I think I'm doing well. This year my topic is guns shouldn't be allowed in America. I chose this speech topic because I feel very strongly about this matter. I was very proud that I reached the finals last year and would love to do the same this year. I'm mainly focusing on using more hand movements as I didn't get a winning mark because of that. I think I'll easily be able to finish my speech by this Friday and am feeling confident in my speech writing.

I'm feeling both nervous and excited about giving my speech and I hope I can deliver a good one!

Space!

This term we have been learning about space.  There are so many different areas to space and so much to learn about our beautiful universe! It's such a fascinating topic and the most interesting thing I've learnt is how the seasons occur. Seasons are caused because of Earth's relationship with the sun. Once a year the earth orbits the sun. As it orbits, the amount of sunlight each place gets changes slightly everyday. But earth doesn't sit straight up and down, it sits at a tilt of 23.5 degrees. This means that the sun's light and heat will not be given equally in the 365 days.

I've learnt so much already about space and I can't wait to learn more about our universe!

A trip to India!!!

Over the holidays I was India!!!!! I had such a great time visiting family in India and saw many awesome places! The weather was perfect and the life was so much different to New Zealand!

The trip started with a very long and tiring flight to India. All of the flights to India were 17 hours altogether, which is a very looooooong time!! Once we reached New Delhi we went straight to my granddad and grandma's home. It was great to see them after such a long time!

After a day of relaxing and gaining some energy we went to see a mall in town. It was a big mall (double the size of Westfield mall) and I had a lot of fun shopping! After having a a look around and a bite, we went to the market to buy some fruit and vegetables and headed home!!!

The next few days we visited some awesome places, ate some great food and visited a wonderful temple!!! A highlight of the trip was the burning of Ravaan. I don't think you would've heard of It, It's to do with hindu tradition! It signifies the death of the demon king Ravaan. Hindus believe that Ravaan was killed by the God Ram!!! So once every year to celebrate the victory of good over evil statues are burnt all around India, It's pretty much Christmas for them! I was really happy to witness this event and thought it was an amazing sight!!!!

I had a lot of fun on this trip and it was a spectacular experience for me!!!!! I cannot wait to go back to India and will miss my grandparents very much!!!!!

Production Again!!!

As I said in my last post, the production was a blast! But I didn't quite cover the highlights of this year's production! It was a great experience to act, rap and dance in front of a huge crowd and I loved the chair dance the most! My favourite scene would have to be the final scene and room nine's scene was cool too!

In terms of acting, I think everyone gave it their best shot and I'm very proud of all of the actors not just myself! The dancing was spot on apart from a few flaws here and there. I was quite annoyed when I stuffed up a move in one of the dances, but the next day mastered it! All of the backstage crew did an outstanding job as they were very organised.

I love all of the energy and enthusiasm everyone brings to productions and this year was no different. If I had to change one thing I'd give us a bit more time to practice dances, so it would be absolutely perfect on the night. But hey, I had the time of my life and I think the other students feel the same way!! I'm going to miss production and I know I sound so overexcited now, but I am truly very sad that production at St Benedicts ends here!!!

The production is over!!!!!!!!!!

The production has truly been a blast and I am going to cherish these two days for the rest of my life!!!!!!!


I started off very nervous, but after a few scenes I began to really enjoy myself! I really wanted to impress the audience, especially my parents and I think I gave it my best shot. I think It all came together, as we all worked together perfectly. I think the actors and actresses did really well and all the backstage crew were very organised. It was great watching all of the other dances and I think the Bolgers have done a great job from the beginning to the end.


Overall , I very much enjoyed this experience, I'm going to miss it lots and would love to do it all over again!

The Elections and Parliament!

The elections are coming up and we've started learning about not just the elections, but our parliament. It's a very interesting topic and I know a bit about the elections, government and parliament  from many news segments and from the 2011 elections.

Things I know already include:

-  National and Labour are the two biggest parties in NZ.
- The election happens every three years in NZ.
- John Key is the current prime minister.
- You have to be at least 18 to vote.
- You don not have to vote
- Some of the NZ parties are: National, Labour, Green, Internet Mana and Act.
- Labour party leader: David Cunliffe
- National party leader: John Key

I've learnt quite a bit about the topic including:

- Our parliament system is known as the "Westminster system (a place in Britian)" because we follow the British political system.
- There are many functions involved in the system like the Head of State, the Governor General, the Prime minister and House of Representatives.
-The sovereign is not allowed to enter the debating chambers.

I really enjoy learning about all the different aspects of the elections and I can't wait to visit parliament some time soon!

Reading Challenges!!!!

As I may have mentioned in an older post, we have been doing reading challenges. The aim is to complete a set of challenges given to us each term. At the end of the term we have a reading draw in which all the people who completed various challenges put their names  into a hat and the people whose names are picked by the teacher win chocolate. It's quite straight forward and encourages us all to read more, but I don't think I've been reading as much as I would like to, as we have been so busy with production stuff, but am looking to read more in the weekend. I have completed the three books in a series challenge: the Gone series and the recommended book by a family member challenge: The Hardy Boys -The Crowning Terror and the classic challenge: The Hardy Boys -The Crowning Terror at the moment and am aiming to complete the random challenge next. 

Please comment below what you're favourite book is and why you love it!

Bye!!!

My favourite sport....

My favourite sport would have to be cricket! The rules are simple and are easy to pick up on. Both batting and bowling are about hand eye coordination and It's an outstanding game. There are two teams in which their are eleven players and each team is either batting or bowling. After the first innings, the two teams swap to either bowling or batting. Both batting and bowling require technique and skill. I recommend the sport to anyone really and I'm sure if you do play you'll love it because it's all about team work! So go out and hit a six!

Production Preparation

The production is a huge event and happens every second year. The production is a play which each class is involved in. Every production has a new theme and this year's theme is space! It's about a villain named Neon, whose cat is extremely unwell and can only be healed by a certain piece of tech, but a secret agent named Argon, plans to stop this evil mastermind!  I was very overwhelmed to get a main part (Argon) in the production and have learnt over half of my lines. I'm trying to get my confidence up so I'm fully prepared for the two big nights in which we perform.

We began the preparation with props and costumes for several scenes. Rory and I  have pretty much finished the costume he will wear in the opening scene. The costume has a fire theme and the main part of the costume is the fiery wings on each arm.

Overall, I think it's going to get a bit crazy as the production gets closer, but I'm really excited and I think it'll all come together perfectly.

An inspirational song!

Carry On is a meaningful and inspirational song, with catchy lyrics! The song was released in 2012 and sung by a well known Indie band called Fun. The song inspires me to keep going when things get tough or when I'm feeling down. They sing, "may your past be the sound of your feet across the ground, carry on...Cause we are shining stars, we are invincible, we are who we are on our darkest day." I enjoyed the whole song, but this part in particular is very special to me because when the going does get tough, always try your hardest and be yourself, even on your darkest day.

So.......