My 12th Birthday

Yesterday on the 23rd of September was my 12th birthday. It was great! I had my friends saying happy birthday and my family. In the morning of that day, my nana woke me up real early and took me to Mcdonald to have breakfast. My brother didn’t come because he and he had to get ready for his rugby tournament, my grandpa was too tired and my auntie was working on her assignment. So it was only my nana and I who went.

When we got their we just had the breakfast meal. I had the pancakes and my nana just had hash browns. After we ate we went back home at about 7:00am. I quickly got change and went to school. My friends saw me and they all shouted “Happy Birthday!” I was so happy. But when my other friends saw me which was, Mele, Hope and Asena. They shouted so loud that people heard, and then they ran around school shouting out “Its Jordennes Birthday!!”

As soon as they saw my teacher they ran up to her and told her everything. I ran away and the bell rang. When I got to class everyone was looking at me suspiciously. I sat down and Mrs Lagitupu started talking. Then after a while she asked for Mele and Annliz, that I had no idea what was happening. Suddenly my class started singing happy birthday to me. I was so shocked because Mele and Hope set this up. That was so surprising and I was really really happy!

Elections

On Saturday it was the last day to vote, between 9am - 7pm. My grandparents went to the elections while I stayed home. I wanted to go so I could see people vote, but I couldn't. So I just waited for them. In the elections there are 15 parties. But the two main parties are National and Labour. The leader of National is our PM (prime minister) John Key, and the leader of the Labour Party is David Cunliffe.

My grandparents told me who they were going to vote for, I can't say but the elections are finished so I can say. They voted for Sam Lotuiiga in National but voted for Labour Party. But what you didn't know or might already knew that you could not say who you are voting for between the hours. Well Israel Dagg from the All Blacks, and Jonah Lomu a retired All Black player are going to get over 20,000 dollar fine. They both posted who they voted for on social media. I bet your wondering why they are getting fined? Thats because people might copy them and vote for who they are voting for, and not voting for a party can help you with life.

In National, their plan for us New Zealanders is to give children more education, but mostly to the disabled kids. Also their are going to bring free doctors to check on children under 13. National are thinking of still paying parents even though they don't go to work within 18 weeks. If National win they would get the constructors and build new houses, and John Key will still be the Prime Minister.

But Labour on the other hand are thinking of letting the power company pay the bills for you. Instead of parents leaving for 18 weeks and still get paid, Labour thought that 26 weeks and they still get paid will be alright. Also if Labour won (they didn't) David Cunliffe would of been the Prime Minister of NZ.

When this whole Election started I was voting for Labour. I though Labour would win and make a huge difference , but they obviously did not. They could try nex time, in three years time. 2017!

Unique Sport

This is our unique sport. It is AFL but we changed it up just a little.

Cross Country 2014

Cross country was on and my stomach had butterflies while my knees were shaking.

At Pt England School, cross country is held every year. Everyone needs to participate. But if you have some kind of injury or sickness then you don’t need to worry about it. When you are little you do a small run, but every time you grow up, the run gets longer and harder. This year the Year 7 girls ran 3km. Cross country is very good for us kids to get fit.

The race started at 1 o’clock. So when the clock struck 1, every class came and sat down in front of a chair that had their Year level on it. When cross country had begun, the first age group went first, which obviously was the Year 1s. I was the flag person as well as my brother, and standing next to us supporting the kids were Gloria and T.J (house captains). Jorja was sick, so Gloria stood in for her as Takitimu house captain. When we looked closely we saw that a Takitimu runner was coming first. Our team was shouting saying “Go Takitimu!!” The first team to come first was Takitimu.

After all the little kids races were done, it was time for the year 7 girls. The teachers called for us and we walked up to the line. I said to myself “Wooh just get this done and athletics next!” My eyes looked to the side and saw the other girls looking very scared. Mr Burt was telling us to not bump each other. As he was talking, I took a big long breathe in, and exhaled out slowly.

Waiting for Mr Burt to say go, I was so nervous. “Go” shouted Mr Burt. I sprinted so hard that I was close to the front. But as soon as I got to the second teacher, I was really tired, that I couldn’t run anymore. I was so surprised that I was already tired when we needed to do 2 laps around the reserve and that is 3k.

While I was running I was so exhausted! My legs began to cramp up, and sticks were poking my feet. My heart was pounding really fast, and I was so puffed. I looked in front and I saw Kevine. She was coming first. When I saw her I was really happy because we’re in the same team, Takitimu.

I was just too tired to run. When I was on my second lap, I started running with the help of teachers encouraging us to run. While I was running, I was about to faint. Even though I didn’t come any place to go to the Inter zones, at least I finished the race with a big smile on my face.

Netball prizegiving

Last night we had our own netball prizegiving. A lot of parents were there to support their daughters. Everyone needed to bring a plate (food). My auntie bought chicken nibble for my cousin and I. I was so exhausted because we had our cross country. When the time came Mr Burt and Ms Va’afusuaga came up in the front. First Mr Burt did a karakia (prayer), then we started eating before the prizegiving started.

When it started the first team was called up and it was the yr 1 Besties team. All the players went up and got an award. In one of the awards there are 3 people who gets two awards. When yr upto the yr 6’s finished. It was time for our turn ‘Redferns’. Each player from my team went up and got their awards. The best sportsmanship was awarded to Sela, then the most improved player Kevine and the most valuable player was Asena.

After they have handed the awards we gave our letter to our coach, Mrs Nua. Then we did our chant. Well not really a chant, we were too shy. We walked back down and the next team went up. When the whole prizegiving was finished, everyone went home and only teachers and some parents helped cleaned up. See you again Netball!

Storyline Festival

As we (yr 7, 8 and some yr 6’s) arrived at the Vodafone Center in Manakau, we hopped off the bus and saw a lot of schools. We walked in and saw a whole heap of eyes staring at us, then a lady came to our teacher Mrs Tele’a and was telling her all the informations and instructions of what’s going to happen. When the time came for us to go inside, we walked and sat down.

In the Storyline Festival there were 4 authors. There was: Julliet Mclver, Catherine Mayo, Jill McGregor and Paula Green. They were all fun to watch but my favourite two was Julliet Mclver and Jill McGregor. I liked them the most because of their books.

Julliet Mclver loves to write, especially when it comes to rhyming. The book that I really wanted to read was ‘Toucan can’. When she told us a line from the book. That made we want to read it, because it sounded fun and cool. But then I realised that the books she writes are books for little children. Julliet reads her book to her kids who are about 2 or 3 years old. She was really funny while she was presenting, she kept on laughing. Thats why Julliet Mclver was one of my favourite authors because she wasn’t boring she was fun and active and especially because of her rhyming books.

Jill Mcgregor is one of my top two authors that presented at ‘Storyline Festival’ because her books are all about Pacific Island. I’m an Islander, my culture is Samoan. But my nana told me I had Tongan blood. So I just call myself both. Jill McGregor went to a lot of Islands such as, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Fiji, Niue and the Cook Islands. She has been to a lot of places in Samoa more than me. Her stories about the Islands were so interesting and cool. I just loved it and I was so comfortable watching her talking about where we come from.

I would inspire kids to write by telling them to read books. By reading books you can find new words and your writing can get a lot better. You can also write more to improve, and you’ll be a very smart writer. So kids start reading books to show everyone you have what it takes to become a author.

The Storyline Festival was awesome. It was fun and really inspiring. I just want thank all the authors for taking your time off, and coming to talk in front of a lot of schools about your books. They were all amazing! A lot of people from our school enjoyed your presentation. Good luck on your career. Thank You!