Polyfest Highlights 2015

For the first time in the history of Pt England School, the year 7's and 8's had gone to the Polynesian Festival 2015. Another way of saying it is, Polyfest. We all arrived at the Polyfest with 4 buses. Us, year 7 and 8's had the most amazing opportunity to go because we were 1 of the 5 schools that were chosen out of 20! So we were very lucky to be the first Pt Englanders to go on an awesome trip to Polyfest. It was actually a good time to go because it was there 40th anniversary!

So before I start my highlights, I would love to say a big THANK YOU to all the parents who had made a big decision to come and join us for Polyfest or go to work. If it wasn't for all you, we would of not attended Polyfest 2015. Thank you for even buying us food. So thank you again for your kind and loving help.

The highlight of the day for me was when my group played Jenga in one of the stalls. In my group our parent helper was Anas dad, Mr Vaafusuaga. I was in a group with Ana, Angelina, Promiseland and Taakai. The record for the day for the game Jenga was 30 stacks high. Each of us had turn to take one block out. We were so close to the record but when it got to 28th stack, it all fell down. Overall it was great because all of us were working together and trying to not make the stacks of blocks fall.

I cannot wait until I am a year 9 because I would join the Samoan group for Polyfest 2016. Polyfest was so enjoyable to watch, but soon I won't only be watching, I might be performing on the stage. It'll be so fun to perform because your not only there to dance in your cultural group, you also learn more about it. Polyfest 2015 was an amazing experience, maybe on 2016, the next year 7's and 8's could go and watch again.

Video Conference with Hawaiian Schools

This morning was a great start for the day, because we had the opportunity to video chat with 2 schools from Hawaii plus Marybeth Baldwin the organiser also from Hawaii. The Kea'au elementary school and Nanakuli school. The Kea'au elementary school is only from kindergarten through 5th grade, and the Nanakuli is from kindergarten through to 6th grade. 

The waka from Hawaii called Hokulea will be coming to the Point England reserve on the 24th of March. The schools from the Manaiakalani cluster (2, 500 students) will be welcoming them in. That0 is the whole point of why we did this video chat. So we can learn more about Hawaii, and this is a big thanks to Marybeth Baldwin who organised this video conference.

In the beginning we had to introduce our schools. Us, year 7&8 extension group made a little presentation, as well as the Kea'au elementary school. But the Nanakuli school made a video. In the Kea'au elementary school there are 870 students. There school starts from 8:00am through to 2:10pm. But only on Wednesdays they are in school from 8:00am - 1:20pm. One of their native animals are the Nene, and that is the Kea'au elementary schools mascot.

For the Nanakuli elementary school. We video conferenced with a teacher named Kumu Kai Mana and his students. He teaches in the 2nd grade. In the video that he made it showed us nearly all of the classes around the schools. The movie explained everything that we had to know. In his class he teaches by speaking in their language, Hawaiian. But he said that sometimes it can be very difficult. 

Later on, we had the chance to show them a video that we made for the visitors that comes to Point England. We showed it to them so they can have a taste of what we do here in our school. We also told them that the junior schools use ipads, and from year 4 and up uses chromebooks. One of the teachers said it was a very inspirational movie, and what we have here in Pt England is what they want as well. 

I want to say a big thank you to the 2 schools, who had the time to conference with us. But especially Marybeth Baldwin who had organised it.

Here are the links where we got out information from:

Nanakuli

Kea'au

Holiday in Lalomanu beach, Samoa.

During the school holidays, I went to Samoa on the 27th of December, 2 days after Christmas. It was only my brother and I going to visit my parents and my 4 siblings. I had an enjoyable time there. There were a lot of reasons why! We went shopping, we stayed home, going to cousins houses for special occasions (like birthdays), and my most memorable and also favourite was, going to the Lalomanu beach! The occasion for that was New Years, and we were there for 2 days and 1 night. We stayed in the Taufua beach fales and it was spectacular!

Did you know that the Lalomanu beach in Samoa was regularly voted top 5 beaches in the Pacific. Its the most beautiful beach that I have ever been to. As my feet touched the ground the clean, shiny sand came between my toes. It felt like I was standing on the softest thing in the world. The sea was blended with the colour blue. It went from real dark blue to a beautiful clear light blue, and the nice thing about it was that the water was serene, but then during the day it changed. I and my family went and it was so much fun. We went with our two cousins and our uncle. They had a joyful time.

When we had reached our destination , all of us kids quickly squeezed the sunscreen,wiped it all over our body and ran straight to the water. The sand was completely hot, and I was ecstatic to jump in to the water because of the boiling hot sun. But it can be cold on some days and nights. While we were swimming we saw some small fishes. My siblings and I were trying to catch it, but it swam too fast. As the day went past, we all got out of the ocean and just dried ourself to go eat.

In Lalomanu beach in the Taufua Beach Fales, there’s a small restaurant that a lot of people were at, especially the tourists. For lunch we ate some tasty  burgers. The juiciness of the patty slid down my chin as I wiped it away. Mmmm..it was delicious. I looked at my siblings and cousins and they were all enjoying it. In the 'Taufua restaurant' everyone in it was soaking wet from swimming in the cold water, and the workers did not seem to care. While we were eating, the sun had settled and it was time for us to shower.

Quickly we all ran to the bathroom, had a shower and got changed into our pajamas. My parents booked two Beach fales, for my uncle and his kids plus my elder brother and my family. Excitedly I ran straight to our beach fale and jumped on the bed. Why? Because we won’t be sleeping straight away, we’ll be watching movies on my dads laptop! Our New Years celebration was awesome. Now I am in NZ again, I hope we could go for another one when we go back to Samoa.