Robotic Chaos at Springston School!

One of the robots we've built for the FLL (First Lego League) Robotics competition went crazy after school today - luckily everyone had left for the day!



Oh my, what have we unleashed?!

From an idea on the Google Maps Mania Blog, Robots are Attacking on Street View.

Put in your own street details at the Chaos in Your Town website.

This could make a great story-starter (or finisher), if it's not too scary for younger students!

Senior Learning Team Celebration

The Senior Learning Team recently celebrated and shared their inquiry learning for the term, by holding an evening where parents could call into classrooms and take part in some of the ways we can feel empowered to contribute to decisions made in our society. Parents could then go and hear the speech finals. Here are some of the displays from the evening.

School Newsletter 30 September 2011

Click on the image above, to read the newsletter. Double-click to zoom in, click the corner of the page to turn to the next page. Or download as a pdf.

Springston School Speech Finals 2011

Last night our speech finals were held. A large audience was educated and entertained on a range of topics related to "If I had the power..." by our talented Year 4 - Year 8 finalists. Topics ranged from mobile phones, and banning animal cruelty, to magical journeys around the world and the trauma of being a middle child. A finalist was chosen from each room, and then an overall winner (Emily W) was announced. Congratulations to all who took part!

Finalists were:

Room 5
Alice M - Room 5 winner
Georgia G
Callum S
Tom H
Haidee M

Room 6
Brook C - Room 6 winner
Libby S
Macaulay H
Lucy C

Room 7
Emily W - Room 7 and overall winner
Hannah D
Oliver G
Kes B

Video Challenge

A few students learning how to make movies, have created super hero videos, within a 3 hour time limit and working effectively as teams.

Both videos did take rather a lot of inspiration from ones made from students last year...

RWC Players

With all the interest in the Rugby World Cup, students were invited to draw a rugby field in Kid Pix, and then have themselves photographed in front of the green screen as if they were playing in a game of rugby. This photograph was then put into Keynote, where the instant alpha tool was used to remove the background, and the student's photograph was then placed in the picture they had drawn. A few Year 1 students took up the challenge, along with a couple of others.

Rugby World Cup Radio Commentary Challenge

One student took up this week's challenge, to invent and record a radio commentary of an imagined part of a Rugby World Cup game.

Macaulay (Year 5) chose to create a commentary about the All Blacks, playing Australia in the 2011 Rugby World Cup final. This wasn't written down and read out, it was created 'on the hop', as he imagined it in his head at the time - much harder to do than you think. Garageband was used as the tool for this, with built-in sound effects chosen.

Listen to his recording of the tense final moments of Macaulay's imagined game, and find out what happens!


Photo shows our 'commentator' with his local rugby hero.

School Newsletter 16 September 2011

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Springston School Health Consultation - Survey for Springston Parents

This survey has now closed. Thank you for your feedback.

Please follow the link to complete the Springston School Health Consultation - Survey for Parents.

If you are unable to complete this online survey, please pick up a paper copy from the office.

Dan Carter's Canterbury Crusader shorts!

Dan’s mum Bev teaches at our small country school in Springston, just south of Christchurch and after a dig around in his bedroom in the family home at Southbridge, she has kindly donated a signed pair of Dan’s old Crusader rugby shorts to the PTA to put up for a fundraising auction.

The Springston School PTA is a dedicated group of parents in the process of fundraising for the development of the slightly tired school grounds. Our role has increased in recent times, partly due to the events in shaky old Christchurch. It has been a few years since the playground has had an upgrade, and with more children at the school, there is a real need for better activity-based outdoor options at break time.

Part one of the wishlist includes a sand pit and an off-road bike track and senior students are now working with a Neighbourhood Engineers Programme to put together their design ideas. Go the All Blacks, how can they lose with Dan the Man in the team?

Good luck bidders and thanks for supporting Springston School’s fundraising efforts! We also have a signed pair of his brand new Adidas boots up for auction as part of our fundraising efforts so check out our other listing and help our students get the awesome outdoor activities area they deserve!

Follow this link to the PTA's fundraising auction and Daniel Carter's shorts could be yours!

Or follow this link to bid for a pair of his rugby boots!

Two Hour Video Challenge

We have had another two hour video challenge (Breaking News), and this time students from the Media Team have been teaching other students how to make an iMovie. They got them started last week, and then this week the new students had to finish the movie themselves. What you see is what they managed to complete in a total of about 3 hours across two sessions.












Please look back for more videos to be added to this post soon.

School Newsletter 2 September 2011

Click on the image above, to read the newsletter. Double-click to zoom in, click the corner of the page to turn to the next page. Or download as a pdf.