December and Student Success

"Tis the time of year where we deck the halls


. . . with awards of recognition and celebration


… and the odd sparkly decoration. "

There is so much to celebrate in the Fernside School Community and parents are a massive part of that.
Thank you . Have a lovely warm and relaxed summer break (and some rain too I hope). Annabel

6 classes descended on Rangiora Golf Club last week so the students could experience the game for real. They appreciated the opportunity to have putting competitions and walk the fairways with their peers and parents. There was much laughter and celebration, and entertainment as promised!

This week 19 students represented the Rakahuri Zone at the Canterbury Athletics Championships in Ashburton. Many students achieved PB's and made finals in races.
To top that , Amelia Fungavaka won the 10 girls Shot Put with a throw of 8.82m smashing her previous School record! Congratulations Amelia.

Today, all 4 of our School Basketball Teams will take to the court, many for the last time as they transition to High School, for the NCJBA Finals. Good luck to all the teams and a
MASSIVE THANKS TO OUR COACHES: LUCAS, KELLIE, MITCHELL, MEGAN & MR BAILEY.

Last week Jacob, Ashton & Cohan competed in the Canterbury Triathlon achieving fantastic times and credible placings. Jacob took out 11th in the 11 boys, Ashton 17th in 10 boys & Cohan 18th in 9 boys.

Athletes excel and entertain

I was lucky to have witnessed athletes at the peak of human achievement in the weekend. The performers in Le Noir exhibited incredible feats of strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance - a sight to behold!
Standing for the French National Anthem to show our support and solidarity with the France was a truly moving event.

Fernside Students have shown what practice, determination and competitiveness can achieve.

56 students qualified for the Zone Rakahuri Athletics Championships (see results on the athletics page).

And to cap it off 19 athletes have qualified for the Canterbury Primary Schools' Athletics Championships in December at Ashburton. Congratulations to Dylan, Nik, Roger, Wattie, Willa, Jessie, Elloise, Lillie, Amelia, Olivia, Tayla, Maddison, Sienna, Felix, Angus, William H, Tom, Josh, Xanthe.

Humility, respect, determination, TEAM - and a plan! (and, oh & a huge smattering of skill)

What a game from the 2 down-under teams!
So much to gush about and what a work-out for the spectators, let alone the players!

Fernside School:
To celebrate the rugby world cup win we will have a special “Blackout” mufti day tomorrow. Monday 2 Nov. 
We would love to see everyone in black. 
Please spread around if possible.

It is Athletics Sports week - come along to support the students and the teachers (with measuring and safety).
Set up at 8am on Wednesday 4 November 
9 am sprints, field events, 2pm middle distance
(see athletics page for full timetable)

SPRING AT LAST!

Blog Posts have been lacking for a while now as we recovered from a harsh winter - and just like that we lurched into a stunning spring (well not from a farmers' point of view - please let it rain sometime soon in all of North Canterbury!)

There are many opportunities for students to be involved in Sport, so please peruse the pages on this blog or visit the Waimak Council website for Club Information.

I don't fully support the notion of winter sports competitions being held in Summer because I think it is important for children to be involved in a variety of activities. Having said that, there is summer hockey, twilight netball & football to name a few.

I hope as many of our children get involved with the numerous opportunities out there - Touch Rugby, Tennis, Cricket, Swimming, Athletics, Running, Biking, Hiking, Gymnastics, Trampoline, Basketball etc.

The Rangiora Golf Club "Junior" Programme will commence 18th October and run until the end of March 2016, with a break in the programme over the Christmas holiday period.

The programme is suitable for children 6 yrs to 18 yrs and will be held on Sunday morning from 10.30am until 11.30am and has been designed to introduce the game of golf to prospective and budding young golfers.  Golf clubs are not necessary as the Club has a selection of clubs available for use.

Please contact annabel.wilson@xtra.co.nz for information on these and other sporting and recreational clubs.

I am posting an ad for a company that is supporting Sport in North Canterbury, just like our very special MAINPOWER.

What role do parents play in our children's sport?

The very survival of youth sport is reliant on parents - funding, transporting, being on committees, coaching, managing, umpiring, administration, and the list goes on.

Saturday is synonymous with sport in my family and yet it is very much a family time - whether watching your own children, nieces and nephews, parents.

Is winning important?
Is fair play important?

Drug cheats, rascist comments, referee abuse, coach harassment - they have all been in the news this week.

But so has the joy, heartbreaks and benefits of participating in Sport.

Children like to participate in sport, whether they lose or win. It is adults that make an issue of the result. Instead, Mums and Dads,  set goals on such areas as performing certain skills, times, or "plays" well. In that way athletes can achieve (and measure if interested) success regardless of the final score. If we win then that is great too ( I am competitive and I do like to win for sure).

Play to perform well -  within the rules and within your team structure and ethos.
Ultimately don't we all play sport because we love it!

All fired up after reading an article in The Press this morning.

A wide range of physical activities and sports are best

This week I read an article featuring the great Hockey great Wayne Gretzky. It is generally agreed that he is one of the "great athletes" just like Michael Jordan.

In an interview with the National Post in March 2000, Gretzky said that, “If sport has a high point of the year, it must be the first week of spring.”  

…When I was growing up, I used to love this time of year. It was when I put my hockey equipment away and I was absolutely ecstatic to see the end of the hockey season. One of the worst things to happen to the game, in my opinion, has been year-round hockey and, in particular, summer hockey.

All it does for kids, as far as I can tell, is keep them out of sports they should be doing in warmer weather. I could hardly wait to get my lacrosse stick out and start throwing the ball around. It didn’t matter how cold or rainy it would be, we’d be out firing the ball against walls and working on our moves as we played the lacrosse equivalent to road hockey.

All the good hockey players seemed to play lacrosse in those days and everyone of them learned something from the game to carry over to the other – things athletes can only learn by mixing up games they play when they are young."

"In fact, most of Canada’s best hockey players are involved in other sports, and when they choose to focus on hockey alone, they don’t specialize until they are 14.

This is not to say that spring and summer hockey programs are bad or wrong because the truth is that some kids want to keep playing. So a great plan is to also include some other sports and physical activities to balance things out a bit.

Renowned coach Brent Sutter agrees that well-rounded athletes make the best hockey players and even Hockey Canada recognizes that playing other sports improves the skills of goalies and forwards and defensemen.

In fact, Hockey Canada’s new spring hockey programs incorporate other sports including soccer, floor-ball, baseball, lacrosse, golf, and mountain biking. The idea is to help hockey players develop overall athleticism. The “skill-development camps” focus on fun. Which is a break in and of itself from the grind of high-pressure competition.

Gretzky’s not the only hockey legend to frown on year-round hockey for kids.

In 1998, Trevor Linden told sports journalist Steve Simmons that he played hockey until April, then played baseball all summer until hockey started again in mid-September. “I didn’t even see my skates for about five months a year,” he said. “I think the kids today are playing way too much hockey, and all you have to do is look at the development to see it really isn’t producing any better players. We have to let the kids be kids.” "

Winter Tournaments, Alpine Skiing, and Mini Basketball

With snow settling locally it is a great time to get out into the mountains to experience play of a different sort. I have posted a clothing guide for the Senior Ski trip on one of the pages.

The FIFA U20 Mens' World Cup has been won by Serbia and the All Black Squad of 41 has been named. The Highlanders look good to win the Super 14 and the NZ Rowers win gold in Europe!

Bailey Watson is in a NC Representative Basketball team to play in a South Island Tournament in the Holidays - good luck to one of our basketball captains!

Our Sports Interchange programme ends this term. Next term we will have some teams competing in the Rakahuri Winter Sports Tournament. This is an optional sporting activity. (see notice on page)

Mini Basketball is an option for years 3 & 4 students in terms 3 & 4 - please request a notice or download it from the basketball page.
Friday night basketball restarts in the latter half  of term 3 and all of term 4