17 November 2011 - Term 4, Week 4

 Celebrating success!

Each year our school helps children understand their strengths through the ‘Sundial Project’. This term we focus on ‘Strength Cheerleading’ with the intention of acknowledging and celebrating what has gone well this year and where children feel strong. Since we began the ‘Sundial Project’ in 2008, a noticeable trend has been the increased numbers of children taking part in school activities. Kapa haka (83 children), guitar (90 children) and futsal (8 teams) are just a few of the areas that have grown rapidly during this time. Our children see others succeed, recognise a potential strength and want to have a go themselves.

Another area of increased participation and success is our involvement in the University of New South Wales Education Assessment competitions (ICAS). These exams have been offered for 17 years, and annually include about 150,000 students in New Zealand and 2,000,000 worldwide. In recent years our results in English, Writing, Mathematics, Science and Computer Skills have steadily improved. This year we had 207 GSNS children sit exams and were awarded 82 Credits (top 30%), 49 Distinctions (top 10%) and 12 High Distinctions (top 1%).

In addition to these impressive results we have received news that four of our children recorded the top score in New Zealand for Year 6 Science, Year 5 Mathematics, Year 6 Mathematics, Year 5 Spelling and Year 5 Computer Skills. This is the first time children from our school have won the top prize and this year it has been achieved five times! One of the winners joins an elite group of seven New Zealand students who have won two medals this year. Outstanding!

At tomorrow’s assembly we will welcome an ICAS representative to present gold medals to these students who have achieved at the highest level.

Well done to all our children who understand that what makes them strong makes all the difference.

For more information please see the attachment below.