Below are some of the ebooks Year 7 students have created in Science this year.
Year 11 Prize Winners
Year 11 Prize Winners
Year 11 Prize Winners
Year 11 Prize Winners
Year 11 Prize Winners
Year 9 Class Photos
Year 9 Class Photos
English Language Learners
Social Sciences
Social Studies In Term 1
The Social Sciences department had a great start to the year!
We were lucky to have some amazing new staff join our whānau this year. Mr Guy Cowan (Social Studies and Social Action for Life), Ms Kimberely Brorens (Social Studies, Tourism and Geography), Ms Nierencsche Perese-Kuil ( Social Studies and History), and Ms Marie Kennedy-Benns (Te Reo and Social Studies).
In term 1, Year 9 and Year 10 students studied culture and looked at traditional foods in New Zealand and comparing these with today. Some highlights included using the Ngai Tahu mapping atlas (https://www.kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas) and designing our own Pātaka!
We also converted to "hybrid-learning" for our classes - which means that for junior and senior students, they can follow learning material on their class's google classroom site or hapara.
Level 1 Geography also completed their first assessment, a two credit unit standard, where they had to communicate in a team to complete a research task about a tropical cyclone. Our Geography students have been working to unpack the mystery behind tropical cyclones and how they form and impact our world. Some great conversations were instigated about climate change.
Level 1 History worked hard on their unit standard “search and select”. Each person took an historical topic to research before evaluating their research process. Then they moved on to studying specific protests of New Zealand such as Bastion Point and Anti-Nuclear New Zealand.
Ms Sig Koop and Mr Richard Jolly also took Year 13 History students to see Kaiapoi Pā to learn about local sites of historical significance with great success. It was great to see the learners actively engaging with the historical evidence both at the pā site and the Kaiapoi Museum. They took their learning back into the class for their first research assessment of the year.
Year 12 History took a field trip to Riccarton House with Ms Nicole Eastwick and Ms Sig Koop. The class had been looking at local history and early European settlement. This trip allowed students to collect primary and secondary source evidence for their assessment. Students had a great time exploring the historical building and native bush.
The Year 11 Social Action for Life students worked hard on their note-taking assessment and will moved on to learn about how to respond to cyber bullying.
Junior Social Studies
Liam, Miss Munro, Jacob on a hīkoi through the city
Willow picked up litter to make our spaces clean and tidy. This was part of the Year 9 and 10 Social Action project in term 3.
A group of 9C students did a bake sale to fundraise towards a local SPCA. They raised about $86, which was gratefully received. Featuring Jasmine Smith, Anihera Taumaunu- Broughton,
Paige Palmer, Arush Prakash, Nathan Anderson.
During Open Night we had teams of students as ambassadors to showcase learning in our department. Featured here are Alex Dodds and his classmate making paper tower projects.
Right: Featuring Year 9 students at Margaret Mahy play ground with Ms Perese-Kuil.
Below: 9H class by the new convention centre -
Te Pae.
Geography
A Slice Of Waitaha
On Friday 12th of August, after refueling and getting excited and warmly dressed students in Te Aratai College vans, we were ready to embark on our exciting mission across Canterbury.
Senior geographers took 3 kaiako for a research mission about tourism in Canterbury. We had near perfect weather conditions for a day out - clear skies, a high of 9 degrees, and virtually no wind for a visit to the Mt Hutt Ski field where we arrived at mid-morning. Students conducted geographic research before getting on with a highly entertaining snowball fight.
Photographic evidence from selfies suggests the snowballs certainly reached their target.
Year 11 students surveyed visitors about their geographic research on motivations to travel to the mountains, whilst Year 12 students designed their own research question examining tourism trends
between the “Mountains and Sea”. Our Year 13 Geography students undertook freshwater quality testing at the Rakaia river as part of their more independent research. We had an enthusiastic river stone skipping competition at Rakaia Gorge as part of an afternoon break. Our second key destination was New Brighton Beach and He Puna Taimoana. After more research and refueling with pizza, we enjoyed the sunny sands and views during a hot soak at the pools - a well-deserved treat at the end of the big day.
Thank you very much to Miss Kimberely Broren for coordinating the trip and Mr Richard Jolly for driving and accompanying students on a great day. Our geographers were respectful and positive ambassadors for our school, and we had a great day seeing a slice of Waitaha!
Maatangi Whenua Geography Competition
Sam, Skye and I went to the Maatangi Whenua competition, deciding it would be good fun, and we would get free pizza out of it.
I need to mention, although being Level One Geography students and our not knowing everything, we put up a fair fight though and went through the multitude of tasks doing as much as we knew and guessing others. Fighting over what category Kaikoura fit into and how to do a 3D model with play dough. All in all, lots of people showed up, and Summer, like the star she is, even managed to get some pretty good answers through in the final round and butchered others. Skye even thought that choking on sour patch kids in the van would be his highlight of the night,
only to do the same exact thing two days later in the exact same van. Common theme right?
Maatangi Whenua was an awesome opportunity to bond with my classmates, and to pick my brain for some Geographical knowledge whilst communicating with my teammates to try and achieve a good place. Overall, it was a pretty memorable night and I'll make sure that Skye never forgets that time he choked on sour patch kids at 9 pm in a van. Thank you to Miss Brorens, and Miss Munro for giving us the opportunity to represent the school and allowing us to have an awesome time!
Written by Summer Pool
Mt Hutt And He Puna Trip
Students in Year 11 and 12 Geography went to Mt Hutt and He Puna for a Geography research trip in term 3. Shown in photo are Miss Brorens, Hannah Jones, Miss Munro and Katelynn Aberhart in the background.
Lots of snowfights and a great time had by all!
The End Of A Busy Day
This photo shows students and teachers enjoying a slower pace of life at the end of the busy day. Featuring Alexsandra Laufiso, Mr Jolly, Leo Paras and Ali Wahidi.
Level 1 Social Action For Life
Level 1 students had to work in teams to construct towers and communicate effectively.
The Year 11 Social Action For Life class was filled with good times and success! Along with learning about the world around us, the class went on several team building trips, including bowling.
Tourism
The Level 2 Tourism students headed along to Alpine Ice to have a go at ice skating after finishing their Destination New Zealand tourism unit.
Students pictured: Mae, Klairette, Karylle, Katelynn and Hannah
History
The history team welcomed Ms Perese-Kuil at the start of the year and farewelled Mr Smith. We started the year with a number of field trips for Level 2 and 3 for place-based learning experiences, which was a big success for our ākonga. Year 12 History explored Riccarton House to look at local history and early European settlement and to collect primary and secondary source evidence for their first assessment. Students had a great time exploring the historical building and native bush. The Year 13 history students visited Kaiapoi Pā and various sites around Horomaka/Banks Peninsula. It was great to see the learners actively engaging with the historical evidence on our local history. They took their learning back into the class for their research assessment. Later in the year, we went to the Wigram Air Force Museum of New Zealand for a close up experience of the war in the Pacific, which was our term 2 and 3 topic. Overall, it has been a successful year for our History students and we look forward to another exciting year. A trip to Waitangi and our Vietnam Trip in 2024 are some of the amazing opportunities in the pipeline.
.jpg)
Miss Eastwick, Ms Koop, Ms Perese-Kuil
Business Studies
Bumper Year For Year 13 Business
This year we had 10 teams from two Year 13 Business classes competing in the Young Enterprise Scheme, a competition where students learn key business skills and compete against schools nationally by setting up their own businesses.
We have teams that are producing and selling:
-
Filipino teeshirts to revive their ancient language
-
Candy boxes from around the world
-
Soa Mai, a Filipino delicacy
-
Organic lip balm
-
Recycled jewellery and clothing
-
Māori design hoodies
-
Filipino foods
-
Candy bags to raise money for charity
-
Fizzy dish bombs (for washing dishes in the sink)
-
“Mindian” street food
The students set up and ran their businesses with support from mentors and ran their businesses outside of school as well as onsite. A key part of the course was presenting their ideas and plans in a Dragons’ Den format to judges from the business community at Ara.
Two of our teams from Te Aratai did exceptionally well. Of over 100 teams participating in Canterbury, they are in the top 10. pHyzi, one of the teams, who have designed, promoted and sold dishwashing bombs to be used in your sink, recently featured across national newspapers attracting the attention of established business owners and local politicians.
Cheeky Grill is the other team that did exceptionally well. Cheeky Grill sells “Mindian” food, a cross between Indian and Mexican Food. They have been selling regularly at Mt. Pleasant Food Truck Market on Sunday evenings. Each time selling out.
Cheeky Grill is made up of: Azkiya Mohammed, Ashlyn Reddy, Nitin Raturi, Dipshay Prasad and Lupe Mahoni (photographed left).
Article below courtesy of Pegasus Post, 4 August
Young Enterprise Regional Finals
Top left: Kaltan and Clark
Top right and middle left: Ashlyn and Azkiya
Middle right: Fabian
Bottom: Manisha
2022 saw not one, but two Te Aratai teams competing in the Young Enterprise Regional Finals, 'pHyzi' who sold sink dish washing bombs that work like bath bombs and 'Cheeky Grill' selled a fusion of Mexican and Indian food.
Both teams pitched well at the finals without taking the top spot. However, 'Cheeky Grill' was successful in winning the regional Excellence award for Finance.
The recognition both teams have received has been overwhelming and a credit to all the hard mahi they put into their businesses this year.
BP Business Challenge
At the end of the year, Year 10 students are invited to participate in the BP Challenge. It is held over three days. Students work in teams to come up with a new product and create a marketing plan. On the last day they 'pitch' it to the judges. Students gain skills in business planning, marketing, budgeting and of course presentation skills. It is very competitive and lots of fun.
