Simon Whitlock

On Tuesday, August 2nd, our years 9 and 10 Chinese classes took on a journey to
experience Chinese culture. There were many activities we experienced, such as Chinese
painting, playing the Yaogu (a Chinese traditional instrument), and the Tie Dye. We even got
to eat traditional Chinese food.
On the bus, the collective excitement buzzed through the atmosphere, everyone eagerly
awaiting our arrival. Once we were there, we were introduced to the directors and teachers
who work at the CNSST, the Chinese New Settlers Service Trust, and they told us about the
incredible work they do to help people settle into New Zealand and educate others about
Chinese culture.
The first activity we did was brush painting, where we got to use the calligraphy brush dipped
in Chinese traditional ink and drew on rice paper. Following the teacher, she taught us how
to draw cute pandas, which are the national animal of China. Everyone got busy painting their
adorable pandas on the Chinese round fans. This was very challenging at first, but in the
end, we were all very proud of what we achieved.
Afterwards, we played Yaogu, a traditional Chinese drum which was hung on the waist and
played with wooden sticks, accompanied by dancing. 1,2,3,4… In a circle, we all danced and
drummed to the beat of four different rhythms. At first, it was really confusing, though we
gradually got the hang of the movements and rhymes.
Then the lunch arrived in time. We had fried rice, fried noodles, steamed buns, and spring
rolls. In Chinese they are called Chaofan, Chaomian, Baozi and Chunjuan.
After a delicious meal, our final activity for the day was the Tie Dye. This was where we
learnt about its origins and the different techniques that we could employ to create our own t-shirts. We all thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with different colours and patterns,
wondering what our creations would look like once we removed the rubber bands.
Overall, our trip was truly an interesting and educational experience. We’re very grateful to
have had the opportunity to try so many new things and learn about different aspects of
Chinese culture.

Alice, Stella, and Vicky 10CHN

After our MRGS Peace Week, 28 Mediators attended the fabulous Peace Symposium, alongside seven other schools and Peace Leaders.

This fun day was full of engaging, interactional Peace activities, as well as hearing from the inspirational Chloe Swarbrick, Auckland Central Member of Parliament; and Peace advocate Kodrean Eashae, Founder of Voice of Aroha.

When Chloe was speaking about politics, she told the story of the fish swimming up the river, and the dog on the riverside asking “How’s the water?” The fish answered: “What water?”  She made it clear that politics is everywhere, we are all swimming in politics. We need to be aware and make decisions for ourselves otherwise others will make our decisions for us. She said be involved in your community and believe you can make a difference even if you’re young. In fact being young is an asset. She also said that often what we find inspirational in others is what we ourselves are aspiring to.

Our Mediators Riley, Damien, Aiysha, Mika, Neron, Ketula, Losa, Shadrach, Fatima, Earl, Lujain, Megan, Nicole, Khadija, Alla, Nanditha, Hargun, Redeyet, Mudita, Jessica, Ravneet, Asil, Julius, Tui, Arya, Sumayyah, Tisha and Aanisha all did a great peace presentation making MRGS proud once again.

A BIG THANK YOU to the Peace Foundation who made this possible!

E hara taku toa

i te toa takitahi,

he toa takitini

My strength is not as an individual,

But as a collective.

The power of unity

We had a very exciting week last week bringing peace, kindness, unity and inclusiveness to our Roskill community.

White ribbons, Random Acts of Kindness, Peace Quotes, Peace Tshirts & Banners, Face & Rock painting…

On Wednesday, our “Celebrating Diversity & Anti violence Stall Day” had wonderful student- led stalls: Skittles/ PSSP/ SYNC/ NETSAFE/ Amnesty/ It’s Not Ok Campaign/ Japanese Origami as well as stalls from YOUTHLINE/ YOUTHLAW/ RPE/Odyssey House & Puketāpapa Youth Board.  The Hall was awash with students having fun engaging with the stall activities.

On Thursday, we had our fund raiser BBQ halal/ vegetarian/ meat sausage sizzle raising funds for our local families in need.

The finale was our PEACE MARCH which was a joyous event in the sun, bumping into Government Minister Michael Wood, and our lovely Intermediate students on their country run!

The theme this year: “The Power of Unity” is very apt given the world we live in today with wars, covid and the inequities within our system.

As the Dalai Lama says:

“Our world and our lives have become increasingly interdependent, so when our neighbour is harmed, it affects us too. Therefore we have to abandon outdated notions of ‘them’ and ‘us’ and think of our world much more in terms of a great ‘US’, a greater human family”.

A BIG Thank you to the MEDIATORS & FRIENDS who worked hard, together as a FAMILY to make Peace Week the enjoyable week it was!

A special thank you to Zane Carter, Iti Peraua & the Property Team, The Food & Hospitality Dept nd Learning Extension for all your support.

click here for more photos

Nominations are open for the election of five parent representatives to the school board.

All eligible voters will receive a nomination form. Use this form to nominate yourself or someone in your community. You will also receive a nomination cover letter calling for nominations.

If you need more nomination forms, contact the school office.

Nominations close at noon on Wednesday 17 August 2022. You may provide a signed candidate statement and photograph with your nomination.

The electoral roll is held at the school and can be viewed during normal school hours.

As nominations are received, there will be a list of candidates’ names kept at the school up until election day, which you can view.

An evening for prospective candidates to speak to voters will be on Wednesday 31 August at 7.00pm in the Butler Hall.

Voting closes at 4pm on Wednesday 21 September 2022.

Any queries can be sent to the returning officer, returning.officer@mrgs.school.nz

Forms and further info are available on the School Board page of the school website – click here

Year 9 Petit Déjeuner Français & Year 10 French Café experience

In Term 2 the Year 9 French classes experienced a French breakfast in class – “le petit déjeuner”. They were able to order “un croissant” and “un chocolat chaud”. Some students even had two or three hot chocolates. It was a fun and different way way to start the day. Our teachers served us the food and hot drink and we listened to French music which provided a very good ambiance. We also had a quiz on French general knowledge and trivia. There were prizes for the top teams.

For the French Café experience, Year 10 French classes were lucky to have a variety of pastries which also included “un pain au chocolat”. They were “très bon”! Afterwards, the students worked together in groups to try to score the highest marks in a French general-knowledge quiz created by Miss Robertson. The students all enjoyed themselves, and enjoyed the French café. Merci beaucoup !!

Senior French Dinner

On July 4th, Senior French students went to the restaurant “Garde Manger.” Many people tried new French foods. Year 11s and 12s ordered from a menu that had snails, onion soup, goat’s cheese salad, “coq au vin”, “boeuf bourguignon”, “crème brûlée” and “mousse au chocolat”. Some students tried some snails! They were VERY good (trust me). Year 13s ordered pancakes (Galettes and Crêpes) from the menu. One of the “crêpes” was literally set on fire before it was served!

Some students tried playing the piano there, even though it was out of tune.

At the end, there was a prize draw where students could win bags, pens, fountain pens, folders, fridge magnets, pencil cases, even a CD! It was an extremely fun evening. A big thank you to the teachers who took us there (Whaea Lee, Madame Robertson & Monsieur McAlpine) and organised the event – MERCI !!

Raphael Mara

The conferences are on Thursday June 30^th from 8.30am to 7pm. Click on link below to book online.

• Schoolinterviews.co.nz     
• Username: mrgsmentoring     
• Password: Junementor     
• Caregiver code: a6yqs

Against the odds of Covid and school building projects, we still managed to train 79 new Mediators and 30+ Advanced Mediators in June.

The Peace Foundation spent three days with us teaching our Mediators the important life skills of effective communication, conflict resolution, rapport building, ‘listening to understand’ and mediation skills.

One cannot learn to help others without becoming more aware of themselves, and this training provides the opportunity to do both.

It also builds communities so that we can all support each other and look after each other.

A BIG Thank you to all you incredible students who put yourselves out of your comfort zone to embrace these incredible skills and work together as a community.

A heartfelt thank you to not only the Peace Foundation, but to Iti Peraua and Jan Pace who without their support, this training would not have happened.

We have also had informative Advanced Mediation Training sessions on ‘Positive Race Relations’ and NETSAFE this term. A big thank you to our YAS ( Youth Action Squad) leaders who supported the NETSAFE Facilitator on how to keep safe on the internet.

INTERNATIONAL PEACE WEEK is coming up!

This year’s theme is “ The Power of Unity”: 8th – 12th AUGUST! Be involved in this great week of spreading Peace, Kindness, Inclusion and Understanding throughout our school community.

click here for more photos

On the night of Friday 17th June, eight students from our Year 10 Japanese classes went to compete in New Zealand secondary schools Japanese Trivia Championships. Two of our senior students of Japanese, Ansh Trivedi and Racey Ferris were there as MC at the Auckland venue. One Y10 student came as a spectator but she ended up in another school’s team as the team was short one person. The Japanese Trivia Tournament is an annual competition among junior students, where teams of four compete against other schools and their teams, across five rounds, to test their knowledge of Japan. Over 100 school teams nationwide at eight different venues across New Zealand competed at the same time to answer a variety of Japanese questions. Both MRGS teams practiced and studied prior to the Championship. All the team members and Kojima Sensei took this opportunity to dress up in yukata (summer kimono) to take pride in our study of Japan and its culture.

MRGS came 5th place overall in Auckland – Team 1 with 34 points placing 7th and Team 2 with 35 points placing 5th, although they only had 1 point apart.

This experience was a lot of fun and the students all had a wonderful time. We are very grateful for our wonderful Japanese teacher Ms Kojima, as this event would have never been possible without her as she was the national organiser of the event.

Melody Liang