Ski Camp year 7 and 8's Cardrona, Wanaka

Well, it was an AWESOME ski week and the students were incredible. The students' alarms went off at 5.30 am and we were all eating breakfast by 6am. Our aim was to leave the house before 7am and get to the top car park at Cardrona every morning - which we did. In fact, on the Thursday 30th July we were the first 3 cars up there!

So we saw a few sunrises together.

The students showed great stamina on all days with early starts and two 2 hour lessons - skiing till 4pm. Everyone including beginners got up the chair lift on the first day and by day 3 we took the whole group to an intermediate run called "Captains"- where we played follow the leader down the mountain. Something to be very proud of. Some of our skiers were speedsters with Richard and others were making great progress with Kamari, Steven and Sonia.

All the adults were impressed with our students behaviour. They were responsible, really listened to their instructors, alert to what was happening around them and considerate of others in their group. What more can we say but A BIG THANK YOU to all the kids and our WONDERFUL PARENTS who worked really hard on camp.

Also a BIG THANK YOU to all the parents who helped with fundraising, baking and main meals - those famous lasagnes and chocolate mud cake! Well done to you all and thank you for all your support in getting this camp off the ground.

Cheers Sonia Pettigrew

(There will be more photos later)

About Our School

You might want to know.....
Whataroa school has been around for 129 years. The school has been extended and moved many times. The office was the dental clinic many years ago. Whataroa school was built because there was not enough room in other schools on the West Coast.

There is now a population of 405 people in Whataroa. There is a lot of people in our community that have been to our school. It is a very well known school on the West Coast and through the generations. The school has added a new bathroom/first aide facility in the first term of 2008. There are 44 students and 27 families currently at Whataroa School at the moment. There are 25 students in the senior class and 19 students in the junior class.

Keith Maxwell Graham

Keith Maxwell Graham was born in Hokitika in 1924, but spent most of his childhood in Franz Josef. His mother and father were Mauriley and Peter Graham. Peter was a mount Cook chief guide for many years before buying the Franz Joseph hotel in partnership with oldest son.

After finishing intermediate Keith was sent to board at Christ's college in Christchurch. He was into all sorts of sports including rugby, rowing, cricket and tennis, but his favourite hobby was mountaineering. At boarding school he sat a pre-examination test for the Royal New Zealand Air force. He was surprised when he heard that he was accepted and soon moved on to elementary training. He then moved on to more intense training.
In December 1943, he went to Wigram to commence training as bombing pilot. October 44 soon after being promoted to the rank of flying officer, he was sent home with severe pneumonia. After six months of slow recovery he went back to Wigram to finish off bombing training. His instructors always very keen and reliable.
In the second world war Keith was an air force pilot and served in the Pacific. 28th May 1945, he was stationed at Guada Canal. He was on dawn patrol with five other men, but he was the pilot. He was up towards the equator when he struck bad weather and couldn’t find his target. While returning to his base in the dark his plane skimmed a hill on Malaita island with a regrettable full load of bombs. Flying officer Keith Maxwell Graham, Flight sergeant Leo Marshall, Sergeant Eric George, Sergeant Melville Moxsom and Sergeant Douglas Reid were all killed in the explosion. For a young man, he had over one thousand flying hours, but even the best are not invincible.
It was in later years their bodies were recovered and buried on the site. Because of war we’ve lost many lives that could’ve been saved by Keith because Keith’s life long dream was to be a doctor. He was only twenty and had his whole life to achieve that goal. If he put as much effort into being a doctor as he did in saving our country he would’ve been a great one. His young life was cut short by the tragedy of war.
MAY HE REST IN PEACE

Athletics

On the 8th of April, anxious Whataroa students sat and waited on the long road to Haast. The roads were good, with the thought of getting out and joining in all the fun events waiting for us.

Piling out of cars and vans, Whataroa students flooded the Haast school grounds. South Westland schools including Franz Josef, Hari Hari, Fox Glacier, Jacob's River, Haast and Whataroa competed in high jump, long jump, shot put, discus, sprints and long distance running.

Our school came third overall, but a series of students won best overall for their year. There were many sand flies roaming around, but we didn’t let them ruin a great sunny day at Haast.

Swimming Sports 2008!

It was the 6th of March 2008 and it was the first sunny day in four years! We were so glad that we could do outside activities!

We all had a chance to swim different swimming styles against other South Westland schools! At the end the schools had to race different styles in the relays and we got first in every race.

After the swimming races we all waited for Mrs Homes to add up the points. But after all Franz Josef came 1st, Fox Glacier came 2nd and Whataroa came 3rd!!! But we were still very proud of our swimming!

Penny Farthing Visit

One lucky day Whataroa school received an unexpected visit from a group of penny farthings and their riders. The men and women showed us all sorts of cool tricks like no-handers, laid-back, legs over the handle bars and how to stop easily and safely. The whole school enjoyed the visit and were stunned by how easy it looked especially because how high the bikes were and they were awesome to watch.

We were even able to give it a try!

Production 2007

Last year in October Whataroa school students produced a school play about Mount Everest and the juniors students made up a play about pirates and hidden treasure! The seniors worked hard painting and making backdrops and making lots of cool props. Meanwhile the junior kids were working on their pirate voices and on their sword fighting.

After practising our acting for 3 months we were finally ready! On the 13 of December 2007 Whataroa school performed the plays in the community hall! All the community (parents, siblings and grandparents) came and watched us perform!

It went so well that when it was over we were all so proud!

A Visit from Todd Blackadder and friends

On the 9th of November 2007 Todd Blackadder and 2 of his friends came to our school. His two friends were a MotorX rider and a jet boat racer. They talked to us about good motor bikes to ride and a bit about rugby and jet boat racing. Todd did some morning fitness and rugby ball passing with us. At the end we got all of them to sign what we had and we got a few pictures.

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!