SPEC - Headway Awards Night

Well done to all the young men and women at Sommerville this year who have successfully completed their SPEC awards. What a great years' work.

Edgewater 2 - Our Learning Tours

We have visited lots of locations this year and also learnt a lot on our travels. We have added these locations to a Google Map with an image and a link to our individual blog posts.

This is Bradley's Learning Tour. Click each location to see more. 

You can find a link to our learning tours at the top of each of our blogs. Our blogs are here.

SPEC graduation 2013

What a success!  Almost all the families of Middle Cluster students turned up to a wonderful celebration evening for SPEC graduation 2013.

A celebration video with a 1970's style theme was shown and students received their special certificates from Principal, Diane Hankins, before enjoying a delicious supper prepared by the Middle Cluster  students.

Thank you everyone for coming and making the evening so special for all involved.

You can check out the SPEC graduation video here.....don't forget to leave us a comment, we love reading your feedback :-)

Manaiakalani Film Festival

Sommerville Special School is part of the Manaiakalani Group of Schools.

Last Wednesday we attended the yearly Manaiakalani Film Festival.  The movies were shown at Hoyts Sylvia Park.  

The quality of the movies from the schools involved was outstanding.  

Students introduced each movie and the audience responded really well to the movies they saw.

Some of our favourites were St Pius X and their "Faith and Harmony' friendship song, Tamaki's 'Spray and Walk away' and Panmure Bridge's 'Swimming at school is cool'.  

If you click on the picture you can go to the official website and watch all of the movies!

Sylvia Park Satellites celebrate Diwali

On Wednesday the 6th of November Sylvia Park School celebrated Diwali.
The teachers dressed up and a group of talented mainstream children performed a dance at an outdoor assembly.
Kamila (the junior satellite teacher), Boonie (from the junior class), Tryden and Kyi Kyaw (from the senior satellite class) were invited to dance with the group.'
Video and photos below.  Enjoy :-)

The 2 satellite classes and their teachers.

Halloween Celebrations

Tamaki 4 celebrated Halloween last Thursday (31st October)  by dressing up and having an exciting party! 
Lots of our friends from other classes came along. We prepared Jack-o-lanterns for the day which everyone loved.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Jack-o-lantern

Scary kids and one gorgeous fairy!

Students and staff in their costumes

Saturday School

Saturday School was amazing.  So many visitors, so many children, so much enjoyment had by all!
Fantatsic food, awesome displays and even a minion circus!

Thank you to all who attended this most enjoyable day :-)

A slide show of photos from S Factor follows:

What you can expect at Saturday School - THIS SATURDAY 21st SEPTEMBER

Catch our FABULOUS Speech and Language Therapists

We will have a range of communication and visual resources available for you to look through and discuss with us. We will also have a selection of photos and videos of students using these varying approaches, and will be available to discuss these throughout the day.

Learn the ukulele!

"ARE YOU A BEGINNER?" "DO YOU WANT TO HAVE SOME FUN?"

Come and learn UKULELE with us! SEE YOU AT TAMAKI 3!

Learn about our health resources! 

Sommerville recognises that Health and Puberty are an integral part of life and contributes to the unique qualities of every person. This workshop will give a chance to look at our New Health resource and ask questions or give feedback on what you feel could be valuable for your child. This resource encompasses the physical, social, emotional and psychological elements of health education.

Learn how to comment on your child's class BLOG page!

An exciting development for Sommerville Special School this year is our connection with The Manaiakalani Education Trust. This programme is achieving significant improvement in learning for students by providing access to resources and networks to support both teaching and learning. As a part of our involvement we are adding to our existing school blog by creating classroom blogs to celebrate the learning. Senior students are also using Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education to share their learning on individual student blogs. You will have an opportunity to see this in action, explore our blogs and learn how to comment on your child's blog.

Watch the EXCITING Minion Circus!

We have been learning about belonging to groups so decided to join together as a group of minions.

Come and watch us perform in our own Minion circus where we will doing our  Minion Hoops, Minion OT circuit and Minion Dance.

X FACTOR - A.K.A - the 'S' (Sommerville) Factor!

From 12 noon come to the Hall to see a range of magnificent performances by our wonderful students.  You will see cultural dance, listen to fabulous singers and a whole range of other performances!  A MUST SEE

Learn, Create, Share - 2013 Saturday School

Hi everyone

The Learn, Create, Share Saturday School is almost upon us.  Please keep the 21st of September free and pop down to the Sommerville Special School - Tamaki campus to enjoy a range of displays, activities, food and performances!
The day kicks off at 9.30am and will finish at 1.30pm.
All welcome :-)
Come and enjoy a slice of Sommerville life 

Please see the brochure with all details below. Click on the images to view a larger version.

Parmco Let's Cook Competition

We are very excited to have entered the Parmco Let's Cook Competition again this year.
Students get to try the recipes each week and post their results online.
There are huge prizes to be won for the school. Last year, one of our students won an iPad.
It's all about the votes though! So please support us this year and place your vote for us. Get the rest of the family to aswell!
Click here to go to the voting page.

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle the 3Rs.

Using Newspapers to make Paper Bags

 

By Howick Intermediate Satellite

We made paper bags out of newspapers and supermarket flyers.

We had to follow 5 simple steps

1. Have paper lying  flat on the table.

2. Fold the open side “in” then “out” both sides.

3. Glue down the open side.

4. Fold the attached side in 2 different directions.

5.Fold the bottom twice in the same direction.

 

 

Middle Cluster - SPEC Open Day

SPEC Day – Middle Cluster

On 4^th of July we had our SPEC day.  It was great to see our display and have our parents there to see it all.

We also managed to look at other class displays and they were all fantastic.

Riverhills compost was amazing.

The Sylvia Park X –factor was great. The wonderful acts were brilliant!!!!

We also learnt a lot on how to plant trees from Edgewater College.

Written by the children at the Howick Intermediate Satellite Class

 

Below you will find a range of photos from the day.....

 

 

iPad thank you from Sommerville

Hubbards have kindly given Sommerville an iPad to use after a member of the public nominated us to receive one.  

Room 11 at Sylvia Park and some other classes at school helped Shelz to put together a video to thank Hubbards and to show the many uses we have for iPads!

Sensory Learning in Room 8

Just take a look at the Room 8 children.  They are enjoying the Ukulele.

Room 10's Maori Masks

Room 10 at Base have been working on making Maori masks for their topic – NZ Cultures with Gabrielle.

These photos show the process the children went through in the creation of their masks. Visit the Room 10 class blog to see more about our learning.

Anchorage Park's Maori Pendants

Room 2, Anchorage Park Satellite

When we studied the Cultures of New Zealand topic we made Maori Pendants during art.
The Maori symbols we used were the Koru, the Fishhook, and the Pikorua. The Pikorua is the traditional symbol for friendship and growth and represents cultures growing together.
We practised rolling and making shapes with playdough before we used the clay.
We used photos of the Maori Symbols we were focusing on to help us form the clay to get the right
shape.
We let the clay dry before we painted it.
We practised plaiting with wool but it was too hard for us to plait the flax for the necklace so Carol
did it.
Our results are fantastic! Visit the Room 2 class blog to see more about our learning.

The making of the pendants....

Maui's Fish

In term 1 Room 11 explored Maui's Fish as part of their music prorgamme with Hillary King.  

Here are some pictures of the children and the fish.
Visit Room 11's class blog to see more about our learning.

Portable Pool

Sommerville currently has a 10 metre portable heated pool on site.
Many students will benefit from using the pool during term 2.

Using the pool supports students in learning water safety skills and helps many to meet their physiotherapy goals.

Take a look at some of the children using the pool below.....

Ashwin's Class

Sylvia Park Senior Satellite 

Will.i.am's $100k donation surprise

One lucky Sommerville student (Tai) had Will.i.am lean on his shoulder during a photo opportunity at Pt England School where he donated $100,000 to the Manaiakalani Trust - of which Sommerville Special School is a member. The money will go towards improving learning opportunities for students across Tamaki.

Will.i.am has a photo with students who will benefit from his donation.

Click here to view Will.i.am's presentation to the Trust and read the article on STUFF.co.nz

Click here to view Will.i.am's presentation to the Trust on Newstalk ZB

Term 1, 2013 - A very busy term!

Wow, it has been a very busy term here at Sommerville.  Check out some of the happenings throughout the school below.

Artwork - Gabrielle has been visiting Middle Cluster classes and has done some amazing artwork with the children.  This photo shows Sylvia Park Seniors...... 'Maui and the Sun' painting, pencil and vivid marker masterpieces!

Soapbox Derby - Sommerville once again participated in the annual NZ Derby Car Championships.  We came 5th in the Eastern Bays competition which saw us head off to the Nationals.  Check out the video from the day below.

School Social - Friday 12th April the senior students enjoyed their first school social of the year.  A very successful evening, happy students and staff members with dance moves galore!

V8 Supercars - On Friday the 12th of April, Kevin from Tamaki took his class, Xavier from Tamaki Class 2 and Marciano from the Sylvia Park Satellite Class to see the V8 Supercars in Pukekohe.  The children had a wonderful day as can be seen in the video below.