School news

Gold training Mt Taranaki March 8 to 11

A group of six students travelled to Mt Taranaki to complete their gold adventurous journey training. The group started at Dawson Falls and tramped up to Kapuni Lodge actively training as they went.
The next morning they headed off early with daypacks and the goal of climbing the mountain, going down the other side and tramping back to Kapuni Lodge. The wind was strong and bitterly cold as the group climbed to Syme Hut (1940m)
All layers were put on and the climb to the top began. Walking poles, hands/knees were used to get there as the wind and scree along with the height challenged us. A feeling of elation was felt by all as the 2518m peak was reached. This was the first DOE group from Otamatea High School to reach the top. Many had tried before but weather conditions had not been favourable.
The descent down to Tahurangi Lodge on the North East side was long, slow and very hot. We got back to Kapuni Lodge by headlamp ...14 hours later with an amazing day to talk about! (apart from Mrs Baker who had never tramped that long before and went straight to bed).
The next day we did some map and compass work and then headed off to Wilkies Pools, where we had fun sliding down a natural rock slide on our way to Waingongoro Hut.
The final day saw us head back to Dawson Falls for a debrief and then the long van trip home.
Thanks must go to Stephen Orchard for getting us safely to the top of Mt Taranaki and to the other shadow party members, Andrea Orchard, Anna Van Harlingen, Robyn Baker and Robyn Bruce.

AIMS Games 2024

Trainings have begun for our Rugby 7s team which is heading down to the AIMS Games in Tauranga later this year.  Phillip Tana is kindly giving up his time to coach these year 7 & 8 boys who are showing lots of enthusiasm.  A big part of going to the AIMS Games is the massive amount of fundraising that needs to take place to help get the team there.  The boys have been selling Dad's Pies and Whittakers Chocolates and collecting donated items for a raffle so far, and have a fun day planned next Friday (7th June) where anyone can come play a round of mini golf for $5 at Mangawhai Mini Golf, with all proceeds going towards this team's tournament trip.  This is a teacher only day so we're hoping to see lots of students there supporting these boys, there will also be a sausage sizzle, ottaway donuts and a raffle for a Shimano rod & reel. 
Flyer is below under Community Notices.

Year 9 Louise cake

This Year 9 class has just made Louise Cake from left to right Hanya, Ruby, Lucy and Alysha who made it perfectly. They've been working through a variety of recipes at the moment, and are improving each week, with their skills. The class will be making a cookbook of the recipes made from Term 1 and 2.

Year 11 Hospitality

Eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce assessment. The Level 1 class is working really well and doing a fantastic job of the cooking and presentation. 
Olivia Alcock 

Music Students

The music students at OHS have been busy with a number of extra-curricular activities over the last week. To celebrate NZ Music Month, a few musicians gave a performance in the library of songs they have been learning. This occurred during interval on Friday May 24th and we had a great turnout of staff and students who came to listen. 

Over the weekend, students of all ages who had been attending the music workshops in Mangawhai performed at Te Whai Community House. These were some impressive performances that demonstrated the passion and commitment that our students have to developing their musical abilities. 
Following this, the senior music class ventured out on a trip to Auckland Town Hall on Tuesday May 28th to hear the Auckland Philharmonia orchestra play. They were exposed to classical pieces through the ages, famous film music like "The Imperial March" from Star Wars, and even got a taste of what sort of music modern Kiwi composers are creating in 2024. Hopefully this has inspired some eager creatives to practice writing their own music.

Aotearoa Spanish Language week

Aotearoa Spanish Language Week was celebrated from 20th to 26th May in New Zealand. Organized by the Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence (LatAm CAPE), this event is an opportunity to celebrate the Spanish language in Aotearoa New Zealand and to encourage more locals to learn this global language of more than 500 million speakers. It also focuses on raising New Zealanders’ awareness of the diverse and dynamic region of Latin America (Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries and over 400 million people in Latin America), an important and fast-growing trading region for Aotearoa New Zealand.

Quizzes and other learning activities were held at OHS, where students and staff challenged themselves in their knowledge about Spanish and Latin America.

Also in the context of the Aotearoa Spanish Language Week, some students from L1HOSP learnt about the Argentinian traditional holiday ’25 de mayo’, and enjoyed making cornstarch ‘alfajores’.

Year 9 students of French and Spanish presented their assessment on 'Holidays in French/ Spanish speaking countries'. We learnt together and enjoyed some cookies made specially for the occasion. 

Congratulations to Maci Hutchinson-Griffin for making the Northern Swords U14 Girls Representative Team