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Junior School Blog
November 1, 2024

Exploring the World of Music

Music is everywhere. It's in our homes, on the streets, and even in our heads. From the first lullaby sung to a baby to the…
Diane McIntyre
Love18
Junior School Blog
October 18, 2024

The Busiest Time of the Year

Spring is truly back and the warmer and longer days are an indication that time is racing down towards summer and the end of the…
Diane McIntyre
Love18
Junior School Blog
September 20, 2024

BSLA Journey in the Junior School

The Junior School have begun their exciting structured Literacy journey with the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA). BSLA aims to support children's early reading, writing…
Diane McIntyre
Love18
Junior School Blog
August 9, 2024

A Mitey Initiative

Mitey is an initiative to support students mental and emotional health through discussing emotions, relating to their peers and learning ways to deal with how…
Diane McIntyre
Love18
Junior School Blog
July 26, 2024

Juniors Celebrate Matariki

In Māori culture, Matariki is the Pleiades star cluster and a celebration of its first rising in late June or early July. The rising marks…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
June 27, 2024

Ready… Set… Disco

It is hard to believe that we are getting closer to the end of yet another school term. And what a busy one it’s been!…
Diane McIntyre
Love18
Junior School Blog
May 31, 2024

The Bowerbird Blues National Simultaneous Story Time

On Wednesday 22 May 2024, Owairoa Primary School were privileged to be a part of 21,969 locations across Australia and New Zealand reading Bowerbird Blues…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
May 17, 2024

MOTAT Trip

On Monday the 6thof May there was a buzz of excitement as G3, G4, G5 and G6 were going to MOTAT- the Museum of Transport…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
May 3, 2024

Term One Antics

This term in the Junior School we have some very exciting things happening! We are lucky enough to visit Motat in Week 2 to learn…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
April 12, 2024

Reduce Reuse and Recycle

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle was the theme of the entertaining Food Scrap show the Junior School had the privilege of watching during Week 10 of…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
March 28, 2024

Learning In Science

Is it rocky? Is it the smallest? Is it the largest? Is it one of the gas giants? Extremely cold or extremely hot? If you…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
March 15, 2024

Let’s See What’s In The Sea!

“Ko au te moana, ko te moana ko au – I am the sea, the sea is me.” Last week we celebrated New Zealand Sea…
Diane McIntyre
Love18
Junior School Blog
March 1, 2024

Splish, Splosh, Splash!

What a fantastic term it has been for swimming in the Junior School. Our learners are excited each week to cool down in the pool…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
February 9, 2024

Welcome to the Junior School

Welcome to our Junior school community. We're so excited to have you and our Junior students join us in 2024. Wednesday 7th February was an…
Diane McIntyre
Love17
Junior School Blog
December 1, 2023

Kiwiana Clay Art

Moulding, shaping, and creating. G2 students have been busy crafting a unique pair of jandals using clay! This term for isteam, the Junior School has…
Diane McIntyre
Love18
Junior School Blog
November 24, 2023

The Junior School Poets Had a Lot to Say

With great enthusiasm, the Junior School Poetry competition took place on Thursday morning in the school hall. All 18 poetry finalists delivered outstanding poems that…
Diane McIntyre
Love16
Junior School Blog
November 17, 2023

The Big NZ Shakeout

Every year in October our school joins thousands of schools, workplaces and institutions in a nationwide Earthquake Drill. The Big New Zealand Shakeout is a…
Diane McIntyre
Love16
Junior School Blog
October 13, 2023

A New Term

Term 4 has started with a hiss and roar with our Junior School welcoming three new teachers to the team. Miss Garrett has joined Room…
Diane McIntyre
Love16
Junior School Blog
September 22, 2023

Making the Language Stronger

Māori Language Week, known as "Te Wiki o te Reo Māori" in Te Reo Māori, is an annual event in New Zealand that celebrates and…
Diane McIntyre
Love14
Junior School Blog
September 8, 2023

Mad About Construction

In Room 3 we have been learning about construction which was inspired by our visit from the New Zealand author, Sally Sutton during Book Week…
Diane McIntyre
Love14
Junior School Blog
August 18, 2023

Learning About Forces in Full Force

The Year Two students are learning about forces, pull and push and gravity while at the same time doing what children do best: exploring toys…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
August 4, 2023

Together Is a Wonderful Place to Be

For quite some time, the classrooms in the G block have been empty, patiently awaiting the arrival of students who would fill them with their…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
June 30, 2023

Look Out! It’s the Jolly Junior Pirates!

Ahoy me hearties! The storms blew and the pages turned, the pirates sailed into Owairoa to learn. Just like a pirate, the Junior School pirates…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
June 9, 2023

High and Mitey

This term, our Junior School has embarked on a thrilling new initiative centred around mental health education and the overall wellbeing of our children. We…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
June 2, 2023

Animal Habitats in Pizza Boxes

It is hard to believe that we are getting closer to the end of another school term. And what a busy term it has been,…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
May 26, 2023

Sharing Our Success

In the Junior School we have been busy spending time preparing for our parent-teacher conferences. We are excited to show our whanau our classroom, share…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
May 12, 2023

Mrs Rice and the Beanstalk

The day has finally come to reveal the winners of our beans growing competition. At the beginning of the term, Mrs Rice visited our classrooms,…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
May 5, 2023

ANZAC Day

To commemorate this important day of New Zealand history, our Year 1 learners learnt about how New Zealand and Australian soldiers landed at Gallipoli, Turkey…
Diane McIntyre
Love14
Junior School Blog
March 24, 2023

Planting Up A Storm

It has been a great start to the 2023 year in the Junior School! We have been planting up a storm while exploring the topic…
Diane McIntyre
Love13
Junior School Blog
March 10, 2023

Growing and Learning Together!

The Junior School have been busy learning lots about plants. Mrs Rice came to visit our classrooms and read the story “Mrs Rice and the…
Diane McIntyre
Love11
Junior School Blog
February 24, 2023

Books, Books and More Books

Although the weather hasn’t always been the best, the Juniors have enjoyed finding new books to curl up with. The school library is an awesome…
Diane McIntyre
Love10
Junior School Blog
February 10, 2023

Welcome to the Junior School

The start of the 2023 academic year saw just over 28 new entrants start school for the very first time. These students were welcomed into…
Diane McIntyre
Love10
Junior School Blog
December 20, 2022

Exciting End to 2022

What an exciting term! We have just finished our End of Year Concerts and enjoyed a trip to the Howick Library. We took part in…
Diane McIntyre
Love10
Junior School Blog
December 9, 2022

Celebrating the End of Year in Style

After what feels like a very long time, this year we were able to reignite our tradition of ending the year with a celebratory concert.…
Diane McIntyre
Love10
Junior School Blog
November 25, 2022

A Fully Booked Literacy Week

To foster a love of reading with our Junior Learners, Owairoa's Junior School took part in Literacy Week. The week began with classes engaged in…
Diane McIntyre
Love10
Junior School Blog
November 15, 2022

Drop, Cover, Hold

Earthquakes happen every day in New Zealand due to how we lie over the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates. Approximately 14 – 15…
Diane McIntyre
Love10
Junior School Blog
October 28, 2022

Welcome Back to Term Four

Hopefully everyone is well rested and ready for an exciting last term of 2022. We have some major events this term from our Great Owairoa…
Diane McIntyre
Love10
Junior School Blog
September 27, 2022

Blue Skies and Green Grass

Spring is on its way and the first days of warmer weather have come with a nice surprise for our Owairoa learners. One quiet September…
Diane McIntyre
Love8
Junior School Blog
September 14, 2022

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Term 3 has been all about reducing, reusing and recycling our waste. Our Junior students have been learning about different materials and describing them using…
Diane McIntyre
Love7
Junior School Blog
September 2, 2022

New Friends

Room 13 received two new and rather unusual residents earlier this week. They ran around the courtyard during learning time, took frequent dips in the…
Diane McIntyre
Love7
Junior School Blog
August 18, 2022

2022 Marvellous Maths Week

The Junior School dived into Maths Week with many challenges to solve. Mrs Rice set Maths problems for students to investigate and solve each day,…
Diane McIntyre
Love6
Junior School Blog
July 29, 2022

The New Block

This week Room 11 learners went on a walk around the school and were excited to visit the new school building. We were lucky enough…
Diane McIntyre
Love6
Junior School Blog
July 5, 2022

The Benefits of Fitness

Research has shown that children benefit in many ways from regular physical activity. It can boost their attention, build strong muscles and help them sleep!…
Diane McIntyre
Love6
Junior School Blog
June 22, 2022

A Pop-up Music Exploration Playground at Owairoa

Bang, Clink, Clank, Pitter-patter, Clap! These were the sounds that ignited smiles and lots of curiosity from students of Owairoa Primary School as they participated…
Diane McIntyre
Love6
Junior School Blog
June 10, 2022

Bang! Clap! Boom

The Year 1’s have been loving Science this term as we explore the topic of sound! We have had the opportunity to see and feel…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
May 23, 2022

Sounds Galore

Blowing, plucking, shaking, striking…That’s how we play musical instruments and produce sounds! The children in Year 2 are fascinated to discover all the things related…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
May 13, 2022

Morphing Monarchs

It’s the little things in life that can bring excitement for our Year 1 learners. An army of caterpillars have invaded the swan plants outside…
Diane McIntyre
Love7
Junior School Blog
April 13, 2022

Our Place Among the Stars

All the Year 2 students were busy learning about our Solar System and the Sun, our lucky star in the middle of it. The students…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
March 29, 2022

Road Safety – Keeping Ourselves Safe

Our Year One students have been learning how to cross the road safely with an adult but also how to use our school pedestrian crossing…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
March 15, 2022

Sea Week 2022

This week the Junior School learners have been participating in the nationwide focus of Sea Week. “Ko au te moana, ko te moana ko au…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
February 28, 2022

Tally Tiger Maths

Room 3 has been roaring about statistics! In Maths, we have been learning how to present data through tally charts. We read the popular picture…
Diane McIntyre
Love7
Junior School Blog
February 11, 2022

Welcome Back to 2022

Tuesday 8th February saw over sixty New Entrants start school at Owairoa Primary School for the very first time. For many of these new entrants,…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
December 10, 2021

Junior Christmas Bubbles

We were delighted to welcome our students back to school from the 18th November. After many weeks of Online Learning the students were pleased to…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
December 3, 2021

A Different Way of Learning

We are back at school after three months of Lockdown, but learning looks a bit different. Not only that the children have staggered attendance on…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
August 13, 2021

A Wonderful Mathematical Week!

The fantastic and inquisitive junior learners from Owairoa have been engaging in our annual Maths Week! The week is designed to boost the love for…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
July 30, 2021

Welcome Back to Term 3

Welcome back to Term 3. We are all enjoying being back at school after a relaxing holiday. This term in Science, we are focusing on…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
July 2, 2021

Mrs Pieterse and her Owairoa Super Kids

Team 1B is very excited to welcome Mrs Pieterse back to Owairoa Primary School, to start the first of the Year 0 classes for 2021.…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
June 21, 2021

Can you read this? Yes, you can!

Why? Because at Owairoa Primary School we value handwriting and we take pride in presenting our work neatly. Handwriting is an important part of our…
Diane McIntyre
Love6
Junior School Blog
June 3, 2021

Buddy Artists of Aotearoa

Over the last two weeks, the Year 1 students have travelled by bus to Te Tuhi in Pakuranga, for an art lesson on Printing. Our…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
June 2, 2021

Reaching for the Stars

On Wednesday 19 May the Junior School went on a journey through space! This day was known as Space Day and it was a great…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
May 7, 2021

Keeping Ourselves Sun Smart

Term 1 has been jammed packed with exciting learning. As part of our inquiry this term, the Year 1 learners have looked at what it…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
April 9, 2021

Next Generation Designers

In Year 2, as a part of our Inquiry this term, we looked at our school House names and their significance. Not only did we…
Diane McIntyre
Love6
Junior School Blog
March 26, 2021

Super Science

The Junior School have been finding out about plants. On our plant journey in Science, we have been looking at the parts of plants and…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
March 16, 2021

Lockdown Learning Success

It has been a very interesting start to the school year! We started off with a hiss and a roar and all the junior school…
Diane McIntyre
Love8
Junior School Blog
February 26, 2021

Bubbling With Excitement

Team 1 learners have had a great start to the year settling into their new classes. We have been busy getting to know our teachers…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
February 10, 2021

2021 Junior Journey Begins

Monday 9th February was a memorable morning for many junior students at Owairoa Primary School as they finally got the chance to meet their new teacher…
Diane McIntyre
Love5
Junior School Blog
December 7, 2020

Term Four Excitement

Term 4 has been a very fun and eventful term! We started off with Parent Conferences, an opportunity to celebrate all pupils’ successes. There was…
Diane McIntyre
Love4
Junior School Blog
November 16, 2020

Athletic Carnival Extravaganza

On the 12th of November, the Junior School participated in our Junior Athletics Carnival. We had fantastic weather and were able to head out to enjoy…
Diane McIntyre
Love3
Junior School Blog
November 2, 2020

We Love Learning About Light

The weekly visits to the science room to extend our learning is a highlight for all the Year 2 children. The teachers work hard to…
Diane McIntyre
Love2
Junior School Blog
October 19, 2020

100 Days Smarter

The Year 1’s excitedly celebrated 100 days of school in the last week of Term 3. With two lockdowns this year, the highly anticipated day…
Diane McIntyre
Love2
Junior School Blog
September 11, 2020

Distance Learning 2.0

The Teachers were very proud of how Owairoa’s smallest learners slotted back into the routine of Distance Learning during Auckland’s second lockdown. Our Owairoa Teachers…
Diane McIntyre
Love3
Junior School Blog
September 4, 2020

Super Sounds

This term Year 1 students are learning about sound.  We started the term by identifying sounds that we could hear in the classroom and around…
Diane McIntyre
Love2
Junior School Blog
July 27, 2020

Term 3 Delight

It has been a pleasure to start Term 3 under relatively normal circumstances, after the huge effort made by all in the New Zealand Lockdown.…
jadecreative
Love3
Junior School Blog
July 24, 2020

Feather Focus

The birds around our school were overjoyed when Team 1 decided to focus on native birds for iSTEAM during Term 2.    The children went on bird…
jadecreative
Love2
Junior School Blog
July 7, 2020

Welcome to Year 0

Covid 19 delayed the start date of many of our 5 year olds and Teachers to Owairoa Primary. Finally however, the 25th May saw the…
jadecreative
Love2
Junior School Blog
June 12, 2020

Team 2 – Reducing, Recycling, Reusing

Year 2 focused on Recycling in iSteam in Term 1. We learnt about recycling, reusing and reducing and how important it is for our environment.…
jadecreative
Love2
Junior School Blog
May 29, 2020

Play, Learn and Grow Together

With the Covid 19 Lockdown behind us, it is time to move forward and get into the groove of things with some positivity. We are…
jadecreative
Love3
Junior School Blog
May 22, 2020

What a Wonderful Week

Welcome back to all of our Junior School learners and whanau. We are very proud of how all our youngest Owairoa family members have settled…
jadecreative
Love2
Junior School Blog
February 28, 2020

Team Two – Team Positive

The first five weeks of the new school year have flown by and with every day that passes, the summer holiday becomes a distant memory.…
jadecreative
Love3
Junior School Blog
February 21, 2020

Keeping Cool at School!

It has been a hot start to 2020 and so students and teachers are always looking for ways to keep cool at school. It’s nice…
jadecreative
Love3
Junior School Blog
February 14, 2020

Welcome to the Junior School for 2020

The start of the 2020 academic year saw just over 30 new entrants start school for their very first time. These students were welcomed into…
jadecreative
Love3
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