Diving Deeper Crest Science 2011

Earlier in 2011 we posted some of the science investigations, that our Year 6 Crest students had completed. The students received Crest Certificates for their achievements. Crest is part of the Royal Society of New Zealand and it promotes scientific innovation. Here are some photos of our students at work.

DD Collectors' Day 2011

Gifted and Talented Education Day was celebrated in 2011 by holding our second Collectors Day at our school, St. Francis Xavier. Children from Year 3 to Year 6 brought their favourite collections to display for their school mates at lunchtime. The Collectors' Day was held in the school hall and was hosted by the some of the Year 6 Diving Deeper students.

Diving Debate 2011

In 2011 Term 4, the Senior Syndicate and some parents were treated to a lively debate among six Diving Deeper teams. The teams had prepared their topics and debate strategies over six lessons. They chose moots from 'Homework is necessary' to 'Barbies should be banned.' The debaters had researched their topics and learnt how to rebut. Mrs. Booth and Mrs.Turner were our very fair judges.

SFX Team Chess v Whau Valley Primary

Today St.Francis Xavier Team Chess hosted the Whau Valley School Chess Team. Mrs. Gulick, who coaches the Whau Valley School team, brought their team of five senior students to our school. The games were held in our school library, at lunchtime.
Mrs. Gulick organised five games between the two schools. The atmosphere in the Library was very quiet. You could hear the children thinking :) Whau Valley School won four games to one. They are great players. We are proud of our team's effort in their first taste of outside competition. We are very proud of Leah Bucknell, who played for forty minutes and won our only game for us.
St.Francis Xavier School looks forward to more chess competitions with Whau Valley School.

Coca Cola Affects by Ellie Eastwood

Ellie has investigated what affect different forms of Coca Cola have on human teeth. Ellie collected data regularly to show the changes occurring to teeth. The teeth were dipped in three forms of Coca Cola. Ellie's results are significant.

Surface Tension by Olivia Crum

Olivia has found out why insects like water-striders seem to walk on water. Through research and experiments, Olivia has found out about the benefits of surface tension. Many of us did not even know it exists.

Crest Science Project by Callum Anderson

Callum designed an educational computer game for his Crest Science Project. Callum's Dad was his mentor. Callum succeeded in producing a game that can teach children their colours and shapes. Congratulations Callum.

Crest Science Project By Fintan Nogher

Fintan is a Crest Science Student at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School. The Royal Society Crest Science Programme is part of our school's Diving Deeper Programme, for gifted and talented students. Fintan's sense of humour and creative mind has come up with a novel way to test dust pollution in Whangarei.

Free Gifted and Talented Symposium

Parents and teachers of gifted and talented students are invited to attend the free Whangarei Gifted and Talented Symposium, which will be held on Monday 31.10.11, at the Flames Hotel, Onerahi. The day-long symposium will begin at 9am.

Registrations close at 9am on Tuesday 25.10.11.

Click here for more information, a registration link and the programme.

If you have any queries please contact Mrs. Gunson at St.Francis Xavier Catholic School, Whangarei.

Making Flax Flowers

In Diving Deeper Maori this year we have been learning to make flax flowers. We have learnt the process from gathering the flax to dyeing the flowers. We have also discussed and read about the tikanga when working with flax. Enjoy these presentations about our work.