Pinocchio by Alice Jeffries

On the 9th, 10th and 11th Susanne Hanger School of Dance is doing a production called Pinocchio at Bay court in Tauranga.
There are several hundred kids doing the production. The main parts are, Pinocchio, Jappetto the maker of Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket Pinocchio’s Conscience, Cleo the Goldfish, Figaro (Jappetto Kitten).
The story is about Jappetto who made a puppet name Pinocchio. Once when Jappetto woke up he thought Pinocchio was real. A few days later Jappetto got swallowed by a whale and then amazingly Pinocchio gets swallowed by the same whale! A few hours later they get sneezed out of the whale. Then later in the story Pinocchio dies but a few days later Pinocchio actually comes alive for real! Then everyone goes to Jappetto’s house to see the living boy.
I hope lots of people come and enjoy the show. We have all worked so hard in this production. The teachers are Susanne Hanger who is the main teacher, Hannah Lane who is the competition teacher and several other teachers as well.

The Weet-Bix Triathlon by Jessica Thomas

On the 28th of March 2010 the Weet-Bix Triathlon took place at Memorial Park. Alice , Libby , Sophie , Terri , Conner , Jackson , Adam , Zoe , Taylor and I did the Triathlon .
The group I was in was wearing a yellow hat and so were Alice, Libby and Taylor. When the yellow hat’s race was on it was all already 11: 00am because there were a lot of orange hats so they had to split them all up.
Before we got in the pool we had to sit on the side because we had to wait until the boys had finished. When the boy’s race was over we got in the pool and waited for the whistle to blow. Then we where off! Racing up and down the lane five times and then rushing out and onto our bikes.
When we got to our bikes we put our shoes, top and helmet on. Then we started to push our bikes out of the Transition onto the road and so we could get on our bikes and start racing. At first we had to go up a big hill, and then we went down again. I biked down the hill and a boy came and turned at the same time as me and our wheels jammed together. The next hill was okay and when I was going back up the hill I saw Alice. When I was going downhill I was fine.
I reached the Run Transition, got off my bike, took off my helmet and started to run. When I had run a while I spotted Taylor but I ran right past her. After a while she spotted me and started to sprint but I saw the FINISH line and sprinted too and beat Taylor. At the finish we were all awarded a Weetbix gold medal.

THE ST MARY TRIATHALON by Daniel Sheahan

On the 5th of March 2009 St Thomas More went to the St Mary’s Triathlon. We had lunch their then me and my friends watched the year one boys and girls race then the year twos and one of the year two girls where really fast .Harry drank too much sprite and got a stitch I wanted to find my friends and I knew where Andrew and William were.

Then I found my friends Oliver and Joel then played some cricket with some friends then we went to the park with some other friends then it was the year four girls tern I was really nerves and then it was our go now and she shot the gun and we were away and it wasn’t deep at all I was the 9th person out of the water and then we went onto our bikes and the hills were really step and I carpet my spot and I was 9th on the bike ride

Then we went onto the running and I over took 4 people and it was also really steep as well then I finished and i was placed 5th after the race I had 2 hot dogs and one Juicy and then I went home .

Matamata Catholic Schools Swimming Competition

Matamata Catholic Schools Swimming Competition

On Wednesday the 24th of March 2010 Jessica, Alex, Kiahi, Daisy, Sean, Nicky, Meg, Louis, Leon, McKenzie and Me (Sophie) went to the Waikato Catholic Schools Swimming Competition. The event was organised by St Josephs Catholic School in Matamata. We went in car groups and McKenzie and I went with Jessica. When we got there we set up our school’s shade tent. It didn’t take long to set it up. Then the Principal talked to us about the rules and then we said a prayer.
Later the Principal called up year 4 and 5’s to do their Medley swim, which is breaststroke, backstroke and finally freestyle. The swimmers were Leon, Louis, McKenzie, Nicky and Meg. They all did really well with Leon coming second.
For the all the events the starter blew the whistle and we all stood on our diving boards, then she said ‘Take your marks’ and blew the hooter and everyone dived into the water and swam as hard as they could.
In the 25 meter freestyle I got 3rd and Jessica came 4th. Me (Sophie) got to go in the finals. At the end I found out I did it in 24 seconds and my placing was third. Kiahi Horan was the overall fastest eight year old boy and Leon Castle the second fastest nine year old boy. In the prize giving we were told we placed fourth place out of the eleven schools. I would love to be in that same competition next year but do even better! By Sophie Sandford

Flippaball at Baywave with Kiahi Horan.

On Thursday the 4th of March the two Senior St Thomas More Flippa Ball teams the Buccaneers and the Marlins went to Baywave to train for their game against Arataki Primary on Sunday. First we had to get 10 waterpollo balls out of the storage room before we started the training. Then my Dad/Coach numbered us off, and we started swimming with the ball in our groups. I had a race with Leon Castle and we tried to figure out who was the fastest swimmer. After that we had to get into groups of two and and I chose Leon for my partner and we had to swim up and down the pool passing the ball to each other. After that we had to group up in three's and we started passing the ball around and shooting it in to the goal. Then for a reward we were all able to go on the Hydroslide. I really enjoyed training at Baywave but the best part was going on the Hydroslide.