Welcome to Term 3 2004
Again the the beginning of the term has caught me on the hop!
We had a neat disco on the first Friday of the term. Many thanks to the PTA who make this event possible. It was a a wild hairdisco and it was a neat night! Ex pupil Daniel did a great job of the disco once again.

In the holidays the Hall kitchen has been having a face lift! We have had the builders in and
invested alot of money into the upgrade. It has been on the priority list for many years but always seemed to get bumped off the top! But now finally it is complete and what a difference it has made to the Hall. Really opened it up!

More working bees on the garden area outside the Hall. It looks great. The gardens have been ripped out and now we have stones and rocks instead, and a great improvement it is too. Dollars spent on the new plants have made all the difference! Thanks to Debra and the many willing helpers.

Jan Worthington has handed in her resignation, effective at the end of Term 3 2004. Jan has been teaching at Toko School for 17 years and clearly will be missed. I wish Jan well with her decision and change of direction.

A major piece of work has finally come to an end! Both Room 3 and 5 have been creating a newspaper for the the New Zealand Herald competition. I am very proud of the outcome !! Congratulations to both Heather and Cathy and of course all the kids. But the teachers have really made the difference with this quality outcome. They demanded excellence with the process and the outcomes. The winners of this NZ wide competition win $5000!!!! We must get close!Can't help but think we have just a chance to be one of the winners! Fingers crossed!

The year 7 and 8 children are playing Mangatoki this week! Today the girls played St Joesphs and did well. The boys couldn't get their game in against Ngaere due to poor weather.

16.8.2004
The girls ended up winning against Mangatoki well... We are now into the next round so well done to all.
The olympics internet scavenger hunt is underway. We have a lot of groups interested from various schools in our area.
News that the newspaper competition winners are due to be announced 20th of August!!!

20.8.04
Great to have Kevin McPherson and the band 4Eulogi, at Toko School on Friday morning. We had been planning this for quite sometime and in the end it was a wondeful morning! The kids loved the music and it was quite an experience for them!

25.8.2004
The McLeod Shield has sadly come to an end for the boys! Midhirst Schools rugby teams was too strong! A big thank you to the teams coach Glen Howatson for his ongoing effort and time with the boys. They have had a lot of good fun and learned lots too.

27.8.2004
The girls netball team is continuing to do weel. We hosted Norfolk School at Toko for the first time in many years. Toko girls won well 29 to 14. This takes the girls into the semi finals! This will be the 5th consecutive semifinal! Well done to the coach Kath Zimmerman and of course the girls who are very focussed!
Congratulations to the Toko Black basketball team that finished 2nd in their grade. Both teams did very well. many thanks to Cathy Trueman for all her work every Friday for the past 16 weeks!

Debating
We enjoyed a neat morning debating. Ngaere School visitied and a Year 7 teams and a Year 8 team from each school debated. Both schools did a great job preparing.

3.9.2004
The Girls won against St Joesphs Oponake on Friday.... putting us into the finals!!! Unbelievably this will be the
fifth year straight the girls have been in the final. A whole lot of credit needs to go to Kath for her coaching
skills!! The final is on Monday the 13th...I think!t

13.9.2004
Well what an event. The girls have won the Hurlestone Shield for the third time...
The finalk score was very close, but they managed to squeeze past Kaponga School 21 18.

Congratulations to Kath and the girls!!

17th of September
Today was Jan's last day as Toko School. We had a very fine farewell, which all went very well. Jan has been a valued member of the Toko School staff for 17 years...... She had been previously employed back in 1975. There was an awesome picture of her with her class back in those days!
A little photo presentation tried to capture a little of her time here at Toko School. Presentations from
PTA, Fundraising, Staff, kids, BOT and community all made the farewell a special one.

New Teacher
Well with teachers leaving new teachers arrive.

I am very pleased to be able to inform everyone that the new teacher at Toko School is Megan Heazlewood. She was the unanimous choice of the selection committee, having an excellent record of strength in literacy and numeracy with a special interest in boys learning. I think Megan will add a new dimension to our school.

And with that term 3 2004 comes to a close.
In the holidays I am off to the schools NAVCOM conference in Christchurch. I'm taking plenty of digital learning examples from Toko School to show off and hope to capture plenty of new ideas while I'm away! Cheers.