5.7 Earthquake by Liam M

I was practising for the triathlon at Jellie Park as I went to get a drink of water, the ground started to wobble. Amelia yelled, “It’s an earthquake!” Lily and Amelia were holding each other as tight as they could, unlike me. I thought it was quite fun and like a ride.

When it stopped I was a bit sad but Amelia and Lily were happy that it had stopped. Lily asked, "What on earth was that?" You may be wondering how she didn’t know what an earthquake was. Well you see, she was too young to remember anything about the earthquakes back in 2011.

We explained to Lily what an earthquake was then Amelia and I went to the Northlands mall with our Dad and the car park sign that said how many cars were in the car park was glitchy! By the way when I say glitchy I mean really glitchy! After that we just carried on with doing normal stuff.

Digital Citizenship by Tom G

Digital Citizenship by Ben

Triathlon Recount by Alannah

                        CTK Triathlon 2016

Finally, the day had come, the CTK school triathlon. Butterflies were swirling around in my stomach as I carefully walked between the huge amount of bikes lined up on the turf. I was excited.

As the day went particularly slow, triathlon o’clock occurred. The senior and middle school lined up on the tennis court then started to head off. We walked over to the transition area and laid down our bikes in our matching age group. I wanted to get a good spot so I could transition quickly.

“Girls 11 years!” Miss Gill roared, and my friends and I stood straight up.

Nervousness exploded inside me. I was shaking with fear. We strolled over to the pool where Mr Atherton was waiting. As we got our T-shirts and trainers ready, Mr Atherton called us up and we hopped in. We all gave a great gasp as the water was freezing cold. I was too busy day-dreaming about the race ahead of me that I didn’t hear Mrs Coltman yell out any words to get me positioned. All of a sudden, I heard the clappers give a loud clap and suddenly I reacted soon enough to get a good start. I bolted down to the other end taking the lead. My legs kicking like mad. Gliding gracefully, my hand smacked into the wall and I ducked under the lane rope to finish another length of the pool. Then my finger tips reached the wall and I quickly jumped out, stuffed my feet into my shoes and sprinted to my bike, my arms struggling to fit in my shirt. I did not dare to look behind me. As my bike came into sight, I started to run faster. Multi-tasking, I picked up my helmet and slipped it onto my head while fixing up my shoes that were folded in.

Swinging my legs over the seat of my bike, I switched into a suitable gear to start off with on the stones. I passed Mrs Abbott who was cheering me on. I was picking up speed as I had to go down a steep hill, no brakes for me today that’s for sure. I could now feel the wind blow against me as I turned a sharp corner. My legs powering my bike through the wind. I saw Mrs Kinder in sight and she gave a mark of red on my arm. I took a sigh as I remembered I would have to work extremely hard to keep my placing in the bike. Biking was my least strong event. Another one and a half laps to go and I would emerge into the run. Now going onto my half lap, I took a glimpse behind me as I turned the corner. No one was there. Feeling relieved, I picked up my speed and soon enough, I reached the run transition and dumped my bike and helmet.

My legs felt like jelly as I started the first lap of the run. I was pacing myself until the conclusion of the race. I always like to have a sprint finish. But as I went on to my second lap, it just struck me, I don’t need to do any sort of technique, I just have to power through it the whole way. So that’s what I did. At one point, I had to cross a little stream, it felt really refreshing. Then, I felt a searing pain in my stomach it was the stitch (dun dun dun!!). My legs now running out of energy. But witnessing how much people tried their hardest not to stop, I felt the urge to carry on. Receiving my last blue mark of the race, I now sprinted to the finish line. With both delight and pain, I had a smile on my face as I crossed it. Puffing and panting, I took a big gulp of water and rushed over to the start of the finish line, cheering on all my competitors. After my friends had all finished, we had something to eat, we all definitely deserved it.

Christ the King School Triathlon by Emily B

Christ the King School Triathlon

It was the dreadful morning of the school triathlon which took part on the 19th of February at Jellie Park. It was the start of a gloomy start of the day as I had to get ready and changed in record time as I woke up extremely late. I had dragged myself out of the house and made my way to school.

I had successfully made my way to school with my bike without getting hurt like I normally do. Once I have put my bike away I had gone to class and the morning went by like a blur it was only until we were about to leave to Jellie Park that my hands got all sweaty. We had got there put our bikes away with the fear of falling of my bike and making a fool out of myself. We had been debriefed on what we had to do and now I was just waiting for my race to be called.

“Senior teams swimmers and bikers.”

Finally, I hauled myself up and brushed all the dirt of and walked over to where everyone else was. Once everyone was there we had made our way over to the pool.

We stood there for a while or not that long but to be honest I was bored out of my mind. Finally the swimmers got in the pool and had started their laps, there was no surprise when Charlotte was out of the pool first, then followed by the rest, I was tagged then of I was to my bike. I jade got to my bike and made my way over to the other side to start biking then the recent thought of my first triathlon and me falling of by someone clipping my back tier. I was of with a speed that overtook a few people. 1 Lap…………………………...2 Laps…………………..3 Lap. I was on my last lap ready to go of and tag the runner to start running. I got of made my way to my runner. I put my bike down when I remember all the people who were cheering me on a small smile made a way on my lips. I went to sit down and eat my food blocking out the rest of the world and gazing into space.

I was snapped into reality when I saw my runner come to the finish line claiming the first place for my team. One small pit of pride made its way to me and then the sudden thought came “the one and only ribbon I will get for a school event is first.”

Triathlon Recount by Gregor

For the second Friday in a row we had a sporting event Friday before last was Swimming Sports last Friday the 19th was Triathlon I had put a fair amount of training into this and I was expecting a result. Thankfully I noted as I went to feed the chickens it was not going to be a very hot day. During the morning at school I tried to keep my cool as the minutes ticked by. Finally we were ready to go. My heart began to beat a tattoo in my chest as we trudged down to Jellie Park which would be hosting the event.

As we arrived at the complex I sat down in my line on the playing field. I had forever to wait as the “12’s” were racing before me. After what seemed like forever we saw Mr McInnes jogging down the hill behind us. The eleven year olds stood up and followed him grudgingly towards the pool.

As we came within twenty meters of the pool we were told to stop so that the swimmers running past us to the bikes had a clear path. As the last person zipped past us we carried on. The girls went before us so we had a bit of time to get ready. As the girls turned to begin the second length I realised that there was no backing out now. Suddenly a queer feeling came over me. As I jumped into the water I thought to myself, “Gosh it’s cold today, the cold easterly must have taken all of the heat off the water.” But after that there was no time to think about anything else other than swimming as we were told to put one had on the wall and then… Bang!

As Mr Bonisch once said, “The start of a triathlon will never be fair, it is messy and uncomfortable but you just have to get on with it.” This was no different I was crammed up against the lane roped and had to work my way out in front of the group. Once out at the front it was easy going.

I was soon at the other other end shoving on my shoes and pulling on my top as I ran. Sadly that lead was not to last as Max passed me on the way to the bikes. During the bike I managed to stay within a hundred meters of him, skidding around corners and pedalling flat out on the flats. As I pulled into transition I began to wonder where everyone else had got to.

During the run I caught sight of who was behind me. It was Zac Brixton trying his luck for third place. That made me wonder where Sam de Roo had got to as he was usually a strong competitor. Perhaps he had got a puncture, or copped a nasty one coming off his bike while flying around a corner. As I zoomed down the funnel High Fiving as I went I realised that I was still in second place. Yippeeeeeeeeee!!! I was through to Centrals. That was amazing. Sadly on that day a lot of peoples dreams were broken. Samuel’s chain came off with his shoe lace tangled up in it, Harrison pushed himself so hard he vomited only to get fourth and miss out on the dream team to Centrals and Zac just had to get third instead of Samuel even though he had walked the run with stitch. Oh well I suppose you can’t be pitch perfect every time...

Treaty of Waitangi by James M

Treaty of Waitangi by Eden M

Swimming Sports by Emily B

It was Friday 12th of February, the traumatizing day of swimming sport where all the students from Year 5-8 at Christ the King had to compete in two or more races. The competitive, or the great swimmers are given the opportunity to race for a place in zones.

I was sitting with my house which was Goodson, with my brother and cousin a few people away. I was sitting there wedged between some Year 5 because I couldn't find anyone to sit with. While some of them were talking I was contemplating to go sit with my family because they were so much better than sitting and listening to this conversation I can't recall.

After the long wait my age group and race was called, I quickly got up but was swarmed with butterflies and thoughts of bumping into a rail lane or swallowing a mouth full of water, or bumping my head on the wall since I have no sense of direction as I can't see the wall in backstroke.

The whistle blew, I jumped in the pool getting ready to push of the wall to start. 1……..2……..3 and I push off the wall with as much strength as my legs would take. Using as much force I try to finish, making sure I don't hit my head on the wall. Then finally my fingers brush the wall and my hand makes full contact.

I hopped out of the pool with the thought that I had finished. I’m not the best at swimming but I’m not the worst and I know personally, I did my best to my ability. I go back to where I sit and grab my biscuits.

Swimming Sports Recount by Hannah F

It was Friday the 12 of February 2016 the dreadful day of the Christ the King school Swimming Sports. This event is a chance for competitive swimmers to race against other people in their age group. For this day each child from year 5-8 had to compete in two or more swimming races. As I am not the best swimmer I entered the 25 metre backstroke and 25 metre freestyle.

I was waiting for my name to be called giving myself a hard time, as I thought about all the bad things that could happen whilst I was in the pool. Suddenly I heard “11 year old girls backstroke 25metres.” It was time. I waited anxiously in the line.  Standing on the block, I couldn’t believe I went through with it.  My biggest threat in the race was Abby and Bailey. Although both of them were my friends I was still competitive with them. My hands were shaking. Everything was making me worried. I felt sick; I didn’t think I could go any further.

“Take your marks.”  Suddenly I heard the deafening bang of the wooden clappers. I had a delayed start, then it made me click I have to start, I pushed off the wall with as much power that I had, my arms started to ache before I even got the to the halfway line. I didn’t bother looking around to see the other competitors, I knew I wasn’t going as well as I thought I was hoping but it didn’t matter at the time all I was worrying about was how close I was to the wall. My arms were smacking against the warm water and I could hear everyone cheering for their house groups. Luckily I suddenly touched the wall relieved that it was over, I knew I didn’t go too well but I did beat one person and that was a huge achievement for me considering I usually come last.

To be honest it was an amazing feeling it was over even though I didn’t do very well I did try. The feeling of knowing that it was over was a better feeling than opening Christmas presents.  I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy but when the weight was off my shoulders I was happy and slightly pleased with the results I mean I could have done better but at least I tried.

Overall the Christ the King school swimming sports 2016 were dreadful as I thought, but I was happy with the result and I am already dreading next year’s Swimming Sports. 

5.7 Earthquake in Christchurch

What an eventful weekend with Christchurch being hit by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake. I hope all families are well. As my youngest Micah was born after the earthquakes of 2011, we went through a few drills for him to learn what to do.

Senior School Newsletter

Meet the Teacher

Classroom Guidelines

In the first week of school for 2016, Room 13 discussed what they would like as classroom guidelines for the year. The children came up with many ideas related to effort, behaviour and interactions with one another. These ideas were put in to a GoogleForm and the students were able to select what they felt were the most important concepts for our guidelines. Every child was able to vote.

The concepts Room 13 children felt was most important was creating new friendships and to try. As we begin the year, it is important to leave our comfort zone and take risks in our learning.

Let's Try.