Showquest is Aotearoa's biggest performing arts competition involving shows from all across the country.  It is a stage performance involving music dance and non-spoken drama elements to communicate a message or theme.  This performance will take place in the last week of Term 2 and involves many students across all whanaus and both year levels. 

Agents you will be completely inspiring!  To hear of your desire to genuinely want to make a positive difference without acknowledgement or reward is inspirational.  You will discover the great power of kindness and the difference it makes in you as the provider and in those who receive it.

When I look at the difficulties people in our country and across the world are grappling with, it underlines the incredible importance of kindness.  I believe kindness can change lives, impact communities and ultimately change the world.  True kindness is understanding that a word of encouragement or a small act of selflessness can make a huge difference. This is the work of the UKA and its agents.  

A special thank you to Kelly Taylor who is the brains of this operation.  She has developed secret missions, agent files and a bar code system to record attendance and completion of missions.  You are in many ways the heart and soul of this organisation and an inspiration to us all.

Kindness; it costs nothing but means everything!

Chris Hall

Deputy Principal

Somerville Intermediate

We are in the process of designing six handball courts and two shade structures attached to the playground.

The weather was sunny and students have enjoyed many fun activities, including games, tug of war and a water slide. Below is a snapshot of some of the fun!

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What a great way to finish the year!

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Somerville did exceptionally well this year, achieving first place in two of of the three categories for Years 7 and 8, first place in Years 7 to 13 Consumer Science and first place in Years 7 to 10 Technology/Innovations categories. Our students also won six of the nine Special Awards at the prize giving.

A HUGE thank you to teachers, Carol Duffield and Karen Woolridge, for their dedication, guidance and support of the students throughout this journey. Thanks also to the parents who helped along the way.

Congratulations to the following students who won awards this year. Your hard work and dedication has really paid off and we are all very proud of you. 

Years 7 and 8 Living World
1st Place:
Alerys Bodle - Dryer or Dire

Highly Commended:
James Hawksworth - Cube Solving: "Young vs Old"
Zainab Jawad-Moody - "Heat and Rennin: Curd it Be?"

Years 7 and 8 Physical and Material World
1st Place:
Ayan Shah - "Microfibres: the plastics we choose to ignore"

Highly Commended:
Nikau Waru - "Does a Bat Weight Really Work?"

Years 7 and 8 Environmental Science
Highly Commended:
Mayin Lal - "There's Something in the Water"

Years 7 to 13 Consumer Science
1st Place:
Kieran Sun - "Light of my Life"

Years 7 to 10 Technology / Innovations
1st Place:
Louis Valois - "Tennis Balls Under Pressure"

2nd Place:
Saamya Sandal - "Caution High Noise Area"

3rd Place (equal):
Eva Malez - "Managing Diabetes with your Phone"

Highly Commended:
Daniel Revans - "Sky Bubble? No Trouble!"

Special Awards:

The IET Innovation Awards
Eva Malez - "Managing Diabetes with your Phone"

Award for Best Application of Electronics
Saamya Sandal - "Caution High Noise Area"

Best Use of Statistics Award
Kieran Sun - "Light of my Life"

Best Project by a Māori Student
Nikau Waru - "Does a bat weight really work"

The Environment Award
Ayan Shah - "Microfibres: the plastics we choose to ignore"

NZ Heritage Award
Jacob Powell - "Fat Rat"

Best Innovation, Invention, or Investigation by Year Level
Sponsored by NIWA
Year 7
Ayan Shah
“Microfibres: the plastic we choose to ignore”

Year 8
Alerys Bodle
“Dryer or Dire”

Eric Clague Award for Runner-up of the Fair
Alerys Bodle
“Dryer or Dire”

Premier Award for Best Exhibit of the Fair
Sponsored by NIWA
Ayan Shah
“Microfibres: the plastic we choose to ignore”

We were delighted in how the cast truly rose to the occasion and their talents really came to the fore during the shows, much to the appreciation of the audience.  The whole cast mastered their roles from the largest to the smallest parts - they all shone! It was lovely to see how they delighted in the audience response to their performance. 

Having the whole school involved was no small task. Teachers organised the students into choreographed dancing lines for the major dancing numbers during the show. The gymnasium was filled with comical swinging steaks, a huge conspiracy of lemurs, a troop of African dancers and a stampede of very cute animals. 

This production has provided true and authentic learning in many different ways for our students. From the student choreographers who planned for months, to the lighting and sound students who took on the responsibility of ensuring that the show ran smoothly from the sound box. Prop making students worked on the steaks and the many props needed throughout the show. Students were backstage organising cues and ensuring whānau got to the dances on time. There were many opportunities for student leadership in all the different aspects of our production. 

We would like to thank all of the Somerville community who supported and made our production such a huge success. Without your support it would not have been possible. 

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Congratulations to all students who entered a project this year. It is a lot of hard work and takes considerable time and effort, and you have all done yourselves proud!

The standard of projects this year has once again been very high and we would like to thank all students for producing such amazing projects. Well done! 72 projects were entered and of those, 20 have been judged the best of the fair.

Special congratulations to the students listed below and a special thanks to the parents and teachers who supported them along the way.

Year 7 - 10 Innovations and Inventions:
Eva Malez                        Manage Diabetes with Your Phone
Daniel Revans                 Sky Bubble? No Trouble    
Saamya Sandal               CAUTION! High Noise Area!    
Kayleigh Thistlethwaite    Intoeing in Adolescence

Intermediate Consumer Science:
Annika Chantha                Popcorn Showdown    
Leana Ferguson and
Sienna Hands                  Spray vs. Germs    
Kieran Sun                       Light of my Life    
Louis Zhao                       COVID -19 Stops Spreading Here!!!    

Year 7 & 8 Living World:
Alerys Bodle                    Dryer or Dire    
James Dennis                 What’s my Beat?    
Oscar Guo                       Fertilizer vs. Compost    
James Hawkesworth       Cube Solving    

Year 7 & 8 Physical and Material World:
Zainab Jawad                  Heat+Renin: Curd it Be?    
Aida Raisat                      Home is Where the Heat is?    
Ayan Shah                       Microfibres    
Nikau Waru                      Does a Bat Doughnut Really Work?    
Sonya Yu                         The Stage of Perfection    
Callum Hurd                    A Brighter Idea        

Year 7 & 8 Environmental Science:
Mayin Lal                        There’s Something in the Water    
Jacob Powell                  Fat Rat    

Over the next few days, we will interview all these students about their projects, get them competition ready and then these projects will be entered into the NIWA South and East Auckland STEM Fair, to be held at Mission Heights Junior College on 19/20 August.

We wish these students all the best for the judging and their interviews.

NIWA South and East Auckland
STEM Fair Dates:

Thu 19th August:  Deliver and set up project at Mission Heights Junior College:  3pm – 5pm
(Parents need to help with this.)
Fri 20th August:    Judging day from 11am - 1:00pm.
Students will be taken to and from the venue by school van to this.
Mon 23rd August:  Public viewings
Tue 24th August:   Project collection 2pm – 5pm (Parents need to help with this.)
Wed 25th August:  Prizegiving at 7pm at St. Kentigern College

Our teams dominated their pools to make it through to the finals. We played against some great teams and came away with fantastic results. Our A Grade teams have qualified to move on to Auckland Champs later this term. Well done to all of the players. Your skills and positive sportsmanship were a standout on the courts and we are proud of you.

Y8 A - 2nd place
Y8 B - 1st place
Y7 A - 2nd place
Y7 B - 4th place

It was great to see so many parents and caregivers taking the time to view and purchase books on sale during the three way conferences. We will share the amount raised to purchase new books for the library, for all children to enjoy, in the next newsletter.

Friday 6 August was a lot of fun, with both students and staff getting into the spirit of Book Character Dress Up Day, in conjunction with our annual Book Fair.

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