On Friday 23rd June the whole school was involved in another great community building event for the school.  All the year 10 students displayed their entrepreneur skills by selling the food products they had developed.  The students were amazing! They all embodied our school values, and the food wasn't too bad either.

Congratulations to Braydon Nikolaison, Luke Rusden, and their robot ‘Steve’ for winning their division at this weekend’s regional Robocup. Eleven schools from as far away as Levin and Taranaki entered, with the Cornerstone team entering the most difficult event – the Senior Rescue. Their autonomous robot had to navigate around several obstacles, follow a track, and rescue a person from a chemical spill.
It was a close competition, with the top two teams virtually tied before the final round. ‘Steve',’ although slightly slower than his opposition, was much better at sensing which direction to turn, and finished the duel ahead, 174 points to 168.

"I really liked hanging out with my little buddy", was the clear message from a number of Year 11 students. Having been teamed with tiny Year 1 and 2 students for the afternoon sports, senior students really rose to the challenge. This combined tribe event was mostly about team work and sportsmanship, and it was delightful to see senior students take this, (and their little buddies) on board.
Year 3 and 4 students combined with Year 9 and 10s, and Year 4-8 students also formed teams to play games such as Dodge-Ball, Long-Ball, and Capture the Flag.
​Asher tribe had the most points at the end of the day, but in this event, the real victory was helping out the little guy. 

The annual World Vision 40 hour famine saw a number of events run at Cornerstone all aiming to honour and raise funds for Syrian refugees. Students ran a relay, a sausage sizzle, created art, ran an auction, and camped out at school. Many students also 'did the famine'.  The student council running these events managed to reach $1100 of their $6000 goal before the art auction and individual sponsorship came in.  

In line with the bible series studied this term, About 30 year 10, 11 and 12 students came to watch the Exodus movie after school on Tuesday this week.  With the smell of fresh popcorn, and plenty of beanbags, the movie was enjoyed for its dramatic depiction of the plagues, and for the impressive red-sea parting. A special cheer was reserved for the reuniting of Moses with his wife, 

It was encouraging to see students identify for themselves when the movie was biblically inaccurate like why Moses left Egypt, and the use of a sword instead of a staff. 

Almost 100 parents and family came to this week's Music Recital. Featuring guitarists, vocalists, pianists, flutists, and even a recorder duet. The quantity and quality of students taking music lessons at Cornerstone is clearly growing. Rockquest boys: Namory, Ethan and Bailey gave the night a memorable and upbeat finish with the songs they wrote.