Real Talk NZ came to Cornerstone today, We played a few games, had a few demonstrations and engaged with serious discussions about relationships, personal identity and sexuality. It was neat to see such engaging presenters, giving rare and healthy insights into these topics.

Thanks to Sam and Briege from Real Talk for their time. 

As part of the biblical living aspect of Life Lab, Year 10 students spent a period serving the school this week. A couple of groups of boys got competitive over who picked up the most rubbish, which quickly evolved into who picked up the weirdest rubbish - A single shoe won. Some students chose to wash teacher vehicles, and others served primary classes, doing buddy reading, preparing art work and sorting resources. 
Many students particularly those working with Year 1 - 3 students were slow to return, preferring to stay and finish their books. Supervising teacher, Gareth Bell enjoyed seeing tough hunting and fishing boys crouch down to the level of little kids. The most common feedback from the class was that "it was fun",  and "we should do that again".  

This morning in assembly we celebrated the first students to earn overall Merit and Excellence endorsements for their 2017 NCEA qualifications. Four students already have the required 50 credits at Excellence to receive an overall Excellence Endorsement. Another four students have at least 50 credits at Merit or Excellence to earn overall Merit Endorsements. 

Already having overall endorsements is an impressive feat considering it is only August, and a reasonable proportion of credits are usually earned during end of year exams. We are proud of the diligence with which our students apply themselves to their learning, and the fine results they are receiving. 

We also celebrated our first ever students to earn NCEA Level 2. 

The Tri-Nations Mathletics Competition has wrapped up with students very narrowly missing out on medals in three categories. Having held up to five podium positions at different times in the competition, we finished the competition with a number of top ten placings, but not a single medal. In an exciting and slightly controversial finish, the scoreboard went offline on the final day of competition, and so competitors had no way of knowing where they stood.
Congratulations go to Jack S who came fourth to an Australian by the narrowest of margins in the Year 9 competition.  Also well done to Sarah P who was only 5% under what was needed to win a medal in the New Zealand Year 11 category.

Thanks to Mathletics for the tri-nations challenge, we'll see you next year.