Year 12 students Andrew and Caleb received their Silver Duke of Edinburgh awards from Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith this week.

To earn the silver award, students had to first complete their bronze award, and then complete months of service, playing a sport, learning a skill and finally an expedition, tramping through the ruahine ranges for a few days.

​It is neat to see Cornerstone students living a full and fulfilling life, and we wish these young men well on their next step - the Gold award. 

Cornerstone hosted the second annual Hastings Christian School Sports exchange this week. From the first game where Cornerstone lost 25 to 26 in Netball, to the last game of basketball at the Arena, it proved to be not Cornerstone’s event. Regular Cornerstone sports teams, like Senior Boys Hockey, had convincing wins, and sports that Cornerstone doesn’t regularly play, like Senior Boys Football, had convincing losses. An honourable mention should go to Amon, the only Year 9 on the field in senior boys who earned man of the match as goalie despite the final score being nine to nil.
The event was about more than just sport, starting with a welcoming powhiri ceremony and song, eating meals together, and a combined games night all developed healthy friendships off field – despite the rivalry on field. As one student described it ‘ after spending all this time together, it started to feel like we were all at the same school’. As the Hastings bus left the carpark, Hastings students held up signs to their windows showing contact details, and also showing the strong connection between the schools. 
​Photos by Year 12 and 13 photography students.

Naphtali tribe returned to their 2017 winning form, by coming out clear winner in this year's Cross Country. Run through reserves near Celaeno park, the 3km track, the hills were a quite a challenge for a few runners. This year's competition featured a new collect and combine clues competition for lesser competitive runners. Second place was a close battle with Issachar drawing ahead of Zebulun tribe by a single runner, with Asher tribe a single runner further back - remarkably close considering all runners from Year 5-13 were considered. 

For this term's end of term activities, we had Bible competitions for each year group, as well as a series of summer games. One of the joys of working in a Area school for Years 1-13 is seeing secondary teenagers, take care of and work well with the smaller primary students. Summer sports like Longball, Dodgeball and Non-Stop Cricket took on a new twist as big and small students were paired and each given certain tasks. 

Zebulun Tribe started the day  with a convincing win in the teams Bible knowledge competition - winning most age groups. They continued on the success by winning overall in the Summer Games competition. After 24 events, Issachar tribe and Naphtali tribe, amazingly, were tied for second. 

​Fairy wings, facepaint, and fast running featured at Cornerstone’s first full Year 7-13 Athletics day. Several school records were broken on the recently repainted blue track, as the weather changed about as quickly as each event.

​Final results:

• Rebecca Mark of Asher Tribe was the standout athlete of the day, setting five school records on her way to winning the intermediate girls competition.
  
• Distance runner Joaquin Taylor-Maclean of Zebulun tribe won the Senior boys competition .
  
• Natalya Bissell of Asher tribe won the Senior Girls.
  
• Issachar tribe started the day with a slender lead, however they were overtaken by Naphtali, who in turn were overtaken by Asher tribe. 

It is neat to see hard working scholar, Olivia Brookie recognised for her extra-curricular success in fencing in the local news recently. Winning the silver medal at her first New Zealand national competition was a big surprise, considering she started the sport simply as a way to unwind. 

See the full news article on Olivia's Sword Fighting at the Manawatu Standard's site

Most of the Secondary students turned up at Makino Pool in friendly Feilding on Thursday, last week to take part in the annual Swimming Sports. Organised by Mr Craig McDonald, this was the first time that the event has taken place at this venue and the first time it has run through the whole school day.

It was a fantastic day, including a mixture of traditional and novelty events. There were even a number of teachers that braved the pool and competed in a few of the competitions, one of which was the 'Biggest Splash'! By all accounts, the day was a success, however there can only be one winner... The tribe that scored the most points on the day was Issachar. Congratulations!

Knowing a win in this event would push them to first place, Zebulun tribe was full of colour and energy on Top Tribe day. Traversing through a series of 16 challenges, teams of around 15, were selected based on keeping brothers and sisters together. 
For many staff the highlight of the day was seeing teenagers rush to support and encourage their much younger team mates - in a sign of true Cornerstone character. 
Sadly for Zebulun, Asher tribe came first, with Naphtali a close second with only value points to be counted for the overall annual trophy.  

"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. 

For the first time in the Secondary School we have begun an important tradition between Cornerstone Christian School and Hastings Christian School.  The annual sports exchange between the two schools was a huge success and stoked the flames of competition between them.  The exchange consisted of:

• Volleyball
• Basketball
• Netball
• Soccer
• Debating
• Chess

Cornerstone was soundly beaten in the sporting activities, but was victorious in the debating and chess.  The next exchange will be in Palmerston North 2017, when our brand new Gym will be available!