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Good Morning from a crisp and clear day at Tihoi. We have had a stunning start to the intake in many ways. The weather has been fantastic – frosty nights, clear days and lots of sunshine. The boys are full of energy and keen to get into everything, they have now learnt the routines and systems of Tihoi!
The last three days boys were put into one of three outdoor groups. The first rotation of the Outdoor Programme was kayaking, rock ‘n’ ropes and bush survival programme.
The kayak programme camps at Whakaipo bay on the shores of Lake Taupo. The boys enjoyed the brand new tents for camping in, commenting they were too insulated and warm! The kayak programme starts with learning to get in and out of the kayak. This is done at the hot pools in Taupo. On Thursday they had a flat water session on the lake then progressed to a moving water session on the upper Waikato River. On Friday they learn how to turn in and out of the moving water current and gain confidence on the grade one water.
The Rock n ropes programme is based at Tihoi. This is an introduction to knots, ropes, climbing, abseiling and the high ropes course. The superb weather added to the enjoyment of being on the high ropes course. Each student attempted several of the high elements, learnt to belay and completed an abseil. At night they learnt to boulder on the indoor rock wall. They particularly enjoyed using the pizza oven for dinner on Thursday night.
The bush survival programme head to the YMCA huts. They learn how to build a bivouac, light fires, knife skills and essentials of bush survival. Each student builds himself a ‘survival kit’ that they carry with them on all our bush programmes from now on. In small groups the boys spend the night out in a bivvy – surviving!!
After all this outdoor adventure the students were pleased to sleep on a mattress last night, to eat Gee’s famous roast meal and to catch up on the stories of others adventures.
The rotation goes: Kayakers to Rock n Ropes; Rock n Ropes to Survival and Survival to Kayak.
Letters were posted this morning, the mail van is on the road as I write this – delivering much sought after letters, parcels and newspapers. You should all have received your first letter – if not let us know and we will follow it up. The letter box has been bulging with parcels and letters .. please write regularly it is very important.
Classes are in full swing! In English students are studying survival stories and formal writing. The Social Studies course looks at the history of Tihoi, Math are into measurements and Science have started their earth science study on volcanoes – learning how the rock in our area got there.
Students complete 75 minutes of supervised prep each night they are in the centre (ie Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues.). The academic staff have met and set out assessment dates to ensure these are spread over the term.
On Tuesday we will be in Hamilton to host the morning tea. This in held in the Long Room at SPC from 10am. It is a casual occasion where we will share a few stories of the first two weeks and show a short data show of the students in action. This is the van run for the week so bring any parcels or letters to the morning tea and they will be delivered to Tihoi that evening. Some staff will accompany us to the morning tea and others will keep things running here at Tihoi. Students continue with academic classes as usual.
Please do not hesitate to make contact if you have any queries.
We look forward to seeing those of you who can make it on Tuesday.
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