Ashburton Courier: September 19, 2019

Page 12, Ashburton’s The Courier, Thursday 19 September 2019
School dance teams ready
Local news at www.starnews.co.nz
Exploring mathematics
Lagmhor School pupils, back row, Alice Johnson, Gretchen Ross, Eleanor
Ross, Anna McFarlane, front, Kaira Wright, Lylah Wilson and Mila Ross are
among the performers at the dance event.
Ashburton’s first schools dance championships
is set for September 24 and will
feature 20dance teams on stage at the
Event Centre.
Event organisers Madi Wilson and
Anna Raukawa say the event is designed
to give every primary school student a
chance to dance .
St Joseph’s, Laghmor, Ashburton
Christian, Allenton, Tinwald, Lauriston,
Netherby, Mayfield, Ashburton Intermediate
and Wakanui schools were all
involved with the event, which would be
repeated annually.
Schools had organisedtheir own teams
and been practising hard, she said.
Teams organise their own costumes
and accessories, while Life Dance Academy
supplies the routines and music.
Tickets are available from the venue.
Is your Will
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By Mick Jensen
Students at Mount Hutt
College have been exploring
ways to work differently
with mathematics
and tomake learning the
subject more relevant for
the 21st century.
Ideas, experiments and
enthusiasm developed
over the last few months
will be showcased at a
Mathematics Extravaganza
in thecollegehallon
September 24.
Year 7 students have
been using theconcepts of
scale, budgeting, pricing
and marketing to bake up
cupcakes. Others have
been learning about ratios
and proportions through
designing and creating
wooden dice.
Year 8 students have
been busy coming upwith
ideas on the next big thing
forMethven and have also
been involved with design,
budgeting and marketing.
The Year 9maths and
DVC classes have been
collaboratingtomakeDay
of the Dead masks that
demonstrate symmetry
and represent art work
from different cultures.
And a Year 10 group
has designed and created
string art using an online
graphing programme.
Mount Hutt College
head of mathematics and
statistics JackieBrown said
it hadbeenanexcitingand
experimental few months
for maths at the school.
She said the announcement
of her Boma Education
Fellowship at the end
of last year had given her
the drive and confidence
to introduce ‘‘innovative
teaching and learning
ideas’’ into the school that
aimed to make apositive
difference.
Mrs Brown said the
fellowship had put her
among an elite group of
Canterbury educators who
were able to thrash out
ideas and celebrate
initiatives that could be
introduced into schools.
‘‘A trip to America earlier
in the year with the
Boma Fellows provided
me with an insight into
what other schools are
doing,the boundaries they
are pushing in education
and the challenges they
have come upagainst.’’
She said her chosen
project was based around
improving the perceptions
that our community has
towards mathematics.
‘‘To do that we need to
challenge what learning in
mathematics looks like.
This is where the project
based learning has come
in.
‘‘We have been trialling
using projectstointroduce
key mathematical ideas to
students, to engage and
motivate them in their
learning and to work on
developing their key competencies.’’
The ability to think
deeply, to manage ourselves,
to relate to others,
to participate and contribute
positivelyand to communicateusing
avarietyof
texts wasfundamental, she
said.
Parents and the community
have the opportunity
tochallenge their perceptions
by coming to see
students’ work at the
Mathematics Extravaganza.
The extravaganza runs
from 5pm until 7pm and
includescupcake sales and
the opportunity to vote on
the best new idea for
Methven.
Photo: Mount HuttCollege
students Melenaite
Tuamoheloa and Hugh
Redfern make prototypes
of ideas developed in
maths classes.
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SUPPLIERS AND INSTALLERS OF LEADING BRANDS
2181105
By Mick Jensen
Ashburton based CanInspire Charitable Trust continues
to go from strength to strength and has now
landed television presenter Haydn Jones as its first
ambassador.
Afamiliar face on programmes such as Fair Go,
and the long­running Good Sorts slot on Sunday’s TV
One News, Jones was in town on Saturday to get an
update on the work and expansion of the trust over
the last few years.
CanInspire originated from the experiences of
Ashburton resident Sarah Clifford, who underwent
28 days of radiation for melanoma in 2010 and during
that time created and wore adifferent necklace each
day in hospital to distract her from the treatment.
She later established beading workshops through
CanBead to help others in similar situations and to
help give them a sense of achievement and
distraction.
The CanInspire Charitable Trust was set up later
and then CanTackle, which offers fishing distraction
workshops, followed.
The workshops are free and offered to people
experiencing illness, trauma and loss.
Haydn Jones said he had first come across Sarah
Clifford’s inspirational story eight years ago when she
had featured on Good Sorts.
He had been able to stay in her life over the years
and ‘‘just couldn’t say no’’ when asked to be an
ambassador for CanInspire.
Good Sorts had told the story of around 500 people
over its 10 years and he would continue telling the
story of Sarah Clifford and the great work of
CanInspire.
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Sarah Clifford and Haydn Jones with necklaces
made through the CanBead initiative.
Jones will act as a media spokesman and will
promote the positive impacts of both CanBead and
CanTackle.
CanInspire now has five regional offices in New
Zealand and is anot­for­profit organisation.
Over the last financial year, the trust has hosted 63
workshops and distributed 421 beading kits. Some
1646 beading kit bags have been distributed since
2011.
More information at the website caninspire.org.nz.
House prices
The average value of residential
properties in the
Ashburton district in
August was $354,662,
slightly down on the price
three months ago.
Figures from Quotable
Value (QV) show an
increase of 1.4 per cent
over the last 12 months
and 26.7 per cent since
from the property market
peak of late 2007.
QV says average property
prices in Timaru in
August were $369,166, in
Selwyn $555,967 and in
Christchurch $496,306.
Waimate leads the
South Island in quarterly
growth, up 8.8%. The
average value of residential
properties nationwide
in August was $688,760.