Goal Reviews

Time for the Ext(reme) Writers to review their writing goal(s)...

Students will be assessing their progress towards their goals, 

analysing the success of their strategies 

and showing evidence in their current writing.

We LOVE celebrating success!

Holly O's Response to Otari-Wilton Bush

Within a garden,

Within an atmosphere quivering with peace,

Water, rabbit’s eye clear and statue still,

Starting at a spring as small as a sleeping kitten,

Of who the pond is the star of his dream,

Flaxes bobbing to the rhythm of the breeze,

A bird calling unharnessed wild spirit,

A gecko scuttling across grey gravel,

A spider paragliding across on a strand of fragile web,

The pond in the Alpine Gardens,

Is a vision of life.

Holly O

One Thousand Broken Fingers

The wind whispers past my ear, laughing softly. All I can do is gaze at my snapped and twisted fingers.

“Now, shall we do it again?”

“No,” I groan.

“Really? It might not hurt as much. Maybe you won’t be able to feel it anymore.”

Her voice, so beautiful, so soft, taunts me. It’s hard not to scream, to beg to die. But my stubborn pride refuses.

“No? Well. It seems I’m out of time. Goodbye for now.”

Her great cape of ice swirls around her as she turns.

“Oh,” she says, looking over her white shoulder. “Always a pleasure.”

I go from helplessness to anger, a great red, roiling miasmic cloud, filling my stomach, my chest, my arms. I scream, because there is nothing else I can do, rooted to the riverbank. Several birds fly upwards, squawking in alarm.

Because I am helpless, because my very nature keeps me anchored to the side of this muddy riverbed, I stab at the sky. With my one thousand broken fingers.

Freya

Just Before the Rain

Just before the rain

The trees leisurely rock and sway,

Waving goodbye to the sun,

Who smiles sadly as the clouds pass by.

For his time is finally done.

Heavy raindrops patter,

Gradually falling to our land

The branches provide shelter,

Like an umbrella at the hand.

The ferns sigh softly,

They slowly curl up and fend,

While the water from the stream runs quickly,

Like a journey without end.

The crickets hum loudly,

Like an orchestra of strings,

Small caves attract curiosity,

For they could be filled with many things.

The bush is swarming with life,

If only we could see,

What secrets we could unlock,

And search deeper throughout history.

The wind whistles sharply,

Causing many things to blow,

The leaves don’t know who’ll be first to fall,

Does the wind know?

Isabella

Shadows of a Seat

Shadows of a Seat.

The seat resides there, untouched by the winds of time.

A shadow of a man sits there, contemplating his history.

His life, his death. His sorrow, his happiness.

Memories envelop him, taking him to a place that history forgot.

He flashes a rare smile, sad as it was.

Nobody cares.

Nobody remembers.

Nobody knows. Except him.

A ghost of a good man.

A ghost of time.

A ghost of a world forgotten.

Who knows?

Tom

Poetry: In Response to Otari-Wilton Bush Visit.

The leaves

loom, overhead.

the figure that sits there,

lonesome,

stares into the distance.

a droplet of water falls,

and splashes.

the silence breaks,

shatters like glass

a bird bursts from the treetops.

no peace anymore.

Rion

Else Locke Competition for NZ Year 7&8 Students

Win $250 and be published in the School Journal!

Theme for 2015                                                     Closes 6 July

A story set in New Zealand around the time of the First World War.
Events can be real or imagined, but the story should capture what it was like for people in New Zealand while others were serving overseas as soldiers, nurses, ambulance staff, or volunteers. 

The story could be about what happened in schools or your local area at the time. It could be about a conscientious objector, attending a peace rally, farewelling troops, or creating a war memorial. 

Or it could be about anything else that happened in New Zealand because of the war.

Entries will be judged on the quality of the writing. The judges will look for the following:

• an effective, original response to the theme

• the ability to engage the reader 

• a sense of time, place, and character

• clarity and coherence

• a fair with language (in particular, the effective use of figurative language).

MORE DETAILS HERE

NZ Poetry Competition

Great opportunity to get your poems 'out there' 

and 

to have Paula Green come to Raroa for 2 days!

We can only choose 12 poems from Raroa so please send me your submissions.