Liz



Mihi Ski Programme

This has been a gradual build up over the last few years. 1st yr was a snow visit with sledging on Meads Wall for the whole school which was at that stage only 40 chn. The weather closed in after a couple of hours up there but all good experience for the children as to how conditions can rapidly change in the mountain environment and the necessity for being prepared for the cold. It also meant that we virtuallly had the slope to ourselves so could control situation ie the speed of the sledges and avoided accidents. 2nd Yr we took Yr 4 - 6 children for skiing in Happy Valley. It was very successful with children quickly picking up the skills after a 2 yr lesson with an RAL instructor. Last yr we gave chn the option of 1 or 2 days skiing.,Yr 3 & 4 on the Tues and Yr 5 & 6 on the Thurs. 13 chn went up on both class days and advanced to Next Step Lessons on the Rock Garden. Dry land training - a class amount of skis and boots and children learning how to slide on the grass, get up after falling over, pizza turning and stopping. 3rd year we have 22 children keen to participate in a 4 day programme with the ultimate aim to enter a team in the Central Plateau Races on the Waterfall T, 22 August. The chn will be competing against seasoned races but we are entering for the experience only. We don't expect to Win. The more advanced children will have Explorer lessons on the Waterfall T and hopefully get some race training with Taupo's Hilltop School The ICT component -Using [|www.mtruapehu.co.nz] to obtain school group info and make the bookings, monitoring the weather leading up to our ski days, contacting parents by txt as to weather the day is ON or OFF, videoing the chn preparing for their ski days by trying on ski gear, boots and clicking them into the bindings on the skis, videoing/digitalphotos on the slopes for power points and moviemaker,