enrich@ILT has re-opened with the largest roll ever! 183 students are attending this year with a wait list as well. It was an exciting first week with many new students to meet and greet. This year our classes are a mixture of returning students and first year students. It was very pleasing to see our returning students step up into leadership roles and support our new students in their induction to the centre and the programme. Remember the parent evening this Thursday 22 February at 6pm, we look forward to sharing more details about the NZCGE programme at this time.
​Students enjoyed a Technology Challenge designed to be an Icebreaker, get the chatting and working collaboratively to complete an interesting challenge!

Well the big night has been and what a tremendous sense of pride we all feel for what the children achieved. This was definitely a powerful context for personal development, we all felt the fear and did it anyway. Children learned to dance, practice box steps and grapevines and memorised routines and left and right! Quite an achievement for the many reluctant dancers amongst us. The students that performed A Midsummer Night's Dream had to commit their lines to memory, practice enunciation, inflection and learn to stay in role and portray their character. Splitting the play between two separate days was also challenging but necessary to expose as many students to the stage as we could manage.
It is pleasing that the majority of our students accepted the challenge , used the taught strategies to manage the anxious moments and survived to feel a sense of pride in what they achieved. Trust me when the curtain came down, the excitement and celebration was unbelievably chaotic but so much fun! Thank you so much for the support, selling over 430 seats was a surprise to us but certainly made it all worthwhile.
In the words of Railyn " This was the best day of my life!"
​Making memories, we hope you enjoy the photos of the rehearsal, and the one video we managed to get from back stage.

Important information pertaining to our enrich@ILT expose is within the file below. 

Tovia has continued to learn the seamstress skills of sewing, cutting, pinning and today got to complete her first clothing item! So exciting, and fits perfectly. Thanks to our expert Trish from Institches for her time and expertise.

Article by Ollie Speight (Y6)

It is always important for us to keep our funders fully informed about the enrich@ILT Gifted and Talented students. This week we had the opportunity to show some Board members around the centre and for students to take the lead sharing their new learning experiences. They were able to discuss the parts of the NZCGE Mindplus curriculum and to share their work. The board members were also challenged to learn a small amount of coding to programme the Spheros, learn the science concepts behind the Hydroponics, and to see the progress of the Salmon we have raised. MADE award finalists shared their success and showed a documentary showcasing the centre. Thanks ILT we loved having you visit!

Tovia has a dream of becoming a fashion designer, she has designed a few drawings of tops she had a desire to make. With no sewing experience, but a sewing machine available at enrich@ILT, we sourced an expert. Thanks to the time and expertise of Trish from Institches, Tovia is gaining practical skills and knowledge to help her achieve her dream.

Today we tried a writing exercise suggest by Sue Barriball in her weekly PM resources. Our students really loved the challenge, structure and creativity involved in meeting the rules of this complex thinking challenge.
​We hope that you enjoy reading a small selection of these.
1. The story cannot exceed seven sentences.
2. Every sentence has to start with a different word.
3. Obvious words cannot be repeated (i.e. Amazon, Houdini, parrot, old shoe, or cave). “Little” words can be used more often (i.e. pronouns, articles, conjunctions)
4. Every sentence must contain a noun (using a green marker) and a verb (using a red marker). The remaining words should be written in blue marker.
5. Sentences cannot start with any of the following words: My, I, The, Once, One, Long Ago, And, Also, So, Finally, Suddenly, But.
6. Sentences cannot include any of the following words: went, make, got, get, go, very, fun, a lot. You can suggest more descriptive words (for instance, “I got a present” can be replaced with “I received a present.”)
7. Whenever possible, the word “and” should only be used once in a sentence. 8. Each sentence can only have a certain number of words:
Sentence #1: five words
Sentence #2: six words
Sentence #3: seven words
Sentence #4: eight words
Sentence #5: nine words
Sentence #6: 10 words
Sentence #7: 10 words
9. The entire story must be told by the last word of the last sentence. 

Mother Teresa         by Maddisyn

Mother Terese lay in the cave.

Her skin was shivering with fear.

She trotted out of the cave quietly.

Looking down she saw her objects she smiled.

Eagerly she yanked her set of skis on.

Percy the flying parrot pulled himself onto her shoulder desperately.

Flying down the mountain reading a bible, lovingly dreaming away.

Exploring Antarctica
By Grace W
Darkness filled the freezing cave.
Kim Jung Un was  exploring cold Antarctica.
Outside there was a raging snowstorm happening.
He sat inside his den reading his  bible.
A brilliant red parrot was sitting on his shoulder.
Some skis lay against the entrance to his shelter.
Now he could only wait for the snowstorm to stop.



Mother Teresa’s Adventures
Mother Teresa hobbled through the Amazon Rainforest
Vines were covering an ancient palace
Streaks of blue and yellow flew past
A parrot landed on Mother Teresa’s head holding skis
They strolled into the jungle palace filled with curiosity
Sundials lay in the centre of the palace underneath bibles.
Parrot and Mother Teresa took the bibles and left, feeling joyful.

By Harri
Red= Noun        Blue= Verb        Pink= Adjective


Going, Going, Gone
Shimmering light comes pouring through
Mother Teresa sighing deeply ignoring the pain
Trapped in Forgiven Cave with a bible
Chained up with blood flooding from her wrists
Her worried Parrot on call or maybe a shoulder
Skis by her side marking the memories from the mind
Heart settling down, Eyes going blurry, Resting today never Tomorrow.
By Kaylie
Wrong time to escape
Rain stormed upon the amazon rainforest.
Kim Jung Un left his cave to hunt.
He stumbled upon a bright coloured parrot.
After seeing it he thought of an idea.
Kim Jung Un gathered up his findings, a bible and skis.
The man constructed wings with the materials that were around.
Crack, lightning had struck him and he had burnt wings.
By Zephyr

Students that have been looking at Human Settlement patterns are now considering a variety of social actions to welcome the new refugees to Invercargill. They are currently designing a series of books with interesting and useful information about every day life. We have interviewed some immigrants and refugees and were surprised to hear that most of the information they could read prior to coming here was negative. We aim to change that! One focus is explaining and introducing local foods, Monday students had fun making and taste testing the famous Invercargill Cheese Rolls.