Teachers on strike

Teachers walked off the job yesterday to ask for a pay rise and better resources. They marched all over the country with signs such as:
This wouldn't happen at Hogwarts
Can you read? You're welcome
Don't make me use my teacher's voice

The local strike started at the town square went down to Damian O'connor's office and back.
Teachers want more support, better conditions, more staff and better resources.

Teachers are thinking about a second 2-day strike. I think it is a good idea because some teachers are tasked to control 40 students a day. Teachers also have to pay for resources out of their own pocket.

Vietnam War

Chess

Yesterday I went to a chess tournament, it was heaps of fun and I won three games and got four points. My friend Griffin from St Pats got first and a kid from our school got second. Our school won the junior, rookie and intermediate sections. As a prize our school has qualified to go to the national championships in Auckland. Sadly I didn't get picked to go but I did get two badges, one for winning in four moves and one for winning in twelve seconds.

I also participated in a competition to see who could build the tallest tower. I started off by myself and stacked the pieces up to sixty centimetres but then Toby, the kid who got third, came along and we made one sixty-four centimetres tall! I let Toby have the badge because he's a better player than me.

In my second game, I was really nervous because my opponent had a rating of five hundred and my rating was negative two hundred. Luckily I won but it was quite stressful. It was an awesome tournament and I'd love to take part again.

Ban mining on conservation land

It is vital to our existence that we ban mining.
The mining ban isn’t that bad because of these following reasons.

About 50,000 people said we should ban it. Have 50,000 said no to the ban.
Some people have said no but nowhere near that amount.

They are destroying the habitats of native animals and killing the bush,
so something needs to be done.

Its conservation land the conservationists can choose what to do with it.

There will be public input on the specifications of the law so there may be some loopholes.

You can still mine just not on conservation land where some mining takes place but not all of them.

It won’t affect many people as most mines are not on conservation land.

No NEW mines so you can continue mining on the ones already established.

Trees produce oxygen which we breathe,
and mining destroys trees so to sustain life in this country we need to ban mining.

If we ban mining we can still export coal from other countries that do commercial mining.

Banning mining will result in tourism rocketing, as there will be so many more sights to see in NZ.
Instead of spending money on mining,
we can focus our attention on preserving New Zealand’s stunning natural wonders.
(The seven plus natural wonders of New Zealand)

Because of the above reasons you can tell that without a doubt,
mining needs to be banned from New Zealand if we want to keep our country beautiful.

Debate reflection for term two.

There’s a much safer way for Trump to cut down on school shootings.

Reading about the terrible school shooting in America this week and Donald Trump wanting to go give teachers guns, I wondered: is there a better solution to stop school shootings?

Of course there is! Instead of giving teachers guns he could put up the age to buy a gun or that you need a firearms licence to buy a gun. But no, apparently it would be better to give teachers guns. In America when you’re eighteen you can buy a gun, go off to war and blow people up in a tank but you can’t have a beer! How stupid is that! You can buy a gun at eighteen but you can’t have a beer until your twenty one! That’s so stupid the Americans should be given an award for the stupidest law ever.

The amount of people dying from being shot in America is ghastly, according to GVA (Gun Violence Archives)  already this year over 31o0 people have been killed and over 5400 people have been injured. There is no state in America where there hasn’t been a gun related incident already this year. In Wyoming there has been no injuries this year only deaths according to GVA. Trump said he would end the “American Carnage” but in July 2017 deaths had risen 12 percent as reported by the Washington Post. Last year there had been more mass shootings than days according to Mass Shooting Tracker. According to Quartz, America owns about half the world’s guns while only taking up about 5% of the world’s population and half of the country’s guns come from just 3% of the America population. The average gun owner in America has around eight guns according to Quora. In NZ there are only 230,000 registered gun owners out of a population of 4.6 million people. In NZ there are 1.1 million guns which means every registered gun owner has about four guns which is still a few but only half of the average gun owner in America.

Donald Trump could easily change the requirements to buy a gun but he doesn’t want to, he would rather “Give teachers guns.” Is giving teachers guns going to change anything? Yes, it’s going to make America an even more dangerous place. Think about it, someone walks into the class and starts shooting kids, the teacher whips out  their gun and shoots back, some students get caught in the crossfire and more students get killed than if you had to have a licence.

Who thinks Donald Trump should pass a law saying that you need a licence to buy a gun?

Thanks for reading my opinion on gun laws in America.

By Jack

Caving Cave Stream William Pike Challenge #1

All I could see was inky blackness as we descended into the cave. Then we turned our torches on and an arc of light spotlighted the cave around us. We continued walking forwards in the chest-high water, it was here I realized how cold the water was, not freezing but still soaking us and biting at any exposed bit of skin. We soon got to a series of side tunnels and stopped so we could clamber up the worn limestone rocks. I waited for my turn then climbed up to the tunnel and looked inside, not much just a couple of holes leading off from the miniature cavern. I slid down the rocks to get back down which was easy since the rocks were well eroded and smooth. 

Next time we stopped everyone ascended up onto the rock ledge and turned our torches off. In the darkness you could barely see the outline of your hand in front of your face. After everyone had got down we continued through the cave. For a while all you could was continue forward. Then I heard rushing water and turned a corner to see a waterfall flowing down towards me and my teacher extending his hand to pull me up. I took a deep breath grabbed my teachers hand and delved up. Soon everyone was up the waterfall and we continued.

After a while I began to hear rushing water and I even saw a pinpoint of light. Just around the corner, I could see my teacher hanging off the ladder helping kids up. It was soon my turn and I reached up and grabbed the bottom rung and started trying to pull myself up. My legs swung wildly but I soon got them back onto solid ground. I straddled the ladder and scrambled up. I was feeling rather good about myself until I saw what I had to face next. I reached out for the chain and grabbed hold of it. I ducked down and crawled along the narrow cliff face for what seemed like forever. I finally got to the end and I splashed through the water to the other side where my classmates were waiting.

Once everyone was up we walked back to the carpark and got changed. We ate lunch before getting back in the car and drove back, the car ride back was fun but the two other people in the car Pippa and Miller decided to attack me tickling me all over. I fought back but they kept tickling me, I was finally able to placate them with a peace offering of fruit bursts but not before we were all bruised and battered. We arrived at school at four o'clock and all our parents were there waiting for us. I thought cave stream was really fun and I would recommend it to anyone who likes caving. 

By Jack Byrne