Herald on Sunday sports gear competition: Why kids are excited to go back to school

Andrew Eldridge, 12.

Last week, the Herald on Sunday ran a competition to win a classroom full of sports gear from The Warehouse.

We asked primary school children to tell us what they like about their school and why they are excited to go back. The winner will be announced next week.

Below are some of the entries.

Andrew Eldridge, 12

Year 8, Auckland Normal Intermediate

This year I have been given the great honour of being chosen to be head boy of Auckland Normal Intermediate for 2020 and I am really excited to work with the school and fellow students to make ANI a better place to work learn and play.

ANI has given me so many opportunities to thrive and I am really excited to be able to give back to the school. ANI is a school where everybody is encouraged to be the best that they can be. When you are an ANI student you feel like an individual yet part of something greater than yourself.

At ANI we use inquiring-based learning so sports are an integrated part of the learning process. For example last year when it was my turn to lead a group activity I was able to improve my leadership skills whilst helping my classmates learn the art of netball, a game I wished to learn my self.

Last year was a blast and I am sure this year will be a blast and half.

Violet Brodie, 6

Year 2, Taupaki School

I like Taupaki School because it's a place to meet all my friends and you can learn lots of stuff.

You can also make new friends.

Taupaki School is the best. I think it's the best school ever.

I love sports. I love squash and tennis and golf.

My teacher is Mrs Dunn again this year. She's the best teacher ever.

Charles Brodie, 8

Year 5, Taupaki School

The reason Taupaki School is great is that everyone's friendly. I can't wait until I go back to school.

I play badminton, basketball, soccer and I even used to do taekwondo but that wasn't from school. My favourite sport and martial art is basketball and taekwondo. This year I'm going to play soccer, basketball and squash. I think that squash is a good game, [judging] from the videos my dad showed me.

I'm sad that squash isn't in the Olympics. I know that because I searched [to see] if squash was in the Olympics and it said no.

Taupaki School has a huge field and this really good climbing tree. There are red pieces of wood that we don't go past because it is really high. I was the first one to get to the very top of the good climbing tree.

The teachers moved me up a year and I'm glad that they did because it would have been easy for me. In last year's class I was in the top four best mathematicians. The best one is Caleb. The second-best one is Kyra. The third-best one is me and the fourth-best one is Tom. I do very hard maths in school because I'm in the highest group: group 10.

I'm excited about school because I've got a G-shock (watch) and my friend Hadley has got a Baby-G (watch) and I want to see the difference between them. On my G-shock I can do a timer, a stopwatch, an alarm, an ability to tell what time it is in different countries and the ability to tell you what time it is (obviously). My G-shock is black, green, red, white and grey. I got this G-shock for Christmas in Japan. It was a ton of yen.

Also I get to go on the senior playground and I am very bored at home but I know soon I'll be wanting to go back on holiday.

I love the subject writing and the teachers are really nice to me well. I don't really know if my teacher next year is nice or mean because when you get into higher year the teachers become more strict. My teacher last year was called Ms Davis and I forgot my next teacher's name because she's new to the school.

Because of all these things I'm really enthusiastic about going back to Taupaki school next year.

Mackenzie Ryan, 6

Year 2, Beachaven Primary

My school has a fantastic garden and the children look after it. The community really gets behind the school in everything they do.

Jonty Grant, 10.

Jonty Grant, 10

Year 6, Stanhope Road School

At my school we have an extremely diverse group of students with about 60 nationalities.
I am excited to go back and see the new improved pool area, check out how the bees are doing and meet my new teacher.

Jasjot Singh Dhariwal, 6

Year 2, Ellerslie School

The great thing about my school is they teach me to be the best that I can be.

I'm really excited to go back to school to see and play with my friends, especially on the new playground.

Solomon Baker, 6.

Solomon Baker, 6

Year 2, Whangarei Primary

My school is great because I can ride my bike around the playground at play time. The teachers are very friendly and I am looking forward to being in my new Year 2 class. I'm excited to go back to school to do my writing and to ride my new skateboard at lunch time.

Arlo Lovegrove, 6.

Tyson Akurangi, 8

Year 4, Parkvale Primary

I'm excited to see who is in my class this year and get back to playing with my friends. My school is great because there are lots of good teachers and learning is fun there.

Arlo Lovegrove, 6

Year 2, Waitakere Primary School

The playground is my favourite place at school. I am looking forward to playing in the playground in 2020 with my friends.

Zyan Chand, 7

Year 3, Otahuhu Primary School

I Zyan Chand like to go to Otahuhu Primary School because the teachers are nice and friendly. It's a good place for a kids to go to school and have a lot of fun. I like to go to school because I can learn more and more and play with my friends at school.

William Dellow, 5

Year 1, Dairy Flat Primary School

Dairy Flat school is great because we have Ag Day and I have awesome teachers and made heaps of new friends. I am excited to go back to school to do experiments and play with my friends on the field and playground.