The annual Braeside U10 Netball tournament, was held on Friday 7^thJune. The 2019 version had all the ingredients of being very competitive with a total of 10 school represented. Braeburn was in the same pool with Premier Academy, Peponi House, Brookhouse Karen, and St Christopher’s.

In the preliminary stages, the girls started off on a good note, with a comfortable 14-0 win against Premier Academy, followed by a 7-0 win against St Christopher’s. There first real challenge came when they played Peponi House, where after a gruelling 15 minutes, they emerged victorious, after an outstanding move that saw Lara and Cara working beautifully to wow the umpires and the audience to score a last minute winning goal. The last group stage match against Brookhouse, was just as entertaining, with a win securing the girls a first place qualification to the semi-finals.

The stage was now set for the semi-finals, where the girls faced off against Braeburn Garden Estate, which was a formidable side. They emerged victorious, after proving too strong for their opponents, with a score line of 10-3. The finals would see the girls go to battle with the hosts Braeside, in what was to be a nail biting duel.

In the first half, the girls had a commanding lead of 4-1, and in one of the most interesting come backs of the tournament, the hosting school scored 3 quick goals to draw level at the end of regular time. A 5 minutes extra time could not break the deadlock, and further complicated issues with the score line getting to 6 all, this time with our girls coming back from 2 goals down. After a series of near misses from both sides, and tension building in the game, Cara, the goal shooter, composed herself and took a wonderful 5 feet shot from a penalty to earn Braeburn the win for the first time in 10 years. Carla was voted the most valuable player of the tournament but it was a superb team performance that secured the win.

Congratulations to the U10 Netball team, who are all in Year 5.

Over the weekend some of our horse riding clubbers joined 9 other teams of riders for a gymkhana at Hillcrest. In a range of activities they put themselves to the test as rider and horse moved in harmony. The majority of our riders only get to ride an hour a week during the after school horse riding club so we were very proud of their achievement in coming in 6^thoverall in the event. Great performances riders!

What an amazing, electrifying trip this was!  Even though it was chilly and dump from the previous day’s heavy rains, this didn’t dampen the spirits of the excited, Year 3 children who couldn’t wait to witness and experience the cultural dances of the different Kenyan tribes. No words were needed to explain the jubilation in the children as their joyful faces and inability to stay sat on their chairs, but rather jump on stage to join in dances explained it all. Watching Trey turn into a high, jumping Maasai Moran; Minori into a Maasai lady, and the rest of the children, accompanied by some teachers into enthusiastic, fast dancing Luhyas on stage was exhilarating. 

In addition, the exploration of the Bomas (traditional African villages) was extremely educative and an eye opener to many children who had so many questions to ask. The boys were over the moon when they realized that in those days, most Kenyan boys had their “own hut,” which to them was the best thing ever, and they couldn’t help but claim territory in every boys’ hut we came across. Allround it was an inspirational trip for our Year 3 and a wonderful way to come to the close of the year.

As part of the Year 4 history curriculum, we have been learning about the construction of the Kenyan Railway. We wanted to support the children's studies by taking them to the Railway Museum where they had the opportunity to listen to an informative talk, study artefacts from the railway, see and explore the train carriages and have their questions answered by experts. Some of the pupils favourite parts of the trip was getting to sit in seats that Queen Elizabeth had sat in, touching the claws of the man eating lions and exploring the train carriage that the man eating lions had been inside. We ended the day with some fun on a water slide and bouncy castles.

All in all, a very lovely day. 

The Big Draw is an annual event and is the world’s largest drawing festival with the goal of promoting visual literacy and art education. This year’s theme was “PLAY” where children and adults who are ‘kids at heart’ could celebrate art by letting loose, discovering new things, embracing happy accidents, and of course drawing!