Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams states it well. The last few weeks of term have shone a spotlight on all things creative; from innovative and ingenious Y7&8 STEAM projects, to the unveiling of the student mural ‘Te Tiaki’, to EVolocity - a nationwide competition designed to foster the next generation of engineers, technology innovators and entrepreneurs to accelerate NZ’s transition to electric vehicles and clean transportation. Here at Mahurangi, we believe that creativity is the product of a rigorous, broad, knowledge-rich curriculum, enabling the development of novel ideas that have value. If we really want students to be more creative we must continually feed their imaginations. We need to teach them stuff before we can expect them to question and criticise and manipulate form. Teachers such as Mr Lenihan, Ms Healy, Mr Waugh, Mrs Logue and Miss McNae are doing just this - providing both the knowledge and the culture and environment to enable students to flourish. In the senior school, our EVolocity teams have once again dominated at regional and national level. All our teams did well, but one team in particular did exceptionally. Team “Old School” and their bike almost had a clean sweep for the “Open Class” section. The team included Logan Jones, Nic Schollum and Flynn Powell who did an exceptional job, winning Overall best vehicle Award, 1st in Endurance Run, 1st
in Street Circuit and 1st in Efficiency Run. Our other teams E-speed, Lemon, Fast but not Furious, and Khaos Customs all picked up category titles and placings. Congratulations! Thanks to the Warkworth community for providing sponsorship, support and expertise. None of our teams could succeed without your support. In Mrs Healy’s STEAM Room students have been creating candles, collecting ornaments to use as positive moulds, building cardboard boxes around them and then filling the boxes with silicone rubber to make negative moulds. Students have then melted wax, added colour and essential oils, inserted a wick and poured the candles. Unmoulding was the trickiest part, with students needing to take care not to break any of the protrusions! Last week, local kaumātua Jacob Tahitahi, accompanied by Star Gossage and Ra Gossage, blessed and unveiled a mural created by students and facilitated by local artist James Nicholls. This mural, funded by Creatives in Schools, has been named Te Tiaki, as it is hoped the journey to its creation has been a nurturing and affirming one for all students who participated. We wish everyone a wonderful Christmas holiday break. Thank you for your support this year. Tony Giles - Principal