Academic Activities

At Kirkwood children are given the opportunity to enter:

• International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS)
  is conducted by Educational Assessment Australia, UNSW Global Pty Limited. Students from twenty countries now participate in ICAS.
• Cantamath
  Cantamath has two main categories. The first one is the team competition. Teams of four students answer a series of challenging mathematical questions and they are literally racing the other teams to be the first to complete all the questions. Every year Kirkwood Intermediate enters 1 Year 7 team and 1 Year 8 team. The students who have strength in Mathematics get extended and trained throughout the year and the teams are selected in Term 3.
  The other category is Mathematical Displays Competition. Students submit written, design, construction and even wearable mathematical displays related to a mathematical theme. There are a number of categories and selected work entered is displayed in the Town Hall.
• Otago Problem Solving Challenge
  This is a mathematical problem solving competition aimed primarily at intermediate school students. It is organised by members of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Otago. Students participating in the competition attempt to answer five questions in 30 minutes on each of five problem sheets. All Kirkwood students get an opportunity to participate in this.
• Australasian Problem Solving Mathematical Olympiads
  This is a mathematical problem solving competition which has more than 35,000 students participating in Australia and New Zealand. Kirkwood Intermediate School provides this opportunity to the students to extend their problem solving skills. Students attempt to answer five questions in 30 minutes on each of five problem sheets.
• World Maths Day
  World Maths Day is an online maths contest. Students get one minute to answer as many numeracy questions as they can. The level of difficulty is approximately age appropriate. When playing a game, the website will attempt to find other players of the same level around the world to match the player against. Students can play at home and at school against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic.
• Canterbury-Westland Schools’ Science and Technology Fair
  Every year students get the opportunity to enter in the Canterbury-Westland Schools’ Science and Technology Fair. Starting around the beginning of term 2 all Kirkwood Students are given the option to complete a project in either science or technology. The children meet as a group once a week to receive addition guidance throughout their project. More information on the Canterbury-Westland Schools’ Science and Technology Fair can be found here http://www.canterburysciencefair.co.nz/welcome/index
  
• Published Writers
  There are many opportunities for students to have their work published. Any student who wishes to send their work away to various publishing companies such as Learning Media (School Journal) can approach the teacher in charge of Literacy for more information with regards to this. There are also many competitions that are advertised and provide students with the opportunity to have their piece of work published.
• Kids’ Literature Quiz
  This is an annual event held nationally. Regional finals are held throughout New Zealand and a the winning team from each region goes forward to the National Final. It is now an international event with teams competing from all over the world. Last year the International final was held in Scotland.
• New Zealand Post Book Awards
  This is a national competition. The children get a chance do different activities each year (locally) and also vote for what they think is the children’s best book in the awards.

Achievements

Cantamath 2011 – 9 Excellences!

In this year’s Cantamath Competition, Kirkwood students achieved great success in the display section. We have got 9 Excellence Awards and 12 Highly Commended Awards..

Yr 7 Team

On 27 August our Yr 7 team (Riley, Nathan, Samuel and Gina) and our Yr 8 team (Dana, Ben, Lewis and Jack) competed against other schools in the Canterbury area.  Both teams demonstrated great skills in maths problem solving and also worked very well as a team.  It was a great experience for all of them.  Well done

Yr 8 Team

to both teams!

CULTURAL BLUES awarded 29 June 2011

Elite Blues:

Silver Cultural Elite  – Alvin

All Round Elite – Nilani

The New Zealand Chess Federation Inc – Joshua, Grade 4, Cultural Blue

Canterbury AP Show – Angus, 3^rd Herds Person, Cultural Blue

Drama – 300 Lessons- Nilani,Cultural Blue

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music – Alvin, Grade 5 – Theory, 3^rd Cultural Bar

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• Congratulations to Juliet on coming first and Marian, Jamie & Alvin who were runner-ups at the New Zealand Post Book Awards Writing Competition 2010.
• Our Kirkwood team, made up of Oliver, Joshua, Emma & Jocelyn were placed 6th in the regional heats of the 2010 Kids’ Lit Quiz.
  
• Cantamath 2010 Problem Solving Competition – well done to our Yr 7 team who got 3rd place.
• 2010 Cantamath Display
  9 of our students gained an Excellence – Georgia, Gi Eun, Sandy, Briana, Jennifer, Hannah, Joe, and Juliet.
  Charlotte, Julia, Zoe, Peang, Abbey, Samuel, Sean, Andrew, Tasha and Brett obtained a Highly Commended.
  
• Otago Problem Solving Challenge 2010 – congratulations to the following students who were awarded Certificates of Excellence – Emma, Josh, Steven, Megan, Michael, Connor, Hawon, Albert, Jocelyn, Ben and Reuben (Yr 8 students). Alvin, Julia, Juliet, Jamie, Dana, Megan, Michelle, Jack, Ben and Sean (Yr 7 students).