Posts

Little Ways to be Eco Friendly

By -
Sustainability. Environmental awareness. Some people would call these fads, but climate change is not going to be short lived. Unless we take action. Nowadays there is lots of talk about how to save our earth. Friends talk about it, family talks about it, people post about it on social media. ‘I spent the weekend doing volunteer tree planting’, ‘I joined a stream clean up’, ‘I’m going vegan, long term’, ‘I donated to a wildlife rescue organisation’. It’s easy to feel guilty that you aren’t doing all of these things too, but the reality is they involve time, money, effort and organisational skills. Don’t worry! You don’t have to be extreme. As an individual there are innumerable ways that you can play your part in being sustainable and preventing damage to the earth. And they don’t have to be expensive or grand, just simple changes that will reduce your carbon footprint and help you have a positive effect on the world. So many products include plastic these days. Excessive pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Captivating Holiday Reads!

By Anonymous -
Nothing to read these holidays? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Here is a list of highly recommended reads compiled by members of the MAGS Blog Club! Alex Rider series - Anthony Horowitz Dear Vincent - Mandy Hager Everyday - David Levithan  Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon Farenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury Far From the Tree - Robin Benway Hive - AJ Betts Lists of Note - compiled by Shaun Usher Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng Matched - Ally Condie Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend - Mathew Green Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs Moonrise - Sarah Crossan  Mortal Fire - Elizabeth Knox My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece - Annabel Pitcher Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro Northern Lights - Philip Pullman Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman Paper Towns - John Green She is Not Invisible - Marcus Sedgwick Starters - Lissa Price (and sequel Enders)  The Book Thief - Markus Zusak The Curious Incid
Post a Comment
Read more

French Exchange 2019

By Anonymous -
On the morning of Saturday 15th June, more than 20 anxious MAGS students rolled up at Auckland International Airport to meet their French exchange students for the first time. Families got to know each other in the hour long wait for the kids to emerge with French teacher, Madame Olive. There was a flurry of excitement and a jumble of "will I recognise her?" and "is that them?!" as the wait grew longer and nerves escalated. Eventually a bunch of familiar faces rounded the corner, and students and their families awkwardly met their new house guests for the next five weeks. The French kids spent three weeks at school with their students, following them around classes and making new friends. They got the chance to practise their English skills and learn different subjects, even though in France it is the Summer holidays! After the three weeks of work, the real fun began! MAGS students took their kids on road trips throughout the country, visiting places such as Taupo,
Post a Comment
Read more

The Issue With Added Sugar

By -
Quitting Added Sugar It has been my goal, this year, to not consume added sugar . I have eaten honey a few times, and maple syrup on my sugar-free pancakes. Most breads contain added sugar too. But for the most part, I have avoided added sugar by cutting cakes, chocolates, ice cream, and all those other “ amazing ” sweets from my life. I’m often asked “How do you do it!?” “Why do you do it?” That’s what I’m going to shine light on today, because quitting added sugar is totally feasible, for you too. There are two types of sugar; added and naturally occurring. Added sugars are added to food products during the manufacturing process. Naturally occurring sugars are those that “ naturally occur ” in fruits, vegetables and dairy. They’re chemically indifferent in the way our bodies process them, the difference is the form in which we consume them. When we eat natural sugars we consume them with other nutrients, fibres and proteins that are vital for our health, whereas added sugar
Post a Comment
Read more

2019 NIWA Auckland Science Fair

By -
Image
Last Friday, thirteen students, accompanied by science teachers Mrs Nisha and Mr Frank, attended the 2019 NIWA Auckland Science Fair, held at Mount Roskill Grammar School. The students had worked either individually or in pairs to perform a science fair project and display their experiments and findings on a board for the fair. Projects from 29 different schools crowded the hall at Mount Roskill Grammar School and the vast range of experiments and the detailed knowledge displayed was astounding. It was open to public viewing on Friday evening and Saturday and drew a lot of fascinated supporters, enjoying the creative display boards and getting fascinated by the results of hours and hours of work from hundreds of students. Projects were entered into specific categories - such as material world, living world, technology - and within each category were prizes for first, second and third as well as highly commended. Several MAGS projects took out prizes, with a first and third p
Post a Comment
Read more

Drama Production

By -
Come along to the upcoming Level One Drama Production, Children of the Black Skirt . This is taking place on Wednesday 21st of August at 7.30pm in the dance and drama room, E9. Children of the Black Skirt  is about the neglected orphans at Golgotha Orphanage, Australia, run by the strict matron known as the Black Skirt. To liven up their lives and comfort the new orphans, the orphans tell stories and embody the spirits of past orphans.  Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for MAGS staff and students.
Post a Comment
Read more

My 40 Hour Famine Experience

By -
Image
My 40 Hour Famine Experience Friday afternoon saw me piling my possessions on the floor of my bedroom and pulling sleeping bags out from the cupboard as I prepared to give up furniture for 40 hours. In a previous year’s 40 hour famine I had given up my lovely queen sized bed, but this year I upped the ante by deciding to give up all furniture! I defined furniture as 'movable articles that are used to make a room or building suitable for living in e.g. tables, chairs and desks’, but this did not include home accessories such as pillows and blankets. So for 40 hours I had to sleep and sit on the floor, not use any tables or desks, and any clothes or other items that are usually stored in drawers or on shelves I had to relocate to the floor. It begins… I returned from karate training at around half past eight on Friday 7th of June (I had been out when the famine started) and when usually I w
Post a Comment
Read more