Semester in Review and Ball Games Day

Today, on July 19th, we held a closing ceremony of the first semester of the very first school year of Reiwa, looking back on what we have experienced during these memorable four months here at Yamasaki Senior High School. Our ALT, Mr. Philip Wilby, now reviews various aspects of our school activities at this very turning point of the Japanese history.  Also, he briefly reports the Ball Games Sports Day which was held on July 12th, when the Yamasaki youngsters showed their wonderful performances at every site of four ball games. Please enjoy our weblog essay with marvelous pictures !    

Semester in review

From the start of semester one,with the cherry blossoms in full array, the semester has been full of engaging and stimulating experiences. Semester one started with the opening ceremony on April 8^th when the first grade students were very warmly welcomed to Yamasaki High School.

  

This was followed a few days later with an exciting display of all the many cultural and sports clubs the first grade students could attend. From activities such as Judo and Kendo, to Flower Arranging and Tea Ceremony, students were spoilt for choice!

  

Then on the 23^rd of April the first grade students got to experience a wonderful orientation trip to Hiroshima where they enjoyed many fun and invigorating activities together,learning about camaraderie and team work. The activities included “Zazen” and row boat clipper racing.

  

In May the students learned the importance of disaster preparedness, by way of an evacuation drill, and last week the teachers and students were given rescue and first aid training from fire and ambulance emergency services personnel.

  

On the 5^th of June each class participated in a chorus singing competition, and the best classes, 1-4, 1-5, 2-2, 2-5, and 2-6 progressed to the final. On the day of the school’s cultural festival, Class 1-4 took the victory with the best performance and class 1-5 earned an admirable second place.

The biggest event of the semester was the school’s “Yamako-sai” or school cultural festival. Students had spent weeks preparing for the wonderful annual event, both in their classes and in their clubs. There were so many amazing displays,activities and events, which thrilled everybody. Each class had prepared a great performance which was shared in front of all the school, and the third grade students cooked a whole range of delicious food. There were amazing dances,great music, and many people from the community also came and enjoyed the merriment.A truly thrilling time was had by all.

  

During the Semester students also attended many community events, and participated in a whole range of volunteer activities, such as visiting aged care homes, schools and kindergartens. Also the Home Economics and Lifestyle Department opened a student restaurant where people from the community came and enjoyed delicious meals together!

  
  

Ball games sports day

The semester’s activities culminated on Friday the 12^th of July, when the students of Yamasaki High School participated in an exhilarating ball game sports day. This time they played a number of ball games instead of the normal track and field sports day that are normally the only sports day held in western schools.

The boys played basketball,softball, and volleyball, and the girls played dodge ball instead of softball.It was a hot, cloudy and humid day, as this time of year is the rainy season. However despite the weather all the students relished the opportunity to spend the day playing the sports they love, and everyone was cheering and having fun playing or watching the games. Each game was arranged into a tournament with volleyball divided into two teams from each class.

In the boy’s volleyball game, the students of 1-1 B almost overcame their senpai's of class 3-3 but alas they couldn’t quite overcome, and had to settle for second place.

In the boys basketball game, class 3-6 took the victory against a strong team from 3-4. And in the softball, class 3-1 took a strong victory over the gallant class of 2-1.

In the boys tournaments it was very difficult for the younger students to overcome the additional strength of the older students. However this was not the case in the girl’s tournaments.

In the girl’s volleyball game, class 2-2 A took a stellar victory over an excellent 3-4 team. In the dodge ball final, class 2-3 won the battle against the girls of 1-6, with class 3-2 finishing in a very respectable third place. And in the girl’s basketball final,a thrilling game was played between 3-2 A and 3-5, which saw 3-2A take a superb victory.

  
  

The semester closed on July 19^th with a final word of advice and encouragement from the principal and teachers to all the students, to make the most of their summer holidays, in work, rest and play!