This week in Crew, we asked the question…

“How are things going so far?”

Here are a few of the responses that were given: 

Faith Farmery

During Year 9, school has changed: new crew leader, new teachers, new Covid-19 rules. We haven’t just learnt new information about topics, we have gotten used to new seating plans, new timetables and new ways of learning. We have become better at managing our time during online learning, we get to different hangouts on time. We are also better at getting the right documents open so that we can do our work. So, during Year 9 I think we have done pretty well so far.

Zachary Hague

This year it has been a new experience for everyone. Due to recent ongoing events school has closed and we have had to adapt to a completely new way of living. Personally I think that the teaching staff and students have handled this really well and are doing their best to make online learning as stress free and fun as possible.  

Lucie-Mae Cordell

So far this year I think it is going pretty well, we have all adapted to online learning. We are all turning up to lessons and not leaving half way through unless we have a valid reason. We also complete the work to the best of our ability. 

Jacob Sutton

The start of 2021  has been tough, with surprising new lockdown restrictions meaning students are having to work from home all over the country. No one was ready for these restrictions and no one was ready for another lockdown. Yet as a country we have powered through it. In our crews’ case we have all been trying our hardest to get work done from home and learn, which is particularly hard being in a global pandemic. Although, I don’t think we could work hard without the teachers support and organising lessons and hangouts while being at home!

Théa Clarkson

So far this year I think we have done amazing, especially with what has been going on. We have adapted quickly to new ways of learning. I also think the teachers have done really well with the new way of teaching and coming up with work for us to do. From the start of year 9 we have had a new crew leader (Miss Mitchell). I would like to say thank you to her because even though we’re a pain sometimes, she has been patient with us and made a lot of our crew sessions fun and unique.

James Hudson

During our time back at school after the christmas holidays i think year nine have adapted as if it was nothing. As well as that, we have also been working as hard as we possibly can. It has been a very unusual experience but it has been very rewarding because lots of people seem to be contributing lots more.This week our crew has nominated three people for ‘star pupil of the week’, students that have worked especially hard and adapted to the strange online experience and have helped others. This has been a good way to show our achievements over this online learning and makes us feel better about it.

So it seems Crew Anoa’i have been settling into online learning very well. So much so, that a few of our crew were mentioned in our community meeting this week.

The teaching and support staff of year 9 created a slideshow full of fantastic achievements fulfilled by E25. We shared this with the students and appreciated them for their consistent hard work and praised everyone for taking on the challenge of online learning during a global pandemic. Let’s see who made it onto the list from Crew Anoa’i!

Well done everyone!!

#AllThingsNew #KeepItUpCrew

Back in 2020 Crew Shackleton made the decision to change our name. As a crew we felt the name Skackleton didn’t represent us and our values anymore. With Crew Shackleton gaing Miss Mitchell as our new Crew Leader, we thought it would be only right if we changed our crew name. After some deliberation, we came up with Crew Anoa’i, naming ourselves after the Anoa’i family. 

Once we settled on our new crew name, we decided to create a presentation saying why we chose it. It took us several weeks to compile all of our information. Everyone worked really hard to create this, so we would appreciate it if you could take a look. 

Here it is, the reason why we chose to be called … Crew Anoa’i.

The Anoa’i family is a family of professional wrestlers originating from American Samoa. Here are a few of the family, you may recognise a couple.

How we connect to the Anoa’i family:

The Anoa’i family are famous for their professional wrestling work. Family members including Rosey, Rikishi, Jamal, Ekmo, Umaga, Yokozuna, Roman Reigns, The Usos, Nia Jax, Tamina Snuka, Afa Anoa’i, Sika Anoa’i, The Wild Samoans, Peter Maivia and The Rock have all contributed to the profession, winning multiple championships and earning themselves the title ‘Wrestling’s greatest family’. The Anoa’i family is from American-Samoan descent, their wrestling family tree goes back decades. The traditional culture of Samoa is a communal way of life, most activities are done together. The family is viewed as an integral part of a person’s life, where the elders in the family are greatly respected and hold the highest status. 

So in Somoan tradition, we have taken on the values of a tribe life, with our crew members representing the tribe and Miss Mitchell representing our Chief. We pledge to show determination and face every challenge head on whilst working together to overcome them as a tribe.

The Anoa’i Family Achievements:

• The Anoa’i Family is the very first to have four generations of wrestlers competing in WWE.
• 21 members of the Anoa’i family became wrestlers. 14 wrestlers with direct blood ties to the Anoa’i family have wrestled for the WWE.
• 5 members of the family are competing in WWE currently.
• They have 14 multi-generations of tag teams.
• They have won 21 tag team championships in total.

As we have chosen ‘Make-A-Wish’ as our crew charity, we thought it would be interesting to share:

Over the years, the Anoa’i family has raised a lot of money for charities including Make-A-Wish. In 2017, Roman Reigns (Joe Anoa’i) raised $12,000 by helping a restaurant named Jimmy’s Famous Seafood. Joe promised to donate $1 for every like their tweet received. He retweeted the message to all his followers. It went from an expected 3-4 thousand dollars to over $12,000 in a short space of time. He continues to work closely with the charity. The Rock, The Usos and Nia Jax have also worked closely with Make-A-Wish, granting children’s wishes all over the world. 

Reasons why we believe we should be called Crew Anoa’i:

• I believe we should be called Crew Anoa’i because we are a tribe, we have each others’ back. (Nikodem)
• I believe we should be called Crew Anoa’i because we believe crew is like a family. We strive for the greater in each other, this means holding one another to account but also helping each other when a crew member needs support. (April)
• I believe we should be called Crew Anoa’i because they are a massively inspirational family and power through all challenges that are put in front of them. (Jacob)
• I believe we should be called Crew Anoa’i because we protect each other like a tribe. (Lucie)
• I believe we should be called Crew Anoa’i because the Anoa’i family are an inspiration to us, they have supported a lot of charities. We wish to do the same and follow in their footsteps. (James)
• I believe we should be called Crew Anoa’i because I think our crew represents the Anoa’i family, we work together as a team and help each other out. (Zach H)

 Our Crew Quote:

“Success isn’t always about ‘greatness’, it’s about consistency. Consistent hard work gains success, greatness will come.”

                                                     -The Rock 

We chose this quote because it really resonates with us as a crew. We have found in the past that some of our crew have struggled with finding success, but once they have consistently worked hard on a certain task, they succeeded and achieved greatness.

Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to read this!

#NewBeginnings #TribeLife