I want to begin by acknowledging the support from so many staff, parents and students in relation to my appointment as principal of Western Springs College.  To follow on from Ken Havill is a huge honour and one which I am looking forward to with relish as we approach the re-build.  Visitors to the school will have noticed that establishment work for the relocatable classrooms has begun.  That we need only seven temporary classrooms to create the space needed for the new school is indeed testimony to the skills of our design team in minimising disruption to the operation of the college.  Parents and students can be assured that the school will carry on in most of the facilities that we know and “love” for the duration of the re-build.

It was hugely moving to share Ken Havill’s farewell celebration with the 300 plus guests that turned out for the event.  I can report that Ken and Lorraine were overwhelmed with the generosity and sentiments shared on the day.  You will see featured here in this Newsletter a photograph of the painting commissioned from Lily Laita to tell something of the Ken Havill story.

Our annual prizegiving celebrations for years 11, 12 and 13 as well as the annual Sports Dinner have recognised the outstanding application and achievements of our students.  My congratulations are extended to all of the prize winners and especially to our dux Xavier de la Varis.  The prizegivings signal the beginning of the NCEA exam season for our senior school.  Best wishes to all candidates for both the NCEA externals and scholarship exams. 

Our Year 13 Leavers Dinner on Monday, December 5th will be a chance to farewell graduating students and their parents in grand style.  I am always impressed with the huge turnout for this event and the hours of work that go in to its planning.  Do make sure that you don’t miss out on this celebration by purchasing your tickets from the school office as soon as you can.

Nga Puna O Waiorea will hold their prizegiving on Tuesday December 6th.  This formal acknowledgement of the outstanding achievements of our Rumaki in advancing educational achievement of Maori is one of the very special events that make Springs unique.  Mark it in your calendars now.  An event to treasure.

Ivan Davis
Principal

APPLY BY DECEMBER 16th!!!!  Visit www.studylink.govt.nz to apply now for a student loan or an allowance.

Students thinking about further study after they leave school have a lot of decisions to make. StudyLink’s website is a great place to visit to get you thinking about what it will cost to live and study.  StudyLink can help clarify how study may help you and how to support yourself. Once you’ve made the decision to study you can sign up for the RealMe login.  It is also a good idea to sign up to receive emails from StudyLink to receive important information, like when to apply and documents you need to send.  We encourage students and parents to check out www.studylink.govt.nz. 

#BuildAKL Competition Job Days – details for youth:

Saturday 12th November 9am-12pm, MIT Pasifika Community Centre, Newbury St, Otara.

Register on Facebook here
MEET & CHAT WITH real employers in the industry who have real jobs for young people now!
GET A JOB Even if you don’t win one of the 10 paid work experience prizes come along so you can meet real employers and get a real job!
EAT: We won’t let you starve – grab a sausage on us.
HEAR ABOUT THE PRIZE IN MORE DETAIL –  it’s so much more than WORK EXPERIENCE, there is free training and work clothing too.
This is a real deal opportunity  - FILL OUT A JOB APPLICATION.
DON’T FORGET to bring ID, either passport or  birth your certificate (with photo ID)
Queries to tracey.hainsworth-faaofo@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

As the end of the year quickly approaches Western Springs College is celebrating huge success in the Arts!

Firstly, with the success of our two school bands Critical Damage and Daffodils who have achieved an incredible result at Nationals. Both bands came in 2nd place at the National Finals for Pacifica Beats and Rockquest 2016. Congratulations to the following students for this memorable and outstanding achievement: Critical Damage - Loxmyn McDonald-Ness, Harry Scholes, Theo Salmon, Isaac Keating, James MacEwan, and Bickio O'Callahan and Daffodils - Theo Salmon, Isaac Keating, Louis Graham.

Congratulations also goes to Ben Shieff for his starring role as Billy Elliot in the ASB Auckland Theatre Company production of Billy Elliot currently on show at the brand new ASB Waterfront Theatre http://asbbillyelliot.co.nz/cast.html.

Based on the movie, Billy Elliot the musical is written by Lee Hall with music by Elton John and is the story of a boy's struggle against the odds to make his dream of ballet come true.
The show opened Thursday 13 October and runs until Sunday 27 November 2016.  Tickets are available via the Auckland Theatre Company bookings website. Watch New Zealand Herald Focus: The Billy Elliot boys posted 1:59PM Monday Oct 10, 2016 watch here

Ben Shieff is scheduled to continue to perform on:
Wednesday 18th November, 8pm
Sunday 20th November, 4pm
Thursday 24th November, 8pm
Saturday 26th November, 8pm

Another huge achievement for Ella McIntosh - Congratulations on being selected to travel to the Globe Theatre, London next year for your efforts as Dromia in the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand, National Schools’ Shakespeare Production of The Comedy of Errors during the recent school holidays. Ella is the third Western Springs College student to achieve this incredible opportunity. Well done Ella!

Special Feature | Western Springs College Success| SHAKESPEARE GLOBE CENTRE NEW ZEALAND (SGCNZ) | NATIONAL SHAKESPEARE SCHOOLS PRODUCTION 2016 (NSSP) | Ella McIntosh

“I was lucky enough to be selected from the regional Sheilah Winn Shakespeare competitions in West Auckland this April as a direct entrant to the NSSP week in Dunedin these past school holidays.
Twenty four participants are selected from the regional competitions around the country as direct entrants to the course and twenty four participants are selected from the national finals which were held in Wellington in July.

Forty eight Shakespeare enthusiasts and drama nerds (and musicians) arrived at Dunedin airport on the first Saturday of the school holidays and that was the last moment of relaxation for the week. It was a whirlwind of classes, rehearsals and line learning culminating in two performances of three of Shakespeare’s plays on the following Friday and Saturday nights.  The group was split into three casts directed respectively by Stuart Devenie, Kim Morgan and Colin Spicer.  It was unbelievably stressful but exciting at the same time to challenge oneself to meet the expectations of each other and the director.  I was cast as a female Dromia in The Comedy of Errors and had a great time finding my comedic potential having never played a character like that before.  This challenge was made possible with the support and encouragement of the whole group.  I had an extraordinary time and learnt so much about myself, working with new people, acting and the ability of people to meet seemingly impossible time-lines and expectations. There were moments  I wasn’t sure I could do it (3am in the corridor on Wednesday “night” trying to memorise lines) but I did and unbelievably to me I have been chosen as one of the twenty four, of the group in Dunedin, to travel to the Globe Theatre in London next year as part of the YSC for 2017.

I am proud to be the third WSC student to achieve this honour along with Arlo Gibson and Sally Bollinger.

Thank you to Western Springs College for encouraging students to take part in this wonderful competition.”

Y12 Drama student - Ella McIntosh

Ella McIntosh’s trip to Dunedin for the SGCNZ National Schools’ Shakespeare Production

Coming up we have the Art Portfolio Exhibition for L1, 2 and 3 on Monday 31st October, 1st and 2nd November. Join us in celebrating the work of our seniors in Level 1 Practical Art, Level 2 and 3 Art Design, Painting and Photography. On Wednesday in the WSC Library between 3 and 4pm before please join us for a special preview of the external submissions for 2016. Special thanks to PAG for their support of the event.

Finally, teachers and students are busy preparing for the annual Junior Arts Festival mid-November which always showcases fine talent coming through in all junior areas of the Arts.

We wish all Y13 well as they move on to tertiary study and new challenges. Good luck seniors with examinations to come.

Thanks to Catalina Nunez-Elevancini – 13Art Design – for Art and Design for the Arts News.

arts@wsc.school.nz                                                                              Kirsty Britton – Arts Coordinator

As we approach the end of the year, it is time to say my final goodbyes.  I cannot believe how fast the years have gone by and now my highschool experience is coming to an end.  This year as a leader has been the most hectic but rewarding year of my life.  At the very start of the year myself and the other leaders Annie and Seb auditioned for the school production Seussical.  We were all successful in receiving a role in the small but talented cast of students.  I loved being a part of the Seussical family and am grateful for all the friends I made.  During the course of the year, I was able to attend and perform at various events like Youdance, Tautai (Fresh Horizons), Semi-Permanent, Tempo and the annual dance showcases.  It was definitely a busy year for everyone and a year that I will always remember.  I would like to thank the other Art Leaders Annie and Seb for being supportive and cooperative leaders.  It was a pleasure to work with you throughout this year and I wish you well on your endeavours.  I would also like to thank Kirsty Britton for being an amazing teacher, who has organised so many of the art events in school and gathered the arts committee for our meetings every Wednesday and lastly advising and helping me with my art this year.  It has been a great year thanks to you all! 

Dione Tay – Arts Leader

Dance News

Last weekend year 13 students performed in teen show Ignite! as part Tempo dance festival.  Dione Tay, Seline Hiddleston and Hannah Langton performed Eden Galo’s collaborative dance Hopeless Wander, one of only three student choreographies in the whole show.  The work stood up very well in the largely teacher-choreographed programme, and the Western Springs College Dance Department is proud of the strong work our student choreographers produce.  Well done, girls!

In November Dance Aotearoa New Zealand (DANZ) will hold a national dance hui in TAPAC for the industry to korero about collaboration, and WSC Dance is excited to be involved.  DANZ have invited WSC students to perform as part of evening show Forward Movers, and Melanie Turner will present about the role, value and contribution of secondary dance to the contemporary dance sector. Forward Movers showcases work from WSC Dance (secondary), Pointy Dog Youth Dance Company (community), and Unitec (tertiary).  There is now an established dance education pathway between these three organisations, a trail first blazed by Unitec Dance Lecturer Katie Burton (sister to our own David Burton).  She has been followed by a number of ex- Springs Dance department and Pointy Dog students transitioning into tertiary training at Unitec now forging successful careers in Dance.  Western Springs Dance is perfectly positioned for our students to benefit from this pathway, as well as the wonderful facilities and experiences that our residence in TAPAC provides.  Ken Havill was instrumental in TAPAC’s positioning on the Western Springs College site, and we are very grateful to Ken for his foresight in this.

Last week Year 12 students performed Molly Snowden’s A Fragile Shoulder to farewell Principal Ken Havill. We were pleased to be able to perform for Ken’s farewell, as he has been an active supporter of Dance over the years.  We wish you every happiness on the golf course, Ken!

Melanie Turner – HOD Dance

Congratulations! Best School Team at 48Hr Film Challenge!

Success at the National Finals of Pacifica Beats and Rockquest 2016

What a start to the term 3 holidays!...

I'm delighted to announce that Critical Damage were awarded second place in the National Final of Pacifica Beats 2016!!

The boys - Loxmyn McDonald-Ness, Harry Scholes, Theo Salmon, Isaac Keating, James MacEwan, and Bickio O'Callahan are thrilled. Loxmyn also received the top award for lyric writing.
They have now won $1900 worth of gear from the RockShop plus a professional recording of one of their songs. Fabulous to see such huge support from families at the show.

Congratulations also to Daffodils, Theo Salmon, Isaac Keating, Louis Graham (and a keyboard player from Kristin) won second place in the National Final of Smokefree RockQuest!! AND they won best song. The band recieves $5000 worth of gear from the Rockshop and professional recording time for two songs.

Great support again from families. Thanks everyone, and congratulations again to these two bands – a tremendous achievement.

Margaret Robertson – HOD Music

Extended Greetings

At the time of writing, finished Level 1 Art boards have gone to Wellington for the first of three staggered assessments.  The Level 2 students are now starting to shift gears and produce some innovative work for their external folio submissions.  The Level 3s are drawing on that top 2% to push beyond the known and conquer three boards – all the while trying to maintain focus, especially as several of them have successfully secured provisional entry to tertiary courses next year.   Similar to last year we have decided to have an exhibition of all three levels and fields from 31st October – 2nd November.  Thanks to Sharda Patel we have secured the library (while it’s still a library) and with the generous support of PAG, we hope to have a few nibbles and non-alcoholic drinks to toast to another successful year in the Visual Arts.

The Juniors are also working hard to produce works for the upcoming Junior Art Festival in TAPAC during week six.  The depth of critical thinking with some of the Y10 pop art sculptures and high quality of finish with the Y9 pattern works is truly outstanding and will be another chance for family and friends to celebrate their accomplishments this year and participate in a public vote for the inaugural Junior Instagram Photography competition organised by Judy Chiang (TIC Photography).

This month is also Auckland Art week, with a number of ex-Springs students featuring in exhibitions.  Melbourne based artist Mallory Allen is currently showing her highly detailed pencil and charcoal drawings at the Allpress Studio Gallery in Freemans Bay, while Tyla Vaeau Ta’ufo’ou and brother Hiram Vaeau are forging a name for themselves in contemporary Pasifika tatau at Karanga Ink and Ki gallery on Karangahape Road.

Lastly, the department would like to thank those families who have been dropping off newspaper.  We are also on the lookout for jars with or without lids, so if you have any that you don’t need, please drop off to E Block anytime.
Ia Manuia            Lily Laita - HOD Art

RUGBY – JB 14s

There was some initial doubt that Western Springs might be able to field a junior rugby team this season.  It was going to be hard to find a grade that could fit the different ages and weights that were available. Once it was worked out that the grade that could cover the most boys as possible was Under 14 open grade, we managed to pull together a team of 24 keen boys. Denis Ulcoq was appointed coach and training could begin.

The team quickly gelled well and had some very good results early in the season with a 37-5 win over Kelston being a highlight. The team however started suffering from a few injuries and was then hit with the news that Denis and his son Boris (no.8) were leaving and moving to Waiheke Island!  This, combined with the injuries could have dealt a devastating blow to some teams, but not these boys. With Dave Fane taking on the game day coaching role and Lio Sauvao-Vaauli running all the practices, the boys managed to complete the season with a win/loss record of 7-3.  This was done despite twice playing games with just the 15 boys available and no reserves. The final game could have been a disappointing end to the season when Kelston hadn’t turned up with 10 minutes till kick off, but then in a rush of vans they were there and ready to go.  
They were big boys and despite some good first half tries to WSC, Kelston had come back in to the game early in the second half with a couple of good tries. But this WSC team was never going to give up, in a late burst they grabbed another couple of tries to finish 22-10.

Despite quite a bit of cajoling to get boys to practice on wet days, I really enjoyed being part of this team, as they are a great bunch of young men and have had a very good season.

A special mention should be made for captain Guy Nicholls who was selected in the Auckland West U14 rep squad - well done Guy.

Dave Paddy  Manager

ROGAINE

At the end of last term 4 girls travelled to Shakespeare Regional Park to compete in the Secondary Schools Rogaine Championship. A Rogaine is a form of Orienteering where the competitor has to strategically plan their own route while following a map to find the checkpoints in order to gain the most points possible.

The park is very steep and hilly and it was a tiring day, made especially hard by the previous rain and the mud. After a giant mass start for all the grades, all contestants had an hour and a half to find as many controls as we could.

Despite a rather depleted team Western Springs secured two podium finishes. Well done to Anna Cory-Wright who came 2nd in the junior girls individuals and Sylvie Frater who came a close 3rd, also in the junior girls individuals.

Thank you to Bronwyn Rosie for providing the transport and for her commitment of her own time to help out our team.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

Congratulations to Western Springs College student, Jack Naish on winning Gold at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Mountain Biking cross country championship, held over the Term 3 holidays in Dunedin. 

Jack competed in the Under 16 Boys grade. He rode the 16km, four lap course in the Bethunes Gully/north east valley and cruised to victory after making a significant break on the rest of the field.

Springs had more success recently when two students entered in the Auckland Secondary Schools Mountain Biking series. Both performed admirably with Jack Naish finishing second in his final race and Sam Buckley placing third. Both students ended up 3rd overall in their U17 & U16 age groups.

Springs, with only two riders entered, placed 8th overall in the ASSMB team competition, against schools with four riders in their team. There were 25 plus schools competing.

            Jack Naish on the winners podium                                                Sam Buckley finishing 3rd

KARATE

It has been a big year for Jodie Batt. She had previously represented New Zealand in Karate, competing in Oceania and Commonwealth competitions in Japan, Fiji and India. This time things were so much more challenging, having to move up north from Central Otago, settle into a new school, find a new club and change her style of karate.

After going to train in two different styles in clubs in Auckland, (as the style she used to do in Otago, was not a competitive club), she decided on Fushin Ryu in Browns Bay.  Her new Sensei became the New Zealand coach, making her selection even harder.  Jodie`s NZ selection for the Oceania event was confirmed in June.  She committed to training 5 to 6 nights a week, with specific weekend training camps for the National team a huge commitment by all competitors and coaches.

Jodie recently travelled to New Caledonia for the Oceania Karate Championships in September, where there were competitors from Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea and Tonga. She fought in the 12-13 years under 55kg Kumite (Fighting) division and completely dominated her grade, with no competitor scoring a point against her in any of her fights.  She came away with a Gold medal and is now Oceania Champion for her age and weight division.

SNOWBOARDING

Mid-September, I took 18 students to Turoa to compete at the North Island Secondary Schools Snowboarding Championship. Our students did amazingly with some very good results. All the boys were up against approximately 100 other boys and the girls were up against approximately 60 other girls. To be placed anywhere in the top 20 is an awesome achievement. These were some of our results :

- Ruby Johnson placed 1st in Slopestyle (North Island Champion) She also won this event last year
- Adam Finlayson placed 4th in Boardercross
- Finn Mcintyre placed 5th in Boardercross

- Luca Menzi-Smith, Nico Johnson & Raff Mahon made it into the top 20 for Slopestyle. Luca went on
   to claim 4th position and Raff finished 9th.

- Nico Johnson placed 12th in the Giant Slalom.

- Siana Rivlin-Myers made it into the semi-finals of the boardercross but had a fall and unfortunately  
   she missed out on making the grand-final.                                                

- Our girls team placed an incredible 4th overall and the boys finished a very meritable 9th.

We are extremely proud of the boy’s and girl’s performances, so If you see any of these students, please congratulate them on their efforts.

Rusty Anderson - TIC Snowboarding

Other Achievements

• Orewa Surf Life Saving Club is extremely proud to share the news that the following student at your school competed and won a medal at the SLSNZ (Surf Life Saving New Zealand) National Pool Champs held at the Owen Glen Pool at the Millennium Sports complex in Albany Fri 7th - Sun 9th October.  31 clubs including a team from NSW with 603 athletes entered aged from 10 to Masters competed in swimming and rescuing events.  Angus Kirkman U14 4 x 25m Brick Relay Team - Bronze Medal Winner.
• Henry Williams competed in the Surf Lifesaving Pool Champs recently.  He came 2nd in 100m swim with obstacles, 3rd in the obstacle relay and 3rd  in the  medley.  This was a great achievement in a National event:
• Kelly McDowell & Nicholas Mackinnon were part of a team that won the under 14 National Waterpolo Tournament in Wellington.  Well done!

News from our Sustainability Groups

Wises
TravelWise:
Term 3 was another awesome term for sustainable travel!
During Orientation 3.0 and Alternate Travel Week, we promoted public transport more than ever, with maps, freebies and games. Everyday before school on Alternate Travel Week we handed out free baking to people who travelled by bike, skateboard foot and public transport.

This week also featured the first ever Travel Quiz, as well as an Open Skate Day with live DJ and Auckland Transport freebies. Cheers to Leo Casey for DJing and all the skaters who shredded the mini jump!

We’ve also made an effort that those who drive will be safe drivers - promoting the AA Learner’s Quiz and road safety.

And great news for Springs - according to the Travel Audit 2016, 78% of us are travelling sustainably!

WasteWise:

We started off the year with an ambitious plan and inspiring ideas. Before school even kicked off, we introduced the new year nine students to the sustainability aspects of Springs, with a tour of our massive worm farm, vegetable gardens, a run through of how to use our bin systems and an introduction to Wises.

A few weeks into the term, we attended Wises camp and came back inspired and with great ideas to put into play. We got right into promoting sustainable alternatives, one of our biggest aims of the year, with displays and discussions at the year nine New Parents BBQ, parent teacher interviews and the year eight introduction night.

Term Two got off to an exciting start as we were filled with ideas from Wises camp one of which was switching spaces. Switching spaces is an initiative in which people pick up rubbish and replace it with a nice quote or cool piece of art. The Waste wise team and many others? (reword) headed out one Tuesday early in the term armed with chalk and small up cycled centerpieces for our tuck shop tables made from bottles and cans found around the school. We covered the school with environmental quotes and drawings that had lots of people interested and excited and created a lot of awareness around rubbish.Another exciting project we started up in Term two was the creation of planter boxes made from recycled objects as a way of brightening up the school and adding some art and colour. In order to get the materials we took a trip out to the Waitakere waste and refuse center to collect old paint and materials we could turn into boxes. We then brought them back to school and spent the following weeks sanding, cleaning and painting our boxes in after school sessions along with lots of keen volunteers - we are grateful to everyone who helped out!

At the end of term two we also applied for funding/grants from Auckland Council’s Waste minimization fund and PAG and were very grateful to receive funding from them for our planter boxes, honey wrap workshops and promotion of sustainable packaging alternatives.

Term three saw quite a bit of hands-on action. A few members of the waste wise team went on an eye-opening trip with Sea Cleaners around the Hauraki Gulf fishing rubbish out of the water. It was a satisfying day with beautiful weather and even a stop and swim over at Rangitoto island. During one of our lunchtimes, we gathered forces and headed down to Motions Creek to work with Wai Care planting trees. There were a few after school planting sessions in which we purchased compost and plants from Kings plant barn and planted our planter boxes and then displayed them around the school. We also began honey wrap workshops in week five with the funding we received from Auckland Council that were open to anyone to come and make their own honey wraps for their sustainable lunchbox. Waste-wise additionally presented at an international student's assembly to ensure everyone knew about how our bin system works.

Kotahitanga Project

The Kotahitanga Project is almost finished - what an amazing experience it’s been!

Over Term 3 and 4 we ran many workshops in which us as students, with the support from teachers and TAT Up-Cycle, have managed to build 15 seats and five tables from pallets!It has been incredible, building, deconstructing, painting and sanding outdoor furniture, along with enjoying delicious pizza and awesome people to meet and work together as one. Science Club, A-Z and other groups are currently painting the tables with designs that represent unity and diversity. If you’d like to take part in painting, email penek@wsc.school.nz or bruneta@wsc.school.nz .

Our Stream

We have one more working bee scheduled for this term, on the 16th of November. Come along to help out any time from 1:40pm.

MAD Marine

Congratulations to Khushee Jain & Ana Downey who have been selected to attend the “Make A Difference Marine” Hui which will be held at the end of January at Motutapu Outdoor Education Camp. They will will plan actions to share their knowledge and be leaders for change, encouraging their community to address key marine issues. We can’t wait to hear how it goes!