I have now completed a number of presentation to various groups about our new school.  I will work with the MOE and outside providers to provide current parents and students with a comprehensive overview of the project near the start of the new term.  In the meantime, I share with you the written update below as well as key messages relating to managing health and safety during the enabling works period.

Project information

Western Springs College in Auckland is one of the most complex school redevelopments ever undertaken in New Zealand. The $75 million redevelopment project is the largest investment in a single school in New Zealand.

The school was prioritised for redevelopment in 2014 due to high growth in the surrounding area and a range of property issues relating to its location on an old landfill.

This will address property issues which have arisen over the past years relating to the site’s previous use as a landfill from the 1930s through to the 1970s. The school was built on the site in 1962 while the landfill was still operating to the north and east of the school. The school also has ageing infrastructure and buildings with weathertightness issues.

The first stage of the redevelopment involved setting up a temporary complex of relocatable classrooms in time for the 2017 school year. The complex was designed to provide the school with an addition hub and social space while the redevelopment is under way.

A further $4 million is being used to upgrade The Auckland Performing Arts Centre (TAPAC) which is located on the school site. This will address weathertightness issues and ensure the facility can continue to support arts and culture at the school and within the community.

The redevelopment will replace nearly 80 percent of its teaching spaces. The new buildings will include two new teaching blocks with a total of 64 teaching spaces, a new gymnasium, whare tapere, and an upgraded hall and administration area. Another 17 teaching spaces will also be upgraded, totalling 81 teaching spaces for the school.

One of the two new blocks will be the college’s Maori immersion-Rumaki unit Nga Puna o Waiorea. This will contain twelve teaching spaces including some specialist facilities. The Rumaki will maintain its own identity on the site and is anticipating roll growth from the current 235 students to 340 by 2020.

The redevelopment will also retain the existing wharenui.

The college has an impressive history of academic achievement in both mainstream and Rumaki classes. The new building designs will provide innovative and flexible learning environments in order to continue this tradition. Large, open spaces will facilitate collaborative learning among students from all levels and across multiple subjects.

The full redevelopment is expected to be completed in early 2019.

Timeframe of the build:

• Design:    2015-2017   
• Site preparation:    2016-17
• Excavation and enabling works :  2016-2017
• Main construction starts:   2017-2019
• Completion:     2019

Key messages

The health and safety of staff and students is our top priority.

We are investing $79 million to redevelop a large part of Western Springs College in central Auckland.  This will address property issues which have arisen over the past years relating to the site’s previous use as a landfill from the 1930s through to the 1970s. 

The work is informed by professional specialist reviews including extensive geotechnical, engineering and environmental investigations prepared by expert consultants, and a Health, Safety and Environment report released in December 2014 addressing issues at the school. 

We are also taking specialist health and safety advice from environmental and contaminations specialists who monitor the work site, and a specialist contractor who carries out air monitoring tests regularly. 

The construction zone is fenced off to separate the excavation site from the remaining operating parts of the school. There are  stockpiling and truck loading areas within the site. .  Water dampening is carried out using water spraying machinery to control construction dust across the site including the areas where rubbish is piled, ready for removal

The school and the Ministry always work closely together before and during the removal of hazardous materials to ensure they are kept fully informed of the programme of work, including safety matters. We met with the school’s community in June 2016 to discuss the redevelopment and share our plans for the site.

If there is any concern or potential threat to health and safety at the school during the redevelopment works the Ministry and its consultant team works with the school to investigate and address matters raised.

Ivan Davis

WSC Careers Expo - 3rd May 2017
 
The biennial WSC Careers Expo has some very interesting presenters coming in to talk about their profession and experiences. This provides a great opportunity for students and parents to learn more and hear first hand from people in these jobs. There will be plenty of Q&A time too - come prepared! We are very grateful to these people who have generously given up their time. We hope that you can arrange to listen to these presenters. All speaker attendees will go in the draw to win some movie vouchers!

3.30 pm* - Architect, Jasmax - Averill Moore
4.00 pm*- Ophthalmologist Doctor - Sonya Bennett
4.00 pm* - Software Engineer, Xero - Linda Chin
4.30 pm* - Geotechnical Engineer,  Coffee Geotechnic - James Livingston (ex-WSC)
5.00 pm* - Photography/Self Employed - Angela Scott
5.00 pm* - Marketing/Branding - Paul Grondin
5.30 pm* - Computer Systems Engineer, BNZ
6.00 pm**- Computer Sci & Commerce (Mktg & Int’l Business) , 2 ex-WSC students, UoA
*Timeslots will be confirmed the week prior to the expo.
** The 2 ex-WSC students will be on hand most of the night to talk about anything relating to University 
    and their respective degrees - don’t be afraid to ask!

All speakers will be hosted in B Block. The School hall and Library will host all other exhibitors including Universities and other tertiary institutes, NZ Police, plumbing, building, electrical, Defence Force and many more. Mark the date in your calendars - you won’t want to miss it!

ID CARD AND COPYING

ID cards which required for borrowing books must be carried by  students at all times. They are also required for  using the library  photocopier and for printing from a library computer or a netbook. 
The process involves the student paying $5.00 at the office, the numbers on the card they are given are then loaded onto their ID cards at a library computer or netbook. Please talk to Library staff about this process.

Sharda Patel
Library Manager

Year 11 Drama Production of 'Gargantua' Tapac Theatre: 5 x credits for Level 1 Drama

There are two year 11 drama classes so please check with your year 11 drama student as to their rehearsal and performance schedule (schedules are on their google classroom). Holiday rehearsals are for 2 x days in the 2nd week of holidays.

CLASS 1 is Tues, Wed- 25th,26th April and CLASS 2 is Fri, Sat-28th,29th April in the school hall.
CLASS 1 has rehearsals in Tapac Theatre Sunday 30th April and Mon-Thurs 1st to 4th May straight after school until 8 pm. Their shows are at the following times:
Wed, Thurs May 3rd and 4th at 3.30 pm and 7 pm.

CLASS 2 has rehearsals in Tapac Theatre Sunday 7th May and Mon-Thurs 8th to 11th May straight after school until 8 pm. Their shows are at the following times:  
Wed, Thurs May 10th and 11th at 3.30 pm and 7 pm.

Any questions  or concerns please email Beth Kayes on kayesb@wsc.school.nz 

This first term has started off with a bang, which has been great for digital technology. Year 11 and 12’s have been learning the in’s and outs of programming, using the popular Python language and are in the midst of their assessment. As one of the more difficult sections of the course, I am really proud of all the students perseverance and problem solving throughout the term.

Once term 2 commences, the Year 11’s move to product design. Here they will learn about 3D design and the wonderful world of 3D printing and prototyping. There is something amazing about seeing an object come to life that has been designed on the computer. The Year 12’s start on a new topic next term, web development. Students will endeavour to find a client to construct a fully functional website for. This year there is a focus on responsive design, allowing the website to function well on both desktop and mobile devices.

The Year 13 class has an exciting year. We have renamed these Digital Tech classes to the ‘Genius Hour’, where students have a chance to design and develop their own project throughout the year. To date, students have been forming the briefs for their issues, ensuring that it is something interesting to them and somehow beneficial to members in our community. The next stages are going to be exciting, yet challenging, as we commence the process of designing, developing and prototyping their creations. Hopefully some of the students will decide to enter their projects into the ASB Bright Sparks competition!

Looking forward to term 2!

Mike Gunn

ORIENTEERING

After another successful summer of orienteering, it was great to have five Springs  students qualified for the Auckland Secondary Schools finals, which was held recently at St Kentigerns and AUT Akoranga Campus.

FINALS RESULTS

Eva Chapman-Peters - Senior Girls   18th out of 32
Anna Cory-Wright  - Intermediate Girls   6th out of 46
Sylvie Frater - Intermediate Girls   14th out of 46
Nina Quinn - Intermediate Girls   15th out of 46
Fergus Reay – Junior Boys   9th out of 33

Congratulations to Anna Cory-Wright and Sylvie Frater, for having gone one step further this year, after both students were selected for the NZ Schools test team to compete against Australia at Easter. They had three tough trial races which were held last weekend north of Wellington.

Last year, Anna and Sylvie were selected in the NZ Invitational team.

After the Auckland Finals, there are about twelve students interested in competing in the North Island Champs in Taupo.

SWIMMING

Congratulations to Henry Williams who has qualified for the Auckland Secondary Schools Swimming Champ of Champs, which will be held in Henderson, in mid-April. He has qualified in two events, Jnr Boys 50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle. We wish him all the best …. GO HENRY …

SQUASH

One of last year’s successful sports programme kicks off in early April with three training sessions at the Unitec Squash Centre. With our senior boys and girls leaving school last year, we are expecting lots of new faces. After scoring four titles, including the Auckland Team Championship, this season will be all about developing our juniors and setting new challenges for our teams.

TENNIS – North Harbour Zone

As the season draws to a close, our tennis programme can reflect on another successful
campaign. We can confirm Springs will have two teams playing in Finals. Congratulations to
our Senior Boys Gold team who have gone through undefeated and must be warm favourites
to add to last year’s Senior B title. Our Junior Boys Green team are through to the Senior C final,
a great effort considering all games have been against much older opposition.

Our Senior Girls have completed their campaign, finishing 4th overall, while our Junior Boys White
team will complete their programme by playing off for 7th/8th. Our top juniors played in the A
Grade and performed well, usually playing much older players at a high level. We look forward
to our junior boys to dominate their junior grades come Term 4.   

TENNIS – Annual School Championship

Recently, our largest annual school tennis championship was held here on the tiger turf. The
weather threatened early, but cleared to be a hot and humid day. The standard of games matched
the weather, especially in the Open Boys. After a round-robin series of games, the top four seeded
players had beaten each other, culminating in a pulsating Open Boys Final, a standard not seen at
Springs in a very long time.  Congratulations to all our champions, to all students who participated
and to Charise Schwalger for assisting on the day. 

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

OPEN BOYS Nick Varley defeated Grayson Schwalger  9-8
OPEN GIRLS Annie Fitzgerald defeated Scarlett Barnes 6-1
JUNIOR BOYS Blake Bannan defeated Pranava Pavitran 6-3

WATER POLO

The WSC Senior Boys’ Water Polo team competed in the NISS Div 2 Champs last week, winning Silver after a penalty shoot out in the final against Tauranga boys.  This achievement is a reflection not just of the skill and teamwork shown during the tournament, but of the dedication of the team during the whole of Term 1, training at least 3 times a week and playing two games most weekends.

The team will play against Kristin in the Senior B final of Auckland League this Sunday, followed by Div 2 Nationals during the April school holidays.

Special thanks to Brydie Hunt for her coaching and support of the team.

The team comprises: Toby Crust, Luca Gibb, Jay McDowell, Kelly McDowell, Solomon McDowell, Jack McMullen, Zach Monk, Tovia Patelesio, Harrison Raynes, Theo Salmon, Luke Watkinson, Mark Watkinson

Year 12 and 13 philosophers have had a busy Term 1, both levels having just completed their first internal. In Year 12 we began the year by looking at a big philosophical question: what is science? That is, what distinguishes science from sham science (pseudo-science), or non-science? Students tried to come up with an answer to this question, and then we looked at how one of the most well-known twentieth-century philosophers, Karl Popper, answered it. We then moved onto our first assessed topic, ‘censorship’, and focused in particular, around the issue of pornography: is there anything morally wrong with pornography, and if so should it be banned/censored? The class read a wide variety of texts presenting arguments for and against censorship, from a range of points of view; they have just finished their first internal, writing a magazine article about this very relevant ethical issue in the media. We have just begun a short, non-assessed but extremely relevant topic - Free Will and Determinism - which will take us through to the end of this term. Next term, Year 12 will begin their next assessed topic, the Philosophy of Punishment, have the opportunity to listen to guest speakers, and complete a five-credit internal.
 

At year 13, we began the year looking at the wide-ranging field of Political Philosophy, where we explored philosophical issues such as ‘to what extent should the State be able to limit my individual freedom?’ ‘How would a just society look/how should society be structured to best promote freedom and equality?’ Positive vs. negative liberty: is affirmative action justified?’ We examined a range of economic and political ideologies, looking at how they would answer these sorts of questions. The class then got stuck into their first internal. They chose an issue related to Political Philosophy in some way, and then looked at a campaign of action to try and influence policy around the issue. Students chose extremely relevant and interesting issues, some of which included: the issue of the Dakota Access Pipeline in the USA; the issue surrounding the right to use transgender bathrooms in the USA; the gender wage gap in New Zealand; exploitation of workers regarding ‘Zero-Hour contracts’ in New Zealand; abolition of the death penalty in the USA; the issue over whether we should have a Universal Basic Income in New Zealand; and the issue of police brutality in the USA. We have just begun our next topic, Bioethics, which will take us into Term 3. During this topic we examine a range of bioethical issues, from stem-cell research to physician-assisted dying, and apply reasoning and philosophical skills to attempt to work out what the morally right thing to do is. I am looking forward to an exciting and philosophically challenging, Term 2 and 3!

Philippa Johnson, HOD Philosophy.

Information evening.
Talofa, malo le soifua!
Thank you for the wonderful turn out early on for the Pacific families BBQ...great time to meet and make new connections.
We urgently need to meet about your child/children's academic progress so far.
Term 1 is nearly over and it is important that you are informed about how your child is doing, what support we can offer, the challenges so far particularly for our new students.
Please make the effort to attend this important information evening and stay in touch with your WSC and your child!
Fa'afetai lava,
Tupe Tai - Pacific Island Coordinator

The 2017 Junior Learner council has now met twice, the first time to set its protocols and agenda for the year, and the second time to organise a survey of students across the school about possible changes to lesson lengths and form time.  The Year 13 Academic Leaders Jessica Dallas, Zach Monk, Mercy Williams have acted as the officers of the council taking it in turns to chair and take minutes.

The photo above show all three Academic Leaders and all the member of the 2017 council (apart from Bella Ashby who was at a school event).  The 2017 council is made up of the following Year 9 and 10 students: Jack Barlow and Cesarina Mazza-Carson (Atea House Reps); Hazel Burgess and Rafael Hosking (Kaprua House Reps); Queenie Samuel and Gavin Yang (Moana House Reps); Bella Ashby and Marcel Tahere (Oranga House Reps); Nazeera Ibrahim and Zoe Tibbutt (Whenua House Reps); Isabelle Shepherd (Accelerated Learner Rep); Sylvie Frater (GAT Rep); David Manu (Learning Centre Rep); Mike Newell (Learning Support Rep); Ana Downey (Maori English Medium Rep); Azur Asa (Pasifika Rep); and Brandon Matatia Vano and Connor Seymour (Co-opted Members).

Paul Alford
Deputy Principal

News from the Science Department

The year has started with a lot of learning outside the classroom in Science, making the most of the summer weather.

Senior Environmental Sustainability Poor Knights Camp

After a short weather delay the Year 12 and 13 Environmental Sustainability class left on our trip to the Poor Knights Marine Reserve. I was one of the lucky students who was able to attend this camp and I would say it is one of the best camps I have experienced in the five years I have been at Western Springs College.

We spent the first night at Tamaterau, Whangarei heads, were the camp started with a talk from Dr. Roger Grace. He gave us a very informative presentation on the threats to our oceans as well as a discussion of the years of data that he has collected on the benefits of marine reserves.

The next day we woke up early and traveled out to Tutukaka, boarding Dive Tutukaka’s boat “Perfect Day” which took us out to the Poor Knights Islands. We had one of the best days for snorkeling with little wind and a lot of sunshine, giving us the opportunity to snorkel in an area of the island where they had been unable to visit for weeks.

The place was beautiful with crystal clear water and towering green hills that surrounded us, and when you entered the water, it was almost like entering a different world. Seeing hundreds of different species including the biggest snapper I’ve ever seen. We were also able to swim, paddle board or kayak around the boat and even through Blue Maomao Arch.

On the way back we entered Rikoriko cave which is the largest sea cave in the world and provides amazing acoustics. We were lucky enough to have a few students sing in this cave, hearing their angelic voices bounce off the walls around us.

To end our perfect day we ate at the Schnapper Rock restaurant, which had the most amazing food and provided to everyone needs.

On the final day, we returned to Whangarei heads for a snorkel at Motukaroro with Samara and her Experience Marine Reserves team. Here we collected biodiversity data for our internal, comparing fish counts inside and outside the reserve. After experiencing the Poor Knights reserve we were able to see the impact that humans can make to the water surrounding us.

As a whole the camp was thoroughly enjoyable and brought a lot of perspective to the students of how we are affecting the life around us. With overfishing and pollution to the waters we could see clear differences between the two reserves. A special thank you to Mrs McCrorie and Whaea Danielle Parke who had to put up with us students and looked after us well over the camp. To Mr Forster who organised the whole camp, twice due to bad weather, and planned such a beautiful camp that would inform, educate and inspire the students to make a difference to the environment around us. And a huge thank you to Dr Roger Grace for giving up his time to spend 3 days with us.

(by Hinemoa Fonua)

Photos and video thanks to Hinemoa Fonua and Tom Conway.

Check out our students performing Pokarekare Ana in Rikoriko cave:

https://youtu.be/q03cbS3gmSM

And this one of a close encounter with a Moray eel:

https://youtu.be/LIO2tk7XucI

Science Club

The Science Club has started meeting for the year - in D6 every Wednesday lunch time with Mr Okey & Mrs McCrorie. All welcome!

Wises
WasteWise:
This year Wastewise is planning on continuing to make a positive and sustainable change to our school. Our plan for the year is as follows:

In term two, we are holding a fundraising bake sale to raise money to sponsor an orangutan (using honey wraps to wrap the baking) and also holding a clothes swap (please encourage students to donate clothing to the clothes swap to reuse unloved clothes).

In term 3, we are going to do an ocean cleanup with sea cleaners and hold a green week (a week dedicated to sustainability). Throughout all the terms we will also plant and protect our school stream, make sustainable honey wraps and encourage from classes to pick up litter as a sustainable way to improve the school, (rubbish reduction and stream protection)

Our Stream
We started the year well with a huge effort from some passionate weeders at the end of March. We were lucky to miss the rain, although it was hot & sticky work!!

Photos of the afternoon can be seen on our new facebook page - just search Meola Creek Restoration in facebook to find it.

The working bees run straight after school for an hour or so, 3:20 to 4:30. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we are to achieve our vision of a green corridor where native birds & trees can thrive.

Khushee & Ana are submitting an application for some money from the council to help with weeding & to go towards native plants. Fingers crossed they are successful!

Upcoming Working Bees
Term 2: Wednesday 24th May
Term 3: Wednesday 16th August
Term 4: Wednesday 1st November

Khushee & Ana

The 40 Hour Famine booklets have arrived!

If you would like to sign up, our team will be giving out booklets at lunchtime on Tuesday and Thursday of week 11 by the canteen. Remember, you can give up anything you want for 40 Hours - food, Facebook, video games, talking. Be creative!

This year’s campaign is to raise money for creating child friendly spaces for Syrian refugee children. This will ensure they have a safe space to play, learn and obtain counselling.

Remember our famine dates have been changed from the official date (9-11th of June) to the 26-28th of May because of mock exams and the ball. So no excuses!

We have lots of exciting events coming up in Term 2 to promote the 40 Hour Famine like jellybean contests, the well-known minion auction and sausage sizzles in the village green so make sure to stay tuned!

Hope to see you all there!
Let’s make a difference Western Springs!

40 Hour Famine Committee

WESTERN SPRINGS COLLEGE - HOMESTAY FAMILIES WANTED FOR 2017

Ever thought of hosting an international student? Do you have a spare room available?
Our school welcomes applications from local families who may be interested in hosting international students (male or female, long or short term). We offer a good remuneration of $275.00 per week to cover student costs.

If you are keen or interested in becoming a host family please contact our Administration and Homestay Manager, Rachealle Tyrell for more details:

Phone: 8156730 (ext 752)| Mobile: 021617172 |Email: internationaloffice@wsc.school.nz  

Our international team would love to hear from you!

In this Newsletter we would like to introduce to you another member of our international family. Please read about Elliot’s life in New Zealand below.

                                                              Elliot Ferland’s life in New Zealand

Elliot is a fifteen-year-old boy from Quebec, Canada. Last year he decided that he wanted to learn more about other cultures and have new experiences away from home. As it so happens, Elliot’s aunt moved to Auckland some years ago and now lives close to Western Springs College with her Kiwi husband and family. Elliot knew that staying with them would be an excellent opportunity and so he came here in January 2017 to spend a semester abroad.

At Western Springs College, Elliot feels relaxed and is motivated to study. Compared to his school in French-speaking Canada, he pays more attention to his classroom activities and likes that he is given the responsibility to manage his own work load. He also enjoys that the school day in New Zealand is 30 minutes shorter than in Canada with longer and more frequent breaks. During his break times Elliot has in fact some of his most unforgettable experiences. With his new group of friends, he spends the breaks having water fights or running after giraffes. That’s right, Elliot once spotted a giraffe as it was being transported to Auckland Zoo. Elliot explained that because there are no giraffes in Canada, he decided to have a closer look and to run after it – much to the distress of a teacher who witnessed the scene and immediately informed us of his leaving the school grounds.

With his family, Elliot experiences true Kiwi adventures. They take him to their many rock climbing and tramping trips. For example, they went to the Great Barrier Island for a four-day tramp, staying the night in huts. In the April holiday, they are going to the South Island for a one-week hiking adventure. Elliot has also learnt to surf here, and spends some of his free time in skate parks. His biggest dream before he returns to Quebec is to take a scenic flight.

The international team wishes Elliot an enjoyable Term 2. We can’t imagine him anything but bubbly, happy, and enthusiastic with a strong desire to follow everything new and exciting – literally.

This term is ending with wonderful news from Drama who have recently performed at the Auckland West Regional University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival.  A huge congratulations to Amy Morrin and Hattie Salmon, both Y11, for winning the SGCNZ University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival – Best 5 minute, Student Directed scene for their direction and performance in Two Gentlemen of Verona - Act I, scene ii. This is a highly regarded award of the New Zealand regional festivals and we are very proud of them both. Amy and Hattie will continue rehearsal in preparation for the National Festival held over Queen’s Birthday weekend at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, where they will again perform their act alongside other NZ regionally selected schools – we wish them all the very best.

Photo credit:  Tash Christie
            Hattie Salmon and Amy Morrin as Jules and Lucy in Two Gentlemen of Verona – Act I, scene ii                                                                         

Assessors John Callen and Sophie Lindsay commended the award winners on their connection with the audience, each other and projection.  It is always wonderful to see students leading the way with the direction and planning of scenes and over the past three years it has been superb seeing Amy and Hattie grow with their roles in Drama.

Last year, Ella McIntosh was selected from the same regional competition to participate in the National Schools Shakespeare Production where she has been selected to go to the Globe, London later on in July.
We hope Amy and Hattie have as much success.

Following on from their success, we’d also like to recognise the efforts of all students who were involved in the University of Otago – Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival held on Wednesday 5th April at Hobsonville Point Secondary School. Students dedicate a lot of their own time over the term to rehearsing excerpts of Shakespeare in preparation for the competition.

On behalf of Robert Pollock and myself - well done to all and we are very proud of you.

Thanks to Isaac Keating – 13Art Design – for the ArtsNews Heading in this issue.

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

Drama and Shakespeare

Well done to Hattie and Amy and our Sheilah Winn team this year:

- A Midsummer Night's Dream | Act II, scene i
  Joseph Kennedy - Alice Naish and Isobel Christie
- Twelfth Night | Act III, scene iv
  Jack Carden, Sienna Davidson and Max Johnson
- Macbeth | Act I, scene iii
   Max Ferstat, Sam Meyerhoff, Queenie Samuel, Georgia    
   Menhennett and Akinehi Munroe
 - Comedy of Errors | Act IV, scene ii
   Sian Azariah, Grace Thevanard and Niamh Maher
- Two Gentleman of Verona | Act I, scene ii
   Hattie Salmon and Amy Morrin

Photo credit: Gerard McManus – Hobsonville Point Secondary School

News from Media

Hello! My name is Oscar Barber-Wilson and I am this year’s student leader for Media at Western Springs College. It is super exciting to announce the upcoming events we have planned for the year.

To start off, at the beginning of term 2 we will be showing films in class D12 at lunch time once every week; there will be popcorn and bean bags so come along and enjoy the fun!  Later in the year we will also be showing the year 11 music videos in the hall to put the great work they are doing out-there. Every year the 48HOURS furious filmmaking challenge is held where students can get a team together to compete against the rest of New Zealand in making an entire short film within the span of 48 hours. WSC has had a history for being the school with the most teams entered, and we’d love to see new teams giving it a go!

We will be holding workshops to teach students all the juicy tips and tricks to winning prizes at the competition and to help form new teams to join in the fun. There will also be panels of previous contestants who have been in the competition for a number of years and we’ll be getting ex-WSC media masters from previous years who are now in creative fields to come to talk and answer questions about the competition.

That is all for now but stay tuned for future updates and for more details about these exciting events coming up.

Oscar Barber-Wilson – Media Leader

                                              Well… Sophia’s got her Jazz Band part sorted… boys?

Margaret Robertson – HOD Music

Autumnal Greetings

Hard to believe that we are already at the end of term one in our new digs at Y Block.  Although it hasn’t been an easy transition, Art staff have been working hard to prepare, maintain resources and equipment to keep students motivated and focussed on class work.  Having access and understanding of the right tools will also help to build their skill base and enable students to make choices that develop their critical and creative thinking.

In the Junior school – Y9 students have been producing a range of highly expressive work that could feature in the Junior Art festival at the end of the year.  Y10s are finishing their iconic paintings based on the methodology of James Rosenquist and will work towards gaining level 1 credits in the Visual Arts next term.

To date, the three Y11 classes have really stepped up to the challenges of this year’s theme; ‘transFORMing the kNOWn’.  Students are well into the final stage of the first internal which will be completed early next term, which will lead into the next internal standard where they will learn how to combine photographic and painting processes.

Our first EOTC for the year was with the Art History classes who travelled with Jacqui Dunningham and Kirsty Britton to Pah Homestead and then onto the Auckland Art Gallery.  The value of the trip was evident with 48 Students able to discuss and analyse art work within a contemporary NZ context, to give them a real opportunity to use appropriate terminology.  The Y12 students were even able to utilise the time to complete half of the ‘personal response’ internal.

This year we have made a concerted effort to invite a group of ex-students to come in to talk and/or take workshops with our senior Art students.  In week 11 we will have ex-student ‘Component’ (aka Sparrow Phillips) back in the Art rooms to give talks and work with students on the upgrade of his mural, which is currently in storage in D Block.  We were fortunate to have Alma Proenca come in and talk about her ceramic illustration processes with links to her Portuguese heritage.  Students worked with blue slip on premade plates and were immediately hooked by the unique functionality of what they were able to produce and are really excited about the finished glazed product which will be completed in next term.  It has even sparked some Y13 students to construct their own vessels to develop their ideas in a series of work for one of the internal standards.

With the holidays approaching – practical Art students will be reminded of submission dates and encouraged to take work home to finish.  We are able to supply palettes and brushes, but if students require ink or shellac they will need to bring a suitable container to transport it home.

Lastly, with delays and bad weather hampering our initial progress – we are hoping to have installed last years ‘tape art’ mural and this years collaborative mural on the wall between F Block and the Library by the end of the term.  Whilst it has been an inspirational resource for other classes and display for the recent Open Day – the works need to be seen and shared by the school community as pictorial expressions of student voice.

Ia Manuia                                                                                                                                       Lily Laita - HOD Art

Auckland Council will be holding an information session on the Chamberlain Park Masterplan on Thursday 27 April at the Western Springs Garden Community Hall, 956 Great North Road.  Drop in anytime between 6-8pm.

The Masterplan is made up of six sub-projects -
·         The Golf Course redevelopment
·         Meola Creek restoration
·         Local Park with playground
·         Sportsfields
·         Paths for cycling and walking
·         Open Space

This is an opportunity for the community to learn about the exciting changes at Chamberlain Parks and see where each of the six sub-project plans are up to from the Council subject matter experts.

We look forward to seeing you there.
 

How to get there - Bus routes 030, 049, 080, 087, 090, 115, 135, 153 and 195 stop by the venue.
There is some off-street parking at the venue

Albert-Eden Local Board

Our Craft Corner

A brand new market is coming to Pt Chev. Are you creative and would like the chance to sell you wares with other likeminded young people? Contact youth.market2017@gmail.com to register for a stall.
We’re also on the hunt for a couple of passionate people who want to help with market coordination. Email youth.market2017@gmail.com or call 021 719 613 if you’re keen.

Hot Tips Session – delivered by John Cowan from
The Parenting Place

Topic: “Technology Today” & “Get a Life”
Parents will get the skills and confidence they need to be proactive in tackling text bullying, porn, sexting, online predators, gadget addiction and electronic gaming. Be aware of the scope and perils of this digital age, moving on past the negatives through to maximising the positives and putting safeguards in place. Plus top tips to help your teen get ahead – discover your teenager’s passion and abilities so you can help them plot a course to a great future, with ambition and optimism.
To RSVP please email sara.woodward@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz