Streaming: 

I read with a great deal of satisfaction the articles and editorial in the Weekend Herald (March 18th pages A3, A16,17 and A20) which stated yet again that the practice of streaming is harmful to students’ progress.  I was preparing our new prospectus for 2018 enrolments and am again heartened by the section on Student Support which reads as follows:

There is a strong tradition of mixed ability teaching at Western Springs.  Our philosophy is that it is important to have high expectations of all students, all of whom we believe to be intelligent in various ways.  IN OUR VIEW IT IS INDEFENSIBLE AND IRRESPONSIBLE TO PREMATURELY AND INACCURATELY LABEL STUDENTS’ ABILITY LEVELS.

This is one of the reasons that Springs is staffed by 12 teachers over our government funded entitlement to allow us to reduce class sizes to allow differentiated mixed ability classes to be taught effectively.  This is why Springs continues to lead the between school comparisons of academic achievement year, after year, after year.

School Dress and Appearance:

Here at Springs we are proud of our non-uniform policy.  Students value the sense of freedom from conformity that it gives them, and our parents and staff frequently comment on the ‘campus feel’ of this place.  We are one of the few secondary schools in New Zealand that has successfully maintained such a policy – one that is much more common overseas than here.

Our prospectus celebrates the fact that we have no formal uniform as part of an educational philosophy aimed at developing “sensible attitudes towards matters of dress and appearance.”  It is noted that dress should be neat and appropriate for all school related occasions and that it is not acceptable for students to wear clothing that is ripped or that has offensive messages printed on it.

As we cope with summer heat it is timely to remind students that school is a workplace and that they should dress appropriately for a workplace.  School is not the beach!  We want to remind students and parents about clothing that is inappropriate for the classroom - extremely short shorts, low cut tops and torn/frayed clothing being the most frequent breaches of our code (printed below).  We ask students and parents to help us in maintaining what is now an almost unique non-uniform policy by dressing appropriately.

When staff feel that it is necessary to intervene in matters of dress they will do so discreetly and address the matter in the context of clothing that is not appropriate for school.  Parents will also be contacted if dress standards are repeatedly breached.

Dress and Appearance

Western Springs College has no formal uniform.  The development of sensible attitudes towards matters of dress and appearance are seen as part of the education process.  Dress should be neat and appropriate for all school related occasions.  It is not acceptable for students to wear clothing that is immodest, ripped or that has offensive messages.  In questions of acceptability of dress, the College’s decision will be final.  Parent support is expected.          WSC  Prospectus; p 5.

Western Springs College hosted ‘O week’ (orientation week) to showcase the school’s clubs and activities to new students during a number of lunch times. The international team was excited to have its own stall on Thursday 02 March and invited the international student leaders to run it. Jonathan Lo, Olivia Yang (see below) and Harry Lee threw themselves into the task with tremendous enthusiasm. They planned to have foods from different countries (dumplings from China, noodles and Sushi from Japan and Korea, pizza from Italy) that students could ‘win’ when able to answer two questions about the respective country. Questions were handed out on slips as follows:

The stall was exceptionally busy and the event a full success. The international team would like to warmly thank the following students for their contributions: Olivia, Jonathan and Harry for organising and setting up, Olivia for making the sign, Kyoko Kaji and Sho Yoshino for making the noodles, Olivia and Jonathan for making the dumplings, Ashley Sun, Candice Zhao, Lucas Wang, Yannis Zhao, Sho, and Alice Yang for helping out at the stall during the lunch break.
One of our international student leaders who put much effort into O week is Olivia from China. Please read about her life in New Zealand below.

At Western Springs College, Olivia feels very privileged that she can get up –in her own words - ‘latish’ for her studies and that she can choose her own subjects. In her final year at WSC, Olivia focuses heavily on subjects related to Art Design and Mathematics to pave the way for her long-term dream: to become an architect. She also feels grateful that when she goes home after school, she has an afternoon to spend with her New Zealand siblings. With her host sister and brother, Olivia plays board games, goes to the park, rides the bicycle and watches movies –a very different experience to being a busy student and single child in China.

The only two things Olivia is missing here in New Zealand is a dining room hall at school (students in China are offered a choice of eight meals for lunch!) and an opportunity to practice traditional Chinese dance. In her home country, Olivia underwent rigorous training for the latter, which included dancing and singing, and also performed on stage.

We wish Olivia a very successful Year 13 at Western Springs College, many relaxing afternoons and weekends, and much energy for her role as an international student leader.
May she come through her NCEA exams with flying colours – as her Chinese name suggests.

Planning is well underway for the History/Classics European trip in July. Students will be visiting Paris, Normandy, Berlin, Rome and Athens. An exciting and busy two weeks. We are able to accommodate one or two more students so if there is any interest in this trip please get in touch with Sophie Lenehan who will be able to provide the necessary information.

Exam results
As in previous years the results for the History department were outstanding, in particular for Levels One and Two where WSC results were well above the national average for a decile 8 school. As always, I am reminded how fortunate the department is to have teachers of the calibre of Emma Dwyer, Zoe Lindsay and Jess Sinclair. It is their dedicated work and commitment in ensuring the best result for each student that brings such success.

The scholarship results for History were very pleasing. Of the 15 students who sat scholarship in History 12 were successful. Of those 12 there were 4 Outstanding, and these 4 students were placed in the top ten in the country. These results were the best in the country, reinforcing the position of WSC as being one of the top schools in the country in history.

Graeme Moran
HOD History.

Michael Palin: geography students hold the key to the world's problems.

John Hall, my geography teacher at school inspired me to a lifelong interest in geography and a curiosity about our world which has stayed with me through my life, and through seven television series. Geography is a living, breathing subject, constantly adapting itself to change. It is dynamic and relevant. For me geography is a great adventure with a purpose.

So many of the world's current issues – at a global scale and locally - boil down to geography, and need the geographers of the future to help us understand them. Global warming as it affects countries and regions, food and energy security, the degradation of land and soils from over-use and misuse, the spread of disease, the causes and consequences of migration, and the impacts of economic change on places and communities. These are just some of the challenges facing the next generation, which geographers must help solve.

It is a subject that helps young people into work. Many employers prize the knowledge and skills that studying geography can provide and geography in higher education is thriving. Geography students are among those gaining greatest satisfaction from their studies, and geography graduates have a relatively low level of unemployment. It's no wonder there is a growing demand to study the subject at university. This is underlined by the Russell Group of Universities, along with the Minister David Willetts MP, who both recognise geography as one of the key "facilitating" subjects for entry to degree level study.

• Michael Palin is President of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)

Jenny Jones

Keen on nature, tramping, fun in the outdoors and meeting other likeminded students throughout the school ?

Join the WSC Tramping Club!

There are at least two tramps organised each term. The tramps are very low cost due to parent support. Please contact Zoe for futher details about how to join the club (free!)  zoetruell@hotmail.com  or 021 02533201.

The first WSC tramp for 2017 was in the Waikakeres in February. A very fun day hiking up the Pararaha Stream involved plenty of swimming and climbing.

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

Year 9 acceleration
At the end of the term we will be ready to choose a group of the most talented year 9 mathematicians to accelerate for the beginning of term 2. This group will be taught as a peer group (i.e year 9s do not get added to year 10 classes, they form a special class). We base our decision on a number of assessments that happen in term 1: the statistics project (handed in recently), a statistics test, and a number test (both still to come). Gifted and talented students need to be aware that their results in these assessments will be important in deciding if they will be offered a place in the accelerated group.

Calculators
All Maths and Stats courses require students to have a calculator. Phones and other devices usually have the ability to do the things a calculator can do, but because of restriction around assessments, students still need a separate calculator. Students should have been informed by their teacher about which calculators are most appropriate for their class. All courses require at least a “Scientific calculator”, an example of this is the Casio fx-82. These are stocked at many retailers and the school office for around $20.

Most students in the senior school will require a calculator better than Scientific (check the course outline or the student could ask his/her teacher). They should either be looking at having a classwiz Casio fx-570 ($55 at the school office and slightly more at other retailers) or a graphics calculator like casio fx-9750 (available for between $100 and $125 at stationary and electronics retailers, not stocked at the front office).

Year 9 and 10 Homework
Junior students can expect to get 1 to 2 hours of homework for maths per week. This will take a variety of usual forms (projects, finishing classwork, worksheets or research). But it will also involve an online system.
-          Year 9 students will be using Mathletics.co.nz.
-          Year 10 students will be using Mathsbuddy.co.nz.
The $30 subject resource fee pays for these registrations. Student will have been given their login information for these sites by their teacher and will do a mix of set task by the teacher and more self-directed learning 

Jared Hockly  - HOD mathematics - hocklyj@wsc.school.nz

We are well into Phase II of the development at Western Springs College.  The Big Dig has well and truly started. It's great to see that our Contractors have their specialist teams on board for their health and safety. Our specialist experts have completed the soil testing and gas monitoring and the contractors use specialised personal protective equipment to minimise any potential hazards. There's also a spraying machine which is used to assist with the bulk of the excavation to minimise the dust hazard from the soil. The walls around the building compound area have three metre high dust meshing fencing to keep the area well contained.

You can see the works ongoing from our very own viewing platform on D Block upstairs. Exciting times ahead, Watch This Space......

Jessie Bernard
Health & Safety Manager - Western Springs College

Western Springs College celebrates a history of success with Sheilah Winn and Shakespeare both regionally and nationally. Again this year Springs is proud to participate in the annual Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand | University of Otago| Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival. We will take four acts to the Auckland West Regional Competition at Hobsonville Point Secondary School on Wednesday 5th April. Performers Y9 – 13 are very busy directing, preparing and rehearsing 5 and 15 minute extracts from Shakespearean plays.

Stage Challenge is underway for 2017 and the Leaders’ team are busy sharpening up their ideas to put together an outstanding dance/drama routine for all students involved. Rehearsal is taking place on Tuesday’s afterschool for all interested and the Leadership team are still taking sign-ups.
The wonderful thing about Stage Challenge is that it promotes leadership, self-management and participation in all aspects of production and performance. The overall achievement and pride that students take away from the event will stay with them for future performance in years to come.

A highlight recently has been the school leaders’ initiative Orientation Week. This year the occasion activated Y Block’s Village Green - the stalls, activities, music, atmosphere and student involvement was fantastic.

The Arts Leaders took sign-ups for the Arts Committee 2017, promoted upcoming events Stage Challenge and Sheilah Winn. They also had a selection of senior art work showcased and live music. With beautiful weather supporting the event it was wonderful to see our students engaged and interested in what life at Springs’ has to offer.

We look forward to seeing what these students have to offer.
Thanks to Mia Duncan-Gardiner – 13Art Design – for the ArtsNews heading in this issue.

Photo credit: Ella McIntosh | Y13

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

We hope that in years to come those who weren’t successful this year will reapply. Our focus as a team will be to continue to support the Arts and events as they occur throughout the year. We look forward to planning and reporting back on some very new and exciting events as a committee this year!

Coming up… We hope to gather interest for Music in the Village Green at lunchtimes. Are you keen?

Oscar Furness-Wills

STAGE CHALLENGE IS UNDERWAY!

The auditions have finished and dancing is about to begin! As a team we are looking forward to opportunity and producing an amazing performance, not too late to join but could be the last week of joining coming up this week!

Practices are most Tuesday’s after school till 4:30 (or earlier). The message that we hope to portray this year is that intolerance is not human nature. We are subject to our upbringings and we are taught by our surrounding to hate, it is not our genetic makeup to be intolerant towards those who maybe different to ourselves, we are all born with an open heart and mind. Through the theme of the divide between the rich and poor we hope to highlight this issue that we still face and question those who believe otherwise. We would like to give a big shout out and thanks to everyone that is participating and helping us hammer home our message and show.

We currently have around 40-50 talented students participating and performing in Stage Challenge 2017! Along with the Stage Challenge Leaders who are supporting this big and upcoming Arts  extravanganza are our choreographers Carla Harre, Molly Snowden and Esther Cohen-Goh. Choreography will be a big part of Stage Challenge and play a huge role in supporting students in the performance aspect of the show! - Our amazing leaders for set/costume design include Freya Sturm and Elsa Brandt ( Elsa also being in charge of Admin ).

Finally, congrats to our amazing leads Eloise, Grace T and Rosa!

Carla Harre and Elsa Brandt– Stage Challenge Leaders

                            Dance students see Rice at the Auckland Arts Festival

                                              "Rice is something you take for granted, but is so precious."
                                                                  Lin Hwai-min, choreographer of Rice

Students from senior dance classes braved the torrential rain and arrived damp but excited at the Aotea theatre to be transported to the rice fields of Taiwan. Rice, a dance from the prestigious Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, was created to mark the company's 40th anniversary, and is inspired by the work of the rice harvesters. To prepare for this work the dancers took part in the rice harvest. The swaying and stomping of the 24 dancers portrayed the cycle of weather and the harvest, and perhaps of birth, maturity and old age.  A stunning video backdrop showed vast landscapes and close-ups of waving grass.

Our dance students enjoyed the abstraction of the movement, and being able to interpret ideas for themselves. They were fascinated by the movements of the male dancers and long bamboo poles that fluttered like bird wings and crackled like fire. They were particularly moved by the last section of the dance, where the female dancers tried again and again to rise from the floor by pulling and leaning on the bamboo poles. Acacia said "they were trying to get up with the sticks. It was emotional, strong but weak."
The next dance trip on the calendar is to YouDance, the youth dance festival at Rae Freedman Theatre at the end of May. All senior students are invited.

Chloe Davison – HOD Dance

Instrument lessons are underway for the year.

There are still slots available for beginner flute, cello, clarinet, trombone and saxophone. There is no charge for these lessons. Come over to the music room and put your name down.  Students have a half hour lesson once a week during class time. School work takes priority so students should be in class for all assessments.  If a student needs to stay in class for an assessment I ask that they pop over to the music department to let us know that they cannot get to their music lesson that day. If I know in advance it is sometimes possible to change lesson times for that day.

I have shared the lesson timetables with all students as a Google doc so they can check when to go. Timetables are also up on the noticeboard in the music department. If lessons are missed three times without excuse the lesson time will go to the next person on the list.

Jazz Band, Chamber Group and Choir have also started.  New members are welcome for all of these groups – we’d love to see you! Entry is open for these groups – there are no auditions. For Jazz and Chamber you simply need to be able to play an instrument and be keen to take part – we will find a part that you can play. You do not have to be an expert.

Groups meet in the music room at the following times:
Chamber Group – Tuesday interval through extended form time
Choir – Thursday lunchtime
Jazz Band – Friday lunchtime
Music performance assessment evenings

The first performance evenings for senior students are fast approaching. These events take place in the music room from 5pm – 7pm.  Students need to be present from 4.15 to complete tuning and sound checks. Performers are also required to stay for the whole event to support their classmates and to help with pack down at the end of the evening. Families are welcome to attend.
Dates for these events are:

Level 1 – Wednesday March 29
Level 2 – Wednesday March 22
Level 3 – Wednesday April 5

Margaret Robertson – HOD Music

News from our Sustainability Groups

Our Stream - Working Bees
2017 is the year for rebuilding our school, so we have planned to have stream working bees, to restoring and improve our local stream, Meola Creek. We aim to have weeding sessions for each term and a possible planting session for term 4. We will start this term on the 22nd of March (Wednesday). It will run after school for an hour or so, 3:20 to 4:30. If you are interested, just turn up, we look forward to seeing on the day! Everyone is welcome, students and adults. We will meet in in the grassy area behind the S block classes, and near X block.

Planned dates of the Weeding Sessions:
Term 1: Wednesday 22nd March
Term 2: Wednesday 24th May
Term 3: Wednesday 16th August
Term 4: Wednesday 1st November

2017 Make A Difference Marine Camp,  by Auckland Council
On the 24th of January, Ana and I were lucky enough to attend the MAD (Make A Difference) Marine Camp. The week long camp was all about Marine sustainability and inspiring us to make the change we want to see. Excited and bright eyed we gathered at The Cloud to start our journey. After the pest check we were off to Motutapu. A jam packed week it was. No time to spare, nights were filled with star gazing, reflections, listening to experts about whales, pest control and other students who were making a change. Days were filled with snorkelling, kayaking, workshops, beach clean ups, yoga, and treks. The experience was truly invigorating and we had so much to gain from it. We were guided and encouraged to make plans, big or small. Plans that we carry to Western Springs. Our connection with the marine world deepened over the week. The camp was a great experience, because we didn’t only come back inspired, feeling connected, but we came back knowing we made new friends and have like-minded environmentalist supporting us.

Khushee Jain & Ana Downey

Wises
TravelWise:
Travelwise often focusses on ensuring students are using sustainable transport. Less car use means less emissions, less congestion and a healthier community. In february we concentrated on teachers, by signing up to Aotearoa Bike Challenge www.lovetoride.net . The main focus of this challenge is to encourage organisations to get there participation rate (amount of staff using a bike for transport or fitness during the month) as high as possible.

Thanks to the following teachers who participated: Jared Hockly, Melanie Webber, Katharine De Montalk, Anna Witten Sage, Ben Hinton, Matt Coldicutt, Damon King, Mike Gunn, Jenny Jones, Petra Tang, David Larsen, Trina Sellers, Helen Long, Josie Bower, Tetoki Tepaki, Danielle Parke, Rob Forster and Robert Pollock.

This represents a 14% participation rate which gained us 10th place out of auckland organisations with staff sizes 50 - 200. We managed to reduce CO2 emissions by 249 kg in our communities by using bikes instead of cars for transport. Just imagine how much our students are saving in emissions by having such a large number who bike, walk and use public transport to get to school everyday.

ORIENTEERING – Auckland Sprint Series, Central Zone

Every Tuesday, for the past four weeks, a group of Springs students have been going to different schools around Auckland to orienteer around them. For some of these students it is their first time orienteering and they have done amazingly well.  We have had people competing in five different grades and some students finishing in the top 10: In Junior Boys, Fergus Reay came 2nd, 2nd, 3rd and 5th, George Wright came 8th and 6th, Angus Williamson came 7th, Forrest Mace came 9th and William Brooker finished 10th. In Intermediate Girls, we had Sylvie Frater coming 5th, 6th and 9th and Anna Cory-Wright Coming 6th, 6th, 7th and 6th. The only Senior Boy in the team, Darius Mortimer-Webster came 5th and 3rd and our only senior Girl Skylar Chapman-Peters came 5th, 5th and 4th.
We have only one more event this term. Congratulations to Anna Cory-Wright, Sylvie Frater, and Fergus Reay who have been selected for the Auckland finals.

We are being coached by Guy Cory-Wright and we would like to thank him for the effort he has put into organising trainings. We would also like to thank all of the people who have driven us across town.

ATHLETICS – Central / West Zone

20 students qualified for the AKSS Central/West Athletic Championships, which were held on Tuesday 28th February at the Trust Stadium, Henderson.

The following students have qualified for the Auckland Athletics Championship, which will
be held at Mt Smart Stadium on Tuesday 21st March:

Jamie Daly-Jones - JB 200m
Ben Hiscotte – IB 400m
Heidi Robinson – SG 3000m
Scarlett Barnes – IG 1500m
Aleesha Hickling – JG High Jump
Constance Murphy – JG Long Jump
Gabrielle Christini – IG High Jump
Hinemoa Fonua – SG Discus
Sofia Gorman – IG Javelin
Tiaan McIntyre – SG High Jump

ATHLETICS - ZONALS

Rafael Hosking - new school record for the Jnr Boys 1500m - 5:03.38 (Jack Naish held the record in 2015 with a time of 5:21.03)  Rafael also set a new personal best in the Jnr Boys Long Jump with 4m.75, at the school athletics day he came first with a jump measuring at 4m.56

Tiaan McIntyre - set a new school record and a personal best in the Snr Boys High Jump - 1.85 (Adam Finlayson held the record in 2015 with 1.80m which Tiaan also cleared at the school athletics this year)

Hinemoa Fonua - set a new school record in the Snr Girls Discuss - 25.78m (Kayla Paniora held the record in 2015 with a throw of 21.67)

Frances Va'auli - set a new school record and a personal best in the Snr Girls Shot Put with a throw of 9.97m (Eseta Fale held the record in 2015 with a throw of 9.30m)

SWIMMING – Central / West Zone

The Central / West Zones was held on Monday 13th March at the West Wave Pools, Henderson. Thirteen students represented Springs at the event. Congratulations to
the following students -

Henry Williams, 1st place in the:
Jnr Boys 50m Butterfly
Jnr Boys 50m Backstroke
Jnr Boys 50m Freestyle
3rd equal in the:
Jnr Boys 50m Breaststroke

Angus Kirkman, 1st place in the:
Jnr Boys 50m Breastroke
2nd place in the:
Jnr Boys 50m Backstroke
Jnr Boys 50m Freestyle

Caitlyn Croad, 3rd place in the:
Int Girls 50m Backstroke

TOUCH – North Harbour Zone

With only a few weeks to go until Finals Day, our Mixed team are still leading the eight team competition, having won five of their six games played. Results are –

WON ALBANY 10-2, LOST MAHURANGI 4-5, WON TE RAKI PAEWHENUA 7-5
WON KAIPARA  6-3, WON NORTHCOTE 9-4, WON HOBSONVILLE PT. 8-6.

End of March are the Touch Zonals, to be held at Avondale Racecourse. This event is massive and we have entered our Senior Mixed team to see if we are good enough to qualify for the Touch Nationals, which is traditionally held in Term 4. Go Springs….

TENNIS – North Harbour Zone

We have entered four tennis teams in this term’s competition. Our top Senior Boys
A team remain undefeated after five games. Our top Junior Boy’s team is also in the A Grade and have been battling well against all the senior boy’s teams. Last week they defeated Westlake 4-2 to score their first win. This team will be very tough to beat in Term 4’s Junior zone grades.

Our Junior Boys ‘B’ team remain unbeaten in their C Grade and it is great to see all our junior players developing well. Our Senior Girls team have had a very disruptive programme where Monday school trips have seen our girls thinly represented oncourt. 

COACHES and MANAGERS

As our sports programme grows in popularity, our resources certainly get stretched to the max. We are always in need of parental support to either manage or coach a Springs sports team. All Springs teams need an adult to manage them. Managers and coaches get assistance throughout their programme and as a small gesture of appreciation, are invited to the high profile Springs Sports Prizegiving, which is held in early November.

Lacrosse – managers required   (see Sami)
Netball – managers and coaches required   (see Peter)
Rugby Union – junior and senior team managers and coaches are required    (see Richard)
Squash – team managers only are required, as players are coached twice weekly   (see Richard)
Sport Centre -   Peter McIntyre    Sami Va’auli   Richard Anderson   (09) 815 6730     xtn 730

UPCOMING EVENTS

Rugby Muster # 1 – Wednesday, March 22 (still need a junior boy’s coach..)   330pm – 5pm

School’s Annual Tennis Tournament – Thursday, March 23   930am – 245pm

Rugby Muster # 2 – Wednesday, March 29  (Auckland Rugby to take training)  330pm – 5pm

Squash – Trainings to begin in week 10.