No images? Click here 4 June 2021Pinehurst School NewsletterOpening Words from the Executive Principal...Kia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 I’m going to start with a word of congratulations to all of our senior students, who have been taking their Mid Year Exams this week. They have been serious, committed (and sensible: these exams are mainly a staging post on the way to the externals at the end of the year), and it’s been a pleasure to see them in the exam rooms, in the Library and in the Study Area. They will receive their results next week and I hope that, regardless of their individual results, they feel they have achieved what they should have achieved. If they didn’t prepare properly, of course, they will have been reminded that they need to do more before the Mocks in Term 3! Congratulations to all the students who performed in the Senior Primary Music Concert on Tuesday, and thank you to Mrs Spicer and Mrs Naumovska for making it such a great event. We are listening carefully to parents about opportunities for students to perform, and we know that a number of students weren’t able to take part in the Concert this week. We run termly “Informal Music Concerts” in the Senior Music Room, as well as our larger events, and I’d encourage students to perform at the informal events as well as audition for the larger concerts. We also try to provide chances in Assemblies. But we have got to the point now, I think, where we need to run more formal events. Watch this space for more details… The Pinehurst Theatre will enable us to run more events too (with more comfortable seats!), and I will be talking more about this over the next few weeks. We’re scheduled to start building before the end of the year, and we will be giving parents an opportunity to support the new theatre in a few ways as well. This will include the purchase of a Grand Piano, of course. On new building projects, we have finally received a full Resource Consent (and resolved a few unexpected complications) for the Rosedale Road entrance and exit. We are expecting to start construction on June 14th and hope to have it ready soon after the start of Term 3. This will offer an additional pick up and drop off zone for parents, as well as a small number of parking spaces, and will reduce a little of the congestion at the front of the school. Thank you to the parents who attended the first of three Parent Consultation breakfasts this term. All three are on the subject of “extension”, and it was good to hear so many views about what we do at our school, and about potential changes we can make. Extension is a broad term that includes work inside and outside the curriculum, co-curricular opportunities and, occasionally, a little acceleration. It’s about finding many different ways to stretch students’ skills, and we do a great deal already. Our conversation is about how we keep responding to our students’ need for extension at the same time as talking through what it means to our whole community. It doesn’t, by the way, mean students studying a year or two years ahead (though we do this in a limited, controlled way for a small number of students in College, largely in Maths). I would also ask parents who take their children to tutors to be careful that the tutors are teachers who know our curriculum well, and who are interested in developing skills within our curriculum. I’ve been concerned by some of the work I’ve seen from English tutors (my subject area) recently. To finish with a bang this week, one of our Year 9 students, Alex Lindsay, has a rock band called “Mind Overdrive”. They’re competing in the Rockquest North Shore Regional Finals on June 11th, and there’s a “Peoples’ Choice” category that people can vote for. We’ve included a link to the band’s performance later in the newsletter, so if you’re in the mood for a little guitar, drums and bass, check it out! A reminder that Monday is a public holiday, so enjoy the extra day at home and see you on Tuesday. Ka kite anō au i a koutou. Have a great long weekend. Alex Reed 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Dates for your Diary Week 6 Kia Ora, Although our main focus is daily numeracy and literacy we plan for a broad and balanced programme which encompasses many aspects of learning. This week the Arts and in particular musical performance was a feature in Years 4-6 with our Senior Primary Music Concert. Our performers are very skilled and the concert was a delightful treat on a chilly Tuesday afternoon. We know that many hours of lessons, exams and performances go towards the high quality of music on offer for us in the concert. Keeping with the Arts, our Year 6 students visited the Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa last Friday and had an amazing time creating clay sculptures as well as looking at the work of local artists. They learnt about the whole process of sculpting in clay through to firing in a kiln and glazing to produce the finished items. In the Year 6 art programme this year students will take what they have learned from this experience and apply it to their own work with air dry clay. We can’t wait to see what they produce as there are so many talented artists in Year 6. It was wonderful to see so many grandparents, relatives and older friends and neighbours come to visit their grandchildren yesterday. Teachers planned a variety of fun events which included lots of Matariki star activities, (more on that later), handball games, Dancesport, Amazing Race competitions and art. Classrooms came alive with laughter and animated conversations as young and old spent time together. We even had a visit from Mrs Thomson’s Nana who is 92. We have all heard lots about about her Nana over the years and she is quite a character, many of the children commented that they had never met someone so old and with so many wrinkles. We all thought that Nana was very young looking for 92 and really enjoyed her time in P7. The reason for the event is because it is an opportunity to bring our Pinehurst community together and also to recognise the part that grandparents play in their grandchild’s life. It was lovely to hear what school was like for our grandparents and to learn some of the now forgotten skills they developed in their own childhoods. We loved the opportunity to meet so many of our extended family members and look forward to making this an annual event. Towards the end of term we will celebrate the festival of Matariki which is the Maori New Year with a Matariki themed day and assembly. Our students will learn the story of the seven sisters of Matariki representing the seven star constellation visible in the sky around winter solstice in New Zealand each year. We will learn more about Maori culture through the Arts, writing and reading in particular and through Te Reo Maori or Maori language. From 2022 there will be a public holiday each year celebrating Matariki and giving us a chance to teach our students more about the culture, festivals and celebrations of Aotearoa New Zealand. Look out for Matariki stars in our classrooms in the coming weeks. The winners of the Maths Whizz cup this week were P11 and P18 who have all been working really hard to get their green tick for three or more progressions each week. The number of students achieving their green tick has risen significantly, so thank you parents for all of the support you have given at home to ensure that maths homework is done. Have a lovely long weekend and see you on Tuesday. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary A Day of Clay Sculpting and Drama There was a lot of excitement in Year 6 last week, as we headed off to Orewa for a day of Art and Drama. This term for Art, the students are learning to create a design and make their own clay tile, so this was a great way to introduce the students to working with clay. Firstly, at the Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa, the students were introduced to the history of clay sculpting. Then they had an opportunity to view the “Ningo: Art and Beauty of Japanese dolls” travelling exhibition, that is on display at the centre. The exhibition was magnificent and the detailing of the dolls on display were incredible. The students were very careful wandering around and appreciating the display. Then came the fun of working with clay and making a 3D figure. The students learnt about the art elements and principles of clay, such as texture, plasticity, sculpting, moulding and scoring to secure parts of their figure together. It was amazing to see how working with clay can bring out the creative side of students and it was also very engaging for them. The student’s sculptures are in the process of getting bisque fired and then glaze fired. We can’t wait to see the finished clay sculptures! Part of the trip involved the students venturing down the road to have a tour of Centrestage Theatre. While there, Mrs Clark had arranged for the students to perform on the big stage. In small groups the students had 5 minutes to practice 2 pages of the Lion King scripts, then perform to the remainder of the groups. It was as a brilliant day out for Year 6! Thank you to the wonderful group of parents who came and assisted with the trip. Grandparents Visit the Primary Great excitement could be felt in the air as we awaited the arrival of Grandmas, Grandads, Poppas, Nanas and even some Great Grandmas. Mrs Thomson’s grandma came along to visit P7, and Marcus commented, “I have never met someone who is 92 before!” We had a huge variety of exciting activities taking place in classrooms, playgrounds, and even a spot of dancing happening in the Gym. Grandparents were spotted painting, folding Origami stars, singing songs, orienteering, reading and dancing the Cha Cha. Many grandparents were interviewed about their experience at school when they were young, and the general consensus was that teachers were very strict in our Grandparents' school days. A big thank you to all the grandparents, surrogate grandparents, aunties, uncles and family friends who filled in for the afternoon. Fun & Learning in P6 In P6 our focus in Mathematics has been to read and write numbers to at least 100 and back again, know what each digit represents in two-digit numbers as well as partition into tens and ones. Also addition and subtraction of a single digit to and from a two-digit number. We have been enjoying a range of maths games that are allowing us to consolidate our learning. In Art we have been learning how to use our observational skills to draw a realistic object. We needed to learn to pay attention to detail, specifically examining composition/size, shape, colour, shading and perspective. We really enjoyed drawing our sunflowers as some of us had been lucky enough to visit the Van Gough art exhibition. This week our shared book is called "Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge” by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas. It is about a young boy who helps his elderly friend find her memory. In Global Perspectives, we are learning about showing empathy and understanding towards older people and identify ways they can help the older generation. The children enjoyed exploring the differences between the young and old. They then drew and labelled an older person and wrote about what their favourite older person does for them. Our Global Perspectives linked beautifully with our Grandparents Day. The children thought it was hilarious when Miss Kenny played an old record player that her great grandparents had once owned. The children loved showing the grandparents how they have been learning sign language as they sang our National Anthem. The grandparents and children enjoyed spending the afternoon together involved in a range of different activities from painting, a range of board games, lego, playdough, bead threading, mindfulness colouring of matariki stars, shopkins etc. A huge thank you to all the grandparents and aunties for taking time out of their busy day to come and spend the afternoon with all the children in P6. Give Me More, Give Me More I hope you found the above heading eye catching….This week in writing, Year 4 students in P12 continue to focus on a non-chronological report. We started by identifying the key features of a non-chronological reports, i.e heading, subheading and paragraphs. We worked hard to master this not only through writing, but also through reading where we identified those key features. Firstly we used our non-fiction article about Hypatia of Alexandria, where we were grouped in pairs to write an eye catching heading, including a language feature called alliteration. Secondly we worked on writing effective subheadings and included the relevant information using our own words under each subheading. P12, this wasn’t an easy task but you continued to preserve until the task was done. Our mathematicians have started the week by learning two vital key words, multiples and factors. We made sure we can explain these words to our learning partner. This was a fabulous building block to aide our learning. Next we matched multiples with the correct factures and circling common factors between some of the pairs. This week we made sure we mastered how to solve numbers to the power of 2, i.e 82 , followed by 92 x 62 . We also learnt the importance of showing our working and not just writing an answer. During homeroom maths we are learning all about time. In ICT, we revised on the concept of unplugged coding (without using a device). We are surprising ourselves that unplugged coding is not so straight forward. Our class worked in groups of 3, where they each took turns at writing the code, being the robot and taking a video on Seesaw, however, this is still a work in progress. We will end this fabulous week by celebrating our precious grandparents afternoon. Huge thanks to all our precious grandparents for bringing in so much love and warmth into this afternoon’s activity. We hope you enjoyed your day. Primary PE This term has been a busy one for Year 0-3 in PE. We started off with cross country, learning how to run over a long distance and compete against our peers. All students did well on the day and should be congratulated on completing the course. Within our PE lessons we are also focusing on three sports this term, netball, basketball and gymnastics. We started off the term with a focus on our hand eye coordination learning about netball and basketball. Students were required to move with control and coordination, using space in different ways and moving with different speeds and dynamics that included passing, dribbling, catching, and shooting in a competitive environment. Utilising the game of netball and basketball allows our students to gain confidence in large ball skills, showcasing their ability with a ball in small sided games and activities. We have now started our gymnastics unit with students focusing on moving with control and coordination, using space in different ways and moving with different speeds and dynamics that include balancing, travelling, jumping, and landing on different apparatus with a focus on precision and control. Gymnastics allows our students the chance to demonstrate their balance and coordination in a variety of settings, challenging them to step outside their comfort zone and try new activities and movements. Additional Language Learning In Additional Language Learning (ESOL) this week, some groups have been talking about their food preferences and setting the table. They have also been using full sentences to ask questions and answer each other. Other groups have been looking at designing and producing menus and using these to speak in the future tense. Some other groups have been identifying and then using the subject-verb agreement in information texts. While another group has been looking at the future continuous tense and discussing their plans for the long weekend. Senior Primary Concert wow their audience With over 35 auditions for this event, it is no wonder that the concert was a kaleidoscope of 21 instrumental and ensemble performances featuring a range of Year 4-6 students. It was a treat to see students pairing up to produce fantastic duets, from a piano and melodica to a brother sister piano/ saxophone combo. A vast array of string players also entertained the audience on the guitar, violin and cello but just as the audience was getting relaxed we got a wake up from a drum item or two. A big thank you to Ms Spicer for organising the event. The next performance opportunity is the All-Comers concert held in C2 from 4-5pm on the 23rd of June and registrations for this non-audition event will be released in the newsletter closer to the time. Terrific Team of coaches and players We are so proud of our youngest netball players here at Pinehurst. Our two Year 1 teams played their third game on Saturday and have shown huge growth in their ability to move the ball down the court towards the goal. So much in fact, that both teams won their game on Saturday 10 – 0. You will see in the photo below some fabulous Year 3 students. These wonderful students have just gravitated towards our training sessions on Friday lunchtimes. They are now completely involved in the coaching sessions. Working 1:1 with each student they run through a series of drills aimed to develop passing, catching, moving and shooting goals. Having their support has helped our players immensely, and we are very proud of our Year 3’s for showing such enthusiasm and support to our younger students. Primary Badminton Last Thursday a group of enthusiastic beginner badminton players competed at the North Harbour Primary School Team Challenge for the first time. Our two teams of four players competed in two different sections and faced some easy and some challenging opponents. It was a large competition with over 100 players making up 21 teams and playing in over 300 games. Our students showed excellent sportsmanship and learnt a great deal about the rules of the game as all of them were required to take turns umpiring games. Both of our teams achieved 5th place in their respective sections. Thank you to Mrs Donald who was able to give the team a quick bit of coaching before the competition. Kia Ora, This has been a busy week of examinations for Year 11, 12 and 13 students. I am sure that they, along with their families, are looking forward to a weekend without having to look at flash cards, study guides, past papers and mark schemes. Enjoy your revision free weekend, it is well deserved. I have been very impressed with the way that our students have approached this week of examinations. It is a challenging week, particularly for Year 11 students. These mid-year examinations provide the first clear indicator of a student’s progress in their IGCSE or A level course. The feedback they receive will enable them to plan ahead. Students are encouraged to reflect on how they have prepared. There will be valuable lessons learnt and I’d expect most students to be able to build on their current levels of understanding in next terms mock examinations. Now that all the papers have been taken, we go through a process which results in a final mid-year grade being awarded. This involves more than simply marking each individual paper and adding up the ticks. Papers have to be checked, teachers will cross mark papers to ensure consistency of standards and heads of department will oversee the performance of all classes within their department. We then process the marks to ensure our grade allocation is as accurate as possible and in-line with Cambridge expectations. To do this we closely follow the procedures followed by Cambridge when they set grades for their external worldwide examinations. This is why the initial score generated by adding up all the marks on a paper may differ from the final mark which is used to generate the grade recorded on the Term 2 school report. By this time next week all students should have received their finalised mark and grade. All parents of Year 7 to 13 students will receive their child’s Term 2 school report during the final week of this term. The attainment percentages and grades on Year 7 to 10 reports are generated from marks gained in tests, coursework and homework completed in each subject throughout Term 1 and Term 2. Our mid-year Parent and Teacher Conferences take place during the second week of Term 3. The students who run our Citizenship Council are currently organising a Sports Gear Drive. They are collecting sports equipment to help other Kiwi youngsters who feel excluded from participating in sport due to lack of resources. This can include balls, racquets, bats, hockey sticks, bags and boots that are no longer being used by your child. This is a great initiative from our students. If you have anything you’d like to donate, please give it to your child to bring into school. I hope everyone enjoys their long weekend despite the stormy weather that is forecast. Nga Mihi, Chris Wiggin, Deputy Principal of College MUNA 2021 On the May 28 and 29, five Pinehurst students attended the Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) at Auckland Girl’s Grammar. We discussed current matters of world politics and social concern with delegates from 92 countries, represented by students from schools all over the North Island. Scott, Ellie and Anya represented Israel, while Daniel and James represented Equatorial Guinea. Students were expected to dress in national costume, which made for a very colourful and interesting looking assembly. It was an empowering experience and one never to be forgotten. We arrived for breakfast at the Dorothy Winston Center, where we would spend the next two days conversing with fellow delegates, forming alliances, and debating various political affairs. As Israel, we chose to speak on two topics: the UN to ensure fair distribution of COVID vaccines and the UN member states to increase aid to expand the world food programme. As delegates of Israel, we faced vigorous questions regarding matters with Palestine. The Equatorial Guinea team spoke on important international issues such as Covid vaccine distributions and world food distribution. Standing on a large stage before an audience of 200 delegates and a judging panel was not particularly easy, yet, because of this eye-opening experience, we would do it all over again if we could. - Anya Rammanee and James Harrsion Year 7 Social Science In Year 7 Social Science we have been learning about Sustainable Cities, where we have looked at what actions/practices make a city an eco-friendly and resource-stable place to live. When doing this we decided to look at all the good and bad things we do at Pinehurst. The main thing we spoke about was littering so we went out to sort and count litter around the school, The students did a fantastic job of sorting the litter into various categories. They have used this task to encourage each other to pick up rubbish when they see it around school! Year 8 Art & Design In Art & Design, Year 8 students have developed their illustration skills by creating a Symbolic Self-Portrait in Photoshop. Each design represents the artists personality, illustrated by symbols and objects that represent them. Environmental Management - Freshwater monitoring fieldwork Kimberley D'Souza, coordinator for the ‘Whitebait Connection Programme - Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust', recently met with our Year 10 IGCSE Environmental Management students to show them how to use scientific equipment and record results on the ‘health’ of our local stream flowing along the Pinehurst boundary. Our students assessed pollution levels and animal life and added these to the several years of results we have already collected to help build up a record of its ‘health’ as development continues to be carried out within the local area which may affect the stream environment. Netball Win Congratulations to Pinehurst 1 who played Whangaparaoa 2 last Saturday and won. They were calm and focused, listening to the advice of their Coach, Renee. Teamwork, heart and strong mental fortitude saw them take out the game by 10 goals. Many thanks to their loyal fan base and all the positive encouragement from the sidelines. Winning streak continues.. The Football Girls 1st XI are certainly on a roll, beating Long Bay College 6 - 0 this week. The game was filled with superb passing into space, players running onto the ball, a couple of headers, some fancy footwork and a fabulous attempt at goal that unfortunately hit the crossbar. There was a strong defence, some great teamwork and smiles all round. As always thanks to our supportive sideline, looking forward to seeing you all at the game next week, where we take on Kristin School, who will have home ground advantage Yu Zhang wins the North Shore Piano Concerto Competition Held on the 22nd of May, the North Shore Piano Concerto competition of this year was based on three finalists performing the same work - the 1st mvt of Mozart Piano Concerto KV 488 accompanied by the Devonport Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Peter Thomas. Congratulations to Yu Zhang for receiving first prize and winning $500 at this competition. Orchestra gearing up for the KBB The Orchestra has been meeting every Thursday lunchtime and is gearing up for the Symphonic Category of the KBB competition, held on the 9th of August. With over 53 members, it has been fantastic to hear the sheer volume they can produce, particularly pertinent for the Scheherazade piece which yields from the Romantic era and is normally performing with over 100 players. The Pinehurst Orchestra has grown from just 17 members in 2013 and our aim is to continue growing to up to the 100s, once the new Performing Theatre space can fit us in. Year 8 and 9 Music students embark on a Practical Journey The Year 8 and 9 students of the Semester 1 rotation have embarked on their final development journey – practical. This unit is as much about performance as it is about self-management, determination, problem solving, goal setting and collaboration. Students have the option to choose what setting they wish to develop their performing skills in (solo, duet or group), and can select the instrument they wish to learn a piece or a few on. Although some students have extensive experience in performance and some are beginners, the marking criteria is co-constructed within the class so that experience does not dictate success. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly one can learn to read tablature and thus delve into the endless world of guitar performance. I Spy... Oliver and Charlotte finding snails that they had just read about. Please return Sports Trophies / Cups Awarded 2020 Would all students who were awarded a Sports Trophy or Cup in 2020, please now return these to Reception or to Mrs Lindsay in the Arena Sports office. Thank you! North Shore Career Pathways Expo On 23 and 24 June the North Shore Career Pathways Expo is being held at North Harbour Stadium. There are over 50 different exhibitors including all NZ universities, many different polytechs and tertiary training providers from Auckland and across NZ, Education USA, Police, Defence Force, AFS Exchanges, Industry Training Organisations and more... This is a great opportunity to meet, locally, with so many representatives in one venue. All Year 11 and Year 12 students will be attending on Thursday 24th during P4 and P5. However there are evening sessions as well and these are open to all students and parents.
Rockquest Finalists Last Friday Alex in Year 9 competed in the Rockquest North Shore Heats with his band 'Mind Overdrive.' They were one of 12 bands out of 40 who were selected to compete in the Rockquest North Shore Regional Finals on Friday June the 11th. At the final there is also a People's Choice category where people can vote for a band which they would like to proceed to the National Finalist Selection Stage. |