News and events for the week ending 28th September 2018 Friday 28th September 2018 Opening words from the Executive PrincipalGood afternoon, Kia ora tatou, 你好 It’s been a wonderful week to finish off the term: wild weather, sporting achievements, musical performances, prizegiving, and the smiling faces of children who know they have a holiday (or a study break…) coming up. Last night, we enjoyed a lovely Valedictory Dinner, where we said goodbye to the students in Year 13, accompanied by their parents and many of our College teachers. We had food, wine, music, tears and entertaining photographs of very sweet young children. It’s always a great event, and I left feeling very proud to be a part of our school and our community. Earlier in the afternoon, we enjoyed a superb College Sport Prizegiving for Year 9-13 students. We’ve had a very successful year in sport and other co-curricular areas. Our First XI Hockey boys won the North Harbour 1A grade, our U17A basketball team won their League 2 grade, our table tennis teams won the Term 3 A grade competition in North Shore, and came third in the country in the national tournament. Our badminton team won the North Harbour League 2 competition. Our golf team came first in the North Harbour 9 Hole tournament, 1st in the Auckland 18 Hole competition and 8th in New Zealand. Our Primary Chess team won the Auckland Regional Primary Chess Championship. Aria Rhodes is the top pole vaulter in the country in her age group, Grace Qin swept all before her in table tennis on the national stage, Mack Hong competed at a national level in swimming, and Sungjin Yeo is the country’s top U-19 golfer. There are many more achievements I could highlight, but these were particular stand-outs for me. I’d like to thank the senior music students for their formal concert on Wednesday: it was the best part of my day, listening to piano, cello and vocal performances that were simply exceptional. We also had an entertaining student organised showcase on Tuesday night: again, the standard was exceptional. A few words about new teachers to finish, as we have made a few appointments in the last week or two. I am delighted by the exceptional quality of the teachers who will be joining us next year in the Primary School, in College Art, in College Commerce, in College Maths and in College Physics and Science. We will have an extra Primary teacher next year, as we have an additional class in Year 2, completing our growth and meaning that we will have three classes in every year group in the Primary next year. We will have an additional Maths teacher and an additional Physics teacher in College. This will allow us to run extension classes in Maths and to increase the amount of specialist Physics teachers in College, building our capacity to challenge and support all of our students. Plenty more detail about our appointments next term! Have a lovely holiday and enjoy family time together as we head into a much delayed spring. If you have senior students: feed them well as they study! If your children are younger, enjoy the time with them as they ready themselves for the term to come. TERM 4, WEEK 1: Monday 15 October
Tuesday 16 October
Wednesday 17 October
Thursday 18 October
WEEK 2: Monday 22 October
Tuesday 23 October
Wednesday 24 October
Friday 26 October
如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Kia Ora, This has been a busy week at school culminating in last night’s Valedictory Dinner. It was an absolute pleasure to celebrate and farewell our Year 13 students. Students shared their memories of school life. For some, these experiences of Pinehurst stretch back 13 years. A majority of these memories focus on school camps, Duke of Edinburgh tramps, sports teams and school productions. The key message here is for all students to become involved in the extra curricula life of the school. These activities will add to the friendships and memories that you will take away when you finally leave school. Congratulations to all award winners at yesterday’s College Sport Prizegiving. Involvement and levels of success continue to grow. Thank you to the parents who help us with our sports teams, act as taxi drivers and provide support from the side lines. I fully understand the many hours that are spent taking your child to team and individual coaching sessions, team practices, matches and tournaments. By supporting your child you are helping them to stay involved in sport and recreational activities. I wish everyone an enjoyable two week break. For Year 7 to 10 students this is a two week holiday. For Year 11, 12 and 13 students this is a study break. The start of the build up to final external examinations. It is important for these students to have a break from routine and do some things that you really enjoy. It’s also time to do some study. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College Silver Duke of Edinburgh TrampOn Friday 21st September, 26 Pinehurst Year 11 and 12 students embarked on a Silver Duke of Edinburgh Tramp in the far North of the Cormandel. This was a new route, as the Waitakere and the Hunua, our usual ‘stomping’ ground, had been shut due to Kauri die back disease. The students navigated their way from Fletcher Bay to Stony Bay up into the cloud on the 2nd day, over a hill and down to Port Jackson for the 2nd night. On Sunday the students walked out along the beach and over some cliffs, known as the Murawai walkway and back to the vans. All in the students covered 34km, encountering a variety of terrain. Many thanks to Mr Rossin, Mrs Koopen and Mrs Rea for giving up their time to escort the group. The views and the area were stunning. Quite a unique piece of NZ, we will definitely be going back! Finalists in the Rotary Intermediate Schools Speech CompetitionOn Tuesday, the 18th of September, Gryffon Flew (8WE) and Yeonsoo Son (8KS) presented their speeches in the Rotary Intermediate Schools Speech Competition. From the 15 students, Gryffon was selected to speak again in front of the Rotary members on Tuesday, the 25th of September. Gryffon spoke with confidence on how everyone’s perception is different. His speech was both humorous and insightful. Although Gryffon didn’t win the overall speech competition, he was presented with a $75 voucher. Mid-Autumn Festivities中(zhōng)秋(qiū)快(kuài)乐(lè) everyone! This week we celebrated Mid-Autumn festival (中(zhōng)秋(qiū)节(jié)) throughout Junior College and Primary. Keeping with our Pinehurst traditions, it is the time of year when our Year 8 students return to Junior Primary with treats to share with their little friends. They delighted the Year 1 students with their Mid-Autumn festival tales and legends. After the performances, like a family both Year 8 and Year 1 students shared mooncakes together. We hope you've had a chance to share a meal with your loved ones during this special time of the year! Kiwis for KiwiOver the past 2 years, the students of Rimu House have been fundraising for our house charity, Kiwis for Kiwi. At last week's assembly, we were extremely fortunate to have Paul O' Shea come to speak to us about the work Kiwis for Kiwi do to protect our national treasure. We presented him with the money fundraised by Rimu House to date and gained some valuable information about what we can all do to play our part in protecting and caring for Kiwi birds. We look forward to continuing this relationship with this invaluable charity. Emily Bartlett - Student of Rimu House Interact Rotary Club at PinehurstLast week the Interact Rotary Club were presented with their badges by Mrs Monica Webb of East Coast Bays Rotary Club. The badges are in recognition of their service to the community. The students are asked to participate in two charity collections: an international charity and a national one. Money collected from past sausage sizzles and other collections have enabled the club to provide an annual contribution to an orphanage in Tanzania to help house, feed and educate children in need. The national charity involved a community wide collection of second hand clothes, toys and books for Yendarra Primary School in Otara. The students of Pinehurst are to be commended for their self-less effort in making theses charity collections successful. We look forward to further involvement in 2019. College Year 9-13 Sport AwardsYesterday we held our Year 9-13 College Sport Awards where we celebrate our sporting successes for the year. Congratulations to all our 2018 award winners! Our seven main award winners were: NHSS Badminton- Junior TeamCongratulations to our Year 9-10 Girls Badminton team, Zahra Bhally, Isobel Donald, Samantha (Sam) Hayward, Francesca Miller-Hard, Amelia (Millie) Ogborne, Natalia Skachkova, Alana Takle & Hannah Thornell who placed 1st in the North Harbour Secondary School B grade. World Vision Senior ScholarshipOn Thursday, the 6th of September, at the World Vision Awards Night, Pinehurst School was acknowledged for being one of the 10 top fundraising schools in New Zealand. As a result, Pinehurst School has been awarded a World Vision Senior Scholarship sponsored by Sanitarium. This invite provides Pinehurst with the opportunity to select a current World Vision leader to attend four days of global education, leadership development and social action training. World Vision will host this student and 30 other students from across New Zealand in Auckland for four days during the January school holidays. This year the Pinehurst student selected to partake in this training is Matthew O’Connor. Pinehurst’s First ‘Student Showcase’The first Pinehurst School ‘Student Showcase’ was held on Tuesday, the 25th of September. This event showcased the talented performing arts students that we have at Pinehurst. The entertainment included musical performances, a wide variety of dances as well as singing. The evening was emceed by the 2018 Head Girl and Boy, Daria Perevoztchikova and Louie Holgate-Simpson. As a result of this event, Totara House raised $330 which will go towards their house charity – Ronald MacDonald House. A special thank you to Maria Kopilevich, this year’s Totara House Captain, who was inspired to not only showcase the talent that we have within Pinehurst but also donate the money raised to a very worthy cause. SC Dumpling MakingOur Senior College Mandarin students have had a very busy week. Besides learning Mandarin, students have also had the opportunity to study the cultural aspects of this subject. Together, we have enjoyed celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. The students enjoyed eating the moon cakes and making the dumplings. We hope these events will stay with them for years to come. CASE Junior Space School December 2019 ExpeditionThere is an opportunity for your child to attend the CASE Junior Space School International Study Program next December. This exciting opportunity is available to all students in Y7 – 10 in 2019. Please see Mr Johansen for more information (All Space Camp flyers, brochures, etc) Visit www.actura.co.nz/pinehurst to register your interest. Kia Ora, As I write, Catherine and I are heading out tonight to the Valedictory dinner in Kumeu to recognise and farewell our Year 13 students before they make their way in the world and go off to start their adult lives. Some of them we have known since they were five years old and just starting their Pinehurst journey. I know that everyone tells you when you have a child that it will go really fast; being a parent of a now 15 year old myself I can say that is definitely the case. Sometimes as parents we can’t wait until they get to the next stage which we tell ourselves will be easier but one day you will find yourself wondering how they grew up so fast and where the time went. On the way to work this morning I saw something that made me really sad for the mother and the very young child she was with. They were walking to kindy or school possibly and the mum was looking at her phone, slightly ahead of her child whilst her little one ran to keep up with her. I felt sad for the mum as well as the child because they were missing the opportunity to connect, to chat about the day ahead and their surroundings. When my son was very young I loved nothing more than to talk, laugh and sing together as often as we could. The Primary years go so fast, as the parent of any Year 6 child will tell you, so enjoy, take some time every day to talk to your children about how they are going, be silly and take lots of photos because it will be over before you know it. This has been a very successful term and as we head towards a short Term 4 and the end of the year we know we still have so much to do but it is great to reflect on what we have achieved so far. Thanks for your support in helping us to do that, we really appreciate the work you do to help us at home and in working together to achieve the best we can for your child. If you are able to take a break we hope it is relaxing and look forward to seeing you on Monday October 15. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Primary Sports Prizegiving 2018 – Trophy award changesA friendly notice that there will be some changes to trophies awarded at the 2018 Primary Sports Prizegiving, to bring these closer in line to our Junior and Senior College Sports awards. Kelly Lindsay – Year 1-8 Sports Coordinator Pinehurst School is the Auckland Regional Primary Chess Championship Winner!The boys (Felix Xie, Kenny Zhang, Ryan Fan, Allen Weng and Nicholas Xu) played Cockle Bay, Kaurilands, Marshal Laing and Papatoetoe Central and were undefeated in their games. Now for the National Championships held in Mt Maunganui this weekend. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for our team. A huge thanks goes to Alex Huang who has been coaching the team. The chess club is on every Thursday lunchtime and everyone is welcome to come and have a game in P16. Dance SportsOn Saturday 22nd September over 40 Primary students competed against other schools in the Foxtrot, Cha Cha Cha, Jive and Samba at the DanceSport4schools dance competition. Our students gave up their lunchtimes to practice and are grateful to Gemma Goeldner and Ryan Hughes who skilfully helped coach the team. We had pairs making it to the Semi-finals and had Abby Wendelborn and Ryan Fan winning the Foxtrot and Cha Cha Cha. Unfortunately, we didn’t get enough points to win the trophy but still a fantastic effort by all our amazing dancers! A special mention goes to Ryan Hughes and his dance partner Aleksi Kilian who placed first in the following Under 16 dances - Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Samba, Jive and Cha Cha Cha. Also, Maddy Smith and her dance partner Alex Berry who placed first in the Under 16 Solo Waltz and Quickstep, they also placed second in the Cha Cha Cha and Samba. Junior Primary BasketballSince the beginning of the year, our juniors have been representing Pinehurst School with three strong teams on Monday afternoons at the New Zealand Breakers basketball training facility where a fierce competition ensues every single week. The members of the Pinehurst Pirates, Pinehurst Rockets and Pinehurst Panthers grew together as a team throughout the year. They show huge improvement in ball handling skills, and understanding the game. It is not individuals running around the court chasing the ball anymore, but a conscious team effort to reach the basket and score. They all have good fun and a decent workout. It's no wonder that everyone involved is committed playing for the rest of the year and hopefully we can keep the same teams together next year! Good job Pirates, Rockets and Panthers! Pinehurst Mako’s Senior Primary Flippa Ball TeamThe Pinehurst Mako’s have had a terrific season so far. They finished up 5th in the A grade this term. A great achievement, after winning the B grade at the end of Term 2. They are a committed group of eight Year 5/6 students: Tara, Finn, Jacob, Hybo, Hunter, Eleanor, Alastair and Isabelle. They practice every Saturday afternoon at The Millennium and play their games on Sunday afternoons/evenings. They have played for three terms and are continuing to play next term. The team are coached by Paul Sabor who has a history and real passion for the sport and are managed by the efficient and committed Annette Sabor. They are a determined team, who show promise and talent. We wish them well for Term 4. Super Cluster Cross CountryA team of 13 runners represented us at the Super Cluster Cross Country on Thursday at Rosedale Park. These students competed against runners from 8 North Shore schools with just over 40 runners in each group. The team selected to represent Pinehurst was:
Outstanding results: Elsa Shu and Olga Domracheva who both came 7th in their event. Congratulations to all the runners and thank you to the parents who came along to help and support the team. Junior Primary Cross CountryLast Friday our Year 1-3 classes took part in their annual Cross Country event. Congratulations to all our enthusiastic runners for completing the course! A special ‘well done’ to the top 3 finishers in each race, who will receive their certificates early next term at a Primary Assembly (parents of students receiving certificates will be notified of the assembly date). Finally, a big thank you to Mrs Clark’s class, for helping Marshall and for running with the students on the day! What a term it has been in P1!We have not slowed down this week. We have been working hard to improve our IT skills, attempting to log on and off by ourselves and controlling the mouse to carefully create a picture in Kid Pix. I think we did a pretty good job and will continue to work on these skills next term. In Science we were looking at different things that melt and what makes that happen. We did a cool experiment with ice cubes, salt and food colouring. It was a little messy but lots of fun! Finally, this week we were lucky enough to participate in the celebrations for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Thank you, Miss Liu, for the yummy moon cakes, a delicious treat! Poems and Pastels in P11The students have been learning all about different forms of poetry. So far we have written Haikus, Sense poems, Cinquains and Diamante poems. We read a lovely story about the painter/sculptor who created the “Little Dancer”. Degas did many paintings of dancers and as his eyesight failed, he turned to sculpting. We have created our own little dancers using chalk pastels. Fantastic Fraction Work in P7!This week in Maths we have been learning about fractions. In the photos you can see the children taking part in hands-on activities to find halves and quarters of different shapes or quantities. Hands-on activities foster the growth of critical thinking and problem solving skills as well as increasing learner engagement. The children began by learning how to find halves and quarters of a shape before applying that knowledge when learning how to find a half or a quarter of a number. The children were able to choose from a range of differentiated activities to support and challenge their learning. With the use of physical objects they were able to complete problem solving tasks. Great work P7 Mathematicians! P17 ArtIn P17 we have been learning how to identify the use of the koru within Maori designs, looking at the work of the artist Raewyn Harris. We created our own koru designs, using pastel to blend different shades within our own artwork. Year 5 MathsIn our maths class we have been learning how to identify and select the appropriate operations and most effective method to solve a multi-step problem. We wrote some of our own problems to share with each other. This has helped us understand the process and steps needed when problem-solving. A total of 6428 dogs escape from the animal shelter. 7820 cats also escaped. 25% more bunnies escaped than both cats and dogs. How many bunnies escaped from the animal shelter? - By Olivia A boy has $100 to spend at the toy store. Every toy is $1.25. How many toys can he buy with his money? - By Abhi I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy....Year 2 and Year 5 writers sharing. I Spy...Year 4 talent. I Spy....Year 8's sharing myths with P2. Uniform Requirements for Term 4Years 1-6 will have the option of wearing summer or winter uniform for the first two weeks of Term 4, 2018. Years 7-13 are expected to be in summer uniform from the start of Term 4, 2018. Limited summer stock will be available in the uniform shop from Monday, 17 Sept. Holiday Hours:
Year 10-12 Student Help in Uniform Shop - January HolidaysThe uniform shop requires student help during the last two weeks of January, 2019. This is a paid position. If you are interested, please contact Kathy or Dyan in the uniform shop. Phone 414 -0960 ext 629 or email uniform@pinehurst.school.nz In Music this weekFarewell to Callum Passells Pinehurst’s Jazz band was fortunate to have Callum Passells as a mentor since Term 2 of 2015. During these past three years his skills have transformed this group into an award winning band and his talent in Jazz and patience with our students will be missed. We are lucky to have appointed Ben Fernandez as their new mentor and he will begin working with them from Term 4. Ben has an immense background in Jazz and possesses a wealth of experience in performing and improvising in this genre. Rehearsals will continue running on a Monday afterschool in the slightly shorter time frame from 3.30pm to 4.45pm. Senior Formal Concert Thank you to those that attended and performed at the Senior Formal Concert on Wednesday. The hour long concert featured a good range of senior music students who were completing their performance portfolio for the year by performing a number of pieces on a variety of instruments. Congratulations to all the performers, it was a thoroughly enjoyable event. Itinerant lessons in Term 4 The itinerant lesson schedule will be revamped for next term and your child will be allocated a new time slot for their lesson to ensure that they do not continually miss out on a specific academic subject. The new timetable will be published and ready for viewing by the start of the term, check the link via the music page on our website here. Although Year 11-13 students will be on study leave, unless specified, their lessons will be timetabled to continue in Term 4. Please let your child’s itinerant teacher know if you wish to stop lessons for this term due to examination commitments. Tiger NiuIn the weekend, Year 3 student, Tiger Niu competed in the Under 10 Division of the North Island Ski Championships. He received a silver in the giant slalom and two bronze medals in the slalom speed course. Well done Tiger. Cammando Basketball School Holiday Programmes are now open for registrationPlease register at cammando_basketball@outlook.com
If you have any further inquiries, don't hesitate to ask. Hope you can join us! Keep working hard players! |