Friday 24th July 2020Opening Words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 Nau mai hoki mai! Welcome back to school. It’s been a pleasure to see the school filled once again with happy, smiling children and young adults. I’ve been doing lots of wandering around the school and popping into lessons this week, and I’ve been delighted to see how focused and enthusiastic the work has been from the very first lesson of term. I couldn’t begin to cover the wide range of learning I’ve seen taking place, but highlights have included Year 6 Art with Mrs Heighton, a discussion about the features of multimedia texts in Ms Zandbergen’s Year 5 classroom, a lively discussion about body image in Ms Murray’s Year 8 class, some challenging Year 9 Maths (pretty much every Year 9 group!), and Science practicals across most of the senior year groups. We’ve spent some of this week talking about our priorities for this term. We’re squeezing even more into the term than usual, which means that our first priority has to be the well-being of all our students. This is always our top priority, of course, but we’re being especially vigilant at the moment. The evidence consistently shows that the age group most affected by the Lockdown has been people aged around 15 to 30, and we’re keeping a very careful eye on our eldest students. Please let us know if you have any concerns: we welcome these discussions because it helps us to look after your young people. Our other top priority is, as you would expect, on the academic progress and achievement of our students. This is the time of the year when we generate lots of data to help us target the areas students need support in. Primary reports are issued in a couple of weeks, and College Parent Teacher Conferences are next week: please use these to make sure you’re as informed as you can be. Year 6 students will have their progression testing very shortly, Year 9 Checkpoint mocks are towards the end of term, and our senior students have their Mock Examinations in Weeks 7 and 8 of the term, and our external Cambridge exams start during the next holidays: time marches on quickly! We have a third priority this term: to bring back the full life of the school. We will be having an evening get-together for parents new to the school in a couple of weeks; Quiz Night and Ladies’ Lunch are coming up soon; the College Production is at the end of term; the School Ball is at the start of September; the Jazz Band and our School Orchestra are recording their KBB pieces in a few weeks; IGCSE and AS/A Level Option Evenings are in August; Year 8 Ski Camp is in late August; and we have sports in every direction. Every school winter sports competition is up and running from next week, and we have already had some great results – team of the week would probably be our Year 6 netball team, who won a pre-season tournament, and beat their first opponents of the proper season 18-1 on Wednesday. But equally impressive were the 14 enthusiastic College girls who turned out in atrocious weather for football training and enjoyed every minute of it. We have more participation in sports than ever this year. For example, we have 9 teams in Kidzplay, the third highest number on the Shore (our closest neighbour, Kristin, has 4 teams, and Albany Primary, has 5 teams). It’s great to see such enthusiasm, so let’s keep it going! 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 Will ElliotI arrived at Pinehurst in 2017 from a very liberal public secondary school as a green 2nd year teacher. Since joining the team here I’ve been so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to challenge myself and get outside of my comfort zone in a range of different roles. I’ve taken a lot of satisfaction out of developing the junior hockey programme, and am really enjoying seeing the progress that so many of those players have made over the last three years. I’m very excited to see where these talented players end up in their hockey careers and am working hard to create strong pathways into higher levels of hockey. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to contribute my ideas and thoughts in the development of the Health and Physical Education curriculum and am really proud of the work the whole PE team has done to better meet the needs of our students. Having the opportunity to teach the ASPE course has been hugely rewarding and one of my goals is to continue to develop my skills in differentiating my teaching to such a diverse range of students. In my new role as Year 7 Dean I’ve relished the chance to build strong relationships with an awesome cohort of students. A highlight of my year has certainly been seeing all the hard work of organising camp come to fruition. Watching students challenge themselves, make new friendships, and try new things was an absolute privilege. Working with the Year 7 and 8 pastoral team to expand the experiences of the Year 7 camp even further is an exciting challenge for the future. Kia Ora, After a relaxing break the Primary were ready to learn this week despite the howling winds and rain at times. All of us were looking forward to a more settled start after the last two terms and the prospect of a more familiar school routine. Despite the travel bans it seems that many of our families were able to explore New Zealand and all that this wonderful country of ours has to offer. There has been a lot of writing going on in classrooms about the experiences that have been enjoyed. Family times are a great source of real life experiences to help young children especially, learn the art of writing. By now you will have received the overview of learning for the term in your child’s year group, you can find it on Seesaw, please let your child’s teacher know if you can’t access it. We have week by week breakdowns of what will be learnt as part of our programme which will help you to know what is going on in class. In Year 6 there will be mid-year progression testing in Week 3 to give students the opportunity to take timed tests before Checkpoint exams in Term 4 and to work on any gaps in understanding in preparation. We like to give our students every opportunity to succeed and be proud of their efforts. Years 4 and 5 will take their tests at the end of the year alongside the regular assessments we do in all year levels. We have some exciting events this term including the Year 4-6 Speech competitions in Week 5, Super Cluster Basketball and Hockey competitions and Mid Bays Netball. We are having a Grandparents afternoon so that older family members can come and see what their grandchildren do in class and maybe tell us what school was like for them. The Year 1-2 and 3-4 students will have social events in the last week of term and Year 5 and 6 have begun rehearsals for Disney’s Lion King Jr which they will perform at the end of Term 4. Winter sports are up and running as well as plenty of in school lunchtime clubs and activities and the usual after school clubs each night of the week. There is always plenty to do to ensure a broad and varied education at Pinehurst. We welcomed our new families this morning with a powhiri as well as new staff and students who have joined us throughout the year. It was wonderful to see so many new families and to share a special time and memories of their new association with Pinehurst. We trust that you and your children will be very happy here. Have a wonderful weekend. Nga Mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Yummy Apple Sticker PromotionThe Primary council are excited to announce that they are taking part in the Yummy Apple Sticker Promotion. This promotion provides schools with the opportunity to convert Yummy Apple Stickers into sports equipment. On Wednesday, 29th the Council will be meeting to put together the collection sheets for the Yummy Apple Stickers. When you purchase Yummy Apples, you will be able to collect the stickers or cut out labels to place on the collection sheets. One cut out label is worth 10 apple stickers. At the end of the promotion we will collect all of the sheets and convert them into winning our share of sports equipment. We have ten weeks to collect as many stickers and labels as we can. Thank you for supporting us! Year 6/1 NetballOn Sunday 19 July, our Year 6 Netball team participated in the NNH Junior Tournament. The girls turned up bright and early, super keen to finally play their first game of 2020 at Onewa. They played 4 strong games in grade section, utilising all the skills gained from all their training. After 4 consecutive wins against Freemans Bay, Devonport, Torbay and Campbells Bay, they made the final! Our support crew thankfully multiplied in time for the final against Birkenhead. Throwing all their strength and energy into the last game saw the girls come away with a well-deserved win! Thanks to Debbie Stanaway for coaching and organising the team to play at the tournament. Definitely good to have the girls out playing a few games before the shorter season begins. The Mysterious Moon MansionIn P6, this week Year 2 students have been learning to respond to a visual stimulus. Below is a picture of a ‘Moon Mansion.’ The students were given no information about the Moon mansion and only using the picture for inspiration, the students discussed the following questions:
The students came up with very creative and imaginative answers to these questions. Next, we brainstormed adjectives and adverbs we could use to describe this ‘Moon Mansion.’ The students developed a long list of fantastic describing words and we practiced using these words to fix up ‘sick sentences’ (these sentences were sick because they didn’t have any describing words in them!) On Thursday for our Big Writing Session the students of P6 wrote their own descriptions for the ‘Moon Mansion’ using this sentence starter – You think you’ve seen some unusual houses in your time… Well, this is a house that will blow you away! Read our description below to learn about the inhabitants of Moon Mansion. P10 Celebrate MatarikiDuring the holidays, Matariki - The Māori New Year was celebrated. This week P10 have continued to learn about Matariki and explore ways that we can celebrate Matariki in our class. Matariki is a celebration of people, culture, traditions and whakapapa (our family tree). It is also a time for new beginnings, so it is a lovely way to welcome P10’s new students, Lucius, Owen, Ethan and their families to Pinehurst. It is also a nice way to start a new term. Students have been making lanterns as a way of expressing what Matariki means to them, we have read Māori myths and learnt a new dance. We are looking forward to sharing our items at assembly next week. Below is a snippet of our dance, Matariki Macarena. P13 Grass HeadsExcitedly, the Year 4 students in P13 compared hair growth on their grass heads and couldn't wait to give them a trim and a bit of styling. Each grass head was sowed to represent all the new learning, thinking and growth mindsets that the students would be discovering and using as part of their goal setting each term. With freshly cut and styled grass heads, new goals have also been decided. Learning in P20The Year 6 students in P20 have been full of energy and enthusiasm as they tackle the challenges of a busy term ahead. They have been focusing on several tasks this week, but the very first job was to set personal goals. One important aspect that the students had to reflect on, when choosing their goals, was to make sure their goals were specific, measurable and achievable. Speeches are also well underway in class – the students have been brainstorming lots of original ‘out of the box’ speech topics ideas and narrowing them down to one idea, that they will write a 3-minute speech on, to persuade others about. We are looking forward to Week 4 when everyone will be able to share their speeches and persuade others in the class. Kia Ora, Welcome back to Term 3. Our students have started back positively after a good rest and I have been lucky to talk to many of them about their various adventures around New Zealand during the school break. For many they managed to visit somewhere in New Zealand that they had not been before, which is a positive consequence of what is happening in the wider world currently. For many of our senior students the term started back early with holiday tutorials last week. It was great to see more than 100 hundred students taking up the additional opportunity. We also had the full cast of The Addams Family Production in working hard, and I look forward to their performance at the end of this term. For our senior students this is the most significant term of the year as they work hard to complete their courses and ensure that they are well-prepared for the start of Cambridge examinations early next term. They will be very well supported by their teachers on this journey and I encourage all parents to contact us if you have any queries or concerns. As you will be aware, we are hosting our parent and teacher conferences next Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and evening. If you have not yet managed to book your appointments with teachers, please log in to Schoolbox and book these by Monday. The conferences are a great opportunity to discuss your child’s progress and are a great time for our community to come together. The conferences will take place in College 4 and a map will be available for you to see where the various teachers are located. The term ahead promises to be a busy and highly rewarding one. We have some rescheduled events taking place: class photos, senior Swimming Sports, the Production, and the School Ball. We also have the extended sports and debating competition seasons which will finish at the end of the term rather than in the middle. We will have camps, mufti days and many events put on by the various school councils. I look forward to seeing all of our students engaging and making the most of their time at school. I look forward to meeting, or catching up with, many parents on the side-lines of the various activities also. Nga Mihi, Kieran Verryt Business Coaches Needed!This term all Year 9 students are engaging in a programme called Like a Boss (or L.A.B for short) in their Commerce class. During this programme, students are going to work in teams to develop a social enterprise or a ‘business for good’. They will develop a business concept and business plan, and will have a week to trade their products and services. Through this process, students will develop 21C skills that are highly valuable to the future of New Zealand. As this is a programme situated in real-world skills and knowledge, we are looking for some people to act as “Business Coaches” who can support our students during the L.A.B programme at certain times. The time commitment would be no more than one hour at a time and there are several opportunities to be “Business Coach” over Term 3 and 4. You can pick and choose which classes and weeks suit your work schedule. If you are interested, please complete the form HERE. Nā tō rourou, Nō taku rourou, ka ora mai te iwi (With your food basket, with my food basket, the people will thrive) Year 8 ScienceYear 8 Scientists use household substances including salt, sugar, food colouring and raisins to estimate, observe and demonstrate density in liquids. Some students improved their observations by using their phone cameras to film then watch the experiment in slow motion to increase accuracy of timing. Escape rooms in reverse - Year 9 Global CitizenshipLeadership is a core part of being a Pinehurst student. Whilst we offer a range of leadership and service opportunities outside the classroom and in our service programmes and various leadership groups, leadership is also an integral part of the classroom, particularly, in our Global Citizenship curriculum. In our Term 3 Leadership module, we provide students with opportunities to learn about leadership in a range of contexts. This week, our Year 9 students were learning about the effects of climate change and retreating glaciers in Antarctica. Students broke off into groups searching our College campus for hidden keys encased in ice. Once they managed to unlock the boxes, they used the research information and critical thinking to solve problems, working collaboratively to complete each of the challenges. A little competition always drives student motivation. Year 10 Combined ScienceThe Combined Science group is a self-selected extension group for keen Year 10 Science students. This week the group was fascinated by a demonstration of a dissection, then they were able to investigate in small groups the anatomy of organ systems of a lab rat. Many thanks to Miss Alyssa Earnshaw (who is studying for her Masters degree in Genetics) for demonstrating. AS PhysicsIn AS Physics this week we are practicing our experimental skills. On Thursday we investigated how the rate of heat energy transferred from a resistor depends on the voltage across it. Students not only investigated the relationship, but estimated uncertainties and analysed their results for validity. They also needed to evaluate the limitations of the experiment and make suggestions for improvement. This creates an exercise of both practical and analytic skills. The Addams Family ProductionWhile most were still enjoying their last week of holiday, Addams Family cast members were settling into their week-long rehearsal. After their performance of the opening number in Junior College Assembly, it is apparent that this show can’t be missed. In Music this Week...Shuan Liu (Year 13) Congratulations to Shuan Liu, who won 1st prize in the Romantic piano repertoire category and came 2nd in the Modern piano repertoire category at the South Auckland Performing Arts Competitions Festival (SAPACS). This is a major event on the Regions’ Arts Calendar. It is run under the umbrella of the Performing Arts Competitions Association of New Zealand (PACANZ). Shuan, along with a violin and violoncello player, from other schools, entered the Chamber Music Competition this year as a trio, under the name Aquarelles. The contest acts as a springboard for our musicians of tomorrow. We see alumni appear as members of orchestras and chamber ensembles, here and overseas, and embark on successful solo careers. This is a prestigious national event which celebrates excellence. The contest is also about pursuing a discipline which has positive impacts on all facets of life for young New Zealanders. Most of all, is it about building and bringing communities together in the joy of making music. The group has gone through to the Semi-Finals and have a good chance in progressing through to the Finals, both of which will be held on the 7th and 8th of August. Pinehurst Orchestra and Jazz Band KBB Recording sessions – 15th and 16th of August Around 70 Pinehurst musicians, who are part of the Orchestra and Jazz Band will be recording their repertoire for the KBB Festival this year, to submit it for their online Youtube channel. The Orchestra will be recorded on Saturday, in the school’s Arena from 2-5pm. The Jazz Band will be recorded on Sunday, in C2 from 12-4pm. I Spy in the School....I Spy...a lemonade stand at the Holiday Programme last week! I Spy in the Primary...New Entrants making patterns! I Spy in the Primary...Year 2 practicing their reading and writing! I Spy in the Primary...Year 6 focusing hard on their Maths! I Spy... a disco party in the Junior Primary! Ezlunch Menu UpdateWe are pleased to introduce a new local meal business, FED. to our Ezlunch menu. Their Yum Squad meals are made fresh to order from seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. Chef-prepared meals are available Tuesdays to Fridays. New Items include:
Sushimi have advised us that there will be a price increase, commencing Term 3. You are welcome to contact the Ezlunch helpdesk on 09 869 5200 or 0508 4KINDO (05084 454636) if you have any questions or if you need assistance with ordering or setting up an account. Lost PropertyA number of items were picked up over the holidays - if you are missing any of your belongings or pieces of your uniform please check the lost property chest that is located in the Uniform Shop lobby. PhotoLifeStudents should have received their online photo access key slips by now to access their photos online. Please note the free delivery period ends 2nd August. Pinehurst Fitness ConnectionHi Pinehurst Mums! Its Coach Kelly here! Are you lacking motivation and wanting to commit to exercise and eating well after Lockdown? Enroll now for the Pinehurst Fitness Connection! We will kick it off on Wednesday 22nd of July. Numbers are limited so join now! We will meet at the beautiful new dance studio on Mondays and Wednesdays during term time for fun, functional fitness for mums! Sessions run for 50 mins from 9:00 – 9:50am.
A bit about Kelly:
Pricing $30 per week for both classes or $15 for a single. Email Kelly Hebbink: encompass.fitness@outlook.co.nz for further info or to register. Sibling PhotosPinehurst Connection have organised Sibling Photos for any families who would like a photo of their children together in their school uniform. These will be held in C8 – the College Art Room. There will be two sessions available from 2.30–4pm on:
Older siblings will need to arrange a time to collect their younger siblings for the photos. Parents of Primary children can take their children for their photos after school. If you need help making sure your children don’t miss out on photos and are unable to do this after school, please get in touch with Sylvia Lum. If you have not returned your sibling registration form, please email sylvia.lum@pinehurst.school.nz Gold for Jack!Congratulations to Jack Potier who obtained three gold medals at the Taranaki Winter Swim Champs held during the school holidays. He placed 1st in the 400m Individual Medley, 1st in the 200m Backstroke and 1st in the 400m Freestyle. Congratulations Fernanda!The Auckland Athletics Prizegiving for the 2019/2020 season was held over the holidays and Year 7 student Fernanda Tirado received the Special Award for "Athlete of the Year”. In Official competitions in the 2019/2020 season she won 13 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze and in The Bays Athletics Club Champs, 5 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze.
Golfing WinCongratulations to Eun Seo (Nicole) Choi, who placed 1st overall along with her golfing partner, Danika Lee, at the 2020 New Zealand Women's Foursomes held at Matamata Golf club during the school holidays. Term 3 Tennis CoachingIf you would like to enroll your child for after-school tennis coaching this term, please contact Liz at the email address below.
A Mark Twain PresentationFor one day only, Former and Founding Teacher Linus Treefoot impersonates Mark Twain...Free admission at Glenfield Library 2nd August. Harp Dance ConcertOur Pinehurst students who take up harp lessons with Anna Dunwoodie are members of the Auckland Harp Orchestra and will be participating in this concert. There will be some 20 harpists on the day. Please come and join this fun filled concert. |