News and events for the week ending 30th November 2018 Friday 30th November 2018 Opening words from the Executive PrincipalGood afternoon, Kia ora tatou, 你好 I’m going to start with a big thank you to everyone who completed the Parent Survey: Peter Davies, the Chairman of the Board of Governors, will shortly write to the whole community with an overview of the results, and it was great to see the high completion rate and the very positive tone of the responses. There are some things for us to continue to develop, of course, and we will keep working hard on these. So thank you! Although we will have a newsletter next week, it will be a shorter one. So I thought that today was a good chance to talk about the staff who are leaving this Christmas, and those who are arriving in their place. I’m very glad to report that not many teachers are leaving us this year, and I’m very happy with the exceptional quality of teachers we have recruited as well. In the Primary School, we are saying goodbye to Mrs Jillian Aguas, who teaches a Year 2 class. Jillian has been with us since the start of the year, and she has decided to spend a little more time with her family next year. Mr Kornel Nagy, who teaches Primary Physical Education, is sadly also moving on. Our very best wishes to Kornel and Jillian as they embark on the next stages of their lives. As we have our final ‘extra’ Primary class next year (we have now completed our expansion and will not be getting any bigger in Primary), we have recruited an additional teacher, so we are welcoming Ms Seran Ahn and Ms Kayla Zanderbergen as class teachers next year. Kayla and Seran arrive with outstanding references from their previous schools, where they both held digital learning leadership positions. They will be brilliant additions to our team. Our new Primary Physical Education teacher, Mr Jack Taylor, will also add a new dimension to our teaching team: his enthusiasm and expertise will mean that our students will continue to be excited by sports and PE. Mrs Fiona Mackie, our School Librarian, is also leaving us. Fiona is moving to Westlake Girls, and I’d like to thank her for her hard work in developing the Library over the last five years: our collection is now very strong, and we are at a great position to take the next steps with the Library. Our new Library Manager is Mrs Michele Coombridge, who joins us from Epsom Girls, where she manages the Library learning area, and where she has done some wonderful things. I’m excitedly looking forward to her plans for the new Library when it opens. In College, Mrs Linda Goss is leaving for a position closer to home. Linda has taught English with commitment, care and skill to students in Years 7-11 at Pinehurst for 7 years, and will be missed by her students and her colleagues. Fortunately, we have been able to recruit Mrs Karen Schulte to replace her. Karen has worked at Pinehurst in a range of positions, is well-known and liked by her students, and she’s really looking forward to teaching English full time from the start of next year. Gabrielle Mills, who teaches Psychology, is also leaving: her classes will be taught by the multi-talented Eleanor Morfett, who will be a brilliant replacement and will really develop AS and A Level Psychology. Mrs Linda Hall, who supports many of our ESOL students, is retiring at the end of term: she has been a warm, caring presence in the lives of many of our children, and she is looking forward to the nest stage of her life (which will involve a fair bit of travelling, I think). We have also made some new appointments, growing our staff to ensure that we keep improving our school. Mr Viet Hoang is joining our College Mathematics Department, allowing us to offer additional extension classes for our Maths students. Mrs Shaune Blackwell joins our College Science Department from Kristin School: she is an exceptionally well-qualified Physics teacher with expertise in Physics Scholarship, and will allow us to grow our Scholarship provision next year as well. We also have a new Chief Information Officer, who will oversee e-learning, ICT and data: Mr Grant Saul has been in charge of ICT and data at Westlake Boys High School and St Andrews College in Christchurch over the past decade or so, and will bring additional leadership in the area of digital technologies to our school. Finally, Mrs June Baptista is retiring. June has taught at Pinehurst for 16 years, making a huge impact in the lives of our young people in a wide variety of ways. June has led the Commerce Department and been a Head of Faculty for a number of subjects, has been a Dean, and has taught Financial Literacy, Enterprise, Accounting, Business and Economics to students from just about every year group in College. Along the way, she has found the time to organise Arts Festivals, workshops and market days, as well as write a textbook or two. June is retiring to Queenstown, and we send her on her way with a warm Pinehurst hug. She will be replaced by Mrs Kate Hawthorn, who is an outstanding teacher, and will be joining us from ACG Parnell. A quick word on student numbers: next year, there will be around 920 students at our school in February. We are pretty much full in Years 1-8 (there are a few spaces only in Year 3 next year, the last year group to expand to three classes), and we will not be growing any further. Our maximum class sizes remain at 22 (or 23 if there is a need for a sibling space), and will grow no larger than that. In Junior College, we are also pretty much full: again, our class size maximums are 22 (23 with a sibling space) and will stay the same. In Years 9-12, all our year groups are just short of 80, with class sizes ranging from 3 to about 20. We have grown quickly in the last year or two, and we are expecting to grow a little more in College only, but not much further: we are committed to our green, open spaces, our small classes, and the sense of freedom and community that defines us. We are able, at our current size to continue to add facilities, staffing and resources, and I’m hoping all of our parents are able to see this in action! A last item from me: Sylvia Lum, our Community Engagement Co-ordinator, is currently putting together a new version of our Pinehurst Friends and Family group (although the name will be changing). It’s a chance for parents from all areas of the school to get involved in the wider life of the school (more details next year) and Sylvia would love to hear from you if you are interested in taking part. I think that’s enough from me for one week. Enjoy the sun over the next week, please take the time to say goodbye to those staff who are leaving, and I hope to see as many of you as possible at the Prizegivings and Christmas Picnic next week: they should be great fun! WEEK 8 Monday 3rd December
Tuesday 4th December
Wednesday 5th December
Thursday 6th December
TERM 4 ENDS
WEEK 1 - 2019 Tuesday 29 January TERM 1 BEGINS
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 time last week I was with a group of Year 10 students tramping along the Kauri Trail and staying overnight at Pinnacles Hut in Coromandel Peninsula. The highlight of the trip for many was climbing Pinnacles Summit at 5.30am to view the sunrise. These outdoor education experiences are invaluable to all students. It’s not just the physical challenge and the opportunity to experience New Zealand’s amazing countryside. For some the main challenge is learning to work within a group, sharing and supporting others who need their help. Students are expected look after themselves, share a bunk house with 40 other people, be responsible for their waste, even washing dishes is a novel experience for some. As students’ progress through their Duke of Edinburgh programme the challenges increase along with the levels of responsibility. This week we have a group of senior students completing their gold level Duke of Edinburgh expedition. As a school we value these experiences and will continue to offer opportunities for students to challenge and extend themselves alongside our academic and school based programmes. Next week, Wednesday 5th December, we host our Junior and Senior College prizegiving events. All parents are welcome to join us in celebrating the achievements and effort displayed by College students in Year 7 to 13. Junior College prizegiving will begin at 10.00am and Senior College prizegiving will start at 1.00pm. Both events will take place in the gym. Prizes are awarded to the most successful students within each subject. We also recognise the students who work hard and apply themselves diligently throughout the year. The achievements of our leading students are truly outstanding and provide an example for others to aspire to. At this time of year many students start to look ahead and plan for the next stage of their education. Year 8 students will be transitioning into Senior College. On 24th/25th January there will be opportunity to meet with their new POD teacher. Year 9 students will be preparing for the start of their 2 year IGCSE courses. We have been able to successfully accommodate and timetable all the subject choices of Year 9 students. At this stage of the year we do receive requests from parents wanting to know more about the IGCSE courses that their child will be following. When students begin their courses in February they will receive information about course content, organisation and assessment. For those keen to obtain this prior to next year I would recommend going to the Cambridge website here. You will find syllabus and course details for all IGCSE subjects. The curriculum for Year 11 students moving to Year 12 changes significantly. The most fundamental change is from breadth to depth. Year 12 reduce the number of subjects studied from 8 or 9 to 4 or 5, doubling the lesson time spent studying each subject. IGCSE and A Level examination results are released on the following dates:
Students will receive their login details following Wednesday’s prizegiving. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College Year 11 & 12 BlazersA reminder that all Year 11 and 12 students wanting to have their blazers braided, need to hand them into the Uniform Shop straight after Prizegiving on Dec. 5, 2018 please. We are unfortunately unable to accept any blazers that come in after this time. All blazers must be properly named and free from badges as they will be sent to the dry cleaners before the braiding is done. The cost of the dry cleaning ($16.50) will be charged to your school account. Please note: We will not be accepting blazers in January for braiding. Year 8 Girls & Boys v Wild ExpeditionNow watch the adventure captured on video! DoE Gold QualifierOn Monday 26th November 4 Pinehurst students embarked on their qualifying gold journey at Lake Waikaramoana. After a 6 hour drive to the start point the group climbed up 9 km to the first hut on the great walk - Panikere hut. The group then completed 19km, 24km and 8km on the last day, totalling 60km. The group were in high spirits on their accomplishments and we're singing merrily on their journey back to Auckland on Thursday evening. Louie Holgate Simpson was quoted as saying the trip & the overall experience was 'sensational'. Many thanks to Mr Rossin and Miss Murray for accompanying the group and Louie, Ruby Sattler, Tian Hao Yu and Ellen Lea for some great banter and memories. Social Sciences Maritime Museum and Sailing ExperienceYear 9 visited the Maritime Museum on Thursday and Friday last week as part of their learning about the ‘Changing Face of the Auckland Waterfront – past, present and future’. This involved a presentation showing the changes since 1840, a treasure hunt along the waterfront finding important current landmarks, and a look at the future development in preparation for the America’s Cup challenge. The afternoon was spent viewing the changing waterfront from the water on the sailing ship the Ted Ashby. Year 9 Factory ExperienceLast week Year 9 students traveled to the Chelsea Sugar Factory and Abilities Group to experience what the production function of a business looks like. This trip enabled students to compare and contrast two very different business processes. Chelsea produces a common consumer good, using a capital intensive process, and is a privately-owned profit making enterprise. While the Abilities Group is a post-consumer recycling service, with a labour-intensive process, and is a not-for-profit community organisation. This is a great experience for students to build on in future studies in Business, Accounting and Economics. 7AL Visit to Rosedale VillageStudents from 7AL recently enjoyed a wonderful experience in our Service and Leadership programme. They spent quality time with the residents of our neighbouring rest home facility, Rosedale Village. Delicious DumplingsAfter exams in Week 4, we have been inquiring into various topics of our choice in Mandarin. We all had our own personal questions we wanted answers for. Working with a buddy, we researched to find these answers. Amongst the many interesting and inquisitive questions there were of course the questions about Chinese food, their history, and the rationale behind the different food types, which lead 7CM to experiment with and experience the making of dumplings first hand. We might not have mastered the folding and wrapping (yet), but we have certainly learned to make the stuffing - thanks Sam Sun for providing us with an easy recipe! We shared them with our teachers, Deans and Mr Johansen and they all loved the dumplings! So easy to make and so yummy!! Chinese Xiang Qi in Mandarin ClassChinese Chess or Xiang Qi, is an ancient game that is deeply embedded in the Chinese culture. Millions have played the game across Asia for the past few centuries.Our Year 7 and Year 8 students have enjoyed playing Xiang Qi in the Mandarin class this week. Year 7 Chinese First Language studentsThis week in Mandarin class the students made their favourite food and drink Sino-Recipe. Top Teams Zone DayLast Friday, a group of carefully selected Year 7 and 8 students headed to Birkdale Intermediate School for the annual Top Teams Zone Day. For those that may remember, the event is based on the game show called Top Town. Students competed in a range of events as a team of 10 students (one Year 7 and one Year 8 team) to try and accumulate as many points as possible. Points were also available for sportsmanship and the transition between events. The weather held out for us and everyone had a great day in the sunshine. Thanks to the Nisbet’s who came along to help out on the day and to Ms Lindsay for her excellent organisation. College Sport Auckland - Ambrose Golf DayEarlier this week 12 Pinehurst year 7-10 students enjoyed playing a round of Ambrose golf at Helensville Golf Club. There are no winners or losers at this event as the purpose is for our more experienced golfers to share their knowledge and experience with those that are newer to the game. Girls VolleyballThe Girls Junior Volleyball team are an amazing bunch of girls – they started the season with huge enthusiasm which just continued to grow. They have diligently attended training and matches and have improved tremendously. We ended off the season on a high, beating a Westlake team that we had previously lost to – that is the reason for the big smiles. Way to go girls! Back – Isabella He, Yuki Tian, Jessica Foreshawe, Mrs Schulte. Front – Beryl Liao, Frankie Benison, Kayley O’Connor, Roza Al-Sakini, Hannah Ridgeway Absent: Jessie Wu and Maggie Yin Shakespeare’s Best BitsThe cast of next year’s Junior College Production ‘Shakespeare’s Best Bits’ assembled for the first time this week. There are over 50 students involved from the current Year 7-9 students. At the beginning of Term 1, we will hold auditions for the new Year 7’s to join us in group scenes. That is also when we will be looking for students to help with work behind the scenes. This will be an amazing production full of laughter, tears and epic battle scenes to entertain the masses. Our performances will be from the 13th – 16th June at the Pumphouse Theatre. Congratulations to all those in the cast! Kia Ora, There is no sight of slowing down for the end of the year and if anything we all seem to be that little bit busier making sure that we squeeze every last drop out of the school year before we head off to the holidays. This week we gave out enormous amounts of certificates at assembly to all of our excellence award winners who had received more than three merit certificates, to gymnasts, athletics champions and the class awards. A new set of Maths Whizz medals were up for grabs for the first time ever and the excitement was rippling through the Arena in anticipation of who would win them. The top ten most improved Maths Whizz students for 2018 were: Congratulations to all of our wonderful winners for the effort they have clearly put into Maths Whizz this year. Well done also to Allen Weng, James Zhang, Tara Sabor, Carolyn Zhao, Ryan Fan, Kelly Liu and Alan Chen who completed the whole Maths Whizz programme. I actually don’t think anyone was quite as excited as Homin our bronze medal winner who literally danced for joy! The Maths Whizz programme was chosen specifically because it fits so well with our Cambridge Primary Maths curriculum and really supports students to improve their skills if they make regular use of it. Back in 1998 I travelled from New Zealand to Seattle in the U.S. to learn about enterprise education. I went with a group of NZ teachers with the intention of setting up PrEP or the Primary Enterprise Programme in New Zealand. Twenty years later and it was a pleasure yet again to watch our students gather for their PrEP market day and see all of the amazing products they had made. There are so many financial literacy skills to be learned during PrEP as well as designing and making a product, collaboration and team work and believe it or not good manners. I stood with a group of Year 1 students who waited patiently to buy what they wanted, asked nicely for help to count out their Pines and said please and thank you for the service they received. The smiles on everyone’s faces by the end of the market said it was a success, they learned about running a business and that they really had fun. The teachers were also smiling but that was because they could finally rescue their rooms from all of the glitter and glue! In our final week we look forward to seeing Senior Primary parents at Prizegiving on concert on Thursday before we say goodbye until next year. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Teddy Bear's PicnicDespite the inclement weather, the Primary students and staff managed to get outside in the sunshine for the great Teddy Bears picnic on Monday. Bears and treasured soft toys of all shapes and sizes came to school for the day. Picnic blankets and deck chairs were set up on the field for lunch and then the activities began. Three legged races tied to our teddies, teddy and owner sack races and of course the fun of bouncing our teddies in the air on the parachute. Our Year Six Peer Mediators set up three teddy bear hospitals where many examinations took place. Heart beats were heard, bandages were wrapped, and lashings of cuddles were prescribed. The doctors felt that our Pinehurst teddies were extremely well loved and cared for. Teddy math, poetry and singing was heard throughout the Primary and we can’t wait for the next time we can bring our furry friends to school. Year 6 GraduationBowling, eating pizza, laughing with your friends – what a great way to end the year! Year 6 enjoyed a fun bowling night to celebrate the end of Primary and thankfully avoided any bowling-ball-to-the-foot related injuries or children madly chucking each other down the lane to land themselves a strike! Success! By Tara Sabor, Year 6
Year 4 Immersed at Mind LabLast Friday, the Year 4 students became engineers and coders at The Mind Lab in Motat. Mind Lab is a purpose built environment that allows students to explore the world of robotics and coding. The Year 4’s took turns in participating in two engaging activities during the morning. Students had great fun building mBot robots which they were able to control remotely. After programming the mBot, they were put through a maze. This required several changes with the programming until the robot could follow the course. The second activity was using Scratch to create sound effects and design a musical instrument. We were also shown how to use the Makey Makey electronic circuit to bring the musical instruments to life. The students displayed wonderful skills of perseverance and teamwork whilst they collaborated through creative challenges. It was a fun morning filled with discovery! A big thank you to the parent helpers who came along on the trip with us! PrEP Market DayP10 Sending LoveThis Christmas P10 have had the opportunity to create a Sending Love Christmas card. This wonderful incentive was started in New Zealand by a 6-year-old boy. He decided that he wanted to write a Christmas card for someone in a rest home, who would not receive any visitors or cards. The students relished in this idea and they all created beautiful sparkly Christmas cards. Each student wrote in their card a little bit about themselves. They shared what their favourite food is and what their favourite part about Christmas is. It was very sweet as the common theme for the favourite part of Christmas is spending time with family and friends. After we had made the cards, we discussed the best part about Sending Love cards. This is what some of the students said,
Customer Service in P6!This week has been full of fun and great learning opportunities. The highlight of our week was Market Day, on Wednesday, when we sold the products that we have worked so hard to create. Classroom learning for Market Day, began weeks ago, long before we even had any idea what we would produce for our ‘shop’. We were able to explore links between various parts of the curriculum such as Literacy, Maths, Art and Technology, as well as build important skills, which allowed us to make well-informed decisions and apply our critical thinking. In keeping with our love of Dr Seuss, we studied the story of The Lorax. Through this story, we were able to investigate how money is earned, the difference between needs and wants, the importance of purchasing needs before wants, examining money and its value, and learning to save, spend and share. Collaboratively, we decided to create something which combined our study of plants and current literacy unit, Fairy Tales. We knew that we had to come up with something which would cost little to make but would generate a profit. After a lot of brainstorming and dialogue, we came up with Fairy Garden ornaments. We worked hard as a team to construct what we thought was an excellent product, and on Market Day we sold out! Currently, we are calculating our profit, paying out any expenses and then we will decide what to spend the profit on… Primary MandarinIn Year 5 our Chinese First Language students have been learning to translate stories from English to Chinese. It isn't as easy as we first thought. Sometimes the sentences don't make any sense at all if we translate them literally and if we want to make it interesting for our readers, that is another challenge to overcome! Some of us enjoyed telling stories so much we went on to collaborate together on a story of our own. Anna Ju from 5TL penned a story, while Sabrina Liu, Chelsea Xu and Nicole Zhou provided the illustrations. Meanwhile in 5JH and 5ER Percy Kuang, Renee Luo and Rona Huang wrote Chinese poems. I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy....Year 4 absorbing sound. I Spy....P4 learning pronounciation through fun laerning! I Spy....doctors hard at work at the Teddy Bear's Picnic. I Spy....P7 working hard on their writing assesments. I Spy....little shoppers at the PrEP Market Day. Pinehurst Christmas ConcertYou are warmly invited to attend our Pinehurst Christmas Concert. This will be held in the Gymnasium, Thursday 6 Dec, 2.00pm - 3.15pm. We look forward to enjoying this special, traditional occasion with you. Thank you again for your generous contributions to our beautiful Christmas Hampers for the charity organisation, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. Something Different is Happening this Picnic…You talked, and we listened…so we’re doing something different for the Christmas Picnic this year. The 2019 Pinehurst Christmas Picnic will have some market stalls selling items that could make good Christmas presents or stocking stuffers! There will be Christmas decorations, books for gifts, honey and oils, candles and more! Our children will also entertain you with some Christmas performances throughout the evening – so make sure you keep your eyes and ears open for the sweet sound of Christmas. Keeping to tradition, we will also have our rides that the children love (but parents loathe), our food stalls to keep you full and of course Santa on his sleigh! We look forward to seeing you all there on Wednesday 5th December from 5-7pm down at the main fields. Golf Day 2019Save the date! Friday 8th March 2019. More information to follow next year... Hamper HelpersMany thanks to our wonderful parent helpers who utilised their creative flair in putting together our beautiful Christmas Hampers. Grandparents Raising Grandchildren greatly appreciate the generosity of our Pinehurst community. In Music this WeekLast Informal Concert Although the last Informal concert is typically always short, it is always a highlight of Term 4 as it wraps up, for some students, a whole year’s worth of musical growth in performance. Thank you to all the students who participated in the Informal Concerts this year, the parents who tirelessly cheered their progress on and the time, effort and skill of all their tutors. From a $45,000,000 Stradivari to a Landfill Orchestra This week Year 8, 9 and 10 have been looking at the instruments of the Orchestra and the role of the conductor. The IGCSE, AS and A courses requires a thorough knowledge of sound production and methods of playing on the most common instruments from the four instrumental families: string, woodwind, brass and percussion. Although musical instruments vary in price, one of the highest priced ones are the violins made during the 18th Century in Italy by an instrument maker called Antonio Stradivari. One of his existing viola instruments was valued at $45,000,000 in 2014. All of these instruments are controlled, as though each is a vibrant pot of paint, by the conductor, the painter, who with his baton controls not only the tempo but shapes the music into an interpretation as close as possible to what the original composer would have intended. Perhaps the most interesting part of our unit was to see how a small village in Paraguay, built on a dumpster, found happiness and hope in creating instruments out of the landfill. Click here to view the segment. Tingsen (Timon) XianTimon was an International student at Pinehurst and graduated in 2016.
Ciaran SeymourYear 12 student Ciaran Seymour has been selected as a Rotary Exchange Student for 2019. He heads off to Chile in January 2019 for a year. He will be hosted by the San Miguel Rotary club in Santiago district, and will attend school at the Instituto Sagrado Corazon in San Bernardo. He is looking forward to the opportunity to improve his Spanish language skills. Ciaran wanted to go to a Spanish speaking country, but the Rotary district only had one place available in Chile, the only Spanish speaking country option this year. At the start of the selection weekend, some of the other applicants were also interested in Chile, but Ciaran managed to convince them that they actually would prefer to go to Europe, so fortunately he got his preferred country selection once he was selected. Ciaran will spend the year immersed in the Chilean language and culture, with opportunities for travel with other Rotary Exchange students from around the world. Hopefully he will return with an understanding of another culture, but also impart some knowledge of New Zealand to his hosts. Thanks go to the Rotary sponsor club, East Coast Bays, for giving him the opportunity. School Holiday Tennis Coaching
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