News and events for the week ending 1st November 2019 Friday 1st November 2019 Kia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and the warm sunshine that came with it. This week Alex Reed is in Korea with our Director of International Students, Patrick Ryoo. They are meeting with a few agencies who provide New Zealand schools with the opportunity to host international students, they are also meeting with Imae School, our sister school who are preparing to host us again next year. This week has seen our students wearing our summer uniform once again. An important part of this uniform is the students hat that they are required to wear at break times as we teach our students to ensure that they protect themselves from the sun. On this theme, our Year 6 students managed to get in one session of Waterwise this week and will hopefully get to complete the programme next week. This valuable programme aims to provide more Kiwi kids with the opportunity to explore and develop confidence in and around the water. The coast, lakes and rivers of our country play a large part in our lives. We believe that positive learning experiences around water will enhance every child’s future by building individual confidence and a strong sense of independence and connection. This connection with nature and an appreciation of both the risks and the rewards of being amongst it is a key theme that runs throughout the school. Camps and field trips are both wonderful learning opportunities and significant social development opportunities. We constantly reflect and review the trips that we offer to ensure that we continue to challenge our students at an age appropriate level. Later this term we have the last of our senior camps for the year with the Gold Level Duke of Edinburgh Hilary Award hike, and the Year 12 Great Barrier Island Camp. Both are week long adventures with the students taking the lead in the activities to demonstrate the skills that they have developed over many years. On a safety front this week we also saw the training of our new crossing supervisors. A good number of Year 5 students and their Year 9 supervisors spent the morning with our local police education officer learning the rules and skills to take up their new role next year. Wherever possible we aim to have our students taking up leadership opportunities and this allows that for this group. Next week we look forward to our Year 7 and Year 8 student examinations. I hope that all our students are preparing well and are confident moving toward their exams. The students are very well supported and guided for these exams and we are confident that the conditions in place will support them to achieve their potential. WEEK 4 Monday 4 November
Tuesday 5 November
Wednesday 6 November
Thursday 7 November
Friday 8 November
WEEK 5 Monday 11 November
Tuesday 12 November
Wednesday 13 November
Thursday 14 November
Friday 15 November
如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Chris Stafford, College TeacherChris is originally from the UK, having studied Pharmacology at the University of Bath before moving into teaching. Before moving to New Zealand he taught Chemistry in the UK for three years and Bermuda for five years. In his time at Pinehurst he's taught Year 9 Science, IGCSE, AS Level and Scholarship Chemistry. As the Extension and Scholarship Coordinator he grows the school’s Scholarship courses. He's been working with scholars students this year, helping them to develop their tutoring programme for younger students and organising some activities to stretch their thinking skills. Chris loves sport and can often be found taking part in Staff v Student sports events throughout the year. He's helped to coach the Girls 2nd X1 Football, Boys 2nd XI Football and Junior Tennis. Kia Ora, A shorter week but still action packed for all areas of the Primary. There has been plenty of sun and it was lovely to see classes heading outdoors for their learning. Unfortunately the weather gods were not so amenable on the water and we have only managed to get out in the optimist boats for one session so far. We have plans in place though and all classes will complete their Waterwise programme next week. We are so grateful to our parents who have given their time and sailing skills to help with the programme and to Kelly Clark for her brilliant organisation. Our Year 4 and Year 5 students have completed their Cambridge progression testing and teachers are busily marking the papers. Parents will be informed of the results in the coming weeks in the form of a bronze, silver or gold grade in Maths, English and Science. One of the reasons for using progression tests is to give our students the opportunity to learn the skills of taking a test so that they are prepared for their Primary Checkpoint in Year 6 and assessments in higher years. They learn how to plan their time, answer the question being asked, read carefully and demonstrate their learning under timed conditions. Learning is a journey and often occurs when we make mistakes and then make different choices in the future. We are looking forward to sharing success with our students and their families. We have been really proud of our youngest people this week as they have shown that they can be responsible in the playground with their new play equipment. Thanks to the creative talents of Susan Boniface and our wonderful Property team we have a move-able car ramp, a roundabout for toy cars, toadstools, noughts and crosses game and play food for the outdoor kitchen. Everyone has learnt how to take care of the new space and we are really excited about our super duper new playground which will be built over the summer. In the coming weeks we are looking forward to the Junior Primary music concert, a trip to Kelly Tarlton's for the New Entrants, Waterwise, PrEP lessons and continuing our learning in all of the subject areas. We will be working hard until the very last day of term but having plenty of fun too! Ngā Mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Reading & Writing in P1Welcome to our new entrants that joined us this term! The children have been introduced to learning sounds from their very first day, they have learnt to point to each word as they read, read from left to right and most importantly, how to handle books with care. These new children are happily browsing through the books, looking at the pictures and recognising words we have learnt. It is a very exciting time for the new children and they are so proud of themselves by being able to read a few words. In Writing, we have also been focussing on writing words from hearing the sounds, remembering to use our 'Fred' fingers to help us. This has been so good for the children to hear how many sounds each word has. We also are practising using ‘button, button, dash’ or ‘button, button, button’ – these words help with this explanation. Busy Bees in P4This week we were so excited to check out the new Butterfly garden. Last term, during Art, we painted cars, trucks, and road signs on rocks. Now we get to play with them in the butterfly garden. We had to much fun exploring the new road, all the pots and pans, and the car races! For Science we are talking about the seasons. We have been talking about what happens with the flowers and trees during the different months of the year. Our Art lesson was very messy this week! We used our hand prints to make beautiful, colourful flowers. When we were talking about Autumn, we experimented with mixing different colours to make our Autumn tress. Next, we are talking about the parts of a plant and what we can grow for our dinner. P12 UpdateYear 3 students in P12 have been learning about capacity. They estimated how much a container held and then measured the water to get an actual reading. In Writing they have been looking at 'Friendly Aliens' and writing some descriptions about them. Exploring the Properties of MagnetsP10 have learnt that magnets have poles. The north pole of one magnet attracts the south pole of a second magnet, while the north pole of one magnet repels the other magnet's north pole. To discover more about magnets, we conducted an experiment. First, we made a prediction of what would happen when we suspend a bar magnet from a piece of string. Many of us thought that the south pole of the magnet would point north, as the two poles attract each other. After testing our theory, we learnt that when a bar magnet is suspended freely, it aligns itself so that the north pole points towards the magnetic North Pole of the Earth. We then discussed how compasses work and we realised that the needle is like the bar magnet in our experiment. To confirm our conclusion, we used a compass to locate north and then followed some directions and watched how the needle always aligned itself back to north. PE in P20In P20 this term for PE, the students have been developing a wide range of skills within athletics. So far we have covered Shotput and Discus where the students have been learning how to throw each of these correctly to achieve maximum distance. We have also been practicing how to use the scissor technique in High Jump. We are looking forward to our Senior Primary Athletics Day at the Millennium Centre in Week 5. Year 5 & 6 'Share a Skill' AfternoonLast Friday was a flurry of excitement as a group of enthusiastic parents joined the Year 5 and 6 for their first ’Share A Skill’ afternoon. Parents were invited to ‘play teacher’ and share their skills and knowledge with a group of eager students. The range of activities on offer made for some difficult choices for our students! P18 was set up as a ‘pop-up’ cuisine centre. Dumplings, huntun, wonton, spring rolls both savoury and sweet were made with great success, and it was very hard not to drop in to sample the sensational food. The Junior Master Chefs were spotted offering plates of deliciousness to staff and students. (Even Mr Reed managed to sample the tasty treats!) The banging of nails was heard outside P23 as a group of crafty carpenters built tool boxes. This was a first-time experience for many of these young builders and they were very excited to complete a take home project in one afternoon. ‘Mayday, Mayday…” could be heard from our group of budding skippers and ocean goers. They were challenged to manage ropes, tie sea-faring knots and develop their nautical knowledge. P16 was set up as the sewing and craft centre. The sewing machine was heard whirring and bags were sewn, whilst another group learnt how to thread a needle and sew on a button. The third crafty activity was badge making which was a popular artistic activity. Drum beats could be heard floating out of the windows in P17. Eager drummers were taught how to drum the basic beats and an electronic drum kit was set up ready for action. We had electronics in P21, they were discovering how Bluetooth can be used to take temperature readings using Thingy:52™, which is an easy-to-use prototyping platform. First Aid treatments were being taught in P20 with bandages being tied and first aid procedures practised – our ‘would be doctors in the making.’ Meanwhile in the opposite corner flower making was taking place with some stunning results. P19 was the place to be to challenge your paper construction skills with secret card making, origami and paper flowers being created. Ms Coxon joined in the fun and offered a ‘zentangle’ session. Zentangle is an easy to learn method of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. These patterns are drawn into square tiles and then put together to form an image. For those students who wanted to challenge their co-ordination Mr Taylor our PE teacher ran a juggling session. It is said that juggling improves co-ordination and develops concentration skills. Ghoulish wounds and scars were made by the special effects make-up tutorial. It was amazing to see how some basic kitchen ingredients (Peanut butter, jam, honey) could be used to make such life like effects. The first ever ‘Share a Skill’ day was an outstanding success with happy students, parents and teachers enjoying working alongside each other. We would like to thank all of our wonderful parents who gave so generously of their time, ingredients and resources. Our students have all asked to do this again next year. Year 6 Kelly Tarlton's TripLast week Year 6 visited Kelly Tarlton’s to continue their work on sustainability and how we effect the environment around us. Students learnt about responsible fishing, the effects that plastics are having in our ocean and engaged in a show-and-tell with authentic animal artifacts. With displays ranging from marine to freshwater, sub-Antarctic to tropical, we enjoyed a visit to the colony of penguins on display and Seahorse Kingdom full of weird and wonderful sea horses. Children explored all the different aquarium areas from the eels to searching out the Wobbegong shark. These are some fun facts that the children learnt, we thought you may enjoy hearing them:
Sadly some of the things we learnt were not quite as fun and made us think that changes have to be made. I learnt today that the term ‘Ghost Fishing’ is that when unwanted large fishing nets thrown into the sea accidentally harms and catches fish on its way down. Usually by irresponsible fishermen or by accident. - Matthew Lee I learnt that for every 1kg of shrimp caught the fishermen catch, 15kg of other prey is caught by accident. - Lily McCabe I learnt an estimated 4600 turtles die every year getting caught in nets or eating plastic. - Harry Benson I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy...Rainbow reading superstars! I Spy...Year 5 & 6 learning new skills on 'Share a Skill' Day! I Spy... Year 1 practicing their high jump for Athletics Day! Kia Ora, At this time of year much planning goes into organising and scheduling classes for next year. Year 9, 11 and 12 students have selected their subjects for next year and the College timetable is being constructed. Individual student schedules are finalised over the Summer break and then students receive their timetables prior to the start of the new school year. All current Year 9, 11 and 12 students have been entered into the IGCSE and A Level subjects they selected. We am often asked whether we stream our classes. Apart from English and Mathematics, all classes are mixed ability. At Pinehurst we focus on differentiated teaching practices. This involves a student-centred flexible approach to teaching, enabling each student to learn effectively regardless of differences in ability. To do this effectively, teachers need to ensure they understand how students learn and what they already know. Pre-assessment and ongoing assessment are important. Class size is also important, our A Level classes have an average class size of just over 11 students and our IGCSE classes just less than 16. Our English and Mathematics classes are organised differently. Within year groups 7 to 11 all English classes for a particular year level are timetabled at the same time. This provides us with greater flexibility with how we group students within classes. Most of our English classes are mixed ability, though within each year level there will be one small support English class, focused on helping students who find English more challenging. Within years 9,10 and 11 we also have an enrichment English class, aimed at extending and challenging our more able English students. All students within a year group are following the same core programme, which includes common assessments. This enables fluid movement between classes when necessary and ensures that at the end of the year each student is ready to move on to the next level. Year 7 to 11 Mathematics classes are grouped according to mathematics ability. This is because Mathematics is the subject that exposes the greatest differences with students’ abilities. Grouping our Mathematics classes enables teachers to challenge and enrich our most able Mathematicians and also support students who find Mathematics more challenging. Some students are also following accelerated Mathematics programmes. This year we have over 20 Year 10 students who have successfully completed their IGCSE Mathematics course, these students will move on to complete AS Mathematics next year. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College Touch Rugby North Harbour Zone DayOur Year 7 and 8 mixed touch rugby team participated with vigour and excitement this Wednesday at the local North Harbour Zone Day Touch Rugby tournament. With limited training beforehand, the squad performed extremely well, winning their first game against Wairau Intermediate 2 – 1. We used the short time gap in between games to refine our defensive structure and put pressure on Murrays Bay Intermediate to lose narrowly 5 – 3. The next game against Northcross Intermediate proved to be our best attacking game scoring three tries against a very organised and slick squad who scored slightly more tries than us. Our last game against Orewa was the most challenging – they went on to win the tournament. It was an absolute pleasure to coach the squad, they gave it their all and right to the end, had a lot of fun doing so. Japanese / Korean Clubこんにちは (Konnichiwa) 안녕하세요 (Annyeong haseyo) Our Japanese / Korean Club is run every Friday during lunchtimes in JC3 with Mrs Cataloni. Last week we tried calligraphy and wrote Japanese and Korean characters using brushes and ink. Japanese calligraphy was originated from Chinese calligraphy where many of its principles and techniques are very similar. Everyone enjoyed writing their names and other phrases in both languages. We have also watched ‘Tonarino totoro (My Neighbour Totoro) which is a very famous animated movie from the 80s and ‘A tale of Mari and three puppies’ which is based on a true story after an earthquake shakes Yamakoshi in 2004. As well as covering the aspects of speaking and writing, we explore both cultures through film, music and food. Everyone in College is welcome to join and we will continue next year as well! Year 7 Global CitizenshipOur Year 7 Global Citizenship students have been working on their communication skills through a variety of problem solving challenges. The aim of this is to develop their understanding of the power of effective communication in becoming better leaders. Year 9 ScienceStudents in Dr Waddel’s Year 9 Science class have been investigating potato chips. This is a cross curricula project involving experimental design and product analysis and formation. Their investigation results in a package design and commercial based on their research and experimental design. The only complaint is that the students cannot eat the chips! Year 10 Field TripYear 10 Geography students recently embarked on a field trip to Orewa beach to gather information and data about the processes occurring on the beach. Their hypothesis was that human processes are accelerating erosion at Orewa beach. They will get together as a class next week, share all of their gathered data and access whether or not this hypothesis is true. It was a beautiful day out at the beach and a great way for the students to put their skills into practise. Global Citizenship - the world’s largest classroomWhen Pinehurst introduced its new Global Citizenship programme in 2015 for the Year 10 students, it was viewed with apprehension. We always fear the unknown. Two years later only 7 Year 11 students sat the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives examination, as part of the Citizenship programme. Over the years, the programme has grown to include Year 1 – 11 and students have come to realise the valuable skills that they can learn: research, critical thinking, collaboration and time management. This year 34 Year 11 students sat the IGCSE Global Perspectives examination (almost half of the year level). In 2020, Pinehurst will begin to offer the A-Level Global Perspectives and Research course which will continue our Global Citizenship programme throughout the school from Y1 – 13. Pictured are just a few of the 34 Year 11 students sitting IGCSE Global Perspectives this year. Poem Wins PraiseThe poem Where I Stand was written by Year 11 student Tony Wang during ESOL class. Tony's poem was chosen as part of the 2019 edition of Signals which will be launched on December 7th. This is a journal published by the Michael King Writer’s Centre annually. Its goal is to promote writing and creativity among Auckland’s college and university students. In September, Ms Daly took 10 Pinehurst students to 2 creative writing and poetry workshops as part of the Auckland Young Writers programme. For the first time a prerequisite for attendance was that the students had a migrant background. So, for these two Saturdays Pinehurst was represented by German, Croatian, Mandarin, and Korean speakers. They met and shared stories with Spanish, Indian, Afrikaans, Vietnamese and Russian speakers from high schools and universities. It was inspiring and motivating for everyone. Ultimately the goal of all who attend is to have the courage to submit work which would be assessed for publishing. Congratulations to Tony for an outstanding effort. NZ Open Dance ChampionshipsBoth Jemma Goeldner (Year 13) and Ryan Hughes (Year 11) competed at the NZ Open Dance Championship in Wellington, held over the Labour weekend. Jemma competed in the Youth category and was awarded with:
To see Jemma in action, click here. Ryan competed in the Junior category and was awarded the following prizes in the following categories: Ballroom: Level 1 - 3rd New Vogue: Level 1 - 3rd Latin: Level 3 - 2nd 8 Dance (Ballroom and Latin): 3rd To see Ryan in action, click here. Special congratulations to Ryan and his dance partner Aleksi, who were also selected to represent NZ in the Under 16 couple category, at the 2020 WDO World Championship Junior Latin held in Italy next year. ICT at Pinehurst SchoolAs we approach the end of the year, many of our Year 6 students and students new to College next year will be thinking about laptops for 2020. Some students may also be wanting to upgrade their machines. It is therefore timely to provide some additional advice around purchasing laptops and how to set these up. We have recorded information online about our laptop programme here. The link provides advice on what sort of laptop to purchase. Key questions for parents when purchasing are around speed, battery life and overall build. An aluminium build is harder wearing than a plastic case and do consider purchasing a protective cover rather than relying on a soft cover case. When your child has got their laptop, they can do some of the setup at home. The first step will be to create a Microsoft Account or an AppleID to log on to the machine. Once this is done the link above gives steps to install free Microsoft Office software, access our College Learning Management System (Schoolbox) and other useful information. It is very important that students use their School OneDrive to backup up material. 1TB of space is allocated to each student and is available on PC and Mac. Students in Year 6 were recently given their new usernames ready to move into College and will be provided with additional assistance to setup their laptop. While we don’t repair equipment, we may be able to provide advice and in some cases are able to facilitate repairs depending on the laptop warranty and insurance. Students can come to ICT Services or email us at pchelp@pinehurst.school.nz Drop Your Boss (Teacher!)Mr Johansen and Mr Elliot will be jumping off the Sky Tower for the annual ‘Drop Your Boss’ event next Wednesday the 6th November to fundraise for the Graeme Dingle Foundation who run programmes to help young people develop confidence. By jumping off the Sky Tower it shows kids anyone can face their fears and encourages them to believe in themselves. There will be photos and videos to share, as proof of the jumps, to show you and our students. Please support our brave teachers and give generously to this great charity by clicking here. Tim's Speedcubing Story on 'What Now'Year 9 student Tim Xie was recently invited by TVNZ 2 programme 'What Now' to tell a story about his speedcubing. The show was live on Sunday 27th October, you can see him on YouTube here: TVNZ2 What Now~Hobby Hub- Story of Speedcubing Speedcubing is the hobby involving solving a variety of twisty puzzles, the most famous being the 3x3x3 puzzle or Rubik's Cube, as quickly as possible. There are 18 events for the world speedcubing competitions, Tim's main events are 2x2x2 and square-1. He is currently holding the National Record of 2x2x2 by average 1.78 seconds, which is Continental Rank#6 and World Rank#76; he has National Rank#2 and Continental Rank#8 for square-1 with single 8.88 seconds. |