Friday 28 August 2020Opening Words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 I’ve just been for a walk around the school with the Chairman of the Board of Governors. The Primary bubble was noisy and happy; the creche was cheerful and full of bright colours (and Elsa dresses); and the Library had a small group of hardworking College students, busy with their online programmes. In the College Art room, a talented group of Year 12s are diligently preparing for their mock exams. This is how it’s been for the last two weeks, and I’m very grateful to the staff who have made it successful. Today, though, the property staff are moving around the grounds, taping off some areas, dividing others, and separating classroom furniture. We’re getting ready for the return of students and staff next week, and I can’t wait to see everyone again. I’m not going to talk about the Level 2 arrangements today, so please refer to our website COVID-19 page for full details and let me know if you have any additional questions at all. The link to the page is here: https://www.pinehurst.school.nz/life-at-pinehurst/covid-19-qa/ I wanted today to note what has been happening in Christchurch this week. We will all remember the shock and horror we felt last March at the mosque shootings, and most of us will have heard some of the victim statements in court this week. I found them moving, often heartbreaking, testaments to their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, to other members of their families and to their friends. I heard anger and pain; and I also heard dignity and a refusal to let one man’s evil change their humanity. He changed their lives, but he didn’t take away their identities. They refused to be broken. Eighteen months ago, we came together as a country to reject the hatred behind those shootings, and this week, I felt, we came together again in remembrance. Have a good weekend, and I look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday. Ka kite anō au i a koutou 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 Kelly LindsayAs the Sports Coordinator for Years 1-8 at Pinehurst, I am incredibly passionate about making sure we offer a wide range of opportunities for students to get moving, get active and get involved in school sports. I started at Pinehurst in the Sports Department back in January 2014, and I am very proud of the growth of our sports programme in the past nearly 7 years – we now have a much bigger range of sports and programmes available for this age group - and we achieve well above national participation rates in our school for sport year upon year. I couldn’t offer the range of sports or achieve this high level of sports participation each year without the amazing support from my team in the sports department and the wider Pinehurst Community; coaches - both staff and pro, managers and TICs, our parent volunteers and every one of our parent supporters – so a big thanks to you all. The best part of my job is when I get to take students out to represent Pinehurst at Interschool events – ‘Super Cluster’ and ‘Zone Day’ events, or when I get to watch their games after school, and I see the genuine pride and passion they have representing Pinehurst School. Our Pinehurst students have stepped up on the sports podium at events so many times in the past years I have lost count, showing that Pinehurst is becoming ‘a force to be reckoned with’ when it comes to sport - and not only in our local sports community, but on the National stage too. Speaking of the National stage, my favourite event each year is the AIMS Games tournament in Tauranga – a once (or maybe twice) in a lifetime experience many of our Year 7-8 kids get to be involved in. The school spirit at AIMS (a definite highlight for me was introducing and now planning the annual ‘AIMS Hoodie’ for our Pinehurst AIMS team) is always on show while our teams in their Pinehurst hoodies cheer on their friends and classmates as they take on the best from all over the country. I’m also the coordinator of the College (Year 7-13) Basketball programme. We have been seeing the longer term results of the coaching programme that was put in place a number of years ago, with teams in our College competing at League 1 level in Basketball across a number of age levels. We also have a fabulous girls team in the College Basketball programme – with many of the girls picking up the sport for the first time this year. I am excited about the future of sport at Pinehurst - my goal for 2021 is to get as many students as possible in Years 1-8 involved not only in a Pinehurst sport, but in one of our Pinehurst Team sport programmes, and I have some exciting ideas for 2021 ‘Team Pinehurst’ lined up – watch this space! Kia Ora, While our online learning environment has gone well for our students, I am very much looking forward to getting our community back to school next week. I am sure students, teachers and parents are a bit nervous, having been in our home bubbles for the past two and a half weeks. This is an inevitable response. We will do everything we can to reassure our young people and help them build their confidence back up in the familiar environment of school. Our Year 7 – 10 students will be working in their year group bubbles, which means less moving around the school for them, a positive if the weather is anything like it has been this week. Our senior students return to go straight into mock examinations. As I have said previously, both students and teachers have worked hard to ensure that they are well prepared for these. Our students are well informed and should have a clear understanding as to what to expect in each examination. The mocks are a valuable experience and students will gain great feedback to help them to prepare for the external examinations. Feedback is the most important part of this examination session as students and teachers gain particular insight into where additional focus may be needed over the coming weeks. Early next week the October break tutorial schedule will be made available to students. There will be a wide range of subject tutorials across 6 days during the break. Not all subjects will be covered in this tutorial session as in many cases students will not sit exams in the subject until the middle of November, hence revision tutorials will happen closer to the time. Once again, the tutorials are completely optional as students choose the best way forward for them and their revision programme. I hope that you all enjoy the weekend ahead. As always if there is anything that you or your child is unsure of, or if your child needs any support please contact the relevant person at school. Nga Mihi, Kieran Verryt, Principal of College. Year 8 Social ScienceStudents in Year 8 Social Science recently made comic strips about Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Mount Everest. Water-colour and Digital Portraits by Year 10Senior Open DebatingThe Senior Open Debating team have done superbly in this unusual Debating season having made it through to the quarter-finals. This is a tremendous success as they started off in Round 1 with over 32 teams and eventually ended up in the quarter-finals with 8 teams. The quarter-finals were held on the night of Tuesday 25th August against Ormiston College and Pinehurst were affirming the moot. The moot was “This house would legally obligate children to give a percentage of their income to their parents in old age.” We were ably represented by Isobel Donald. Lisa Sun and Jessica Forshaw. Unfortunately they were beaten in two points of clash, that a moral obligation and the parent child relationship. What made this all entirely unusual was the fact that the entire debate and all debates for that matter were held online with each speaker debating from their own home and the spectators bieng collected in a virtual observation room. Thank you to Neeraj Charya for his very skilled coaching and shadow adjudicating ; Isobel Donald for her commendable leadership of the Senior Debating team and Ruchi Gupta, Jessica Wang and Sarah Xiang, who also made up part of the Senior Open Debating team. Kia Ora, Although our online learning programmes have been very smooth this time around and we feel like we have found a method of delivery that works for our students, it would be fair to say that we are really looking forward to being back in the classroom next week. Our students and families have been amazing, attendance has been high in all classes and teachers are sharing their delight at the academic progress that has been made and the relationships that have continued to grow stronger. We are very fortunate to have a number of experienced specialists teachers teaching Science, Music, Spanish, Mandarin, GATE, Robotics, Dacta, ESOL and P.E. These teachers have added a depth to learning programmes and provided practical experiences that our students really enjoy and clearly learn a great deal from. I am subscribed to Mr. Taylor’s P.E. channel on YouTube and enjoy watching the structure of the lessons and development of skills that are enjoyed by many Pinehurst families. Getting outside has been more challenging this week with the showers and downpours but it was good to see that the rain didn’t stop play! In Music there is always something exciting going on with Mrs Du Toit. Year 5 were learning about the history of the ukulele and composing their own music using incredibox, a sound mixing programme and in Year 3 students were learning about treble clefs. Finding ways of adapting practical programmes has been a real strength of our staff and a factor that has been greatly helped by a confidence and familiarity with the technology we are using. The variety of subjects and teachers has kept interest levels and engagement high which in turn means students are continuing to learn. Today I finished reading Awful Auntie which has been available to Years 4-6 and has been ongoing since April, and Catherine Jones Hill has read her daily story to Years 0-3; it is a time we both enjoy although neither of us know how many students are actually listening! Maybe it’s the joy of sitting down with a book and reading for pleasure or the thought that we are making connections for some children who like to be read to but it something we miss when we are not in online school with some quieter time available during the day. I hope that families have been able to carve out some time for reading together and out loud and created some family lockdown memories. We will see you on Monday morning at the gates, ready to welcome our students back to their classrooms, can’t wait! Have a lovely weekend. Nga Mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Science in P8 – Properties of MaterialsWe have been learning how to collect evidence to answer a scientific question. We are successful when we can carry out an experiment:
Children were given the following tasks:
We are learning how to: Explore and describe the way some everyday materials change when they are heated and cooled. We are successful when we:
We were also challenged as a fun activity online to make a creative igloo that could house a figurine or an animal. Online Learning in P12What a fabulous journey it has been this second time around during online learning. Ms Nasir couldn’t be prouder of our families, students and the way they have adapted to online learning again during this Lockdown. P12 have been working hard during writing time focused on using strong descriptive language and connectives to keep their writing interesting for the reader. One quick trick they have been using during writing time is borrowing each other’s clever ideas, intelligent vocabulary and use it in their own writing. Our class wrote an interesting recount about a dangerous pet dragon. In addition, on Tuesday afternoons at 2:25pm is P12's Got Talent. A very creative sharing afternoon, filled with art, riddles, reading from favourite chapter books and playing an instrument. Here is some of the amazing art created by students in P12... P17 Stays ConnectedIn P17 we have developed an on-going connection with nature and the world around us. While globally things have changed this year, one thing that hasn’t changed is our ability to connect to the environment that is immediately around us – at school, our gardens at home and our local community. This has been a time where it is important to connect with nature to help keep us grounded and connected as families. In P17 we have been growing plants from seeds and watching them grow into vegetable seedlings ready to plant out in bigger pots outside our room. We have grown broccoli, lettuces, spinach, parsley, thyme, radishes and chives. Teaching children how to grow their own food and educate them about sustainability has been important in terms of connecting our learning across the curriculum. We have also made terrariums using recycled plastic drink bottles. Children are encouraged to bring in outdoor objects for closer investigation and we have been inspired by the idea of creating living museums from the book “How to be an explorer of the world” by Kerri Smith. Well done to Molly Liu for her wonderful art piece about sustainability. We have explored many art pieces and the messages that they convey. I think you will agree that Molly has created an awe inspiring piece of art... Many of you will agree that on-line learning has given us the chance to continue our learning as we would at school but it has also given us the opportunity to explore our learning intentions through different media. In P17 we have been enjoying audio books as a way to teach summarising and synthesising and we have chosen to explore some of the classics of English Literature to do this as you will see. All of these books have been enjoyed as great adventure stories and we have enjoyed exploring these as a reflection of the time in which they were written. Congratulations to Isabel Ramdhari for winning the Dorothy Butler Writing Competition sponsored by Paper Plus. She entered the competition when David Walliams' “World’s Worst Parents” book was released. Isabel wrote about her own version of what “New Zealand’s worst parents" might look like and she won the competition and a selection of David Walliams' books. Great work Isabel. We are very proud of you!
A special mention to William Wang, who is a space enthusiast. When learning about sustainability, we have explored whether life on other planets is a possibility. William was particularly interested in the recent Space X mission and he took the time during on-line learning to create his own model of the Space Station! In Music this WeekYear 9 Music Classes - Focus on Female Composers in Music History As part of our Music History unit, the Year 9 Music classes are researching the impact of female composers during history. Although not commonly mentioned in textbooks, their contributions are even more note-worthy, given the social limitations imposed on them as the fairer sex. Clara Shumann, for example was a child piano prodigy and the only reason Robert Shumann gave up his law studies in order to pursue a music career. She was also a tireless promoter of his music, once he passed away. Mozart’s older sister, Nannarl, has been recently attributed to being the composer of a few compositions, previously believed to be composed by Mozart. Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn’s sister, was forbidden to perform publicly by her father but was lucky to marry a husband who was supportive of her musical talents and allowed her to perform and compose. Itinerant Music Lessons resuming next week All music itinerant lessons will resume on-site at Pinehurst next week. The scheduled lesson times for your child may change, due to the senior exams but only for next week. If you wish to find out more about itinerant lessons and/or enrol your child, please click here. Music Co-Curricular Groups at Level 2 Due to the limitations on gatherings, these large co-curricular music groups, such as the Jazz Band and Orchestra, will be on hold until the limitations are lifted. Smaller co-curricular groups will continue rehearsing, such as the Rock Bands, Chamber Music groups and Harp Ensemble. I Spy in the School....I Spy in the Primary...bad/crazy/pretty hair for Fun Friday in P10! I Spy in the Primary...Crazy Hair Day in P11! I Spy in the Primary...Charlie's recycling assignment. Book Parcels from the LibraryAt the start of Level 2 restrictions, our librarians created an online sign-up form for Library Book Parcels. Library Book Parcels are Pinehurst’s own version of ‘click and collect’ for reading at home. From the reading preferences indicated on the sign-up form, our librarians thoughtfully matched readers with books. The books were then packaged into clearly labelled bags, ready for pick-up Reception. We have some truly voracious readers here at Pinehurst! Within the first two days over 60 students/parents had signed up to receive a parcel of books for home. Michele and Sharon have now made up over 100 Library Book Parcels and the feedback from students and parents has been super positive and encouraging. The link to the book parcel form will close over the weekend, however any special book requests can still be made by emailing michele.coombridge@pinehurst.school.nz Are you considering the purchase of a new laptop?To support the purchase of a preferred model, Pinehurst have placed an advanced order with Cyclone for a number of units to be available for parents of current or prospective students to purchase (these can be ordered now, but will not likely arrive until October). Purchasing Options for Pinehurst Students
Our Laptop Programme
Advantages of purchasing through Cyclone (HP models only) We have currently chosen only three models to be offered on the Cyclone portal (these do change)
Each of these devices comes with 3 year Accident and damage protection via an HP Carepack. This means that if the unit is damaged, we can log a job directly with HP and they will come onsite to repair the unit. Cyclone have also let us know that for purchases between 1 July and 4 November 2020 the Probook models will get $100 cash back. Details on the cashback offer can be found here. Ladies LunchPost Lockdown blues? Enjoy a social, fun and relaxed lunch with the ladies in a beautiful setting... Don't miss out - limited places! Contact Judy.Wallace@pinehurst.school.nz Quiz Night!The Quiz Night has been re-scheduled and is now 30th October, we are still taking bookings, please contact Judy.Wallace@pinehurst.school.nz Henry's Handmade Coat CooksHenry Dando in Year 9 has started an Etsy shop with his Dad, selling coat hooks he makes himself. You can find them for sale here: https://www.etsy.com/nz/shop/KaiparaForge?ref=seller-platform-mcnav |