Friday 20th March 2020Opening Words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 I’m going to write exclusively about COVID-19 today, but I ask everyone to read the whole of our newsletter. While we make plans for an uncertain near future, Pinehurst children continue to enjoy a colourful challenging, enriching education. Year 7 students are back from camp in just an hour or so, and they too have had a great time. We have, though, had to cancel next week’s Year 9 Camp. I tried to avoid doing this, but ultimately decided that there was too much uncertainty to take the risk. We will try to reschedule later in the year. Many of our community have been living with concern for friends and families in China for two months now – yesterday’s news that there were no new cases in Wuhan was a wonderful milestone, as are the signs that China is carefully reopening, cautious but hopeful. This is good news for all of us, and I am particularly pleased for all of our families who have connections in China: they have been through so much these past couple of months. In Korea, too, there are hopeful signs. Elsewhere, though, we are at a different stage, and I know that many of us are looking at what is happening in other parts of the world and worrying about friends and family. In New Zealand, we are still trying to prevent the virus taking hold locally, and I want to talk today about what this means for our school community. I have been writing home regularly with practical details, and I have added more of this information to the COVID-19 page on our website: please use this for information and write to me if there is anything that we haven’t covered and you need to know. But this newsletter today is about our community more generally. On every single day that passes, another parent, another child, another member of staff reminds me why I love working at Pinehurst School. Resilience can be defined in many ways, but for me resilience is the act of generosity in the face of hardship. When things get tough, resilient people look up, see others in the light they would choose to be seen themselves, and act generously, with compassion and with empathy. Our community is doing precisely that, and will need to do more of it in the coming weeks and months. There are going to be difficult times ahead, and many people in our community will need the support of others: our job is to offer that support, and to be generous. Sometimes things will not work in the way they should work; sometimes people will make decisions you disagree with. Our job is to recognise that people are making decisions in extraordinary circumstances, and to be generous and empathetic when the decisions are not the ones we would make. I would like us to extend our generosity to the people who are making decisions for the whole country. I may not agree with every decision that has been made, but I respect the sincerity with which they have been made. Our Government, supported by the doctors and scientists who know far more than the rest of us, are using evidence and expertise to make delicate judgements, trying to get the balance right. They deserve our support. This takes me to our school, and the decisions we have to make. I want to deal directly with the question of school closure. I have been transparent at every step, and I want to explain our thinking on this. Firstly: this morning, over 60 of our children were at home, self-isolating. Some of the students had been in close contact with someone who has been overseas in the last 14 days – and I remind everyone in our community that our rule is that if your child has been in close contact with anyone who has been overseas in the last 14 days, they must self-isolate and you must let me know – and some are self-isolating because their parents have decided to keep their children at home as a precaution. Whilst I do think that school is a safe place for children to be, I respect these decisions, and we are supporting those students at home as best we can. I never like it when students aren’t at school, and while the school is open, I would like every child to be here, but I do understand and we will work with you. Secondly, the Government has shared with us its criteria for school closures. It’s a sensible approach, and it makes it clear that they will close all schools in any area where there is a community outbreak. They have a set of other actions they can take in different circumstances, and they are all very solid, and founded on sensible scientific advice. If the Ministry of Health instructs us to close the school for any reason, we will close. For Pinehurst, we also have the option of closing earlier if we decide it is the right thing to do. It is a Board of Governors decision to do this, advised by the School leadership. I want to be very clear about this: if we think there is any likelihood that we are putting our students or our community at risk by opening the school, we will close for however long we need to. At the time of writing, I do not think this is the case. There were 11 new confirmed cases in New Zealand today, and all of those that have been investigated so far have direct links to overseas travel, which means there’s still no evidence of community transmission. We do, however, review this decision daily, and sometimes hourly as the situation changes. We will always put the well-being of our community first and will act quickly and decisively when we need to. As you know, we are ready to support online learning. There is no replacement for actually being in school, but we are as ready as we are going to be. If and when we are running an online school, there will be bumps in the road, occasions when things don’t work as smoothly as we would like. I would ask for your patience when this happens: our staff have been wonderful as they have prepared for school closure, and will continue to find solutions and new ways of doing things if we have to close. We have taken advice from schools who have done this overseas as well, and one of the key things they have stressed is that patience is essential. Patience, empathy, compassion and a sense that we are all working together. Which takes me to the most important people in any school: our children. These are extraordinary circumstances for us, but for our young people, it is a defining moment of their childhood, and will help form the adults they become. Our job is to be honest and clear with them, to reassure them, and to model the very best of ourselves and our community with them. We will support you to do this – we are looking today at how we can continue to provide pastoral support in an online environment – because it is a collective effort, the Pinehurst Triangle in action. The next week is going to be a difficult one, I think, and the weeks and months following it will be more difficult still. But we will support our whole community as we get through them, and we will continue to be transparent and to communicate openly and frequently. Please make sure that you talk to me with any concerns you may have, and that you let me know of any difficulties you encounter. We will do everything we can to help. Have a good weekend and see you on Monday. Hannah Dobbins, Primary TeacherHannah is originally from a small village in Leicestershire in the UK. In 2006 she moved to Leeds to study for a Bachelor of Science in Primary Education, graduating in 2010. Deciding on a gap year before starting her career in teaching, she travelled around South East Asia before settling in Sydney, Australia where she spent her time teaching. Before returning home, Hannah visited New Zealand on a 3 week tour of the north and south island. This is where her love for Aotearoa began. On her return to the UK, Hannah secured a position working for a primary school a stones throw away from where she grew up. She spent 2 years teaching years 1 and 2, and it was during this time that Hannah developed a passion for teaching literacy with a particular interest in the area of phonics. After just 12 months in her new school she took on a managerial position in the teaching and learning of the phonics programme. As part of this role, Hannah not only worked with students, but also supported and trained other teachers from around the Leicestershire region. Following a very successful two years, the lure of New Zealand from that brief gap year visit got the better of her, and she was granted a year long sabbatical from her employer in 2014. The plan was to spend one year in New Zealand exploring the country and experiencing a different education system. Years later she’s still here and loving everything that New Zealand has to offer. She has recently moved and settled on the North Shore and considers New Zealand her home. Hannah joined the Pinehurst Community in 2017. She is now teaching in New Entrants and loves her role leading phonics across the Primary. Kia Ora, College Term 1 Interim Reports and Conferences On Wednesday 25th March, College parents will be able to access their child’s Term 1 interim report. These reports provide an outline of progress during the start of the academic year. Each subject teacher reports on academic progress, effort, homework and organisation using descriptors: excellent, good or needs improvement. The homeroom or POD teacher will provide a written comment. More detailed feedback is provided through parent and teacher conferences, scheduled for Tuesday 31st March and Thursday 2nd April. The aim of these is to provide more detailed feedback on how your child is progressing in their subjects. As you will be aware the COVID-19 outbreak is impacting on what we do, and it is a rapidly changing situation day by day. As a community facing organisation, ensure the safety and health of others remains a priority. We are currently reviewing how we can best manage these conferences. We have two further reporting sessions during the year. At the end of Term 2 all College students will receive an academic report. Year 11, 12 and 13 students receive their final academic report at the end of Term 3. Year 7,8, 9 and 10 students receive their report at the end of Term 4. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin, Deputy Principal of College - Assessment & Progress Year 1-8 Sport Update – Term 1, 2020As you are aware, Pinehurst are constantly assessing student participation in Sports events and leagues, and will continue to do so over the coming weeks and months. In the interim we are continuing to plan forward, but all forward arrangements may be subject to change. For the remainder of Term 1 - in addition to our weekly school sports trainings for our Pinehurst students for Basketball, Hockey and Netball - all IN-SCHOOL (Pinehurst Students only) programmes are continuing this term:
If you have registered your son/daughter for a Term 2 Sport or Programme, we have (or will be shortly) in touch with an update regarding the status of the programme. We will continue to keep you informed as we get closer to the planned start dates for the Term 2 leagues and events. We do expect to run all IN-SCHOOL programmes (Pinehurst Students only) as planned for Term 2 at this stage, and we are looking to increase the number of in-school sports opportunities should outside inter-school sports leagues not go ahead. If you have any questions regarding Year 1-8 Sport, please do not hesitate to contact me. IGCSE Physical EducationYear 10 IGCSE Physical Education has had a thrilling start to the school year. Students have begun their course looking at anatomy and physiology, particularly the key muscles and bones in the human body and how they work together to create movement. In the photo’s you can see students’ visuals of their cut-out hands and how the tendons pull on bones to create the movement in our extremities. Currently we are looking into the respiratory system and the effect exercise has on this system. Students have been working hard and engaging in the content. They’ve recently created their own lungs seen in the pictures. This visual they created allowed students to see the lungs working in a practical and fun way. Following on from this unit, students will delve into the circulatory system and how it plays a key role in many of our functions. Students have started off the year in a fantastic way, demonstrating outstanding knowledge and engagement in all tasks. Long may it continue! NH Zone Day CricketLate last week, our Pinehurst Boys Zone Day Cricket team headed to Orewa College to play in 2 x Zone Day matches. The day started off quite wet but the skies soon cleared. Our boys matched up well against Whangaparaoa in the first game but unfortunately lost, 128 against 132. The second game was a little more challenging for the boys, playing against a well-oiled Kristin Team, losing 104-85. Thank you to Mr Verryt, Mrs Augustin and all the parents who supported the team on the day. For additional photos of the day, please see our Pinehurst Facebook Sports Page Year 10 Geography Field TripThis week the Year 10 Geography classes went to Browns Bay to complete a fieldwork assessment on Settlements. The students gathered data at set times around Brown's Bay in an effort to distinguish which area of the town is most central for business. The strategies the students learnt on this field-trip can be utilised in other larger towns and cities and is good preparation for their examination paper on field work scenarios. We had a wonderful morning out and about and the students enjoyed putting their skills into practice. Rimu FundraiserRimu completed their first fundraiser for their chosen house charity Barnardos. There was baking and ice creams being sold to the college. We were really lucky that during lunch, the sun came out and the ice creams sold quickly. The house captains Riya Odedra and Christ Deng organised the event with the help of the Rimu POD mentors, to help kick start their fundraising for the year with $125. Barnardos has been our chosen charity for a few years and is one that Rimu is proud to support. You can find more information about the charity here. The house captains have already started organising their next event that we cannot wait for you all to be involved in. Inter-house Tug of WarIn week 7, the senior students went head to head in the first inter-house lunchtime sporting event of the year – tug of war. Totora were the winners over the two days, going unbeaten throughout the competition. Results: 1st Totora 2nd Rimu 3rd Kauri 4th Matai Pinehurst Golf through to Semi-FinalsPinehurst continued their unbeaten run in the Premier golf competition on Monday. The match against Kristin could not have been closer with Pinehurst narrowly winning by one stroke, 100 – 101. The top Kristin player was the player of the day with a round of 29 over 9 holes, however it is not enough to have just one or even two great scores. The final team score is the total of the best three rounds. Pinehurst were able to put in three consistently good scores and for that reason scrapped in, in the end. Pinehurst has won the round robin play of the North Shore competition and will now play the second place team from Auckland in the semi-finals. Good luck to Yeonsoo, Eunseo, Jaewoo and Eujin. Unfortunately our second team were not as successful, losing to Wentworth. Well done to Towa Usui for playing another great round, Eujin for improving her game this week and to Mark Ming for filling in at the last minute. Barista TrainingYesterday a new group of Year 12 students took part in the Barista training course. The students spent 3 hours in a hands-on session learning how to make a wide range of coffees. The group are advancing their barista skills quickly and there were some delicious coffees up for tasting yesterday afternoon. These students have one more session to complete next week before they receive their Introductory Barista Qualification. Kia Ora, We are making the most of the good times in the Primary and continuing to enjoy the joys of childhood. Amidst the gloom of the adult world it is a welcome relief to spend time with young people as they enjoy their learning and playing outdoors. There was great excitement this week with the arrival of the final piece of playground equipment, the rope. It is huge but not too heavy with the idea that it can be moved into different shapes, lifted and walked on. We had a great game of follow the leader, led by Archie from P8, he really has some super balancing skills! Teachers have been talking to their classes this week about the current situation in the world and helping them to understand what is going on without them being fearful. They are all getting really good at remembering to wash hands without being asked and to sneeze into their elbows. We are very proud of how resilient our students are being and how they are continuing to engage with their learning. Financial literacy was the topic of the week with a visit from ASB bank and their schools financial literacy programme. Everyone had a great time, the presenter was hilarious and kept students engaged in every class he went to. This programme begins to teach the skills continued in Term 4’s Primary Enterprise Programme or PrEP for short. Students learn about money, working, costs, resources, profits and losses as well as business plans and basic employment. Whilst they do have lots of fun they also learn valuable life skills which are developed as they go through to College. We are ready to switch to online learning if we need to and you will receive instructions for a test run if your child is in Y0-3. Please check that the system works for you. In Years 4 to 6, students are capable of using the Teams app themselves to learn remotely, but we will send instructions out to parents as a back up too. Have a great weekend. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Year 1-8 Sport Update – Term 1, 2020As you are aware, Pinehurst are constantly assessing student participation in Sports events and leagues, and will continue to do so over the coming weeks and months. In the interim we are continuing to plan forward, but all forward arrangements may be subject to change. For the remainder of Term 1 - in addition to our weekly school sports trainings for our Pinehurst students for Basketball, Hockey and Netball - all IN-SCHOOL (Pinehurst Students only) programmes are continuing this term:
If you have registered your son/daughter for a Term 2 Sport or Programme, we have (or will be shortly) in touch with an update regarding the status of the programme. We will continue to keep you informed as we get closer to the planned start dates for the Term 2 leagues and events. We do expect to run all IN-SCHOOL programmes (Pinehurst Students only) as planned for Term 2 at this stage, and we are looking to increase the number of in-school sports opportunities should outside inter-school sports leagues not go ahead. If you have any questions regarding Year 1-8 Sport, please do not hesitate to contact me. Whizzy WheelsThe weather has suddenly changed towards the end of this week, but thankfully for our NE- Y2 students, it stayed warm and dry for our much anticipated ‘wheels week’. Students arrived on Monday and Tuesday this week with their bikes, scooters, roller blades and of course helmets. I’ve never seen morning tea or lunch be eaten so quickly, in a bid to be the first person out to grab their wheels. The school councillors did a fantastic job of organising the students and setting up the two courses; one for the scooters and one for the bikes. There were some lovely moments with the older students really showing care and understanding towards our younger children, supporting the less confident riders around the course. 'Wheely’ Good Fun in Year 3 and 4!The Year 3 and 4 students were so lucky to have a fabulous sunny day on Wednesday. The sun was shining through the cotton clouds, leaves were gently rustling in the autumn breeze, as wheels whirred frantically across a sea of grass. This was Wheels Day, one of the most anticipated days of the term. The Year 6 councillors had set up a fantastic obstacle course with cones, and were doing a wonderful job of policing the roads, ensuring all were safe. It was great to see helmets being worn, and some students even had knee and elbow pads as extra protection. This was especially important when screaming down the extreme dirt track (well, grassy bank by the field). How exhilarating! The smiles were huge as students weaved in and out of cones, working in smooth collaboration to navigate the course. The manners and use of road rules were impressive to see – well done Year 3 and 4 students! Overall, it was declared a wheely good day! Year 4 CampEagerly we arrived at school with our suitcases ready for an adventure! Once our bags were loaded on to the bus, we found our seats and waved goodbye to our family as we drove off. Some of us had butterflies in our tummies because we were not sure of what to expect. The beautiful scenery greeted us upon arrival and soon we were filled with excitement. The days at camp were full of fun and challenging experiences such as archery, air rifles, rock climbing and paintball. We learnt new skills and worked in collaboration with our teammates, developing new friendships along the way. For many of us it was our first time staying the night away from our families, we are so proud of ourselves for everything we have accomplished at camp. Our camp adventure is definitely a highlight we will remember for a long time to come. The Year 4 students and teachers would like to thank all the parent helpers who came along to assist us. We couldn't have had such a successful camp without you all! Dear Parents, Thank you for putting all your effort into making Year 4 camp as fun as possible! I enjoyed all the activities so much that I didn’t want to stop. When we needed help to do something you always helped us in a super nice way and polite way, thank you! First when I used the air rifles, I was anxious but you said to me “it’s fine just try” and I tried my best, I loved it so much! That was my favourite activity. Thank you once again to all the parents who helped us! - Bonnie Yu, P14 İBienvenidos! Welcome to Senior Primary Spanish!We have started the year with much excitement and it is wonderful to hear the students speaking Spanish to me as I greet them in the playground! Having a full year programme definitely helps the students to retain their knowledge. Year 4 have been learning how to say/ask how old we are, before moving on to study the numbers 11-20. We have learnt number patterns to help us remember them and are enjoying lots of reinforcement activities and games to support our learning. Year 5 started the year learning about the seasons and what weather conditions we are likely to experience. ¿Qué tiempo hace en verano? İHace sol y hace calor! (It is sunny and hot.) Next we learnt about how to express how we are feeling and how adjectives often end in -o if a boy is talking (estoy cansado – I am tired) or in an -a if a girl is talking (estoy cansada). Our next booklet will teach us the numbers from 20-31 and includes a lot of fun activities to help us become confident learners. Year 6 picked up where we finished off last year, learning about food and drink. We have made healthy choices when drawing up what we would put into our school lunch boxes and looked at what vegetables go into a pot of soup. We have also been studying how to say if we like or dislike certain foods and are about to learn how to order food and drink in a Spanish restaurant. A most important skill for any future travels! I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy... Junior Primary students doing Fine Motor Skills! I Spy... P10’s session with GetWise ASB! I Spy...Follow the Leader on the big rope! I Spy...Busy bees in P5! In Music this WeekIntroducing Ben Fernandez - one of our piano teachers Ben is a Pianist and keyboardist formally trained in Western Classical Music and has a Bachelors Degree in Music (with Honours) - majoring in Jazz Performance from the 'New Zealand School of Music’. Besides India and New Zealand, Ben has performed at shows and events in many countries including Dubai, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bahrain. Some of the shows he has performed at include - the Cannes Film Festival- France, the Publishers Ball- Hong Kong, New Years Celebrations -World Trade Centre -Dubai, and a party for President Bill Clinton, are just to name a few. Ben is an experienced music Teacher. He conducts regular workshops on jazz improvisation. He has done workshops for ABRSM and IMRT (Institute of registered music teachers, Auckland). Also conducts jazz piano workshops every year in India for Furtados India. To see Ben live in action click here. To enrol your child to have lessons with Ben complete the form at the bottom of this link. Ben is also in charge of mentoring our Jazz band which is currently amassing a selection of repertoire for the upcoming KBB competition in August. The Jazz Band meets every Monday 3.30-4.45pm in C2 and welcomes its newest member Dylan McKay as its drummer. Dylan is a grade 6 rock drummer who likes listening to Jazz and we are fortunate to have his skills onboard. Uniform ShopThe Pinehurst Winter Uniform will be available to purchase from the Uniform Shop starting March 30. Holiday Opening Hours
Isabella selected for Kiwi Tag BlacksCongratulations to our Head Girl, Isabella Abbott-Wheeler who has been selected to represent NZ in U18 girls Trans Tasman Tri Series for 2020. The Regional Junior Swim FestivalThe Regional Junior festival was held at West Wave pool Friday 13th-Sunday 15th March. This is for all swimmers from as far as Northland down to Howick aged 12 and younger. Jasmine Lyles and Jack Portier were the only 2 representatives from Pinehurst – both swam for Phoenix Aquatics. Jasmine swam in 7 events, winning 4 and finishing top 8 in a further 2. The events she won were: 50m, 100m, 200m Breaststroke and 200m I.M. Jack raced in 11 events placing top 8 in 5 events and finishing 2nd on the 200m Freestyle. Congratulations to you both! Fernanda TiradoOver the past 2 weekends, Fernanda Tirado has represented North Harbour Bays Athletics Club at the annual Auckland Pentathlon Championships and Top 10 club competitions. Fernanda won Gold at the Pentathlon, competing in the Long Jump, Shotput, Discus, 800m and 200m events, and also setting a new club record in the Long Jump of 4.70m! Fernanda also won Gold with her partner at the Top 10 Championships. In this event, each pair split up the 8 events (doing 4 each), with the greatest overall points scores winning the medals, Fernanda competing in the High Jump, Shotput, 800m and 100m at this event. Congratulations Fernanda! Bays School of Dance CompetitionOver the weekend Jade Lyles participated in the Bays School of Dance competition held at Auckland Grammar school. This is an annual event attracting participants from all across Auckland. Jade competed in 9 classes of dance over 2 days achieving the following results:
She was representing the Pinehurst-based Classical Coaching Centre run by Liz Miller. Well done Jade! |