No images? Click here 15 October 2021Pinehurst School NewsletterOpening Words from the Executive Principal...Kia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 I’ve just been for a quick walk around the school grounds: I needed to stretch my legs, the sun was calling, the trees were waving at me, dancing gently in the wind, and the family of birds who have decided to nest in the eaves directly above my desk were being particularly noisy. I popped in to see our Senior Primary bubble, five children concentrating hard on their studies; then into the Junior Primary bubble, waiting for the next lessons to start, happy and chilled; then to the Library to see our one College student, enjoying treating the Library as his solo fiefdom. I’m grateful to our staff who are in school to look after the children: they’re making sure that, even in these unusual circumstances, they are happy, settled and enjoying being in school. Our grounds are actually at their best right now: it’s such a shame that there’s hardly anyone here to see the flowers, the cherry blossom, and the unbelievably lush, green grass. Our property team are doing a great job, making sure that the school will look fabulous when we can finally welcome back all of our young people. I’m not going to repeat the information in the emails I’ve been sending out, though I will mention a couple of specific items. I’m very conscious that I’m writing home a great deal at the moment, and that there is a lot of information going home. I also realise that this is too much for some, and not enough for others. We are continuing to communicate so much because we want to offer reassurance where we can, and to show you how our planning is progressing. When we do re-enter school, we will signpost the essential guidelines, and it will be very clear what you need to know. And I think that there will be no surprises because we have offered so much detail in advance. On testing and vaccination: all staff currently in school have had a negative test result in the last two days. Staff coming into school from Monday are required to have a negative test before they come into school for the first time. For those staff who have yet to have their second dose, they will be tested weekly until they have had their second dose. From November 15th, every member of staff will have had a single dose; from January 1st, all staff will be fully vaccinated. This also applies to all contractors, outside providers, volunteers and any other adults coming into school other than parents coming in to drop off and collect children. We have our register/evidence collection system up and running, and everything is in place. We will write home next week about the student vaccination register that we’re required to keep, but just to clarify: this is to collect data only, as we have been asked to do by the Government, and will apply to students aged 12 or above. On the systems that we’re developing to keep students and staff safe when school reopens: we’re pretty much there with all of these and will publish the details when we know when we will return. But there will be every safeguard we can possibly manage. We are also, of course, running Cambridge examinations. Our organisation of these exams is a work of intricate beauty: we are running between 3 and 27 bubbles every day for a month, supported by more than 30 teachers in a range of roles. This coming week is the most complex and demanding for the school, and there will be an impact on some lessons in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 as some teachers will be invigilating examinations when they would normally be teaching. Please bear with us: we are very carefully meeting all public health requirements, keeping our students safe, and still ensuring that they complete their examination courses. Please help us by reading the detailed, very clear guidelines in emails from Mr Verryt and on our website on the Covid-19 page. This week’s newsletter has some fabulous stuff in it, and some great pictures. Please have a look and enjoy seeing the school in action. I keep writing a great deal about planning for the future, and about registers and exams, but the heart of our school is beating strongly in homes and gardens around the north of Auckland, on screens and in families, around the dinner table and on walks in the bush and on the beach. I’m so proud of the way our young people, families and staff are continuing to show their resilience and their enthusiasm for learning and for connecting with each other. Over the course of next week, we will let you know a little more about events that we’re moving online, and about activities and other events that we’re unable to run. But we’ll also be looking forward, and making sure that we have some fun together as our summer glides in. Enjoy the weekend, get outside as much as you can, and see you very soon! Kia kaha, 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 Dates for your DiaryKia ora, We have had a very busy and successful first week back in the Primary and our students have been focused and ready to learn. Behind the scenes we are making plans for a return to school, whenever that should happen, and how we can do some of the things we had planned in a safe way. Online technology gives us the opportunity to keep some of those planned activities and events in place even if they are done differently. One of the things most of us look forward to this term is the various events and end of year celebrations and we will continue to look for ways to do them during this phase of the pandemic, even if it is virtually. Term 4 signals the start of our PrEP or Primary Enterprise programme and there has been lots of activity in deciding what each classroom venture would like to produce and sell. Our currency is pines and students earn those for working in their PrEP business. I was invited to be part of New Zealand’s initial launch of PrEP in 1999 and a group of around 20 of us went to Seattle to look at the enterprise programmes in classrooms around the city. The years that followed saw us introduce the programme in our own schools and write resources and train others to bring the programme to their schools. PrEP isn’t all about making a product. It teaches children financial literacy skills as well as learning about economic activity. They learn collaboration and communication skills too as well as concepts such as what is money, what jobs people do, profit versus loss and decisions at the margin. We are really looking forward to seeing the business ventures they decide on and watching them work together as they learn about enterprise. This week we welcomed Ashleigh Pope as the new Primary music teacher, she will continue to work with Cherrie Leefe for the rest of the year and then teach every Primary class in 2022. In P23 we welcomed Kylie Turner who has a long association with our school and who is thrilled to be teaching nine brand new, New Entrants. Those of you who know Hannah Dobbins will be happy to know that her and her husband Chris welcomed their new addition Louie, to the family on the 30th of September. Kia pai to rā whakata, have a good weekend.
Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary
Welcome to our brand new students!Our Primary Bubble StudentsIn the night garden with P1Upcycling in motion in the Primary bubble!New to 2Despite still being in lockdown, New to 2 have started Term 4 with excitement and enthusiasm. We have welcomed 9 students to our team, joining P23 for their journey of learning at Pinehurst school. It was definitely an extraordinary start to school for the 9 students but they all showed their excitement via a computer screen. P1 and P2 are just as busy as ever. They have begun a new topic in Literacy and are so excited to be reading and enjoying all the familiar traditional fairy tales. P1 and P2 are looking at the characters, exploring their different traits and the story settings. In writing, the students are using classic fairy tale openings such as ‘once upon a time…’, and ‘In a land far, far away…’ The students are looking at plants in Science, learning about what a plant needs to live. Later in the term they will be planting and growing their own seeds. In Art the classes are exploring printing, connecting Art to the Science topic of plants to create finger and handprint flowers and plants. In Maths this term the NE’s are beginning by consolidating their existing knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes before adding: position and space, along with measurement of capacity, money and time. The Year 1’s are busy making quarters before they move on to measure time, money, and weight. Senior Year 1 (P4 and P5) are excited to be learning about Fairy Tales this term and the Big Write is ‘The Wolf's Tale’. The students have been writing character descriptions and adding adjectives and similes to make their writing more exciting. In Science P4 and P5 are studying biology and plants, starting with understanding the difference between living and non-living things. In Global Perspectives the students will be researching what it means to 'Work and have a job.' In Health, the students are exploring what courage is and ways in which they have demonstrated being courageous. Year 2 have enjoyed their first week of Term 4, online learning. The Year 2’s were brimming with excitement as they all returned to the ‘screen’ classroom. In writing they have been learning the features of a formal letter and felt extremely important when writing a letter to the Prime Minister talking about COVID and lockdown. The students were very creative with the upcycling ideas and used a range of materials and produced some wonderful creations such as car garages, pet rock, skill games and murals. In art they created robots using loose parts inspired by two artists, Rebecca Fatzinger and Cristina Maldonado who use rubbish they find on beaches to create art. Year 2 are an imaginative bunch of students who are creative as well as clever! The New to 2 have all been enjoying the online assemblies. The students have been show casing their talents, from musical instruments to art. Year 3 and 4 Syndicate NewsThe marvellous middle team have continued to be marvellous this term! Enthusiastic, eager and excited students have leapt into learning in our final term and are looking forward to the inspiring topics and activities planned. This is a little insight into what they have planned… Year 4 Superstars: In Maths this term the Year 4's will continue to develop their mathematical abilities in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They’ll also be exploring fractions, geometry, volume and capacity. In Art they’ll be delving into the art techniques by artist Laurel Burch with her vibrant and colourful designs! They will be developing their pastel techniques by exploring and recreating one of Laurel Burch’s famous cat designs. Look out for these later on in the term, you won’t be disappointed! During Health, the Year 4 students will be thinking about what a positive growth mindset looks like through the lens of ‘Looking on the Bright Side’. This will support them to develop ‘bright side thinking versus downside thinking’ and to recognize the importance of staying positive and hopeful when faced with challenging situations. This is something they have already started showing through their positivity and resilience during online learning. They will able to reflect on what personal qualities they have which will contribute to their sense of self-worth to further enhance their capabilities when relating to each other, using competencies such as active listening and the power of affirmation. In Reading, classes are exploring a shared novel called “Pax”. The powerful experience of the novel being read aloud regularly will consolidate for the students how to use fluency and expression to bring a story alive. The follow up activities are designed to continue to develop reading comprehension skills and strategies which will enhance and deepen the students’ understanding of the messages in the book. Throughout each chapter we will be focusing on determining the main ideas, using key words and phrases as evidence. Another focus when reading this term is to develop the students’ ability to share their personal responses to the text, forming opinions and ideas as a result of what they have read. Year 3 Shining Stars: In Maths, the Year 3 students have been delving enthusiastically into addition and subtraction with 3-digit numbers, yes, that’s right, 3-digit numbers! They have already explored a variety of methods, including expanded addition and the column method. They are learning the importance of checking answers by using the inverse operation. Students will put their new knowledge into practice by solving one and two-step word problems, using a range of strategies to decipher which operation is needed. In our Strand element, they are exploring data and statistics, revising how to take a tally and record a frequency. These talented young mathematicians are learning how to interpret and present their own data in pictograms and bar charts, showing that data can be presented in a variety of ways. Although only in the early stages of the term, the Year 3s have approached Maths challenges with a positive attitude and a willingness to “have a go”. They are looking forward to furthering their knowledge and understanding in a range of topics including Fractions, Length & Perimeter, and Geometry. This term in Science, Year 3 students will be discovering just how amazing their bodies are. Following on from their prior learning, they will build an understanding of how the food we eat provides us with the nutrition that our bodies require to remain healthy. In our science lessons this week, we learnt to identify the important things that are needed for us to survive. After brainstorming ideas, students agreed that food, shelter, and water were some of the important factors needed. They then explored ways to find or make these items if they were stranded on a desert island. To survive on the desert island we needed water, but there was only sea water. We conducted an experiment to desalinate salted water. Before we started, we wrote a prediction and then set up the experiment. The desalination process took 5 hours. Some of us were able to remove the salt from the water but not all of us. We concluded that the weather may have impacted our experiment. To test our theory, we will do the experiment again, but on a sunny day. Digital technology helps us to find and present information, and to communicate in different ways with others. Students have become experts at this already through online learning and are now exploring ways to integrate this further in all curriculum areas, in rich learning contexts. Our focus is presenting for a purpose, investigating different programmes and tools that can be used to share or present information for a specific purpose and to target our audience. They’ll be experts at inserting and editing images, using the drawing tool to create accurate diagrams and drawings, and exploring how the use of colour, font, layout to create multi-media documents can enhance our message and draw in our audience. The fabulous new skills learnt will be put into practice in a real life context to create posters, PowerPoint, and collaborative presentations in OneNote to market and promote the products for our PrEP businesses, ready for Market Day. Combined with the Financial Literacy and Global Perspectives learning this term, Market day is promising to be a huge success! Year 5 and 6 SyndicateYear 5 Global Perspectives’ focus this term is around water. Students will explore the usage of water and access to it, both locally and globally. The unit is based around developing students research skills: their ability to write research questions, take notes from reliable sources, and actively question the meaning of language and new concepts. We look forward to seeing what ‘action’ students take after completing their research. English - In Year 5’s Big Write mission this term, Tiger and his friends are trying to stop the infamous Collector from stealing the world’s theme parks. He needs the Agency’s help to persuade the Collector to give back the stolen theme parks in exchange for a specially built theme park for villains. This mission will teach students the following knowledge and skills; using a clear, meaningful purpose and audience to provide context: how to write an engaging information leaflet, how to write a clear set of instructions and how to write a formal letter of persuasion. Maths in Year 5 will start the term focusing on number, place value and properties of shapes. They will be reading, writing and comparing numbers up to 1 000 000 and determining the place value of each digit. Number knowledge will be strengthened by practising addition and subtraction of whole numbers and decimals. This will then lead them to solve multi-step word problems in contexts, deciding which operation and methods to use and justifying their choices. Year 5 students will be reading and writing Roman numerals up to 1000 (M) and recording years using Roman numerals. Year 5 Science students are continuing with work on Movements of the Earth. They are learning about our Solar System as we explore planets, moons, and the Sun. Why do we have seasons? What is a solar eclipse? Why does the moon look different each night? How are we on Earth harnessing the Suns energy? Which scientists in the past have explored the solar system and what future missions are planned. To the future, new space suits, life on Mars, solar power innovations, death of our closest star. So many questions and a topic which the children are keen to explore! Year 6 Science: In Year Six Maths this term one of the topics is circles. Students will learn to recognise and name the parts of a circle, facts about circles and how to use compasses to construct regular hexagons from a circle. They will create patterns based on the radius of a circle. Students will be revising and consolidating their maths understanding, and one method is the Kahoot quizzes. Kahoots are a fun way for the students to test out their understanding of different maths concepts and vocabulary. Watching to see how the podium standings change throughout the Kahoot is always interesting. This week the students have been looking at making predictions for the outcome of the results when flipping a coin. This term in the GATE English programme our focus remains on writing. Year 5 and 6 GATE writers get the opportunity to create Anthologies of poetry on a chosen topic that has importance/significance to them. Term 4 focus for Year 6 English is Poetry and Plays. The students will be reading and interpreting a range of poems in which meanings are implied or multi-layered, then explore how the poets manipulate and play with words and their sounds to engage and entertain an audience. They will also be writing their own interesting play script and have an opportunity to perform their play in front of others. In Music, students will be focusing on reading, writing and creating simple rhythmic patterns using crotchets, quavers, minims, semibreves and dotted notes. They will compose and perform melodies using the C pentatonic scale, or C, D, or G major. They will add expression to their composition by adding dynamics. They will then perform their compositions to the class on a variety of tuned instruments. From these performances the students will be encouraged to identify and discuss the skills and techniques required to perform the music effectively. Spanish students in Year 5 are learning to ask and tell the time in Spanish using both digital and analogue times. They will also learn the Spanish alphabet and make comparisons with the English alphabet, spelling out unknown words in Spanish. Year 6 are learning vocabulary for different job occupations in Spanish and how the word changes depending on the gender of the person. They will also learn how to ask and answer what they would like to do when they are older, using the verb ‘me gusta’ (I like). In PE, This term we have several key areas of learning that we are focusing on which include, Athletics, striking skills and competition. Within athletics we are developing our throwing, jumping, and running skills in a competitive environment while maintaining positive interpersonal skills that make competition enjoyable. In terms of our striking games, the focus is around our ability to strike a ball using a variety of bats and rackets and how each style of sport has different striking techniques. Lastly, we are creating a fun environment within PE that makes participation and learning more enjoyable, whether that's at home or at school. Year 6 PrEPThis year we are making some changes to our PrEP programme. We want to teach more financial literacy and improve the quality and supply of the products that we sell on our Market Day. Last year we found that we had so many consumers in our Primary Market Day that we need a larger supply of products. So, we have decided that each class will run one ‘parent’ company which will produce 4 products with the aim to increase production and meet demand. To begin the term, Year 6 students will be doing financial literacy lessons on Bamzonia. This is an interactive website that encompasses interactive lessons with multi-choice quizzes and a 3D educational game. Every lesson is followed by a quiz. With sufficient correct answers, students are awarded Zonian dollars to play the 3D Island regeneration game – where they rebuild the economy to create the health, wealth, and happiness, of their own Bamzonia Island community. Alongside these interactive lessons, students will be getting ready for PrEP (Primary Enterprise Programme) with economic classroom lessons on:
Within each class there will be a main parent company with smaller ventures running underneath that main umbrella company. Students will be part of a production line and have specific roles, like managers or a CEO for example. In P20, the parent company is called ‘Rock Stars’ and the 4 products being produced in smaller ventures will all be made from rocks. Classes do have a small budget to purchase resources, but a large component of the product can involve up-cycling or collecting resources from the environment (being careful to not destroy any habitats of course). Kia Ora, The first week of our final term feels like it has flown by. Yesterday we enjoyed our first online assembly with over 450 attendees. Although not many were visible on screen, it was great to meet again as a community. I hope that some parents managed to join in the background. If you did join, you would have heard a brilliant speech from Cam Calkoen. For those that are not aware of Cam, he was born with Cerebral Palsy and yesterday he gave our students an insight into some of the amazing things that he has done in his life. He spoke to our students about embracing challenge and change, about finding people that believe in them and who are going to help them to be a better person. He also spoke about resilience, about how things won’t always go our way, and that how we respond to these challenges makes us a better person. He was humorous, inspirational, and the fact that he is a local helped him to connect well with our students. Normally we have to watch the clock closely in assemblies, but as this was online, we went we were able to carry on going as students asked some brilliant questions and posted the comments of gratitude to Cam for his inspirational message. Today is our last day of online lessons for Year 11-13 students as Cambridge examinations hit full speed next week. I want to take this chance to thank our Year 13 students and parents for all that they have contributed to our school over many years. I know of families who will finish their formal connection with the school this term after having had a child at Pinehurst for 15 years or more, as their youngest child graduates from school. I am sure that it has be an amazing journey to watch their children grow, and witness the school grow and change alongside them. To our student leaders, thank you for your work with the student body this year. You have worked hard to make the school a better place for the students. We will have events to formally farewell our senior students as the term progresses. For now, it is full focus on exams for senior. Please ensure that students are aware of all of the requirements for examinations next week. As I have said in previous communication, students will be nervous as they attend their first exam after so much time spent away from school. What we have found from students who have already done exams is that once they are back in the familiar surrounds of school, with the routine of exams that they are familiar with, they quickly regain their confidence as things get back to a bit more normal. I have written to senior students and parents this week outlining what is happening around Cambridge examinations. I will be in contact with Years 7-10 parents later today with some information around junior examinations and the week ahead. Nga mihi, Kieran Verryt, Principal of College
Year 9 Digital TechnologyThe Year 8 Digital Technology class started creating their 3D designs on Tinkercad. I collected the 3D printer from school during lockdown and have been able to show them their work in order to refine their designs and improve on their prototypes. These are some of the final designs. The brief was to create 2 pendants, one incorporating their personal heritage and another displaying Maori symbols. They had to research the design process, research the designs they wanted to create, create mood boards and drawings/sketches before tinkering their 3D objects. They have produced outstanding work. College Digital IllustrationsOne of the areas of study that IGCSE and A Level Art & Design students can focus their portfolios on is Digital Illustration. This year has been an exceptional year for digital artists in the art department. Danbin Luo, Meedol Jin and Jade Zhou have all excelled in creating original artworks using a computer and tablet as their tool. It has been amazing to see them evolve and refine their talents into highly successful images Year 7 & 8 60 Hour ChallengeThe 60 Hour Challenge was designed to be used as a replacement for the camp component of the Service and Leadership Award for our Year 7 and Year 8 students. The idea was that students completed a range of outdoor activities. The Year 7 and 8 council came up with some suggested activities, but students could also choose to do as many as they wanted or come up with their own provided, they met these three simple criteria and could be carried out safely: The Criteria:
Congratulations to Zoe L who has completed the challenge and will now be the recipient of her Silver Service Award. This week's Maths ProblemThe Solution to the last Maths ProblemAround School.... Final week for the year 11-13 studentsThis week, amongst the busy revision exercises and external examination study leave, we farewelled the Year 11 and 12 music classes who are off on study leave. Both year groups worked busily towards the end of last term to hand in their composition and performance portfolios and it has been an absolute pleasure witnessing their progress over the last few years but especially this. Although the lockdown has certainly posed some challenges, the ability for the students to adjust and accommodate to meet and exceed the requirements as been admirable. Virtual Assembly features Rosanne LaiPinehurst’s first ever virtual assembly featured Rosanne’s beautiful performance of City of Stars from the movie soundtrack of Lala Land and was superbly received by the nearly 300 virtual attendees. Sports Photos CancellationSports Photos for Term 4, scheduled for Monday 18th October have been cancelled. We will endeavour to capture some images of the teams we were unable to photograph back in June later in the Term, within school. Library BooksIf we can please ask you to return any finished Library books to the School's Main Reception. ScholasticIssue 7 from Scholastic has been released for orders. Please follow the link to the online catalogue here. To order any of these exciting titles, open the link below – note down the 3 numbers highlighted in black below each title and proceed to place your order via LOOP as you normally would. If you are new to our school please follow the link below, register your details, add your child, find your school and once this is complete, you are set up to place your order. https://mybookclub.scholastic.co.nz/Parent/Register.aspx GirlGuiding NZ – GreenhitheWe have spaces starting Term 4 for Pippins and Brownies in Greenhithe - We would love to welcome any girls between 5-9years old who would like to come along and visit, and check out the activities we offer. No cost to check us out! ‘Earn badges, adventure, new friendships, build Confidence and learn new skills’ Please visit https://girlguidingnz.org.nz/join-us/ and register your interest- we’d love to hear from you! Brain Play OnlineBrain Play Online After-School classes are now open for Term 4! Ages 5 - 15. $20.00 per lesson - Including coding, 3D printing, animation, artificial intelligence, LEGO, Minecraft + more! Sessions are held right throughout the week! We are also offering Free Trials for any new students! Visit our website for details, https://www.brainplay.co.nz/courses |