News and events for the week ending 2nd November 2018 Friday 2nd November 2018 Opening words from the Executive PrincipalGood afternoon, Kia ora tatou, 你好 I had a lovely end to my day yesterday: I wandered down to Mrs Rodriguez’s Year 4 class in P14, where they told me all about the work they’re doing for PrEP. If you have a senior Primary student, you will know all about PrEP; if you don’t, it’s our Business unit we do in Term 4 each year, organised by Mrs Fleming. Students learn all about credit, manufacturing and sales on their way to the grand PrEP day. I’ve had artefacts from 2017 in my room all year, and I’m looking forward to spending some ‘Pines’ on new items in just a few weeks. The class were enthusiastic and knowledgeable about how the process worked. Mrs Rodriguez pointed out how well the class had approached the progression testing over the past week or so. All of the Senior Primary students have done well with the testing this year, and I’m pleased that they’ve adopted such a sensible, measured approach to the exams. As have the senior students, who are continuing to sign in, meander (or, at times, run if they’ve left things a little late) down to College 4, frowning slightly as they concentrate their minds on what’s to come. The new study area has been well used these past few weeks, and the signs are positive for this year’s results. If you have children who are starting to flag with exam fatigue, feed and water them, shower them with unrelenting enthusiasm, and just keep them going until the third week of November. Nearly there… And for the students in Year 7 and 8: good luck and stay cheerful next week. Elsewhere, we have had a frustrating Waterwise week, as the weather has not behaved itself at all: we’ve managed one day so far, which went brilliantly, but Mrs Clark has managed to secure a couple of reserve days, so we’re hopeful all the Year 6 students will have the chance to sail and kayak in the sea. We have also had badminton and gymnastics zone days this week, all of which have gone very well indeed. Many thanks to the parents supporting these events. The Spring League netball kicked off last Saturday too: we had some mixed results, but it was great to see such enthusiasm from our children and from the supporting parents on the touchline. Thank you! This week’s parking note: can I please ask all parents not to park across the bicycle lane on Rosedale Road close to the back entrance of the school (or on the other side of the road)? It blocks the way for cyclists, and can be dangerous as a number of students walk out of the back gate. A big thank you to all those parents who now park on Clemows Lane, and who pick up their children and walk them around to where the car is parked. This is a much safer option and I would recommend it highly! This week has involved quite a bit of consultation and communication with staff, the Board of Governors and parents. In Term 4, as you would expect, we make plans for the coming year, and adapt our planning for the years to come. It’s Thursday morning as I write this, and I have two Parent Consultation sessions later today: in those meetings, we will talk about how we communicate with parents, and how we can do this better. We’re also going to discuss the curriculum and sports developments we have planned for next year, as well as long term property planning and the long term vision for the school. We talked with staff about this on Monday, and the Board are currently discussing our longer term strategy too. I am always happy to receive questions and requests for information. Everything is valuable to us. We are very happy with the continued, steady growth of the school, and are committed to maintaining our current capacities: we are very nearly at capacity in Years 1-8, and are not that far off in Years 9 through 12 as well. At the end of term, I will send through more detailed numbers for everyone to see, but I want to reiterate that class size maximums are not changing, and that we will not compromise our commitment to small classes, supporting the relationship between a teacher and his or her students. On that, the Board will be sending out its annual Parent Survey on Monday 5th November, and close on Wednesday 14th November: you will receive an email with a link to the survey, and I’d encourage everyone to complete it. The survey isn’t too long, and we do consider all of the comments made. The way we plan for the future is influenced directly by the views of the community, and we will keep trying every way we can to hear from you. Have a lovely weekend. WEEK 4: Monday 5th November
Wednesday 7th November
Thursday 8th November
Friday 9th November
WEEK 5: Monday 12th November
Tuesday 13th November
Wednesday 14th November
Thursday 15th November
Friday 16th November
如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Kia Ora, As you would expect at this time of year it has been a very settled week in the college. Year 7 and 8 students are preparing for their end of year examinations next week and Year 9 and 10 are working hard in preparation for their examinations in Week 5. The schedules for these end of year assessments have been published so please check in with your children to see how their preparation is proceeding. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to approach the relevant staff. With the warmer weather our fields have dried out and it is great to see the students making the most of being able to run around outside during their breaks. For our Year 7 and 8 students hats are compulsory when they are outside this term. Whilst it is not compulsory for Year 9 and 10 students there is a Pinehurst hat available in the uniform shop if they would like to wear one. In sport we currently have teams playing in local competitions in volleyball, touch rugby, and tennis. We are always keen to encourage our students to be involved in a range of activities and are open to suggestions. We have had a few meetings recently to discuss cricket. This is a sport that we would love to get up and running at school and the PE staff have been working on student’s skills during lessons. At our recent assembly Mrs Cannan spoke to students about next year’s Production. We will be running a Junior Production for students in Year 7–10. This will be a great opportunity for students to develop their confidence and skill sets. More information will be available throughout the term and we will be encouraging students to get involved. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College Life Pod VisitLast Wednesday, the Junior College Council spent the afternoon with Sir Ray Avery at his lab to learn about his latest invention: the Life Pod. Click here to watch the video. Learning About ForcesThe Year 7's have been learning about forces. To investigate the balanced and unbalanced forces of friction, push and pull, we went out and challenged each other in a tug-o-war. The students were even lucky enough to take on some Year 10 students passing by. Sadly the Year 7's didn't have enough force, but it was lots of fun! Business StudiesYear 10 students, as well as preparing for exams, are working on applying their marketing knowledge. They are doing a project where they have to research peoples tastes and preferences for iconic kiwi biscuit brand “Gingernuts.” Once their exams are over they will be recommending and presenting a marketing strategy to grow sales for the biscuit. Business class is a great opportunity to use skills which are often considered to be the domain of Maths and English. Through this Business project, students will apply their statistics skills from Maths, written skills from English, and visual presentation from Art and Design subjects. Global CitizenshipYear 10 students have been learning to debate. Some of the topics chosen by the students have included 'Homework should be Banned' and 'Everybody should be Vegetarian'. We have had some very robust and stimulating discussions in lessons and witnessed some incredible debating skills amongst the students. We hope some of the students will be encouraged to put their debating skills to the test by signing up to some of the Pinehurst debating teams next year. Weight LiftingA few of our students have been attending weight lifting sessions this term. The aim of these sessions is to introduce students to the basics of weight lifting as well as offer a chance for them to develop their strength and conditioning to support them in their other sports. The classes are run by Olympic and Commonwealth Games competitors, providing high quality instruction, and take place at Functional Strength just around the corner from school. If you are interested in giving it a go, please see Miss Murray for more details. Music in the ClassroomYear 8 & Year 9 students have started their practical component of the subject, working on developing their guitar playing skills, individually or in duets. Kia Ora, We tried really hard to get out on the water this week with our Y6 students who were due to participate in Waterwise; learning to sail an Optimist, kayak and participate in beach activities. Spring looked more like Winter though and only one class managed to get out for a sail. With future dates booked we are hoping that everyone will get the opportunity to complete the programme. Our Senior Primary students have almost finished their Cambridge progression tests and teachers are in the process of marking and writing reports. We have been very pleased with how our students have coped, especially Year 4 who are experiencing this kind of timed testing for the first time. We have several visits taking place in the next few weeks with Year 2 going to Stardome, Year 3 going to Auckland Art Gallery and Year 4 to Motat’s Mind Lab. Year 1 are also planning a trip to the Botanical Gardens. There are plenty of sporting activities to come and we have made changes to our Athletics competitions. This year students will compete in syndicates with Year 1 and 2 and Year 3 and 4 taking part in separate competitions onsite and Year 5 and 6 heading over to the Millennium stadium. Information on these events will be sent shortly and parents are always welcome to come and watch. As we head into the latter part of the term we will be completing our planning for the beginning of 2019. This will involve creating a timetable of homeroom and specialist lessons and organising classes. Whilst we understand that parents can be anxious about classes and teachers we will always endeavour to create the best learning environment for your child. Please know that whilst we do not accept requests for particular teachers we will place your child with someone who will bring out the best in them. Have a great weekend, let’s hope for some sunshine! Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Primary Summer HockeyThis week the Year 3 and 4 Summer Hockey team were involved in an exciting 2-2 draw against Coatesville. Coatesville started the game with a hiss and a roar with two early goals. Playing without a sweeping back meant they were applying a lot of attacking pressure on us. At half time the talented coaches Brooke Peacock and William Montague-Brown spoke to them about passing wide and using the side lines as well as ensuring they were marking tightly on defence. Pinehurst came out in the second half and played extremely well scoring two goals of their own and narrowly missing a third to win it in the dying stages. The Year 5 and 6 Summer Hockey team picked up where they left off from their first game with a dominant 9-2 win over St Joseph’s School. The highlight of this game was the slick inter-passing through the midfield which enabled us to get in behind the opposition defence regularly. Kohtaro Nozaki gave a player of the match performance with his high quality distribution and passing skills. Touch Rugby in the PrimaryTouch Rugby has got off to a great start in the Primary. Pinehurst is represented by 2 teams in the local touch competition. We have a Year 5/6 team and a Year 3/4 team. Both teams play on a Monday afternoon at Ashley Reserve, Long Bay. So far this season, the teams have had two games, the Year 5/6’s has had a draw and a loss. The Year 3/4’s had a win (by default) and a loss. An exciting opportunity for students to promote their touch skills, was to trial for the Mid Bays Touch. We had many keen aspiring touch players, and were able to select a girls and a boys team to partake in the Mid Bays competition in week 4. Here is picture of the players in Year 5/6 Silver. Spring NetballSpring Netball season has finally arrived! The excited children had their first practice last Wednesday where they got into teams and learnt some ball handling skills. They also familiarised themselves with their positions and rules of the game. Considering some children have never played netball before, they all did very well and even scored some goals! Special thanks to our amazing Year 6 umpires who do a very good job at coaching. Games are held on Saturdays at Pinehurst - we hope to see some of you there to support our students! Years 4 and 6 SpanishThis semester the Year 4 Spanish students have already learned how to say/ask how old they are and how to spell their names using the Spanish alphabet. Now they are beginning a unit on “Mi Familia = My Family.” Please encourage them to teach you what they will be learning over the next four weeks! During Term 3, the Year 6 Spanish students were busy learning how to describe people and monsters! Now we are using this knowledge to help us learn how to describe our pets; both real and imaginary! Our efforts will be posted on Seesaw over the next few weeks. We are really looking forward to studying Spanish for a full year from next year on-wards! Art in P20In Art this term, we have been experimenting with a range of collage techniques such as tearing, overlapping and layering of magazine pages to create summer fruit designs. Firstly, we had to draw an outline of a piece of fruit, then thinking about colours that represented our fruit and with summer in mind, we began the process. To complement our summer fruit collage we used a contrasting background. I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy....A beautiful butterfly with the butterfly lady and New Entrant classes. I Spy....P6 designing sun hats! I Spy....Year 6 making prototypes for our PrEP Market Day in Week 7. I Spy.....Year 3 prepping for PrEP Day too! Pinehurst Christmas HampersMany thanks to those people who have contributed donations to our Christmas Hampers. It is tradition for Pinehurst to present these at our Pinehurst Christmas Celebration on the last day of the school year, Thursday 6 December (2.00pm - 3.15pm). Contributions of non-perishable food, Xmas treats, vouchers, new toiletries, toys and games would be greatly appreciated. Please bring donations to your child's homeroom. If you have access to good quality cardboard boxes which you can donate, please contact Nicole Webb directly (nicole.webb@pinehurst.school.nz). Thank you again for your support with this. Families in need will greatly appreciate your kind donations in what can be a stressful time of the year. Award Winning International AuthorJessica Townsend is speaking to all Year 5-8 students Monday November 5th. Students can still purchase her books by bringing the order form to the library before school on Monday. In Music this WeekSuzuki Violin Group for Year 7 and 8 At the start of the term Pinehurst successfully launched a string group that meets every Friday lunchtime in JC8. The group is mentored by Milly Rout, a registered teacher with the New Zealand Suzuki Institute. If you child plays the violin, viola, cello or double bass and would like to sign up to this group for free, please email marija.naumovska@pinehurst.school.nz to register them. Introducing Sam Swindells – itinerant guitar teacher Sam has been on the Auckland music scene for around 6 years and has been honing his skills as a performer and writer. He recently completed an Honors Degree at Auckland University focusing on jazz performance and is now a successful session musician and has been teaching itinerant guitar lesson at Pinehurst. One of the exciting things about the New Zealand Jazz scene is the growing strength of the writing and arranging. Sam is also a talented singer and mentors our senior Rock Bands. Want to see Sam in action? Click here. If you would like to enrol your child in Rock or Jazz guitar lessons, please complete the enrolment form on this page. NZ Robot Olympiad 2018Charles Shen and Allen Weng recently attended the 2018 New Zealand Olympic Robotics Competition, which was organized by Auckland University. Charles and Allen as a team received a Creative Robot Silver Medal under the group 'Junior-Upper Primary'. Year 7 student, Kevin Guo also attended the Robotics Competition. He competed in the Intermediate division with Year 7-9 students across the country. Kevin was placed in 3 categories:
Because of his success, Kevin will be joining the New Zealand National Robotics team to represent New Zealand in the ‘2019 International Robot Olympiad’, which will be held in Hungary. Congratulations Abby!Abby Wendelborn in Year 6 has had another highly successful year of dance. Following a dance role in Centrestage Theatre's production of Seussical earlier this year, Abby has continued to pursue her passion of dance. Abby achieved distinction in her RAD Grade 5 ballet group and solo exams, has consistently placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd and VHC in her solo jazz, lyrical and troupe competitions throughout 2018 and more recently placed in the ‘Top 10 Pre-teen’ dancers section in Australasia's Showcase Dance Competition. Mid-year Abby was one of over 600 dancers nationally, who auditioned to dance with the Royal NZ Ballet in their upcoming production of The Nutcracker. Abby was successful and has already begun rehearsals with RNZB. She has been cast as a dancer in the party scene and will perform with the RNZB in December. Abby heads to Wellington early in November to audition for NZSD 2019 scholar programme. We wish you all the best Abby! |