Friday 20 November 2020Opening Words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 If you go down to the woods today... you will see a bewildering, technicolour festival of cuddly toys of every stripe and size. Yesterday was our annual Teddy Bears Picnic and, as always, we had excited children, slightly confused bears and very worried-looking rabbits, dangled by the ears and thrown around in ever-ascending arcs, as if reaching out for an escape in the sky. Yes, a very Pinehurst event! We waved away some equally excited – but a little more nervous – Year 8 students on their Boys and Girls vs the Wild trip, and the whole of Year 10 on the Duke of Edinburgh tramp to the Pinnacles. Both tramps are due back later today, and I’m looking forward to seeing some exhausted smiles on the students’ faces. There have also been two Sports Assemblies, a Year 6 Leavers’ Assembly, a Year 3 / 4 social event at the cinema, a Year 5 cinema morning, the Year 6 Graduation Event, and today is a Primary School mufti day, followed by the Year 5 / 6 social disco to round off the week. This coming Monday, it’s the turn of our Year 7 and 8 students to have their formal dinner at Soljans, The Lion King performances are on Tuesday and Thursday, 40 Year 12 students are off to the Great Barrier Island Camp, and some other senior students will be embarking on the Tongariro Crossing. There’s lots going on! On Tuesday, we celebrated our annual Valedictory Dinner, saying goodbye to the 70 students and their families who have completed Year 13. It was a wonderful evening, the young men and women looked, well, ready for their adventures to come, smart and keen. And their ambitions are fabulous too: in a year’s time, I’m expecting them to be found in universities and other places across the world. They have been a fantastic group of students to know, and we are going to miss them. On Wednesday morning though – very well-timed! – we had the Year 6 to 7 Transition morning. 64 of our Year 6 students met 28 students from primary schools around the Shore, coming together as our Year 7 for 2021. They’re also a fabulous group, and I’m looking forward to seeing them grow and flourish in the years to come. On Monday, we’re running the Year 8 to 9 Transition morning: another chance to see the future of Pinehurst in action! It’s another packed newsletter today, and many of the items aren’t even the events that I’ve just mentioned. So it’s time to say a huge thank you to the staff, parents and everyone helping to make sure that we can offer all of these great opportunities for our young people. Thank you too to the parents who came in to wrap hampers for our annual Christmas giving: this year we are donating to Foster Hope, who support foster parents and children. Ka kite anō au i a koutou. Have a lovely weekend! 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 Kia Ora, There are quite a lot of tired little people round and many big ones too but it has been an amazing week packed with events and memories being made. I have not long returned from our Year 6 graduation event at the bowling alley as we spent a happy evening socialising together and celebrating the journey through the Primary years. Our Leavers Assembly on Thursday afternoon was the final of the year before Prizegiving on December 1st and it was lovely to see them all together as a happy group at the end of a somewhat challenging year for them. They have been a fantastic group, lively, competitive, kind, hard working and fun to be with and we wish them all the best as they move to the College. On Wednesday, Year 5 took some time out to go to the movies to watch Combat Wombat, a superhero tale with the usual sad beginning and happy ending and an evil koala thrown in for good measure. The most exciting part for some students was the actual bus trip as they had never been on a double decker bus before, the popcorn and recliner seats were also enjoyed and as always we felt very proud to take them outside of Pinehurst in their uniforms as representatives of our school. Year 3 and 4 also got to enjoy the movies on Tuesday night as their social event when they got to see Cats and Dogs 3, a good time was had by all and the movie was a great success. On Friday we look forward to our Year 5 and 6 disco with pizza, games and dancing and hopefully some fabulous weather so we can use the fields to run off some steam. The highlight of the week was of course the Teddy Bears’ Picnic and each year it just gets better and better! Well done Mrs Jones Hill and the Primary Council for a fabulous day of teddy themed activities and all of the games, teddy disco and teddy hospital, we all had amazing fun! We are in the final stages of preparation for our Year 5 and 6 production of Disney’s Lion King Jr which promises to be spectacular. The costumes look amazing and the performers are ready to entertain their audience with outstanding acting, singing and dancing. We are very proud of the dedication and effort they have put in to make this a show to remember. A few tickets are still available for Tuesday night and more for Thursday so if you haven’t reserved yours yet make sure to do that this weekend. Next week is action packed with Lion King, Super Cluster Athletics, Donovan Bixley, the author coming to talk to Year 3 and 4 and PrEP Market Day. Thank you for all of your support in these events, we know it is very busy as we try to make sure that our children get the opportunities to do the things they were looking forward to this year. Have a fantastic weekend. Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Year 5-6 Sports AssemblyCongratulations to all students who were recognised earlier this week at the special 2020 Year 5-6 Sports Assembly, with a special mention to our overall Year 6 Sportspeople of the Year! Little GemsThis week we are featuring the incredibly brave Grace Lu (Year 1) who wowed the audience not just with her cuteness factor but also her ability to sing Edelweiss at last week’s Junior Formal Music Concert. It is not an easy task to get up in front of a full Arena audience and sing a solo with nothing but a backing track. We look forward to hearing Grace sing in future events. To see the performance, please click here. If you wish to nominate your child for our brand new Little Gems section, please email our Head of Visual and Performing Arts on marija.naumovska@pinehurst.school.nz Year 3 and 4 Lunchtime DiscoOur wonderful Arts and Cultural Team and Year 3 and 4 councillors put together an ‘outdoor’ disco for our Year 3 - 4 students last Friday. A spectacular array of dancers could be spotted strutting their moves at lunchtime with the teachers also dusting off a few of their sensational disco grooves. Edward Maclean in Year Six is our resident DJ, and thanks to his supportive Mum who does the sound system deliveries, he set up an amazing sound system. The Year 3 and 4 councillors sent through the most requested songs from their classes and Edward put together their chosen playlist. We were amazed at the very fancy footwork and great sense of rhythm we saw on the dance floor. A big shout out to Adam Li who won the dance competition and of course to Mrs Thomson who took out the teachers in a fiercely contested dance off! Road Patrol at Rainbows EndWe are very fortunate to have a responsible group of Year 6 and Year 10 students, who have committed their time and effort throughout the year, to take care of our busy crossing outside school. Rain, wind, cold and sunshine, it doesn’t matter the Road Patrollers will always be there to ensure students make their way across the road safely. To celebrate their hard work and dedication, they were rewarded with a fun day at Rainbows End. A 360 degree rotation on the Stratosfear 30 meters off the ground, a massive plunge at the end of the Log Flume, a huge drop, loop and double corkscrew on the Roller Coaster were just a few of the thrilling rides that got the adrenaline pumping! A very exciting day. Big thanks to Terry, Jill and Mrs Herbert who so kindly help our students when they are on duty. Teddy Bears PicnicPicnic time for teddy bears, and teachers and most of all students. A parade of teddy bears came to school on Thursday to take part in all the teddy themed activities on offer. The Primary School Council worked together as ‘Teddy Bear Control’ and created 14 teddy themed activities for our younger students to take part in. Maps were drawn, rosters were made up and teddy activity leaders were decided. Teddy yoga and a disco took place enabling all the teddies to get limbered up for the day. Then the classes set off to take part in relays, photo booths, sack races, musical hoops and so much more. Our lovely librarians and Year 6 councillors set up a teddy reading station so that teddies and owners could have a little quiet time before they set off for a vigorous game of ‘Teddy, Teddy, Tail’ A teddy bear hospital was a popular place to visit and a team of dedicated teddy doctors and nurses were ready to bandage, take temperatures and generally tend to tired bears. Many tired teddies made their way back to classes after an exciting lunchtime for a little nap before heading home. A big thank you to our Year 6 leaders for organising such a fun filled event.
P15 have been busy!Year 5 students are getting ready for Market Day. They wrote a cover letter and prepared a simple CV applying for the role that they wanted to have within their group. Students have taken on several roles which include: CEO, Accountant, Marketing Manager, Resource Manager and Production Manager. They have been learning about paying tax on their salaries and paying rent for office and warehouse space. Students have also been developing their social skills and learning strategies to resolve conflict when it arises within their business. In Art, we have been learning about a range of linear, radial and grid patterns. Students are using these patterns to create beautiful artwork with black ink pens. In Global Perspective we are inquiring into water, its usage, and issues around it. We have been formulating questions, learning to search using keywords, thinking about reliable and unreliable sources, and creating bibliographies. In Mathematics, we are enjoying learning about reflection of shapes with 2 lines of symmetry. In Writing, students have been working really hard on uplevelling and editing their own work. This week we are focusing on planning balanced arguments and using this to perform a debate. In Reading, students have been using a range of strategies to help with comprehension. These include: self-monitoring, predicting, visualizing, inferring, summarising, synthesizing, and guessing the meaning of unknown words from context. We have also been busy collaborating with the rest of the Year 5 & 6 syndicate practising for the Lion King production. Water safety, farm yard animals and a teddy disco!P7 have been enjoying all of the outdoor activities this term. The students had an energetic morning at Athletics proudly demonstrating their skills that they learnt in their P.E lessons with Mr Taylor. Their favourite activities were the long jump and the high jump, we all like jumping in P7. The surf life savers came to speak to P7 about how to keep safe when at the beach. We understand the importance of surf safety especially because we live in Auckland and are surrounded by beaches. Another exhilarating activity was the fun games at lunchtime. P7 enjoyed some obstacle races and using the parachute. The excitement of farmyard animals visiting after school was definitively a highlight. There were also a variety of games and activities for the students to have a go at, from face painting to gumboot throwing. If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise. If you go down to the woods today, you’d better go in disguise. For every bear that ever there was, will gather there for certain, because today’s the day the Teddy Bears have their picnic! The teddy bears of P7 came to school to have a picnic with the students. Some of the teddy bears had to visit the teddy hospital and get fixed up by the teddy doctors, the bears played games and even joined in with a teddy bear disco. Touch RugbyThe Pinehurst Blaze Touch Rugby team is a mix of Year 3 and 4 students who are relishing being back on the field after a disruptive winter sports season. Their first game of the season ended in a loss. However this resulted in a much better understanding of the game. Since then, they have managed to win their last two games. On Monday they played Mairangi Bay and had a convincing 7-2 win. The team is well supported by a great bunch of keen parents and older siblings with the emphasis being on fun and development. A special visitor for Year 3 & 4On Monday afternoon (periods 5 & 6), November 23rd, international best-selling and award-winning children's book author and illustrator Donovan Bixley will be visiting the Library to meet Year 3 & 4 students. Don't forget to fill in your book order form should your child wish to purchase a book on the day. Kia ora koutou, As we head into the penultimate week of 2020, earlier postponed events have somehow been squeezed into what is an incredibly busy and productive closing three weeks of 2020. Many of our long standing parents and their ‘on the brink of adulthood’ children celebrated their time at Pinehurst on Tuesday evening with a memorable Valedictory dinner. There was much to impress, with an array of performances highlighting the passion and talent of our young people. One thing that particularly struck me was the Year 13 leavers sense of community - one of connection, mutual respect and long lasting friendships. We look forward to saying farewell to our Year 13 students when we acknowledge their achievements at our Prize Giving on Wednesday 2nd December. Our Senior College examination rooms now sit empty with the conclusion of our Cambridge exams this week - we wish all our Senior students the very best with their results. This sense of emptiness in the College has been exacerbated with the absence of half of our Year 8 students who are out sailing the Hauraki Gulf on their annual Boys & Girls versus Wild adventure – a reward and key part of their endeavours to achieve Gold awards in the popular Year 7 to 8 Service programme. Also missing is our entire Year 10 cohort who have embarked on their DoE Bronze qualifier hike. Their goal is to summit the Pinnacles, following the Kauaeranga Kauri trail for the spectacular views of the Coromandel Peninsula. How lucky they are with this balmy summer weather. Let’s hope our older students experience similar weather in their week-long leadership camp on Great Barrier Island starting this Sunday. Likewise with our Silver DoE qualifiers as they prepare for the famous Tongariro Crossing next Monday. Wow…. it’s incredible that we manage to fit all of this in! Travel safe, seize every opportunity, and most importantly enjoy the time away with your friends. Ngā mihi nui. Joseph Johansen, Deputy Principal of College. Year 7-8 Sports AssemblyCongratulations to all students who were recognised earlier this week at the special 2020 Year 7-8 Sports Assembly, with a special mention to our overall Sportspeople of the Year. NH Zone Day AthleticsCongratulations to our Year 7/8 Pinehurst Athletics team, on a very successful day at NH Zone Day Athletics last Friday. Competing against 17 other local Intermediate schools, the team had some outstanding results. A special mention to Fernanda, George, Bailey & Osbert, who, with a top 3 finish in at least one of their events at the NH Zone, are now going on to represent Pinehurst at the Auckland Athletics Interzone event at Mount Smart Stadium next week. Thank you to all the parents who supported the students last Friday. NH Zone Day GolfOn Monday, Year 7 students Oliver & Harrison headed north to the Warkworth Golf Course to represent Pinehurst School at the NH Zone Day Golf event for 2020. Both boys had a great day on the course, with special congratulations to Oliver who was the winner of the Stableford Boys event - a fantastic result for a Year 7 student! Well done boys! NH Zone Day Beach VolleyballThe NH Zone Day Beach Volleyball (Girls) event was held yesterday at the purpose built Mairangi Bay Courts. Pinehurst was represented by 3 teams in the 2-aside competition. Well done to Victoria & Ione , Bailey & Mercedez and Charliee & Pippa who had a fantastic experience on the day! Year 6 to Year 7 Transition MorningThe 2021 Year 7 cohort spent the morning in the College on Wednesday learning how to set up their devices and having some short taster lessons in Art with Mrs Heslop, Drama with Ms Forrester, Science with Mr Spilling and Maths with Mr Hoang. It was lovely seeing so many new faces in the College area, most showing great excitement about coming back next year. Thank you to all of the staff involved. Year 7 Scratch ProjectsYear 7 students have been busy with their interactive Scratch projects. Check out a few of them below: Jamie Han: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/425534011/ Tilly Dawson: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/425946153/ Katrina Gao: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/425533378 Ana Greywolf: Year 7 Social SciencesStudents were given an assignment on a 3-D model of a Biomes they had studied. One ingenious group took it upon themselves do one on a "Desert Biomes" by making a cake with sand coloured icing and eatable moulded cacti. It has proven so popular that the entire class decided to make their own cake Biomes! Year 9 Social Science Rimu & TotaraThe sailing trip and visit to Auckland Maritime Museum was cancelled on Friday due to the closure of the CBD. As such, the students spent the day at school doing a range of exciting activities. Mr Le Lievre led Rimu on a beautiful bush walk to the local stream, while Totara House competed in teams in a Geography style Quiz run by Ms Adair. The groups then swapped over. Following this, the students participated in some traditional Maori & Aboriginal PE activities with Ms Murray & Mr Quirk. After lunch, the students attended some art lessons, where they designed a mural based on our Social Science concept of Urban Renewal at the Waterfront. Year 9 Book Review'Junior Girls in Games' DayOn Tuesday, nine Year 9 girls attended the 'Junior Girls in Games' Day at Media Design School. These days have been going since 2015 with two workshops each year each attracting 40+ girls from schools all over Auckland. Lauren Bardebes, People and Talent Manager from Rocketwerkz started the day with a keynote addressing “Why a Career in Games?” She outlined the variety of different roles including programmers, designers, artists, marketers… and talked about the fun environment, travel (usually!), excellent pay and the ability to work remotely. She talked about the process of getting a game to market and shared some interesting statistics around the growth and variety within this prosperous industry. Who knew the average age of a gamer is 34 years old! The next session was on Game Design. In groups, working with students from different schools, they designed a variation of a “race” board game (Start, roll die, get to end first), making up rules and variations to make it interesting; then swapping and playing each other’s games. The rest of the day was made up of two 2 hour workshops – first in Game Art where they each created game assets and then in Game Programming where they took their art and built a game using the assets. The girls really enjoyed the day and many plan to return next year for the follow-up experience. The Oceania Middle School Ethics OlympiadThe Middle School (Years 7 – 9) Ethics Olympiad is an event where school teams from NZ and Australia discuss various ethical questions such as Freedom of Speech, Repatriation of Foreign Fighters/Participants, Covid-19 and the Ethics of Mass Quarantine and Belief v’s Action. Over the past few weeks, our team of five Year 9 students (Gloria, Jack, Goldie, Benen and Natalie), led by Mr Johansen, trained for the competition by discussing ethical issues to broaden our perspectives, improve teamwork, and gain experience at speaking clearly and constructively on the spot. For the first time, the competition was run online via Zoom which involved 4 heats, and each heat had 2 rounds where both teams had a chance to present a case. The judges were from all over the world and included university professors in the fields of Ethics and Philosophy. Collaborating with each other and working as a team was very enjoyable, as students identified each other’s strengths and used these to their advantage. They learnt that ethics is more than just debating and arguing from different viewpoints – it is also a constructive discussion, and it is ok to agree with the other team. Pinehurst are looking forward to participating in the Senior College Ethics Olympiad next year. We strongly encourage other students to keep an eye out for it as we believe it is an incredibly valuable experience. Year 9 Design TechnologyYear 9 students have just completed the final stage of their module by being introduced to some woodworking techniques. They have all made a box or container. They discovered different timbers including Jarrah, Rimu, Macrocarpa and Ash and their working properties. They found out about different joints like the mitre, rebait and tongue and groove. Different types of adhesives and finishes, their purpose and application and not to mention the joys of sanding to get a good surface. The final part of the project involved designing a lid that reflected something about themselves and this was where imaginations ran free, resulting in everything from NZ culture and pop culture icons to flora and fauna. DoE Training DayLast week, Year 9 spent a day of Duke of Edinburgh training which thoroughly prepared us all for the challenging yet fulfilling journey that lies ahead of us. The day started with an informative seminar about tramping, with a highlight being the comical student demonstration of crossing rivers in a human chain. We then practised setting up tents outside on the field and played a competitive round of Kahoot to test our learning from the day. Overall, the DoE Training Day well-equipped our year group with a clearer understanding and visions for the globally celebrated award programme. - Gloria Kim Pinehurst TennisIt’s been an outstanding season of tennis so far, from students demonstrating success in the North Harbour Tennis Competition, to others who are getting better and better and enjoying the process of learning new skills. With a surge in numbers playing tennis at Pinehurst, we entered five teams into the North Harbour Tennis Competition. The students involved have been committed and produced some outstanding performances, but most pleasing is the character demonstrated and the way they’ve conducted themselves on court. We have teams who are now competing in the top 4 of their grades and challenging much older opposition. We have fixtures against Takapuna Grammar, Westlake Girls, Carmel and Western Springs coming up which will further challenge our students and bring the best out of them. We also have an enthusiastic group of students who are just beginning their tennis journey. Their dedication and positive attitude have resulted in improvements in key skills such as their forehand, backhand and serving. With 2021 fast approaching, we’re already starting to make plans for how we want the tennis season to look. If you would like to know what we do in tennis, and how we can accommodate tennis players of all abilities, please get in contact. The students who have participated in tennis this year have helped set a foundation to build on for the future. Barista Training for 2021 Busy Bean CafeThis week a wonderful team of Year 11 students spent two days training with Dave Gordon from Coffee Training to complete their Introductory Barista qualification. They have been learning how to use the equipment, about espresso extraction, milk texturing and pouring, and how to prepare all of the popular espresso coffees on our cafe menu. These students will be putting their new skills into practise at the school cafe next year where they will be supported to run a student-centred coffee shop in College 4. We are very excited to see what 2021 holds for the Busy Bean Cafe.
I Spy... Parent helpers packing hampers!A BIG thank you to our wonderful parent helpers who dedicated their time on Wednesday morning to pack and wrap the Christmas hampers so beautifully for our chosen charity, Foster Hope. I Spy...Road Safety team at Rainbows End. I Spy...Our valedictorians and 'Pinehurst Lifers'. I Spy...Rainbow Readers hard at work! Team photos & portraitsPlease don't forget to order your photos online with PhotoLife. Students have received their access keys for team photos and portraits. Pinehurst Christmas CelebrationYou are warmly invited to attend our Pinehurst Christmas Celebration. This will be held in the Gymnasium, Thursday 3rd Dec, 2.00pm-3.00pm. We look forward to enjoying this special, traditional occasion with you. Thank you again for your generous contributions to our beautiful Christmas Hampers for Foster Hope Charity. Teacher & Firefighter takes on Sky TowerCollege English Teacher and Year 8 Dean Angela Smith is going to be participating in the Firefighter Sky Tower Stair Challenge on Saturday 21st November. This is an annual event for fire fighters (paid and volunteer) from New Zealand and around the world to raise money for Leukemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand. This event was postponed due to Covid-19 from May and Angela hopes that the current hotter temperatures aren’t going to make it too difficult - climbing over 1100 steps in her full Level 2 trousers and jacket, carrying around 25kg of kit! Angela is a volunteer fire fighter at the Silverdale Brigade, working an average of 40 hours a week at the station responding to a range of calls including: fires, medicals, accidents, flooding and rescues. Pinehurst are holding separate Primary and College Mufti Days to help her raise as much money as she can. She is very grateful for all the support that the Pinehurst Community are giving her. |