News and events for the week ending 29th March 2019 Friday 29th March 2019 Opening words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好 I’m going to start with an apology: June Wang, who normally translates our newsletter, is away this week, so we haven’t had the chance to translate it into Chinese. My apologies! We will ensure that we translate the newsletter as usual next week. This week’s newsletter is a busy one, and I hope that you have had the chance to look at some of the pictures and videos from the Year 9 sailing/camping experience that we have placed on our Facebook and Instagram sites. We use social media sparingly at Pinehurst. If we need to give you information, we will usually use our newsletter, emails, Seesaw or Schoolbox, but we use social media for some of the extras that are nice to see, or sometimes as a tool to enable parents to have another way to talk to us. So if you’ve not yet had the chance to see half our Year 9 cohort racing each other in America’s Cup yachts, and watching playful dolphins that are close enough to touch, please pop online and have a look! I think I’ll talk a little about sport this week: having beaten every team on the North Shore, our Premier Golf team have now reached the Auckland final after beating St Kentigern College in the semi finals. This is the second year in succession they have performed at this level, and I’m very proud of them. In our other summer sports, we have also been doing very well: our boys’ College tennis team are currently unbeaten, and our girls’ tennis and both our volleyball teams also had good wins this week. We also had Junior College boys and girls tennis zone days this week, and we hosted a Primary tennis zone day a couple of weeks ago. Our Primary basketball teams have been going really well too, and I keep meaning to make it to the Millennium Centre for a little Flippaball on a Sunday evening. I’ve been a little frustrated by a schedule that has stopped me seeing much sport this term, so I’m determined to make it up when the winter sports season begins. Thank you to all the parents and all the teachers and coaches who support our sports programme. It’s an extensive, varied programme that takes a huge amount of organisation and commitment to run, and I want to make a particular point of thanking Kelly Lindsay and Cyndie Augustin, who co-ordinate Primary and College sport. They are incredibly committed, hardworking sports administrators and we are lucky to have them. From time to time, parents ask questions about specific aspects of our sports programme: please feel free to ask if you have any concerns. Kelly and Cyndie are always happy to answer, and I’m also happy to talk about structure and policies. It’s a very important part of our school, and we want to keep developing it. The subject arose in the Parent Consultation meetings I ran earlier this week. One suggestion to reinforce the importance of sport as part of a balanced, holistic education was to make it compulsory, so I’m happy to take responses to that idea! Our goal is to have every single one of our students involved in some kind of school sport, so we will continue to work towards that. Other subjects that came up included the curriculum, the Annual Report, our Strategic Plan, and the role of technology in the classroom. Thank you to those parents who came along and who shared their views in a couple of robust discussions. And thank you too to those parents who came along to the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday: it was a really positive, inclusive meeting, and, as usual, I felt lucky to be part of such a fantastic community. I’m going to finish with community, actually. It’s now two weeks since the attacks in Christchurch, and the victims and their families are of course still with us every day, as they will continue to be. On Monday 8th April, our mufti day will be in remembrance of those who died, and I would encourage those who wish to wear clothes that celebrate their community. We are a proud multicultural school, and we celebrate our diversity, welcoming and supporting everyone, learning about each other and coming together as one. On Tuesday, we welcomed a visiting group of talented young musicians, dancers and martial artists from Beijing. We welcomed them with a põwhiri, shared some kai (food) together, exchanged gifts and then enjoyed each other’s talents in front of a very appreciative audience. And so we became friends, strengthening ourselves and broadening our community further. In the Spanish room in Junior College, you can see words in Te Reo Mãori translated into Spanish. I love all of this: our cultures and communities recognised and celebrated and becoming part of all of our identities. Have a lovely weekend. Ngā mihi, Alex Reed Alex Reed WEEK 10 Tuesday 2 April
Wednesday 3 April
Thursday 4 April
Friday 5 April
WEEK 11 Monday 8th April
Wednesday 10th April
Thursday 11th April
Kia Ora, Today you will be able to access your child’s Term 1 Interim report. These reports provide general descriptors on how your child is progressing in their subjects. Throughout the term teachers will have been providing you with more detailed feedback via emails and Schoolbox. Next week you will have the opportunity to meet with your child’s teachers during conferences. These conferences will be held in the College 4 building next to the hockey turf. Please be aware that bookings will close for Tuesday afternoon conferences at midday on Monday. We look forward to meeting with as many parents as possible. We are coming towards the end of a term which has seen a rich and wide variety of outdoor experiences. Today Year 9 students will be returning home from their camp. Many of you will have already seen some of the pictures and videos demonstrating what an amazing experience this adventure will have been. Next weekend senior students embark on their Silver Duke of Edinburgh tramp. Each year we have more and more students successfully achieving this award. The number of students wanting to participate in this tramp has exceeded the number of places available. The last camp of the term will take place during the final week of term with Year 8 students taking part in their leadership camp. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College Pinehurst students off to AMUN this weekendThis weekend ten Pinehurst students from Years 11-13 will be representing various countries at the Auckland Model United Nations Conference which is organised by UNYOUTH. These students had to go through an application process before being allocated a place at the conference. They each have a country to represent and will be considering Resolutions on subjects such as: Mental Health, Economic Social Welfare and Access to Information. This is a brilliant opportunity for our students to meet with students from all over Auckland and further north. They will get to hone their debating and negotiating skills and learn about the workings of the United Nations. Congratulations to the following delegates: Claudia Goodacre- UK, Alina Liu- Guinea, Subin Wui – Comoros Islands, Jessica Ma – St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suji Lee – The Congo, Dylan Liddle – Uruguay, Anthony Raphael – The USA, Arden Callagher – The Democratic Republic of Congo, Alina Tokaeva – South Korea, Jae Woo Son – Saudia Arabia. Year 9 'Out There' CampThis week Year 9 have been on camp up in Whangarei Heads. It has certainly been a different and challenging camp this year. Rimu and Totara sailed up from Britomart, through the Hauraki Gulf, stopping at Kawau Island and the Hen and Chicken Islands. Their transport were 2 beautiful 72ft long sailing boats; the lion (urban assault vehicle) and the Steinlager 2 (big red), both of which sailed around the world and both of which were skippered by the late Sir Peter Blake. At the same time Matai and Kauri were tramping up Mt Manaia, building their own shelters, catching their own fish, fire building and learning Maori crafts such as bracelet and bag weaving using flax at the land camp near Ocean Beach. On Wednesday, both groups swapped over and did everything else in reverse. Matai and Kauri had the added bonus of going ashore Tiritiri Matangi Island and seeing 5 Takahe (rare NZ native birds). A fantastic camp and experience for the students. Many of the students learnt how to work within a group in a tough and challenging environment as well as discovering how to manage themselves. A big thank you to the staff & the students for making it such a rewarding experience. More photos and videos can be found on Pinehurst Facebook and Instagram. Year 10 ChemistryYear 10 students have been participating in a forensic skills based unit called F.I.N.D (Forensic Investigators New Division). Over the term they have learned a number of skills including various separating techniques, measuring and testing for substances. This resulted in a practical test that enable them to solve a ‘whodunnit’ type crime using these skills. The scenario involved a murder, a break in and an altered will along with a theft. The students had a great time using their skills to determine who was involved in the crime. Freshwater monitoring – our local Alexander Stream fieldworkYear 10 and 11 Environmental Management classes have been busy this term learning about freshwater management. The Auckland Council Sustainable Schools Programme, in conjunction with the Upper Harbour Local Board, has sponsored ‘Our Local Stream Project’ where local schools monitor the environmental condition of their local stream, and upload the data collected onto the Auckland Council website for environmentalists, planners and interested residents to view and use. The training for the scientific testing and collection, recording and entry of data is delivered by the Whitebait Connection coordinator Sophie Journee. Year 10 completed their first field work on Tuesday and Year 11 will have their turn on Tuesday 9th April. During the recent field work, a large eel swam into the collection net which caused some excitement for those standing nearby. Pinehurst will test the local stream on a regular basis over the coming years and help build up a record of its ‘health’ as development continues to be carried out within the local area which may affect the stream environment. NH Zone Day TennisThis week, 8 students represented Pinehurst at the NH Zone Day Girls & Boys Tennis events. On Wednesday our girls and on Thursday our boys (who almost all play Tennis each week for Pinehurst in the school competition) headed to Forrest Hill Tennis Centre to compete against other schools from all over the North Harbour region. The teams played singles in the morning, and doubles in the afternoon. Our girls team – Natalie, Sherrie, Amy & Claudia – were runners up in the plate round for the girls singles and our boys team – Benen, Roger, Yumin & Kalan won the plate boys singles (losing only 1 game all morning!) Thank you to parent managers Kim & Jun for supporting the students at these events. Pinehurst Golf Team in FinalsIt would be easy to assume that the Pinehurst Golf team has only to turn up each week for their matches in the Auckland Secondary School competition to secure a win. It happened again last Monday when we beat St Kentigerns by four strokes to earn a place in the finals and it has been happening all season. On Monday, we play McLeans for the Auckland championship. We are defending our title and hopefully will hold onto the trophy we have had for the last year. According to our players, McLeans are a very strong team and have won their matches quite comfortably through to the finals. This means that all of our players will have to perform well on the day – and I know they will. Win or lose, they continually make Pinehurst proud. Subin Wui, Eujin Kang, Yeonsoo Son, Jaewoo Son Waikato Junior Champs Swimming Success!Congratulations to Jack Potier, who had outstanding results at the Waikato Junior Championships in Cambridge last weekend. Jack received 2 x Gold, 4 x Silver, 1 x Bronze medals, as well as 2 x 4th place ribbons. Jack also achieved a Level 1 time for his 200m Fly – a fantastic achievement by this young swimmer. Well done Jack! Girls FootballWe are on the lookout for new players to join our girls football teams this year. No experience or special equipment required! Just come along to training to see if you might enjoy a new challenge or continue to develop your existing skills. Pre-season training has started for Term 1 and is running on Wednesday 3:30-4:30. In Term 2 this will change to Monday 3:30-4:40 and games will be on Wednesday with a 4pm kick off. All kit and transportation to and from the games will be provided. See Miss Murray for more details. Kia Ora, Two weeks to go and we are almost at the end of the longest term of the year. Where has the time gone? We have certainly packed a lot into Term 1 and classrooms are beginning to settle into their routines. There is a rhythm to each day, week and term that is set early in the year as each classroom explores their learning programmes. As teachers we are also focussing on the relationship between the learner and teacher. Good, positive relationships foster confidence, which in turn breeds success. We are role models for life long learning and spend time researching the latest teaching methods and sharing strategies and techniques to make learning engaging, fun and successful. As we walk though classrooms we want to know from our students what they are learning and why are they learning it. These are also great questions to ask at home. If we use questions like, ‘How was your day?’ we will get one of two answers, good or bad. When we ask 'What did you learn and why were you learning it?', responses are deeper and can lead to interesting conversations that consolidate thinking. We are looking forward to sharing progress with parents on Tuesday and Thursday of next week during parent conferences. Please use the parent portal to book as soon as possible as they will close on Monday morning to allow teachers time to prepare their data. I have heard several staff this week say that are really looking forward to the opportunity to meet with parents and celebrate the progress made so far, while helping students to set their next steps in learning. Conferences are a very important part of the assessment cycle and vital to your child’s progress so that we can all work together to support each student. See you there! Ngā mihi Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Reaching for the stars in P4!For Science in P4 we have been learning about the Solar System. During Week 7, we took a trip with P2 to the Stardome. A few of the kids in the classroom got to stand up and pretend to be a planet in space! We listened to the presentation and then did a quiz with the iPad around the Stardome. We learned that an orange space suit is called a “Pumpkin Suit.” P4 and P2 had so much fun learning about the solar system and sitting in the big chairs in the theatre. In the classroom we have been astronauts zooming around outer space! We’ve been pretending we’re in a space shuttle by lying on our backs and drawing on paper under the table. We even got to explore some moon sand and rocks. We also learned who Neil Armstrong was and saw a picture of him on the moon! Finally, we have been discussing what the key to being a good friend is. We talked about how important it is to always be kind, say nice things, and share with our friends. We wrote down what we thought the key to being a good friend was and hung them in the classroom so we can always remember to be kind to one another. We have been so busy in P4 and we can’t wait to learn about the Moon next week. The fun and learning continues in P2!We decided to continue our science topic about Space and the Solar System by trying to replicate the surface of the moon……so we made moon sand. We all had so much fun mixing everything together, especially when the sparkles were added. Some of the children said that the sparkles were stars! We then tried to make space rocks. By the end of the lesson, our classroom definitely resembled the surface of the moon, sand was everywhere! Great job everyone. In Phonics we have started learning our digraphs, understanding that 2 letters make just 1 sound. We started with ‘th’ and used the knowledge of repeating patterns from Maths to make a colourful piece of phonics art using cotton buds and paint. Our Tricky Word of the week was ‘are’. We practised reading the word in our weekly poem. We worked really hard to learn the words and the actions. SustainabilityIn P17 we have been learning about reducing, reusing and recycling. Pinehurst is going to get new compost bins and recycling bins this year that will help the environment. We have made posters to convince people that plastic is bad for the planet. Think before you dump a little can or plastic on the ground! What is it doing to our environment? What can you do to help? You can reduce your plastic waste by not buying single-use plastic bags, bottles, or Glad-wrap. You can wash and re-use plastic items, and you can recycle EVERYTHING in the correct bins. Stay posted to see what’s coming up in Sustainability this year! P11 Gets DescriptiveThis term, P11 have been working hard on our descriptive writing. We have been learning how to use incredible sensory language to help us describe what we could see, hear and feel if we were 'in' our picture. Everyone has learnt so many new words and have been challenging themselves to make their writing even better. In our writing this week, we were not allowed to use 'I can..' to start a sentence, also we were not allowed to use the word 'amazing'. The class also learnt how to start sentences using verbs and adjectives to keep it interesting for the reader. Here is some of our amazing work and look at how focused we all are! Narrative Writing in P19P19 students have been working on the features of narrative writing. One aspect of this has been creating interesting and engaging setting descriptions that paint a clear image for whoever is reading out stories. For an immersive writing experience, they went on a walk around the school grounds and settled in the small orchard at the top of the back field. They used their senses: see, hear, touch, smell and taste to write about the environment they were in. Here are some examples of the awesome sentences created: Shades of green in the trees softly turned to rust. The strong, gushing wind rustled the leaves in the trees. - Sam E. Trees rustle against each other as trucks angrily pass by. The wind wildly passes by and makes my skin tingle. - Anaheta E. For health P19 have been developing their understanding of personal well-being, using Hauora as a guide. The 4 aspects of Hauora are Taha tinana (Physical), Taha hinengaro (mental and emotional), Taha whānau (Social) and Taha wairua (Spiritual). Their latest focus has been Taha whanau, where they have discussed different scenarios and the abundance of emotions people can feel. As a class, they talked about how important it is to consider how others may feel and understand that each of us are entitled to feeling differently. I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy...evaporation exploration with puddle power in P17! I Spy....learning which recycling goes where in Year 2! I Spy... Rainbow Readers hard at work! I Spy... autumn leaves in beautiful colours in Year 3! I Spy...soccer stars in the making in Year 1! Peace Angel Arts Troupe visit PinehurstOn Tuesday afternoon, our Year 5-8 students were treated to a spectacular musical, dance and martial-arts programme by a very talented group of students from Beijing. Incredible costumes, instruments and calligraphy as well as impressive air - somersaults and traditional dancing were only some of the skills brought to the Arena. Year 10 DramaThe Year 10 Drama group performed their first assessment on Friday 22nd March. This was an evening of Shakespeare scenes ranging from Othello to Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado about Nothing to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Taming of the Shrew also made an appearance to remind us how funny it can be when a man tries to tame a woman of spirit. Shakespeare is daunting at the best of times so to see such young students approach this with such passion and commitment was very heartening. Their families were there as well to support them along with friends. The whole cast supported each other throughout the evening and fun was had by all. Congratulations to all those performers and thank you to their friends and families for coming along. College Choir Perform with Sal MalakiOn Saturday night, our College Choir performed with a US based Tenor, Sal Malaki and a few other local artists, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral under the direction of our choir director Catherine Carr. Mr Malaki showcased his incredible vocal control through an impressive and ethnically varied repertoire covering songs from Mexico, Spain, Italy, the Philippines and New Zealand. Our choir members provided a beautiful accompaniment to some of our local favourite songs including Pokarekare Ana, Hine e Hine and Crowded House’s Weather With You. Thank you to all the members and parents who participated in and supported this event. Want to see them in action? Click here. Uniform ShopSchool Holiday Opening Hours
Exchange students require short-stay hostsWe have two South African exchange students from 14 June to 17 July and are looking for a family to house these senior students. If interested please contact sven.zimmermann@pinehurst.school.nz Surf Lifesaving National Champions!Pinehurst student, Danielle Wheeler, and her Orewa Surf Club crew competed at the Surf Lifesaving National Championships held over 3 days at Mount Maunganui last weekend. Dressage CompetitionPhoebe Rees Williams competed last Sunday at St Peter’s Invitational Dressage Competition and rode well to secure two 2nd place ribbons on her mount AEC Cody. Well done Phoebe. |