News and events for the week ending 22nd November 2019 Friday 22nd November 2019 Opening words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 The end of a school year is full of endings and beginnings. We had a wonderful Valedictory Dinner for our departing Year 13 students on Wednesday. There was quite a bit of raw emotion from some of the parents, looking back wistfully, in some cases, on 13 years of their child’s history. Some of the staff too: I sat next to Mrs Davies, who taught many of the students when they were in Year 2, some 12 years ago, and I think she enjoyed seeing how they had grown up to become young adults on the cusp of an exciting journey. It was a lovely evening, and a great way to celebrate our community. Our Year 10 students are also on the cusp of something: in their case, a warm bed and a good rest, as they stagger home from the second Duke of Edinburgh tramp of the year. We run two DoE tramps every year for Year 10, and I’m hoping to see all of them gain their Bronze awards next year. We’re doing some additional work around leadership in the coming year, especially with Year 9 and 10, and there should be increased opportunities for them to show what they can do as leaders in the future. We’ve been celebrating sporting achievements at school this week as well. I enjoyed both the Primary and the Year 7 and 8 Sports Prizegivings on Tuesday: there were so many great performances to applaud. Our children show a huge amount of commitment to their sport, and I’m always especially proud of the way they conduct themselves when they play for the school. They play hard and competitively, giving everything they can; they win with grace and they lose with good humour and balance. I spent most of Tuesday with a huge smile on my face, and I hope all the parents who came along enjoyed it as much as I did. On Wednesday, we had the annual Teddy Bears’ Picnic: I’ve never seen so many stuffed animals in one place, many with rather unusual names. And some which stretched slightly the definition of “teddy bear”. There was a giant rabbit, for example, that was taller than most of the children; I got to meet a dinosaur that managed to seem both fierce and happy; and I’m sure I glimpsed a cuddly possum too. Presumably on holiday from Queensland. I hope he’s been warned about Kiwi anti-possum sentiment. There are now two weeks of term left. I’m looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the last week of term, when we enjoy a (hopefully) sunlit Christmas Picnic and our Prizegivings for Primary, Junior College and Senior College. We’ll have the Library open on the Tuesday afternoon, when we have Primary Prizegiving and on Wednesday of that last week as well for parents to wander through and have a look at. Our grand opening, though, will be in February. I’ll introduce our new teachers in next week’s newsletter, and I’ve been delighted to see them in and around school over the last couple of weeks. We have a very thorough induction process for our new staff, introducing them to the Pinehurst community, so there have been lots of happy faces and enthusiasm from the new staff. I’m looking forward to seeing them in action at the start of next year. WEEK 7 Monday 25 November
Tuesday 26 November
Wednesday 27 November
Thursday 28 November
WEEK 8 Monday 2 December
Tuesday 3 December
Wednesday 4 December
Thursday 5 December TERM 4 ENDS 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Peter Jaques, College TeacherPeter was fortunate enough to have had a clear career path from early on: teach maths. He thought it would be more rewarding to try to help people make progress in a subject that he enjoyed… and rewarding it has certainly been. He started his teaching career at Westlake Boys for 8 years, then moved on to Dilworth School for 5 years and then Takapuna Grammar School for 16 years. He started at Pinehurst in 2017 and has found the change of school and students to be refreshing and challenging. One of the highlights of his career to date was a year out of school on leave under a Fellowship funded by the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology. This gave him the opportunity to see first-hand the work of Mathematicians in a range of practical situations. He was attached to the Centre for Maths in Industry at Massey University (Albany) and was actively involved in a range of projects attempting to solve problems that different businesses were having, as long as they could be modelled mathematically. Problems ranged from modelling washing machine spin cycles to finding the best price to charge for competing products owned by the same brand. Sometimes the result of the work was that there was no solution, but most of the time the client gained valuable insight into their processes. For Peter himself, the result was a huge increase in his understanding of where Mathematics can go for students once they leave school and a shot in the arm for his enthusiasm in the classroom. Kia Ora, There is no sign of slowing down in the Primary and with only two weeks to go we still have plenty left to do! The main event this week was of course the Teddy Bears Picnic, closely followed by the Year 5/6 social which is hotly anticipated this evening and promises to be fun, physical and pizza filled. A great way to celebrate the end of the year. It always amazes me how big the teddies are that come to the picnic, many are bigger than a small adult and you wonder how they ever fit on a child’s bed. There was much fun to be had with food, games, the teddy hospital and for the first time the teddy disco where teddies and owners could dance to 80's music? Ha ha, it certainly was an experience! Our sports prizegiving was a very special event and it was wonderful to recognise the efforts and achievements of our students and also their coaches and parents. Some families must spend hours each week taking their children to a huge variety of sports. At events like this it is a great time to reflect on the year and how much all of the driving to and from games and standing on the sidelines has paid off. Congratulations to all of our winners and especially to Charliee Hawkings, Alistair Rogers and Lily McCabe who all won major awards. I am currently reading through the end of year reports for each child in the Primary and reflecting on the work that has been done and the progress that has been made. At the Valedictory dinner on Wednesday night I was talking to a Year 13 student who is considering training to be a teacher. We were discussing her visiting classrooms in the next two weeks to get some experience of what it is like from a teacher’s point of view. I did have to point out that we are very lucky to be teaching the students we have in our Primary school. Having taught in a variety of schools in the UK, America and New Zealand I knew when I came to Pinehurst it was a special place. Our students are focused, happy, willing to learn and so well supported by their families. It makes our job satisfying and allows us to get on with teaching rather than spending time managing behaviour and keeping students on track. Next week we are looking forward to Year 5 Assembly on Tuesday and Rainbows End for our wonderful road patrol students. On Wednesday it is super cluster athletics and Thursday is our annual PrEP market and an art exhibition by our New Entrant to Year 2 students. We still have plenty of learning to do too and will keep working until the last day of term. Have a wonderful weekend in the promised sunshine. Ngā Mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary 2019 Primary Sports PrizegivingCongratulations to all students who were recognised earlier this week at the 2019 Primary Sports Prizegiving, with a special mention to those students who won one of our 4 Major Sporting Excellence Trophies for 2019 (below). Table Tennis WinnersCongratulations to Primary students Youngmin, Oliver and Ronald who this week won the Primary Table Tennis Zone Day Boys competition. This was the first time Pinehurst entered a team at this event, and the boys were outstanding all day – undefeated by all other school teams and winning 3-0 in the final. Well done boys! QuestaGame Success for P13In Year 4 Social Studies, Pinehurst students participated in a Citizen Science project on biodiversity. As part of this project they entered the mobile app game, QuestaGame’s Pest Invaders competition. This competition was run by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. The students were required to photograph and identify the biodiversity at school and home, research and identify the species where possible and then submit them. The three Pinehurst teams competed against both Australian and NZ Primary and College students. P13, Kiwi Rangers, did exceptionally well winning two team trophies:
Jessica French won an individual trophy for Runner up Champion Spotter. Junior Primary Music ConcertLast Tuesday, 12 November, we held our annual Junior Primary Music Concert. This event showcased the talents of our youngest musicians from Year 0-3. We were treated to performances on the piano, clarinet and drums. I am always impressed by the high standard at which these very young children play. The Petite Elite performed two songs, “Loose Tooth Wiggle”, a rock and roll number about the misfortunes of speech after losing a tooth and “Bop Shu Wop,” a catchy tune about pets’ children would like to own. Teddy Bears PicnicPicnic time for teddy bears, and teachers and most of all students. A parade of teddy bears came to school on Wednesday 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 obstacle courses, relays, parachutes and 3 legged races. Our lovely librarians 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’. 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 Six leaders for organising such a fun filled event! PrEP in P15It has been an exciting term preparing for PrEP in P15. After being inspired by the Fashion Revolution topic we studied in Social Studies, the Year 4 team decided to setup our PrEP businesses on the vision to up-cycle old fabric wastage. Year 4 students have been engaged in all aspects of setting up a business and learning the basics about how a small business is run. The students have hired spaces in the classroom to keep their products and materials. They have learnt how to keep a ledger and record their expenses. The students have also been learning about marketing and have designed digital posters to advertise their products to the school. Have a look at our advertisements, would you buy our products? P7 Library VisitP7 were so excited to visit the new library in their library time on Tuesday. They were able to explore both the Primary and the College libraries. The librarians have been working tirelessly transporting and unpacking the books to create an inspiring space where students can develop their love for reading. P7 enthusiastically wandered around the gorgeous, bright and airy library taking in all the different learning spaces. The students were impressed with the circular tunnel like reading area which they clambered in and settled themselves with a book. We know that all the students will love the new library as much as we did! ESOL in the PrimaryThis week in ESOL some groups have been working on singular/ plural nouns and matching these to the correct verb. One group have been learning about the past continuous tense and what happens with the second clause. Another group have been learning how to add detail to their ideas by using adjectives. Some of the other groups have been using demonstrative pronouns and using these correctly with singular/ plural nouns. We've had a few queries recently about how the teachers decide when a student can come off the ESOL programme. This is dependent on both the student’s level of English and their class level, because as the student progresses up through the school the language requirements increase and the language becomes more academic. Between the classroom teacher and the ESOL teacher, we expect the student to be close to native-speaker level in both their written and oral language most of the time. EPIC FitOver the last few weeks the New Entrants have had EPIC Fit come in and run fitness sessions in order to better assess each child's level of physical capabilities. Through looking at the following 12 fundamental movement skills;
EPIC Fit are determining each individual child's capabilities to better improve our Physical Education classes to cater to the needs of all our students. Through these assessments and tailored PE sessions we will be able to better grow our students confidence, performance and over all motor skills to better help them in sport and everyday life. I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy...Junior Primary students writing stories about their teddies! I Spy...Year 5 creating their products to sell at the upcoming PrEP Market Day! Kia Ora, On Wednesday night we celebrated our 2019 Valedictory Dinner at Markovina Vineyards. The night is always a highlight as we reflect on the end of a journey for our Year 13 students and their families. Our graduating class of 2019 has 43 students, 11 of whom have made their entire school journey at Pinehurst. Many others from the year group joined us in the Primary. Along with the students we had their parents, many grandparents and the majority of college teachers present for a very special evening. Throughout the night we had speeches, music performances and reflections from students. We also had a number of brilliant photos and shorts videos of students as the grew from the very small 5 year old version of themselves through to the 17 or 18 year old young adults that they now are. Parents enjoyed looking back at these images with fond memories, and after a moment of cringe from the students they were able to laugh at the memories that the images evoked. We are proud of our young people and we know that they are very well prepared to go out into the world and leave their mark. This week we also interviewed our perspective Year 13 student leaders for 2020. Each of the 39 students that applied for a leadership role was interviewed. These interviews are a great opportunity for students to express themselves and we are always impressed with how articulate and confident students are in this setting. They speak fondly of the student leaders that have had an influence on them in previous years. They speak with pride in the school and hope that they will be able to support their fellow students and leave a positive legacy for others to follow. Next week many of these prospective leaders will be away at our Year 12 Great Barrier Island Leadership Camp, while many others will be completing the 5-day Gold Duke of Edinburgh Tramp. The activities will challenge students and they will grow as a result of these challenges. This week has also had our Year 9 students out on Commerce and Social Science field trips, while our Year 10 students have completed the Pinnacles Walk in the Coromandel as part of their Bronze Hilary Duke of Edinburgh Award. You will see images and articles about these trips in next week’s newsletter. Finally, on Monday of this week we had our college transition day for students. All of our students who are moving into Year 7 – 9 were in classes for the morning meeting teachers and new friends. They were also introduced to some of the systems and expectations around being a college student at Pinehurst. This is another step in the process that we go through to support students and families with transition. It is vital that students feel supported and guided through these times of change and we know that the work that we do will benefit students in both their learning and social development. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College 2019 Year 7-8 Sports PrizegivingCongratulations to all students who were recognised at the 2019 Junior College Sports Prizegiving, with a special mention to those students who won one of our Major Sporting Excellence Trophies for 2019 (below). College Academic PrizegivingsWe would like to invite you to our College Prizegivings which will be held on Wednesday 4 December at the following times: Year 7-8 College Prizegiving - 10am - 12pm Year 9-13 College Prizegiving - 1pm - 3pm Following each prizegiving, we invite all parents to join our College staff for refreshments in the new Library building. This is the last College event of the year and it honours those students who have achieved success in a variety of academic and cultural endeavours in 2019. College 2020 Orientation Day110 students, many of them new to Pinehurst, took part in our Orientation day this Monday. This is an important part of our transition programme, providing a real taste of what to expect when our senior primary students transition into their early College years. It also provided a great opportunity for students to get to know each other, some of their teachers and senior staff, such as Mr Peter Reynolds, our new Senior Dean of Year 7 and 8 and Mr William Elliot, our new Year 7 Dean both starting in these roles next year. After a brief introductory and laptop session, the students combined into House groups and rotated through a series of college lessons: Science, Digital Technology, Art and Global Citizenship. The students impressed staff with their enthusiasm, diligence and ability across all disciplines. We look forward to welcoming them into the College next year. NH Zone Day AthleticsCongratulations to Year 7 & 8 students Daniel A, Bailey, Kalan, Charlotte G, Will H, Alex and Nina, who represented Pinehurst at the NH Zone Day Athletics event last Friday. The event qualification standards were raised significantly in 2019, and these 7 students qualified to compete against the best Athletics competitors in the North Harbour Region. All students performed extremely well on the day, with many recording personal best times / heights / throws in their events, and a number of students finishing in the top 10! A huge thank you to Mr Warwick Fenton for training students prior to the event, and to Rebekah, Reiss & Meg for supporting students on the day. NH Zone Day Beach VolleyballThis week 18 Pinehurst Year 7 & 8 girls travelled to the fantastic Beach Volleyball Centre in Mairangi Bay to take part in the 2019 Beach Volleyball Zone Day. All students had a great day, playing some exciting Volleyball in the beautiful early summer sunshine. Special mention to our Year 8 team – Paige, Nina, Maya, Charlotte & Amelie - who had a top 8 finish in the 4-aside division, going down narrowly in the Quarter Finals. Thank you to Claire, Kelly, Claire, Russell and Aimee for supporting students on the day. Intermediate Ribbon Day 2019On Monday this week, Junior College students Bailey, Emilie-Anne and Trinity represented Pinehurst at the Intermediate Ribbon Day at Papatoetoe Pony Club. The Pinehurst team had some outstanding results on the day, with all riders winning a number of ribbons on the flat and in the jumping – despite the temperamental conditions including a hailstorm! Overall the team (together with a draft rider from another school) finished 6th overall, and they also won the 2019 Sportsmanship Award for this event! Congratulations team, and thank you to Manager Louise and our wonderful parents Natalie, Anne and Russell who supported the team at this event. Year 7 Leadership ChallengeOur Year 7 cohort were put through their paces this week for our annual Year 7 leadership challenge. Students worked together in their House groups to complete a range of different challenges from: reconstructing a satellite, transporting water, egg drop, life size kerplunk, to passing safely through a minefield without talking, and photography challenges, plus much more. The essence of the leadership challenge is to provide multiple opportunities for our students to lead. Firstly to lead themselves, knowing when to listen and encourage others, and secondly, being bold enough to lead others by offering suggestions or instructions. The future of the College is in good hands – our Year 7 students were exemplary leaders with an unwavering sense of self-belief and energy. Our leadership approach centres around our belief that Pinehurst students will be followed as leaders if they can demonstrate these four pillars of leadership: 1. Sense of self: identity, self-worth, authenticity, courage to be heard or seen, organized and responsible 2. Connect and influence: collaboration that’s diverse and inclusive, confident, articulate communicator 3. Passion and purpose: drive, aspiration, innovation; making a meaningful difference 4. Will to serve: contribute to the greater good and feel a sense of true belonging in community. Year 9 Digital Technology - Using Arduino BoardsYear 9 have been busy in Digital Technology class creating a variety of projects and completing various challenges. Students have been learning the coding language of Java and C++ to control Arduino boards and associated parts, sensors, servos, speakers, etc. They have also had to contend with frequent trouble-shooting to debug and correct any errors in their programming or electronics. The video clip is a snippet of their work. Year 9 Commerce TripThis week was the first of two trips for the Year 9 students' factory experience. Students enjoyed going to the Tip Top factory to learn about the production process for ice-cream. They also learnt about the retail industry with a scavenger hunt at Sylvia Park. Year 9 Sailing and Maritime Museum ExperienceThe annual Year 9 Social Sciences trip to the Maritime Museum and sailing on the Auckland Harbour was enjoyed by all again this year. The students cheered as we sailed under the Harbour Bridge while a bungy jumper flung themselves from the platform above. The museum had new exhibits as well as the interesting and informative displays of earlier Pacific and European migration. After lunch the students enjoyed the sun as they walked along the Viaduct locating major landmarks as part of the Maritime Museums Waterfront Experience activity. The accompanying photos are only a snap shot of the fun had by all during what was a perfect day for sailing and enjoying the waterfront views. Year 10 Global CitizenshipYear 10 are studying a unit on Sustainability. Some of the action projects they are looking at are creating seed bombs using bee friendly seeds, as well as designing mandala bee baths. We look forward to sharing some of our finished products over the coming weeks. Scholars Zoo TripPinehurst Scholars are a group of year 12 and 13 students who obtain high grades in external examinations. During the year they take part in an extension programme coordinated by Mr Stafford. As a final get together for 2019, the Scholars attended a Biodiversity and Sustainability workshop at Auckland Zoo, and then enjoyed a relaxed afternoon looking at the zoo’s programmes for the animals. College ESOL Debating Teams Win 1 out of 2On Wednesday afternoon our ESOL students debated against Kristin. This is the second year in a row that Pinehurst has hosted Kristen and all the students took part with enthusiasm and noticeable rivalry. Two teams from both schools faced off with the moot being: Students should be allowed to miss school for environmental protests. Our A team comprised Jade, Hermosa and Kevin. Allen, Hanmo and Lilly made up the B team. There is a certain amount of pride attached to inter-school events so all our students worked together during the week to find strong arguments, to support their position. The standard of the A team debate was excellent. Our adjudicator Mr Zimmerman accentuated the fact that the level of vocabulary, the rebuttals and the structure of the arguments showed that all these students had developed their English to a high level. Pinehurst narrowly won the top debate, with our new student Jade being awarded Best Speaker. Our second team were not quite as lucky with Mr Bean awarding Best Speaker and the win to Kristin. Well done to all the students who took part and those who worked hard behind the scenes to make sure that everyone was ready. Next year we hope to grow the competition with two more schools. College Production 2020 - The Addams Family MusicalWe had a fantastic turn out of very talented students at the auditions held on the 18th of November, and although we have short-listed for most roles available, there are still a few senior student-appropriate roles that we are eager to cast and would like to invite future Year 11-13 students to video-audition for them. To access the audition material click here. You need to select to join the page (by clicking on the tree vertical dots in the right top corner) in order to view the audition form, found under Due Work. All students involved with the production will need to be able to attend:
Rehearsals will be held in Term 1 and Term 2 on a weekly basis and are currently scheduled as follows:
Please video yourself reading the script and singing the song, appropriate to the character you wish to audition for and email/ share it with Ms Naumovska at marija.naumovska@pinehurst.school.nz no later than Wednesday the 27th of November. Call backs will be held on the 2nd of December, Monday, from 3.30pm in the Drama room. Please see the Schoolbox page for further details. Parent Thank You Morning TeaWe will be hosting a Parent Thank You Morning Tea on Wednesday 27 November at The Brigham Café, Whenuapai. This is to thank all parents who have helped out at the school through the year. If you would like to attend please RSVP to Judy Wallace by Wednesday 20 November. Christmas PicnicYou are warmly invited to our Christmas Family Picnic on Wednesday 4 December, 5pm – 8pm on the top field and courts by the Administration block. This is a fun evening for parents and children with rides for all ages (cash only), music, face painting, balloon lady, lolly scramble and more. Santa will be there too! A wonderful end to the school year. There will be food vans (no eftpos sorry) but feel free to bring along your picnic and your friends. Relax with a wine and socialize with other parents. A great evening not to be missed. Hope to see you there! Pinehurst Christmas ServiceYou are warmly invited to attend our Pinehurst Christmas Service. This will be held in the Gymnasium, Thursday 5th December, 2.00pm - 3.15pm. We look forward to enjoying this special, traditional occasion with you. Thank you again for your generous contributions to our beautiful Christmas Hampers for our sister school, Yendarra. Uniform Shop Holiday HoursJanuary 13 – 17th: 10am - 2pm Jan 20, 21 and Jan 23, 24: 10am - 2pm January 22nd: 11am - 3pm MakeX Robotics CompetitionYear 4 students' Tiger Niu and Lucas Lin recently participated in the MakeX Robotics Competition - New Zealand regional competition. MakeX is one of the leading international robotics competitions. Tiger and Lucas both qualified for the World Championships to represent New Zealand on 23rd November to 2nd December in China. Tiger is in the MakeX City Guardians competition using mBot while Lucas is in ChallengeX using a different robot in the Courageous Traveler series. This is a tremendous achievement for the boys and we wish them the best of luck! Kevin GuoCongratulations to Year 8 student Kevin Guo who was recently named the Most Improved Player for his Harbour Maroon Under 13 Basketball team for the 2019 season. School Holiday Tennis Coaching
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