News and events for the week ending 27th September 2019 Friday 27th September 2019 Opening words from the Executive PrincipalKia ora tatou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 It’s the end of Term 3! The excitement has been palpable this week: pirate parties, movie nights, quiz evenings, ‘Trash to Flash’ wearable arts events, sports awards, trips to MOTAT… and, of course, some work along the way. The children have been particularly delightful this week, and it says a huge amount about them, their families, and our whole Pinehurst community, that they become even more of a pleasure to be with when they are excited and taking part in adventurous things. Thank you to all of the teachers, parents and other helpers who enable these kinds of events to take place. I love to see so many people involved in activities at the school, and we know that we are dependent on everyone’s goodwill and commitment to provide opportunities like these for our young people. We say goodbye this week to Mrs Cannan, who is moving to a Head of Drama role at Westlake Girls High School. Mrs Cannan has done a great job in her time at the school, supporting students through their exams, developing their drama skills and, of course, directing both Return to the Forbidden Planet last year, and the Year 7-10 Shakespeare extravaganza at the Pumphouse earlier this year. She takes with us our very best wishes. Our new Drama teacher will be Ms Forrester, who we will be excited to welcome to the school community in January. I’m going to finish now by thanking all of our students for their hard work and enthusiasm this term, and by congratulating them for all of their achievements. To our senior students: make sure you have a brief rest over the holidays, but also study hard in preparation for your exams. To all of our students: take the chance to do some reading! To those travelling overseas or holidaying in NZ: be safe and enjoy yourselves! I look forward to seeing everyone back in school at the start of Term 4. TERM 4 WEEK 1 Monday 14 October
Tuesday 15 October
WEEK 2 Monday 21 October
Tuesday 22 October
Wednesday 23 October
Thursday 24 October
Friday 25 October
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, Congratulations to all the award winners at yesterday’s College Sports Prizegiving. Well done to all the students who, during the year, committed time and effort to a sports team or event. Thank you to the parents who help us with our sports teams, act as taxi drivers and provide support from the sidelines. I fully understand the many hours that are spent taking your child to team and individual coaching sessions, team practices, matches and tournaments. By supporting your child, you are helping them to stay involved in sport and recreational activities. Today we farewell Mrs Cannon who leaves after three years teaching Drama and English at Pinehurst. We wish her all the best in her future. I am sure that both students and teachers are looking forward to an enjoyable two week break from school. For Year 7 to 10 students this is a fortnight’s holiday. For Year 11, 12 and 13 students I refer to this period as a study break. It is the start of the build up to final external examinations. It is important for senior students to have a break from routine and do some things that you really enjoy. It’s also time to do some study. Cambridge external examinations will begin, for some students, during the two week break. Good luck to all students in their examinations. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College 2019 Year 9-13 Sport PrizegivingCongratulations to all our 2019 Year 9-13 Sport Award winners. Below is a list of our main award winners. For photos please go to our Pinehurst School Facebook page. Junior Assistant Tennis CoachPinehurst School is currently looking to employ a Junior Assistant Tennis Coach to assist with our Year 7-10 coaching programme. The person would be supported by our qualified and very competent Pinehurst coach, Taylor Quirk, who is also a teacher at our school. The person would ideally be available on a Monday 3.30pm – 4.30pm and a Wednesday 3.30pm – 4.30pm, for 8 weeks commencing Wednesday 16 October – Monday 2 December (excluding Labour Day Monday 28 October). Remuneration would be based on person’s level of coaching abilities. A Police check would be required. Please contact Cyndie.Augustin@pinehurst.school.nz if interested. Duke of Edinburgh Silver TrampOver the weekend of the 21st-22nd September, Mr Rossin, Mrs Rea, Mr Elliot, Miss Murray and Mrs Koopen took 50 senior Pinehurst students to the Far North of the Coromandel for a 3 day/2 night Silver level tramp. After a ‘gnarly’ 4 hour drive from Auckland to Port Jackson, the students packed their bags and supplies and headed for the picturesque campsite called Fletcher Bay along the Murawai track. The group set up camp and had a ‘hearty meal’. Day 2 compromised a very scenic walk along the Coromandel walkway, followed by a more challenging route up and over a few hills returning to Fletcher Bay. After 20km on the Saturday the campsite was definitely more quiet during ‘night 2’. On the last day the group walked 5km, ending with a nice swim on the beach at Port Jackson. A great trip, with stunning weather to match the stunning views. Year 7 Social Science - Artificial IntelligenceYear 7 students have been utilising their IT skills and creativity to make a podcast to complete our Artificial Intelligence unit of work. Students were required to complete an inquiry on a specific artificial intelligence of particular interest to them. Students needed to meet given criteria as they worked through each of the inquiry stages. Click on the attachments to enjoy Anna Gifford’s podcast on Pepper, a humanoid customer service and entertainment robot and Daniel AlSammak’s podcast on Baxter, an industrial robot. Rimu Fundraiser BBQRimu House Captains Aimee Fletcher and Chantelle Baldwin organised a wonderful fundraiser for Barnardos Children's charity last week. They sold Bacon & Egg Butties along with baking treats and managed to raise over $300. It created a fantastic atmosphere to start the school day and the scent of the BBQ drew a crowd from around the college. Well done to all of the students who assisted with this fundraiser on the day. AS PhysicsThis week we continued turning our theoretical knowledge into practice. This time we looked at the relationship between string length and pendulum oscillations. Like many fundamental concepts, this simple idea plays an important part in life, from shock absorbers, to hearing, to bungee jumping! Additionally, students are learning how practicing scientists determine if their experiment is fair and if their results are valid. Young Writers' WorkshopLast Saturday, Pinehurst students took part in the first of two workshops organised by the Michael King Writers Centre and the Young Writers Programme. For the first time young migrant students were invited with the aim of combining culture and writing through stories and poetry. The group was made up of ten students from various schools around Auckland and from as many different cultures. There was Iris from Vietnam, Veronika from the Ukraine, Pilar from The Phillipines, plus a number of other cultures. The coordinators of the workshop encouraged the students to share an aspect of their own personal life stories, to read poetry and prose and finally through talking and reading find inspiration for their own pieces. At the end of the workshop students were able to share their work if they chose. It was an extremely positive experience for our students, who are looking forward to the next workshop on Saturday. Bee GardenLast week the Enviro Council seed bombed our dedicated Bee garden. We then planted a wide variety of bee friendly plants, such as rosemary, cosmos, lavender, snap dragons and poppies. Just as we finished up our planting session, we had our first buzzy friend drop by for a visit. It was a very rewarding experience for all and it was great to have students from Year 7 through to 13 involved in the activity. Our next project will be creating bees wax wraps to further promote the benefits of bees and to encourage more sustainable practices at home. Lacrosse at Pinehurst2019 was a successful year for Lacrosse at Pinehurst. We started the year with a big beginner group of players and decided to enter the league at Division 3. We were very lucky enough to secure Tegan Edmonds as coach. Tegan is an old Pinehurst student who has a lot of experience in playing and coaching having represented New Zealand in the Women’s World Cup in 2017. Throughout the training and season the girls played with spirit, determination and above all fun. They finished second in their division, just missing out on first place. We are very proud of the girls and what they have achieved this year. If fun and team spirit is something that you are looking for then consider Lacrosse and come and give it a go next year! J’aimee Hawking and Alyssa Williams, two girls from our Lacrosse team, trialled for the Auckland U/15 teams this year. J'aimee made the blue team and Alyssa the white team. J’aimee’s team won the bronze medal which was exciting and she also received the player of the match for the last game. Well done girls! Auckland Secondary Schools Mountain Bike SeriesBen Spence has been competing in the AKSS Mountain Bike Series over the course of the year. Ben place 12th overall out of 70 competitors in the U17 age group, which is an amazing result considering he only started competing this year. Well done Ben! Kia Ora, I have been on long service leave this week and enjoying some down time reading for the most part, but I know there have been lots of exciting events taking place despite the weather this week. It was wonderful to hear about Trash to Flash and the culmination of work taking place in the classroom on sustainability. This has been a big theme for us this year and will continue to be into 2020. It is so important for future generations to learn how to look after their environment especially as past generations haven’t done such a marvellous job of it at times. I imagine too that there will be plenty of career opportunities in this field in years to come which our students could take advantage of. Pirates took over the Year 1 and 2 classrooms and the playground as our youngest people showed off their learning this term. They really do have a lot to be proud of I must say! Our teachers and their learners have truly embraced the theme and their programmes have been richer for it. Next term we will be looking at the world of money, running a business and financial literacy across the whole Primary through PrEP or the Primary Enterprise Programme, let’s hope our pirates are well behaved at the PrEP market! Year 3 and Year 4 spent some time at the movies this week for their social get together. By all accounts it was a huge success and everyone had a fabulous evening watching Abominable. Year 5 and Year 6 will get their chance to dance at the end of year social next term and Year 6 have chosen the movies for their graduation night. Year 1 had an amazing time at MOTAT, next term will see a Year 2 visit there as well as a New Entrant visit. Year 5 are off to the waste station, not as bad as it sounds and very educational! Year 6 are going to Kelly Tarltons and they have Waterwise, all after the Cambridge Checkpoint tests in Week 1 of course. Cambridge progression tests for Year 4 and Year 5 will start at the end of Week 2 and go through Week 3 plus there will be athletics events for all year groups, PrEP markets, prizegivings, teddy bears picnic, the school picnic and Christmas event at the end of the year. The term is only eight weeks long but it will be action packed and full of learning. We don’t want our students to miss out on any of what we have planned so please take some time to relax and let them recover so they are ready to get the most out of the final term of the year. Just a reminder that reports will go home on the last day of Term 4, there are no parent conferences in Term 4 but as always if you have a concern please let your child’s teacher know. Your child can wear winter uniform or summer uniform for the first two weeks of school but they cannot mix the two uniforms. They will need a hat to play outside and sunscreen applied before school. Don’t forget to pop some in their bag too so they can top up before lunchtime play. Thanks for all of your support this term and wishing you a wonderful break with your family if you are able to take one. See you in Term 4. Have a great weekend. Ngā Mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary Friendships in P1We have been learning about friendships and the importance of having friends as our Health topic this term. Over the past 2 weeks the children have been discussing this topic and the importance of friends and how to be kind and caring, the children have each made a beaded bracelet and a welcome card for their new friends. We had a visit from our new, New Entrant children today and our topic of friendship fitted in fantastically. P1 were so excited to make that special connection today which we know will help the new children feel more ready for next term. The children handed over their bracelets and spent a happy morning with their new friends. Dance SportsOn Saturday 21st September we had 30 Senior Primary students competing against other schools in the Foxtrot, Cha Cha Cha, Jive and Samba at the DanceSport4schools dance competition. All students looked dazzling in their outfits! Our students gave up their lunchtimes to practice and are grateful to Jemma Goeldner, Ryan Hughes and Nadia Gyde from the College, who skilfully helped coach the team. We had pairs making it to the Semi-finals for the Cha Cha Cha, Foxtrot and Jive. Unfortunately, we didn’t get enough points to win the trophy this year but still a fantastic effort was made by all our amazing dancers! A special mention goes to Ryan Hughes and his dance partner who placed first in Waltz, Tango, Quickstep, Samba, Cha Cha Cha and Jive in Under 16. They also placed Second in Tango and Third in Foxtrot, Samba, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha and Paso Doble in the open, 16 and over section. Jemma and her dance partner placed second in Waltz, Viennnese Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep and third in Tango and Jive in open, 16 and over section. NetballWe were very excited to see two of our Winter Netball teams up on the winner’s podium at the Kidzplay netball prizegiving on Saturday. All those cold early morning before school trainings, and hard-fought games saw these two teams receive their medals and trophy. Year 2 and Year 3 both won their grade and maintained a high level of commitment throughout the season. We were very appreciative of our wonderfully supportive spectators who turned up each week to cheer us from the side-line. Our Year 1 team played in a non-competitive league in the Arena each Saturday. This brand-new team showcased some very impressive netball skills and had it been a competition they also would have won their grade. Our Year 4/5 team also showed a huge improvement in the development of their skills throughout the season and we look forward to seeing them in the 2020 winter competition. This week we had the pleasure of meeting our newest netball team. They will be playing in the Spring League in Term 4. It is made up of Year 0-1 players from P1, P2, P4 and P6. Our fantastic Year 6 netballers provided one on one training and great fun was had by all. ¡Hablemos de la familia!Our Junior Primary students have been busy talking about our families and pets this term. They have been having so much fun labeling animals and members of their family in Spanish.
Year 5 have learnt how to ask and tell the time in Spanish and can confidently express quarter to/past, half past and o’clock using ¿Qué hora es? Es la / Son las…… Keep up the great work! ESOLIt was lovely meeting so many of our new ESOL families at last week’s conferences. This week in ESOL some groups have been looking at the difference between ‘is’ and ‘are’ and using these correctly with ‘ing.’ Other groups have been working on responding appropriately to opinions and developing their responses. One group has been working on differentiating between pronouns before and after the verb. Then another group has been looking at using speech marks correctly and what happens to speech when writing in the past tense. GATE Writing Year 3In Year 3, the students have been writing narratives with the purpose of “entertaining” their audience. The motivation for their story was “A Strange Day in July”. 'He threw with all his might, but the third stone came skipping back'. (see picture). Their focus was on creating strong imagery for their reader and narrating their story in a way that allowed the reader deep insight/understanding into the tale. The students have done a wonderful job of enhancing imagery, through the use of adverbs, similes and adjectives. Their narration is detailed and precise, allowing the reader to gain added information, allowing them to connect with the story on a deeper level. Here are a couple examples of their work. Perimeters in P20The students in P20 have been learning how to measure and calculate the perimeter and area of rectangles and other shapes that can be split into rectangles. The rules that the students have to apply when calculating are; P = 2(a + b) and A = a × b. We decided to do put our knowledge to the test and head outside to measure and calculate the perimeter and area of a Netball court. Primary School CouncilThe Primary School Council was challenged this year to develop relationships across the school through active leadership, whole school activities and creative classroom opportunities. 2019 will be remembered as the Lego and STEAM days. I am sure you have all seen photos on Seesaw of your child as a giant Lego character. Bubbles Day, Wheels Week and Tabloid Sports are just a few of the activities we have run this year during the lunchtimes to bring the whole Primary school together. This year our Councillors have been extremely busy with extra roles and responsibilities. Here is a sample of what a Year 6 leader would be involved in over a week:
This year we have introduced additional opportunities for our older students to interact with the younger students. House Captains ran a Tuesday soccer league alongside Mr Taylor for our Junior students. The netball girls assisted David Ward and Jill Harrison run a weekly netball skills session. Our favourite was the Thursday lunchtime giant obstacle course in the Arena. We are extremely proud of our enthusiastic students who give their time so willingly to support our school and provide a model of leadership for our younger students to aspire to. A Fun Day at Okura Country Estate for Year 3Last Sunday, our Year 3 Parent Social Coordinators organised an exciting event at Okura Country Estate in Dairy Flat. It was a beautiful, warm day – the sun was out and there was clear blue sky! Over 120 people attended which was a fantastic turnout for our organisers. Pinehurst families shared afternoon tea and there was a sausage sizzle for all to enjoy – a taste of the summer BBQs to come. There was a bouncy castle to keep children entertained, games that were borrowed from the Pinehurst sports department and the good old ‘Kiwi Tug-of-War' – lots of activities to burn off some of that weekend energy. The children had so much fun and it was great to see parents catching up at a casual kiwi outing. A big thanks to the Social Coordinators from P10, P11 and P12 and all the parents who helped make this fun day happen. I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy...collaborative Maths learning in P10! I Spy....'Trash to Flash' wearable art designed and made by Year 5 & 6! In Music this WeekJC Formal Music Concert Congratulations to the 17 JC students who performed on Wednesday afternoon in the cosy environment of C2. Even though the storm was threatening to take away the spotlight, our very talented Year 7 and 8 students held the interest of their audience admirably. A mixture of classical, pop, rock and ethnic music pieces were performed in solo and ensemble settings. A wide variety of technical skills were displayed on the piano, drums, harp, voice, guzheng, guitar and violin. Thank you to all the parents, staff and siblings who came along to support them and a special thank you to Ms Du Toit for helping to organise the event. Year 9 try their hand at Conducting This week we have been looking at the role of the conductor – and how many different ways one can conduct with. From one end of the extreme – Bernstein’s conducting sessions only using his facial expression (click here) to Kirill Petrenko’s intense conducting style in his recent appointment with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (click here). Apart from being a “traffic cop” for the orchestral players, the conductor’s role can be quite complex. If you would like to know more about the role of the conductor click here. Year 8 begin composing with Incredibox Just before the holiday break, Year 8 have been introduced to a multi-award winning software, called Incredibox. Their task is to create a song by arranging pre-recorded samples, more than a minute long, but while maintaining the flow also introduce contrast. We have started examining some of the most common forms found in music so that they can be aware of the possibilities. The criteria for success will be designed and agreed upon, collectively, by the students and as a class. I look forward to hearing their creations next term! Waterwise Instructors WantedAre you interested in becoming a Waterwise instructor? We are now looking for parents/friends of the school, to be a part of an exciting water safety programme. No prior experience is required. The training will be held at the Murrays Bay Sailing Club. Please email your schools Waterwise co-ordinator - kelly.clark@pinehurst.school.nz if you are interested. A meeting will be held to discuss the course. Date TBA. Year 5/6 3x3 Basketball Competition – Swish FactoryThe Swish Factory are organising a 3x3 competition for Year 5/6 children. Pinehurst are not entering a team, however, a group of Year 5/6 students can enter their own team. They will need to have their own playing uniform etc. Please see attached flyer for more details. If you have any questions please contact The Swish Factory directly. Please note, that games are on a Monday night and this is the same night as Touch. |