Message from the Executive Principal

Best wishes, 

Mike Waller 

Message from the Principal of College

College Inter-House Athletics

Last Friday the College headed off to the AUT Millennium Athletics park for the annual Year 7-13 Inter-House Athletics Day. The day was action packed with great participation from everyone on the day, and it was awesome to see the encouragement and team spirit coming from both students and staff. 

Congratulations to our Record Breakers and overall winners.

Year 7 FUNdamentals Testing

After a very successful full college sports day, the Year 7s are moving onto testing their FUNdamental skills. They will be going through a multitude of throwing, catching and striking tests in order to provide an accurate and consistent baseline. This data will provide the PE team with a valuable understanding of the level of the current year 7s, so that support can be tailored to specific needs, and can be used as a reference to show their progression over a year of specialised PE lessons. 

Young Enterprise Kickstart Event

A dynamic assembly of students in Year 11 - 13 attended the kickstart event organised by the Young Enterprise Scheme at Massey University's Albany Campus. During the event, they gained insights into the advantages of the scheme, such as broadening their personal networks and tackling challenges specifically crafted to impart the skills of initiating and managing a business. Engaging with a successful entrepreneur, the students posed thoughtful questions and explored products created by their peers in previous years. With this valuable experience under their belts, these students are now primed and eager to take on the responsibilities that come with being business owners. 

Junior Science

All Year 7 and 8 students are currently preparing for the Science Fair.  The Science Fair is an event where students showcase their scientific research and experiments to everyone. It is an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and creativity in science.

Many Year 7 and 8 students have registered their interests for Science badges. Science badges is run by the New Zealand Science Awards Trust. Students select a topic of Science that interests them. Students will be issued a task booklet that they will need to complete to earn their badge.

Senior Science

Year 10 Chemistry students are doing filtration, evaporation, and crystallization where students learn basic skills relating to the laboratory as forensic investigators.

Year 10 Physics students are investigating pendulums and freefall.

Year 13 Biology students are measuring gas exchange using as respirometer.

Creative Writing Club

Music Box Man by Michelle Prasetyo, Year 9

The Valentine’s of her dreams,

A true gentleman,

Perfect- he screams.

Around they dance,

Around they go,

An incessant trance,

She hopes not ends.

Around she went,

His rosy cheeks against the sun,

The endless haze,

Around she spun.

Like a music box,

They dance side-by-side,

On the docks,

By the coarse, summer sand.

But like a music box,

Time stops short.

It was all a hoax-

The gears come to a halt.

And like a music box,

They’re back at the start.

For, like a music box,

They lived only to dance.

“The music box man” is all he seems,

But he was the valentine of her dreams

the valentine in her dreams.

Year 7 Social Science

Currently, our Year 7 Social Science classes are learning about how early Polynesian settlers had to adjust to life in Aotearoa when they first arrived here. 

Year 7s here are working in groups to brainstorm ideas about what specific changes Polynesian sailors would have to make to adjust to our colder climates. 

North Harbour Premium 9-hole Golf Competition

Perfect conditions on Monday saw Team 1 romp home with a strong win over Westlake Boys 1.  The first team rotation saw Captain Lingyao, and teammates Nicole, Sophie and Grace secure low scores at the often-tricky Pupuke Golf Course.  The competition is a round robin format for 5 weeks, with winners going on to 18-hole sem-ifinals and finals.  Pinehurst 2, lead by captain Sophia J were pipped by a mere 2 shots by Rangitoto 2.  Still early days in that competition and we look forward to exciting games next week.

Year 10 Global Perspectives

Some of our early Global Perspectives classes have started a little closer to home in Year 10.  We have focused on New Zealand.  For example, Waitangi Day history and its relevance today. Understanding the significance of the Pinehurst pōwhiri for new staff and students to our school and how it contributes to our feelings of belonging.  It has been enlightening discovering just how much there is to learn about the geography, placenames and symbols of some of our smaller towns around the motu.

We will then use a wider lens to look at different cultural perspectives as we move through the syllabus.

Future focus will be developing individual research skills in order to select and evaluated source material for the Global Research Challenge, so that only reliable, trusted, and credible information is used.

Student Leaders show love for Valentines Day ❤️

This week the Year 13 Leadership Prefects organised an event selling roses and heart chocolates to raise funds for the Heart Foundation. Roses were able to be delivered to friends, teachers and even secret admirers!

On behalf of the Prefect team thank you and we hope everyone had an amazing Valentine's week with all their loved ones!

Message from the Principal of Primary

Year 6 Camp

Last week the Year 6 students headed off on a five day, four night camp, at Carey Park. School camp is a fantastic opportunity for students to develop new skills, friendships and interests as well as growing in confidence while becoming more independent. We are sure this camp will be a memorable part of their school life.

Carey Park offered a range of indoor and outdoor activities, which were all specifically designed with educational outcomes in mind, as well as incorporating physical and mental growth. Some of the activities that the students experienced were rock climbing, bush walking, archery, a flying fox and orienteering.

A highlight of the camp were the camp plays, when the impressed us with their acting and props. The students all pushed themselves beyond their comfort zone and should be very proud of the way the conducted themselves at camp. A massive thank you to all our fantastic parent helpers for their help and efforts at camp, they were all absolutely fabulous.

Here’s some of the student feedback:

Lara enthusiastically reports, “I had a fantastic time, the slip and slide and the top team activities were the best!”

Mikayla adds, “I really appreciated the food, my favourite was the butter chicken.”

“The water fights during river games were fun and kept us cool,” Aubrey shares.

Kayla says, “Everyone enjoyed the flying fox, especially.”

Lucas enjoyed the river games too, he comments, “At the river games my friends sprayed me with one cup of water, so I got revenge, I threw one bucket of water over them! It was the best!”

Year 5 Swimming Lessons

This week, Year 5 set off to Northern Arena for swimming lessons! The children were split into small groups and, along with their instructor, have been practicing the vital skills needed to become more confident swimmers. They have been practicing the different strokes and have already shown great improvement! They are looking forward to using these skills for the rest of the summer! Hear from some of the children below on how they found their swimming lessons this week.

Gabrina: “Swimming has been really fun because I have made new friends and I am faster now, I can really see an improvement in only three days!”

Derek: “In swimming this week, I have learned how to do breaststroke and I think I am much quicker now! When I was underwater, I got more confident when playing the goggle game – you have to dive down to find your goggles at the end of the lesson! It’s pretty fun.”

Wawa: “Swimming has been very fun this week and I have learnt a lot that I didn’t know before. I have improved a lot – especially with froggy swimming because my swim teacher said that I’m doing a great job!”

Vincent: “I already knew all of the strokes, but some of them I needed practice on. So this week has been good for me, because I feel like I am improving on those strokes, and the bus ride was really fun!”

P8 News

P8 have been busy learning about portraits and using different materials and techniques when making their own. This week the children have explored the work of Pablo Picasso and created artwork inspired by him.

The children have used different colours in their portraits to demonstrate their emotions.

P13 - Year 4 Swimming

The weather has definitely been an inspiration as the Year 4 classes attended swimming last week. There were 4 one-hour sessions. The 3 classes were extremely excited to depart school on a double decker bus for the short ride to Northern Arena pools.

The instructors were extremely clear with their directions and students were grouped according to their needs. There were plenty of celebrations at the end of swimming, from water confidence to arm strokes, as well as perfecting their breathing technique.

Every student was able to share a positive experience about our education outside the classroom.

Leslie said that “it was really good but after swimming I was exhausted!”

Ashton insisted that swimming was 10/10.

Angus thought it was really good but changing out of his wet swimming gear was hard work.

Orlando shared that swimming was a lot of fun and he learnt backstroke.

Xavier said “I really liked swimming especially the last session because we learned water safety.”

Mia told us that it was really good and the best part was falling out of the boat backwards.

Pinehurst Primary School's Solo and Duo Performance Showcase

Wednesday, 20 March - 3:30pm Pinehurst School Theatre

We are pleased to announce Pinehurst Primary School's Solo and Duo Performance Showcase for Term 1 on Wednesday 20 March.

We are offering one performance opportunity each term for our students to perform in front of a supportive audience of parents and other students. We are beginning with our Year 5 and 6 students in Term 1, followed by students in Years 3 and 4 in Term 2, students in Year 2 and below in Term 3, and finally, in Term 4, we will invite students who may have missed their chance to perform earlier in the year and students who we would like to welcome back again.

Our first concert will be on Wednesday 20 March at 3.30pm in the School Theatre. Year 5 and 6 students who would like to perform should register their interest by completing this form by Friday 23 February AND upload a video of the student performing their piece here.

We welcome students of all ability levels and encourage a variety of instruments and music genres, including voice, to provide a balanced and entertaining programme. Please register as soon as possible as places are limited to 16 students for this one-hour concert. Lastly, we kindly request that performances are limited to three minutes or less. Please see Ms. Pope if this is an issue.

If you have any questions, please email Mrs Jaques Cynthia.jaques@pinehurst.school.nz.

We look forward to seeing you and your children at our upcoming performance showcase.

The Arts Council is excited to announce that they will be hosting a concert featuring the talented Reynold Yang and two guests. Reynold, currently a Year 12 student, has achieved an incredible feat by becoming the first 15-year-old to receive a scholarship and offer from the prestigious Royal College of Music. His remarkable musical abilities have earned him numerous accolades, including first place in several esteemed competitions such as the 2020 New Zealand Talented Young Artist Competition, Charleston International Contemporary Competition in 2022, and the upcoming International Clara Schumann Competition in 2023/2024.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 21st! The concert will take place at Pinehurst Theatre from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

Ticket prices are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Don't miss out on this extraordinary musical event - purchase your tickets here!

It's important to note that all proceeds raised during this concert will be donated to the Performing Arts Community Trust, supporting and nurturing aspiring artists within our community.

Jack's performance at these events was outstanding. At the 2023 NSW Open Water Champs, he won a gold medal in the 7.5km race for 16-year-olds. Similarly, at the 2024 NZ Open Water Champs, he secured another gold medal in the same distance category for ages 15-17.

These remarkable achievements have earned Jack a spot on the New Zealand team for the 2024 World Junior Open Water Championships in Alghero, Italy this September.

Well done Jack!

Jack had an intense first game against the current U15 Australian Champion … and won. Jack went on to win his next game against his Australian opponent who is in the Australian Men’s National Badminton Squad and who finished 4^th in the Senior Australian National Men’s Championship last year. Remember, Jack is only 16 years old, so this was an amazing achievement.

Eventually Jack came up against a world ranked men’s players, who has played ‘professionally’ for over 8 years and the effects of two earlier hard-fought successes meant that he lost his match against the professional men’s player in the knock-out competition.

Jack is no doubt looking forward to being back in New Zealand and catching up on homework and preparing for assessment tests. Congratulations for representing the youth of NZ and being a role model for other Pinehurst students and badminton players.

Hongbao Competition Winners

The Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year celebrations started last week on 10 February. To mark this cultural event, we ran a competition for students to decorate an empty red or yellow packet. 

Thank you to everyone who took part in the 'Hongbao Competition'! We were so impressed with the entries that it made it hard to choose only 4 winners. So we have decided to give away 5 winners and 4 runner-up prizes!

The winners of the Pinehurst Teddy Bear are:

•     Atharva L, Year 2

•     Emerson L, Year 3

•     Jasmine Z, Year 5

•     Felisha Z, Year 9

•     Jenny R, Year 9

Runner-Up Prizes are:

•     Ryan (Rongen) Z, NE

•     Skylar C, NE

•     Ethan K, Year 7

•     Chris S, Year 8

Netball Pre-Season Training

Netball pre-season trainings for returning and all new players.

Year 7&8 - Tuesdays, starting 20^th February, then 27^th February and 5^th March. Arrive at 6.55am for a 7am start on the Library Courts

Year 9 – Wednesdays, starting 21^st  February, then 28^th February and 6^th March. Arrive at 6.55am for a 7am start on the multi purpose courts.

Year 10-13 - Mondays starting 19^th February, then 26^th February and 4^th March. Arrive at 6.55am for a 7am start on the multi purpose courts

No registration required.

Any questions please contact Debbie Stanaway Debbie.stanaway@pinehurst.school.nz

If you have any news or submissions you’d like considered for our newsletter, please contact news@pinehurst.school.nz