No images? Click here Newsletter - 4 Feb. 2022Message from the Executive PrincipalKia ora koutou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 There have been times over the past six months when I’ve been able to pick out the specific noises made by individual birds outside my office. I could distinguish between duelling cicadas on my deck; and a particularly enthusiastic bird we’ve named “Russell” had taken to wandering around the administration building. Just last week, she (yes, Russell is a female bird) popped into my office, snacked on a dead insect she found under my sofa, relieved herself on my desk and ambled away to her favourite spot in the Communications and Marketing Office. In other words, things have been quiet. Not now though! This week has been a wonderful cacophony of students having fun, seeing their friends again, making new friends, getting stuck into their work, playing sports… doing everything, basically, that children should do at school. I can’t express this strongly enough: it has been wonderful in every way. I know we are wearing masks, and that we aren’t able to do absolutely everything we would normally do, but 90% of school life has been taking place, 95% of our young people are back in school, and 100% of our learning is happening. We have around 20 students either in MIQ or overseas, but they are being supported online, and most of them will be back in school soon. The students have been amazing. We were prepared for some uncertainty and nervousness amongst the children, but they settled amazingly quickly, and we’ve been able to move swiftly into our usual groove. I’ve been into every class in the school over the last couple of days, and it has felt as though we have been back for weeks. Just this morning, I saw Mrs Sawyers picking apart a newspaper article by a Guardian journalist in ruthless technical detail with her Year 12 English Language class, then popped next door to see Mr Bean’s Year 13 Literature class discuss the significance of the quotation from Genesis at the start of The Handmaid’s Tale, before seeing Mr Zimmermann’s Year 12 class get stuck into some research about High Victorian poetry. Next door, Mr Elliott was teaching a Year 12 PE class about joints (I think). I saw half the Year 7s divide themselves up for pre-testing in Chinese, while Mrs Liang enthused her Year 7s with what looked like an introduction to DNA. In the Primary School, Mrs McIntosh’s class were working in groups deciding what ingredients a “Confidence Cake” had in it. I saw Year 4 pre-testing in Maths, storyboarding and pictures about Splat the Cat in Year 2, and incredibly well-settled new entrants in Mrs Walton’s and Mrs Viskovich’s classes. There’s so much more I could write about, but I’ll finish by stressing just how quickly the school has moved into gear, and how full of life the place has been. I’ve loved it. I mentioned in one of my emails last week that our students have again received a very impressive number of “Top in the World” and “Top in New Zealand” awards. You can see the list below these words. These awards celebrate students who have achieved at the very highest level, and are a wonderful way of rounding off the examination result season. The full details of these are on our website, and it’s been yet another year of fantastic success for our young people. I want to make a special mention of one student, though. At this point last year, I celebrated Wenzhong Liang as the top Year 12 Cambridge student in the country. This year, we are celebrating Wenzhong as the top Year 13 Cambridge student in New Zealand. Not only that, but Wenzhong came Top in the World in three of his subjects last year, and Top in New Zealand in his fourth. In other words, he was the best student in New Zealand in every subject he took. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in any student from any school before. I’m going to finish with a few reminders connected with traffic and Covid. On traffic, I was pleased to see that things have settled down quite quickly, but it is of course very busy still. Please respect the road markings we have at school, avoiding parking on zig-zag lines, and please be patient. Parking on nearby roads and walking to school is always a good option too. And to those parents who have queried why we haven’t extended the footpath on the Rosedale Road side to stretch around to the street: this was because we needed to remain within planning restrictions, to ensure sufficient parking, and to enable a safe exit for buses. We will, though, be creating a gravel extension over the coming weeks, and will see if we can make that work safely. On Covid, thank you to everyone for supporting our rules, and enabling us to operate as safely as possible. All of the measures we have in place are in operation, and the restrictions on large gatherings, as well as the mask and ventilation rules, are working well. I have been asked about how we manage the need for self-isolation: we have required everyone who has come back through MIQ to stay at home for an additional 7 days as an extra safety measure; and we have also asked a few people to stay at home and be tested if they are secondary contacts of close contacts. We have had no close contacts in our community this week. Please make sure that I am aware if you are either a close contact or a household contact of a close contact. There are some rules around this – both isolation and testing – and we always at least match and usually exceed the Government’s rules. We are using rapid antigen tests for extra reassurance and peace-of-mind, for example. Enough on Covid for now. We will keep you updated, of course, and will make changes as and when we need to. And please ask any questions you may have. And welcome back! We are all so delighted to have our wonderful community around us. Ngā mihi, Alex. 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Cambridge Award WinnersWenzhong Liang
Annie Ediker
Tim Xie
Michael Ma
Chang Liu
Petra Damianovich
Max Xiao
Sebastien Sly
Monday 7 February Waitangi Day (Public Holiday) Tuesday 8 February Parent Information Evening (Years 1-3), 6pm, online Wednesday 9 February Student ID photos Message from the Principal of PrimaryKia ora, What an amazing week we have had. I have been teaching for a long time and I can't remember a start of the year where children have been so eager to be at school and so settled. Every teacher has commented on how amazing their class is and what a fantastic start they have had to the year. All of us have missed being together in the classroom. Walking around the Primary this week every room has been alive with learning, speaking, role play, sports and creativity. At the end of last year we got together as a staff to think about how we could make sure children would feel connected to each other and to their learning after being away from school for so long. We are working on building a community of learners and have used themes like growing great learners, to see ourselves as connected to each other and our school again. Welcome to our new students, amazing New Entrants and new staff. As you will see in this newsletter our programmes began straight away and we have all been really busy this week. Every class has a yearly overview with details of what children will learn this year plus each term there is a more specific overview which breaks down what your child will learn each week. Students are being assessed in class for Maths Whizz, Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress levels which will then form part of their homework programme. On Tuesday next week we are hosting an information evening for parents of students in Years 0-3. This will be online and we will record the presentation for anyone who would like to watch at a later date. The week after it will be the Years 4-6 presentation. We will send information of how to join online on the morning of the event. Kia pai to rā whakata, have a good weekend. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon. Primary Specialist TeachersWe are very lucky to have such a group of talented, enthusiastic specialist teachers in the Primary and we look forward to seeing the programmes in action. Primary Music There are lots of exciting things ahead for music this year, but our main goal is to get as many children involved as possible. So far, we will have a marimba group, ukulele, band, choir but I’m sure more will emerge as we discover more about the children’s interests. We are hoping to get to the KBB music festival, The Auckland Marimba Festival, Kiwilele Ukulele Festival, the APPA Choir Festival and put Pinehurst on the map as the place to be for an excellent music education. As always, please reach out if you have any questions about the music programme and stay tuned over the coming weeks on how to get involved in the many things we have to offer. Ashleigh Pope & Cherrie Leefe Primary Languages Primary school children have an innate ability to acquire rules of any language. We are happy to offer our Pinehurst students an opportunity to learn Mandarin and Spanish: the top two most spoken languages in the world. Learning foreign languages boosts one's cognitive and academic levels, as well as self-esteem and confidence. Our focus is to have fun while developing the language skills with a strong focus on speaking. Children will also better understand other cultures, expressions and styles of communication. Erica Cataloni, Nicole Shin – Spanish Biec Vien, Chantelle Wang, Xichen Sun and Cheng Xu - Mandarin Year 3 Health In Heath this year, through a different topic each term, students will develop their knowledge and understanding about relationships, personal growth/development and identity, and healthy communities and environments. I hope to facilitate students’ ability to, with increasing confidence, share their thoughts and feelings with others, demonstrating sensitivity and respect. Pippa Fleming Primary Science Students are beginning the Science year with an introduction to measurement. They will be reviewing the equipment used in Science, and the different measuring scales they will need to be able to read. It is important for Scientists to collect accurate and precise data as information to backup or quantify their evidence. Students need to use standardised systems of measurement so that other scientists can replicate their experiments. So, a lot of hands-on measuring activities during our science lessons for the first few weeks. Jacqui Herbert Additional Language Learning In Additional Language Learning students will be completing assessments to find out their specific needs. As we have had a summer break and experienced a lockdown these assessments will provide a starting point and highlight areas to develop. Students will have an individual learning plan with each of their goals, and with support, work towards these. Tanya Playfair Primary Physical Education I hope everyone had a great holiday and managed to participate in some sort of physical activity over the summer, enjoying the beautiful weather. This year for PE we will be covering a range of different sports that help develop your child's fundamental movement skills as well as teaching them the value of sportsmanship when playing in a team environment. One of our main goals this year is to develop our students' interpersonal skills, such as leadership, communication, co-operation, inclusion, support, and encouragement. These skills are vital for the success of any sporting team regardless of their ability level, using positive interpersonal skills we create an environment within physical activities that enables growth and development to occur alongside an enjoyment for PE. Jack Taylor The New to 2 Team!Year 0-2 are all excited to be back at school, happily working alongside their friends. The classrooms were bursting with excitement at learning all together. The teachers in this area are: Miss Vicky Walters in P1, Miss Breanna Viskovich (or Miss V for short) in P2, Mrs McCulloch in P4 (formerly known as Miss Lew ), P5 is Mrs Boniface. The Year 2 teachers are; Ms Kenny in P6, Mrs Thomson (also known as Mrs Terrific) in P7 and in P8 Mrs Murray. We welcomed 20 brand new students to the team, who have already settled into Pinehurst with ease. All of the students were thrilled to return to their playground as well as being able to wander through the butterfly garden and rest under the shade of the trees. The syndicate classes have been celebrating and sharing ideas for Chinese New Year. The classes have been making lanterns, tigers and fans as well as viewing stories and learning information. There were many discussions around what was happening in the home and the delicious food that was eaten on New Years Eve. On the first day of school the students were able to participate in a syndicate assembly by connecting on Teams from the comfort of their classroom. The whole syndicate was able to view and congratulate the new students receiving their welcome certificate through the computer and large screen. The students stood for the National Anthem and listened to a welcome song shared by Mrs McCulloch. There was plenty of waving via screens as students saw their friends and last year teachers on the big screen. The New to 2 team are all practicing smiling with their eyes, as wearing masks has now become part of our uniform. The students (and teachers too) are exceptionally resilient as well at ensuring that mask wearing continues throughout the day. Year 3 and 4 Syndicate NewsYear 3 Learning in Term 1 We have had very excited and focused learners come back to school in P9, P10 and P11, which has been wonderful to see. In the first writing mission of the year called ‘The Aliens are Coming’, the students will be creating effective character descriptions to make the reader think that the aliens are real. They will be adding interest and detail through adjectives, verbs, and noun phrases. Our shared novel for the term will be “The Wild Robot Escapes” by Peter Brown. Through this novel the students will be developing their understanding and use of the comprehension strategies of summarising and inferring. In Maths, we begin by exploring addition and subtraction of 2–3-digit numbers and identifying the attributes of 3D shapes. We will explore examples of these shapes used in real life. Further into the term we will develop our understanding of fractions and how to use strategies to solve word problems involving addition and subtraction. During Global Perspectives we are reading the book ‘The Tree Hut Treaty’ which will help us to form our own class treaty to support us to learn successfully together as a class. This also helps develop understanding of what a Treaty is and the rights and responsibilities we have within our school and the wider community. As a connection to forming our own learning community we will be identifying the communities we belong to and our cultural identity. This will help the students to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of the cultural celebrations such as Chinese New Year. In Health we are exploring what success and ‘Thinking Like a Champ’ means. The students will learn how to identify their own strengths and weaknesses and develop their understanding that success is mostly a result of effort and persistence. Through this process the students will use their knowledge about themselves to set goals and to develop the skills of self-discipline and self-management. During Term 1, our Science focus is on exploring the life processes common to plants. This includes the exploration of appropriate conditions required for a plant to be healthy and how a plant obtains nutrition and grows.
Year 4 Learning in Term 1 The Year 4 students are all very excited to be learning in P12, P13 and P14. They are all looking forward to exploring interesting concepts and ideas through all the curriculum areas to extend their learning. The Big Write Mission for the Year 4’s this term is to write detailed descriptions of villains The classes will be reading the novel ‘The Twits” by Roald Dahl. The focus will be on developing the comprehension strategies of visualising through the identification of key words and language which create rich images in the reader’s mind; and inferring, using contextual clues to identify implicit meaning and messages. In Maths this term, Year 4 will be developing the use of mental methods when adding and subtracting with increasingly larger numbers. They will extend their knowledge of which operations and methods to use and why. Another focus will be understanding multiplication and the knowledge and recall of multiplication tables up to 12; as well as extending their understanding of the number system and decimal place value of numbers to tenths. In Strand Maths, the students will learn to recognise lines of symmetry in a range of shapes and describe positions of objects on maps using coordinates. Developing the skill of Reflection, students will investigate the Treaty of Waitangi and it's history. They will be developing their own class treaty, using the resource ‘The Tree Hut Treaty’ to help them understand how a treaty can be developed how it effects communities in New Zealand. This term in Health, the students will develop their understanding of the importance of courage and recognise the different forms that it takes. They will share what they already know and will recognise and examine situations in which they use courage to support them when they are unsure or not confident. During Science with Mrs Herbert, Year 4 will be introduced to a variety of measuring equipment used in science investigations. Alongside this they will be investigating ‘Solids, Liquids and Gases’ and how these change their state when heated and cooled.
Kia ora from the Year 5 / 6 Syndicate!I’m Michelle, the Syndicate Leader for our team and a teacher in Year 5. You can find me in P17 with a fabulous bunch of students. The theme for our Syndicate this year is around ’Teamwork’ and building collaborative classrooms. Students have started the year participating in team challenges and building their social skills. Re-establishing these connections after a long duration of online learning has been key in setting up positive, happy, and welcoming learning environments. The Year 5 writing mission this term takes us into the forests of Sumatra, where Dan Johnson, an eco film-maker, is in Sumatra making a film about endangered orangutans. Dan asks the students to help him raise awareness by writing a radio script, but then he gets caught up in a devastating forest fire and needs the students’ help to write a breaking news article reporting events. Finally, they write a magazine article about the life and work of Dan Johnson. Global Perspectives for term 1 in Year 5 focuses on Cultural Identity. Students will think about the cultures that they identify with, learn about world geography, and develop their evaluation skills by comparing the accuracy and relevance of sources and showing understanding of their findings in their independent research project. Students will gather facts about their own and another country, compare them, and consider reasons for the similarities and differences. In Year 6, the writing focus for the term is for students to craft an autobiographical account about a one key event in their lives and a biographical account about a significant individual or story book character. The students Big Write mission involves Claire Kingston, who works for the International Primary Society and who is promoting an exciting Time Capsule project for schools. She needs the students to write a persuasive letter to convince a skeptical Head Teacher to take part. They also need to write a description of a memory and an autobiographical piece to model what could be included in a Time Capsule. Global Perspectives for Year 6 involves students developing their research skills by conducting investigations, using interviews or questionnaires to test a prediction, and to answer a research question. Students will identify benefits and challenges of working together to achieve a shared outcome with a focus on their classroom community and culture. Collaboration and taking part are key parts of this challenge. The Year 5 / 6 Syndicate are excited to announce that in term 3 we will be performing the stage production Dreamworks Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr! We look forward to auditions and seeing the amazing singing, dancing, and acting talent that the students have to offer. Lastly, congratulations to Sarah Li from our syndicate who was the winner of the U13 Lydia Ko Junior Golf Open. Message from the Principal of CollegeKia ora, A very warm welcome back to our Pinehurst community, for existing families and welcome to the many new families joining us in 2022. The College has started very smoothly this week with full classes operating since Tuesday morning. Moving around the college it has been really pleasing to see how productive classes already are and how engaged students are in all of their lessons. With the Village out of commission this year the school feels much busier, which is great after so much time away from school last year. My school year started with the release of the AS and A Level results on the 11th of January. These were followed by the IGCSE results on the 19th. You will have seen your own child’s results if they sat these examinations and also the highlights pointed out by Mr Reed. What has also happened since these results have been released is that teachers have been busy analysing the results to pick out key information that has allowed them to reflect on the specific areas that they targeted last year, as well as setting new targets for this year. All of this work is done at a Departmental level and each of the HOD’s will complete a full analysis of their Department. We are incredibly proud of the outstanding results that our students and teachers have achieved, but we will always aim to do a bit better the next time around. Yesterday we acknowledged our students that had achieved a specific set of grades which meant that they become part of our Scholars’ group. In reality we have had a lot more success than that to celebrate, and I know that there are many more of our students who should be very proud of what they achieved last year. A focus for the college this year is to gain back some of our momentum around student service and leadership. This is an area where we have struggled to get momentum with in the past two years due to disruption. Already this year we have had our 24 POD Mentors training to ensure that they are able to facilitate strong bonds within their PODs. Our student leaders have had a training day as they prepare to play a significant role in our school this year. At yesterday’s senior assembly we presented all of our student leaders to the college. Lisa, Head Girl, and Frank, Head Boy delivered a fantastic address, and I am looking forward to the leadership that they will provide for the student body in 2022. Nga mihi, Kieran Verryt.
Scholars 2022AS Scholars (Criteria = 220 points in 4 subjects, 240 points with 5 or 3As)
IGCSE Scholars (Criteria – 5 A grades) NB if a student receives 4 A grades in the Year 11 year and had achieved an A grade in IGCSE Maths in Year 10, this will be counted as 5 x A grades
Holiday Activities for International Students Before Christams our international students were treated to some fun outdoor activities in the beautiful weather we had, this included strawberry picking and tree adventures! Year 9 OrientationLast week we welcomed the new Year 9 students to the College, into their houses and PODs. They spent the day completing various activities and ice breakers to get to know each other, to make them feel welcome into the school and the house whānau. The students were given a tour of where their classes would be and given an introduction into the opportunities available to them while at school such as the Year 9 camp. The students were engaged and enthusiastic, eagerly being involved in all discussions and tasks. We are very happy to welcome them into the senior college. The Busy BeanIt has been a pleasure to see some of our Year 12 students training to become barista’s who will work in The Busy Bean, student run café. They worked hard last week learning the art of making a number of different coffees. They completed a two day course which involved running of the business. This included stock control, promotion, and financial management, just to name a few. The students have been practicing by opening the café this week to teachers to get used to the operations and having their first customers. The feedback has been positive about the coffee and they are very excited about the café opening to both students and teachers. The Busy Bean CEO’s Zahra and Ryan have had a great start to managing this café this year. Well done to everyone for their hard work and enthusiasm! Survival GamesTo start our year off, the AS Economics class were given the task to 'survive' with limited resources by constructing a tent, a fish, and a poncho with a limited range of resources. It was a very productive 15 minutes, but of the 17 students in class, only 2 survived. Well done Gabby and Winston, and to those who sacrificed their survival so that their peers might survive. Hopefully, with more study, we can do better next time. In the next few lessons we will investigate how division of labour, organized government, and better technology can lead to more efficient outcomes for society and less wastage of resources. POD MentorsOur POD mentors for 2022 participated in their training last week where they are learning about their Manākitanga. This is a Māori term that means extending aroha (love and compassion). This can be in acts of kindness, helping others, caring for our community and our environment. Manākitanga is about uplifting people, encouraging them and nurturing positive relationships with an understanding that we are all part of one whānau. They have learnt about developing a strong POD culture in their individual PODs while also incorporating the Pillars of leadership through all that they do. The POD mentors have demonstrated exceptional mana in their houses and worked well in developing engaging activities along with the POD teachers for the first day back at school. The Deans are very excited to work with them through the year. Student Leader TrainingThursday, the week before school starts, a group of enthusiastic students are waiting to pile into the minivans before the school. They are the student leaders for 2022, bubbling with enthusiasm and ideas. They are heading to the YMCA, where they will be attending a training day presented by the Raise-Up staff. Topics for the day were identifying and use of different leadership styles and the value each style holds; public speaking, event management, group activities and obstacle courses, to see how effective the leadership training was. There was a lot of chatter on the way back to school once again, about everything that had been learnt and experienced. Through today's leadership training day, I’ve learnt that the words: Loyalty, humility and faith were the three strongest words that best described my personality as a leader. To represent what I’ve learnt at today’s training day, I’ve decided to dedicate this year to the word Faith, which surprisingly was the keyword during our activities as we not only had to place our faith in the other students guiding us through the obstacles courses but in our own abilities to take a step forward even when our eyes were closed. I hope that for the students, this means to have faith in me and the student leader’s team, while also having faith in themselves to overcome their own personal fears and limitations. - Frank Deng I learnt that there is no right way to be a leader, and everyone leads in different ways. For example, some people lead in a democratic way and encourage teamwork whereas someone else might lead in a more autocratic way however both produce results. This makes me feel more confident in myself and want to back myself more. This will help me in my role as a house captain as I won't doubt my leadership making my peers more confident in my role. - Hannah Thornell Year 1 -7 MusicWe have had a great start to the year in Music. Students across year levels have discussed what makes a productive and inspiring music programme and worked together to create a stunning ‘Music Ninjas’ display. We have also had a big focus on note duration and rhythm and practiced these skills in several contexts. One timely choice being a traditional Chinese New Year song. The Year 7 students had a go at composing their own rhythms and performing them to the class. Year 7 P.E. Lesson Science BINGO in Y4 Happy students in P9 Year 2 Spanish... '"Russell" in the Marketing Office Nicole's Winning StreakCongratulations to Euneseo (Nicole) Choi who over the summer holidays won the following tournaments: December 13th - 15th: Super City Junior Classic run by Golf New Zealand, North Harbour and Auckland. Won by shooting 11 under par. January 8th-9th: Danny Lee Springfield Open 54 hole stroke play. January 11th-13th: North Island Girls Under19. January 26th - 27th: Lydia Ko Junior Open. A Tournament Win for YeonsooOver the summer holidays Yeonsoo Son won the Hastings Womens Open at the Hastings Golf Club, Bridge Pa. It was a 2 day event which comprised of 54 holes. Yeonsoo started Day 1 at 2 under par which was tied for first and then completed round 2 with 2 under again which put her into the lead by 3 shots. The final day was tough but she finished the round with 1 over par and a total of 3 under to take out the title by 1 stroke. Congratulations Yeonsoo! NZMO Squad 2022Well done to Junyang (Michael) Ma who attended the online Mathematical Olympiad training camp held in January. Michael was one of the top 25 students in Mathematics invited from throughout the country to participate in this event that were selected for the New Zealand training squad. The final team of 6 students to represent New Zealand at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Oslo, Norway in July, will be announced in April. |