Message from the Executive Principal
Kia ora koutou, good afternoon, 下午好, 안녕하세요 STOP PRESS!! BADMINTON CHAMPIONS!! Congratulations to our Junior Secondary Boys’ team of Jack Ji, Tony Yu, Jack Zeng, and Robert Le Lievre, who are North Island Junior Secondary School Cup - Boys' Badminton champions for 2022. They beat Kristin the final, and were quite superb throughout. Congratulations as well to our Junior Secondary Girls’ Team of Veronica Xia, Alina Zhang, Cynthia Zhang, and Elsa Lu, with Emily Prasetyo joining the team for the final after an injury to Veronica. The girls’ team won the silver medal of the North Island Junior
Secondary Schools Cup. And… at the College Sports Young Sportsperson of the Year Awards last night, Nicole Choi, Year 11, won the Golf Award, and was a finalist for the overall award. Congratulations to Nicole! I have two water features outside my office: one is a rather unusual slab of patterned concrete, sheltering under a tree. If I press a button on the wall, a gentle drizzle of water cascades down its sides. Very calming. The other water feature takes the shape of a gushing waterfall: the design of the administration building brings the rain into a single gully, and it then whips across, turning into a raging torrent (okay, I may be exaggerating a little), before dumping itself into the roots of the particularly resilient tree that guards this side of the
building. I mention this because it’s in full swing right now, and because I’ve started to worry a little about the school’s cat, who seems to live under this building: he emerges when the sun comes out, lounges on my deck and stares me down disdainfully if I dare to move towards him. I haven’t seen him for a while, and his home can’t be as pleasant right now as it usually is in the spring. Thank you to all the parents who came to the Garden Party last week: it was a lovely evening, and I was very grateful to talk to so many parents I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know these past five years. Thank you also to the parents who came to our ‘Thank You’ morning tea yesterday: the school simply couldn’t do all the things it does without your
support. We had a wonderful Valedictory Dinner on Wednesday: this is our annual celebration of our graduating class, attended by Year 13 students and their parents (and sometimes grandparents and siblings). It’s always an emotional moment for us as we say goodbye to young people we have watched grow and turn into fine women and men. We will miss them, and I will miss some students in particular, those I have taught or got to know better in one context or another. I know, though, that they go into an uncertain world very well-prepared for the future, and they will always take a part of the school with them, just as the school will always carry them with it into its own future. The weather meant that, sadly, we had to cancel a couple of events this week: my apologies for this, but I know
you will understand. We don’t have the time to rearrange these events this term, but they will be back next year! One event that did go ahead was the Year 12 Great Barrier Island Camp: it’s been a tad wet, but they’ve had a great time, and should be arriving back at about the same time as you read this. We’ve also had some end of year socials in the Primary School, and one really interesting trip to highlight is Mr Johansen’s expedition to local streams with his Environmental Management class: they were measuring water purity, testing for the volume of whitebait as well as a range of other environmental checks. You may have noticed the steady increase of references to environmental education over the past couple of years: this is set to increase in the years to come, recognising the increasing importance of action in the face of the environmental challenges
we will all be facing in the future. I mentioned the waterfall outside my office: this is the overflow from the new ‘brown water’ tank we’ve installed on the other side of the building. The new Theatre/College 5 building will be self—sufficient in electricity, thanks to a full set of solar panels; and we’ve also installed two large underground water tanks to service the toilets there. It’s something that matters to us, and which will continue to matter. As I write, I don’t yet know the final results of the North Island Junior Secondary Schools Competition but, as of Wednesday night, our boys’ team (Jack Ji, Tony Yu, Jack Zeng, and Robert Le Lievre) had won all 72 sets they had played; and our girls’ team (Elsa Lu, Veronica Xia, Alina Zhang, and Cynthia Zhang) had won all 60 sets they had
played. The final stages were set to be tough, but we should be in line for Top 2 placings for both teams at the end of the week. I’ve been talking about our strength in badminton for some time, and this is that strength in action! I’m very proud of all the students involved. Next Wednesday, we have the first of our two Orientation Days: this will involve all of our current Year 6 students, plus the Year 6 students who are currently in other schools and are joining us next year. It will also involve new students going into other College year groups, and is always a good experience designed to reassure children about the transition; and also to give them a sense of life in College and, hopefully, to excite them a little. We will be running a second orientation experience just before term starts in January. We also have the Year 7/8 Formal on Monday: this is always lovely, and I like to see the students before they head off to Soljans, dressed smartly and ready for a lovely evening. The Year 6 Graduation Assembly is on Tuesday, and their Graduation Social follows on Wednesday: it’s a time of transition, and I hope everyone enjoys every minute it. Have a lovely weekend and see you on Monday. Ngā mihi Alex 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击
Monday 28 November - Year 7-8 NH Zone Day Yachting (selected students)
- Year 5 & 6 - Super Cluster Tennis Tournament (selected students)
- Year 6, Birkenhead Leisure Centre Trip
- Years 7-8, JC Formal
Tuesday 29 November - Year 12, DoE
Gold Qualifier Tramp
- P23 Buddy Pizza Party (NE)
- Year 6 Graduation Assembly
Wednesday 30 November - Years 7 - 9, Transition Day
- Road Patrol Training (2023)
- Year 6, Tenpin Bowling Graduation Party
Thursday 1 November - Year 7-8 Interzone Athletics (selected students)
Friday 2 November - Parent Presentation with Anna Claridge
- New Entrant Orientation
- PrEP Market Day (Primary)
- Year 5-6 Social
Message from the Deputy Principal of Primary
Kia ora tatou,
Monday saw a very excited group of Year Six students head off to Rainbows End as a reward for their service to the school as road patrol monitors. It doesn’t seem that long ago that they were out on the crossing with our community constable receiving their training. This role requires commitment, concentration and the confidence to make decisions. Our monitors have shown they are reliable, punctual and have the ability to demonstrate good judgment. They were well supported by Terry, Sue and Mrs Clark and we have to applaud their ability to perform their role in a range of challenging weather conditions.
Ms Brock and Mrs Kruff hosted transition evenings this week where our 2023 Year 5 and Year 3 parents were invited to hear and discuss the best ways to navigate the changes ahead. In order to support our students and families it is important to outline the academic, social and emotional changes that are likely to occur in the next stage of our students development. Managing change can be challenging for parents as a new teacher, new classmates and new expectations can create and element of apprehension. It is important that we support our children to see change as an opportunity and how we respond to change can develop lifelong skills of resilience and the ability to adapt. Focussing on the opportunities available in that new year group reframes the change and it is important to allow time to adjust.
Wednesday evening was the much-anticipated Year 3 and 4 movie night. Some very excited students arrived at Hoyts cinema ready to watch a new movie with their friends. For many of our students this was their first opportunity to see a movie surrounded by friends, without their siblings or parents. Laughter could be heard throughout the movie, and there was a lot of giggling from the teachers as well. Great fun was had by all.
Thursday saw a parade of stuffed animals and teddy bears arriving in the Primary. The Year Sixes had spent many lunchtimes preparing a range of teddy themed activities for our Year 1-5 students to take part in. The weather, however, decided to put on it’s own special event and our plans had to be quickly adapted. Indoor picnics took place and our younger classes received in class teddy doctor visits, colouring activities, drawing tutorials and quiet reading buddies. The sunshine made a brief appearance half way through the lunch hour so many teddies were spotted zooming down the slides, hiding in the tunnels and generally having a great time outdoors. After lunch, classes had a teddy disco where some impressive dance moves were on display. The students and teddies found the teachers dancing extremely entertaining.
We are looking forward to welcoming our newest students on Friday as the 2023 New Entrant students arrive for their first visit. We also have the Year 5 and 6 social on Friday evening to celebrate the end of an eventful term for our senior students.
I am look forward to dancing, eating pizzas and socialising with our senior students and teachers to mark the end of a busy week in the Primary.
Have a great weekend.
Nga mihi
Catherine Jones-Hill
Teddy Bears PicnicPicnic time for teddy bears, and teachers, and most of all students. A parade of teddy bears came to school on Thursday, huddling under umbrellas in the rain, to take part in all the teddy themed activities on offer. The Primary School Council worked together as ‘Teddy Bear Control’ and created teddy themed activities for our younger students to take part in. Luckily our Teddy doctors make house calls because our picnic ended up taking place indoors. A team of dedicated teddy doctors and nurses were ready to bandage, take temperatures and generally tend to tired bears. Teddy discos saw all the teddies get some exercise on this wild and wet day. Along with the visiting teddy doctors the Year Sixes visited the Junior classes to read bear stories, provide teddy drawing tutorials and to take photos of proud bear owners. A family of bears were found in P3 waiting for some smiling faces to join them for a bear family photo. Many tired teddies were spotted after an exciting lunchtime and may have needed a little nap before heading home. A big thank you to our Year Six leaders for organising such a fun filled event.
Year 6 Road Patrol Trip to Rainbows End!
As a way of thanking our Year 6 volunteers for their hard work throughout the year doing road patrol duties, we treated them to a day at Rainbows End. Despite the grey weather and intermittent showers, a fun day was had by all. Many thanks to Kirsty, Sue, Georgia and Miss Brock for joining us on the day and having just as much fun as the students.
Primary Music At Pinehurst, all our students have the opportunity to receive individual music tuition from the most fantastic music tutors. Last week, those who attended the Solo, Duo and Trio Performance Showcase, had the absolute pleasure of listening to students perform, showcasing their progress and growth as musicians and performers. Registration for music tuition for 2023 will open on Monday 28 November. If you are keen for your tamariki to take part, please sign up before the end of Term 4. More information about the Itinerant
Music Programme can be found here: Music at Pinehurst | Pinehurst School
What’s happening in P14 this week?It may well be quicker to say what we aren’t doing this week in P14! During our reading lessons, we have been learning about reading and writing different types of poetry. We know about using these elements of poetry including structure, form, speaker, sound devices, figurative language, rhyme, theme, tone, mood, syntax, and diction (Diction is the poet's use of language, word choice, and syntax) when we write our own poetry. Here we are busy putting our learning into action, as we eagerly prepare a special folder to present to Mr Reed on his farewell.
In maths we had fun rolling dice to randomly generate numbers, we then collected the information in a Tally chart before finally transferring the information collected into a Bar Graph.
We had a Road Safety Session with our community officer Constable Louise Nicholas. She spoke to us about using footpaths safely before taking our class for a walk outside the school. She spoke about ‘tricky driveways’, managing hazards, crossing the road, parked cars and car parks, and pedestrian or light controlled crossings as we walked a specially planned route which gave us practice on using the correct procedure.
We have been busy setting up our PrEP market companies, learning all about managing money, employing staff and now we are making our products. We are collectively called, “Rags to Riches” and are re-cycling old clothes into various items, from cat toy’s to pillows. On market day the students will be setting up and running their own stall to sell their lovingly made items. The enthusiasm to make the products has not even waivered yet! A bomb timer helps manage the tidy-up time really well!
Movie night - Year 3 and 4 had our movie night at Hoyts Cinema in Wairau Park on Wednesday watching the movie “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank”.
Year 3 & 4 Movie Night Ninety very excited Year 3 and 4 students were dropped off at the Hoyts Cinema by their parents to watch the movie “Paws of Fury”. We had the entire cinema to ourselves and with the teachers seated in the back row the students sat with their friends anywhere they wanted to, and this in itself was exciting!! We had popcorn, water and lollipops; what could be better! All the teachers could hear was the occasional quiet whispering, the opening of popcorn packets and the sucking of lollipops. At the end
all the parents arrived to collect the tired but excited children to take them home Quotes from the students… - It felt like we were alone in a very dark place watching a movie.
- I like how the seats went up a hill.
- I felt impressed with how the dog communicated with the cat
- There was a lot of action, good characters versus not so good.
- Parts of the movie were very funny, even the teachers
laughed.
- Secretly we think two of the teachers had a snooze.
- I think the movie was amazing, but I kind of missed some parts.
- Some parts were sad, but it was happy at the end.
- In one of the sad parts I nearly cried!
- We had to drive fast from basketball to get to the movie.
- It was fun sitting with lots of my friends.
It was a wonderful experience for us all to share as a Syndicate. I think the parents enjoyed the experience
too!! The Year 3 and 4 Teachers.
MandarinIn Year 4 this term, we have had a lot of fun learning through interesting games. In one of our favourite games, MFL students had to listen carefully and speak clearly to communicate messages between the teachers and their team, and their CFL team members needed to use the information and write the correct characters. We all got to practise the language skills (oral for MFL and written for CFL) and learned from each other. Earlier this term, our Y5 and Y6 CFL students learned a story, in which a little ant and his worm friend were unhappy as they couldn’t write. We have been writing what happens next with great imagination!
Maybe the ant and worm attend Chinese lessons to learn writing characters? Maybe they buy phones and computers to talk through video calls? Maybe the bugs hitch a ride in the envelop to visit each other! Year 5 and Year 6 mixed groups have been learning the names of countries around the world. It’s interesting how some of the names sound so much like their English names! Like Canada, Malaysia and Italy. We have learned how to convert country names into nationalities by adding the word 人 (rén) after the country name. We got so excited that some of us turned the words into a rap!
Primary Sports PrizegivingLast week, we held the Primary Sports Prizegiving, recognizing the sporting achievements by our amazing Primary students in 2022. Throughout the year, our selected teams have attend the following Super Cluster and North Harbour events; Hockey, Cross Country, Swimming, Basketball, Football, Netball, Badminton, Touch and Gymnastics. A “Most Valuable Player” award was presented to one student for each of these Super Cluster and North Harbour events. The Primary Sport Events Most Valuable Contribution trophy was awarded to Bosco Jin for his contribution to many Super Cluster events in 2022 and for his MVP
awards that he received for these events. Following this, we presented the “Team Player Award” and “Most Valuable Contribution” award to the respective recipients for each team in Netball, Basketball, Hockey, Touch, Splashpolo, and Table Tennis. We also recognised the students that placed in the top 3 inter-school events such as cross country, athletics and swimming. We concluded the Prizegiving with our major awards which included the Mete Cup for Sportsmanship, Team of the Year, Year 6 Sportswomen and Sportsman of the Year. The Mete Cup for Sportsmanship was awarded to Tiffany Catapang and the Team of the Year was awarded to the Netball Year 6 Falcons. The Year 6 Sportswomen of the Year was awarded to Chelsea Zhu for her achievements in swimming, netball, and cross country. The Year 6 Sportsman of the Year was
awarded to Alex Garcia-Curtis for his all-round achievements in Touch, Gymnastics, Cross Country and Hockey. A huge congratulations to all of the students that received an award. A massive thank you to all of our parents, coaches and supporters that contributed to the success of our students.
Message from the Principal of College Kia ora e te whānau o Pinehurst School It was a great day for sport at Pinehurst College yesterday. Our Junior Badminton players had competed in the North Island Secondary Schools Junior Badminton Championships under the guidance of Mr Le Lievre during the week. The first two days were very exciting with the boys' team playing 72 sets and winning all of them and the girls' team playing 60 sets and also winning all of them. Yesterday, both teams played in the finals and the boys’ team won making them North Island Secondary Schools Champions. The girls team were placed second after playing in the final in the afternoon. Yesterday evening it was my great honour to attend the Young
Sports Person of the Year Awards in support of Nicole Choi. Nicole won the award for Golf and she was a finalist in the Sportswoman of the Year award. These are huge achievements for any sportsperson but the fact that Nicole is still only in Year 11 makes these achievements even more incredible. This evening, Nicole and I will attend the Harbour Sports Excellence Awards for which Nicole has also been selected as a finalist. As Year 10 arrived home from Motatapu on Friday of last week, Year 12 students were packing their bags for their trip to Great Barrier Island. Whilst we were keeping a very watchful eye on the weather forecast before Year 10 left, we were happy to see that the worst of the weather was predicted to skirt around the island and that is exactly what happened; back home there was a deluge, but the majority of the Year 10 camp
was dry and very pleasant tramping weather. Year 12 are now wending their way back home after a week of leadership activities, team building, sleeping under the stars and fun on Great Barrier. On Wednesday of this week, we celebrated the journey and achievements of the Pinehurst Class of 2022 at their Valedictory Dinner. This was a lovely evening at the beautiful Markovina Vineyard Estate. We had performances by Kate Le Lievre, Sarah Xiang, Daniel Cradwick and Emily Patterson, and Frank Deng delivered a wonderful Valedictory Address. This occasion always carries mixed feelings and there were tears and laughter in farewelling our Year 13 students as they head out to follow their dreams. I am very proud of this group of young people and especially of the way in which they conducted themselves as they finished their schooling. I am confident
that they will continue to make us proud. Trips, Zone Days and sporting events have continued this week. Along with the badminton championships we had boys’ beach volleyball zone day at the start of the week which was a great experience for our boys’ team. On Wednesday, Year 10 geographers enjoyed a field trip to Orewa. The group managed to dodge most of the rain and students worked well and got a good experience of a range of fieldwork techniques. Mr Johansen also took a group of Year 10 students out of school to the Environmental Management Oteha Stream Inquiry field trip and another a group of business studies students and their teachers visited the Tip Top Factory. Next week, we will welcome new Year 7-9 students who will be attending Pinehurst in 2023 to an orientation day.
We also have more Zone Days and our final camp of the year – the Duke of Edinburgh gold qualifier tramp – to look forward to. A large part of my weekend will be spent reading reports ready for them to be sent out at the end of the term. I enjoy seeing all of the reports together, it gives a wonderful picture of all of the hard work and effort that goes in from our students and teachers, and I am looking forward to spending some time reflecting on this. I hope you have a lovely weekend. Ngā mihi nui Dawn
Year 7-8 Sports Prizegiving
Last week, we held the Sports Prizegiving for the Year 7-8 students and celebrated many successes over the year. We awarded bronze, silver and gold certificates to teams and individuals that placed respectively in their zone day, after school league or competition throughout the year. This also included the multiple placings that our students achieved at AIMS Games. Following this, we awarded an MVP for every Zone Day that took place in 2022. Two Zone Day Cups were presented to the Girl and Boy in Year 7-8 who had attended the most zone days and accumulated the most MVP points. These trophies were awarded to Zara Roodt and Nicholas Xu. We then awarded the “Team Player Awards” and “Most Valuable Contribution” to the respective winners in each team for all of our sports. The first of the major awards that were presented was the Mete Cup for Sportsmanship which was presented to Aayoung Joung and the Outstanding Achievement in Sport which was awarded to Yicheng Wang for his golfing achievements in 2022. This was followed by the Team of the Year which went to the Year 7-8 Girls Badminton A team who were crowned champions of the Intermediate A grade in the North Harbour competition, champions double pair at AIMS Games and champions double pair at the North Harbour Zone Day. The Year 7 Sportswomen of the Year went to Zara Roodt for her outstanding achievements in a number of sports, including Cross Country, Diving, Hockey and Gymnastics. The Year 7 Sportsman of the Year went to Noah Atkinson in recognition of his exceptional achievements in Diving, Gymnastics, and Football. The Year 8 Sportswomen of the Year went to Elsa Lu, who was part of the champion
Team of the Year and collected many accolades over the year for Badminton, Cross Country and Netball. The Year 8 Sportsman of the Year went to Nicholas Xu for his all-round efforts in Orienteering, Football, Basketball and Cross Country. Congratulations to all of the award winners, and a massive thank you to all of the coaches and managers who contributed to the sporting success of our teams and individuals this year.
Share Market Challenge in CommerceAfter long-term preparation, production and selling of top-notch products, Year nines are back at it again but this time hoping that fortune smiles back at them. In Commerce, we have been learning about the stock market, different investment terms, illustrating diversification of investment portfolios and PLC’s (Public Limited Companies). Being put to the challenge of making risky choices, for the remainder of the term in pairs or individually we’ve been given $50,000 (not real) to invest in 10 different NZ companies ($5000 each). The aim is for us to increase the value of our shares. As well as racing to end up with the
highest value, learning, and expanding ideas about future investments or consideration of investing in these companies help us as Commerce students to understand how the economy is an ecosystem. - Anaheta Entezar “My portfolio right now is not so well. I lost $151.75. The banks are not very good currently. Both ANZ and Westpac have their stocks decreasing rapidly. ANZ is the most unsuccessful company share in my portfolio. JP Morgan (Global Growth & Income) is the most successful share I have in my portfolio. It increased by quite a lot, and I bought many shares from that company.” - Michelle Hao “This week the biggest loser is Westpac bank. The total value has decreased in the past two weeks. The biggest winner this week was TruScreen group limited. the total value has
increased the most in the past two weeks. So far I have earned $439.” - Jennifer Lin “Our biggest winner was Burger fuel earning 689.53 and our biggest loser was Cook Coffee Company losing $843.44” - Sejong Park & Doug Berry
Year 10 Geography Trip This week the Year 10 Geography classes had the opportunity to put some of there skills to the test at Orewa Beach. The day consisted of beach profiles, measuring longshore drift, bi-polar analysis of coastal defence and even a few surveys with the public. This kind of first-hand experience practicing their geography skills will be essential for their examinations next year. It was a fantastic day and luckily not too much rain!
DoE Bronze Rangitoto/Motutapu tram
The first day of Duke of Ed was quite challenging. We hiked all the way to the top of Rangitoto and tramped our way across Motutapu and its green land to the campsite where we were staying. We laughed and walked for hours on end, while having snack breaks along the way. Overall, the first day was fun and although we all got very tired it was still a great experience. - Michaela B
The first day of DOE was fun but challenging. When everyone got to school people were excited and nervous as the weather said it was going to rain. Once we got to mount Rangitoto it was looking very grey but we kept going and started the hike. Most of the hike to the top of Rangitoto was easier than expected but once we were going to the top the track got steeper. At the top, the view was amazing. Then we hiked over Motutapu in the pouring rain, but it was still a lot of fun with a lot of laughs. As much as the hike was fun, I think everyone was relieved to see home bay (where we set up all the tents) it was an excellent experience. – Zoe B
The second day started with a painful wake up at 5:30am. By 6:30 everyone's tents and bags were packed, and we headed off for another day of walking. By 8:30 we had made it to the point between Motutapu and Rangitoto. We were lucky as it hadn't rained while we were walking yet. We finally reached Rangitoto wharf by 10:00am, where we sat and rested for another 2 hours as the ferry wasn’t there till 12:15pm. Overall this camp was an amazing experience, and I enjoyed spending two long days with my group and Mrs Rea. I'm excited to complete my Silver DOE next year. - Victoria C
Howick Historical Village TripLast week, the Year 9s went on our annual Social Science experience day. This year we went to Howick Historical Village. Students got to hand churn and eat butter, build and race go karts, and experience a Victorian school lesson. This outing tied in fantastically with our unit on the Victorians. We also got to explore the village, which is made up of genuine colonial houses that were originally built all across Auckland. Despite the rain, it was a fantastic trip and students really enjoyed it!
MUSIC LESSONS AT PINEHURST
Pinehurst continues to run its successful itinerant music lesson programme. Each week, fifteen specialist instrumental and voice teachers come onto campus to share their wealth of knowledge, experience and passion and give one on one music lessons to students. While this itinerant music programme provides support for our music students with their IGCSE and A level studies, music lessons are open to all students in both primary and college and the lesons also provide a robust foundation for those students who are involved in our College Orchestra and Jazz Band. In addition, we have recently instigated a Brass Scholarship programme to help support and develop our Brass players. If you are interested in applying to learn a Brass instrument with
reduced fees, please click here (link to the Brass Bursary doc on the website). You can find out more about our itinerant music programme in general here, including the range of instruments on offer, our terms and conditions, and the registration form, or contact Cynthia Jaques cynthia.jaques@pinehurst.school.nz if you have any questions. Registrations will open on Monday 28 November. (Students who are currently in our itinerant music programme need to
register again for 2023, even if they have let their teacher know they are continuing with lessons.)
College Sport Auckland Young Sportperson of the Year Awards A huge congratulations to Eun Seo (Nicole) Choi who won the Golf Award at the College Sport Auckland Young Sportperson of the Year Awards last night. She was also named a finalist for the Young Sportswomen of the Year Overall award. Well done Nicole!
North Harbour Boys Beach Volleyball Zone Day
On Wednesday, the boys beach volleyball team (Callum Morgan, Brodie George, Stanley Wu, Ben McQuinlan and Edward Maclean) competed at the North Harbour Boys Beach Volleyball Zone Day. Although the weather was very unpredictable, the boys still enjoyed the day and thrived in a new environment. The team had not competed in beach volleyball before, and it was great to see them all giving it a go. The team went from strength to strength and really improved in the last couple of games. It was great to see all team members growing their skill set and they all had a lot of fun. A huge thank you to Lu Dong for managing the team and Mitchell Fickling for coaching.
North Harbour Athletics Zone DayOn Tuesday, 12 students attend the North Harbour Athletics Zone Day. Schools from all over North Harbour competed at this event our students entered a varied number of disciplines. Zara Roodt and Jerry Yang participated in the long distance events with Zara running in the 800m and 1500m and Jerry running in the 1500m respectively. Matthew Sun, Celina Lee, and Stanley Wu competed in the long jump. Celina made it through to the Year 8 Girls final which was narrowed down to the best 6 jumpers. Ben McQuinlan competed in the high jump and joined Chloe Zhang in the 400m race. Finlay Thomson competed in the 100m and 200m events along with Aaron Chow and Lucas
Jay. Max Jia competed in the 100m and 1500m. Isaac Jiang competed in the relay with Jerry, Aaron and Stanley. The Year 8 Boys relay team consisted of Ben, Matthew, Max and Finlay. It was a great day out and the students did very well in all of their events.
Gold and Silver Success - North Island Junior Secondary School Cup - Badminton CompetitionPinehurst badminton has continued the earlier success of winning both the Boys and Girls Junior Interschool North Harbour tournament, by displaying determination, motivation, and commitment towards achieving excellence during the three-day North Island competition this past week. The Pinehurst Boys team, consisting of Jack Ji (Captain), Tony Yu, Jack Zeng, and Robert Le Lievre, won all seventy-two games of badminton they played on Tuesday and Wednesday. This was an amazing achievement and meant that they entered the finals on Thursday against Kristin
in a strong position. With every hard-fought for point throughout the two ½ hour epic final contest, the boy’s determination, and encouragement from the supporting crowd, especially the Jean Paul College girls’ team, gave them the motivation they needed to finish in first place and win the gold medal as the North Island Junior Secondary School Cup - Boys badminton champions for 2022. To put into perspective just how successful our Pinehurst Boys’ team was at the North Island competition; over three days, the boys won 84 out of 86 games played and won 41 out of 42 matches. An outstanding achievement showing not only the skill and perseverance of each player, but also the depth of talent the young team has for future success.
The Pinehurst Girls team, consisting of Veronica Xia (Captain), Alina Zhang, Cynthia Zhang, and Elsa Lu, played sixty games over the first two days and won all sixty. For a team to play sixty games and win every one of them shows real strength of character and skill. They began the hardest day of the competition on Thursday when they played the last three schools, which included two of the strongest schools in the competition, Kristin and the St Cuthbert’s College 1 team. Emily Prasetyo replaced Veronica Xia who had injured her foot, and Veronica’s guidance as Team Captain, helped focus the team during the first two days and set them up for further success. Emily took up the challenge and soon added to the Pinehurst winning total, with the team beating Kristin to face St Cuthbert’s College in the final. After a very
tiring 6 hours of badminton played throughout Thursday, the Pinehurst Girls’ team finished in 2nd place to win the silver medal in the North Island Junior Secondary School Cup - Girls badminton competition for 2022.
The Pinehurst badminton players should be proud of their behaviour during the tournament, playing with dignity and respect for the opposition. They made their parents and school proud with their incredible skill, motivation, and commitment to achieving excellence. And although the competition was taken very seriously by all the teams from throughout the North Island, the maturity, support for each other, and friendliness shown by the players from each school was a highlight of the competition. Thank you to all the parents for their continued support. It is not only the hours of training that develops the skill a player needs to achieve, but the support from family and friends that makes it happen.
2023 MUSICAL - HIGH SCHOOL MUSICALThe Performing Arts Department is super excited to announce that we have just been granted the rights to perform High School Musical as the school show for 2023! This is especially exciting as this will be the first show to be performed in the school's new theatre in College 5.
Auditions are planned for Week 2 of Term 1, 2023. Singers, dancers, actors, musicians and backstage crew are required for this exciting venture, and students should keep an eye out for further audition information coming soon. So, help be the start of something new- we cannot wait to put this production together! Go Wildcats!
Pinehurst put on a spectacular evening for parents to farewell Mr Alex Reed. From contortionists, beautiful music from our very own Pinehurst students (Jade Lyles, Linda Liu, Ivy Li, Vicky Gao), incredible singing from one of our talented parents (Wendy Huang), fire dancing performances, delicious canapes and cocktails; it truly was a night to remember. Thank you to Carmen Stella for putting on such an incredible event, and to all those who attended, we hope you had a great time!
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