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Message from the Executive Principal
Dear Parents,
With holidays quickly approaching, there can sometimes be a tendency to take the foot off the pedal a little, but that is certainly not the case as we have enjoyed a busy week with plenty happening across the school. From Primary conferences to Year 10 expeditions and, of course, lots of great learning in the classroom there is a real sense of making the most of every moment.
Wheels Week in the Primary School has been brilliant, with plenty of energy and excitement each day as the year groups enjoyed their turn to bike, scoot, and skate around the school. I was very impressed by the effort of our Year 6 councilors, who were able to help guide those who were a little unsteady on their wheels and provide some necessary traffic monitoring on the netball courts to reduce the collisions!
Thank you to all of you that attended the AGM last night, there was an excellent turnout and your input to the governance of the school is valuable. The motion to enter a review period for the makeup of the Board was passed unanimously and as a result, the current board will remain in position over the next year. Please keep an eye out for communications regarding the consultation process, your views will be welcomed through those events.
As we move to the end of the term, we will be saying goodbye to a small number of staff who are leaving our community. Nicole Shin (Spanish) is relocating to Korea and Sarah Boam (English) is taking up a new opportunity in Malaysia. While it is sad to say goodbye, I am very confident in the new teachers joining us and will introduce them in the newsletter at the start of next term. Some of you may have noticed a new face at reception, Melissa Lathwood, replacing Sally Smith who is returning to the travel industry. Finally, farewell to Jason Paulger from our facilities team who is joining the University of Auckland grounds crew. All of these staff have had a positive impact on our school and we wish them the very best for the future.
During the week I was listening to a podcast that discussed a range of issues faced by students that are very different from the experiences we would have had at school. One of the key messages related to sleep and the importance of getting plenty of it, with the presenters highlighting the need for teenagers to be getting around nine hours of sleep each night. This can be difficult to manage with the variety of pressures faced but it is hugely important for the holistic development of all young people. If your child needs some help in managing their time to ensure enough rest, please contact their teacher who will be able to work with your child.
Finally, a reminder that next week is a short one, with classes finishing on Wednesday and a teacher-only day on Thursday ahead of the Easter break.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing many of you this evening at the Garden Party.
Regards,
Mike Waller
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Tuesday 4 April
- Year 7, Boostrix Catch-up Students Only
- Year 8, HPV Catchup Students Only (First Immunisation)
- NH Girls Futsal Zone Day (selected students)
- Year 6, Positive Puberty
Years 7-13, College Principal's Tour
Wednesday 5 April
- Easter Celebration at School
- Years 7-8 and Years 9-13 POD Challenge (BBQ follows for all)
- Years 7-13, House BBQ
Years 0-1, Principal's Tour
- TERM 1 ENDS
Message from the Principal of College
Kia ora e te whānau
We had three days of all year groups being back at College at the start of the week and then yesterday morning our Year 10 group and some of their teachers left for an overnight camp at Tawharanui as practice for their Duke of Edinburgh Adventurous Journey. It was slightly chilly when they left but the sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, perfect tramping weather. They will also be spending time surfing and learning how to cook for themselves in the camping environment. We are looking forward to welcoming them back this afternoon.
This week we have needed to face things which are outside of our normal and this has been a good reminder of the resilience and flexibility of our students and staff. When I asked the whole of the College to line up in height order on the school field on Wednesday, I did wonder whether it would end well. However, our students once again delivered and were ready for their places in the full school photograph half an hour later. The photograph looked great and seemed well worth the effort once it was taken!
I enjoyed watching some of our students compete in their chosen extra-curricular activities this week. There was a large Orienteering event on Sunday at which we had students competing from across the College. I also watched a very interesting and well-thought-out debate on Thursday when our debating team took on a team from Westlake Girls’ High School. Most of our summer sports are now wrapping up and winter sports teams are in place to start competing in Term 2.
At assembly this week, I reminded the College about the challenges they have faced this term, from floods and cyclones to internet outages, traffic congestion and re-organised camp dates, they have shown tremendous strength in facing all of this and still being able to focus on their learning. One of the things I notice about our students is that they look out for each other during difficult times. Our students live our school values, and they should be commended for that.
We have some exciting activities to end the term. There is a Garden Party this evening to welcome Mike Waller, our new Executive Principal. It should be a lovely evening with entertainment, food and a great opportunity to catch up with each other. Also, in the College we will end the term next week with some fun on Wednesday afternoon and I hope to see you at the House Barbeque.
Until then, have a wonderful weekend ahead.
Ngā mihi nui
Dawn
Toi o te wiki
Year 10 students have been exploring the weird and wonderful Dada art movement and have created these cyanotypes after studying the art work of Hannah Hoch. Students collaged together imagery sourced from magazines and their own photographs before making a negative of their collage. This was then exposed in the sunlight to create these intriguing prints.
Ka rawe, Oscar, Robert, Gloria, Eva, Fernanda, Cindy W, Zac and Angel!
Canned Food Drive
Thank you to all those families and students who generously donated food items recently for those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. We were inundated with a total of 3010 items of non-perishable food.
The winning classes were…
Primary: P1
Y7 & 8: 8PL
College: KCM
A pizza lunch will be arranged for each in due course.
We would also like to offer a special thank you to our Y13 Student Leaders Pranuja Tahal & Charlotte Franicevic for all their hard work leading such a worthwhile initiative.
2023 Orienteering Sprint Series
For 5 weeks in February and March, students from all over Auckland competed in the 2023 Orienteering Sprint Series. Last weekend the top 10 in each age group from each of the 5 Auckland zones were invited to compete in the Finals Day. Out of 47 Pinehurst Orienteers, 18 made the cut for selection from the North Shore Zone and, on the day, 13 were available.
370 students took part in the finals. After the morning race, 5 Pinehurst Orienteers were sitting in the Top 10, which meant they had the pressure situation of being held back from starting until all the rest of the competitors in their grades had started. They were then set off at 1 minute intervals, with the fastest competitor from the morning starting last.
Final results were calculated from the combination of morning and afternoon race times.
Congratulations to all the finalists, especially to Charlotte Spence who placed 3rd in the Y10/11 girls and also to the following who all placed in the Top 10 of their grades - Otto (6th Y8 Boys), Aaron (8th Y8 Boys), Joel (7th Y9 Boys), Ben (10th Y9 Boys).
AS Psychology
AS Psychology have this term completed their Social Psychology unit. Three famous Milgram, Piliavin and Yamamoto pieces of research were analysed (one was a chimpanzee study). The students closely looked at the behaviour of participants in the studies, and decided how their behaviour was influenced by other individuals, groups or social contexts. Evaluating research methods is very important, and students are able to decide on well the studies test what they claim to be testing.
A2 Psychology examines psychological phenomenon in greater depth. This term three topics have been investigated: Schizophrenia, Bipolar and related disorders, and Impulse control disorders. Fascinating content is mixed up with detailed evaluations.
In this photo, AS students share ideas and create a rainbow summary of strengths and weaknesses of the Yamamoto research.
Girls Volleyball League
The girls’ season has come to a close, with the last catch-up game on Monday. There were 3 girls’ teams entered into the senior league this term; we allowed our juniors to participate too so they could develop their skills for their season at the end of the year.
A big congratulations to Pinehurst 1 who won their pool in the league. They had a great season, going from strength to strength. Playing in the Auckland Secondary Schools Championship was a highlight and saw them improve their game immensely.
Pinehurst 2 and 3 played their matches in Silverdale this season and had loads of fun while developing their skills. Mostly juniors, they handled themselves well in the senior league.
A big thank you to Ms Edson and Ms Jackson for managing the teams and cheering on the side lines.
Kohtaro Noazaki (Y11) Receives Excellence Award
Recently, Kohtaro received an Excellence Award for his Japanese language poetry division of the annual competition held by Japan Overseas Education Service (JOES). This year, there were 23,881 submissions from a total of 197 Japanese language schools, supplementary schools and international schools around the world.
For the past nine years, Kohtaro attended Auckland Japanese Supplementary School, covering both primary and junior high school, where the same core curriculum as Japan is taught alongside Japanese culture and traditions.
Kohtaro graduated last week, which is the graduation season in Japan.
Mt Richmond Special School Football Exchange
Each year Mt Richmond Special School comes to Pinehurst to play football with our students. The rules, and score are questionable, but it doesn’t really matter, as everyone is just here to have some fun!
Science Department
Our students continue to work hard with the end of Term 1 fast approaching. Typically, all year groups are preparing to complete end of topic assessments and catch a glimpse of the contents that will be covered in new topics centred on biology, chemistry, or physics.
Ashleigh Bernacchi and Danbin Luo deserve special recognition for their recent success in both the New Zealand Biology and Chemistry Olympiad competitions. Their considerable efforts have been rewarded with a Silver Certificate and now have been selected to attend the Training and Selection Camp which will be held over the school holidays. Their journeys began last August, completing an entrance examination before being selected to complete the NZ International Biology / Chemistry Olympiad Tutorial Programmes. Completion of these programmes required hours of dedication during the summer holidays. Now a three-hour practical and three-hour theory examination awaits them; should they be selected; they would make up a team of four students in representing New Zealand on an international stage. Both Ashleigh and Danbin are highly commended for reaching the final stages of each competition, an amazing achievement.
North Harbour Orienteering Zone Day
Last Thursday, 12 Year 8 students attended the North Harbour Orienteering Zone Day at Moire Park. For some, this was there first time participating in an Orienteering event and for others, this was their time to put all their practice to use and bring home some placings. We entered one team of 6 girls and one team of 6 boys as well as all students racing for an individual placing. Our Year 8 Boys team placed 4th in the Year 8 Boys Team division and our girls team placed 7th in the Year 8 Girls Team division. These awesome team results were in addition to an exceptional individual result by Zara Roodt who took out 1st place in the G87 1.7km girls event. Zara has earned herself a spot at the Auckland Interzone Championships in Term 2, representing the North Harbour region. A huge congratulations to all of the students that participated, as well as our awesome staff Mrs Griffiths and Mr Fickling who ensured the students could participate to the best of their ability!
Girls Tennis Zone Day
On Tuesday, the Girls Tennis Zone Day team competed at Forrest Hill Tennis Centre in the North Harbour Tennis Zone Day. The team played a singles round robin competition with play offs in the morning, with the individual scores combining to their team total. The girls all performed exceptionally well, leading to the team making the top 4 play offs. Unfortunately, the team lost their play off against a sharp Northcross team which meant they were playing for 3rd & 4th place. The team then played our neighbours Kristin, in which the girls narrowly lost by 3 points. The Girls team placed 4th overall in the Singles competition. The team then played a new round robin, this time in doubles with seed 1 & 2 pairing and then seed 3 & 4 pairing. After a long day of tennis, the team placed 9th overall which is an awesome result!
Boys Tennis Zone Day
On Wednesday, the Boys Tennis Zone Day teams then had their turn to match the girl’s awesome performance the day prior. This time, we had a Boys A and Boys B team participating due to the outstanding talent on display at the trials. Both boys team performed exceptionally well in the morning, with the Boys A team claiming 4th spot overall in the Boys Singles competition and the Boys B team taking out 13th place. In the afternoon, the Boys teams participated in the same doubles format, in which the Boys A team came away with 7th place overall and the Boys B team took out 9th place. It was a great day for both teams, and it was awesome to have such a strong talented group so that we could put forward two teams for the competition.
Message from the Principal of Primary
Kia ora,
This week has been all about wheels! The wonderful Catherine Jones Hill and our Primary leaders have been out every morning tea and lunch organizing and supervising our students on their bikes, scooters, skateboards, and roller blades. The excitement every morning on children’s faces has been heartwarming and they have had so much fun riding around the playgrounds and fields. It wasn’t just about the wheels though, besides all the physical benefits there was a fair amount of negotiation, collaboration, and leadership to be seen. Our student leaders were fantastic, helpful, kind and caring as well as being able to solve problems. I think Catherine will probably need a rest this weekend, but it was a fantastic week of fun outdoors.
Conferences went smoothly this week; they were very well attended, and we appreciate being able to spend time reflecting on a child’s learning and next steps with parents. We are a community that comes together around our students and part of the reason that they make the progress they do is that we work so closely together. At the end of next week, you will receive your child’s Term 2 overview which details our programmes of study and what each year group will learn. Having each year group plan together isn’t that common in primary education, but it ensures a greater level of equity in terms of access to the curriculum. It really does make sense as teachers are able to pool their knowledge and strengths to contribute to the learning across each cohort.
Our Term 2 New Entrants are in for their second visit today and their parents are listening to a presentation by a child psychologist on what to expect of their five-year-olds, now they are ready to start school. I’m sure that all of us as parents can remember the time when our little ones were ready to start school, obviously with a mixture of excitement and a little bit of anxiety wondering how they will settle. A few weeks into Term 2 and it will seem like they have been here forever.
At the end of the term, we will say farewell to Hannah Cooper as she leaves to prepare for the birth of her daughter in April. Fortunately, she will be back next year and ready to lead the Foundation syndicate of New Entrants. We wish her all the very best and know that her son Louie will love being a big brother. Grace Osborne is the Year 1-2 syndicate leader, and she will also lead the new entrant classes in Hannah’s absence.
Kia pai tō rā whakata, have a good weekend.
Ngā mihi,
Sian
Team of the Week – Pinehurst Basketball Year 1 Lions
This week, we would like to shine a spotlight on the Year 1 Lions basketball team which has been participating in the Breakers After School Basketball League. The team has won their first and fourth game so far this season, however their Coach/Manager Jack Zhu has explained that the team has got from strength to strength each week. The team has learned the importance of teamwork, trusting each other and enjoying playing as a team. For most students, this is their first competitive sport, and all the team members are learning how to demonstrate good sportsmanship and how to apply their learnings from their trainings into the games. We are so proud of this team, and we can’t wait to see how far they go as a group! A huge thank you to Jack Zhu for his commitment to the team as their Coach/Manager.
Chinese Characters Year 0-4
From the junior primary through to Year 4, we have been exploring different ways we could memorise and recognise Chinese characters. Learning and reading characters can be challenging, especially when we can't sound out the words.
We have tried creating little stories to help us remember the meaning of the characters. We have drawn pictures to help us memorise what the characters look like. In Year 4 we have found breaking up the characters into different blocks like Lego have helped us remember what they look like.
Wheels Week
Excited students were seen rushing out of their classrooms this week and onto their bikes, eager to pedal their way around the courts or down the hill onto the field. Laughter and chatter filled the air as they rode together, some balancing on two wheels while others were still mastering their training wheels.
Mastering the skill of riding a bike or scooter combines important physical skills of balance and co-ordination and builds confidence to take risks.
Our Primary Council were integral to the running of this weeklong event. Each morning they helped the younger students park their wheels and then set up the riding track, with traffic signs, on the courts. Our iLead monitors came out each day with homeroom iPads to take action shots of speedy scooters and whizzing bikes. Our councillors were at the ready to do up helmets and provide a steady hand on the back of a wobbly bike.
Wheels Week has been enjoyed by all year levels in the Primary.
Year 6 Robotics
This year the Year 6 students have the opportunity to work with the latest SPIKE Essentials Lego sets. They have been applying the engineering design process to the Invention Squad projects. The students have worked on three projects to date: Help!, Hopper Race and Super Cleanup. These projects have taken them through the process of defining a problem, creating a prototype and testing them effectively.
In the first project, the students have had to build Kiki, a robot that has an exciting life but finds herself in all kinds of strange situations. A programme was written using the light sensor and sounds were played according to the colour of the blocks detected. Students had to determine from the order of sounds what was a problem that Kiki faced and then create their own story programming different sounds. Lots of creative stories/ problems were shared.
Next the students built a Hopper and tested it. They then had to modify it to increase performance and then race it against the other teams. Great competition and creative solutions were observed.
Currently, the Year 6s are working on building 2 different grabbing machines and testing their performance, deciding on which ones met certain criteria and are best for different jobs.
We are all enjoying these new sets.
Year 1-3 Spanish
¡Hola a todos!
Our Year 1 students have been busy practising Spanish greetings and counting objects up to ten. They enjoy greeting everyone around the school with enthusiastic cheers of ¡hola! and ¡adiós! Students have started working on asking someone how they are and responding to the question.
The Year 2 students have been working on extending their range of responses to ¿Cómo estás? and ¿Qué tal? They can express a wide variety of feelings and differentiate between masculine and feminine endings. Students are enjoying roleplays and conversing with their friends.
Our Year 3 students have been learning emotions and feelings in Spanish. We shared what makes them contento / contenta (happy) and what they do when they feel cansado / cansada (tired). Students have been very orgulloso / orgullosa (proud) of their learning!
Writing in P17
In writing, we have been learning about the language features of biographical articles. We have focused on understanding the form, purpose and structure of biographies as well a range of grammatical features. In particular, we have developed our knowledge and understanding of adverbials or time, place and cause to link ideas within and across paragraphs. We have also started using relative clauses to form more complex sentences and we have extended our range of sophisticated vocabulary for effect.
We wrote about a naturalist and eco film maker, Dan Johnson, who has been saving orangutans in Sumatra, Indonesia. Having been sent lots of information about his life, we had to decide what was relevant and what was surplus information when planning our biographical articles.
When we had finished the writing process, we looked at upleveling to improve our work. This we did with a buddy, focusing on our success criteria. For example, we worked together to edit our openers, combine simple sentences to make more complex sentences, add in more dramatic language, and ensure the use of adverbials. We found having someone work with us to uplevel our writing extremely helpful.
Here are some photos of our articles before we upleveled them.
Go Deli Menu Changes T2
Due to Go Deli's supplier increasing their prices from the 1st of April, some of the menu items for their Catering and Cafe Corner menu will have price increases.
These price increases will come into effect in term two.
NETBALL School Holiday Programme – at Barfoot & Thompson Netball Centre, Northcote
Week 1 – 11th & 12th April
Week 2 – 17th & 18th April
For Year 1 to Year 7 players – beginner and experienced.
Cost $60.00 for one day or $110.00 for 2 days.
To register go to https://www.netballnorthharbour.co.nz/registrations-2023-1/register-here
