No images? Click here Newsletter - 25 March 2022Message from the Executive PrincipalKia ora koutou, good afternoon, 你好, 안녕하세요 I promise not to talk about being British today, despite the temptation to talk about the weather: the rain on Monday! We had a small flood or two; a river ran through Primary; and then, within an hour, the deluge subsided, the lakes disappeared, and children emerged into the sun. We have a little tidying up to do, and we’re going to replace a couple of carpets, but our site again proved its resilience. I know many of our families – and, indeed, a couple of our staff – weren’t quite so lucky. If you experienced any flooding, I hope it’s been reasonably straightforward to manage, and our thoughts are with you. One of the best parts of my job is seeing students and teachers in action. I walk around the school site every day, popping in and out of lessons, which is always a pleasure, and one, I’m sure, that teachers enjoy every bit as much as I do. And I also do more formal observations, seeing a class for 25-50 minutes, and then sitting down with the teacher afterwards to talk about the lesson. Many other classroom visits from many other staff take place as well, of course, both formal observations and informal visits, and we have an “open doors” policy in both College and Primary, helped enormously by the acres of glass we have everywhere! Over the last week or two, I’ve visited some of the teachers who have recently joined Pinehurst, so I thought I’d let you know what I’ve seen! I’ve seen Miss Pope teaching Music to Year 2 students: I was impressed by the range of activities covered in just twenty minutes – learning about pitches, a call and response game, the Poison Melody game, xylophone-playing, a quick trip outside for some singing – and the huge progress the children made. Best of all, I thought, were the strong relationships Miss Pope has already made with the Year 2s. I saw Miss Xu a couple of days later, teaching a Year 8 First Language Chinese class: it was quick-paced, engaging and challenging too, covering a number of radicals and their foundational role in Chinese characters. The children were enjoying themselves enormously and, again, I loved the great relationships on display. I came away certain that both Miss Pope and Miss Xu are born teachers, knowing how lucky we are that they have joined us. This week, I’ve moved up an age bracket! On Tuesday, I watched Mrs Sawyers, our Head of Languages, teach a Year 13 English Literature class to a class that included both Head Students and both Deputy Head Students. I’m not easily impressed when it comes to my own subject, but I was after this lesson. The class were discussing the epilogue at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale, managing to touch on how debates around authenticity are often gendered, post-modernist novels, Chaucerian references and – just as importantly – the ways in which we can shape our thoughts in an exam context. A great lesson. And just this morning, I’ve watched Mr Henden teach a Year 11 Design Technology class, beginning with some sprint sketching (a valuable skill in general, but also very important in exams), and moving onto a detailed, very knowledgeable presentation about types of plastic. Fascinating stuff, even to someone like me, whose knowledge of plastics begins with bakelite and ends with, well, bakelite. Today, as you are aware, marks the last day of Hybrid Learning in the Primary School, at least for the moment. Cases have again been very low indeed (just one this week, and the student didn’t pass on the virus to anyone else in his class), and things have clearly stabilised now. In the 30 days since we had our first case, we have had 14 students become infected in the Primary School, which is less than 4%. All of our teachers will be back in school next week as well. I do expect that there will be other cases in the future, but the evidence is now clear that children are far more likely to pick up the virus from parents or outside activities than they are at our school. We will continue to have masks at all year levels indoors (and in some outdoors settings), and we will continue to ensure the ventilation and other health measures are applied appropriately. There is still a risk, of course, and I want to acknowledge that, but the risk is relatively small, and we are now in the position where all children at our school can have had at least one dose of the vaccine, and most are now in a position to have had both, should their parents have chosen to vaccinate their children. So I look forward to seeing all of the students in school, with their regular teachers, on Monday! You are welcome to drop students off in their classrooms now, so just a reminder to be conscious of physical distancing from other adults and to ensure that you are wearing your own masks. In College, all students are already expected to be in school. In both College and Primary, a small number of students will still be self-isolating. We will of course provide online learning for those students: in College, this will be in the same way we have been providing online access all term; in Primary, we will once again have specific online teachers to work with Senior Primary and Junior Primary students. These teachers will be working only with those students who are obliged to self-isolate. Have a lovely weekend! 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
Monday 28th March
Thursday 31st March
Friday 1st April
Message from the Principal of PrimaryKia ora, I was a little disappointed this week not to see the creative efforts of hut building on the field as the weather changed our plans. We are looking forward to trying again next week though, which will be made even better by our students being back in school. The first term is always the longest and little ones can get quite tired by the end of it, so having some playtime fun will give them something to look forward to. As always, we will be learning until the last day and making the most of all the opportunities on offer in the classroom or when we are working together to build huts on the field. Can’t wait! Hybrid learning has been a success as children have been able to continue their programmes and transition easily in and out of school and home. Our curriculum and resources have really helped us to continue to deliver quality programmes and the way our teachers plan together and teach the same concepts across all classes in a cohort means no one is falling behind. I am proud of the way our team has come together to make this happen and how supportive they are of our families and each other. Walking around school this week has of course been a delight, smiling, happy and settled children engaged in activities where they are measuring angles, analysing text, identifying nouns and adjectives, finding the meanings of unfamiliar words, using Fred Fingers to sound out words and learning hockey skills. Netball practice sessions are always very well attended, and it is easy to see how far the girls in each year group have come already. Gymnastics, Basketball and Badminton have been taking place in the morning and lunchtime slots and our students are gearing up for winter sports. The weather has changed this week and so it seems a good time to remind parents to get winter uniform organised ready for Term 2. Most children wear a jacket to school in the winter, please can you purchase a Pinehurst school jacket if you wish your child to wear a coat to school. They are very high quality and good at keeping the rain out! Please remember to book a conference time with your child’s teacher. We are really looking forward to meeting with you to discuss next term and to re-establish face to face relationships, of course with a mask on! If you need help to book you can contact Kirsty for assistance kirsty.robertson@pinehurst.school.nz Kia pai to rā whakata, have a good weekend. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon. Superheroes unite in New Entrants this week!We have loved creating our own superhero character and talking and writing about what their superpowers are. Magical Mia, Cat Claire, Jumping Jack Jeremy and Dynamite Denis have taken over P1 this week. We made masks and arm bands to match our superhero character as well as writing all about the adventures they went on. This week, we have enjoyed learning all about Charlie and how he lost his superhero underpants. You won’t believe where they ended up… on a yeti! In the story, Charlie travels all around the world searching for his underpants. We have learnt what a setting means and discussed/drew our favourite setting from the story. Look at our super story maps. We have learnt to sequence the story and write the key parts in order. During science we have been learning all about the five senses. This week we focused on touch. We really liked putting our hand into the feely boxes and talking about the texture of the items inside. The feather was our favourite as it felt so soft and tickly on our skin. In mathematics we have been working really hard adding numbers up to, and past 10. We now know how to partition a number into two parts from a whole. We used counters to help us work out the answer as there are more than one way to partition a number. Superhero Underpants with Senior Year 1 Children at School!For our Literacy the P4 and P5 children at school have been enjoying reading Charlie’s Superhero Underpants as part of our superheroes theme. We have followed Charlie’s search for his scarlet superhero underpants from Paris France to the Serengeti, Peru, the mighty Mississippi River and to Nepal where he found a huge and hairy yeti wearing them. We have learnt some posh words to describe colours and learnt about what a setting is. We practised how to give an opinion about what our favourite setting was and then to explain why. Henry liked the Serengeti because he liked the lion with a tie on! Irene liked Paris France because she liked the fine French fox wearing sister Sophie’s socks! Yuanpeng liked Nepal because he liked the huge and hairy yeti! Emerson liked the Serengeti because he liked the lion with the tie on and the cactus. We also created settings from the story. Amber, Yuanpeng and Felix cleverly created the Eiffel Tower. In Phonics we have been enjoying fun activities to help us extend our knowledge of words with the ‘th’ sound. We have been practising reading, saying and writing them with sound buttons. In Art we have learnt about using overlapping papers to create and design a background for our superheroes. It took a lot of time and perseverance to be successful. We hope you like our final outcomes. Our week in P6In reading we have enjoyed listening to the story ‘Giraffes can’t dance’ by Giles Andreae. We identified possible meanings of unfamiliar words encountered in the text and we are beginning to distinguish between fiction and non-fiction text. We also used adjectives to describe the characters and the setting. Then we retold the story with a beginning, middle and end following a story map. In Science we have been investigating and comparing similarities and differences in animal body parts and skin coverings. We have also enjoyed sorting and classifying animals into mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish. Gustav Klimt an Austrian symbolist painter is our inspiration for our own impression of the tree of life in Art. We had to design our background using a collage style with ripping warm coloured tissue paper and gluing and overlapping. Then design our tree with pastel and black paper cutting it out and gluing it onto our background resulting in some fabulous designs. Maths has been fun as we have been recognising that multiplication is repeated addition, an array as well as equal groups. Our focus has been on the 2,5 and 10-times tables. We have also explored division. In literacy we have continued with our big write story of Jack and the Bean Stalk and this week our focus has been on the features of formal letters as well as components of writing such as verbs, conjunctions, connectives and contractions. Learning in P11What an exciting term it has continued to be in P11. In Global Perspectives we have been exploring what Identity means and what are all the things that make up our identity. We made this into a ‘PEPEHA’ drawing that incorporates our families, our mountain, our river, or lake and where we live. In Reading we have continued to enjoy ‘The Wild Robot Escapes’. The comprehension strategy we have been focusing on is inferring. We have been learning how to write a report. Included in our focus we have been using general language, adding diagrams and illustrations. In art we have been focusing on sketching our facial features. In Science this term we have learnt about the parts and functions of plants. Dissecting a flower has been a very exciting scientific skill we have learnt. Pop's Games During lunch and morning tea last week we all really enjoyed exploring pop games, as you can see! All the children in P11 have been outstanding learners and have been trying so hard!
P14 Term 1We have been having so much fun this week with our online learning as we continue to bring some normality to our school day. Each day begins with a roll call and sharing of the daily timetable. Although there is a mixture of students from P12, P13 and P14 currently working online, we follow the P14 timetable each day. Working from home online allows students to attend class and continue with their learning if their personal circumstances make attending school difficult or not an option. The Year 4 students are all beginning a new ‘Big Reading’ book, Madame Pamplemousse, which we have learnt is French for grapefruit! We have only worked on the first few chapters but are already ‘hooked’ with the remarkable descriptions the author uses to describe both the settings and the characters. Including the bizarre 'edibles' - Pterodactyl Bacon, Scorpion Tails in Smoked Garlic Oil, and Great Squid Tentacle in Jasmine-Scented Jelly. We are all busy using the text to find out what Mrs Pamplemousse’s shop looks, sounds, smells and feels like. Also part of our usual Reading in school, we visit the school library where we listen to a story being read to us (it is still important to model reading to Year 4 students) before choosing a new book to take home to read. Whilst online, we are still able to ‘visit’ the school library. Mrs Prance opens a meeting, then either Mrs Blake or Mrs Walsh join our meeting and read the same stories they are reading to the children in school. The children then share which books they are reading and remain online to silently read for 10 minutes. The students love to discuss which books they are reading and have their own version of a ‘Book Club’ as they review books they have previously read. Clear favourites in Year 4 are The Wings of Fire series. In Maths we have moved on to a new Unit and are using a jotted down number chain to enable us to begin to work out mental addition of 3 digit numbers. Adapting our learning to working online, we went into break-out rooms to play a fun game of Mathoploly, even using an online dice! Then we moved on to the columnar method, remembering to round the numbers up or down to make a mental estimate of the total before we even began the calculation. We knew we were doing the right thing as we remembered to set out the calculation correctly, carry over any tens or hundreds when needed and then checked our answers against the estimated amount. In Writing our mission this term has been to write an adventure story to be used as a basis for a film for children aged 7-11, we have been given a plot, characters and settings, our job has been to gradually week by week write a gripping adventure story. We have worked on character descriptions, contrasting different settings as well as adding dialogue and flash-backs to create more sophisticated narrative structures. This week is our time to have fun making and then using our ‘Revise Eyes’ as we review, revise and improve our writing. Now we have seen ‘What A Good One Looks Like’ (WAGOLL), everyone is busy using their ‘Revise Eyes’ to review, “Did I include?”… in their first draft of their story, creating their own personal check list ready to ‘polish’ or improve their adventure story. We have also been having great fun team building by playing online scavenger hunts. This time we went for a ‘multiple search’… a book about animals, a brown pencil, a glass and a key! The competitiveness was lost as they shared their ‘treasures’. It was part of the deal that they put everything back where they got it from In Health we have been learning about the different types of Courage, here are some of the examples we wrote. In Art we had a lovely afternoon working on Zentangles, their Mindfulness quality was a welcome relief in our week of hard work! We all choose an initial for our name and practiced small areas of our chosen designs before tracing the border and initial and beginning the doodling process… WARNING: it is addictive! The results were stunning. SPCA HobsonvilleThe Primary Council would like to thank all our wonderful families who sent in their old towels for our collection for the SPCA in Hobsonville. The councillors collected all the big black bags bursting with towels ready to be loaded into the school van. Thanks to our property team who delivered our contribution to the centre. The animal centre uses the towels for a variety of purposes from padding beds and bottoms of cages, cleaning and drying animals, to wrapping animals safely for staff to hold them, so they do not get scratched. Our next item for collection is old flat sheets, look out for a notification with all the details. Thanks for your continued support. The Primary Council Message from the Principal of CollegeKia ora, As I move into my last few weeks at Pinehurst, I am starting to reflect on the 11 years that I have enjoyed working at the school. During my time I have witnessed the College grow significantly in students, staff numbers and infrastructure (College 3, College 4, Library, Arena, Turf, and the start of College 5). I have also witnessed significant progress in our academic, sports, music, and cultural performances. The College has changed and grown to be a more mature and higher performing environment. Alongside much of this change though, has been a consistency that is so important for any institution or organisation to flourish. We have had great continuity in staffing, and in the ethos and values of the school. The College has always been a place where students are able to reach their individual potential in a safe and inclusive environment, where they can grow and flourish. I have always been proud of the fact that we are a welcoming community where every student is able to find their niche and their friendship group. A key pillar of the school is respect for others. This enables us to create the environment that we need for our students. We constantly remind our students of how important kindness is, and this can be particularly important as we near the end of the term and students are potentially a bit tired. Our Homeroom and PODs are a great landing pad each day for our students. A place where every day they are welcomed by the same teacher and the same group of students. It is a place where they are kept informed as to what is happening in their school community. All these things are a key part of ensuring that our students are well cared for and happy at school. As we near the end of term teachers are busy completing progress reports. These reports will be made available to parents at the end of next week. We will also be providing parents with information about the parent/teacher conferences at the end of next week. The conferences will be taking place on April 11th and 12th. You will be able to book these conferences from April 4th. I hope that you all have a fantastic weekend. Nga mihi, Kieran Verryt. Year 7 ScienceThis week Year 7 Scientists were learning about microbes. Previously they had discussed whether viruses were living or non-living and this week they focused on bacteria. They learnt that although there are some harmful bacteria in the world we actually couldn’t survive without the useful bacteria living on us, in us and around us. They learnt about using bacteria to make yoghurt and had a go themselves. Year 7 MathsTwo of our Year 7 classes combined for a fun filled competition, which also served as revision for their upcoming test. They used the online platform Quizizz to practice their skills of sequences, functions, and graphs. Year 9 Ocean SchoolsOn Tuesday all Year 9 classes were lucky enough to participate in a live webinar run by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Guided by Craig, a resident marine biologist at the park, we were given a virtual tour of the reef and introduced to some of the diverse species that live there. We were learned about threatened species and why life on the reef is so delicate. We also learned about how human activity impacts the reef, and steps we can all take to help protect it. Did you Know..?
Our expert marine biologist was very knowledgeable and was able to answer all the questions from the curious Year 9s. We look forward to learning more about ecosystems in both Science and Social Science, hopefully some budding marine biologists have been inspired this week! Student CouncilThis year the Student Council has wanted to find a way to further celebrate the students and provide them with a student magazine. The magazine has been written, designed and managed by the students, focusing solely on the outstanding contribution and achievements of our pupils at Pinehurst. The magazine is an outlet where our students are able to engage with what’s going on around school and how they can get involved to compliment the daily notices and weekly newsletters. The magazine will be published fortnightly, emailed as a PDF file to our students and also displayed on the televisions around the school. Here is the link to the magazine. The Student Council are looking forward to the year and have begun to plan for the Cultural Market and other exciting activities for our student body. Investment ClubPinehurst Investment Club is up and running for 2022 with 26 students signed up for the club this year. Students from Year 9 to Year 13 are taking part, either by investing their own money through the Sharesies in Schools programme or by participating in the ASX sharemarket simulation game. Investment Club meets every 2-3 weeks on a Tuesday. This week, James and Ryan delivered us a market report about GameStop. GameStop made the news last year when amateur investors collaborated using Reddit to drive the price of GameStop higher and ‘break’ the positions of the big, professional investment bankers. Students were intrigued at the ability of amateur investors – like us – to influence the market. Pinehurst Internal Volleyball LeagueOn Thursday, four of our volleyball teams got together to play some league matches:
There is one more week of pool play and then the semi-finals and finals will be played in Week 10. The results and points so far can be seen below: Table tennis season is here!This week saw the start of the table tennis season 2022! Students arrived ready to play. Some are learning the basics and some are here to perfect their skills under New Zealand men’s’ team player Adrian Soh. If you want to come along for fun or for the competition email Mrs Perkins. Pinehurst Golf Team 2 finish secondCongratulations to the Pinehurst 2 golf team who finished second in the North Harbour, Division 2 Golf Champs. With 3 wins from 5 they comfortably held second place over Kristin and Takapuna Grammar. The eventual winners were Westlake Boys 2 who won all their matches. A big thanks to Lingyao Q, Anisa R, Oliver M and Sophia J for their efforts this term. The Pinehurst 1 team will play their semi-final match over 18 holes against Kings College at Pupuke on Monday. Everyone wishes them the very best. Rainbow reading... College OrchestraThe College Orchestra began it’s first two hour evening rehearsal this week and made great progress during this time. New Director, Mr Ronayne wanted to give the Orchestra a longer and more focused rehearsal time than the previous lunchtime rehearsals were able to offer. Pinehurst’s new Performing Arts Manager, Ms Byun worked extremely hard with the whole group and after the first half of the rehearsal, the strings group worked with Ms Byun and Mr Ronayne worked with woodwind, brass and percussion. Student’s have been working on arrangements of Haydn’s Farewell Symphony, Dvorak’s New World Symphony and also the Overture to Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. Also, as part of the school's participation in the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra’s Education programme, the orchestra looks forward to having APO members coming in to help students with their playing. There are still a number of places available in the school’s Brass and lower woodwind scholarship programme where the school will supply an instrument and half price tuition to selected students, this will then build up orchestra numbers in these areas. For more information email haejean.byun@pinehurst.school.nz
Join us online for the Pinehurst School Family Easter Quiz on Wednesday 6th of April 2022 at 5.00pm. With questions for the whole family, get your team together and be in with a chance to win a lovely Easter chocolate gift box. Holiday ProgrammesHarbour Basketball Referee Course 2022Kiwihoops referee courses are in-person single session, 2-hour referee courses aimed at those who would like to referee Primary and Intermediate Basketball. The first course this year will be held on Wednesday April 6th at Eventfinda Stadium from 7pm – 9pm. The typical age for referees to do this course is 12 – 14 years. To register for the upcoming Kiwihoops referee course, please follow the link here. |