Message from the Executive Principal

Kia ora koutou, good afternoon, 下午好, 안녕하세요  

Best wishes,
Mike Waller

Message from the Principal of College

Years 7 - 8 Swimming Sports: A Day of Speed and Spirit!

Last Wednesday, the Pinehurst Year 7-8 Swimming Sports took place at Northern Arena, and what an exhilarating event it was! All students from across the year groups competed fiercely, pushing their limits and showcasing outstanding athleticism in every race. The atmosphere was electric, with supporters cheering from the sidelines as students battled it out in the pool.

One of the most exciting aspects of the day was witnessing history being made as several records were shattered! Breaking a swimming record is no small feat—it requires dedication, skill, and an unwavering determination to push beyond previous bests. Every record broken is a testament to the hard work and perseverance of our athletes, proving that with effort and passion, limits can always be surpassed.

Beyond the record-breaking performances, the event was a true celebration of participation, with every student diving in and giving their best effort. Whether racing competitively, representing their house, or simply enjoying the thrill of the competition, all students contributed to the energy and success of the day. The encouragement from peers and the shared excitement made for an unforgettable experience.

Records Broken:

Year 7 Girls:
50m Freestyle – April Lin, 30.26s

100m Freestyle – April Lin, 1.06.21

25m Backstroke – April Lin, 15.94

50m Backstroke – April Lin, 33.59s

25m Breaststroke – April Lin, 17.06s

50m Breaststroke – April Lin, 37.58s

50m Butterfly – April Lin, 31.25s 

100m Individual Medley – April Lin, 1.10.64

Year 7 Boys:
50m Backstroke – Devin Bu, 35.43s

Year 8 Boys:
25m Freestyle – Lucas Wang, 12.58s

50m Freestyle – Lucas Wang, 27.71s

100m Freestyle – Lucas Wang, 1.00.90 

50m Backstroke – Lucas Wang, 32.35s

25m Breaststroke – Tim Wei, 15.19s

25m Breaststroke – Tim Wei, 34.44s

50m Butterfly – Lucas Wang, 30.90s

100m Medley – Lucas Wang, 1.08.93s

Congratulations to all our swimmers for their incredible performances! The Pinehurst spirit was alive and thriving, and we can’t wait to see what next year’s competition brings! A huge thank you to all of the Parent Helpers and the Teachers that assisted on the day, we could not do it without you.

Year 7: 'Catch me if you can'

After the success of Athletics day, Year 7 have moved onto the 'Catch me if you can' unit, with a focus on striking and fielding games with the following objectives:

1. Develop and apply, in a striking and fielding context, a wide range of movement skills and facilitate the development of physical competence
2. Develop a positive attitude towards physical activity by accepting challenges and extending their personal capabilities and experiences
3. Use interpersonal skills effectively to enhance relationships

Students coaching Students - Lunchtime Badminton

Pinehurst's current lunchtime badminton sessions are being coached by our senior students, who are working towards completing the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Shuttle Time Coaching Certificate. The internationally recognised qualification involves several hours of online training and many more hours of practical training, which is offered by the North Harbour Badminton Association – current National winners of the New Zealanders Interclub Competition. Gaea Galvez (photo - far left) is the Regional Shuttle Time Coordinator and will be monitoring our student coaches during the ongoing training process over the next few weeks.

Certified Shuttle Time Youth Leaders are trained to coach and run Junior badminton clubs. The BWF Shuttle Time programme is currently implemented in more than 160 countries.

Students who sign up to the lunchtime coaching sessions will be issued with a Pinehurst Badminton Players Booklet. The booklet is a record of skills mastered during the coaching sessions – racquet and footwork skills, serve and rally techniques, court position, tactics learned, and knowledge of the rules. They will be tested towards the end of the 6-week coaching programme and awarded with a sticker for achieving each skill. Ultimately, they will be issued with a certificate when they pass each level - either a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Level Certificate.

It is anticipated that over the years many of the younger students learning the skills now, will become Certified Shuttle Time Youth Leaders in the future.

At Pinehurst, career education focuses on career management competencies. These are:

• Developing Self-Awareness - work values, personal qualities, skills and personality
• Exploring Opportunities - researching learning, volunteering and work opportunities 
• Deciding and Acting - altering plans and goals, trying things out, learning how to grow confidence, learning about decision making models, taking action in spite of uncertainty
• Making Successful Transitions - failure can be a useful learning opportunity, coping strategies for successful transitions, overcoming barriers, application procedures

Career counselling sessions offer gentleness, kindness and a source of agenda-free support. They contribute to a student’s sense of peace and well-being because they help clarify a direction in life, a direction that takes students’ values, hopes and life commitments into account. As parents and educators, we need to guard against a rigid definition of success because it increases anxiety and limits career ideas. When adults ask teenagers about their future plans, teenagers often respond with ‘safe’ career choices – their response is a practiced defense against a question, not a genuine answer. Career education seeks to break down those defenses and offer effective support.

A reminder that all upcoming events are listed on the Pinehurst Career Education website with new events added regularly; for example, March 19: University of Melbourne Webinar and Q+A Online - Register here

Message from the Principal of Primary

A Week of Kindness at Pinehurst Primary

This past week, our school embraced the theme of kindness, dedicating five days to spreading positivity and care throughout our community. Each morning, we started the day with an uplifting song and a thoughtful book centred around kindness, setting the tone for a week filled with meaningful actions.

To encourage kindness in action, every class was given a daily kindness challenge. Students eagerly took part in activities such as smiling at ten people, holding the door open for others, and picking up rubbish that wasn’t theirs. These small yet impactful gestures created a ripple effect, fostering a warm and supportive environment across the school.

Our Arts and Cultural leaders organised a lunchtime activity for the Junior students. The students coloured kindness hearts to create a collage of the letters ‘K N D.’ As you can see from the photo below the students themselves became the ‘I’ in kind.

Teachers and students alike noticed a shift in energy, with acts of kindness extending beyond the assigned challenges. Children helped classmates in need, offered kind words of encouragement, and demonstrated empathy in new and inspiring ways.

This special week reminded us that kindness is not just an action but a way of being. By continuing these small gestures every day, we can build a school culture where kindness is at the heart of everything we do. Well done to all our students for embracing this challenge with such enthusiasm and warmth!

Term 1 Music in Years 0 - 3

New Entrant children are discovering all the ways they can make music with their bodies and voices. Through clapping, tapping, stamping, and vocalising, they’re exploring rhythm and movement while building confidence in making and responding to music. They’ll also experiment with creating sounds to match pictures, using percussion instruments to bring their ideas to life.

Year 1 students are exploring timbre – the unique quality of different sounds. They have been experimenting with body percussion, untuned and tuned instruments, and their voices to create a variety of tones. As part of their learning, they will make their own instruments from recycled materials, gaining a deeper understanding of how sounds can be produced and manipulated. Through chants and songs, they’ll learn to recognise and describe differences in pitch, volume, and texture.

In Year 2, students have been introduced to the wonderful music from Carnival of the Animals, using it as a springboard to explore how music can represent movement and character. They  listen carefully to different pieces and experiment with ways to recreate animal sounds using their voices and instruments. They also begin to match pitch more accurately and learn to use simple notation, including so/mi hand signs and a two-line stave.

Year 3 students are developing their sense of rhythm, coordination, and ensemble playing through singing games, recorder playing, and body percussion. They have recently begun the Recorder Karate programme, focusing on note durations, melody, and timing. These activities encourage teamwork, musical independence, and expressive performance across a range of musical styles. Keep up the amazing practice Year 3! This work is all great preparation for the Year 4 woodwind Ensemble and the Year 5-6 Orchestra. 

Chinese Lantern Festival Learning in Years 0 - 3

In Junior Primary we have learned about the Chinese lantern festival - 元宵节. Year 2s have created colourful lanterns to decorate their classrooms. We are now waiting for the Year 6 students to create riddles to attached to them. Year 3 are making dragon puppets using symbolic colours to make their puppet unique and meaningful for them. We are revising the Chinese characters for colours and family members. We are getting better in identifying the simple characters and radicals in the more complicated hanzi.

In Year 2 we are discovering the patterns for numbers in Chinese counting and how they are used in dates and days of the week. Learning is so much easier when we learn these patterns. Year 1 students are learning to introduce themselves and their friends with their Chinese names. We are using rhythm and rhymes to help us memorise the speech patterns.

Year 0 - 2 Conscious Kids last Thursday

The Year 0-2 came into school very excited on Thursday ready for a day of fun and creativity! The theme of the day was 'Junk Play' and was run by an organisation called Conscious Kids. Junk Play is a programme designed to teach our students about repurposing ‘junk’ into resources for creative play and promoting a cultural shift towards reduce, reuse and recycle, which is in line with our school’s values.

We started the day with a safety briefing in the arena and found out what was planned for the day! At first it looked like there was a lot of junk lying around, barrels, umbrellas, pipes, old toys, ropes and tarpaulin. Once we knew what to expect the students eagerly set off to find hidden treasures. The weather soon put a stop to our creativity as it began to rain heavily so we stopped for some shelter in our classrooms. Luckily, the weather cleared for us and we were able to get back outside onto the fields after morning tea!

It wasn’t long before there were ropes and pulleys and a hammock in the trees, there were dens made out of tarpaulin, tents made out of umbrellas and balls being rolled along pipes.

As the weather warmed up, we used the trees at the top of the field for shade to construct our dens. Students worked together to select and manipulate loose parts into new and creative parts for their structures. You can see from the photos that the once unloved items have been turned into completely new ideas through their imagination and teamwork! 

What a fantastic day had by all and so wonderful to see the students engaged, focused and involved in innovative play!

Exploring Weaving from Around the World in Year 3

This week in our art lessons, students explored the fascinating world of weaving—a technique used by cultures around the globe to create beautiful textiles and patterns. Students were introduced to key weaving vocabulary, including:

• Weaving – the process of interlacing threads to create fabric.
• Warp – the stationary vertical threads held on a loom.
• Weft – the horizontal threads woven through the warp.

To deepen their understanding, we examined images of woven textiles from different cultures, discussing how colours, shapes, and patterns are used to create stunning designs. Students considered questions such as:

• How have the colours been used?
• Can you spot a pattern in the weaving?
• What shapes or repeating motifs do you notice?

Following our discussion, students created their own woven pieces using colourful paper strips. They experimented with different strip thicknesses and different colour palettes, for example cold and warm colours and complimentary colours. This hands-on activity allowed them to apply their learning in a fun and creative way!

Here’s what some of P11 had to say about the experience:

Yuqin: “It was interesting looking at the pattern the paper made. I thought it would be harder.”
Kingston: “I chose warm colours: red, orange, pink, yellow, light yellow for my weaving.”

Katherine: “It’s so much fun going in and out with the paper.”
Liam: “I learned we have to glue the ends after we’ve woven it.”
Kelsey: “I like the patterns and colours. I made a rainbow design with cool colours.”

Year 4: Pointillism and Pop Art

This term in Art, students have been delving into two fascinating artistic movements: pointillism and pop art. They have examined various images and discussed the techniques used in pointillism, focusing on artists like Georges Seurat and his famous piece, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." Students experimented with creating still life paintings of fruit using the pointillism technique.

Next, they explored Pop Art, discussing artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, and analysing some of their iconic works. The class compared and contrasted pointillism and pop art, noting their similarities and differences. To tie in with our current writing mission about superheroes, students created pop art pieces that emphasized onomatopoeia.

Here are some of our artworks..!

Oren selected for the NZ Biology Olympiad

A huge congratulations to Oren D for being selected to participate in the New Zealand Biology Olympiad (NZIBO) training and selection camp during the upcoming school holidays! The NZIBO offers university-level Biology education, and after completing an entrance exam (bronze certificate) last year, Oren has spent his summer working through an extensive online tutorial program. Last week, he excelled in his camp selection examination (silver certificate) with impressive results.

Oren is one of 25 students who will attend the NZIBO training and selection co-ordinated by the University of Auckland. During the camp, he will take part in a three-hour practical exam to test the skills learned, as well as a three-hour theory exam covering all topics in the IBO syllabus. From this camp, four students will be chosen to represent New Zealand at the 2025 International Biology Olympiad, which will take place from July 20th to 27th in Quezon City, Philippines.

Oren, we wish you all the best in your pursuit of a spot on the New Zealand team!

Tim competes in the NZ International Optimist Dinghy Association Regatta

Year 9 student Tim S competed against 54 other sailors at the Optimist Dinghy Association Regatta on 28 February.  Light winds worked well for the event, as the Optimist is a small boat (aka bathtub)! 

When the wind came up in time for the last race, Tim had a blinder! With less than six weeks until the Nationals, Tim is hoping to pursue his goal of making the NZ Development Team.  We wish you all the best Tim and look forward to keeping the Pinehurst community updated with his sailing endeavours!

Elizabeth brings home Silver from Junior Champs!

Year 8 student Elizabeth D competed in the Athletics Auckland Junior Championships over the weekend of 22 and 23 February, bringing home a Silver medal in the Race Walk. Congratulations Elizabeth, you continue to astound us with your athletic success!

Dad's F&T presents: Whiskey Mix 'n' Mingle

We heard some of you were disappointed you couldn't make it to the last one, so we're bringing it back. Two single malt whiskeys and a light dinner will be included. But this isn't just an event for whiskey drinkers - wine, beer or non-alcoholic is also available!

Drop in for a casual drink, a bite to eat and the opportunity to create some great business and social networks with a social group of Pinehurst Dads. Your first two drinks will be free, and a light dinner will be served - the rest is up to you!

Keep an eye out for your hosts - John Kim and Ryan Shearer our Year 1 Pinehurst Dads!

RSVP by simply scanning the QR code in the attachment below.

If you have any questions, feel free to email sylvia.lum@pinehurst.school.nz.

Pinehurst Community – Join Us for the Harcourts Cooper & Co Shore to Shore 2025!

We’re excited to once again be ambassadors for the Harcourts Cooper & Co Shore to Shore 5km fun run/walk on Sunday, 6 April! Last year, we had the 2nd highest registrations (326!), earning over $1,000 in sports equipment—this year, let’s go for 1st place!

Enjoy a fun-filled morning with family, friends and our wonderful Pinehurst Community as we run or walk from Takapuna Grammar to Milford Reserve. Pinehurst participants get discounted registration, race pack collection from school, and access to our dedicated tent and sausage sizzle.

Date: Sunday, 6 April
Start Time: 9:00 AM
Start: Takapuna Grammar | Finish: Milford Reserve

Register here by Sunday, 30 March and don’t forget to select Pinehurst School as your affiliated school. More details on bus services and parking are available when registering.

Let’s come together for fitness, fun, and school spirit! See you at the start line!