Message from the Executive Principal

Kia ora koutou, good afternoon, 下午好, 안녕하세요  

Best wishes,
Mike Waller

IMPORTANT ROAD WORKS NOTICE: MONDAY 24 MARCH - FRIDAY 28 MARCH, 9AM - 4PM. PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

Message from the Principal of College

Global Perspectives and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

When used as a research tool, AI saves time, thereby allowing more critical thinking about an issue. 

In today’s academic institutions and workplaces, artificial intelligence is becoming an essential component, and our students must learn to adapt to its potential applications. By using AI as a research tool, supplementing other search engines such as Epic, Google Scholar, and JSTOR, our Global Perspectives students save time and concentrate more on deeper analysis, evaluation, and critical thinking. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "As with all things, it is not the machine, but the hand that guides it, which will determine its value.”

Although Pinehurst students are encouraged to use AI as a tool to research credible and reliable source material, all written work must be their own original piece with source material cited throughout the text to acknowledge the origin of the information being used. Pinehurst and the Cambridge University Examination Board, uses plagiarism and AI detection software when checking coursework.

Educating our Pinehurst students about the benefits of new technology, rather than fearing it, is what helps our students adapt to the changing world of both education and work. At all levels, our Pinehurst Global Citizenship and Perspectives lessons are designed to develop critical thinking and questioning skills. These attributes will help our students to be adaptable within a changing future where they will need to train and retrain throughout their lifetime.

Last year’s Cambridge results saw Pinehurst A-Level Global Perspectives and Research students gain another ‘First in the World’, our 3rd ‘First in the World’ for A-Level Global in the past 5 years.

Our compulsory Y7 – 11 Global Perspectives and Citizenship programme continues to support the development of the skills necessary to produce high-quality academic work. This involves the analysis of information, evaluation of source material, and the thinking and reflection skills necessary to effectively communicate their findings and make changes when required.

The words, futurist Alvin Toffler wrote in 1970, ring louder today than ever, “The illiterate of the 21^st Century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Global Citizenship and Perspectives – Teaching students to question what they see and hear. Teaching students to critically think and reflect.

Auckland Senior Volleyball Championships

On 12 - 13 March, Pinehurst Boys’ 1^st and Girls’ Volleyball teams attended the Auckland Senior Volleyball Championships at the Bruce Pullman Centre in Takanini. 

Pinehurst played with energy and increased confidence as the tournament progressed. The 6am departures and three games a day were a test to both physical and mental resilience of the players. As well as playing, teams are expected to perform duty for other teams as part of a rotation. 

Both teams had a win: the Boys team against Albany Senior High School and the Girls team against Lynfield College.

Our teams have been reflecting on their performance this week in preparation for the Satellite tournament to be held in Northcote from 27 - 29 March. Best of luck to all our Pinehurst Volleyball Teams!

Robotics Club and the FIRST Lego League

This week in the robotics club, our trial teams are making great progress in building and coding their base robot. With guidance from their mentors, they are developing their skills while preparing to form two official FIRST Lego League (FLL) school teams. We plan to register these teams for the 2025-26 FIRST Lego League Auckland Regionals. 

In FLL, teams design and program an autonomous robot to complete various missions, each worth different points, within 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The team with the highest score wins! Last year, one of our teams won the Innovation Project Award at Auckland Regionals and advanced to Nationals—an incredible achievement! This year, we aim to qualify both teams. 

If you're interested in competing in FIRST Lego League, join us in Room 402 on Tuesday lunchtimes for our weekly meetings!

Pinehurst Economics: Spark Tank Challenge

This week, our Young Enterprise teams took on the Spark Tank challenge – a thrilling opportunity to pitch our business ideas to real entrepreneurs and receive invaluable feedback. Speed coaching was pressuring, but everyone managed to present their ideas well, answering tough questions and gaining insights to refine our strategies moving forward. The feedback was incredibly helpful, challenging us to think deeper about our branding, pricing, and long-term goals.

One business that sparked every coach’s interest was the Chocoholics (😉😉), dedicated to creating the most irresistible hot chocolate and matcha bombs as well as a variety of other flavours (stay tuned for where to get yours! Follow us at @chocoholics2025 on Instagram). 

With fresh ideas and expert advice, we are all excited to develop our businesses further. A huge thank you to Mr Goforth and Mrs Mann for helping to organise this experience – we can’t wait for Challenge 1!

A Level Drama Workshops with Massive Theatre

Recently, our A-level drama students were immersed in a physical theatre devising workshop led by Margaret-Mary Hollins.  

Margaret-Mary is a co-director of Massive Theatre Company, and has worked with Red Leap Theatre, and has an extensive lineage of experience with Drama in education. She has worked with devising companies in New Zealand and abroad, including with UK based Frantic Assembly.  

Auckland’s Massive Theatre was founded by Sam Scott in 1991 and continues to bring young people and theatre together more strongly than ever. Massive Theatre are always busy with the many various workshops they provide throughout the year. We were delighted that Margaret-Mary could join us for a ‘deep dive’ session that related very much to the research and devising work for our AS and A2 students. 

Margaret-Mary adeptly led the students into a physical workshop that served a number of purposes and offered a rich session with points of departure into ongoing work.  Especially relevant is the work in forging narratives and strengthening character dynamic, through physical explorative methods. As their teacher it was fantastic to watch beautiful moments emerge from the work and then become captivating visual narratives. The students are continuing to develop their pieces towards their end of term submission for assessments. 

Massive Theatre offers free foundational workshops for 14 – 25-year-olds, with the next one on Saturday 3 May 2025, 10:00am – 4:00pm. Anyone interested can find out more, or enrol in a course here. 

Recreating the most famous debates in history

This week in AS History we recreated some of the most famous debates in history. Keyan and Kevin in Year 12 did an outstanding job of playing the roles of Lincoln and Douglas, researching and memorising speeches that they could use in debate. Tilly, Gloria and Elizabeth were in charge of asking questions as well as fact checking responses and awarding the winner of the debate. Amazing work from the whole class to bring this piece of history to life.

Environmental Management + Whitebait Connection

Our Year 12 Environmental Management class have been working with Whitebait Connection to analyse stream health at Hooton Reserve.

The focus was to find kākahi, a freshwater mussel. These are important to water quality as they filter our freshwater. We also observed the stream and its environment, and took water samples.

Unfortunately the only mussels we found were shells of larger adults. A post trip class session allowed us to explore our findings and make some estimates. We looked at the drainage basin and the surrounds to determine possible causes as to why we found no living kākahi. We also looked at a company’s website who investigates the DNA of streams to determine what animals and plants have been in the area. Our mussels may have been eaten by pests such as rats. We will return to the stream to run tracking tunnels and other testing mechanisms to see if we can find out what larger animals may be in the area.  The health of our stream is not in the best condition and our plan is to look at the actions people and communities can do to support our rivers.

Accounting - bringing the subject to life at Pinehurst

Learning the value of financial data in the business world, how to understand, interpret and use it in decision making, is what we strive to do in accounting.

The dilemma however can be that it seems quite intimidating to students. Monopoly is a family favourite and a great place to start a student’s introduction into accounting.

Luca Pacioli discovered over 500 years ago that one transaction affects two accounts, one account is debited, and the other account is credited.  This is called the duality principle and is the first principle taught in Year 10 Accounting. Each student is asked to identify the accounts used during their turn in Monopoly and indicate whether each account increases or decreases in value. Community chest cards are sold or traded, and the monetary value is recorded in each student’s “set of accounts.”  Lively games where students are engaged in problem solving, teamwork and banter, ensued during the Year 10 lessons.

The value of group and teamwork is important throughout all year levels. In the Year 12 Accounting class, students were working together trying to figure out the different types of Fixed and Variable costs and their impact on the closing inventory value and total costing of their products if using Absorption and Marginal costing. 

Who says working with numbers is boring?!

Pinehurst Shines at Nth Harbour Swim Zone Day

Last week, our talented 17-student Pinehurst swim team competed at the North Harbour Swimming Zone Day, held at AUT Millennium. Facing strong competition from schools across the region, our swimmers delivered outstanding performances, securing numerous podium finishes across various events. This was our most successful North Harbour Swimming Zone Day and we have our largest group of Auckland Interzone qualifiers in Pinehurst history. 

Individual Top 3 Placings:

Open Events:

• 100m Boys Open Freestyle: 1st Place - Lucas W
• 50m Boys Open Butterfly: 1st Place - Lucas W
• 100m Girls Open Freestyle: 2nd Place - April L
• 50m Girls Open Butterfly: 
  • 1^st Place – April L
  • 3^rd Place – Serena C

Year 7 Boys:

• 50m Backstroke: 2nd Place - Devin B
• 50m Freestyle: 3rd Place - Devin B
• 50m Breaststroke: 1st Place - Devin B

Year 7 Girls: 

• 50m Backstroke: 
  • 1st Place - April L
  • 3rd Place - Serena C
• 50m Freestyle: 1st Place - April L
• 50m Breaststroke: 1st Place - April L

Year 8 Boys:

• 50m Backstroke: 2nd Place - Lucas W
• 50m Freestyle: 1st Place - Lucas W
• 50m Breaststroke: 
  • 1st Place - Tim W
  • 2nd Place - Eddie L
  • 3rd Place - Lucas W

Relay Dominance: Our relay teams demonstrated excellent teamwork and determination, clinching four gold medals:

• 200m Boys Open Medley Relay – 1st Place: Lucas W, Tim W, Eddie L, Isaac G
• 200m Girls Open Medley Relay – 1st Place: Serena C, April L, Amelia C, Olivia F
• Year 7 Girls 200m Freestyle Relay – 1st Place: Serena C, Eva S, Cynthia S, April L
• Year 8 Boys 200m Freestyle Relay – 1st Place: Tim W, Isaac G, Eddie L, Lucas W

The dedication and hard work of our swimmers were truly commendable. Their incredible results reflect not only their individual talent but also the strong team spirit and support they have for one another. A huge congratulations to all swimmers for their achievements!

Students who placed in the top 3 for each event have now qualified for the Auckland Interzone Championships taking place in Week 10. This includes Lucas W, April L, Devin B, Tim W, Eddie L, Serena C, and our champion relay teams. We wish them all the best as they prepare to compete at the next level!

North Harbour Year 7 - 8 Tennis Zone Days

This week, we had two boys team competing in the North Harbour Boys Tennis Zone Day and one girls team competing in the North Harbour Girls Tennis Zone Day. Both tournaments were held at Forrest Hill Tennis Centre and included schools from all over North Harbour. For the first time in Pinehurst history, our Year 7-8 Boys A Tennis Team has won the North Harbour Year 7-8 Tennis Boys Zone Day—and in an incredible feat, they claimed 1st place in both the Singles and Doubles competitions! Our talented team of Ryann W, Peter W, Minjong P, and Matthew B showcased outstanding skill, determination, and teamwork, dominating the competition to bring home this historic double victory. Our Boys Team B also put in an exceptional performance, finishing 8th in the Singles competition, with a team that consisted of Lucas L, Devin B, and Justin S. 

Our Girls Team fought hard to secure 7th place in the Singles competition, with all members having strong performances throughout the morning. The students that represented Pinehurst at the Girls Zone Day was Chloe S, Scarlett B, Bianca J and Zina S. Unfortunately, rain forced the tournament to conclude early during the semi-finals of the Doubles competition, cutting the day short.

A huge congratulations to all our players for their fantastic efforts on the court! You have done Pinehurst proud.

• Parents – we need your expertise. We would like to create a database of speakers for various career events so current students have the opportunity to connect with people working in a diverse range of careers. If you would be willing to share details about your career journey, please fill in this form. 
• Applications are now open for GirlBoss Edge: Sustainability, a life-changing 10 Day Online Career Accelerator for young women aged 15 - 21, which is happening these April school holidays.  It is fully funded for young women across New Zealand. Apply here. 
• In my 15+ years as a Career Counsellor, very few students have expressed interest in certain career options. Examples include: surveying, podiatry or anaesthetic technician roles; yet they are all well-paid, stable, in-demand options. Are you interested in knowing which jobs are in demand in NZ? Check out the full Long Term Skills Shortage List.
• You can find out more about what a typical day on the job is like as well as salary information on Career Navigator.
• Remember that all Career Events are always listed and updated on the Pinehurst Career Education website.

Message from the Principal of Primary

Wheels Week: Rolling into Fun and Fitness!

This week, our school was buzzing with excitement as students took part in Wheels Week! Over several days, each year group had the opportunity to bring their favourite set of wheels—bikes, scooters, rollerblades, and skateboards—to school for a day of active fun.

The field was reserved for cyclists, giving them plenty of space to ride, while the courts were filled with skaters and scooter riders showcasing their skills. It was wonderful to see students enjoying the outdoors, developing their confidence, and practicing their coordination in a safe and supportive environment.

A big thank you to our Primary Council for ensuring everything ran smoothly, and to our students for showing great responsibility and enthusiasm. We look forward to another fantastic Wheels Week in Term 4.

Mastering Metric Units with Fun Challenges in Yr 4

Recently in Maths, P12 has been diving into the world of metric conversions, focusing on converting kilograms (kg) to grams (g) and vice versa using their decimal skills. And what a fun-filled learning journey it has been!

To put their skills to the test, students took on an exciting "1.5kg Challenge"! Using a special scale, two teams searched around the classroom for items they believed would weigh as close to 1.5kg (or 1500g) as possible. Once their chosen items were weighed, they read the scale in grams and converted the weight into kilograms on the whiteboard. The team with the closest weight won!

But the challenges didn’t stop there! Next, students got creative by making their own mass values between 1kg and 10kg. They then swapped their values with a buddy, who had to convert the weight from kg to g—practicing quick mental maths and building confidence in their conversion skills.

Through games, teamwork, and hands-on activities, P12 has truly become conversion experts! Keep up the fantastic work, and we can’t wait for more fun Maths challenges ahead!

Exploring the joy of reading in Year 1

From Monday to Thursday, P23's reading lessons follow a consistent and engaging structure, nurturing a love for reading while building essential literacy skills. Here's a peek into what our young readers experience each day.

Shared Reading Time: Each lesson begins with our shared book of the week. Together, we read the title and discuss the front cover illustration. The children are encouraged to observe and describe what they see, making predictions by connecting to their prior knowledge about what the book might be about. As the book is displayed on the screen, the children follow along with the words as it is read aloud. By midweek, when the text becomes more familiar, the children enthusiastically read it aloud themselves.

Phonics Warmup and Focused Learning: Our warmup includes revising phonics sounds and identifying the "red words" within the text. These common exception words include parts that cannot be decoded using phonics sounds the children already know. We then transition to our We Are Learning How To (WALHT) objective for the day. For example, today’s WALHT was to identify grammar and punctuation in the text. The children explored the use of question marks and exclamation marks, discussing their purposes and practicing the difference in intonation when reading these sentences aloud—exclamation marks are a class favourite!

Small Group Activities: Next, the children work in small groups, each reading at a similar level. Activities range from Reading Eggs, phonics and red word exercises, comprehension questions, to follow-ups on their new class reading book. During this time, each group exchanges their previous reading book for a new one and practices reading it with Mrs. Prance before taking it home. Each group, or even individual children within the group, has a tailored WALHT to suit their unique learning needs. By the end of the lesson, all 17 students have had the opportunity to read their new book with Mrs. Prance, ensuring they are prepared and excited for additional reading practice at home.

This structured approach fosters both independence and enthusiasm in our young readers, laying a strong foundation for lifelong literacy.

Exploring our school environment in Year 2

In Science, P7 have been learning about living things and their habitats. Recently, the focus has been on identifying plants and animals that are living, were once alive or have never been living.

To find out if something is living, we discovered that it must do all the seven characteristics of the MRS GREN acronym - Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, and Nutrition.

The children embarked on an exciting outdoor exploration of our school environment, equipped with magnifying glasses.

As they explored, the children examined plants, insects, and small animals, searching for signs of life that corresponded to MRS GREN.

They noticed how flowers grow toward sunlight, and how ants carry food, showing signs of nutrition and excretion. With their magnifying glasses, they observed the details of leaves and bugs, discussing how each living thing is different but share some similarities.

In addition, they were able to recognise things that have never been alive, such as rocks, and things that were once alive, like fallen leaves.

Year 1 "Have a Go" Netball Lunchtimes

Lunchtimes have been full of energy and excitement as our Year 1 students take part in "Have a Go" Netball sessions! Led by our dedicated Year 6 House Captains, these fun-filled activities provide an opportunity for our youngest players to develop their ball skills in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Students rotate through a range of engaging stations designed to build confidence in catching, throwing, and teamwork. Activities include bean bag throw into hoops, traffic light passing, catch and clap, hoop relays, and beach ball catch and throw. The House Captains do a fantastic job of encouraging and guiding each participant, ensuring everyone feels involved and supported.

It has been wonderful to see so many smiles, determination, and budding netball skills on display. Thank you to our Year 6 leaders for making these sessions such a success!

Bubbles of Joy: A Magical Lunchtime on the Field

Lunchtime on Thursday, 13 March was no ordinary break at Pinehurst! The entire school gathered on the field for a special Bubbles Day, filling the air with laughter, excitement, and, of course, hundreds of floating bubbles.

With students, teachers, and even College Prefects joining in, the field became a sea of shimmering bubbles drifting in the breeze. Ms Pope set the perfect mood with a fun and uplifting soundtrack, adding to the magical atmosphere.

It was heartwarming to see everyone—big and small—taking a moment to enjoy the simple joy of blowing and chasing bubbles. Teachers were right alongside students, proving that you're never too old to have fun!

Bubbles Day was a beautiful reminder of the importance of shared moments, playfulness, and school spirit. Thank you to everyone who helped make it such a special event!

Year 3 Students Learn Collaboration Skills through Robotics and WeDo 2.0

This term, our Year 3 students have been diving into the exciting world of robotics with the help of the WeDo 2.0 LEGO sets in their robotics classes. Not only have they been building and programming their own robots, but they have also been strengthening a key competency from the Cambridge curriculum: collaboration.

In pairs, students have worked together to solve challenges, design creative robots, and bring their inventions to life. By working closely with a partner, they have learned to communicate effectively, share ideas, divide tasks, and support each other when troubleshooting. These are essential skills that will help them not only in their current robotics projects but also in future collaborative endeavors across all subjects.

The hands-on nature of the WeDo 2.0 LEGO sets has allowed students to learn by doing, while the collaboration component has enhanced their problem-solving abilities. They quickly learned that working together, listening to each other’s ideas, and compromising are all key to creating successful projects.

Whether it was programming Milo the science rover to detect his plant sample  or building a pulling machine that could perform specific tasks, our Year 3 students found that the best results came when they worked as a team. They discovered that when each student brought their unique strengths to the table, the outcome was always more creative and successful.

This hands-on experience has shown how the Cambridge curriculum’s emphasis on collaboration is not just about working together on academic tasks but also about building skills that students will carry with them throughout their education and beyond.

It has been wonderful to see our Year 3 students grow as collaborators, thinkers, and problem-solvers, and we can’t wait to see where their teamwork will take them next!

Storyboards and Scientific Observations in Year 2

It’s been a busy week in P8. In Science we have been learning to record observations by collecting data and by doing this we have learnt to be successful in completing simple tables and comparing the data collected. Meanwhile, in Art we have been creating storyboards.

The leaners had to work together in small groups to make a list of the steps, arrange the steps in a logical order, decide whether each step should be a close-up, medium view or scenic view and decide whether they will add colour to the storyboard.

Our students thoroughly enjoyed learning about storyboards and how and why they are created. These were the learners’ steps:

Washing a car - putting water in a bucket, adding soap, washing the car, rinsing the car, polishing the car. Well done on some great learning P8!

Global Perspectives in Year 5

During Global Perspectives we have been learning the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources which is a crucial step toward building a more sustainable future. Renewable resources, such as sunlight, wind, and water, naturally replenish over time and can be used continuously. On the other hand, non-renewable resources like coal, oil, and natural gas take millions of years to form and can run out if not used wisely.

We investigated further in our learning by creating small conservation habits—like turning off lights when leaving a room or recycling materials i.e recycling clean paper from our lunch order— which helped us all to understand the importance of protecting our resources.

In art we have been learning to recognise and apply human facial proportions to a simple drawing.  We started experiencing and making, practise drawing for a human face. We then started to draw one another!  We first began by measuring the facial proportions of the person sitting next to us, then using either a tape measure or string, continued the expression drawing. 

Here are some of the questions we reflected on as we drew:

• Is the head round or egg-shaped with the broad end on top? 

• Are the eyes nearer the top or the bottom of the face? 

• Is the distance between the eyes the same width as one of the eyes? Are the tops of the ears at the same height as the eyes? 

• Is the bottom of the nose halfway between the eye-line and the bottom of the jaw? 

• Is the mouth halfway between the end of the nose and the chin? 

At last, we drew an expressive self-portrait using art pencils of ourselves. The challenge was using a photograph printed off and cut in half, we filled in the other side. We focused on the skills of shading, hatching, and use of art pencils to create different lines and tones. Take a look at our fabulous work.

Year 5/6 Tennis

Our Year 5 and 6 Tennis players competed in the Midbays Super Cluster last week and produced some amazing results, placing first overall.

We had two Pinehurst players make the Boys final for singles and both Pinehurst teams made the Doubles final. The Girls doubles also won their event and our Girls singles placed fourth and sixth.  Congratulations to all students involved - we are very proud of your efforts and it's great to see such impressive Tennis results throughout our school across all Year levels!

Term 1 Physical Education for Years 0 - 3

This term in Physical Education we have been focusing on invasion games in our Junior Primary. Invasion games are activities where one team or individual tries to invade the other team’s territory to score a goal, while defending their own space. These games help children learn how to work together as a team, defend space, and score points. Invasion games also promote physical skills like running, throwing, catching, and kicking, and support emotional development as children experience both winning and losing in a safe, fun environment.

In the early years of physical education, children are introduced to the fundamental concepts of movement, teamwork, and coordination. Invasion games, such as basketball, netball, football, and touch rugby, provide a fantastic opportunity for young learners to develop these skills while having fun.

Invasion games have provided a range of benefits to our young learners, which include:

1. Physical Development: Invasion games help improve gross motor skills, such as running, jumping, balancing, and hand-eye coordination. These physical skills are vital for overall development and later participation in more complex sports.

2. Social Skills: Working with teammates to defend or invade space teaches children about cooperation, communication, and turn-taking. They also learn to understand the role of both offense and defense in a team setting.

3. Cognitive Growth: Through strategic play, children learn basic problem-solving skills, like deciding where to move, when to pass, and how to protect their own space from the other team.

4. Emotional Growth: Invasion games help children understand the emotional aspects of sports, including handling both success and failure, and recognizing the importance of fair play and teamwork.

Invasion games, such as basketball, netball, football, and touch rugby, are an exciting and valuable part of the Year 0-3 physical education curriculum. These games not only help children develop fundamental physical and social skills, but they also introduce concepts of teamwork, strategy, and healthy competition in a fun and accessible way. As the children grow and their skills develop, these games can become more complex, setting the stage for future success in both sport and life.

By focusing on movement, teamwork, and enjoyment, we lay the foundation for a lifelong love of physical activity and collaboration.

Winter Uniforms Now Available!

Winter uniforms are now available at the Uniform Shop. With Term 2 approaching, get your winter essentials ahead of time to stay warm while following the school's uniform guidelines. 

Our Uniform Shop opening hours are as follows:
Monday: 8am - 10am and 12.30pm - 4pm
Wednesday: 8am - 10am and 2.30pm - 4pm
Thursday: 8am - 10am and 2.30pm - 4pm

For more information, please contact uniform@pinehurst.school.nz.

What's on the Pinehurst Library Shelves right now?

Our amazing Librarians have put together some fantastic book recommendations for Students on their blog. Be sure to have a look and pick up a great new read from the Pinehurst Library one day soon. It's also World Poetry Day today, so be sure to check out their top poetry recommendations on our Facebook page!

Quinn achieves Chess Success at Latvian Rapid '25

Year 5 student Quinn S participated in the Latvian Rapid 2025, C Division (U1500) last Saturday and achieved an impressive second place.  This competition comprises four separate 6 round rapid chess tournaments. He was thrilled with his performance - as are we! Huge congratulations to you Quinn on this fantastic achievement.

Always wanted to try martial arts?

Now is your chance with Active Taekwondo! We train Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm to 7.30pm at the Albany Community Hub. For more information please email  activetaekwondonz@gmail.com