Dio Today April 2020

APRIL 2020

Diocesan School for Girls Clyde Street, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand Private Bag 99939, Newmarket 1149 P. 09 520 0221 F. 09 520 6778 E. office@diocesan.school.nz

Thanks for keeping your physical distance

DIOCESAN.SCHOOL.NZ BOARD CHAIR

Mr Andrew Peterson

PRINCIPAL

Ms Heather McRae

CHAPLAIN

Reverend Sandy Robertson

ASSISTANT CHAPLAIN

Reverend Bryan Haggitt

HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL

Mrs Margaret van Meeuwen

DEPUTY PRINCIPALS

Mrs Dian Fisher Mr Simon Walker

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Mrs Kate Burkin

HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL

Mrs Suzanne Brewin

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL JUNIOR SCHOOL

Mrs Amy Thompson

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS AND PLANNING

Mr Paul McDowell-Hook

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

Mrs Rachel Gardiner

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Mrs Angela Coe DIRECTOR OF PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Mrs Jocelyn Anso

ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR

Mrs Kate Jones

HEAD PREFECT

Maddy Gault

DEPUTY HEAD PREFECT

Francesca Masfen

DIO TODAY is produced through the Marketing Office of Diocesan School for Girls and is designed and published by Image Centre Group.

For information about this publication, contact the Editor, Liz McKay E. lmckay@diocesan.school.nz / Old Girls’ liaison and proofreading, Deirdre Coleman E. d.g@slingshot.co.nz / Commissioned photography

by Nicola Topping, Real Image (realimage.co.nz).

EDITORIAL When dawn broke on Wednesday 1 January, would any one of us have imagined where we would find ourselves three months into the New Year? Living with a burgeoning health pandemic that has swept the world, a global economic crisis, social distancing and isolation and their side-effects of fear, anxiety and stress. Challenging times the likes of which have possibly not been seen in more than a century since the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, which reportedly affected a third of the world’s population.

On the flip side, we have been forced to stop, to slow down and regroup, to look at the things that really are important. And we find ourselves at home, with those we share our homes with, or maybe alone – we have been prevailed upon to be kind, thoughtful and helpful to others, to be tolerant. Maybe this re-evaluation, this pause in the mayhem, will serve us well when life returns to normal, whatever the ‘new normal’ may be.

Our Chaplain, the Reverend Sandy Robertson, said this prayer in the School’s first online assembly, and I leave you with her words: God of grace, bless each of us in our separateness but also our unity.

Give us courage and strength to get through this difficult time until we can all be back together again. Help us to focus on our teaching and learning and give us grace and patience with the people in our bubbles. God, you are the one who calms the storm and who speaks through the chaos. Calm our hearts with your love. We pray this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Liz McKay, Editor

T R E N Z S E AT E R

I NTE R NA TI ONAL L I G H TI NG

AUCKLAND - 80 Parnell Rd, 09 303 4151 CHRISTCHURCH - 121 Blenheim Rd, 03 343 0876 QUEENSTOWN - 313 Hawthorne Dr, 03 441 2363 www.trenzseater.com

APRIL 2020 Cover photo: Year 6 student Sofia Felderhoff enjoying one of the many challenges of EOTC Week on Great Barrier Island.

2 36 LEADING

02 From the Principal

How is leadership for women changing?

44 C haplaincy

Being courageous in the face of vulnerability

47 J unior School sports

05 Leadership in

50 P resenting Ava Tinkler,

the Junior School 06 Nga-kau nui

52 O n track

08 Heritage Foundation

54 A thlete profiles

Being big-hearted

Arts Centre update

12 Heritage Foundation 2019 grants

As popular as ever!

2020’s sports prefect Athletics Day Great results in national and schools’ competitions

56 S wimming championships Winners in the pool

LEARNING

15 2019 Examination results Students deliver exceptional results

58 Q &A with two new Sports Department staff This year’s Arts Council

21 L anguages Faculty

26 L ooking at Civil Rights

66 P arents & Friends of Dio

Years Programme Making better communicators

History teacher Rosemarie Machell’s American experience

28 From the classroom to the stage Dio’s contemporary music scene

32 T he Kahikatea Project

Integrating our year groups

35 Our place

The Junior School’s enviro team

36 I sland adventure

Year 6 on Great Barrier

40 A dventure playground takes shape The Norfolk pine development

28

60 P erforming Arts

61 T op arts achievers 63 S uccess on the dance stage 64 F rom the Archive

18 I ntroducing the Middle

21

LIVING

04 Senior School

Student leaders for 2020

56

‘Their deeds do follow them’

LIFELONG FRIENDS 68 P resident’s column 70 A force to be reckoned with

Rewarding careers with NZ Police

73 H ayley Yu making her mark 74 A night to remember 2019 Graduation Ball

76 A passion for helping others Nancy Yuan

77 A lumnae news 79 M ilestones

70

52

L E A DIN G FROM THE PRINCIPAL

ach year, our Year 13 students follow a Dio tradition and in one of our first full school assemblies, make a commitment to be leaders of our School. Their actions and attitudes affect and influence the student culture, even though they are often unaware of it.

They collectively make a commitment to: • look for opportunities to be of service to others • have a sense of pride and ownership in our School heritage • aim high and strive to be more than they ever imagined; and • to respect themselves, others and our School.

While they stand to make the commitment to being leaders in front of the whole School, it is easy being one of 180 Year 13 girls to say ‘yes’ to leadership. But if each was to stand individually before us, what would they tell us about what it means to be a caring and confident leader in this School, and in the world ahead of them.

According to the HBR 10 Must Reads, some theories on leadership make caring look effortless – but it isn’t.

You have to do things you don’t want to do, and that’s hard. It’s tough to be tough in that it sometimes means giving up something for the greater good or taking a stand against group behaviours that are hurtful or excluding of others. There is a high level of individual difference amongst students and bringing out the best in others requires them to get to know other girls around the School and going well beyond their friendship groups to make a difference.

2

DIO TODAY

When they make their promises, we encourage Year 13 and all others to think about how they will become the outstanding women leaders that this country needs. The most difficult fact is that women in leadership are stereotyped. Partly this is because there are fewer women in leadership positions. Harvard Business Review says: “According to research in social psychology, if a group’s representation

“In reality, we are as diverse within womanhood as any sample of a wider population.

While we are in an all-girls’ school, we are not defined by gender – the freedom is ours to be who we want to be, to explore our differences.”

falls below 20% in a given society, then it is going to be subjected to stereotyping whether it likes it or not.”

For women, this may mean being typecast as a helper, nurturer, or filling a quota on a board. All such labels prevent women from defining their own differences.

Harmful stereotyping of women in leadership roles is prevalent. The prime minister before Jacinda Ardern was Bill English. He had six children, and rarely did anyone question his ability to be prime minister. When Jacinda became prime minister and announced that she would have a baby, people definitely

questioned her ability to lead the country. Women leaders are frequently judged on their appearance as opposed to their ideas and capability – on their ability to be ‘strong’, competitive, or on the loudness of their voice.

These subliminal default measures of leadership are superficial and judgmental perceptions, and represent the vestiges of lasting gender-biased views on leadership.

Perceiving women as all the same sexual beings who should be nurturing, communal and protective prevents women from applying for leadership positions. In reality, we are as diverse within womanhood as any sample of a wider population. While we are in an all-girls’ school, we are not defined by gender – the freedom is ours to be who we want to be, to explore our differences. We are free from the subtle gender assumptions that continue the gradual stereotyping that has for many years confined women to lower paid labouring positions and less leading.

As more women have joined the work force, research into gender balance is growing over time. Professor Alice Eagly, Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University, has been researching perceptions of women at work over the last 70 years. For advocates of gender balance, Eagly has good news and bad news. On the one hand, women’s perceived competence – the degree to which women are viewed as intelligent, level-headed, organised – has soared through the decades, exceeding the numbers for men in recent polls. Views of women as communally oriented and nurturing have also increased over time. However, women’s perceived ‘agentic’ qualities – measures of assertiveness and

References: Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders.

Boston: Harvard Business School Press. HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership (2011). Harvard Business Review Press, Boston, Massachusetts. knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/the-truth-about-gender-stereotypes-8691

E

How is leadership for women changing over time?

LEADING Principal Heather McRae with Head Prefect Maddy Gault (right) and Deputy Head Prefect Francesca Masfen (left).

competitiveness – have languished well below men’s for all of living memory. It appears that some gender stereotypes have only become stronger as women have made progress towards equality.

In employment today, women are occupying cognitively demanding positions equally as well as men, but hierarchies and corporate leadership are heavily weighted with masculine agency in terms of what people expect. Eagly suggests that to equalise the path to leadership, we should both weaken the assumption that men are more agentic

than women and challenge the notion of competition and assertiveness as the root causes of success. She suggests examining and changing ideas about leadership to include both agentic and communal traits.

In her leadership journey at Dio, we seek freedom for each girl to be the leader who is not defined by gender.

We encourage our girls to find that person within who has the intellect, tough empathy and courage to be who she wants to be and to influence those around her. She will be known for her

agency and communal traits. We want our leaders to be the role models who will support and celebrate our strengths so that they can deeply engage in a transformative experience through which they come to a new or an altered sense of identity. This is what is meant by being true to yourself and truly experiencing leadership. They will be the much-needed women leaders of the future.

Kia kaha – Ut Serviamus.

Heather McRae, Principal DIO TODAY

3

SENIOR SCHOOL STUDENT LEADERS

2020

4

HEAD PREFECT

Maddy Gault

DEPUTY HEAD PREFECT

Francesca Masfen

COUNCILS

PREFECT DEPUTIES

Academic

Zoe Zhu

Alice Waldow, Sriya Garamilla

Arts

Anna Casey

Lucy Bartlett, Jessica Woo

Community Service

Sabreen Islam

Amali Madawala, Tanushree Sharma

Environment

Brooke Vincent

Helen Dunshea, Hope Stack

School Culture

Anisha de Silva

Mikayla Meredith, Gabby de Latour

Ball

Hazel Francis

Kristen Hansen, Zoe Dawson

Birthday Concert

Stella Murray

Nicole Lockie, Holly Meyers

Media

Jaime Shorter

Ella Jacobson, Brooke Robertson

Sport

Ava Tinkler

Mimi Bond, Lena Jacob

Student Services

Chloe Hicken

Bella Maher-Hampson, Isobelle Brosnahan

HOUSES

PREFECT DEPUTIES

Cochrane

Tori Jones

Emily Clelland, Kate Baddeley

Cowie

Laura Whitley

Hannah Flacks, Millie Lovrich

Eliza Edwards

Lottie Lobb

Mia Cobham, Isabella Armstrong

Mary Pulling

Kaitlyn Mallon

Deborah Huang, Gabby Sumner

Mitchelson

Milly Johnston

Chelsea Goodale, Ellie Smith

Neligan

Emma Badger

Olivia Wrapson, Ella Jacobson

Roberton

Amy Choi

Arabella Loveridge, Kim van den Hurk

Selwyn

Aanushi Parasrampuria

Olivia Clark, Summer Wilson

International

Katherine Yu

Diane Wang

Boarding

Mikayla Meredith

So Yeon Lee

DIO TODAY

in the Junior School Leaders. Our world is hungry for them. From students who are leading their siblings and classmates to high-level executives and political figures, we always need people to step up and take on responsibility.

At Dio, our teachers are invested in preparing our students to thrive in the world of their future. To that end, we must also be invested in encouraging them to be the kind of leaders that this world wants and needs.

A key feature of our School’s success is the active involvement of students in the life of the School. The Junior School offers a diverse range of leadership opportunities for all students within their class. At the Year 6 level, this includes being appointed a leader

of a specific group, joining leadership teams and participating in leadership programmes. Our specific Year 6 opportunities include Junior School Council, Service Council, House captains, sports captains, environmental leaders, librarians, leaders of our music groups and choirs, the Makerspace, bell, drivethrough and road patrol. Girls are given job descriptions of all the leadership roles and then choose the one(s) for which they would like to be considered.

Our school-based Leaders’ Programme focuses on the skills, values and attitudes needed for effective student leadership. This programme aims to maximise students’ leadership potential and effectiveness by focusing on the following: •S peaking up •S tepping up •H aving a go

LEADING

LEADERSHIP

•T eam thinking •S howing the way Through their participation, students learn about: •P ublic speaking •W hat makes a good leader •O rganisational and team skills •E ncouraging others •P roblem solving •B eing an upstander, not a bystander Our Year 6 student leaders are our role models. As role models, the girls are encouraged to display: •C are, kindness, courtesy and reliability •P ositivity and enthusiasm •E mpathy towards others •M anners and basic good grace when dealing with other students •H onesty and dignity •S elf-discipline •S elf-control of feelings and actions I think one of the keys to leadership is recognising that everybody has gifts and talents. A good leader will learn how to harness those gifts toward the same goal.

Sue Brewin, Head of Junior School

Students presenting at the Year 6 Exhibition in November 2019.

DIO TODAY

5

“Dio provides us with so many pathways to choose from and supports us on our journeys, so be brave, explore what you love and express it proudly.”

Maddy Gault, Head Prefect

6

DIO TODAY

LEADING

BEING BIG-HEARTED Head Prefect’s vision for 2020, delivered at assembly on 14 February.

I

want to introduce myself in the context of what Dio offers us all, and then introduce my vision for the School.

environment, surrounded by people who want to lift you up and give you the best experience, despite your level of ability.

What more could you ask for?

Francesca and I would like to share with you our vision for 2020 – Ngākau nui. Ngākau nui best translates as ‘big-hearted’.

I’ve been at Dio since I was five. My second home. Here I’ve learnt about myself personally, the way I learn, and the way I should treat others and expect to be treated myself. I’ve also learnt that running really just isn’t my thing. I may start at the front, but I always end up at the back. From the very beginning, I’ve met some incredible people – who are still tolerating me to this day.

Around this time, and with the amazing pool, water polo really started to take off at Dio. We were so passionate and dedicated to the game. We felt unstoppable. Dio arranged a European trip when I was in Year 10. I was able to go with some of my closest friends. My sisters. Not only has water polo given me skills in the pool, it has helped me bond within a team, and immerse in a different culture. Dio water polo shaped my childhood. It taught me discipline, how to manage my time wisely, and provided me with friendships I’ll treasure forever.

First, Dio empowers us to explore our own aspirations and paths as they arise, and to realise that we should never be afraid to put our hearts into them – whether mainstream or not. You should choose what you put your heart into and express it proudly with a big heart. If your choice changes over time, that is fine too.

Sometimes it will endure, and sometimes it is just a pathway you travel to get to your next destination. Whichever it is, there are always valuable learnings.

Everyone deserves to be happy, deserves to step out of the classroom, off the field, out of the pool, off the stage, or wherever, with a face sore from so much smiling; because that’s what passion is all about – putting your heart into something that brings you the utmost joy. In short, be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your heart on fire.

We are taught by the most amazing teachers. For example, Miss Pardiwalla taught me to C3B4ME, and as simple as it might appear, this taught me not to be afraid to ask others for help, to see the value in my peers’ opinions, and to consult widely, recognising that everybody has something to learn from each other. Our teachers reassure us that asking for help isn’t a weakness. That person sitting next to you, that teacher in front of you, your tutor teacher, your dean, they are all here to help… and of course, the Revs!

Dio gives us some of the best opportunities. We must remember how lucky we are with everything we have here. Take the amazing facilities – that pool we all used at swimming sports wasn’t there when I first came. A lot of you didn’t have to walk to the Olympic Pools for PE! The new pool provided my Junior School generation with our first real competition: who could sell the most tickets for the Dig Deep fundraiser?

I mean, how could you say no to that Junior School hat? Well some did, because I didn’t win, but that’s fine!

Reflecting on my Dio journey, we are always supported and empowered.

As an example, in Year 9 I became obsessed with Grey’s Anatomy. Even though science wasn’t really my forte, all I could think about was becoming the best trauma surgeon ever. Dio let me explore this passion. I was moved into the advanced science class and was able to put my heart into it. It was such a positive

More recently, drama has become important. Mrs Spicer created such a welcoming and comfortable environment that I was able to express a much more artsy side of myself. I was again lucky to travel to Europe to join my incredible drama family for another Dio adventure. We learnt from some of the best and grew more confident together. With the new Performing Arts Centre opening soon, more and more opportunities will fly our way. Without being judged, Dio let me put my heart into something new.

Throughout my journey on these pathways, which Dio supported, I was able to realise an underlying passion.

I’ve been learning French since Year 2 in 2009! I loved class, but since I had been doing it for so long, it had become just another one of my subjects. But the experiences Dio provided, roaming the streets of France and hearing the locals, inspired me. I relished listening into many conversations and was so excited that I could pick up some of what was being said. Learning French at such a strong IB school is an amazing opportunity.

Now to our vision for 2020.

Our opportunities confirm how important it is to set a vision for ourselves as young women. So,

Secondly, as a family at Dio, we must all be big-hearted and support one another’s passions by accepting and respecting our choices and being inclusive. We can only be confident expressing our passions if collectively we are positive and accepting when others express theirs to us.

I encourage you to turn to someone, anyone, and tell them what you are currently putting your heart into. And when someone does that to you, be bighearted back and encourage them. Then tell them yours and celebrate each other!

Dio provides us with so many pathways to choose from and supports us on our journeys, so be brave, explore what you love and express it proudly. And be positive when others do so to you.

Never be afraid to share your passions.

Speak them to life. Own them.

Be big-hearted – Ngākau nui.

Maddy Gault, Head Prefect DIO TODAY

7

H E R I T A G E

Arts Centre

update

WELL, IT’S ALMOST ‘CURTAIN CALL’ FOR THE CONSTRUCTION TEAM FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE.

T

he ‘star cast’ from ASPEC Construction led by Greg King at head office and Mark Rhynd on site, have gathered a really strong ‘chorus’ of over 50 contractors to deliver this landmark quality building on campus – on time and on budget.

As construction draws to a close, the all-important finishing touches are underway. These include completion of the foyer façade, installation of feature timberwork to the foyer, laying of floor coverings, installation of kitchen equipment, commissioning of air-conditioning systems and of course delivery and install of the theatre seats!

8

“The richness of the timber panels superbly blends acoustic resonance and reverberation with our aim of creating a truly memorable interior experience in the auditorium.”

Architect Graham Upton of McIldowie Partners in association with Upton Architects Ltd

and to celebrate the performing arts as the signature building on campus.

The next phase is the fitout with the specialist theatre technicians who will supply and commission the resources for the wide range of events and productions planned in the new auditorium and its foyer.

This will include the installation of the stage winch rigging system, the theatre lighting and mixing desk, the projection screen and projectors, the cyclorama, the loudspeaker and amplification system as well as the more traditional items such as the house curtains to the dress the stage.

There are so many people who have contributed to the process through preparation of the client brief, developing the design, obtaining resource consent, detailed documentation, building consent, cost control, project management and now is the conclusion and fitout phase. It has been a remarkable journey that could only have been achieved with the resounding support of the whole Diocesan School community on all aspects of the process.

The fitout phase requires about 10 weeks and will be largely overseen

by Shand Shelton our highly regarded theatre consultants. This will be the closing phase for the team that have realised the aspiration for Diocesan School to have a place for assembly

There will be formal acknowledgment of all the support provided by the many generous donors through enduring statements around the building, as well as at the official opening, but it is appropriate to acknowledge Ian Goodall as Board member and chair of the

DIO TODAY

Campus Development Committee and Derek Nolan as a former Board member and member of the CDC who have provided countless hours of guidance and governance to the whole process for over 15 years – from the earliest concept drawings to completion of works on site. The ultimate goal is of course the handover to the girls of Dio. It is planned to allow a series of smaller lowkey events to occur in the new auditorium for kinks to be ironed out

LEADING

VITA

96

weeks completed

S TIC

L

STATIS

55

subcontractors and suppliers

50

tradespeople on site

515m

2

walnut panelling

940m

American white oak

such as even distribution of air, switching controls to lights and balancing of the sound system. It is appropriate that it will be girls who will enjoy the Performing Arts Centre first and allow its full integration into campus life as the focus for gathering and celebrating the culture of the School. It also allows time for the sports field to be resewn with grass, paving and planting of trees to be completed and the campus itself allowed to recover from the largest single project ever undertaken by Diocesan School.

“The foyer will reveal and celebrate the richness of the performing and visual arts programmes to all visitors to the campus.

From inside it will provide a panoramic view of the sports and wellbeing spaces that are equally well accommodated at the Dio campus – a remarkable balance!”

Architect Craig Brown of McIldowie Partners in association with Upton Architects Ltd

1600

light fittings

3000m

2

air conditioning ductwork

5390m

2

floor area

DIO TODAY

9

With the impact of the Covid-19 country-wide lockdown, the completion of the auditorium will be delayed and the opening dependent on when current restrictions are lifted. These are our most up-to-date photos of the interior of the building.

IT’S ALMOST SHOWTIME

There's still time to take your seat before the curtains open to the Arts Centre Auditorium.

Visit www.takeyourseat.co.nz

Auckland Central +64 9 353 1220 | North Shore +64 9 358 4142 | Waiheke Island +64 9 372 5115

BEST INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE AGENCY IN THE WORLD.*

“

This accolade reflects the ongoing dedication of our teams to pursue outstanding results for our clients nationwide, and cements our position influential real estate companies.

“

as one of New Zealand’s most

Mark Harris & Julian Brown, Managing Directors, NZSIR

nzsothebysrealty.com

* 5 – 20 Offices. Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated. Browns Real Estate Limited (licensed under the REAA 2008) MREINZ.

H E R I T A G E

2019 GRANTS The Heritage Foundation is proud to support the outstanding achievements, selections and

Honor Jensenthat Award opportunities arise for our students and staff through the Student and Staff Scholarship, Sports and Arts Funds. Grant applications may be made to the Heritage Foundation via

Last year I had the privilege, along This was truly a priceless and enriching the Development Office.

Over the past year the following grants were awarded. with 23 other ‘Shaky Sponges’ from experience in so many ways. Firstly, around New Zealand, to be a part I got to work with and be tutored by of the SGNCZ Young Shakespeare acting and theatre professionals who The Honor Jensen Memorial STUDENT AND STAFF THE SPORTS FUND THE ARTS FUND Company (YSC) for 2017. On 26 June, helped me mature as an actor and Fund provides annual grants SCHOLARSHIP The Orienteering Diocesan’s Senior we travelled to London, theFUND home of develop mySenior appreciation for the team art of ‘for the advancement andHip Hop Crew was Anneke Cummack Emma Wong and forGeorgia Skelton, Jessica Sewell, Olivia enjoyment selected to compete at the NZCAF Hip Shakespeare’s very ownand Globe Theatre, Shakespeare.

Also, my dream of history and the She took part in the New Zealand Collins, Kate Ryan and Cara Bradding Hop in Schools’ National to take part in two and a half weeks of of performing on the Globe stage was classics by any member of the Competition International Biology Olympiad tutorialrealised,represented in Queenstown.

The travelling team workshops and rehearsals led by Globe in addition toNew whichZealand I played Secondary Juliet!

Diocesan School community – programme in Auckland.

Schools at the World consisted 25Girl, students.

Education, culminating in a one-hour But most importantly, it was theOrienteering friendships current student,of Old staff intook Estonia. performance of Romeo and Juliet on grown Championships and memories we away member or the School.’ the Globe’s that made this experience what it was.

Annekestage.

Cummack was selected in Elite choir St Cecilia Singers was Miss Honor was a at muchthe New Zealand team to attend the Water Polo invitedJensen to perform the National I am soThe grateful the Heritage lovedFinale history,ofLatin International Biology Olympiad in New to Zealand Youth Water The and Big English Sing in Dunedin for awarding me the Honor and teacher and Senior Mistress athighest level Szeged, Hungary in July. Anneke was Foundation Polo team competing in France having achieved at the Award – 2017, because without Diocesan forAuckland 27 years from 1937competition. a valuable member of this four-person JensonGreece Eleanor Spillane, Maddy in the regional their support wouldAllison, not have been Jackson to 1964.

Her are contribution to in the choir.

New Zealand team.

Gault, IAbby Isabella There 29 students able to go on this amazing trip.

Diocesan was and Millie Quinn.

Thank you. exceptional The Honor Jensen Memorial Fund and she supports an award for ‘the The New Zealand U-18 team travelled Talia Pua devoted advancement and enjoyment of history to Australia to compete – Jess Shorterherself to the and the classics by any member of the Robinson and Isabella Broadmore. education Diocesan School community, current The Diocesan School Hertitage and welfare student, staff member or Old Girl.’

The New Zealand Junior team attendingof the girls at Foundation welcomes applications In 2019 this award was given to Junior World Championships in for thethe Honor Jensen Award for 2018. the School.

HONOR JENSEN Rosemarie Machell, Diocesan history Contact Portugal Charlotte and Angela –Coe DDI 09 Hooke 520 9378 MEMORIAL AWARD teacher, to attend the USA Civil Rights E acoe@diocesan.school.nz Sophie Shorter-Robinson.

Tour to discover more about one of the most fascinating, devastating and ultimately inspiring periods in US history. (See article on page 26 of this issue of Dio Today)

The Honor Jensen Memorial Fund provides annual grants ‘for the advancement and enjoyment of history and the classics by any member of the Diocesan School Sienna French (trampoline), whose community – current student, Old Sarah Cooke, teacher of Year 4 in achievements over the past six years Girl, staff member of the School.’

Diocesan’s Junior School received have been outstanding, was selected Miss Honor Jensen was a mucha grant to further her study. Sarah in the New Zealand team to compete loved history, Latin and English completed her Postgraduate Certificate at the World Age Group Trampoline teacher and Senior Mistress at close onfor 8 June 2018.

School Heritage THE WOMEN2WATCH in Digital and Collaborative Learning The Diocesan Championships in Tokyo, Japan in NominationsDiocesan 27 years from 1937 to 2018 awards will be presented at a Foundation, in conjunction with in 2016 and is now working towards December.

Sienna competed in 1964.

Her contribution to Diocesan AWARDS CELEBRATE special School Assembly in July/August. the Old Girls’ League, recognises her Masters of Contemporary the individual and synchronised was exceptional and she devoted Diocesan Old Girls who are THE EMERGING Education at AUT with the support trampoline events. herself to the education and demonstrating excellence in their of the Heritage welfare of the girls at the School.

CAREERS OFFoundation. chosen fields.

Women2Watch is proudly Prudence Fowler (cycling) was OLD GIRLS AGED supported by Diocesan School’s Mehernaz Pardiwalla, Junior School Women2Watch selected for the New Zealand squad Diocesan School Heritage The Foundation invites you to 35Performing AND UNDER ON Arts Coordinator receivednominate for yourself, the Elite/U-19 Oceania Track Heritage Foundation welcomes a family member grant to complete the Kodaly Championships January in applications for the Honor Jensen 31 aDECEMBER 2018 or friend.

Nominations in are simple 2020 – Primary Training Course to obtain gold in the Award. Contact Angela Coe we onlyInvercargill. need your Prudence nominee’swon name the Australian Kodaly Certificate at and occupation; points race, gold in the team sprint, DDI 09 520 9378 the Women2Watch the Cuskelly College of Music in silverwill in the Email acoe@diocesan.school.nz committee do individual the rest. pursuit and silver Brisbane in January 2020. in the omnium. Outstanding results!

The New Zealand Women’s team competed in the World Championships in Korea – Morgan McDowall.

Women2Watch

12

DIO TODAY

For nominations and further information, please contact Angela Coe: P 09 520 9378 E acoe@diocesan.school.nz

LEADING 2

1

3

4

7

5

6

8

Amongst the recipients of Heritage Foundation grants were: 1 Senior orienteering team 2 St Cecilia Singers 3 Sienna French 4 Mehernaz Pardiwalla 5 Anneke Cummack 6 Prudence Fowler 7 A number of Dio’s premier water polo players 8 Senior Hip Hop crew

DIO TODAY

13

Look out for your next copy of Dio Today in August 2020!

Proudly supporting DIOCESAN COMMUNITY

LEARNING

“We make no apology for setting high standards and being proud of academic success.”

Margaret van Meeuwen, Head of Senior School

2019

EXAMINATION RESULTS DIO TODAY

15

May Jang

S

tudents at Diocesan School for Girls have again gained exceptional results in New Zealand’s Scholarship examinations, with a Year 13 student topping the country in classics and a Year 11 student gaining a history Scholarship after taking the exam two years early.

NCEA We have achieved some excellent NCEA results across all levels. These results are still not confirmed as we await final re-considerations, which will change things by a percentage point or two, but we are very proud of the continued success of the girls and the staff who work so hard with the girls to achieve this success year after year.

The pastoral care programmes at Diocesan have had a significant impact on these girls’ results.

When girls are unwell or struggle through the year with issues that are at times overwhelming, their teachers, tutors, deans and the counselling and nursing teams work together to make sure they can be ‘more than they ever imagined’ come November.

There are continued strong results at Level 1 with 94% of girls with a certificate endorsement, which is on par with other years. At Level 2 those endorsement rates sit at 86% and 80% at Level 3.

It is highly commendable that the girls maintain such results even as the challenge of the work increases. These results are well ahead of other similar schools (Decile 10 girls’ schools) and considerably ahead of national averages.

16

DIO TODAY

Shellie Hu

LEVEL 1

2019 result National

Achieved L1

99.4

68.0 93.8

Endorsed M

39.4

34.9 42.8

Endorsed E

54.2

20.1 46.1

Literacy

100

84.0 96.9

Numeracy

100

82.1 96.0

Decile 10 Girls

LEVEL 2

2019 result National

Decile 10 Girls

Achieved L2 100

74.2 86.1

Endorsed M

40.7

26.2 42.3

Endorsed E

45.2

16.3 38.6

LEVEL 3

2019 result National

Decile 10 Girls

Achieved L3 98.3

63.7 89.2

Endorsed M

43.9

27.2 42.0

Endorsed E

36.0 14.7 26.7

University Entrance 97.5

45.8

84.8

Emma Wong She

LEARNING

Anneke Cummack and Jemima Po

IB DIPLOMA

Arielle Friedlander

Sharon Hung

The Diploma results are also very promising where a small cohort did very well. Two girls, Shellie Hu and May Jang, achieved 40, which meant they were recognised at the National Awards in Wellington. Due to the developing COVID-19 crisis at the time, unfortunately they were unable to attend the ceremony.

SCHOLARSHIP The results from this cohort are very pleasing – a smaller number of entrants gained more Scholarships than in 2018.

The Scholarships were spread across faculties but with a strong leaning towards the arts and social sciences.

We achieved 45 Scholarships overall and several girls achieved more than one – Anneke Cummack (4) Sharon Hung (3) Jemima Po (3). Emma Wong She (3) achieved an Outstanding pass in both biology and classical studies and Scholarship in English. She was also the top student in classics in New Zealand.

She will receive her awards in Wellington later in the year. Congratulations to Emma on this fantastic achievement.

In the past three years we have had a Top in Subject and in two of the past three years, an Outstanding Scholar.

As has become typical, 13 Scholarships were achieved by Year 12 girls. It is great that the girls take up the challenge a year earlier than their cohort and in the case of Arielle Friedlander, two years earlier! Arielle achieved a Scholarship in history as a Year 11 student.

There were also some standout performances by staff: • Katherine Woods: 5/5 success rate in classical studies including a top in the country • Arima Wang: Two Chinese Scholarships out of the 27 awarded nationally

• Andre Worsnop: Three Music Scholarships out of 50 awarded nationally • English: Eight scholarships and the most of any faculty.

We continue to be very proud of the examination results of all our girls.

We make no apology for setting high standards and being proud of academic success. In fact, these results show that with the right attitude and the best support – both in and out of the classroom – such achievements are within the reach of all our students.

DIO TODAY

17

INTRODUCING THE

Middle Years Programme 18

DIO TODAY

LEARNING

O

ver the past year, as part of our strategic plan, members of the Senior School staff have been working through the process of becoming an authorised International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) school. Dio already uses the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) in the Junior School and also offers the IB Diploma programme as part of our dual pathways in Years 12 and 13. Adding the MYP will allow the Diocesan to provide a continuum of learning across the whole School.

The MYP emphasises intellectual challenge, encouraging students to make connections between their studies in traditional subjects and the real world.

It provides a framework of learning that encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective thinkers.

The MYP fosters the development of skills for communication, intercultural understanding and global engagement – essential qualities for young people who are becoming global leaders. As a framework, the MYP also allows us to continue to deliver the New Zealand curriculum achievement objectives.

“The School is pursuing authorisation, expanding its status to a three-programme IB World School.

These are schools that share a common philosophy – a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Dio believes is important for our students.”

A central part of the MYP is the Learner Profile, which places the student at the centre of an IB education. The 10 attributes reflect the holistic nature of an IB education, encouraging all members of the community to become: Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-minded, Caring, Risk takers, Balanced and Reflective. These attributes highlight that along with cognitive development, IB programmes are concerned with students’ social, emotional and physical wellbeing, and with ensuring that students learn to respect themselves, others, and the world around them. The development of these attributes is the foundation

of developing internationally minded students who can help to build a better world.

MYP teachers organise the curriculum with appropriate attention to: •T eaching and learning in context Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and the world that they have experienced.

Using global contexts, MYP students explore human identity, global challenges and what it means to be internationally minded.

•C onceptual understanding Concepts are big ideas that have DIO TODAY

19

During maths, students have been learning about the concepts of form, space and representation through an exploration of the properties of 2D and 3D geometric shapes. Teachers have guided the students to examine how geometric shapes can be found and analysed in visual art, architecture and nature.

In physical and health education, students have been learning about the concepts of relationships, interaction and environment in order to understand fundamental aspects of wellbeing. The students have then applied their understanding when designing a playground game of their own that promotes positive interactions and wellbeing for all.

As part of the Spanish classes, students have been exploring the concepts of communication, context, word choice and conventions as they have been acquiring fundamental vocabulary and language skills. The students have then applied their understanding when learning to communicate and make meaning from the new language, in both formal and informal situations with a range of different people. relevance across subject areas (key concepts) and within specific disciplines (related concepts). MYP students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically.

•A pproaches to learning skills (ATL) A unifying thread throughout all MYP subject groups, approaches to learning provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of their knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts.

Through explicit teaching, students are able to develop and apply communication, social, self-management, research and thinking skills in order to help them learn how to learn.

20

DIO TODAY

This year the School is focusing on implementing the MYP in Year 7.

Teachers have spent considerable time training, reviewing existing curriculum programmes and developing units of work in each subject group that reflect an MYP approach to teaching and learning. It has been exciting to see some of this in action in Year 7 classes in Term 1. This is just a sample of the teaching and learning that is taking place in Year 7 across all subject areas: In science, students have been learning about the concepts of change, form and models in order to investigate the scientific properties of solids, liquids and gases. This has been explored by taking part in a ‘Stranded’ game, similar to the TV show Survivor.

Diocesan School for Girls is a Candidate School* for the Middle Years Programme (MYP). The School is pursuing authorisation, expanding its status to a three-programme, IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Dio believes is important for our students. *Only schools authorised by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP), or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorisation will be granted.

For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit www.ibo.org

Le français est sublime!

LEARNING

U A G G N ES A L ACULTY F Deutsch ist wunderbar!

Lingua Latina est optima!

El español es fenomenal!

Ka rawe te reo Māori!

DIO TODAY

21

Parisian café culture and crepes for a French language class.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

Nelson Mandela

A

part from the obvious benefit of being able to communicate in a second or third language, research shows that being able to speak another language makes your brain healthier, improves memory, helps stave off dementia and keeps the cognitive muscles strong. Moreover, the skills and conceptual understandings involved in learning a foreign language develop the pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain necessary for problem-solving. This makes the skills learnt in a language acquisition environment beneficial across other learning areas. US researchers from North Western University say bilingualism is a form of brain training - a mental ‘work out’ that fine-tunes the mind. So, do your mental squats everyone!

The learning of another language also makes our students better communicators. Firstly, you can look back at your own language with a more critical insight, leading to a deeper understanding of it. Secondly, you become a better learner, because you learn how to fail, publicly and

22

DIO TODAY

repeatedly. Diocesan girls often seek to achieve perfection, but studying a foreign language helps them to understand that the world is imperfect.

Being vulnerable and comfortable with discomfort is the key to all learning.

American author and Pulitzer Prize winner Kathryn Schulz says: “Of all the things we are wrong about, this idea of error might well top the list. It is our meta-mistake: We are wrong about what it means to be wrong.

Far from being a sign of intellectual inferiority, the capacity to err is crucial to human cognition.” Experiencing this vulnerability in a supportive environment builds resilience in our students, and at the same time builds the toolkit of strategies necessary for students to make meaning, paraphrase and ultimately communicate in the target language. Resilience is one of the skills employers particularly value in today’s society, but it is difficult to teach it in a world where everything is attainable instantaneously.

Diocesan’s strategic direction emphasises the values of empathy and respectfulness. Nelson Mandela said, “If you talk to a man in a language he

understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” In the language classrooms, our students are required to appreciate and show respect for the culture, country and people whose language they are learning. They develop an understanding that other cultures and people are not ‘weird’ or ‘wrong’ – they are just different.

Our students are encouraged to acknowledge different perspectives and bring to life the Diocesan values; by empathising with cultures and peoples different from their own, they are taught how this works in real life. In turn they will be able to demonstrate respect towards others, who, with their differences, are also ‘right’.

Technology provides a myriad of tools that we can use to learn languages.

The interactive nature of apps can be engaging and support the learning that takes place in the classroom. It is, however, important to acknowledge the limitations of some new technologies.

While Google Translate can convert words from one language to another, the nature of language with its

LEARNING Making origami birds and practising script in Japanese classes.

DIO TODAY

23

“Language learning at Diocesan provides our students with the knowledge and skills to engage across cultures and languages.

It helps learners to successfully navigate the world with the necessary cultural agility that will characterise the future of work and society.”

nuances, connotations and untranslatable words means that it cannot yet go beyond an approximation of the intended meaning. Such mechanical translations can lack intercultural understanding and we run the risk of communicating without being able to convey the empathy and respectfulness for peoples and cultures that we so desire.

Diocesan has recently made the decision to introduce the Middle Years Programme (MYP) of the International Baccalaureate, providing a link between the existing Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the Diploma Programme (DP) in the Senior School. The IB has as part of its mission, “… to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.” To this end, learning a foreign language is a requirement throughout all years of the MYP in an effort to foster international mindedness in our young people. Similarly, the IB Learner Profile endeavours to develop students who are open-minded, balanced and principled and, as language acquisition teachers, these attributes are dear to our hearts.

In New Zealand, respecting cultures and languages is imperative. We are a bi-cultural nation and Auckland is a cultural melting pot. We are surrounded by such a range of ethnicities, and it is vital to respect and celebrate this.

International Languages Week takes place in June and provides us with the opportunity to celebrate the diversity that surrounds us at Diocesan. The week will be marked by fun events, restaurant visits, cooking by language students and will culminate in the annual Languages Trivia Quiz. Planning is also underway for future trips to Spain, Japan and Nouméa.

In May this year, Diocesan planned to host the IB Speaker Series with Louka Parry presenting to IB teachers from across New Zealand on the topic of Enabling Tomorrow’s Global Citizens. His ability to speak five languages undoubtedly impacts on his

24

DIO TODAY

LEARNING Above: Students in the colourful te reo area Below: Winners of the annual Languages Trivia Quiz Below right: Traditional German potato salad and sausages on the menu for these Year 10 German students.

presentation in which he aims to deepen our understanding of how we might better equip young people to work from their strengths, to develop empathy and perspective taking, and to be agile in their cultural interactions. Due to the COVID-19 situation, unfortunately this presentation is unlikely to go ahead.

Diocesan aspires to produce students who can demonstrate intercultural understanding and be the difference in our global society. This vision, in

conjunction with the IB’s philosophy, underpins the language learning experiences of our students. We want our graduates to be able to engage across cultures and languages, demonstrating the necessary empathy and respectfulness that will be required in the future of work and society worldwide.

Footnote: Due to the COVID-19 situation, the activities mentioned above may not take place as planned.

DIO TODAY

25

LOOKING AT CIVIL RIGHTS

through black eyes

D

IO

V IS IT S

...

United States of America

History teacher Rosemarie Machell was the 2019 recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s Honor Jensen Memorial Award, the proceeds of which she put towards an educational trip to the United States.

She reports on the experience here.

I

was fortunate to take up the opportunity to join an educational trip with teachers from all over New Zealand to the USA last September, looking at black civil rights through black eyes. We were there for 16 days for what proved to be a very informative and, at times, confronting trip. One of the great benefits was making connections with other teachers, all of whom teach the topic of Black Civil Rights in their senior history courses.

Initially, we had four days in Washington DC, where we visited the White House and the Supreme Court. A memorable highlight was a visit to Ford’s Theatre,

26

DIO TODAY

where President Lincoln was shot while watching a performance. While in Washington we undertook a bicycle tour around the wonderful monuments, starting with the Washington Monument and finishing at the Lincoln Memorial, the place where the march on Washington took place in 1963. This was where Martin Luther King made his famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech. Our guide was a young history teacher who was also a keen cyclist. The visit to the Holocaust Centre in Washington DC was particularly emotional for all of us.

We flew out of Washington to the city of Atlanta, which was our first real taste

of the South. While there, we explored the Centre for Civil and Human Rights, and from there we visited Martin Luther King’s boyhood home. A highlight was a tour of CNN and the chance to try our hand at news announcing. From there we continued our travel in two vans, visiting five states – Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, leaving for home from Dallas, Texas.

Our stay in Montgomery, Alabama was very enjoyable as we experienced genuine southern hospitality. The Rosa Parks Museum was well worth the visit, and we found some excellent coffee (almost as good as in New Zealand!)

LEARNING

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, informally known as the Lynching Memorial, Montgomery, Alabama.

Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, Alabama.

along the route of the bus that Rosa Parks took when she refused to give up her seat. The Legacy Museum and the Lynching Memorial were both very emotional for all of us. The city of Montgomery was a lovely clean city, albeit extremely hot.

If I were to pick a significant place connected with what I teach in the Year 11 Level 1 history course, it would be the visit to Selma, Alabama and walking the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the footsteps of those African Americans who were campaigning for voters’ rights. We were led by a ‘foot soldier’ who, at the age of 15, was on the bridge on Bloody Sunday 1965. It was disconcerting to learn that voting restrictions have been put in place in some states relatively recently!

Selma is quite a poor, run-down place, but the people were very hospitable and happy to spend time with us. While there, we also attended a talk by a woman who belonged to the Daughters of the Confederacy. Interestingly, this talk took place in a Confederate cemetery, and she talked about the restoration work that the ‘daughters’ now undertake in their cemeteries.

In the city of Birmingham, we visited the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four little girls lost their lives when the church was bombed after a civil

“Our stay in Montgomery, Alabama was very enjoyable as we experienced genuine southern hospitality. The Rosa Parks Museum was well worth the visit. The Legacy Museum and the Lynching Memorial were both very emotional for all of us.”

rights march. We spent the afternoon travelling to Sumner, Mississippi, where the trial of Emmett Till’s murderers took place. Till was a teenager who was lynched in 1955 for speaking to a white girl in a shop. Needless to say, those responsible left the court free men!

During the journey to Memphis, Tennessee, we experienced a two-hour scary drive through a storm, the likes of which none of us had ever seen, and we were all very glad to arrive at our hotel. While there, we visited the place where Martin Luther King was shot. The motel has been incorporated into the National Civil Rights Museum, and the room where Martin Luther King was staying can be viewed as it was on that day. A trip to Memphis would not have been complete without a diversion to Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home.

Another significant learning experience was visiting Little Rock, Arkansas and Central High School where the Little

Rock Nine students attended the first integrated school in 1956. We were fortunate to spend time with Elizabeth Eckford, who at that time, suffered much harassment outside the school when she was separated from the other eight black students. My Year 11 students had studied and written an essay on this event, so visiting the actual school gave me a real value-added experience that I can incorporate into my teaching of this topic.

We finished our tour in Dallas with a visit to Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated. The museum there was another excellent museum.

I am grateful to the Diocesan Heritage Foundation for contributing to this meaningful opportunity; this trip will continue to inform my teaching, enabling me to share my experiences with my history students. Black Civil Rights is a topic they find particularly interesting.

DIO TODAY

27

From the

CLASSROOM to the

STAGE W

e are proud to have an impressive and long-standing tradition of music-making at Diocesan. Our choirs, orchestras and chamber groups are top-notch, and we regularly feature in the list of awards in regional and national competitions.

But another genre in the Music Department is making great strides too – our contemporary music scene.

With opportunities to develop skills in and out of the classroom, our students are becoming confident performers and songwriters who feature regularly in the national competitions.

For most students it starts in the Year 8 music classroom. Each student learns a rock band instrument and works in a group to prepare a popular song for performance to the class. A focus on collaboration, cohesion and confidence underpins the musical skills that are developed throughout the unit.

From Year 9, students can choose music as an option. Approximately half the students are songwriters or band members (many others are classical or instrumental musicians), and they can develop their composition and

28

DIO TODAY

performance skills, as well as their musical knowledge in music classes right through to Year 13. Students have the opportunity to spend time in the custom-designed practice rooms in the Arts Centre (all our level two rooms are set up for bands to use) and our cutting-edge digital recording studio, which many use to produce music for national song writing competitions such as Play It Strange.

Outside of classes we also have a thriving band programme – Jam Factory. Developed a few years ago due to the growing interest in bands, Jam Factory provides expert mentoring to bands to help them develop skills that prepare them for BandQuest and RockQuest competitions.

In recent years we have had several students embark on careers in commercial music, proving that the experience they have at Dio not only enthuses them about music as a career, but also helps to develop the skills that make it achievable.

Our technical specialist Sam Cunningham says: “Each year since the completion of Diocesan’s recording facility, more and more of our students

“With opportunities to develop skills in and out of the classroom, our students are becoming confident performers and songwriters.”

and bands are entering the studio to record their own compositions.

With the help of a strong music programme, alongside great mentors, students are composing increasingly strong material and winning finalist spots in local performance and songwriting competitions.

“When students enter the studio for the first time, there’s always a mix of excitement and nerves. Seeing all the fancy equipment and hearing the strange isolated acoustics is a novel experience for many. But as the microphones are turned up and the guitars plugged in, they quickly leap at the challenge to have their performances immortalised.

LEARNING DIO TODAY

29

“First takes are usually a bit rough, as students learn to perform in a new way, hear themselves back for the first time and play without the adrenalin of a live audience or low pressure of a rehearsal.

However, after a few run-throughs, they are soon enjoying the process, locking into the groove and capturing some of their finest work.

“There is great value in being able to offer our students a state-of-the-art recording facility at Diocesan. Students can now capture their compositions in a quality comparable to that of a professional recording studio. But more than that, they can learn about the recording process firsthand as well as learn how to play more precisely as individuals and more cohesively as a group. With a range of topquality equipment, we can capture every nuance of a student’s voice or instrument in pristine multitrack quality.

This allows students to hear back all the things they miss when practising or playing live. Being more aware of what they are doing often results in an improvement of technique, sense of timing and quality of sound – skills that greatly aid them as they move through the music programme here at Diocesan and onto playing outside of school and recording in professional studios.”

ARTIST PROFILES ASH WALLACE Ash is half of the successful duo Foley. In mid-2019, Foley released their fourth single Can’t Help the Way, which landed the pair a prestigious APRA Silver Scroll Nomination and hit #2 on the Official New Zealand Hot 20 charts.

The track was also playlisted on ZM for eight consecutive weeks. The pair now have over three million streams and have featured across multiple global DSP playlists, including Spotify’s New Music Friday and Apple Music’s A-List playlists.

Ash first joined a band at Dio in Year 8. After several years of climbing the podium at RockQuest, the band, Vivid went on to place third in the national finals. Ash has degrees in music and commerce and currently works for NZ On Air in the music team, facilitating funding schemes and promoting New Zealand music.

Her career highlights so far include opening for Six60 and playing festivals such as Spring City, ACL and Rhythm and Vines. She shared some thoughts with us about how Dio influenced her music career.

Ash Wallace performing at Spring City.

“I had always been drawn to the arts in general and dabbled in performance with theatre and drama, but it hadn’t felt quite right. Once I started learning guitar and piano, and discovered my love for songwriting, the opportunity to collaborate with other people was really exciting! It all started in Year 8 music class – I remember absolutely loving that class and just wanting to play in a band non-stop which was when I joined Vivid, my high school band for the next five years!

WHAT IS THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF MUSIC IN NEW ZEALAND? Despite some negative perceptions, the reality is that the music industry is thriving.

It is estimated that in 2017 the New Zealand music industry directly contributed $292m to national gross domestic product (GDP), and $639m in total (after accounting for multiplier effects).

It directly contributed over 2,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs, and over 5,500 FTEs in total.

The music industry is steadily growing in both economic and employment metrics.

2017

2014

0

2250

4500

Employed directly by Music Industry 2017 - 2533 2014 - 1754

30

DIO TODAY

6750

Employed indirectly 2017 - 5535 2014 - 4295

9000

LEARNING Feijoa Funk Left to right: Sarah Casey, Liv Couillault, Ally Quatermass and Eloise Cameron-Smith.

“The friends that I made in Vivid are life-long and that has to be a highlight for me. We took part in Smokefree RockQuest a few times, and slowly improved and crept up in the competition. When we finally came third nationally, and our hard work had paid off, it was an incredible feeling! Playing those shows was such a highlight because it was our first taste of real audiences and high-quality gear. It ignited my hunger for live performance and bonded the four of us in the band as mates.

“I have so many takeaways from my music studies that have been crucial in my career so far. As much as Mr Worsnop will probably chuckle because I hated music theory, it’s been the key to opening up a world of songwriting for me.

“I also think the collaborative nature of music classes helped me to be open to working with other musicians really early on. A massive roadblock that I see in so many artists is their inability to collaborate, and it can be a real career hurdle to try and open themselves up to other ideas. Placing an emphasis on the importance of working together so early was amazing, because now when we write songs there are always at least three to four people working together.

“Taking music as a subject also really solidified for me that music was a

legitimate career path. A lot of the time that isn’t presented to school-age students as a viable option but in reality, it’s actually a thriving industry! Music has allowed me to travel locally and internationally, and there are plenty of jobs out there! Don’t be fooled!”

LIV COUILLAULT A more recent Dio graduate, Liv has been involved in a range of music since a young age. Inspired by the Year 8 band programme, Liv and her friends formed the band Renegades. After rebranding as Feijoa Funk, the band went on to the national video round in RockQuest and recorded their own EP in the Dio studio. Liv is currently completing a degree in Contemporary Music at the University of Sydney.

“Choir was the first thing that drew me in when I started primary school. I was excited by the fact that I could sing with my friends, and I loved performing and singing solos. This continued to be one of my main musical passions throughout school, however, when I got into high school, I became more interested in contemporary and musical theatre and was excited to be able to start my own band. Liv had this to say about her music journey.

“Taking music as a subject was never a question for me, it was a certainty because it was something I always enjoyed. In class I had a lot of practice

performing all styles of music as part of a group and on my own. This is definitely where I found my interest in contemporary music and the desire to be in a band. It also gave me the freedom to perform songs that I enjoyed beyond my singing exam and choral repertoires. Being assessed in class also created more opportunities for feedback from my peers and teachers, some of whom turned out to be very influential on my passion for music. I always loved English and creative writing through high school, which definitely led to my love for writing songs and assisted my creativity in music.

“Being involved in music has helped me develop skills that have improved my performance and musical identity, but also skills that have helped me in all areas of life. I have learned the importance of punctuality and being prepared so that you can feel confident and show respect, organisation and composure. Through performances, my self-confidence has been challenged and strengthened. Often, making mistakes and putting myself outside my comfort zone led to a change in perspective and helped me open my eyes to new opportunities. Becoming comfortable with performing on my own has led me to seek out more challenging repertoire, new people to collaborate with, and to be ambitious with the goals I set for myself.”

DIO TODAY

31

New Zealand’s tallest forest tree, the kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), also known as the ‘white pine’, once dominated forests in swampy lowland areas.

The

KAHIKATEA Project

32

DIO TODAY

Whakatauki E tu kahikatea, hei wakapae uroroa Awhi mai, awhi atu, tatou, tatou e.

Kahikatea stand together; their roots intertwine, strengthening each other.

We all help one another and together we will be strong.

This was our inspiration for our Kahikatea project as part of our work in ensuring that Dio is a place of belonging.

STARTING OUT We value hearing from our students about how we can be more effective in their education. Following a review of tutor time with staff and students, we launched the Kahikatea Project in 2019. Students felt strongly that more needed to be done to integrate year groups. The (then) Year 12 students felt they were more than capable of leading others in the School when they were in Year 13 and they wanted the opportunity to help make better connections. They suggested that with all that they had learnt about goal setting through the years, they could lead others across year groups in this, and encourage them to share and support each other in realising their goals.

At this point we enlisted the invaluable help of one of our parents, Andrea Duncan, whose professional interest in the growth and development of people in the corporate world, has helped us to determine the skills and competencies our girls will benefit from in the future.

Andrea’s input into our Year 13 students was sharing with them what she knows their potential future employers are looking for. Skills such as the ability to connect quickly with others, to challenge, to collaborate and be open to continual learning are vital in organisations today. We feel strongly that giving our students this opportunity in our safe environment is an ideal way to support their growth in moving forward.

For our younger students, our hope is that they will gain from their peers leading them in this way, seeing Dio citizenship in action while learning to be open in sharing more about themselves across year levels.

Kate Burkin and Lynn Tonking

LEARNING

LEARNING CURVE We learnt a great deal in 2019 from our initial launch with small groups from Years 9 to 13. Through the year we worked with a lead group of 16 Year 13s to plan the Kahikatea Project group sessions and get their feedback. We stressed that this was a learning curve for us all, and their honesty and willingness to take risks as the lead group was an insightful part of the process.

By the end of 2019, we had learnt that: •T he girls missed goal setting with their tutor teachers. They missed the conversations around this and the challenges their tutors presented to them – in most cases, from the relationships built over many years.

•W e needed to remove any devices from the Kahikatea group meetings and not seek information to be shared on an online platform – face-to-face communication was the key.

•N ot all girls felt it necessary to connect with others. Some felt that they had their group of friends and knew what they wanted, so listening to the thoughts of others was not helpful for them.

•W e needed to keep the Year 9s in their tutor groups and work from Year 10 upwards, and that the Year 13s preferred to lead in pairs.

•W e needed to home in on the ability to connect first, build trust and move away from goal setting to thinking about long term habits.

MOVING FORWARD Moving forward, we revised the purpose of the Kahikatea Project 2020 to focus on students In Years 10 to 13 engaging in their own learning and getting the best out of their year by connecting and being open to learning from others. It was clear that taking responsibility for their own learning and being able to articulate how they were doing this by habit changing was going to be the key.

We challenged our Year 13s to consider why connections and contributions are important and to think about their role as both leaders and citizens. In this way they could learn to contribute positively to the world and therefore ‘be the difference’. If we are to actively value the opportunity to lead Dio in creating citizenship, then it is important that we continue to develop the idea of giving back to others with a sense of purpose.

DIO TODAY

33

FEEDBACK

What have you learnt about others?

We asked a cross section of Years 12 and 13 students to share their thoughts about the project so far this year, knowing that we use their voice to try to continually improve our work.

“I have learnt that students are more open to talking to other year levels when they are placed in the Kahikatea groups, which has helped the different year levels to bond. Usually the students across year levels wouldn’t really get to know each other unless it was for an extracurricular activity, and this helps bring them together. I have also learnt that we all have more in common than we thought.”

What have you learnt about yourself?

“Through being a leader of a Kahikatea group I have found it interesting getting to know people I otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to connect with. Although it is good learning new things about them, I do find it quite difficult being put with a group of people you don’t know and being expected to find similarities and things to talk about.”

“I have learnt that even though I’m just a participant, I am comfortable carrying on a conversation. And that I can make people feel more at ease by changing the way I act slightly.”

“I have learnt about many girls’ interests outside of school and loved seeing some of the younger girls’ excitement when talking to the older girls.”

What actions would help moving forward?

“I think that it would be interesting to spend time doing things outside of just discussion, like throwing a netball around at the courts while we talk in order to get active, which would increase our bond.”

“Maybe, if the girls in the groups were encouraged by their tutor teacher/tutor captains to have an open mind about the project, this might help general conversation flow better within the group.”

What could you do to strengthen connections being made?

“I could be more inclusive of others and also be more open to welcoming new people, as well as expressing myself more and putting myself out there instead of waiting for others to reach out first.”

“Ensuring when we are asked a question to always respond and if no one is answering to not be afraid to be the first to answer. Also, equally important is to listen to everyone with the respect that I would want, to make sure that everyone feels that they are being heard.”

KEY MESSAGES Our key messages so far have been around why it is important to connect and how best to cultivate connections in the Kahikatea groups by: •B uilding rapport - reducing differences at a subconscious level •H aving a mindset of curiosity - interest in others, being open to learning from others •A sking questions - leading to deeper understanding •A ctive listening - engaging the brain, body language, noticing how things are being said or what is not being said.

•B eing a good role model - showing others the way and encouraging everyone in the group to build connections •B ringing energy and enthusiasm - to get the conversations started and keep them going.

JUNIOR SCHOOL

LEARNING

Our place

KĀINGA

T

his year the Environment Team is continuing to work hard to limit the amount of single-use plastic in our School and wider community. They have familiarised themselves with the harmful effects of plastic in our environment, the long-term effects and ways to reduce and reuse.

The Junior School Enviro Team Left to right Beatrix Sharpe, Tyler Orrick, Alice Lott, Lucy Forman, Ruby Sue Howlett, Isla Watkins and Ania Kramarz.

“This year I wanted to be an environment leader because I want to take action about what is happening to our planet and I think that we should all take more care. I want to change things by making inspiring projects and posters! I am taking walks on Wednesdays and Fridays instead of travelling by the car. I have flowers and vegetables in my garden and my house. I also take three-to-fiveminute showers to save water and I recycle plastic and do beach clean-ups.”

Ania

The Enviro Team monitors litterless lunches in the Junior School weekly and have created a number of initiatives to encourage students to be litter free and sustainable.

In conjunction with the Senior School Environment Team we have been running a very successful walking school bus that allows parents to drop their daughter off and they can walk to school as a collective group. Through our PYP programme, the girls have developed a passion to reduce the amount of carbon emissions in our world and have made the links to the way we travel to school.

Around our Junior School we have some garden spaces that we monitor and look after. This year we have grown a large number of tomatoes and beans that provide a delicious lunchtime snack. The planter boxes out the front of the Junior School provide a beautiful pop of colour to our School environment and we have been watering these daily.

“I am in the Environment Team because I really care about the environment and having a sustainable future. I want to have clean air to breathe and clean cool waters full of fish. By being in the Environment Team I can show others how we need to look after the environment.”

Alice DIO TODAY

35

Island E

OTC is the term used to describe curriculum-based teaching and learning that extends beyond the four walls of the classroom. EOTC can range from a museum visit to a sports competition, an outdoor education camp, or a trip to a rocky shore. EOTC can also take place in the school grounds, in the local community, or in regions further afield, including overseas. Links that students are able to make between the classroom and real-world experiences can be critical to their long-term learning.

EOTC is an essential part of school life in New Zealand and at Dio. We are indeed fortunate to be able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the wider community and the environment.

Camp experiences give students the chance to learn in a variety of contexts in order to gain the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values required to enjoy a healthy lifestyle, take responsibility for their own safety, form positive and respectful relationships with their peers, teachers and accompanying adults, and importantly, the environment. Staying away from home for a few nights is a powerful way of developing key life skills and provides opportunities for learners and teachers to strengthen their relationships. Such experiences contribute to deepening students’ awareness of key competencies, principles, and values while bringing

36

DIO TODAY

learning areas alive in real-life contexts.

All year levels in the Junior School are involved in EOTC experiences.

spent time on the island planning the experience for the girls with the help of the Hillary Outdoor Centre.

This year, Year 6 EOTC focused on personal challenge, developing teamwork, appreciating New Zealand’s unique diverse environment, environmental awareness and future thinking. Great Barrier Island was an ideal location to embark on team challenges, learn about sustainability, as well as instilling a love and appreciation for nature. Towards the end of last year Nicole Lewis, Dean of Year 6, and our EOTC staff member, Rebecca Abbott,

Orama Oasis at Karaka Bay on Great Barrier Island was a new camp for us, and it provided many exciting opportunities for the girls. Throughout the week they took part in a range of activities including high ropes, flying Kiwi, creek challenge, stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, the 3km Harataonga loop hike, Glen Fern Sanctuary and future-thinking tasks where, in groups, the girls had to create their ideal utopia, a sustainable island.

LEARNING

High ropes was such fun!

We climbed a huge cargo net, which was really hard because the net kept swinging. Then we did the Flying Kiwi – I ran off the cliff while everyone pulled me back and I felt like I was flying. It was amazing!

Zoe Elliott-Forster-Clampitt

DIO TODAY

37

HOW TH April Hou

WORLD ORKS W

In my Future Thinking session, we did some problem-solving activities.

We had to design an environmentally friendly, sustainable island. Mine had solar panels, and a railway connected to a water turbine so we didn’t have to use fuel to power the train. We also thought about using lamps with glowing algae.

E

Central idea • Access to finite and renewable resources can impact the world around us Lines of inquiry • Humans have a role to play in world resources • Energy production is connected to our everyday lives • The impact renewable and non-renewable resources have on our planet Key concepts • Form – what is it like?

• Function – how does it work?

• Change – how is it transforming?

Learner profile • Thinker • Knowledgeable Approaches to Learning • Thinking skills

My group went on the creek challenge with lots of slippery rocks for us to try and get over. One of our challenges was getting down really low and crawling through the caves. I found it quite easy, so the instructor told me to try going backwards! This was my favourite activity because I love climbing rocks and it made me feel so good.

Rosie Ward

38

DIO TODAY

LEARNING

My group went to the wharf and all together we paddled on the paddle board out to the pontoon, where we did lots of team challenges. It was so much fun, and I really liked the way we all supported each other and took risks together.

This was my favourite activity of the day!

Poppy Donald

Today was exciting because on the hike I got to learn more about nature. I had to think about where I was stepping. When someone in my group was finding it hard, we encouraged them, and made up songs to help each other climb up the steep parts. We saw some beautiful views and when we got to the top, it felt like we were on top of the world!

Ruby Ogg DIO TODAY

39

Right: A wire loop tunnel called ‘The Hang’ will allow the more adventurous students to crawl out of the tower at the top.

ADVENTURE

PLAYGROUND

s e k s h a e a p t

W

ith the recent removal of the majestic Norfolk pines between Centennial Building and the Junior School, Dio committed to turning the area into an outdoor learning and recreational play space for our Junior and Junior High School girls. Senior girls will also be able to utilise the modern playground equipment for sport strength training.

Stryde Landscapes began work on the project on 6 December and although it was due for completion during the April holidays, this has been delayed because of the nationwide lockdown situation.

The concept was designed after workshops with the Junior School Enviro Council, staff, Board members and Boffa Miskell, our landscaping consultants. Our students told us they wanted musical instruments and a

40

DIO TODAY

place to explore nature and gather with friends. They also wanted to have climbing frames, monkey bars and balance beams. Their main playground would have a huge tower with slides and be adventurous. These ideas formed the foundation of the detailed design, which features five different play elements over three sites.

The main tower structure and adjoining agility trail provide challenge, balance and strength building for the girls. This space will also be used by our many sporting teams for training before and after school. Much of this equipment has been fabricated in Europe and has many different elements to give variety in how the tower is accessed, for example by ropes, ladders, stairs, and climbing frames. There is an added wire loop tunnel called ‘The Hang’ which allows the more adventurous students to

crawl out of the tower at the top – a first in any New Zealand playground.

At the end of the main play space is the music area where you will find the melodic Babel drum, bongos and xylophone. There are areas for students to gather with other instruments, and the new wave seating under the existing pagoda provides space for spectators.

From this area we are led by a zebra crossing into the woodland, which is designed for natural exploration. A trail through a mulch-based forest leads students to three gathering areas and along the way there are logs, balancing beams and boulders. Over time we will reintroduce our skink and weta farms for scientific study.

For our smaller students, there is a purpose-built playground with a wooden structure, bridge, slide and

LEARNING

“This huge new development, which sits over the space once occupied by two giant Norfolk pines, will provide endless hours of play and valuable learning for many years to come.” climbing challenges. Adjacent to this will be our Stage II addition of a water play element. In order to maximise the play aspect, it will be accessible on all sides for multiple students to interact simultaneously. The equipment will comprise stainless steel basins, a water pump, Archimedes’ screw and water reticulation.

Taking some of our students through the playground during the construction, we were thrilled to hear squeals of delight as we entered the forest play

space. Having never had access to this area, the girls were excited at having a natural wonderland to explore. They loved the secluded nooks and foresaw younger students making ‘potions’ and looking for fairies! Our girls couldn’t wait to get into the music space and looked forward to asking their beloved Miss Pardiwalla to have some music lessons outside. In fact, the girls are looking forward to using their ‘golden time’ to take a book outside for some quiet reading with so many different spaces to choose from.

However, the biggest drawcard was the amazing five-metre tower with its stainless steel ‘Hang’. They couldn’t wait to scramble up and play their various games throughout the structure.

Diocesan gratefully acknowledges the Dio Parents and Friends’ Committee who have generously donated to this project, which is being carried out in two parts, with the water play element being installed later this year.

And if you are wondering what we did with the old playground, we gifted it to Te Papapa School in Onehunga.

See over the page for more images and details of the overall adventure playground area.

DIO TODAY

41

Diocesan School

for Girls

The main tower The main tower structure and adjoining agility trail provide challenge, balance and strength building for the girls.

Diocesan School for Girls

Diocesan School for Girls

Agility trail This space will also be used by our many sporting teams for training before and after school.

42

DIO TODAY

The woodland forest LEARNING

The woodland has been designed for natural exploration. A trail through a mulch-based forest leads students to three gathering areas and along the way there are logs, balancing beams and boulders.

Junior School playground For our smaller students there is a purpose-built playground with a wooden structure, bridge, slide and climbing Diocesan School challenges. for Girls

Play area

Diocesan School for Girls Play area

Water play feature The Stage II addition of a water play element will be accessible on all sides for many students to interact simultaneously. The equipment will comprise stainless steel basins, a water pump, Archimedes’ screw and water reticulation.

DIO TODAY

43

L IVIN G CHAPLAINCY

44

DIO TODAY

LIVING

BEING COURAGEOUS

in the face of vulnerability

A

t our Sunday services over Term 1 I have been recounting for students, staff and parents who have attended an incident that occurred while I was on a tour in Morocco over the Christmas holidays. It was something that made me feel extremely vulnerable and pushed me to the point of tears of shame and embarrassment.

My intention in sharing the experience was to highlight a few different points. Firstly, that we all experience moments of vulnerability when we feel exposed and as though we wish the ground would open up and swallow us; secondly, that vulnerability is not something to be ashamed of, but something to be acknowledged and embraced; and thirdly, that we all have choices around how we respond to feelings of vulnerability. I told the same story to the staff, Year 11 and 12, Year 7 and Year 9, and then moved on to a different focus about vulnerability with each group.

As many of you will know, Brené Brown has become something of a guru with her research into shame. Her TED Talk entitled ‘The Power of Vulnerability’ has been viewed on YouTube over 12.6 million times. She really challenges those of us who like to hide from our vulnerability and keep it hidden from everyone else. Brown says that people whose lives are full of meaning and purpose are the people who have the courage to embrace their vulnerability, to understand how it influences their behaviour and to choose to respond in ways that allow them to be real.

It would be fair to say that most people fear vulnerability and try to avoid it or hide it whenever possible. Each individual person has their own learned set of ways of doing this – our own

personal armour that we hide behind.

This personal armour we have builds up walls around us and often leads us to respond in ways that damage relationships, distancing us from others.

We might become defensive or claim we have been offended, or we might retaliate with comments that cause another to feel extremely vulnerable.

It is important to acknowledge that these responses are natural and are part of the human defence system that we used in our distant past to protect ourselves and keep ourselves safe. It is also important to acknowledge that, in this day and age, they are usually unnecessary and most often unhelpful.

When I started this series of sermons about vulnerability, I had no idea about the Covid-19 virus and how it would impact the world. Over the past couple of months, the centre of the spread has moved from China to Europe to the USA, and we have cases here in New Zealand as well. As the spread has escalated in other parts of the world it has been easy to see, within our communities, how people have responded to their feelings of vulnerability as fear has overtaken people’s rational thinking. Immediately the toilet paper, rice, pasta, and tins of spaghetti all flew off the supermarket shelves. There were photos of people with trolleys piled high with toilet paper. There was a video on one of the news websites of a physical fight between two women in an Australian supermarket over toilet paper – one woman had her trolley full of packs of toilet paper and you could hear the other woman screaming that she just needed one pack. Sometimes when we feel vulnerable in the sense of potential threat to our lives, we go all out to protect ourselves and those we love at the expense of others, whose need

may indeed be greater than our own.

At times like this, when we are all feeling vulnerable, when we are not able to control the situation, the words of Jesus can help guide our responses.

In Matthew’s Gospel we read: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

Matthew 22:37-39 To allay our fears and vulnerability we would be wise to focus on those in our community who are at greatest risk.

At this stage it seems clear that those who are losing their lives because of this virus are mostly over 60 years of age and already have a health condition.

Do we know who lives around us? Do we have elderly neighbours who might be afraid and in need of being checked in on? Could those of us who are younger and less likely to be seriously negatively impacted go and get their groceries for them? Do we know people who don’t have family who are in selfisolation? Maybe we could drop a nice treat off at their door or phone them for a chat so that they don’t feel so alone? There are always people who are in greater need than we are and there is always something we can do to ease the load for others. As everyone is feeling vulnerable at this time, it is also important to think about how we behave towards those people who do already have the virus. One of the first people in New Zealand to be confirmed with Covid-19 experienced sustained and abusive bullying on social media.

This sort of behaviour is certainly not showing love for your neighbour. When some people feel threatened and when DIO TODAY

45

Something that might help to diffuse the anxiety and vulnerability around the current situation is talking about it. When people feel threatened and afraid it is good to be able to voice that by saying to a friend or family member, “I am afraid,” and then explaining why, what the fear or anxiety is about.

Talking about it gets it out into the open where we can look at it from a more objective perspective. When we share our fears with others, we can receive empathy and care. However, adults are notoriously bad at sharing their fears and vulnerabilities with others, often preferring to try and maintain the appearance of being in control. It is at times like this that we need a strong sense of community, which comes from trusting each other. We trust each other a lot more when we all acknowledge our vulnerabilities.

After 20 years of research into the area of vulnerability, Brené Brown says that vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, accountability, and authenticity. All things we are in need of right now all across the globe. Now is a time to be courageous and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, to show love for each other and to think outside our own fears and needs to consider those who are most needy. It is a difficult time for some people in terms of fear and anxiety, for others with the financial cost to the tourism and hospitality industries, for those with feelings of isolation, who may be separated from their families in other countries. What we need is the courage to be kind and generous, to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. I found the prayer printed here on Instagram and I hope you will find it helpful as we move through this journey together.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui.

Reverend Sandy Robertson, Chaplain 46

DIO TODAY

Prayer for a Pandemic May we who are merely inconvenienced remember those whose lives are at stake.

May we who have no risk factors remember those who are most vulnerable.

May we who have the luxury of working from home remember those who must choose between preserving their health and making their rent.

May we who have the flexibility to care for our children when their schools close remember those who have no options.

May we who have to cancel our trips remember those who have no safe place to go.

May we who are losing our margin money in the tumult of the economic market remember those who have no margin at all.

May we who settle in for a self-isolation at home remember those who have no home.

During this time when we cannot physically wrap our arms around each other let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God to our neighbours.

Amen.

Credit to krugthethinker on Instagram

tensions are running high, there can be a tendency to react before having all the facts and then make accusations that are unfair and unsubstantiated. If we come from the perspective of a person of faith in Jesus Christ, we must act with love and grace rather than reactionary judgement. Most people understand the seriousness of the situation and would not knowingly infect another person.

JUNIO R

LIVING

SPORT

AS POPULAR AS EVER!

t Diocesan Junior School our after-school sports programme is as popular as ever.

The girls choose from a wide range of options including non-competitive sports – athletics, playball, tennis and triathlon, and competitive team sports – cricket, flippa ball, futsal, gymnastics, hockey, netball and ski racing.

This year we have received over 300 student registrations for competitive sports and our programme comprises 47 teams, supported by over 60 coaches, 47 team managers and some volunteer umpires.

RTS PO

A

HOOL C S S

Mini polo girls at training.

We love seeing our girls out on the turf, court, slopes and in the pool, giving their best and supporting each other.

Team sports have proved to be a hugely beneficial part of the co-curricular programme. It offers us the opportunity to grow great girls by helping them to progress their friendships, learn new physical skills and develop personal attributes such as good sportsmanship, commitment, resilience and good effort.

On top of this, the fun factor is a major draw card!

DIO TODAY

47

FLIPPA BALL

Vibrant & progressive

Year 6 players with coaches Val Vergara and William Stables.

JUNIOR HOCKEY PROGRAMME

A focal point for 2020 This year we are excited to introduce a new format, facilitated by head hockey coach, Will Stables. Will has an impressive background in hockey both as a player and coach. He was previously co-captain of the Capital U-21 men’s team, winning the New Zealand U-21 Championships, and has coached in the MX Hockey Academy.

This year he is working closely with our new Dio hockey Sports Manager, Jason Butcher, who is one of New Zealand’s leading high performance and development coaches.

Together with Jason, we are providing a junior hockey programme highly targeted towards developing the correct foundation technical skills. We have

48

DIO TODAY

revised our structure and development content and have been working with our external and student coaches to provide a top-class junior programme. We are also working closely with Jason to align our junior and senior programmes so we can successfully transition our Year 6 girls into full turf hockey in the Senior School.

Up to 100 girls play hockey at the Junior School level and a record 220 senior girls takes our hockey population to around 320 players in total. This makes hockey one of the most popular codes at Dio. We love seeing our juniors out there learning and having fun, and we are very proud when we see them continue to develop and go on to represent our School.

Our flippa ball community is flourishing with a continuous improvement approach. We have introduced a new and improved development format and our head coach and Dio Old Girl, Hannah Ngare, does a fantastic job delivering this with our coaches. This year we have also brought in Charlotte Worth, an experienced water polo coach at Atlantis Club, Neptunes and Baradene College. She is facilitating our mini polo programme for the older junior girls. Our aim is to provide a fun and valuable programme at all levels from Years 3 to 6 and ultimately to provide a strong bridge for our Year 6 players transitioning across into Year 7 water polo.

In Term 1, our juniors took the opportunity to come along and support our senior Dio premier team at several games – they continue to dominate in the pool and are currently New Zealand national champions. Many of our senior players coach our juniors and the connections between young and old are very rewarding, with a strong culture and community that our junior girls love.

LIVING

NETBALL

A NEW WAY OF WORKING

Years 3 to 6 futsal players.

Dio Dynamites, Dodgers, Dragons and Dazzlers Sounds like the stuff of myth and legend and perhaps it is! Our futsal programme is as popular as ever.

Having grown from just a handful of girls a couple of years ago, we now have four teams comprising girls from Years 1 to 6 competing in the Auckland Futsal League. Our girls love this code because it’s relaxed, fast and exciting, with lots of touches on the ball. Our teams compete throughout the year

SKI RACING

so there’s plenty of opportunity for development and progress.

Our Dio Intermediate (Years 7 and 8) futsal team continues to do well; last year they took out the gold medal at the AIMS Games in Tauranga.

This certainly seems to have inspired our Dio junior Dynamites, Dodgers, Dragons and Dazzlers who continue to shine on the pitch.

A huge jump in numbers

We are very excited that Courtney Tairi, ex-Silver Fern, has come on board as our junior head netball coach in 2020. Her role includes facilitating the development programme, providing content and mentoring coaches. She brings a wealth of knowledge and has a magical touch with our juniors.

Courtney has facilitated our pre-season sessions and she has planned some fresh and exciting initiatives to lift the quality of our development programme.

Our aim is to provide lots of fun; include all, develop our girls well and ultimately send them off to intermediate seven-a-side netball with strong foundation skills.

Netball is a very well subscribed code with up to 100 girls playing at the junior level in 12 teams.

On top of this, our senior netball programme has now reached 40 teams, so we have a total number of over 450 girls playing netball at Dio, making it our largest code.

There’s a fair amount of excitement and enthusiasm on our courts! We love seeing the girls having fun and learning in such a positive community.

Over recent times our junior ski racing programme has seen a huge jump in numbers. Last year we took three teams to the NIPS Ski Racing Championships at Mt Ruapehu and the numbers have grown again this year, with around 25 skiers attending our race programme at Snow Planet. This code provides an excellent opportunity for our skiers to come together and compete, supporting each other in a very exciting environment. Our ski racing families are fabulous and there’s a lot of support for our young racers.

DIO TODAY

49

Presenting...

AVA TINKLER 2020 SPORTS PREFECT

I

joined Dio as a very energetic, determined and overly competitive Year 7 who wanted to be involved in as many sports as my mum (also known as my personal chauffeur and number one supporter) would let me join. Over my 13 years of school I have tried out around 14 different sports, ranging from cricket to touch rugby to dragon boating and everything in between, discovered some strengths and most definitely some weaknesses. I was able to learn about myself in abundance, including that the pool is definitely not my forte, but most importantly participation in these extracurriculars helped me realise how big my love and passion for sport is.

Sport has always played an important part in my life.

Throughout my primary school years until about Year 8, my future career choices alternated from wanting to be the next Mo Farah to a professional basketball player, to wanting to join the Silver Ferns.

Even though I have now learnt that the average height for a WNBA player is six feet and I stand at 5’7, the dream is most definitely still alive!

I have definitely been a die-hard sports girl since Year 7. If you don’t find me on the courts, you will either find me on the sidelines screaming my head off or attempting to breakdance in the School mascot Margot’s costume.

I love to be out supporting with my very loud voice nearly as much as I love to be amongst it all on the courts. That’s the beauty of sport, especially here at Dio – it involves you in our great sporting community.

50

DIO TODAY

LIVING

What does it mean to be Sports Prefect?

Our crew went in as the underdogs but our determination and competitiveness got us over the finish line with a gold medal, making us the first crew to beat Epsom Girls’ Grammar in 15 years.

I’m very proud to be the Sports Prefect this year, particularly considering the amazing sportswomen who have been in this role in previous years. I try to give 110% whenever I am playing, so I’ll be trying to carry that through to my role as Sports Prefect. You will definitely see – and most likely hear – me on the sidelines loudly supporting the Dio teams.

How do you balance sport with other commitments?

What sport/s do you participate in?

Once I worked out that I don’t have sufficient time to play 13 different sports all at once, I have chosen to go into Year 13 playing and participating in tennis, netball, dragon boating and basketball.

How did you get into sport?

Both my parents and my siblings are very keen on sport, so getting into sport was a given. I was signed up for swimming first, then when I discovered that swimming in a pool with my dad wasn’t my favourite thing, my parents continued to sign me up for a different range of sports until I found something I loved and that’s when I discovered netball and tennis at the ages of five and seven.

What (or who) has been your greatest influence?

My greatest influence for me has definitely been my older sister Zoe who graduated in 2018. Zoe and I have participated in many of the same sports over the years, so she has provided me with some healthy and ‘friendly’ competition. She is always my biggest rival on the court but always my biggest supporter, my favourite sister (sorry Mia) and my best friend off it. Even though she is now a Dio Old Girl living in and studying at Otago, she still manages to support me in every way possible, push me to do my best, teach me valuable lessons (mostly), and also influences me to try new things all the way from the South Island.

“If you don’t find me on the courts, you will find me on the sidelines screaming my head off or attempting to breakdance in the School mascot Margot’s costume.”

What positives do you get out of participating in sport?

Sport has opened up a whole new range of opportunities for me, including being fortunate enough to play representative basketball and to medal at a national tournament. More importantly it has introduced me to a whole range of people who share similar passions, some of whom are now my best friends.

Sport teaches you a number of valuable life lessons; perseverance in pushing yourself to succeed, being humble when you do succeed and being gracious in defeat when you don’t succeed.

What is your biggest achievement or proudest moment?

My proudest moment would be last year at Karapiro, winning a gold medal at the dragon boating nationals for the 200m small boat race.

I would definitely say my organisational skills. I live by my Dio diary, and also my brightly coloured highlighters keep me organised with important dates and reminders, which help me keep track of where I need to be.

Sport is important to me and I get a whole lot of enjoyment out of the various sports that I’m involved in, but unless I’m able to make it on the ATP women’s tour, which is looking unlikely at this stage, I do try and balance my sporting activities with my school work.

What is your vision for Dio Sport in 2020?

Our School’s theme this year is Ngākau Nui, which translates to ‘big hearted’ and follows the idea of supporting other people’s passions, drawing in the idea of having a big heart.

My vision for Dio Sport in 2020 is to build on the strength of the Dio sports community by following the School’s theme in bringing Ngākau Nui into Dio sports; all Dio teams playing with ‘big tickers’ (big hearts), giving our best, never giving up, supporting each other and having some fun along the way whether we win or lose (but preferably winning!), whatever our chosen sport.

We can all get involved in Dio sport whether supporting on the sideline or actually playing in one of our teams.

A great chance to see this in action across the School is when we play visiting schools and even the Dio and St Cuthbert’s shield matches.

Let’s go Dio! DIO TODAY

51

ATHLETICS DAY On Tuesday 20 February the annual Diocesan Athletics Day was held at Trusts Arena in Henderson.

T

he day was scorching hot – and the effort from all the girls was remarkable. The first event featured the 1500m runners, with the excitement rising as the competitors arrived decked out in their house colours.

Suzannah Kennelly (10CW) once again beat both her own records in discus and shot put and can now add the School record for high jump to her list of achievements.

With the house relays concluding the day, the stands were full and, judging by the noise, the competition between the houses very evident.

At the end of the day it was Selwyn that came through as the victorious house, taking away the coveted House Athletics trophy.

Many thanks to all our staff helpers who made the day such a success. Congratulations to the overall winners from each age group.

HOUSE WINNER

After a day of excitement and tough competition, Selwyn House emerged the winner – here deputy House leader Summer Wilson gives the ‘thumbs up’.

52

DIO TODAY

YEAR 7 1st Hannah McManus 2nd Sophia Haines 3rd = Mackenzie Roxburgh, Freddie Hatton

LIVING

YEAR 8

JUNIOR

INTERMEDIATE

SENIOR

1st Jacqui Nasrabadi

1st Suzannah Kennelly

1st Maddie Kelso-Heap

1st Arabella White

2nd Elly Lau

2nd Chloe Luo

2nd Bella-Rose Mountfort

2nd Lucy Bannatyne

3rd Kate Wyber

3rd Alexandra Fletcher

3rd Lucy Shennan

3rd Lucy McKinnon

DIO TODAY

53

ATHLETE profiles

Some of our top athletes are achieving great results in national and schools’ competitions.

ARABELLA WHITE Our overall senior girls’ champion Arabella is certainly one to watch. After placing first at the Auckland Cross Country Championships, she went on to nab 10th place at the Auckland Secondary Schools’ competition. A credit to her achievement, Arabella was named in the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Cross Country team.

This year Arabella is looking to medal at the Secondary Schools’ Cross Country Championships, continue representing New Zealand in Australia, and head to Slovakia for the Schools’ World Cross Country Championships.

54

DIO TODAY

MADDIE KELSO-HEAP Overall intermediate girls’ champion Maddie is looking to finish her season off strong. Maddie placed second at the Colgate Games in the 800m, second at the Auckland Championships in the 300m hurdles as well as putting in a stellar performance as part of the Dio Junior 4x100m relay team.

Next up for Maddie is the New Zealand Track and Field Championships, the North Island Secondary Schools’ Championships and then ending her year at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Athletics Championships. With her eyes on wearing the silver fern, Maddie looks set to smash some new personal bests this season.

LIVING

BELLA-ROSE MOUNTFORT Auckland Championships 100m and long jump finalist Bella-Rose gained some new personal bests during this athletics season and it’s looking like the year will be a busy one.

Bella-Rose plans to focus on surf lifesaving, while going to the junior open days, Auckland Championships and the national Secondary Schools’ Championships.

Looking to continue to get faster and run sub-13 seconds, Bella-Rose hopes to also place at the Auckland Championships and make the 100m final at the nationals.

AMELIA GREEN Placing third at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Championships, distance runner Amelia has had a great season. Amelia also locked in a win at the Auckland Championships in the 3000m and placed third at the North Island Championships.

Short term, Amelia hopes to place in the top 10 at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Cross Country Championships, and to finish in the top three at the Secondary Schools’ Road Race and in the top five in the 3000m event.

Long-term, Amelia’s love for running will hopefully see her achieve some new personal bests as she looks to represent New Zealand in the future.

SUZANNAH KENNELLY Suzannah has had an incredible few years, going from strength to strength in her athletic career. Taking out junior champion at our Athletics Day, Suzannah has broken club records in both the shotput and discus and placed second in discus and third in shotput at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Championships. She was also the top 12-year-old athlete at the Grade 12 and 13 Inter-provincial meet.

As well as a host of other achievements, Suzannah is hoping to win the U-14 discus at the Australian Athletics Championships, and place in the top three in the shot put. She also looks set to break records at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Championships and hopes to represent New Zealand at the Youth Olympics in 2022.

DIO TODAY

55

S C DIO TODAY

2020

PS

56

H

G

M M I PIONSIN WAM HI

LIVING

OU

YEAR 7

RS

R

WI N N E

1st Frankie Dodunski 2nd Celest Vo 3rd Emma Li Senior School Champions Back row Nicole Lockie, Jesse Welsh, Arabella Duncan. Front row Louise Masefield, Alice Waldow, Aimee Crosbie, Lucy McKinnon, Eva Allan, Suzannah Kennelly.

YEAR 8 1st Molly Sherrard 2nd Madi Clark 3rd Abby Welsh

JUNIOR 1st Arabella Duncan 2nd Suzannah Kennelly 3rd Louise Masefield

INTERMEDIATE 1st Aimee Crosbie 2nd Jesse Welsh 3rd Eva Allan

SENIOR Year 8 champions Left to right Madi Clark, Molly Sherrard and Abby Welsh.

O

n Friday 7 February, we saw some of our top swimmers across all age groups compete at an outstanding level at the annual Swimming Sports Championships for Years 7 to 13.

Aimee Crosbie continued to amaze everyone, breaking her own records in Intermediate 100m freestyle and 100m individual medley. Lucy McKinnon, our breaststroke champion, broke records in the 100m breaststroke and senior 50m breaststroke, while stand-out competitor Alice Waldow broke the School record for the 50m butterfly event.

Our Year 7 championship saw Frankie Dodunski taking first place, Celest Vo second place and Emma Li third. In Year 8 Molly Sherrard picked up the highest number of points taking first place, Madi Clark second and Abby Welsh third.

Woven in with the championship events were some fun house relays and non-championship finals that had the stands filled with house spirit and support for the swimmers.

Year 7 champions Celest Vo (left) and Emma Li (right) with Principal, Ms McRae. (Absent from photo Frankie Dodunski)

Up-and-coming swimmer Arabella Duncan led the way for the junior age group, earning the maximum number of points for the age group.

Suzie Kennelly took second, closely followed by Louise Masefield in third. As usual, Alice Waldow didn’t disappoint, taking the top spot for the senior age group. The rest of the podium was tightly contested, with Lucy McKinnon second and swimming co-captain Nicole Lockie in the third spot.

The intermediate age group was a fierce battle with Aimee Crosbie leading the pack. The national gold squad member broke records and was our ‘Champion of Champions’ (the School’s overall swimming champion) for the second year in a row. Jesse Welsh nabbed second place in this age group with Eva Allen completing the set.

Thank you to everyone who helped make the day so successful.

Congratulations to all finalists.

1st Alice Waldow 2nd Lucy McKinnon 3rd Nicole Lockie

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS Aimee Crosbie

HOUSE PLACINGS Years 7 and 8 Championships 1st Roberton 2nd Mitchelson 3rd Cowie 4th Cochrane 5th Eliza Edwards 6th Neligan 7th Selwyn 8th Mary Pulling Years 9 to 13 Championships 1st Cochrane 2nd Mary Pulling 3rd Neligan 4th Eliza Edwards 5th Roberton 6th Selwyn 7th Cowie 8th Mitchelson

DIO TODAY

57

&A Qwith

JASON BUTCHER

&

MAXINE HUGHES

This year the Diocesan Sports Department welcomes two new members – Jason Butcher and Maxine Hughes.

M

axine joins us from Macleans College in Auckland as Assistant Director of Sport.

Macleans was familiar ground for Maxine – she represented the school in rowing, basketball, water polo, touch, netball and volleyball when she was a student there. After graduating with a Sport and Exercise Science degree from AUT, she returned to help develop a number of sports, primarily basketball and rowing.

Jason joins the School with an extensive background in high performance and development sports coaching and programme and athlete management. He holds advanced coaching accreditation with Hockey Australia and the Federation of International Hockey (FIH), is an accredited

58

DIO TODAY

educator with the FIH and also holds performance analysis and strength and conditioning accreditation.

Jason may be known to some of the parents from his time in Auckland as Auckland Hockey Association’s Technical Director, where he led the Association through the most successful period in its history. Most recently he has spent the last seven years back in his home state of Western Australia acting as the High Performance Manager for Hockey Western Australia.

Both Jason and Maxine offer a new range of skills and experience to the Sports Department and we look forward to seeing them excel.

Jason Butcher

JASON BUTCHER

Where did you grow up and how did you get into hockey?

I grew up on a dairy farm in the Ferguson Valley, a couple of hours south of Perth in Western Australia.

At school we had a principal who was a passionate hockey coach, our school produced lots of great players and we were the strongest school in the region while he was the principal.

Who was your biggest role model in sport?

My father played over 300 games of AFL in the local country league and then had an extensive coaching career; from this, amongst other things, he was named and honoured as one of four icons of South West Football.

He was and remains the greatest man I have ever known, it is a great privilege to be his son.

You have had a pretty extensive coaching career. Who or what inspired you the most on your journey?

I played in the AHL in hockey and also played State League level AFL so I played sport at a high level, which you take forward with you but mainly I just love the process of helping players grow and also building teams with great cultures and then seeing them create their own success and stories because of the strength of that culture.

What is your best memory about school sport growing up?

I always loved going to Perth for country week where our regional

Out of all the places you have travelled to for hockey, what was your favourite and why?

I’ve been lucky enough to see most of the world through hockey and the world’s full of lots of amazing places but I’ve always loved going to Malaysia and also India.

In a nutshell, what is your vision for hockey at Dio? Use hockey as a vehicle for everyone to have a better life, equip our students with the fundamentals of the game in a holistic fashion and an understanding of how to contribute to a team positively, whilst ensuring they have the best opportunities and support available to chase their dreams.

If you could give your 16-year-old self advice, what would it be?

There would be a fair bit of technical advice that would’ve helped me develop into a better player, but mainly not to get overwhelmed and hung up on selections and identifications and just focus on learning, getting better and enjoying being part of a team and playing.

Outside hockey, what are your other passions/hobbies?

I read a lot, I like surfing – especially with my son – and enjoy riding my motorbike, but mainly just spending time with family.

MAXINE HUGHES

When you were in high school, who inspired you?

LIVING

“I just love the process of helping players grow and also building teams with great cultures and then seeing them create their own success and stories because of the strength of that culture.”

district would play all the other country areas each year. We didn’t get outside of our country area much when I was growing up, so being in Perth and the whole carnival atmosphere was pretty exciting.

I would like to be part of developing the sports programme at Dio and growing the students into well-rounded athletes and leaders. Eventually I’d like to be involved with teams overseas and work more in athlete development. I think that working at Dio will give me great experience in both these areas.

Why did you decide to work in the Dio Sports Department?

I decided to work at Dio because I had seen what the culture at the School was like from the outside and thought it would be a great place for me to be part of a team that helps grow students, both as athletes and as people. The staff are all passionate about their work.

“The culture of the School makes the girls proud of what they are doing and it’s great to be involved in helping the girls reach their potential.”

Maxine Hughes

What is different about working at Dio? The support from the School for the athletes is great to see, with the students being able to complete academic obligations as well as compete as athletes to a high standard.

The culture of the School makes the girls proud of what they are doing and it’s great to be involved in helping the girls reach their potential. The team environment within the Sports Department is also unique to the School and is fantastic support for the student athletes.

There were some great teachers and coaches at my high school who provided me with some inspiring guidance over my years at school.

My family have also been a great support system and encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do.

What is your favourite sport to play or watch?

What are your goals for the next five years?

Outside working in sport, I enjoy travelling, music and reading.

I enjoy playing a range of sports including netball, basketball, touch and volleyball.

What’s your favourite thing to do away from sport?

DIO TODAY

59

PERFORMING ARTS

RISING TO THE

CHALLENGE With the cancellation of so many arts events at national and international level; including festivals, competitions, exams and prestigious courses for secondary students, it has been amazing to witness the drive and creativity that has emerged on digital platforms to keep the passion alive. Dio girls involved in our arts programmes have risen to the challenge and we are proud of their connectivity through dance, drama and music during these uncertain times.

Staying connected through the arts has made it possible for programmes to continue during lockdown and with the opening of our new theatre later in the year, we know these highly motivated students will appreciate, like never before, the opportunities this fabulous multi-disciplinary facility will offer.

Shelagh Thomson, Director of Performing Arts.

Arts Prefects From left to right: Jessica Woo, Lucy Bartlett and Anna Casey.

ARTS COUNCIL T

his year’s Arts Council prefects bring a wealth of knowledge across all arts genres to the table and they have an exciting vision for this year’s Arts Council – Tuwhera, to be open.

Since starting at Dio 13 years ago, Anna Casey has always been very involved in the arts. This year she is leader of the Symphony Orchestra, and is also a member of the Chamber Orchestra, Senior Choir and is the alto 2 section leader in the St Cecilia Singers choir. Anna is participating in two chamber ensembles as part of this year’s NZCT Chamber Music Contest – as the violinist in the Nino Rota Trio and as violin 2 in the Dio Octet.

Anna received a NZQA Scholarship in music in 2019, a year that also saw her achieve Grade 8 with Distinction in violin.

60

DIO TODAY

As one of this year’s Deputy Arts Prefects, Jessica Woo brings a wealth of experience across the disciplines. As well as being leader of the Chamber Orchestra, she has been a member of both the Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra since Year 9, is a Grade 8 violinist, and performed as first violin 1 for the musical ensemble of the Diocesan/ Dilworth musical Beauty and the Beast. In addition to this, she is performing in the Dio Octet as part of the NZCT Chamber Music Concert and is a member of the premier advanced debating team.

Lucy Bartlett has loved being involved in the arts throughout her 13 years at Dio. She has been a member of Dio choirs every year since the

Junior School through to Year 13 and feels very fortunate to have been given the roles of Deputy Arts Prefect as well as Deputy Senior Choir Leader. She has been a member of Dio’s St Cecilia Singers for the last three years and was chosen to play one of the lead roles in this year’s Dilworth/Diocesan musical Little Shop of Horrors.

We asked the girls some questions, and record their responses here:

What positives do you get out of participating in the arts?

There is a certain buzz that comes from participating in the arts. It is not often that you are part of a group that gives you such a strong sense of community.

It also provides a huge amount of balance to our day-to-day lives. It

LIVING

“Our goal is to reinforce the positive environment in the arts, to be welcoming and to encourage everyone to get involved.” is something we can get motivated for, as well as something that we can use to relax. There is also something unique in the bond that forms between members of our arts groups, and the feeling of us growing and improving together throughout the year is not only rewarding but also an absolute highlight of participating in the arts.

How do you balance your busy schedules?

Time management is key! As long as we have planned and noted important dates for both schoolwork and extracurricular activities, we are able to balance things nicely. The School is also great at ensuring that we are not over-committed, and the staff are always there to assist, guide and help if and when needed. They are particularly mindful of when we have assessments, and supportive during these periods.

What’s your vision for the arts at Dio this year?

This year is going to be such an exciting one especially with the opening of the Dio Arts Centre. We have decided that the theme for this year’s Arts Council is Tuwhera, which means to be open and we are excited to make the arts more accessible through this vision in 2020. Our goal is to reinforce the positive environment in the arts, to be welcoming and to encourage everyone to get involved. Through this, we want to explore what it means to be openminded, open to new ideas and open to developing ourselves as performers and artists. The addition of our beautiful new theatre will have a huge impact on the arts at Dio, and we really want everyone to feel that they are part of this big moment in our School’s history.

Left to right: Hazel Francis, Chielin Xu, Charli Collard and Hannah Flacks.

CELEBRATING OUR SINGERS Four Year 13 students, Hazel Francis, Hannah Flacks, Chielin Xu and Charli Collard successfully auditioned for the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir at the end of 2018.

This is a huge achievement, as this choir is chosen bi-annually through a tough audition process across the country.

Rehearsing since 2019, this national choral programme has seen its participants from around the country meet for a total of four courses across a two-year period.

The last week of this year’s January school holidays was NZSSC’s final week of singing, rehearsing and

performing – this time in Hawke’s Bay – in preparation for the choir’s international tour to Europe in April.

Sadly, the tour was unable to go ahead, but we would like to commend our singers on their level of commitment and dedication; many weeks of rehearsals and concerts have gone into making this national choir the esteemed ensemble it is.

We are also very proud that Dio’s Director of Choirs, Rachel Sutherland, is the Assistant Director and Vocal Consultant for this ensemble and are confident that we will have the opportunity to hear NZSSC 2019/2020 perform in the near future.

DIO TODAY

61

NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS FOR TALENTED DIO MUSICIANS Year 12 flautist Helen Kim has not only been successful in her audition for this year’s New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Orchestra, but has also been appointed as co-principal flute, a wonderful achievement.

Another talented Year 12 student to be accepted into this prestigious ensemble is trumpeter Jessica Marshall. She will join Helen in representing Diocesan at a week-long intensive course held in Christchurch.

The course offers its young musicians the opportunity to participate in a variety of practical sessions and is a significant training ground for young players aspiring to become professional musicians. The course culminates in two public performances

of symphonic works, and this year will be conducted by renowned female conductor Natalia Raspopova.

Jessica also successfully auditioned for this year’s New Zealand Youth Symphonic Winds – New Zealand’s premiere concert band for young people aged between 16 and 24.

Directed by Australian conductor and mentor Dr Kevin Cameron, this national ensemble holds week-long intensive courses and concerts in Auckland in January and in Wellington in July. It is a great achievement to be accepted into such a prestigious programme for talented musicians.

We are very proud of these girls and wish them every success this year.

Emma Qiu (left) and Zoe Zhu (right).

ATCL DIPLOMAS At the end of 2019 we had four ATCL (Associate Trinity College London) diplomas attained by students at Diocesan; Lauren Dunne and Olivia Maxwell for speech and drama, and Emma Qiu and Zoe Zhu for music.

Emma achieved ‘distinction’, an incredible result for our (then) Year 12 student.

Helen Kim (left) and Jessica Marshall (right).

62

DIO TODAY

Emma and Zoe agree that this qualification has opened up so many new avenues, from performance through to teaching opportunities both privately and as part of a Music Education Centre. It has also assisted them in gaining confidence and recognition as young musicians, introducing them to a world of other music genres such as jazz and blues, and has equipped them with the necessary musical tools to become professional musicians.

Sophie van der Meijden

Jessy Berman

LIVING

Imogen Bowkett

Top dancers achieve

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL STATUS Sophie van der Meijden (Year 9) has been selected for the Dance Masters International (DMI) Intensive Training Programme for 2020/2021. She has also been awarded a one-week scholarship to attend the Chilton Ballet Academy in Wellington, as well as being accepted into the LOcREaDO Dance Programme for contemporary/ lyrical/commercial dance in Auckland this year.

Jessy Berman (Year 13) competed in the Evolution Dance Competition national finals on the Gold Coast in January. This competition is the culmination for the finalists chosen at the regional competitions held throughout Australia and New Zealand. Jessy achieved an astonishing result: top-five placings in her solos in contemporary, lyrical and jazz.

Rylie Wilkinson

While on a ballet scholarship at Saba Ballet’s Summer Intensive, Rylie Wilkinson (Year 11) received another Performing Arts Scholarship to ED5International, Australia’s premiere full-time performing arts academy in Sydney. Rylie has also been accepted into the LOcREaDO Dance Programme and was set to spend March and April being trained by Australian choreographer Loredo Malcolm. Rylie was re-selected to be in the Associate Programme at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington where she will major in classical ballet. She has also been asked to join company dance training with Diamond Entertainment, based in Auckland.

age in the Auckland regionals. She placed first in lyrical, second in contemporary, third in the open category and fifth in jazz at the finals. Imogen also won the jazz and lyrical duo categories, as well as receiving an additional Judges’ Choice Award, and a scholarship to a week-long intensive at ED5International in Sydney.

In January Imogen Bowkett (Year 12) also competed in the Evolution Dance finals on the Gold Coast. Having received the overall highest scoring as soloist for her

We congratulate these talented dancers on their achievements, the reward of long hours of dedication and discipline.

DIO TODAY

63

Hilda’s Brisbane gra duation photo. Lef t: Tadem a New ton Studio photo of Hild a L’Estrange (Auckla nd, NZ).

O ‘Their deeds do follow them’ One of the pleasures of working in the School Archive is learning about the often extraordinary lives led by our Old Girls.

64

DIO TODAY

n 17 February Dennis and Margaret Donovan came all the way from Brisbane to visit the Archive.

Margaret’s mother Hilda L’Estrange (Sharp) attended Diocesan from 1918 to 1920 after a year at St Cuthbert’s and four years in state schools. Hilda’s father was a self-educated mercantile manager who led his family from Sri Lanka, where Hilda was born, to Australia, Canada, the Western United States, Tonga, Auckland, Virginia and back to Australia.

Letters show that both Hilda’s parents were intelligent supportive parents who encouraged her to engage with her education to her best advantage.

In one letter back to her father, Hilda went so far as to say that her school of the moment was no good and asked her parents to relocate her!

Diocesan must have been a good fit.

Hilda boarded in Cowie House while her father was working in Tonga and her mother living across the harbour in Calliope Road, Devonport. Not much is reported in the Chronicles, but in 1918 Cowie House Notes mentions that the House was hoping to present a play written by Hilda in the last term.

Margaret found a copy of this play in her late mother’s papers. Essentially it is a retelling of the story of Greek hero Ulysses coming home to his wife Penelope after his years of wandering.

Doubtless inspired by the School’s

In 1924 Hilda was enrolled in Brisbane Girls’ Grammar, where she completed her schooling and where she served as Head Girl in 1926. From Girls’ Grammar, Hilda went on to earn a BA degree from the University of Queensland – Margaret tells us she would have preferred a BSc but sadly not all universities allowed women to undertake this degree back in the 1920s and ’30s. Instead, having settled in Australia, Hilda trained at the Queensland College of Pharmacy and Chemistry, graduating as a pharmacist around 1933, a profession in which she worked to support herself and her family when widowed relatively young with six children. She lived into her eighties and is remembered with great affection.

Curiously, Margaret knew very little of her mother’s wandering childhood, but clues have been found amongst the long-kept letters and documents Hilda left behind her. In visiting the School, Margaret and Dennis were delighted to retrace some of Hilda’s steps in School House, the Hall and St Barnabas’ Chapel – buildings her mother would have known and would still recognise were she here with us today. The Donovans will continue putting the story of Hilda’s childhood together and we look forward to sharing more of this adventure with them.

News of another extraordinary Old Girl came to us last year in an obituary published in The Times in September last year. Elizabeth Austen Burchfield (Knight) was enrolled at Diocesan from 1941 until the end of 1945. In 1950 Elizabeth graduated from the University of Auckland with a BA degree and then headed for Great Britain as so many other graduate New Zealanders before her and after.

Austen-Knight, brother of writer Jane Austen. Like her famous ancestress, Elizabeth went on to make a career for herself in the literary world, securing a job as a publicist with the Oxford University Press. In 1976 she surprised everyone when she married fellow New Zealander Robert Burchfield, an accomplished lexicographer and chief editor of the Oxford Dictionary.

The two continued to live and work in literary circles, amassing a significant collection of New Zealand literature, and entertaining luminaries like poet Philip Larkin who regarded Elizabeth as both friend and mentor.

A devoted stepmother and stepgrandmother, she encouraged her grandchildren with gifts of books – usually accompanied by notes as to the particular merits of each volume while taking great care to see that no-one received the same book twice!

In retirement Elizabeth and Edward lived in a converted barn in the Oxfordshire village of Sutton Courtenay – a fitting dwelling for Elizabeth – a wise old bird and great admirer of the local barnowls. Edward passed away in 2004 and Elizabeth lived out her last few years in care, but despite loss of shortterm memory, would often return to the poems and verses learnt here at Diocesan in her school days.

LIVING

presentation of Euripides’ Trojan Women just a few years earlier, the play is a remarkable work for an 11-year-old, and clearly one of a number of prized photographs and mementos of her time at Diocesan.

Hilda L’Estrange and Elizabeth Burchfield are just two of our Old Girls whose lives of devotion, high professional achievement and service have only become known to us in passing. ‘How many more stories are we yet to discover?’ is a question that keeps life in the School Archive full of interest.

And we look forward to discovering more of our unsung heroines as we journey on into the new decade.

This obituary originally appeared in The Times

Elizabeth retired in 1986 having become head publicist for the Oxford University Press’ academic division.

However, she continued voluntarily to edit the Friends magazine of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

on 21 September 2019 and information from it is printed courtesy of The Times (Readers’ Lives).

Above and right: Elizabeth Burchfield

In England Elizabeth connected with her distant cousins at Chawton in Hampshire – all descendants of Edward DIO TODAY

65

BUSY TERM 1

2020 has started out as a busy year for Parents & Friends with two important events and exciting developments underway.

A Above: 2019 End-of-year Cocktails.

66

DIO TODAY

quick look back – it was with great pleasure that the Parents & Friends’ Committee hosted the annual year-end Cocktail Party in November 2019. This was a wonderful gathering to bring together parents and staff in celebration of our daughters’ achievements. This also provided the perfect opportunity to present our $150,000 donation towards the building of the new outdoor recreational areas surrounding the Junior School and Centennial Building. A second donation of $100,000 will be given to the School upon completion of the project in Term 2, 2020.

These newly developed spaces have been designed to benefit both the junior and senior students, providing exercise, recreation and learning spaces outside the classrooms. By making use of otherwise untouched spaces behind Centennial Building and reclaiming the areas that were previously fenced off around the Norfolk pines, the School has extended to the students more grounds for outdoor enjoyment and learning. Parents & Friends are proud to be a significant sponsor of this development.

LIVING Left: New Parents’ Cocktails 2020 Above and below: Welcome morning tea and picnic 2020.

Speaking of outdoor fun, the year kicked off in late January for the Committee with the hosting of the annual Morning Tea and Welcome Picnic for all new students. Despite rain overnight and a cloudy morning, the sun once again showed up in full force for this fantastic day and we enjoyed providing morning tea and lunch to many excited new students and their families.

Our cafeteria staff also started a busy year in January as we farewelled Belinda Brown, our long-standing cafeteria manager in 2019. Belinda worked in the

cafeteria as our manager for eight years and helped to grow a place for students to get a healthy meal, snack on the go, and see volunteering parents in action every day. We wish Belinda all the best in her future endeavours. In turn we have welcomed in a partnership with &Sushi and are working closely with Food Chain, two businesses dedicated to supplying our café with high quality, delicious and nutritious options for our students and staff.

The New Parents’ Cocktail Party in mid-March gave our committee

another opportunity to host our new families in a friendly and welcoming environment. As so many new parents see little of the School past the traffic lines of the drive-through, this is a great evening to get to know each other and share experiences with one another as Dio families.

As always we welcome any parents interested in joining our team of volunteers to please touch base with us at PFA@diocesan.school.nz.

Robin Bell, President DIO TODAY

67

L I F E LON G F R IE N DS

Above: Jenny and her husband, Charles, at the 2019 Dio Graduation Ball with their daughter Eleanor.

Members of the Diocesan Old Girls’ League with Margaret Van Meeuwen, Heather McRae and Lynn Tonking, Year 13 dean.

President’s column I am so very grateful for the hard work that our Dio Old Girls’ Committee members put into everything they do for the League. The care and attention that Committee members Emma Cleary and Tania Fairgray put into organising the 2019 Graduation Ball are worthy of not only my thanks but also the gratitude of all 368 guests at the event.

As always it was a very special evening for everyone there and all the more auspicious for me (and fellow Committee members Sarah Couillault and Mel Eady) because I got to welcome my eldest daughter to the wonderful alumnae that is the Diocesan School Old Girls.

Much of the Committee’s hard work goes into organising our very important events like the Grad Ball, the Bryan Bartley Golf Day and the Senior Old Girls’ Morning Tea. However, with such a close connection to a freshly minted Dio Old Girl, the Grad Ball gave me pause for thought – what can we do to serve all our alumnae?

I am not the only person pondering this question. Committee member Penny 68

DIO TODAY

“The Dio Old Girls’ community is big – in fact, it’s massive – it is full of strong and compassionate women who are doing all sorts of amazing, caring and marvellous things.”

Tucker works tirelessly thinking of ways that we can improve and enhance the connectedness of our Dio Old Girls.

When I addressed the glamorous guests at the Grad Ball, I asked the graduates to remember one thing that sparkling evening: the Dio Old Girls’ community is big – in fact, it’s massive – it is full of strong and compassionate women who are doing all sorts of amazing, caring and marvellous things.

Recognising that it will mean different things to them at different stages in their lives, I asked the graduates, when they are ready, to lean in to the Old Girls’

community because, no matter how long we were each at Dio, we are all Dio Old Girls and we care for and serve each other.

Now I ask the same of you. We want to serve our whole Old Girls’ community – young, old, New Zealand-based or international – but we can’t do this alone and we need your help. We are continually working on the picture of what that ‘service’ looks like, and this has never felt more important than in our current pandemic world. Service may take the form of mentoring young Old Girls or current students (even from afar) or simply ensuring an elderly Old Girl or parent of an Old Girl receives their groceries. The Old Girls community wants to help. If you know of someone who needs help in this environment of lockdown and isolation, or if you have any ideas of other League initiatives, please get in touch. You can email either Penny at pennydtucker@gmail.com, me at spillanej01@gmail.com or oldgirls@diocesan.school.nz.

Ut Serviamus.

Jenny Spillane, Old Girls’ League President

LIFELONG FRIENDS

UPCOMING EVENTS

Due to the uncertainty that Covid-19 has created, the following events may or may not go ahead on the dates listed. If any of these events need to be rescheduled, we will notify the Old Girls’ community via our Facebook page or in the next issue of DIO Today.

DIOCESAN OLD GIRLS’ LEAGUE COMMITTEE CONTACT DETAILS Email oldgirls@diocesan.school.nz for all enquiries.

PRESIDENT Jenny Spillane (Orsborn) M. 027 603 6990 VICE PRESIDENT Melanie Eady (Perkins) E. melanieeady@me.com TREASURER

SENIOR OLD GIRLS’ CHAPEL SERVICE AND MORNING TEA Tuesday 1 September Chapel of our Glorified Lord and the Diocesan School Hall. Invitations will be sent to all Old Girls who left school in 1969 or earlier. If you have friends who may not be on our database, or whose contact details may have changed, please encourage them to email oldgirls@diocesan.school.nz so that we can remain in touch with them.

Felicity Buche (Olson) P. 09 521 8387 SECRETARY Amber Oram (Railley) M. 021 757 504 FELLOWSHIP SECRETARY Emma Cleary (Dillon) P. 09 522 9564 COMMITTEE Sarah Couillault (Willis) M. 021 489 102 Annabel French (Smaill) P. 09 575 1175 Penny Tucker (Macdonald) E. pennydtucker@gmail.com Tania Fairgray (Railley) P. 09 529 1736 Kimberly Sumner (Wragge) E. kimberlysumner@happinessblindspot.com Kirsty Eady (McDonald) P. 09 522 2652 Dio Today Editor, League pages Deirdre Coleman

ALUMNA MERITA ASSEMBLY Monday 21 September Dawn Jones Sports Centre. Attendance by invitation.

FOUNDERS’ DAY AND AGM Saturday 7 November This year we are looking to combine the traditional Founders’ Day service and AGM with a gathering to welcome and celebrate Old Girls of every age and stage. The event will also showcase the new Performing Arts Centre. The intention is to hold the AGM at around 4pm followed by Chapel at 4.45pm and drinks and nibbles in the Performing Arts Centre at 6pm. All Old Girls will be invited to attend any or all of these events.

E. d.g@slingshot.co.nz Diocesan School Old Girls’ League PO Box 28 382, Remuera, Auckland 1541

2020 GRADUATION BALL Saturday 5 December Pullman Hotel, Princes Street.

MARY PULLING ROSES Due to popular demand we have another batch of Mary Pulling roses on the way. In January 2019 we sent more bud wood to Matthews Nurseries and we will have a limited number of roses for sale in July this year. This is the final time the rose will be available.

If you wish to order the roses, please email or phone Kate Eatts in the Development Office keatts@diocesan.school.nz 09 520 0221 ext 8098.

Once ordered, you will be contacted nearer the time re payment and delivery details. Roses are $30 + $5 delivery or may be collected at the School.

2020 REUNIONS Given the restrictions and precautions in place at the time of writing as a result of COVID-19, the League has reluctantly put the 2020 reunion programme on hold. We will be in touch with our altered plans once our new normal looks more like our old normal.

Old Girls’ League Bursaries The Old Girls’ League Hardship Bursaries are intended to assist families of Old Girls who would otherwise have difficulty financing their daughter’s education at Diocesan.

The bursary pays 50% of each year’s tuition for a maximum period of three years. Bursary recipients must be in Years 9 to 13. Applications are currently invited from daughters or granddaughters of Old Girls who are either current students or who have already accepted a place at Diocesan in 2021 or later. This includes girls entering the School at

Years 11, 12 or 13. The primary criterion is financial hardship.

Application closing date: Friday 29 May. For an application form, please contact Jenny Spillane, President, in confidence via email spillanej01@gmail.com

DIO TODAY

69

A

force TO BE

RECKONED WITH

From one blue uniform to another, Dio Old Girls Rebecca Sherie (Dearing, 2000) and Anna Freestone (2011) have both found rewarding careers with the New Zealand Police.

I

t’s almost 80 years since the first 10 policewomen were recruited in New Zealand. In June 1941 new female police recruits had to be aged between 25 and 40 years, unmarried or widowed and be able to use a typewriter. After training they became temporary constables with no uniform.

“It comes down to where your passions and skillset lie, whether it’s in a detective or superintendent role, or even as Police Commissioner! Women can work in forensics, as a police photographer, a youth aid officer or even an Armed Offender Squad (AOS) member – the possibilities are endless.”

The challenging and fulfilling police careers of these two Dio Old Girls illustrate just how much has changed since then.

Initially Rebecca worked for NZ Police as a non-sworn member for three years in various roles including in the 111 call centre and as a public counter supervisor at Manukau Police Station.

FOLLOWING HER STAR

For Rebecca Sherie, the desire to be a police officer started in primary school.

Rebecca attended Dio from 1994 to 2000 and subsequently enjoyed a 13-year career with the NZ Police. She says the organisation is all about equal opportunities with numerous career pathways for women.

70

DIO TODAY

Selected to attend the Royal New Zealand Police College, she studied law, and learnt defence tactics, firearms, driving, basic forensic skills and role playing. Rebecca then worked in the Strategic Traffic Unit and the Serious Crash Units in the Counties Manukau and Waikato districts. In 2013, she and her husband (also a police officer) moved to Taranaki with their baby

LIFELONG FRIENDS

Light, a charity that delivers youth programmes and activities.

After 13 years, Rebecca recently left the NZ Police to spend quality time with her young family. Before resigning, she passed her sergeant’s exam – only 15 percent of New Zealand police officers hold the rank of sergeant.

She describes working for the NZ Police as interesting, varied, challenging and rewarding, and says it’s a career that lets you make a positive difference to the lives of individuals, communities and New Zealand society.

Rebecca (second from left) completed the Sky Tower Challenge climb in full uniform.

Left: Rebecca on Zip, patrolling the Taranaki A&P show as part of a mounted unit.

“Knowing that the quick actions and the decisions you made, often under pressure, ultimately saved someone’s life is immensely satisfying.”

Former police officer Rebecca Sherie

where Rebecca joined the Burglary Squad and undertook acting sergeant duties.

Recognition for bravery

Photo: M Crawford.

While police officers frequently find themselves in dangerous situations, sometimes their acts of courage go beyond what’s normally expected. In 2018, Rebecca was awarded a New Zealand Police District Commander Certificate for Bravery for her role in an assault incident. An elderly man had been shot and was lying badly injured in an open paddock. As Rebecca and another officer began performing CPR on the man, they learned that the offender (in possession of several firearms) was just metres away in a nearby house.

“All three of us [police officers] were unarmed so, while continuing to provide CPR to the victim, we individually armed up with weapons from our vehicles,” Rebecca explains.

Ambulance and fire crew arrived but, with back-up police units around 40 minutes away, she and the other officers had to manage the situation alone.

“While the other two officers went to locate and (subsequently) arrest the offender, I stood guard in the open field providing armed protection for the ambulance and fire staff so they could give the victim medical assistance.”

Unfortunately, the man died at the scene, but quick thinking and professional action by Rebecca and her colleagues meant the situation was resolved with no further casualties.

Police bravery awards are occasionally presented to officers (and sometimes members of the public) who have placed themselves in situations of extreme danger. This was the first time an award ceremony had been conducted in Taranaki.

Among other career highlights, Rebecca worked with Immigration NZ for two years to get a local criminal deported back to Scotland. She also captained the New Zealand Emergency Services hockey team in the trans-Tasman test at the Australasian Emergency Services Games in 2012. Throughout her years of policing, she was actively involved in the Police Council of Sport and Blue

“Don’t get me wrong; it’s a tough, often stressful and sometimes extremely challenging job. Some of the things I’ve had to deal with, most people don’t see or even believe can happen in society. However, I’ve also had amazing experiences, and met some very interesting people. Every day you’re making a real difference in people’s lives, helping solve crimes, and making New Zealand a better place for everyone. Knowing that the quick actions and the decisions you made, often under pressure, ultimately saved someone’s life is immensely satisfying.

“The time I spent in the Police, the experiences I encountered, the friends I made are what I will cherish and tell my children and grandchildren about.”

Police officers have to be mentally strong, self-assured and confident enough to take on any incident they’re called to. Rebecca believes the leadership and communication skills she learnt by being involved in arts groups and sports teams at Dio helped her a lot in her police career.

But policework isn’t the only thing she’s has been up to since leaving school. Rebecca has also trekked to Everest Base Camp, represented Taranaki in the National Senior Women’s hockey tournament, participated in the Cure Kids $10 Queenstown Challenge (including shaving her head for the charity) and organised a successful event to raise funds for Rett Syndrome NZ. She’s currently doing office administration for a Taranaki real estate company.

DIO TODAY

71

Detective Anna Freestone with her family.

SERENDIPITY STRIKES

Like Rebecca, Detective Anna Freestone also left Dio and joined the NZ Police. She works in the Organised Crime Unit at Auckland Central Police Station.

Anna attended Dio for seven years, leaving in 2011. She hadn’t even considered policing as a career, but in Year 11 a school careers advisor encouraged her to attend a day out for students interested in studying law. Anna went along to help make up the numbers, but it ended up being a life-defining moment.

“As it turns out, we were going to the Auckland Central Police Station for a full day of seeing what the Police do and all the different roles they have.

I got home that day and told everyone, ‘I’m going to be a police officer.’”

Anna applied in her last year at Dio and did six months of training at the Royal New Zealand Police College in Porirua.

New recruits now have the option to train in Auckland and the process is slightly different.

“For the first few years of my career I was on the frontline, also known as public safety team (PST),” says Anna.

“PST is the immediate response for attending 111 calls. I attended many types of jobs including burglaries, 72

DIO TODAY

shoplifting, assaults, disorders, family harm incidents, sudden deaths and car crashes.

“I then joined the Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) to do my detective training. While working as a detective I’ve been involved in more serious jobs like serious assaults, sexual assaults, robberies, homicides and criminal organisations.”

“I’ve attended many jobs where people are in their most vulnerable state. Many have given me a hug, thanking me for my work as I’ve helped them get through one of the hardest things in their life.”

Detective Anna Freestone

Top of the class Becoming a detective has been the highlight of Anna’s police career to date. Her training began with a four-week induction course followed by two years of work experience during which she sat nine exams, completed 10 workplace assignments and presented on a case. Anna’s overall score saw her gain first place on her qualifying course (of 24), and she became a detective in November 2019.

“The one thing Dio prepared me for in the Police was how to work as a team.

Dio sport was a huge part of my life. I’ve always been on teams, including years of netball and basketball at Dio. Now I work as a team with my Police family to get the best possible outcomes for victims and the community.

“Over the years I’ve attended many jobs where people are in their most vulnerable state. Many have given me

a hug, thanking me for my work as I’ve helped them get through one of the hardest things in their life. It’s really rewarding knowing that I’ve made a difference in that person’s life.”

Anna strongly encourages any women considering a police career to give it a go.

“There are no limits on what women can do in the Police. We have female dog handlers and AOS members, females who work in the Police helicopter, and both women and men who work flexible hours to take care of their families. As long as you can pass the physical tests that come with those roles, anyone can join.”

Find out more about joining NZ Police at the New Cops website newcops.co.nz

LIFELONG FRIENDS

MAKING HER MARK Dio Old Girl Hayley Yu (2011) is part of a select group of alumni named on the University of Auckland’s 40 Under 40 list for 2019. These exceptional graduates under the age of 40 are chosen from the more than 10,000 students who graduate each year from the university.

H

ayley did a BA/BCom majoring in politics, film, economics and international relations. In 2015, she was named as one of seven finalists in the EY Business Student of the Year.

Alongside her studies, her interest in social entrepreneurship saw her found the university club Social Innovation NZ to enable, educate and connect students to social enterprise opportunities. It also involved securing funding for social enterprise start-ups and providing domestic and global internship opportunities. In 2016, the club grew to a national organisation, supporting three university campuses.

“At the time, social enterprise was a lot more niche than it is today,” says Hayley. “This experience was very formative because I found my passion for social change through business.

It also connected me with several people who have become lifelong friends and challenged me to become a more effective leader.”

Hayley successfully crowd-funded a trip to the UK to research eight leading food social enterprises. Her passion for social entrepreneurship saw her join forces with two other University of Auckland students to found a start-up called Clove. It was designed to give home chefs a marketplace to sell their food and to empower more people to eat healthy, home-cooked meals. The venture won the New Zealand entry for the 2016 Microsoft Imagine Cup and went on to win the Asia-Pacific regional event with a trip to Seattle for the worldwide finals.

While Clove didn’t take out the global prize, it did help Hayley score a job offer from Microsoft working across philanthropies and digital strategy.

“My time at Microsoft showed me the power technology has to empower generations. In 2017, I organised a two-day product experience for Festival for the Future. Seeing the way people lit up when they engaged with the HoloLens and the Surface Hub made me even more inspired to make technology accessible to communities beyond boardrooms.”

In 2017, Hayley was also one of eight finalists in the ‘Young Leader’ category

at the Women of Influence Awards.

She is now working as an agency account strategist at Google Australia, supporting advertising agencies with their strategic enterprise opportunities and organising events within Google to facilitate the indigenous Australia dialogue amongst Googlers. It’s a role that’s given her scope to explore her various interests. Outside of Google, she’s working on a project looking at the intersection of food and culture.

DIO TODAY

73

A night to

remember On Saturday 7 December, the Diocesan 2019 Graduation Ball was held at the Pullman Hotel in central Auckland.

B

74

DIO TODAY

eautifully decorated with giant balloons, seed lights and flowers, the Princes Ballroom was again the backdrop for the Year 13 leavers’ final school event. The 127 graduates were joined by their families for this memorable evening, with Dio science teacher Kit Bushell doing an excellent job as new MC for the night.

Ella Carter, the Diocesan Events Prefect arranged a photo compilation of the girls over their school years and this was displayed on a video screen. The graduates then took to the dance floor with their chosen partner and danced to Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House. The official band, the Velvet Tones, then had everyone up and dancing to a very popular playlist.

Old Girls’ League President Jenny Spillane welcomed everyone and thanked Year 13 Dean Lynn Tonking for looking after the girls so well throughout their time at Dio. Principal Heather McRae presented each graduate with a scroll and an Old Girls’ badge, as Margaret van Meeuwen, Simon Walker and Dian Fisher took turns to invite each graduate onto the stage in alphabetical order.

Diocesan Old Girls’ League Committee members Emma Cleary and Tania Fairgray again did a fantastic job leading the Grad Ball organising team. Thanks to Gino Demeer from Cactus Photography for capturing the girls and their families on this special night.

To view and order photos of the 2019 Graduation Ball, visit cactusphotography.co.nz

DIO TODAY

75 LIFELONG FRIENDS

“Visiting Jordan and Iran was eye-opening, I cried a lot.

Seeing it all was emotionally far more challenging than I’d expected.”

Nancy Yuan

programme, and Nancy was attracted by the small class sizes and support networks.

A passion for helping others Nancy Yuan (2014) has packed a lot into her 23 years. After starting Dio as a boarder in Year 9, she went on to become a founding member of the Ethics Committee, Cultural Council prefect, and leader of the Human Rights Committee.

N

ancy’s interest in human rights began at a young age.

In Year 10 she entered the Soapbox Competition with her speech entitled ‘The Paradox of Humanitarian Aid’. That same year, she won a Principal’s Award and used her Whitcoulls’ voucher to purchase The Crisis Caravan by Linda Polman.

“It detailed the failures in the humanitarian sector. I’d wanted to go into politics, but I realised there were people dying out there, so I was more interested in applying what I’d learnt to make a difference,” says Nancy.

76

DIO TODAY

“Two teachers at Dio really impacted me: Ms Blumenfeld and Mr Baker. In their social studies and history classes I learnt a lot about international relations and injustices.”

After school, Nancy did a gap year in Sydney working at an educational tech start-up. In mid-2015 she moved to the US to study at Swarthmore College, a liberal arts school near Philadelphia, where she’s about to complete a fouryear degree double majoring in political science and peace and conflict studies.

Swarthmore was the first school in the US to have a peace and conflict

She was elected President of Swarthmore’s Student Government – the first ever sophomore or international student in this position.

With funding from Swarthmore, Nancy spent two months in Iran conducting community assessments with stateless Afghan refugees. She also spent a month in Jordan working on a European Union-sponsored project with Iraqi refugees.

“Visiting Jordan and Iran was eyeopening,” Nancy says. “I cried a lot.

It’s one thing to read about it, but seeing it first-hand made me realise how lucky I was with my education and opportunities. In Iran we did community assessments at a special school for stateless people that was set up by an engineer and his wife. The kids would be on the streets selling tissue paper and flour, and they started the school to educate these children. Seeing it all was emotionally far more challenging than I’d expected. It was also a huge culture shock for me because these are predominantly Muslim countries. As a Chinese girl, I stuck out.”

Nancy has always focused on refugee issues. She’s worked as a climate migration intern at Oxfam New Zealand,

2019 was a big year for Nancy. During a student exchange to the University of Oxford, she studied philosophy, politics and economics.

“My teachers recommended I go there to get a different perspective. I loved it.

I played on their First XI cricket team and was a team lead at the Oxford student consultancy.”

LIFELONG FRIENDS

ALU In early 2019, she was supposed to attend a refugee forum in Christchurch but when the shootings occurred, she instead helped out with the response, supporting the Christchurch Victims’ Organising Committee and visiting the victims in hospital.

AE N

E WS

volunteered with New Zealand Red Cross and Amnesty International, and was a Pacific regional representative for Humanitarian Affairs of the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth.

MN

ANOTHER WIN IN THE POOL The Dio Old Girls’ relay team successfully defended their title (albeit with a slightly stacked team!) in the relay race against the prefects at the Senior Swimming Sports.

Pictured after their victory are (standing left to right): Immy Rogers, Anne-Marie Avis, Isobel Avis and Jessica Shorter-Robinson; (seated left to right): Jenny Spillane, Eleanor Spillane and Zita Sumich.

In November 2019, her humanitarian work was acknowledged with a North Harbour Club AIMES Service to the Community Award and a $15,000 cash grant.

Nancy was also recently named as a Stanford University Innovation Fellow.

Over the last year she has undertaken training through the Stanford.School to learn about design thinking so she can apply those learnings to leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship projects at Swarthmore.

Nancy will graduate from Swarthmore in May 2020 and has already accepted a position as an associate consultant at Bain & Company based in Sydney.

“It’s a global management consulting company and I’ll be working with different industries to solve problems. It will help me understand different sectors and regions so that I can eventually go back into the humanitarian sector with more to offer than just my passion.”

She also has plans to undertake postgraduate studies, either a master’s in public policy or an MBA.

PUT THIS ON YOUR READING LIST Jane Riley (Wilson, 1987) celebrated the launch of her first book, The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock, in Sydney in February. Published by Lake Union, it’s the uplifting story of introverted and lonely funeral director Oliver Clock whose ordered world is thrown into chaos when his secret crush passes away. But a surprising discovery sees Oliver resolve to open himself up to love.

The large crowd attending the book’s launch party included some

of Jane’s Dio friends (Deirdre Coleman, Sarah Waldin, Anne-Marie Avis, Rosanne Sparling and Nicky Collins, pictured above, with Jane on the far right) who travelled to Australia for the event.

The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook. Jane’s second novel, Geraldine Verne’s Red Suitcase, will be published in January 2021.

She’s currently working on ideas for her third novel.

DIO TODAY

77

ENDURING FRIENDSHIPS Here’s some news from Dio Old Girls Alexandra Bringans, Lauren Anelay and Laura McDonald (all class of 2015) and Rebecca McDonald (2014). Alex, Lauren and Laura graduated from the University of Otago in 2019. Laura says the trio are still best of friends and their graduation was an unforgettable weekend made extra special by their families being there for the celebration.

Among them was Laura’s older sister, Rebecca, who is a 2018 Massey University graduate.

Alexandra Bringans graduated with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science, majoring in functional human biology. She’s currently working at ASB Bank as a team leader within the Customer Verification Services team. Alex is also completing her final semester of a Master of Health Leadership and will be working with Auckland District Health Board to assess possible improvements in their palliative care and care in the last days of life.

Lauren Anelay gained a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences, majoring in Infection and Immunity, with first class honours.

She now works as a vaccines brand manager associate at GlaxoSmithKline.

Her work focuses in the area of meningococcal disease.

Laura McDonald graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science, majoring in consumer food science and minoring in management marketing. She’s now in her second year in the Auckland PwC Management Consulting team and has worked on projects that span a wide range of businesses and industries within New Zealand.

Rebecca McDonald graduated from Massey Wellington in 2018 with a Bachelor of Nursing.

She is working as a registered nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland. Rebecca holds a postgraduate certificate in child health and is completing a two-phase research design for her honours project. This design uses mixed methodologies to explore how the neonatal intensive care environment can be improved so that parents feel more welcome and empowered to participate in their child’s care.

Left: Alexandra, Laura and Lauren with their families, including Rebecca (far right).

Top Left: Laura McDonald, Lauren Anelay and Alexandra Bringans graduating from the University of Otago in 2019.

78

DIO TODAY

LIFELONG FRIENDS

MILESTONES Births Kristen Otero-Lambert (Fuller), a son on 20 November 2017 and a daughter on 27 December 2019 Lucette Chu (Dillon, 2003) a son on 20 November 2019

Engagements Tamara Creswell-Wells (2008) to William Elvin on 6 October 2019 Rachel Lindsay to Leon Forbes

Deaths Carolyn Beadle (Curd, PY 1965) on 8 January 2020. Carol was an Old Girl and past teacher of business and information management at Dio. Sandra Chadwick (PY 1962) on 2 February 2020 Miwako (Miwa) Chapman (2018) on 24 February 2020 Joan Coates (Davenport, PY 1944) on 9 June 2017 Kathleen Cooper (1938) on 11 September 2019, aged 97

Patricia Dalrymple (Robson, PY 1938) on 17 May 2016 Georgina Leslie Ellis (Lloyd, PY 1952) on 27 November 2019 Gwenneth Ferrell (Cox, 1939) on 31 July 2013 Mary Fisher (Abbott, PY 1942) on 19 February 2020 in her 95th year Amanda (Mandy) Gwynne (1977) on 19 December 2019 Elizabeth Hilliker (Foote, PY 1960) on 8 February 2020 Wene Margaret McMillin on 22 October 2019, aged 88 Deirdre (Dee) McOnie (former Head of the Junior School) on 19 November 2019 Eve Valerie (Val) Napier (Cashmore, PY 1947) on 24 November 2019, aged 90 Andrea Oliver (Brickell, PY 1955) on 27 October 2019 Lynette Paul (Tatton, PY 1950) on 9 December 2014

Shirley Rogers (Brown, PY 1943) on 22 November, aged 94 Ailsa (Dorothy) Terry (PY 1952) on 21 December 2019, aged 86 Janice Turner (Smith, 1980) on 17 January 2020

Achievements Naoko Chapman (Akakura, 1987) gained a Master of Science (First Class Hons) in Optometry in 2019 and a University of Auckland Masters Scholarship.

Anna Freestone (2011) graduated top of her class of 24 as a detective with the New Zealand Police in November 2019.

Sandy (Sin Ting) Yau (2004) graduated with a BSc in 2010 and is now a nurse living in Australia.

Note: PY is short for ‘Peer Year’ and indicates the year an Old Girl would have been in Form 7 (Year 13) had she continued her schooling at Dio through until the end.

Farewell to Dee McOnie On 29 November 2019, St Mary’s-in-Holy Trinity was packed with past and present students, staff, parents and grandparents of Diocesan School for Girls to celebrate the life of Deirdre (Dee) McOnie (30 September 1947 – 19 November 2019).

Dee was Head of Diocesan Junior School for 22 years from 1987 to 2008. Under her leadership, the Junior School was an incredibly rich learning environment.

It offered a wide and well-structured curriculum, a warm, happy, supportive but disciplined culture, and amazing opportunities for involvement in extracurricular activities, particularly in the arts.

Dee was a very active leader in all these areas and could be seen reading a story or playing the recorder at assemblies, conducting a choir or directing a show, or cheering students and teachers on in a variety of endeavours. She was a wonderful planner of fun activities and celebrations, and there were plenty of those in the Junior School. The Junior School Fairs were famous in her day.

Dee knew all her students by name – not just the current ones, but those from the past as well. They were all special to her as Junior School girls.

Even at the end of their Year 13 year, she was there after the Leavers’ Dinner to ring the Chapel bell with them and to later admire them in their finery at the Graduation Ball.

In the many tributes paid to Dee on Facebook, past students commented warmly on her amazing memory and ongoing interest in them.

Dee maintained her connection with Dio after she left her role and was a regular attendee at Old Girls’ functions, even after her fall in 2014, which left her confined to a

wheelchair. Her courage, resilience and positivity in all stages of her life were admired by all.

Dee enriched the lives of so many people and she is greatly missed.

Madeline Gunn, former Diocesan School Academic Principal DIO TODAY

79

A team of experts with individual skills, combined to provide the highest standards in complete breast care.

D R C AT H E R I N E P BDS, MDS (Otago)

D R C AT H E O RIN T EORN T I S T RET P HOORD BDS, MDS (Otago)

S MILE W ITH C ONFIDENCE

OR T H O D O N T I S T S MILE W ITH C ONFIDENCE

Ground Floor, Ascot Central 7 Ellerslie Racecourse Drive Remuera, Auckland 1051

~ for more information ~

(09) 522 1346 www.breastassociates.co.nz

www.cportho.co.nz 522 2767 8 Saint Vincent Avenue Remuera

Look out for your next copy of Dio Today in August 2020!

Option 1

• In–home care • Post operative

• Palliative care • 24 hour care

Mob: 027 439 0871 Tel: (09) 579 1212 Email: office@katemcleanhomecare.co.nz

www.katemcleanhomecare.co.nz

We welcome your call or email for a free, no obligation assessment.

Levante GTS

Overseas model shown

The Maserati of SUVs 2020 MASERATI LEVANTE AVAILABLE FROM $140,000 + ORC*

WINGER MASERATI 21 GREAT SOUTH ROAD, NEWMARKET 1051 PHONE: 09 520 1588 WWW.WINGER.CO.NZ

*Price for 2020 Maserati Levante