Piper Issue 52 May 2014

Where Am i From?

o ur children and staff at Preschool represent 25 nationalities! The cultural mix is a strength of our programme and our children thrive on the friendships they build. our recent ‘Centre of interest’ on ‘Where Am i From’ saw a world map displayed with each child’s photo represented under the countries where both their parents and they were born. Flags of each country and artwork of traditional costumes drawn by the children completed the wall. The children loved to look at the map and their photos.

After researching on the internet with the children about each country the preschoolers have come from, they have learnt so much about other cultures. This is a positive learning experience that is ongoing as new children join our Preschool.

Te WhAriKi

Belonging: Children gain an understanding and appreciation of themselves in their family and community. They are affirmed as individuals and know that their families and cultures have a place and are respected.

When i grow up i am going to Be …?

our Preschoolers’ imaginations are fantastic to see. every day they have the impromptu opportunities to be involved with their friends in dramatic play. Many forms of props are included and their play evolves both inside and out. Pirates, doctors, fairies, mermaids, spacemen, Maori piupiu, Indian saris, police suits and more – the list is endless, always building their imaginations!

Te WhAriKi

Communication: Children experience an environment where their play is meaningful learning and the importance of spontaneous play is recognised. They develop confidence and a repertoire for dramatic and pretend play – with an expectation that this play can amuse, excite, delight, comfort and illuminate.

Scientific Journey –hands on Learning

With swan plans well developed in the children’s garden, this time of year sparks a passion and interest in caterpillars for our Preschoolers. They love to watch the drama unfold as the butterflies emerge and dry their wings ready for flight. Their obvious enjoyment led us on a journey to discover more – and there on the website of the ‘Lepidoptera Society,’ a very special Butterfly Garden was discovered! So off we went on two trips in the vans (with our car seats purchased by girls’ School P&F) to Saint Kentigern College to meet the ‘Butterfly lady, English teacher, Xanthe Noble’ and all her swan plants, caterpillars, chrysalises and monarch butterflies.

What a fantastic scientific discovery it was! We learnt all about butterflies, pests, their life cycles – in fact everything we would ever want to know. The children learnt so much and once they returned to Preschool, they informed all the children of their new discoveries. Xanthe kindly gave the children two hand crafted wooden monarchs to be displayed outside on our Preschool fence and some new small swan plants for our garden (especially grown by the horticulture students at College). Let the discoveries and passion continue along with the relationship between the Preschoolers and College students!

Te WhAriKi

Exploration: Children develop confidence in working with others to explore the environment and make sense of the social and physical world they live in.

The Very hungry Caterpillar

our children’s fascination with caterpillars and butterflies led us on a fabulous story book adventure as we explored the much loved eric Carle book ‘The Very hungry Caterpillar.’ The children competently retold the story through dramatic play and drama, magnetic stories and finger puppets. Amazing artwork was created by the children telling the full story in picture form on the wall. They continue to stand and admire their work – retelling the story from memory and visual clues.

Te WhAriKi

Communication: Children develop an appreciation and expectations that words and stories can excite, amuse and provide them with learning experiences. They gain skills and confidence with properties of materials used in creative and expressive arts.

This is how i Learn to Write

Casey the Caterpillar writing programme is a developmental preliteracy curriculum that ensures children learn how to correctly hold a pencil enabling them to form all the shapes needed to write the letters of the alphabet. All children have the opportunity to be involved in this programme at their developmental level – moving through the shapes and onto letters at their own pace and time.

A Preschool workbook with the programme pre-prepared is worked on with the children and a staff member once a week – increasing as they are involved in our Transition to School programme.

The children love this opportunity and ask each day if it is their turn. our pre-literacy focus at Preschool has ensured our children are given a head start and continue to be positive and inquisitive learners.

Te WhAriKi

Communication: Children have the opportunity to develop competence in and an understanding of familiarity with print and its uses by exploring, observing and practicing the use of print in activities that have meaning and purpose for them.

girls Love Flora McDonald Day

o ur Preschool girls had the opportunity to celebrate Flora McDonald Day with the girls’ School.

Tartan accessories – sashes, kilts and ribbons - were added to their uniform as they marched proudly behind the Pipes and Drums following the big girls. our Preschool boys cheered the girls on as they smiled and waved! The girls marched around the school before heading into the hall for the ceremony with the highlight watching the highland dancing and singing Scottish songs!

Te WhAriKi

Contribution: Children experience a learning environment where they are given opportunities to experience respect for cultures other than their own.

Bus, Boat, Beach

it was a great adventure for the preschoolers when they set out on a trip to Devonport for the day. Departing Preschool on a bright blue bendy bus, they headed for the Quay Street Ferry Terminal downtown. The Ferry Terminal was very busy and there were plenty of boats to watch as they waited for Preschool Director, Sue, to pay for 75 ferry tickets before they could board the ferry to Devonport!

on the ferry the children lined the windows watching the busy Waitemata harbour. They saw yachts, other ferries, kayakers, speed boats and were excited to even spot a police boat! At Devonport they headed to the playground for morning tea and once refuelled, they were able to choose to play in the playground or on the beach. it was very windy day and the tide was high making great waves to splash in on the water’s edge. Sand castles were built, and decorated with discoveries of sea kelp, shells and drift wood.

Drizzle set in at lunchtime but not enough to dampen spirits and after once last play of games and a stop for an ice block treat, a group of tired children and adults took the journey in reverse to Preschool.

TE WHARIKI –

Exploration: Children develop a perception of themselves as “explorers” –competent, confident learners who make discoveries.

Belonging: Children develop an understanding of the links between Preschool and the wider community – with interest and pleasure in discovering an unfamiliar world where the images, objects, smells and sounds are different from home.

haggis or Shortbread at Celtic Day

The Preschool boys boarded a mini bus and headed to the Boys’ School to march in the parade. our boys all wore a tartan sash and some even had on tartan kilts, hats and vests and looked very ‘Scottish’. The Pipes and Drums were very loud as the parade marched around the school field in front of all the mums, dads and visitors before heading into the Sports Centre. The boys sat beautifully for assembly listening to all the speeches and watching the head Boy recite the ‘ode to the haggis.’ When offered some haggis, the boys didn’t hold back ...but others preferred the shortbread!

Te WhAriKi

Contribution: Children experience and develop positive judgements on other people’s ethnic group and culture.

‘My shortbread was more yummy – the haggis smelt yicky!’

Said a 3 year old!

‘The haggis meat was so yummy – it smelled a bit funny and had yucky skin on it but I wanted more for my dinner,’ Said one 4 year old!

exploring our Pets

Preschool has a small menagerie of animals that the children love to care for and observe. For many this is an opportunity to be close to an animal as they don’t have pets at home. ‘Squirt the Turtle’ is the favourite – the children feed him every day and love to watch him have some ‘free time’ out of his tank in our garden!

‘Will and Kate,’ our budgies happily sing along to the music and their cheeping is often louder than the children. Watching our tadpoles evolve into frogs was a highlight of the term and the children loved to spend time catching live insects, flies and cicadas for the frogs to eat. An amazing learning experience was watching a frog eat a whole live cicada! Goldfish make up the pet area and are a relaxing way for the children to spend some time watching them as they cruise around their tank. The children take turns to help staff clean out the pets' tanks and cages as well as feeding them.

Te WhAriKi

Belonging: Children develop skills in caring for the environment and animals –helping others with the care of it in a fun and safe way. Confidence that they can participate without fear from harm.

Exploration: Children gain respect and a sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of the living and non-living environment.

A Visitor hops in

e aster came and the excitement of the easter Bunny arriving with easter eggs was met with great joy! The children all sang their favourite Easter song for their visitor – ‘Mr Bunny came hopping along’ before they set off on a special easter egg hunt. The children had made baskets with bunny ears and footprints for their collection and after a hug from their long-eared friend, a chocolate rabbit from him finished off an exciting morning.

Te WhAriKi

Belonging: Children have an awareness of connections between events and experiences within and beyond the Preschool setting.

Communication: Children experience an environment that they experience the stories of their own and others cultures.

Fishy Prints

our Centre of interest on our ‘Preschool Pets’ saw not only amazing ar twork created by the children but a scientific experience of ‘Fish prints.’ Some children went to remuera Fisheries and the shopkeeper kindly gave the children a flounder to bring back to Preschool. After much hilarity touching and smelling the flounder and learning all about where they live, why their mouth is underneath their bodies and many more interesting questions, the art started! After donning art aprons they rolled paint onto the fish before taking amazing prints of it. The mouth, scales and fins were clearly visible as they had much delight in taking many prints off the fish.

Te WhAriKi

Communication: Children develop skill and confidence with the process of art and craft – such as print making, painting and constructing.

Exploration: Children develop the confidence to choose and experiment with materials and to explore actively with all their senses.

Girls' School

Mindfulness and the Role of Positive Psychology in Education

Mindfulness is proving to be effective for adults in helping to address a wide range of physical and mental conditions as well as improving wellbeing and the ability to think clearly. It might seem paradoxical then, that Silicon Valley has become a hotbed of mindfulness classes and conferences. They run an annual conference that in 2009 had 325 attendees but organisers at this year’s conference expect more than 2,000 will attend. Google has an in-house mindfulness programme called ‘Search Inside Yourself.’ The seven-week course was started by a Google engineer and is offered four times a year. Through the course, thousands of Googlers have learned attention-focusing techniques, including meditation, meant to help them free up mental space for creativity and big thinking. Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs said his mindfulness meditation practice was directly responsible for his ability to concentrate and ignore distractions.

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness involves learning to direct our attention to our experience as it is unfolding, moment by moment, with open-minded curiosity and acceptance. The focus is not on what has happened or might happen, mindfulness trains us to respond skilfully to whatever is happening right now, be that good or bad. Mindfulness training and regular practice can give greater access to a state of calm, concentrated focus in the here and now –more reliably, more often and more at will than most of us normally experience. Does it make a difference? Research on the impact of mindfulness on adults demonstrates with reasonable certainty that adults who learn and practice mindfulness can experience improvements in a wide range of psychological and physiological health conditions. It can also be useful in improving underlying emotional and social skills and qualities in adults. These include the ability to feel in control, to make meaningful relationships, to accept experience without denying the facts, to manage difficult feelings, and to be calm, resilient, compassionate and empathic. Brain-imaging studies show that mindfulness meditation can reliably and profoundly alter the structure and function of the brain and produce, for example, greater blood-flow to and a thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration.

Mindfulness in Schools: With our student population showing signs of stress and anxiety at a younger age, the importance of teaching mindfulness skills to them is also becoming more evident. Educators are turning to mindfulness with increasing frequency. Did you know that the average American teen sends and receives more than 3,000 text messages a month?

I suspect the NZ teen is not far off this as well! A programme called Mindful Schools in the US offers online mindfulness training to teachers, instructing them how to equip children to concentrate in classrooms and deal with stress. This programme, launched in 2010, has reached more than 300,000 pupils, and educators in 43 countries which demonstrates just how important the teaching of mindfulness to our students is.

The Teaching of Mindfulness at Saint Kentigern Girls’ School

I first heard Dr Nick Penney speak on mindfulness at an Independent Schools Conference. He presented a session on mindfulness and a programme

called .b which stands for ‘Stop, Breathe and Be.’ Dr Penney is instrumental in establishing this programme in New Zealand schools and it has been used effectively overseas. After hearing him speak about the mindfulness programme I contacted him and in Term 2 we will be introducing this programme to our Senior Girls. Our staff have also undergone professional development with Dr Penney on how to use the tools of mindfulness and have reported the benefits that this approach has given to them in their own everyday lives.

What are the aims of .b? At the most simple level .b is an awarenessraising exercise to give all students a taste of mindfulness so that they know about it and hopefully can see the benefits of using the tools throughout their life to deal with stress and anxiety.

The .b Curriculum: The .b curriculum consists of nine lessons, each teaching a distinct mindfulness skill through the use of visuals, film and sound images, practical exercises and demonstrations to make the ideas vivid and relevant to the students’ lives. For example learning to sit still and watch the breath, be aware of different parts of the body, walk mindfully or become more aware of how the body feels under stress and what the triggers are. It aims to help young people:

• To experience greater wellbeing e.g. feel happier, calmer, more fulfilled

• To fulfil their potential and pursue their own goals e.g. be more creative, more relaxed, academically and personally

• To improve their concentration and focus, in classes, on the sports field, when playing games, when paying attention and listening to others

• To understand stress and recognise their stress indicators

• To challenge them to befriend the difficult by understanding stress and responding to it, rather than reacting to it

• To work with difficult mental states such as depressive, ruminative and anxious thoughts and low moods

• To cope with the everyday stresses and strains of adolescent life such as exams, relationships, sleep problems, family issues

We are excited about the introduction of this programme into our school and believe that it will make a difference to our girls by equipping them with the necessary tools to handle the increasing pressures that they face as they transition into young women.

The Harvard Business Review interviewed Ellen Langer in an article called ‘Mindfulness in the Age of Complexity.’ Ellen Langer has been researching on mindfulness for over four decades and her research has greatly influenced thinking across a range of fields, from behavioural economics to positive psychology. She was asked the following question:

‘What’s the one thing about mindfulness you’d like every executive to remember?’ She answered, ‘Life consists only of moments, nothing more than that. So if you make the moment matter, it all matters. You can be mindful, you can be mindless. You can win, you can lose. The worst case is to be mindless and lose. So when you’re doing anything, be mindful, notice new things, make it meaningful to you, and you’ll prosper.’

Girls’ School Student Leaders

Early in Term 1, the girls walked the familiar path down to Somervell Church to gather with staff and families for the commissioning of the Year 8 Leadership Team for 2014. This was a particularly proud morning for the newly elected Head Girl, Emerald Bendall and Deputy Head Girl, Lucy Frazer; two young women who display loyalty, integrity, honesty and respect, and who will work hard to meet the challenges of their prestigious positions.

The School welcomed Mrs Suzanne Winthrop, Deputy Head of Saint Kentigern College and Hannah Wood, this year’s College Head Girl to join the service. In passing on her guidance to the girls, Hannah told them, ‘Don’t be afraid to dream big. We are all strong, powerful young women and we have the ability to achieve so much. I leave it in your capable hands to decide how.’

One by one the new leaders came forward to receive their badge, sign the Leadership book and stand on the sanctuary steps. Principal, Dr Sandra Hastie read the pledge, asking the girls to serve Saint Kentigern Girls’ School to the best of their ability; at all times demonstrating a sense of pride in all they do; and with a sense of caring and friendship for all the girls and staff.

Reverend Reuben Hardie concluded the service with a few words about servant leadership. He echoed Dr Hastie’s sentiment on thoughtfulness to others and said that he looked forward to all that they would bring to the School in their responsibilities this year.

leadersHip team 2014

Head Girl Emerald Bendall

Deputy Head GirlLucy Frazer

Head of Student CouncilCharlotte Lindsay Smail

Chapel Leader Fayth Doherty

Deputy Chapel Leader Sophia Pettigrove

Cargill Leader Avantika Srinivasan

Cargill Deputy LeaderSharon Susanto

Chalmers Leader Nazine Tuaa

Chalmers Deputy LeaderZoe Spencer

Hamilton Leader Sandia Mohammed

Hamilton Deputy LeaderGeorgia Roberts

Wishart Leader Annie Yu

Wishart Deputy LeaderRenee Flay

Sports Leader Annika Sethi

Deputy Sports Leader Kate Pennycuick

Music Leader Sharon Hung

Head Librarian Manisha Singh

Deputy Head Libr arian Lara Ambridge

ICT Leaders Zar a Kotwal, Sharon Susanto

Junior School Leaders Gr ace Stehlin, Emilia Radisich, Sara Goldfinch

Preschool Leaders Isabelle Reid, Brianna Casbolt

Head Girl: emerald Bendall

Emerald joined the Girls’ School half way through Year 6. She excels both on the sports field and in the classroom, supported by her exceptional ‘can do’ attitude and enthusiastic approach towards everything she undertakes. In her first year at the School, Emerald won 1st place in the Cross Country. She also enjoys playing netball, always giving 100% to every game. An avid contributor to Service and helping others, Emerald has displayed along term commitment and reliability to Buddy Reading. Her keen interest in Sciences saw her win the Year 7 Science and Social Science Awards in 2013. Emerald has proven herself to be a student who lives the core values of the School and will make an outstanding Head Girl.

deputy Head Girl: lucy Frazer

This is Lucy’s eighth year in the School and during those years she has developed from a shy young girl into a more confident young woman who is fully aware of the values that the School holds dear. Especially evident is her kindness, thoughtfulness and the careful consideration she gives to the feelings of others. This led to her being chosen as the recipient of the Remuera Lion’s Citizenship award in 2012. Lucy is a keen swimmer and a talented speech and drama student, achieving honours in Grade 4 speech examinations. Her goals for this year include building her leadership skills, improving in mathematics and touch rugby. As Deputy Head Girl, Lucy will work hard to meet the challenges of the position.

Cargill Leader: Avantika Srinivasan. Cargill Deputy Leader: Sharon Susanto

Hamilton Deputy Leader: Georgia Roberts. Hamilton Leader: Sandia Mohammed.

Chalmers Leader: Nazine Tuaa. Chalmers Deputy Leader: Zoe Spencer

Wishart Leader: Annie Yu. Wishart Deputy Leader: Renee Flay

Sea Tales

Earlier in March, as part of their rocky shore topic, the junior girls voyaged beneath the ocean to Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium to look at the wonders of sea life. The live marine displays allowed the students to learn about the diversity of New Zealand and the Southern Ocean’s unique marine life, aquatic habitats and their fascinating fauna and flora. The girls had a lesson on the tidal zones that rise and fall onto our rocky shores and the huge diversity of plant and animal life that live there - some they were soon to meet!

The girls discovered the developing problems in our world’s oceans regarding plastic pollution and overfishing and explored ways in protecting the ocean, fish, seabirds and other creatures that live in and around the sea.

In the Rock Pool Experience, the girls rolled up their sleeves and got their hands wet with sea creatures where they held a crab and touched a starfish. The definite highlight for the girls, however, was coming face to face with giant stingray ‘Phoebe’ in the open topped tank. Phoebe has

Inspirational Words

‘Every child deserves a champion; an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be’

– Rita F Pier

son.

These inspirational and powerful words of wisdom now sit high on the entrance wall to the Girls’ School reception, welcoming all those who walk through its front doors to the values and beliefs of the School and its Principal, Dr Sandra Hastie.

Dr Hastie said she found the encouraging quote when the words ‘jumped out from the page’ of an educational book that she was reading. She says she believes strongly in the message the quote sends and wanted to share it with the Girls’ School community.

‘Being champions to our girls is very important, and they don’t just need one champion in their lives, but everyone of us can be champions to them. In my mind, I have this vision of us cheering the girls on from the side-lines, coaching and believing in our girls, them knowing that we care,’ she says.

The quote came from the late Rita F Pierson, a Texas-born educational trainer and consultant, motivational speaker/teacher, author and

been a resident at Kelly Tarlton’s for over 27 years, weighs over 200kg and has had 65 babies during her time there!

To conclude the rocky shore theme at the end of the term, it was the adventures of swashbuckling sea pirates that captured the girls’ imaginations for their narrative writing focus followed by a fun Pirate Day to finish the term. The girls came dressed up as pirates and were involved in pirate related activities for the day – making flags, swords, treasure maps and bags.

Having heard pirate tales filled with well-loved characters, amusing villains and buried treasure just before lunch, the girls also fitted in learning some pirate songs. To end the morning’s busy activity sessions, they enjoyed a shared class lunch.

Over the years, the aquarium excursion has become an annual and much loved experience on the calendar, with the girls gaining in-depth knowledge from their interactive experience. There is much to be learned from these hands-on experiences with input from specialists in their field.

humanitarian who passed away last year. An educator for over 30 years, Rita was most recently recognised by sharing her expertise as a feature speaker on TED Talk. She had a desire to get to know her students, show them how much they matter and support them in their growth, even if it was modest.

Dr Hastie says, ‘I look back on my life and at the adults who were champions to me, and I want to pass this ability on to our girls so that they can be someone’s champion themselves one day and make a difference.’

Learning Mandarin

With thanks to ms raewyn Ho, specialist mandarin teacher

Saint Kentigern has long maintained a commitment to learning languages with French, in particular, being taught from the Preschool years on. This commitment has been further strengthened at the Girls’ School this year with the addition of Mandarin to the language programme for senior students.

Today, Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world with more than 1 billion speakers. Being multi-lingual is an essential skill and with China’s growing economic presence, the School has recognised the need for students to gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese language and culture to prepare our girls for possible future study and job opportunities.

The new initiative offers girls in Years 7 and 8 the opportunity to learn Mandarin twice a week. Whilst the course focuses on developing oral skills and communication competence, it also aims to illustrate Chinese culture through authentic interactions and texts.

Specialist Mandarin teacher at the Girls’ School, Ms Raewyn Ho says that ‘Mandarin is very different from learning a European language as it is a character-based language. It is not written using an alphabet like English; it is the tones, pronunciation and characters that can be some of the most fascinating aspects of the language to learn. There are a lot of fun ways to learn Chinese and with practice they can be learned well.’

Pinyin, the phonetic system used to learn Mandarin through transcribing the sounds of Mandarin using the western alphabet, therefore, plays an integral learning tool in the course.

The girls have four lessons of Chinese in a ten day timetable and are taught by Ms Ho and visiting assistants from the Confucius Institute in Auckland, an organisation which helps introduce Mandarin into schools. The course focuses on teaching Level One and Two of the Learning Languages curriculum, with most emphasis on oral communication. Understanding the rhythm, tones, intonations and pronunciation of authentic spoken Mandarin are key in order to develop fluent, proficient and integrated speaking skills. This aims to equip the girls with a rich repertoire of familiar expressions and everyday vocabulary to use in simple Chinese conversation.

Ms Ho’s extensive teaching background demonstrates her passion for the language. She holds a Specialist Certificate in Teaching Chinese from Melbourne University, a Diploma of Secondary Teaching and Diploma in TESSOL from the University of Auckland and is completing her Masters in Language Teaching and Learning from the University. Additionally she works one day a week as a Facilitator for the Confucius Institute and performs charity work with the New Zealand Teaching Trust.

Cultural knowledge is an additional strand of the course aimed at developing recognition that Chinese culture is organised in particular ways, and to make connections with the girls’ own backgrounds and other worldwide cultures. Through art projects, the girls have explored the

festivities of Chinese New Year by creating paper craft hanging lanterns; learning that red and symmetry represent luck in Chinese custom and the themes of happiness, wealth and longevity are celebrated.

Written literacy will be introduced to the girls gradually, starting with the visual aspects and principles of the character writing system. This will slowly move into looking at how to decode meanings of basic characters and words and how characters and written text are used in authentic contexts.

B amBOO BrusH paintinG

During lunchtimes Ms Ho also runs a fun and informal Chinese cultural group open to all year levels to experience Chinese arts and craft making. In April, assistant teacher Ms Kai Tian from the Confucius Institute showed the girls Chinese Brush painting in ink where they learnt how to paint bamboo stems, knots, branches and leaves onto Chinese painting paper.

Flora MacDonald Day

When Principal, Dr Sandra Hastie threw the challenge out to the girls to learn the bagpipes at last year’s Flora MacDonald Day, only two determined girls accepted the task. One year on and Year 8 students, Kate Pennycuick and Fayth Doherty proudly displayed their hard work in learning the chanter, the first practice instrument in mastering the full pipes. Playing to a full hall of students, families, invited guests and Trust Board members at the official ceremony, the girls drew two rounds of well-deserved applause.

The unique day to the Girls’ School was founded four years ago to honour Saint Kentigern’s Scottish ancestry from a feminine perspective. Flora MacDonald was an 18th century Jacobite heroine who, in 1746 at age 23, risked life and limb to smuggle Prince Charles Edward Stewart, from exile in Scotland over to the Isle of Skye. It was on account of her strength of character and bravery that Flora was chosen as a strong namesake for the Girls’ School day of celebration.

On a crisp autumn morning, the festivities got underway with a parade around the School grounds and Preschool led by the College Pipes and Drums. Following the band, the girls paraded in their four Houses, split into eight smaller clans with the House Leaders at the fore and holding their House flags high. It was a colourful sight as the procession marched by, the girls wearing a fantastic display of plaid garments and Scottish memorabilia with the older girls taking on the role of ‘big sister’ to the younger girls.

During the formal ceremony, we welcomed back Highland Dancer and Year 13 College student, Sarah McQueen who impressed the audience with her light footwork of the Highland Fling, accompanied by fellow Year 13 student, Andre Mason on the pipes.

In Dr Hastie’s address to the audience, she explained the three different types of drums played today in the College Pipes and Drums band – the Bass drum, Tenor drum and Snare drum. The players of these instruments, College students Nathan Walker, James Milner and Jack Stewart then joined Dr Hastie on stage to demonstrate the sound of their drums.

After the formalities were over, parents and guests joined together in the Drawing Room for morning tea with thistle decorated shortbread baked by Food Technology teacher, Mrs Shona Wadams. The girls were then able to get started on their clan activities for the day, and this year it included the fun filled challenges of aqua orbs on the pool and a giant inflatable obstacle course! The girls were also able to try their hand at Highland Dancing, getting crafty creating bookmarks and thistle brooches and making a bowl of the traditional Scottish staple, porridge, with a selection of tempting toppings.

It was another successful day of Scottish heritage and observation for the School. We look forward to the day when we can hear girls play on a set of full pipes!

First Piper for Girls’ School!

A ‘limited edition’ bright pink pipe case proved to be the perfect accessory for the first piper at Saint Kentigern Girls’ School, Kate Pennycuick. Kate was presented with her Level 2 Highland Bagpipe Proficiency Certificate at assembly and proudly took home a set of antique Lawrie bagpipes as she moved from learning the chanter to the full set of pipes.

Kate has been learning the chanter for three terms, taking on the challenge set by Dr Hastie at Flora MacDonald Day last year. Head of the College Pipes and Drums, Mr Andrew Lightfoot, has been taking two students at the Girls’ School for weekly lessons and believes that Kate has the makings of a very fine player. Learning the chanter requires regular practice and commitment but Kate has put in the necessary time and has a determination to make quick progress on this traditional instrument. Piping is physically demanding but this is no deterrent to this petite player!

Kate has managed her first notes on the pipes and we look forward to her leading in the official party at a school event in the not too distant future. The challenge is now on to other learners!

Live Theatre

The Girls’ School were in for a treat in April when a New Zealand Playhouse touring show rolled up with their cast and stage props. Based on the classic fairy tale, Rapunzel, the modern adaption revealed a host of modern characters, references and twists… ‘Rapunzel is the hot favourite to win ‘A Land Far Far Away’s Got Talent with X Factor Idol’. She’s a teenage triple threat, with the voice of Lady Gaga, the dance moves of Beyoncé, and the hair of… Rapunzel! But when she refuses to sign a contract with the ‘udderly ruthless’ moosic producer, Simon Cow, he locks her in a recording tower high above the enchanted forest to steal her singing voice with a magic tape machine. What can Rapunzel do now she can’t sing? Rap! With the help of a very handsome Fresh Prince, some very long hair, and a smattering of favourite characters, the fairy tale was flipped upside down and the RAP was put back into RAPunzel.’

The lively production played to the entire school as they joined together in the hall to enjoy the funny, educational and inspiring story. The girls were totally absorbed with the whole performance; some experiencing ‘live theatre’ for the first time. There was also a great opportunity for audience participation throughout the play and the students were able to ask the characters their ‘behind the scenes’ questions at the end.

Kate de Goldi Visit

Acclaimed short story writer, Kate De Goldi was warmly welcomed at the Girls’ School library in March to share her writing passion with our Year 5-8 girls in a series of workshops. As well as writing short stories, Kate is an author of young adult fiction, children’s books and journalism pieces. She presents book reviews regularly on radio and television and has won many awards for her work.

Kate’s delivery was warm, creative and passionate and she really captivated our girls’ thirst for knowledge with the many personal details she shared, some of which she has used in her books. She expressed that there is no right way to write and that we all approach things in different ways. She reinforced the need for reading your story aloud and editing thoroughly.

Feedback from the teachers was that Kate really listened to the girls’ learning needs with her detailed coverage of the ‘mystery’ genre, which the girls were exploring. She gave plenty of time for questions and answers that enabled the girls to gain a greater understanding at their own personal level. The girls thoroughly enjoyed listening to Kate’s prose and, benefiting from the workshops, they applied renewed creative enthusiasm to their own writing.

For the senior girls, the learning focus was on the present day morals and values woven into traditional fairytales, as well as using the rap to continue to learn about poetry techniques as part of their poetry unit. Back in the classroom, the Year 7 girls got into character by dressing into costume hats where they looked at the main characters from classic fairytales and what they were like. Questions they were posed were – Who was a ‘good’ character? Who was a ‘bad’ character? Then, taking some of the words from the book that appealed to them, the girls wrote a poem that showed the conflict between the two contrasting characters. To conclude, the girls had the option of writing a rap using the story of Rapunzel as an inspiration and applying their knowledge of metaphors, abstract concepts, lyrics and narratives.

The live show included the clever use of current popular trends and was the perfect formula to engage the children across all year 0-8 levels. For the younger students the performance provided wonderful literacy links with the curriculum and study units on stories and creativity.

Interested in Learning French?

French Teacher, Mrs Helen Fleming from the Girls’ School is starting up a weekly after-school French Club for students and an afternoon French Club for parents and the wider community. Come and join in on the wonderful adventure and enriching experience of learning another language in an authentic learning environment!

After-School french club

Starting in Term 2 straight after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, lessons for students will be learnt through drama, storytelling, songs, craft and games for an hour in the Languages room at the Girls’ School. The children will get to choose the name of their very own café and will be given a Le Goûter (French afternoon snack) during the lesson.

cAfé PAriSien

The French Club for adults on Tuesdays and Wednesdays starting at 1.45pm will include afternoon tea/coffee in the class, and although the focus will be on communication, essential learning skills will also be taught. These skills will assist in extending your knowledge of the French language. Your newly acquired language can then be practised at home, where you can enjoy playing games in French with your children.

For more details on dates, cost and to reserve a place go to www.thefrenchclub.co.nz

Year 6, 7 and 8 Camps

At the tail end of summer, our Year 6, 7 and 8 girls set off by the busload for their much anticipated Term 1 camp. The Year 6 girls stayed at Shakespear Lodge in Shakespear Regional Park, Whangaparaoa, and this year, the Year 7 and 8 girls joined together to camp at McLarens Falls Park outside Tauranga. Amongst their native and rural surroundings, the campers had a busy schedule of outdoor activities and challenges ahead of them.

Set alongside Lake McLaren, the Year 7 and 8 girls’ first task of assembling their tents set the spirit for the next four days, and was a great team building exercise. The girls experienced the physical challenges of kayak racing, ‘bivi’ building, wood cutting/fire building, a plank challenge, catapult building and a treasure hunt. The sailing at Kulim Park was a highlight for the water enthusiasts, and the cooking competitions prepared outside on gas burners was a novel experience for many!

Another highlight of the camp was a still, night time paddle down the McLarens Falls Waterfall Track to see the surrounding cliff faces full of glow worms. Customary games of spotlight, toasting marshmallows, singing songs, sharing stories around the campfire and sleeping under the stars all added to the girls’ outdoor adventure.

Over three days at Shakespear Regional Park, the Year 6 girls pushed themselves to the top in rock climbing with very rewarding results when they finally made it! Coast steering was a favourite, jumping off large rocks into the ocean, and in the archery a few girls made the bullseye! The orienteering tested the girls navigation skills, the kayaking tested balance skills and the walkie talkies were great fun playing games over the radios.

Feedback from the kitchen fare also took on a positive note with the Year 6 girls saying they enjoyed the camp food. Overall, they said camp was an exciting and fun experience to start the year with and, ‘It was fantastic! We all loved it.’

Many a new friendship was developed and existing bonds were strengthened as the girls enjoyed their time away from home and new found independence. The weather for both camps was stunning with clear warm nights, crisp mornings and beautiful days. On return to school, the girls were exhausted, happy and proud of their achievements.

What a Throw!

Year 7 student, Moiralisa Ainu’u Aneru took everyone by surprise at Athletics Day at the College –she threw a massive 28.92 metres to beat the standing discus record by over a whopping 11 metres!

The previous Year 7 girls’ record of 17.29 metres was set back in 2007.

But that was not all, impressively, champion thrower, Moiralisa not only broke the girls’ record but she also surpassed the Year 7 boy’s record of 26.44 metres that had been held since 1996!

Her record breaking throws didn’t end there! She also succeeded in setting a new Year 7 girls’ shotput record on the day.

Well done Moiralisa!

Weet-Bix Tryathlon

An early morning Sunday start did not stop 19 Saint Kentigern girls competing at the 2014 Sanitarium Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon in February. The weather was stunning, providing the girls with perfect conditions for an active morning where they competed to the best of their ability. This year the girls took part in the St Helier’s event located at Vellenoweth Green, looking out towards Rangitoto Island.

Now in its 22nd year, this national event saw over 22,000 children competing nationwide in the 2013/14 series, making it the biggest ever. The competition inspires children to get moving in a friendly and supportive environment where the emphasis is on enjoying an active lifestyle. Children of all abilities cross the finish line as a champion and everyone who participates takes home a medal.

Full of excitement and anticipation, the girls arrived early and set up their bikes in prime locations ready for their transition to cycling after their swim. While waiting for the TRYathlon to start, the girls had the chance

Swimming House Relays

The sun was blazing, the music pumping and the atmosphere was crackling with excitement and energy as our swimmers from the Girls’ and Boys’ Schools battled it out for the title of House Relay champion. The House spirit was turned up in full swing, as the students chanted and yelled their support to their fellow House swimmers from the banks surrounding the Boys’ School pool. Congratulations to Wishart who placed 1st, followed by Hamilton and Cargill placing 2nd and 3rd, with Chalmers in 4th place.

to meet famous sportspeople including world champion shot putter, Valarie Adams and All Blacks rugby legend, Jonah Lomu. Others enjoyed a nutritious and energy fuelling Weet-Bix breakfast under the two big blue Saint Kentigern marquees.

As the girls took to the start line side by side, they were soon separated by the mass of participants. Putting in their best effort, as the girls ran and biked past parents and staff members, they still managed a smile for the camera! Several girls chose to enter as a team, while most chose to compete as individuals.

While the Weet-Bix TRYathlon is a fun event with an emphasis on participation, many girls had their own personal goals to better their time from last year. At the finish line they all enjoyed receiving a medal - and the feeling of accomplishment! It was another proud day watching the girls in blue with an eagerness to compete with great sportsmanship.

Saint Kentigern

Wishart are Winners!

Looking at the line-up of yellow swim caps on Finals Day at the Girls’ School swimming championships, you were left in no doubt who the likely winners would be as the odds were definitely in Wishart’s favour!

The Girls’ School swimming races were held over two days with full school participation on the preliminary day to determine who would take to the starters’ blocks on the final day of competition. The girls braved the unseasonal weather with the mercury only just getting over 15C at the start of racing but our girls are tough! House spirit was high and it was great to see the girls so supportive of each other both from the sides and in the pool.

There are some very fine young swimmers amongst the girls and the races were swum very competitively with close finishes - but with Wishart taking seven of the eleven first place podium spots, there was no question which House had the edge!

SWim ChampionS

Year 8 GirlS

Lucy Frazer Grace Stehlin Annie Yu

Year 7 GirlS

Zara Smith Ava Beca Isabella Duncan

Year 6 GirlS

Jessica Marshall India Doo Olivia Connolly

Year 5 GirlS

Eva Colyer Kate Frazer Isobel Li

Year 4 GirlS

Bridget Dennis Mary Stanfield Bille Freker Netten

Year 3 GirlS

Alex Lamb and Frances Revell-Devlin Hannah Piper

Year 2 GirlS

Sienna Haar Endrica Dhani Golden Lawton Hines

Year 1 GirlS

Ashley Cheeseman Sophie Marshall Olivia Carpenter

overall ChampionS

Junior Champion - Jessica Marshall

Senior Champion - Zara Smith

Year 5 anD 6

remUera ZoneS

Ten Year 5 and 6 girls (Eva Colyer, Kate Frazer, Isabel Li, Alexandra McOmish, Kaythi Finn, India Doo, Rachel Black, Nieve Campbell, Jessica Marshall and Olivia Connolly) represented Saint Kentigern Girls’ School at the Remuera Zone swimming competition. Two Year 5 girls made great times to win in the finals; Kate Frazer won the 25m Breaststroke on 23.97, and Eva Colyer, came in 3rd in the 25m Backstroke on 23.04. Well done Kate and Eva.

Family Picnic

On a glorious Friday summer evening, families of the Girls’ School spread out on the lawn in front of Corran House to enjoy their annual family picnic as Dads got busy on the BBQ, sizzling sausages - sunhats and aprons donned and a joke or two shared over their cooking duties.

Parents were able to relax and socialise while the students and their siblings were kept entertained with activity stations, a bouncy castle, balloon animals and a dip in the pool. Again this year, the Year 8 students had set up and managed their own stalls in a show of their leadership skills. The face painting and nail painting art proved popular with the girls, while the boys enjoyed the creativity of the colouring and craft activities. Further down on the tennis courts, the Year 8 leaders had also set up a stall of games for the younger guests which included testing their steadiness skills with a pair of chopsticks and some M&M’s!

Dads in School Day

Whether it was a sticky treat in the lunch box, a quiet read in the library, a game of ball on the field or some riotous activity on the playground, sharing time with Dad took on many forms at the first Dads in School Day.

We were absolutely delighted with the response to this new initiative as expectant girls peered out of classroom windows eagerly waiting for their Dads to arrive. It was really enjoyable to observe relaxed Dads wandering around the School with their daughters - and to watch Dads sneak in with ‘totally inappropriate’ food to share! Undoubtedly these cakes and cookies were wonderful, happy treats for the girls!

There was one downside to the day as a fire in commercial kitchen of our online lunch ordering service caused a delay in the delivery service - leaving some girls and their Dads who had ordered, waiting a long time for their lunch. However, once the shared lunches were eaten, there was plenty of time for more fun on the field!

A fabulous al fresco evening was enjoyed by all along with the value of bringing our families together to mix and mingle in a relaxed social setting. Thank you to the Parents and Friends Association for organising the successful event.

Girls’ School New Parents’ Dinner

On a late summer evening during Term 1, the Girls’ School Hall was transformed to a dinner venue to welcome over 90 guests for the inaugural New Parents’ Dinner, hosted by Head of Primary, Dr Sandra Hastie and her senior leadership team. Families whose girls have started at the School since Term 3 last year, through to those who will be starting before Term 3 this year, were invited to join together with staff and guests for an evening of entertainment, socialising and fine dining.

After pre-dinner drinks and hors d’oeuvres, Dr Hastie invited guests to take their seats, reassuring the parents that the evening was for relaxing and getting to know one another – joking that there wouldn’t be a donation envelope hidden under their dinner plate!

Prior to dinner, Dr Hastie introduced two students to entertain. Year 6 student, Megan White is a Speech and Drama Honours student who confidently delivered a passage from the book Demon Dentist by the popular author David Walliams. She was followed by Year 7 student, Ava Beca who has been studying ballet since she was five and is currently a member of the Auckland High Performance Dance Programme which she fits around her many other school commitments. Ava’s secret goal is to join the New Zealand Ballet and her performance suggested she was well on the right track!

Chaplain, Reuben Hardie said Grace before the guests enjoyed a fabulous dinner and a chance to chat.

Dr Hastie told the parents that she has be involved with the lives of young people for over 30 years and the many students she has encountered from all walks of life have shaped and moulded her over the years. She acknowledged that the students of today may not have the luxury of the same profession for a life time and it is the shared duty of school and home to prepare them for that future world of change. She also explained that Saint Kentigern is more than just a school – families are welcomed and encouraged to be involved. It’s a way of life and a partnership based on a combination of values, tradition and excellence, combined with innovative thinking and approaches that the future will demand.

As a fellow parent, Mr Craig Knox was invited to speak. Mr Knox is in the unique position of having a daughter at the Girls’ School, a son at the Boys’ School and another daughter who has now moved onto the College. Both girls were enrolled in the former Corran School at the time of the merger. He is passionately committed to his children’s place of learning and is a strong advocate for Saint Kentigern and the education his children have received. He said that it had been his experience that it was ‘very hard for a student to get ‘lost’ here and equally very easy to be seen…this has been instrumental in building my children’s confidence.’

Final speaker for the evening was a former Girls’ School Head Girl, Georgia McLeish who is now in Year 11 at the College. Always a confident speaker, Georgia spoke from the heart about the importance of her time at the Girls’ School in preparing the way for College life. She said, ‘The entire faculty inspired us and challenged us to not only meet our goals but to surpass them whenever possible. They taught us to never lose sight of who we were and by simply believing in ourselves, we could be whatever we wanted to be. Once I was armed with the ‘small but mighty’ spirit, the College was all mine, to make of it what I desired!’ Georgia has gone on to commit herself fully at the College, telling the parents that she believes, ‘ The Girls’ School produces confident young women, who are kind and considerate of others.’

In her closing words, Dr Hastie said ‘We hope that you will leave tonight knowing more about Saint Kentigern Girls’ School and feeling confident that you have placed them in the best independent Girls’ Primary School in Auckland; a school where they will have the opportunity to learn, grow and become a confident young women who will go on to make a difference.’

Our thanks to Mrs Karyl Kidd for her organisation and the following sponsors for so generously supporting the evening:

Beautiful House, Greenscene Limited, Heritage Hotels, Keith Hay Homes, Khan Family Trust, Legacy Life, PB Technologies, SKOCA, Stanfield family and Terra Vin Wines.

Boys' School

Taking the Classroom outdoors – Exper iential Education

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.’ - Confucius

‘There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less.’ - Kurt Hahn

Kurt Hahn (1886 – 1974) was a key figure in the development of experiential education. he was the founder of the Atlantic College, the first United World College, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Gordonstoun, outward Bound and Salem.

hahn believed that schools should not just be places to prepare for further education but that they were places to prepare for life.

hahn’s educational philosophy was based on respect for youth, whom he believed to possess an innate decency and moral sense but who were, he believed, corrupted by society as they aged. he believed that education could prevent this corruption if students were given opportunities for personal leadership and to see the results of their own actions. This is one reason for the focus on outdoor adventure in his philosophy. hahn believed that students could only really understand life by experiencing it in many exciting and challenging ways. By testing themselves, students would be able to develop their courage, generosity, imagination, principles and resolution. At the end of the day, they would develop the skills and abilities to become the guardians and leaders of the future. he also believed that the greatest thing one could learn – and inspire in others – was compassion.

Curriculum based learning programmes, which extend outside the classroom, provide opportunities for a vast array of positive outcomes in a student’s education. These can range from museum visits to a sports trip, outdoor education camp or a historical village field trip for all levels of our school community.

At Saint Kentigern Boys’ School, education outside the Classroom aims to:

• Provide students with opportunities to learn outside the classroom in all curriculum areas

• Promote appreciation of our her itage – local, national and global

• increase students’ awareness and understanding of the traditions and values of their own and other cultural groups

• increase students’ understanding of different perspectives on land, natural resources and the environment, and of the need for conservation management

• Provide opportunities for service, enjoyment, adventure and challenge, both close to home and far away

• Provide students with opportunities to enhance spiritual, physical and mental well-being through uplifting experience in the natural environment

• Develop students’ skills so they can move with confidence and safety in rural, urban and wilderness settings

• help students develop respect for themselves and others by providing them with opportunities for personal and social development

We are incredibly lucky in new zealand to have such a vast array of resources at our fingertips that allow schools to provide such opportunities that can only enrich our boys understanding and appreciation of our culture, community and the outdoors, as well as having staff willing, committed and prepared to undertake and offer these additional experiences.

in my 30 plus years of teaching, i have been fortunate to take many day trips to reinforce classroom programmes that provide greater insight into academic learning, coordinate outdoor challenges for various levels and lead sports and cultural exchanges both nationally and internationally. To see groups of students return from these additional activities excited and enthused with a deeper appreciation and understanding makes it all worthwhile.

unfortunately as the years have gone by, schools are now also facing increasing challenges to continue to provide such experiences. Costs are rising and at times increasing red-tape causes us to rethink our plans while endeavouring to maintain the outcomes we want. Constant evaluation of activities undertaken outside the classroom continues to see us refine and if necessary adjust programmes to ensure we are providing the best possible experience according to the age and level of our boys.

Term 1 has seen all students from Years 1 – 8 involved in activities away from the school environment with Years 5 – 8 spending 3 – 4 nights away from school at various locations. in the Junior School, day trips brings their classroom learning to life while camps at Middle and Senior levels provide a progression of outdoor skills and challenges that focus on leadership, team building, socialisation and skills that will allow our boys to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors for the rest of their lives. Tenting, bivvy making, survival skills, cooking, filleting fish, water-based skills, overcoming challenges on confidence courses and living together are much needed skills that engage and excite our boys as well as challenging them to step outside their comfort zone. integral to this is also the importance we place on living the values that we as an organisation uphold through real and meaningful service.

in the course of their eoTC exper iences, students will gain new knowledge and understandings, skills and abilities, and attitudes, as well as building on those they already know – 'Skills for life and enjoyment of life!'

opportunity, Challenge, Achievement

BOYS AT CAMP!

As our boys in year s 5-8 head away to camp each summer, they leave with a little trepidation but return brimming with stories of newly discovered self-confidence, a sense of growing independence and the knowledge that they can find success in the face of challenge.

Our youngest group of campers, the Year 5 boys, set off on their first camp to Peter Snell youth Village in Whangaparaoa, the year 6’s travelled to Sir Peter Blake MerC (Marine education and recreation Centre) in Long Bay, Auckland and the year 7’s to yMCA Camp Adair, an outdoor pursuits and education facility located in hunua. in a new setting from last year’s camp, our year 8 boys headed down to Tauranga to McLaren’s Falls Park to camp outdoors. Whatever the destination, the verdict was universal, it’s one of the highlights of the school year!

I am at the top of the abseiling tower with my heel on the edge and an evil voice in my head. The more it talks, the more I believe it. I know I can do it but it says I can’t. I have two choices; I can either die of extreme shame or minor brain damage (well actually I would rather die of old age). But that voice must be silenced or I will never conquer my fear of heights. I lean back on the rope. The voice says I can’t but my instinct is more powerful. I take my first step towards achievement. Yeh! Strange voice in my head, I win and don’t even think about tricking me again!

Ethan Findlow,Year 5

The Year 8 Camp was a life changing experience. Other camps I have been on in my time at Saint Kentigern Boys’ School involved comfortable cabins where hot cooked meals were prepared for us. Well, not this year! There were no toilets, just port-a-loos at the Year 8 Camp at McLaren Falls Park in Tauranga. There were no good chefs to cook us food, just us to cook our own food on gas cookers! There were no cabins either. Just tents. Overall Year 8 camp was a life changing experience. It made every single boy more independent and responsible.

Charles Jones,Year 8

My turn to abseil was next, my heart was pumping, I went to the top and I had to believe in myself. There was a voice in my head saying, ‘you can’t do it you are scared of heights’ and there was a voice saying, ‘you can do it, if you try.’ I got hooked up. I was too scared to do it so I went back down the ladder. I watched and watched other people then the bell rang to go to the next activity. But I stayed and I went up there and I did it! Mrs Williams gave me a high-five. Always believe in yourself!

Alexander Coates,Year 5

As I paddled I was frightened. What if the kayak tipped over or if I would drown. When I first started, I was a bit shaky so another instructor talked me through the basics. A few minutes later the teacher towed me to the others. When I reached the shaky pontoon I was asked to dive down deep into the salty sea. I was so scared but I took a deep deep breath, dived down and it was like a sub-zero freezer down there!

Jonathan Benjamin,Year 5

I was doing archery with my group and the tension was building up in my arm as I pulled the string back, until the plastic feathers touched my cheek. I tried to clear my mind of any distractions. I had to focus and concentrate, if I was to hit the board. Then that little voice got into my head. What if you miss? What if it fell short? I got angry at it and pulled a bit too much. When I let go, the arrow went off course!

Alexander Dennis,Year 5

Boys’ School Prefect Team 2014

on the first day of the new school year, the 2014 Saint Kentigern Boys’ School prefects were commissioned at a special service attended by their parents and invited guests. it was a particularly proud moment for the parents; especially for those of the new head Boy, Benjamin Lerner and Deputy Head Boy, Beck Robson. These are two fine young men who will lead the School well.

reverend reuben hardie led the school in prayer, explaining to the boys that leadership at Saint Kentigern has service at its heart. Principal, Mr Peter Cassie welcomed head of College, Mr Steve Cole and the newly elected College head Boy, Sam Dakin. in introducing the College head Boy to speak, Mr Cole said that Sam had shown all the right attributes for leadership – a hard working young man who stands on his own two feet, thinks of other people, is approachable and respected immensely by his peers. Sam spoke with great conviction about the nature of leadership and said whilst not all of the year 8’s could be prefects, they all had the ability to offer leadership to the younger boys in the School. he encouraged them ‘not to sweat the small stuff’ and to find the resilience to bounce back from disappointments and be the stronger for it – and above all to smile and enjoy what each day brings.

Mr Cassie came forward to challenge both Benjamin and Beck with the Prefect Pledge: ‘gentlemen, do you promise to uphold the values and standards of Saint Kentigern School and to serve its students, teachers and parents to the best of your ability and for the glory of god?’ The boys then introduced the rest of their prefect team to the School as they in turn accepted to the duties of leadership.

The School is fortunate to have a large number of boys capable of student leadership at the highest level, making it extremely difficult to cast the final choices. The successful candidates must demonstrate a balance of confidence and humility while possessing initiative and having the respect of their peers. This year’s team were all chosen for these attributes. Congratulations!

PREFECT TEAM 2014

head Prefect:Benjamin Ler ner

Deputy head Prefect:Beck robson

Council Chairman:Beck robson

Chapel Prefect : Josh hawkesby-Lyne

Academic Prefect: Samuel Looker

Sport Prefect:Thomas Maloney

Cultural Prefect:Caleb Pese

HEAD BOY: BENJAMIN LERNER

Benjamin is in his eighth year at Saint Kentigern Boys’ School and has consistently been a hardworking and reliable student. he is well known for his passion for music! he truly lives the School values, last year receiving a 'Student of the Term' Award for his resilience and energy to perform at high standards in academic, cultural and sporting arenas. Benjamin blends his academic strengths with his musical ability, having won the instrumental Section on the saxophone in the School Song Writing Competition, the Middle School Music Cup and has received numerous gold Awards in the Lewis eady Music Competition. he is fully involved in all aspects of school life and aims to lead by example.

DEPUTY HEAD BOY: BECK ROBSON

Beck joined the School as a new entrant at the start of 2006 and is a fine example of a Saint Kentigern boy. he shows leadership in and out of the classroom and his enthusiasm brings the best out in others. Beck has excellent work habits and a continued enthusiasm and willingness with his learning that has seen him as the recipient of numerous Principal and Dean Awards. A keen public speaker, Beck enjoys cricket and flippaball and always sets an example of fair play and sportsmanship. Beck’s teachers describe him as displaying kindness, sincerity and a peacefulness in all areas of his life. Beck is also chairman of the student council.

Cargill Leaders: ollie Kriechbaum and zac Morrow

Chalmer s Leaders:Bronson gleye and Lucas osborne

hamilton Leaders:Maia Scott and Jordan Warren

Wishart Leaders: Scott Puni and gibson nevill

Cargill Leaders: Ollie Kriechbaum and Zac Morrow

Hamilton Leaders: Jordan Warren and Maia Scott

Chalmers Leaders: Lucas Osborne and Bronson Gleye

Wishart Leaders: Gibson Nevill and Scott Puni

We are one People

‘HE IWI TAHI TATOU’

play to perform on the beach. ( n the way, Williams discovered the hard way that a full crinoline petticoat and a modern suburban bus are not necessarily a good mix!)`

Karaka Bay has a small community of ten households on the shoreline that can only be reached by the long, winding path. There is no street access; everything has to be walked in. resident, Mr Tony Watkins kindly offered his time to talk to the boys on the beach. Mr Watkins is Te rarawa; his relatives signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Mangungu in the hokainga and he now lives on the spot at Karaka Bay where the Treaty was signed in Auckland. he talked to the boys about just what a treaty means and how it came to mean different things to different people at the time of the signing. once the boys had eaten their lunch in the shade of an enormous pohutukawa, a table was laid out with the red ensign, re-creating the scene on the day of the signing in Waitangi. Teacher, Mr Anton Lorenzon took on the role of Captain William hobson and those who had been assigned roles - the narrators, the missionary, William Colenso, James Busby and the chiefs, Tareha, Tamati Waka nene and hone heke - came forward and delivered their lines with confidence. After each chief signed, they shook hands with hobson who said, ‘he iwi tahi tatou’ - ‘We are one people’.

Narrator as well as the chiefs and their supporters, there were a number of Pakeha present, including local residents, missionaries, traders and sailors. Most of the chiefs were dressed in traditional costumes of cloaks, decorated with dog skins or feathers but a few wore colourful European clothing. Some of the Pakeha were dressed in uniforms and the Catholic Bishop, Pompallier, who wore a purple robe and a large gold cross and chain, stood out from the other missionaries who were dressed in black. a day of speeches followed. Some of the chiefs were strongly opposed to the treaty. one of these was tareha, a tall powerful chief. other chiefs spoke in favour of the treaty. Hone Heke, a Ngapuhi chief urged the gathering to accept the treaty. the hui continued. For a time the chiefs hesitated to come forward, then Busby began calling the names of the chiefs who belonged to the Confederation. one by one, beginning with Hone Heke, they came forward to sign. after each chief signed, they shook hands with Hobson who said, ‘He iwi tahi tatou’ - ‘We are one people’

Twins Meet Professor Lord robert Winston

With thanks to Mrs Patsy hindson, Science Teacher

An amazing opportunity arose for a small group of our year 8 boys, to join students from several local intermediate schools for a day in the LenScience classroom at the Liggins’ institute at the Auckland university. The institute is where new zealand’s top scientists research early life nutrition and development, epigenetics and evolutionary medicine.

This was no ordinary day for the LenScience department as one of Britain’s top scientists and fertility specialists, the world renowned Professor Lord robert Winston from the imperial College in London was their special guest for the day.

When faced with the task of selecting only four boys to represent the School, what better choice than two sets of identical twins, henry and Sam Copley and oliver and Charles Jones, not only because of their unique, shared genetic makeup but also because of their fascination and love for science

The day began with an introduction to the research work that is currently being undertaken at the Liggins’ institute and a brief lesson on how the environment in our early developmental stages can impact on our health later in life.

The students investigated the effect of exercise on their heart rates by measuring their pulse rates using data loggers and stationary exercise bikes. Both exercise and recovery rates were automatically plotted by the data loggers and the twins could see how their brother’s heart rate patterns compared to their own. Professor Winston and the staff at LenScience were amazed at how henry and Sam’s exercise and recovery rates were almost identical.

The class was treated to a talk by Professor Lord robert Winston about the work he has been involved in over the years, including interesting anecdotes from his ‘Child of our Time’ series.

After a shared lunch with the Professor, the boys returned to the classrooms where they met with a range of scientists in a more informal setting where they could talk with the professionals and ask questions about their work at the university.

The boys left the university that day, beaming from ear to ear as they had experienced an action packed day where they were immersed in the nature of science at its best.

With thanks to Mr Joe Johansen, Senior School Dean

The new options programme at the Boys’ School has provided the opportunity to extend our Senior School programme by offering a wider range of learning experiences. robotics is just one of the new subjects on offer and already there is a buzz of excitement as boys gather round to catch a glimpse of one of the many robots in action.

We have purchased 40 Lego Mindstorms eV3 education Kits which enable our boys to work in groups of 2-3. Each week, different challenges are set in class and the boys collaborate to design, build, programme and test their robots. early on, the classes programmed their robot to act as a satellite to complete one automated orbit cycle of the Moon. next they built and programmed their robot to follow a continuous, solid black line that works its way through our classroom.

We have been fortunate to invite Mr Philip ivanier, a Saint Kentigern parent and early developer of the Lego robotics programme into our classes to teach the boys about his experiences with robotics. Philip is a big advocate of learning through experience by taking risks rather than following instructional manuals. This philosophy is very much part of our Senior School approach towards learning and has proven to be successful in classes thus far.

every boy in the Senior School will have the opportunity to experience the challenge of Robotics – it’s five curriculum subjects in one! Science, Computer Science, Technology, engineering and Mathematics all spring to mind when our senior boys are engaged in the programme.

A Visit to the Wintergardens

To link in with this term’s science topic on 'Plant Functions and Processes,’ the year 8 classes at the Boys’ School took a fascinating science trip to the Wintergardens in the Auckland Domain. opened in 1913, the Victorian style glasshouses are home to rare and spectacular plants in ever-changing, carefully tended displays. one house is heated and shows off lush tropical and heat-loving plants while the other displays temperate plants that change with the seasons. The boys soon discovered that it was like stepping into another world as they opened the doors to a hot and humid climate to be surrounded by an array of intriguing plants of all size, colour and scent.

The boys were given a special tour around the hot house by Auckland City Council horticulturist, eveline Perl. She shared with the boys some interesting facts about the plants housed there and the great lengths these plants go through to get pollinated. The highlights for the boys were the giant lily pads and discovering the cacao tree - learning that it’s the source of chocolate! Few could resist touching the Mimosa Pudica, known more commonly as the sensitive plant. A native to South America, the leaves suddenly fold inward and droop when touched or shaken, to protect them from predators - then re-open minutes later.

To complement the glasshouse tour, some of the year 8 classes had a talk by rachel Turner, an environmental scientist from Andrew Stewart Limited while others met with Dr revel Drummond from Plant and Food research. To link with their current science topic, the scientists explained the different functions of the plants and their adaptive ways for reproducing and surviving their species.

To conclude the visit, the boys toured the Fernery. in total contrast to the hot house , the Fernery occupies a cool, sunken scoria quarry and is home to wide range of new zealand ferns. here the boys actively looked for spores on the underside of leaves, having come to learn the difference between seeds and spores in the reproduction of plants.

The boys learned a great deal from seeing the plants first-hand, hearing experts in the subject and being able to ask questions. We would like to the thank eveline Perl, rachel Turner and Dr revel Drummond for their time to talk and answer the boys’ many queries.

College Welcomes Boys’ School

The year 7 students from the Boys’ School were welcomed to the College campus for a taste of what to expect when they enter secondary school. The visit began with lunch in the dining room at Bruce house, the boarding facility, before the boys headed to the Science Block.

The boys soon discovered that the Science Block at the College is a most impressive learning centre with plenty of exhibits to capture the imagination. The boys were split into groups for a taster of physics, chemistry and biology with science teachers, Mr Jacob naude, Mr george Wolken and Mr Simon Walker. experiments were soon underway that resulted in plenty to learn and plenty of giggles – especially the experiments that oozed, sparked and caught them by surprise!

in the second part of the visit, the boys could choose whether to take part in a coaching session for rugby, football, athletics or drama. Tai Lavea, the coach of the World Champion 1st XV took the rugby boys for training while those who chose football were coached by former nz football player, Chris zorocich. The boys that chose athletics had the benefit of NZ decathlete, Scott McLaren while those that went to drama were taught by drama teacher, Dave Sheehan who coaches the most successful College Premier Theatresports team.

The Boys’ School students thoroughly enjoyed the visit and would like to thank the College staff who so willingly made themselves available during their lunch break to make them feel welcome.

Celtic Day

the College Pipes and Drums. As the clans marched this year, the boys were brimming with pride and the smiles wide in anticipation as the older, more experienced boys took their young charges under their wings for the day. The transition boys from the Preschool were also there to join in the fun.

All eyes this year were on the Chalmers clans as they moved en masse as a river of blue fish – an element from the story of St Kentigern - bringing a ‘living, breathing piece of artwork’ to the event. The hope is that other clans will follow suit next year to bring yet another dimension to the day.

At the official ceremony, Principal, Mr Peter Cassie made an announcement he may live to regret! At this, his second Celtic Day, he made it known that he has plans to learn the bagpipes. not just learn them, but learn them well enough to pipe himself into a Prizegiving! he admitted to having a few months of practising on the chanter under his belt, but we will now all ‘watch this space’ to see if he can live up to his own challenge to deliver the goods in three years’ time! Meanwhile, we enjoyed young David Allan’s first public performance as he piped in the haggis.

each year there is an address on ‘matters Scottish’ by a willing school parent with an authentic gaelic accent. For the past eight years, that role

head Boy, Ben Lerner took command of his huge audience in the Jubilee Sports Centre and delivered a polished performance which drew long applause and earned for him the award of the Sir William Wallace trophy. it is the rest of the day that really sticks in the boys’ minds - as our 480 tartan-clad young Brave hearts prepared to do battle in their quest to become the top clan and ultimately the house Celtic Day Champion for 2014! Amid a rotation of activities including art, craft, cooking and history, the boys at some time during the day arrive on the roselle lawn for a series of activities sponsored and managed by the Parents and Friends Association.

From the first strains of the bagpipe, to the last wet sponge thrown on the field, the day is universally acclaimed as ‘the best.’ This year’s Celtic Day certainly lived up to its reputation providing the tradition, formalities, humour and excitement that our boys have come to expect.

As always, we must thank our Parents and Friends Association, chaired by Laura Lane, who do a fantastic job in providing support on the day from preparing shortbread for the guest’s morning tea, offering haggis to the boys (who let’s be honest, would have preferred the shortbread!), to being at the forefront of the games on the field. Our sincere thanks to a wonderful group of parents.

GREYFRIARS BOBBY

200 years ago, Jock Gray was born in Forfar, Scotland. he moved from his rural home to the city of Edinburgh to find work and feed his family. Times were tough and jobs were few. Struggling to find regular work, Jock joined the edinburgh Police Force. Crime was high and the life of a policeman was generally a short one. To make matters worse, he was assigned to the roughest, toughest part of the city which included the grassmarket, greyfriars churchyard, Candlemakers row and the cattle market.

Jock was of good character and became very popular with the locals. Part of his charm may have been his choice of police dog, a Skye Terrier called Bobby! in those days, every single policeman had to have a dog on patrol and the two of them were inseparable for four years. But sadly, Jock became ill and died. he was buried in the graveyard of greyfriars Church, part of their former beat. The morning after the funeral Bobby was found lying on Jock’s grave. As dogs weren’t allowed in cemeteries, Bobby was shoed away but the next morning, Bobby was back on the grave again and the next and the next. eventually the Church wardens stopped chasing him away and from that day on Bobby spent every night sleeping on his old master’s grave. he did this for 14 years until he died. he had become a famous dog and the year after his death a statue was erected outside the graveyard to commemorate Bobby’s loyalty to his old master. The inscription on the statue’s plaque reads ‘Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all.’

Mr Allan told our boys, ‘you are young but already you have formed strong friendships. The way you act in the future with friends, family, teammates, and in fact everyone you encounter, will determine how loyal they are to you. There are times in life when we all need help but you will come to learn that one of the finest values in life is loyalty to others.’

Sports exchange to Wellington

The Wellington weather lived up to its reputation when our 1st XI Cricket and Tennis teams arrived for matches against Scots College and Wellesley College. Horizontal rain and 120kmph winds played havoc with the games against Scots College, however, our ever-resilient boys made the most of the conditions – the tennis teams managed to complete all sets convincingly, winning the fixture. Cricket on the other hand was abandoned before a ball was bowled as Scots went into bat!

Our boys showed class in their batting with a score of over 200 achieved in their 35 overs, Flynn Dudson and Stuart Macalister leading from the front and both achieving figures over the half century.

The boys left the Scots fixture unsure whether the conditions would improve for the upcoming matches against Wellesley College. Much to everyone’s surprise, the day turned out to be a cloudless and windless Wellington day, perfect for sport. Wellesley’s reputation as a strong cricket and tennis school had already been drilled into our boys from the Scots billets, however, we were also confident that we had the skill and expertise to compete.

As the day unfolded, our teams quickly asserted themselves on the field and courts. Lengthy rallies on the tennis court were not uncommon, and it was fantastic that our players stuck to the task at hand, retaining their composure and, at times, working hard for every point to come from behind to take out the match. On the cricket field, our boys fielded first and had Wellesley all out for just under 80 runs. Excellent bowling kept the run rate in check, providing an opportunity for our batters to secure the win. ollie Kriechbaum led the way with a score just under 50, with the rest of the team chipping in to pass Wellesley’s total under the allotted overs. Wellesley is right on the water and after the games, the boys were taken to jump off the wharf outside their school into the freezing Wellington harbour; a school tradition!

our boys were exceptional ambassadors for Saint Kentigern. The boys returned to Auckland having acquitted themselves exceptionally well, and certainly enjoyed the opportunity to represent their school.

Thank you to the staff involved, Mr Duncan grant, Mr grayson Aspinall and reverend reuben hardie for all their work to make the tour such a success. it will be remembered by the boys.

Boys Take on ocean Swim

i

n a first for the Boys’ School, a group of swimmers travelled to the nzSS Triathlon Championship in gisborne to take on the ocean Swim and Aquathon event. They soon discovered, as did the College triathletes, that gisborne had attracted some unexpected conditions for the event with high winds turning the sea into a boiling surf!

The boys had a good training day in moderate conditions on the first day but the location for the actual event was changed at short notice to ensure the safety of all competitors. The Aquathon was a 250m swim and a 2km run. The swim was difficult as the turning buoy was in the middle of the breaking surf. The ocean swim was also a challenging race as the boys needed to swim beyond the large swell, along the beach and then surf the waves back to shore before a quick sprint to the finish line. The distance of this swim was 500m.

All our boys gave their best and it was a great taste of competition for them at this level. Congratulations in particular to george Falconer who achieved a 3rd place in the U12 Boys Ocean Swim. Well done!

U12 BOYS OCEAN SWIM

george Falconer 3rd

Will Bason 5th

Jourdan Klink 7th

Teague de Jager 11th

nate gilbertson 16th

U13 BOYS OCEAN SWIM

Bronson gleye 11th

U12 BOYS AqUATHON

Will Bason 4th

george Falconer 5th

nate gilbertson 13th

Jourdan Klink 14th

Teague de Jager 17th

U13 BOYS AqUATHON

Bronson gleye 15th

Cargill win Swimming

The School pool had a refurbishment over the summer break and was looking fantastic ready for swimming. We had three days of fabulous summer sunshine and three days of fabulous swimming as the Junior, Middle and Senior School boys took to the water for the hotly contested swimming championships! By the time the final race was completed, seven records had been broken by Brendan Meyer in Year 4, Will Bason in Year 7 and Year 8 student, Sam Looker. Sam also holds the distinction of having been named as age group champion for seven of his eight Saint Kentigern years!

In another unusual record, there was not much room on the podium when all three of the Year 2 winners, Lachlan Hay, James Hiddleston and Jaden Renault Pollard, all shared first place on equal points!

aGE GROuP 1ST 2nd 3Rd

Year 1 Max Trankels Theo Colyer Scot nel

Year 2 Lachlan Hay

James Hiddleston

Jaden Renault Pollard

Year 3Same McLeodEthan KnoxMatthew Phipps

Year 4Brendan Meyer Thibaud Williams archie Marshall

Year 5 Oliver avis alexander dennisMitchell frazer

Year 6Jourdan KlinkSamuel don david allan

Year 7Will BasonEamon foleyGeorge falconer

Year 8Samuel Looker Theo Thomson Zahar Tate

HOuSE SWIMMInG CHaMPIOnS

1ST C argill

2nd Chalmers

3Rd Wishart

4TH hamilton

402 points

320 points

260 points

217 points

House Relays

Zone Swimming

SThe sun was blazing and House spirit was turned up in full swing as our swimmers battled it out for the title of House Relay champion. This was a fantastic afternoon as our Girls’ and Boys’ Schools came together for an afternoon of swimming and fun.

HOuSE RELaY CHaMPIOnS

1ST C argill

89 points

2nd hamilton 83 Points

3Rd Wishart

4TH Chalmers

77 points

65 points

wimmers representing the Boys’ School had fantastic days of racing at the Remuera (Years 5&6) and Eastern Zone (Years 7&8) swimming competitions. Our boys gained podium places in many individual and team relay finals but particularly pleasing was the 1st place for a Boys’ School and 2nd placing overall for the Year 5&6 boys at the Remuera Zone meet.

REMuERa ZOnE fOR YEaRS 5 and 6

Year 5 Boys 25m freestyle: 2nd Oliver avis

Year 6 Boys 25m freestyle: 2nd Jourdan Klink

Year 5 Boys 25m Backstroke: 3rd alexander dennis

Year 6 Boys 25m Backstroke:2nd Jourdan Klink, 3rd William McLachlan

Year 6 Boys 50m freestyle: 1st Jourdan Klink

Year 6 Boys 25m Breaststroke: 1st Taylor Tairua Doyle

Year 6 Boys 4x25 freestyle Relay: 1st Team

Open Boys 4x25 Medley Relay: 1st Team

field Championship Open Relay: 1st Team

Boys Champions: 1st Team

Overall Champions: 2nd Team

EaSTERn ZOnE SWIMMInG fOR YEaRS 7 and 8

Year 7 4x50m Freestyle Relay final: Team 2nd

Year 8 4x50m Freestyle Relay final: Team 2nd

Open 4x50m Medley Relay final:Team 1st

50m Butterfly Senior Boys final: Will Bason 3rd

50m Breaststroke Year 8 Boys final: Bronson Gleye 1st

50m Breaststroke Year 7 Boys final: Will Bason 1st, Eamon foley 2nd

50m Backstroke Year 7 Boys final: Will Bason 1st, Eamon foley 3rd

50m Backstroke Year 8 Boys final: Sam Looker 2nd

50m Freestyle Year 8 Boys final: Sam Looker 3rd

50m Freestyle Year 7 Boys final: Will Bason 1st, George falconer 3rd

inTeR-Zone

Congratulations to the boys who represented the Boys’ School at the Inter-zone Swimming Championships held at diocesan School. Will Bason gained a 2nd and a 3rd individual placing in the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke and then teamed with Theo Thomson, Sam Looker and Bronson Gleye to win the Open Boys 4 x 50m Medley Relay. Well done boys!

Boys Assist at Adaptive Cricket

once again this year, our year 8 cr icket boys went down to Bloodworth Park on Shore road to help out with the annual halberg Disability Sport Foundation’s Adaptive Cricket Day. The day was held in conjunction with Parnell Cricket Club and involved around 40 students with various disabilities from a variety of schools. Parnell Cricket Club played a big part in helping the boys to prepare for the event and the halberg Trust came to the Boys’ School the day before to deliver the ‘no exceptions' training programme.

This is the fourth year that our boys have been involved with halberg events as part of their programme to offer service. The help they offer at the cricket session early in the year prepares them for the annual halberg Disability Sport Foundation event held at the Boys’ School later in the year where the boys are involved in a mentoring and coaching role, assisting disabled students from visiting schools to enjoy competition in a range of adapted games.

At the cricket, our Saint Kentigern boys were allocated stations for the morning where they had key roles in assisting with the coaching. Four drills were set up: catching, fielding, batting and bowling where the visiting cricketers learnt skills and finished off with games of cricket. To begin with, many of the Saint Kentigern boys were shy but as the day went on, relationships were formed and all coaches and cricketers alike had great fun interacting and gaining new skills.

For our boys, this was a chance to learn about being compassionate and giving service to their local community, which is at the heart of the Saint Kentigern philosophy. Friendships were soon built between the all the students and this was seen at lunchtime where they all sat together and chatted. We were proud to see their level of maturity, empathy and overall willingness to assist on the day.

orakei Basin Clean up

For the second year in a row, our year 8 students helped to clean the orakei Basin as part of an initiative by Auckland Council and Telecom to keep Auckland beautiful. it was hoped that after all the clean-up work the boys did last year, that this year’s outing would prove to be a much easier job - that was not to be the case!

one hundred boys donned black gloves and with rubbish sacks in hand they scoured the bush along the waterline. Thomas Woodfield and Joshua Druskovich reported that within the first five minutes they had binned five beer bottles, two plastic bags, a sponge, two road cones, a mouldy toilet seat and a concrete pole! Two and a half hours later, the boys had collected three trailer loads of rubbish and returned to school satisfied that they had contributed to the community.

World Tennis Selection!

year 8 student, Chris zhang is a tennis player who has steadily risen through the ranks over the last year. After his success at local, regional and national age group championship tournaments last year, Chris was selected as the youngest of a team of three boys to represent new zealand in the u14 team to compete at the World Junior Tennis Asia/oceania Final round Qualifying event in india. his team entered the tournament as no 7 seeds but through consistent play ended up in second place which now grants them a place at the Junior Tennis World Finals to be held in Prostejov, Czech republic during August.

good Season for 1st XI

The 1st XI has had a good season winning the majority of their games. They once again move into the next round of the nz Active Cup (formerly known as the Milo Cup). They convincingly beat Viscount School and Buckland Beach intermediate this term and will now move onto the quarter finals which will be held in Term 4. The Active Cup is a New Zealand wide competition for Year 7 and 8 boys with the finals played in Palmerston north in December.

Both the 1st XI and 2nd XI also had emphatic wins against Southwell in the annual exchange with the 2nd XI winning on home grounds and the 1st XI claiming victory in hamilton.

The 1st XI were not so fortunate in the Klippel Shield game, losing to Kings but will fight hard next season to win it back!

Boys retain the Wir ihana Cup

it was another fun win for the Boys’ School 1st XI Cricket team when they played for the Wirihana Cup in a 20/20 match against the Old Collegians on a balmy autumn evening. This is the third match staged since the traditional annual game was resurrected and the third consecutive win for the Boys’ School. The Cup was first played for in 1961 and was a feature on the calendar for a number of years until the original cup went missing.

The Boys’ School 1st XI won the toss and batted first making a creditable 155 for 9 off their 20 overs. This was helped hugely by a lot of wides and no balls dished out by the old Collegians, plus some ‘interesting’ umpiring by the 1st XI coach, Mr Grayson Aspinall! Two year 7 boys in the team did well with Josh Stephan managing 37 not out and Gabe Ross, 22.

in reply, the old Collegians struggled early with slow batting and frantic running between wickets, however, in the end, they did manage to get to 152 after the boys had bowled their 20 overs, so they fell 3 runs short. Well done to old boys, Paul Wilkes who made 24, Sebastian Stephan 20 and Finn Ross 21.

The teams retired to the old Collegians Function room in the Sports Centre for afternoon tea and a social catch up about old times.

Well done Chris!

The Arrowsmith Programme at the Boys’ School

With thanks to Ms Pip Simonian, lead teacher of Arrowsmith

Arrowsmith School, Toronto: - 25 degrees…yes, that is MINUS 25 degrees!

have you ever wondered how people can remember 7-or 8-digit phone numbers without any problem? or how they can add/subtract their shopping total as they walk down the supermarket aisle with no iPad in sight? or, indeed, walk into a room and instantly know the social etiquette required to avoid a faux-pas?

For most of us, this behaviour may come naturally, for others, they may need to work on aspects or ask for guidance. But for children who have a deficit in these kinds of situations, parents will know only too well how long and hard the journey is to advise/teach and assist their children so that they may progress through life with minimum stress and maximum achievement.

Ms Pip Simonian, lead teacher of Arrowsmith at the Boys’ School, has been a year 7 teacher for four years at the School. She expressed her interest in this new learning programme last year when Principal, Peter Cassie, announced the possibility of implementing Arrowsmith at the School. Together with the Learning Support department, led by gaye Pilkington, Pip and year 8 teacher, Mrs Betsie Warner were selected to undergo the training in Canada.

The pair spent an amazing, engaging, full-on four weeks in Toronto at the start of the year where they completed their training as Arrowsmith teachers. Detailed assignments, learning exercises, lots of homework and commuting in temperatures below -25 degrees were some of their challenges during their training but they both declare that it was all worth it! The fact they happened to visit during the worst Canadian winter in 50 years did not deter from their very rewarding trip to visit and work with students at the Arrowsmith School in Toronto. And it was those very conditions that made the chance to visit the niagra Falls that much more spectacular!

Ms Simonian’s passion for boys’ learning is evident and has increased since studying this programme. She is delighted to take on the new role. her colleague, Mrs Betsie Warner, will be a support teacher with whom she can discuss progress and achievement of boys on the programme throughout the year. Betsie will spend time in the Arrowsmith classroom with Pip in order to maintain her involvement in the programme. At the Boys’ School, this cognitive programme will begin at the start of Term 2, 2014 initially accommodating 10 students. Assessments have been undertaken and individualised programmes and timetables established that will focus on the critical rewiring needed for improved learning capacity to be achieved.

Our goal is for our students to become effective, confident and selfdirected learners for life and to enable them to achieve their goals of academic and career success.

A SNAPSHOT OF ARROWSMITH

Arrowsmith began 30 years ago in Toronto. Founder, Barbara Arrowsmithyoung wanted to tar get the actual brain area that was weak and force it to work by making new brain connections. her book, ‘The Woman Who Changed her Brain’ describes the areas of the brain that she addressed to help her conquer her own struggles in academic life and how she taught herself to overcome problems in memory, spatial awareness, conceptual understanding and reading for meaning.

The Arrowsmith Programme is founded on neuroscience research and over 30 years of experience demonstrating that it is possible for students to strengthen the weak cognitive capacities underlying their learning dysfunctions through a programme of specific cognitive exercises. For example, cursive writing involves motor plans in the brain that coordinate visual stimulus with memory and hand movements. Many cognitive programmes skirt around learning issues and provide compensatory methods of coping for the students. Whilst this is normal practice, Barbara Arrowsmith-Young was dissatisfied with available support measures and set out to invent exercises that would help improve her quality of life for those experiencing difficulties.

neuroplasticity, as the name suggests, is the plasticity or changeability of the brain and has become a topical area of research for many educationalists and psychologists. Students with learning difficulties have traditionally been treated with programmes designed to compensate for their difficulties. The goal of the Arrowsmith Programme, by contrast, is to help students strengthen the weak cognitive capacities underlying their learning dysfunctions. it deals with the root causes of the learning disability rather than managing its symptoms. Students are able to capitalise on their increased learning capacities so they can take control of their learning without the need for additional educational assistance. in Canada, current research using brain scanning equipment is being used to show the actual physical change in the brain after students undergo exercises in the Arrowsmith Programme.

The programme has proven effective for students who have difficulty with reading, writing and mathematics, comprehension, logical reasoning, problem solving, visual and auditory memory, non-verbal learning, attention, processing speed and dyslexia. Arrowsmith is capacity based in that it changes the capacity of the individual to learn, rather than compensatory which tries to work around the problem. Strengthening these weaker capacities increases the overall functioning of these specific cognitive areas allowing them to be used effectively for learning.

Former Principal honoured

Former Boys’ School Principal, Brian irwin, was recently invited back to the School to be presented with a Boys’ School honours tie in recognition of his significant contribution to Saint Kentigern. At a special morning tea held in the staffroom, foundation pupil, Mr Peter Nelson (No. 20) presented Mr irwin with the tie.

Mr irwin was the second Principal at the Boys’ School, taking over from Jack Chalmers in 1979 and holding the position until 1993. During his tenure he oversaw a significant growth in the school roll and a proliferation of building projects to accommodate smaller class sizes and the changing teaching methodology of the time. The current Junior School building was designed by him, and subsequently named after him, inspired by a trip to Vancouver. his wife Judith is well remembered for her skill as a water-colourist, having painted several scenes around the School which are still in use today as greeting cards.

The couple took great delight in being invited back and enjoyed a tour of the School with head Boy, Benjamin Lerner, caught up with Mr Brian Matthews and Mrs Sue Castle who both taught at the School with him and also enjoyed meeting Mr richard Kirk, a new year 8 teacher, who was a head Boy during his time as Principal.

We offer our sincere thanks to both Brian and Judith irwin for all they did for Saint Kentigern School.

They Did it Again!

With the team name, ‘A few good men do it again,’ Boys’ School staff members, Chris haar, James eketone, Joe Johansen and reverend reuben hardie took on the oxfam Trailwalker Challenge for the second year in a row. This gruelling event challenges teams of four to walk 100km in no longer than 36 hours – although this hardy team aimed for an ultrafast time of under 18 hours, meeting their goal and crossing the finish line in 17 and a half hours!

in the lead up to the challenge, and to raise funds for the cause, the good Men hosted a fantastic night of fun for 108 boys including a sleepover at school for the older boys. There was a huge response for the night. The team originally set themselves the goal of raising $2000 – but they had not anticipated the overwhelming support from the Saint Kentigern Boys’ School community! With the aid of some promotion on the Saint Kentigern Facebook site, they raised a whopping $10,127 for Oxfam which has the sponsorship money marked to provide sanitation and water to remote villages in Papau new guinea.

The team said that they wanted to inspire the students and Saint Kentigern community with the message that ‘service does not stop at the school gates’ and that we can all make a difference no matter the obstacles. They are very grateful and proud to be representing the community who have come out and fully supported them.

Annual Giving 2013

n Term 4 the Boys' School asked the parent community to support four projects in our Annual giving Appeal. We were delighted with the response and the willingness of our community to assist the School in providing the very best resources and facilities for our boys. Annual giving has enabled us to:

• Purchase 30 sets of robotics equipment for the Senior School

• Purchase 10 iPads for the Junior School and equip the Year 1 – 3 classrooms with technology construction kits

• Provide enhanced sound equipment for our musicians and performers

• Build the roselle Scholarship Fund to enable talented boys, irrespective of background or means, to benefit from a Saint Kentigern Boys’ School education

We gratefully acknowledge the support of our Annual Giving 2013 donors:

Anonymous – 17 donations

SJ & JL Burns

Burton Family

Mr C Cable & Mrs V Chappell

Mr A & Mrs K Daly

Mark & Carol Debenham

Du Temple Family

Mr M & Mrs K Falconer

Fraser Family

gardiner Family

Tony & Steffi Gault

r & L gee

g & L graham

A gu

Mr r & Mrs K hamilton

Mrs L harvey

The hatherleys

horne Family

horton Family

oryon ivanov

Mr P & Mrs r Kenna

Griffin Kilfoyle

Murray King & Fleur Baker

Chris & Kathy Knox

Dong Hua Liu & Jia Xu

Thelma Meyer

rhys & Cathy Mountfort

g nel

newland Family

ormond Family

Louise & grant Paterson

A & J Petersen

Mr S & Mrs K Pickering

roberton Family

Mr g & Mrs J ross

rowntree Family

g & M ryder

Shearer Family

Paul & Kirsten Stanfield

J & D Tattersfield

Mr S van den Brink

David & helen van

Schaardenburg

Shannon & Sarah Walsh

Wilby Family

Mr A & Mrs K Williams

Mr D & Mrs C Williams

ROSELLE FOUNDATION DONORS 2013

Thank you to the following donors who have supported the roselle Foundation dur ing 2013. Your generosity is helping to provide a wonderful legacy for future generations.

Anonymous

Anz Bank

Ms J Benson & Mr C Stuart

Ms Joy Clark

Mr Peter nelson

rachel & Jason Paris

Louise & grant Paterson

rarotonga Motor Company Ltd

Scooters Limited

Winger Motors

The Rhythms of College Life

By the time this Piper reaches you, the events of the first term will be just a memory, as we move on and take up the challenges of a new period of time - such are the rhythms of a busy College life!

It gives me great pleasure to reflect back and recap the highlights of a full and productive twelve weeks:

Very positive and pleasing academic results were finalised with pass rates at NCEA Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 being once again amongst the best in the history of the College. This, along with another improvement in Merit and Excellence Endorsements, and the addition of seven students gaining 40+ marks in IB (International Baccalaureate Diploma), were greeted by the College community with great delight.

Once again, the College roll has increased. This is the pleasing outcome of more and more families seeking a Saint Kentigern education.

Term 1 was also a term of cultural success with highlights being: Blood Brothers, a seriously good musical production, completing its season and our Premier Debaters regaining an Auckland title that they had not held since 2009.

It was also a term of sporting success with New Zealand titles being won by our Boys’ and Girls’ Tennis teams and our Triathletes. Auckland titles were gained by the Boys’ and Girls’ Cricket teams, Boys’ Premier Touch teams and there were highly successful achievements in Rowing, Waterpolo, Girls’ Touch and Baseball.

At the end of the term we farewelled two extraordinary teachers who have made a significant contribution to the College in a relatively short space of time and deserve their chance to expand their teaching experience in new and demanding areas. Mr Tim Middleton takes up a position as Deputy Principal at One Tree Hill College with the responsibility for Pastoral Care. Mr Middleton has been a highly effective Head of English, an outstanding classroom teacher and a committed and effective coach of the 1st XI Cricket side. We wish him well in his new, and I am sure, demanding role. I, for one, will watch his progress towards Headship with great interest.

Mr Jerry Leaupepe takes up a position at Wesley College in charge of boarding in which I know he will make a significant contribution to the lives of many youngsters at that school. As a number of you will know, Mr Leaupepe is a fantastic man, giving tirelessly of his time and talents in the classroom and of course in innumerable co-curricular activities which include rowing, rugby and, in particular, the management of the highly successful 1st XV over the past three years.

While these two will be sadly missed, it is heartening that the talents of our staff are being widely recognised in so many areas of New Zealand education. We are well into the business end of the school year where our focus is fully on academic endeavours. With such busy lives, undoubtedly a number of our youngsters will experience some difficulties in the classroom and in the myriad

of co-curricular activities which they will involve themselves in. It is entirely natural that parents should worry about their children and wish to support them. We are all aware of the term ‘helicopter parenting’ but as I am sure that you will agree, to develop resilience and prepare them for life, in many cases youngsters need to fight their own battles and make their own mistakes. In other words, offer them advice and guidance but let them work through difficulties with their own gumption. One of the overwhelming values of the teenage years is that children can learn from their mistakes, grow through failure and learn to work harder to reach their goals and potential.

I look forward to sharing this next busy period of time with your sons and daughters and to seeing a number of you around the College at various events.

Fides Servanda Est

Steve Cole

Anzac Parade

Our April break began with Easter and concluded with ANZAC Day; two completely different events but, nevertheless, two occasions that encapsulate the last words of our mission statement …'for the glory of God and in the service of others'.

Members of the College and Old Collegians Pipes and Drums joined together as part of the march towards Stockade Hill in Howick on Anzac morning for the commemoration service held there. Five of our prefect team represented the College with Tate Steele laying the wreath.

While ours was a small gesture in standing with the veterans around the cenotaph, it was collectively very significant to see so many young people assembled and paying tribute to those who had served our country in previous conflicts.

'Lest we forget' - Let us continue to remember the sacrifices made on our behalf more than 2000 years ago and almost 100 years ago for ‘the glory of God and in the service of others.’

Student Leaders 2014

At ‘full school assembly’ early in the term, we commissioned our new student leadership team for 2014. This year we congratulate Sam Dakin and Hannah Wood who have been appointed as Head Prefects for 2014. Sam and Hannah have been fully involved with life at the College in their time here, carefully balancing their academic studies with their many co-curricular pursuits. They are conscientious, well organised students who have the right attributes of confidence, pride in the College, leadership skills and commitment to duty.

The selection process for leadership roles at the College is lengthy and rigorous to ensure the best team of students with complimentary talents is selected to represent the student body. These students are often ‘allrounders’ who have taken every advantage of our ‘world of opportunity.’ Those chosen have already proven themselves to be good leaders with complimentary talents and abilities. They have a strong moral centre and display integrity in all areas of their leadership. Congratulations to these all these students on being selected for the role.

We congratulate the following students who have been appointed as prefects for 2014.

carGill

House Leaders Cargill

Tate Steel and Courtney Rowse

Lloyd David (Deputy Head Boy)

Liam Stewart (Chapel)

Sophie Dodd

Andrew Jackson

cHalmerS

House Leaders Chalmers

Jack Muirhead and Nikita Lieshout

Lucy Eden (Deputy Head Girl)

Laura Charlton

Eden Hawkins (Arts)

Sesimani Tupou

Emma Watson (Service)

Hamilton

House Leaders Hamilton

Ridgley Paxton and Ashleigh Clark

Jamie Hofer (Arts)

Mathew McCullough (Sports)

Andrew Qi

Sian Seeley

Hannah Wood (Head Girl)

Ridgley Paxton (Head Boy Bruce House)

WiSHart

House Leaders Wishart

Aidan Phizackerley and Lucy Macdonald

Sam Dakin (Head Boy)

April Fini

Caleb Hill

Hamish MacDonald

Sarah McQueen

Head Boy: Sam dakin

Sam gained Merit endorsements at both Level 1 and 2 NCEA and is a talented sportsman, focussing on cycling. He has been a member of the Sports Excellence Programme for the past two years. At this first full school assembly, Sam, with his trademark smile, gave the ‘Last Word’ encouraging the students to look for the good in situations. Hard times may be tough but life’s lessons can make you come back stronger than before.

Head Girl: HannaH Wood

Hannah is a boarder who gained Excellence Endorsements in both Level 1 and 2 NCEA, has been awarded Academic Colours and received prizes for Biology and Media Studies at prize giving. She is also a keen sportswoman having played 1st XI Football, touch and volleyball teams, and ridden for the College Equestrian team.

deputy Head prefectS:

lloyd david and lucy eden

Sam and Hannah will be ably assisted by Lloyd David and Lucy Eden in their roles as Deputy Head Prefects. Lloyd is also a boarder and a diligent academic student who received Academic Honours as well as being awarded the Physical Education and Drama Cups at prize giving. He is a noted actor, dancer and vocalist. He is also a keen sportsman playing volleyball and rugby. Lucy gained Excellence Endorsements in both Level 1 and 2 NCEA. She has received Academic Colours and the Economics prize. She is working towards her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award and has also represented the College in basketball, tennis and cricket.

2013 External Examination Results

With thanks to Mr Richard Stead

We are really pleased with the results from our 2013 senior students in their end of year external examinations.

NATIONAL CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT (NCEA)

The majority of students at Saint Kentigern College sit the NCEA and we are extremely proud that all our measurable indicators at all 3 Levels of the qualification have shown improvement from the year before. Of greatest note is the continued rise in the number of students who have strived for and attained either a Merit or Excellence Endorsement. The majority of our students can be justifiably proud of their achievements. 91% of our NCEA students gained University Entrance.

NCEA LEVEL 1

At Level 1 (Year 11) 97% of all the students gained their certificates with 29% gaining their certificates with an Excellence Endorsement and a further 53% gaining a Merit Endorsement. Forty eight students have met the criteria for gaining either College Academic Colours or Honours.

Congratulations to our top 5 NCEA Level 1 students:

William Xu, Average GPA – 97.7

Grace Wood, Average GPA – 97.5

Byron Lam, Average GPA – 97.3

Georgina Alcock, Average GPA – 96.3

Lucy Conyngham, Average GPA – 96.2

NCEA LEVEL 2

Our Level 2 results were the best ever since the introduction of NCEA. 99% of all students gained their certificates. 18% gaining their certificates with an Excellence Endorsement and a further 44% gaining a Merit Endorsement. Forty students have met the criteria for gaining either College Academic Colours or Honours.

Congratulations to our top 5 NCEA Level 2 students:

Sian Seeley, Average GPA – 94

Ashley Chan, Average GPA – 93.3

Lucy Verry, Average GPA – 92.5

Aimee McMaster, Average GPA – 91.8

Sarah McQueen, Average GPA – 91.8

NCEA LEVEL 3

Our 2013 leavers also produced an excellent set of results. 97% gained a Level 3 Certificate while our University Entrance success rate was 91%. 12% gained an Excellence Endorsement and a further 37% gained a Merit Endorsement.

Congratulations to our top 5 NCEA Level 3 students:

Daniel Lowe, Average GPA – 95

Louis Christie, Average GPA – 93

Ali Hooshyari, Average GPA – 93

Laura Myers, Average GPA – 91

Anthony Giles, Average GPA – 90

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE DIPLOMA

At the end of 2013, our fourth cohort of 39 Year 13 International Baccalaureate Diploma students completed their two year course of study, culminating in their final external examinations. As in the previous years, the results achieved by our students in the Diploma programme were outstanding.

We are particularly proud of the seven students who gained 40 points and over from a maximum of 45. (See below for an explanation of the point system.) This places these students amongst the top candidates in the world. Of particular note, Cai Xuan (Susan) Ji gained a remarkable 44/45.

85% of our IB students gained their Diploma which compares favorably against the world pass rate of 80% (2013). These results place our top IB Diploma students in an advantageous position to gain places in universities in New Zealand and overseas.

Later this term, the following students will be honoured at the New Zealand IB Schools High Achievers Awards Ceremony at Government House, Auckland, in the presence of the Governor General Lt Gen The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae.

Cai Xuan (Susan) Ji: 44/45

Subjects: English HL 6, Geography HL 7, History HL 7, French SL 7, Mathematics SL 7, Physics SL 7

*Additional points: 3

Jessica Aspoas: 41/45

Subjects: English HL 6, Biology HL 7, Business and Management HL 7, Chemistry SL 6, Mathematics Studies SL 7, Spanish B SL 6

*Additional points: 2

Alexander (Jack) Gudgeon: 41/45

Subjects: English HL 5, Biology HL 6, Economics HL 7, Physics SL 7, Mathematics SL 6, Spanish AB SL 7

*Additional points: 3

Amy Aspoas: 40/45

Subjects: English HL 6, Biology HL 6, Business and Management HL 7, Chemistry SL 6, Mathematics Studies SL 7, Spanish B SL 6

*Additional points:

Sarah Bradley: 40/45

Subjects: English HL 6, Biology SL 7, History HL 6, Film HL 6, Mathematics SL 6, Japanese SL 6

*Additional points: 3

OUTSTANDINg SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

We are pleased to report that 44 of our students gained a total of 59 Scholarships across a wide range of subjects of which 6 were classed as ‘Outstanding’.

In particular, we offer congratulations to our highest performing students. Louis Christie and Darryn Ooi who both gained an overall ‘Outstanding Scholarship Award.’ Only 60 students in New Zealand received these awards worth $5000 per year for three years of tertiary study. Louis was awarded four Scholarships of which three were Outstanding and Darryn was awarded three Scholarships, with two being Outstanding.

Our next highest performers were Sarah Bradley and Daniel Lowe who both received an overall Scholarship Award - awarded to only 200 students in New Zealand and worth $2000 for three years. Both students were awarded three Scholarships.

Scholarship exams are rigorous, requiring high level abstract thinking and the application of knowledge and ideas to complex situations. NZQA’s intention is that 3% of the total number of Year 13 students in the country sitting Level 3 in each of the 27 available subjects will be awarded a Scholarship, provided Scholarship standards are met. Of this top 3% nationwide who gain a Scholarship pass, a small number, equating to approximately 0.5% nationwide will be accorded an Outstanding Scholarship.

There is great monetary incentive for students to aim to achieve in these exams. New Zealand students who do well in Scholarship gain substantial monetary awards. A Scholarship in just one subject receives $500, as a single payment. All the other awards result in payments spanning three years of successful tertiary study, provided a B average is achieved.

Chemistry HL 6, Mathematics HL 6, Economics SL 7, English SL 5, Spanish AB SL 6

*Additional points: 3

Darryn Ooi 40/45

Subjects: English HL 6, History HL 7, Theatre Arts HL 6, Mathematics SL 6, Physics SL 7, French SL 6

*Additional points: 2

NB: The point scale used for IB subjects is 1 (poor) to 7 (best). Students take six subjects = 42 points. A further 3 additional points is available based on individual performance in the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge. Therefore, the maximum available point is 45.

HL = Higher Level SL = Standard Level

Three subjects are studied in depth at Higher Level (HL) and three at Standard Level (SL). Students decide which subjects they will study at Higher Level at the end of the second term in Year 12.

*Additional points

A maximum of 3 extra points can be gained for successful completion of the Theory of Knowledge course and the Extended Essay but to be eligible for the diploma, students must also meet the requirements of Creativity, Action and Service.

Scholarships hold great monetary incentive:

• Top in a subject is worth $2000 a year for three years.

• Scholarship Award winners receive $2000 a year for three years.

• Outstanding Scholarship Award winners receive $5000 a year for three years.

SuBject outStandinG

Louis Christie Darren Ooi

Academic Colours and Honours

At a special assembly early in Term 1, Academic Colours and Honours were awarded to our highest achieving Senior School students. Academic Colours and Honours celebrate the achievement of this year’s Year 12 and 13 students in the external examinations at the end the 2013 academic year. Students have set criteria for gaining Saint Kentigern Colours and Honours. For example Year 12 NCEA students gain Colours for gaining a GPA of 90+ and Honours for gaining 85+.

Our very best students gain Colours for display on their blazers, whilst our Honours students receive a commendation. Congratulations to these students for striving to achieve at such a level.

NCEA COLOURS AND HONOURS

Year 13 NCEA Colours

Sian Seeley, Ashley Chan, Lucy Verry, Aimee McMaster, Sarah McQueen, Rebecca Peace, Medhi Shah (absent from photo), Andrew Jackson, Hannah Wood, Katherine Ford, Jasmine Louie, Jessica Yan, Anna Murphy, Lucy Macdonald, Courtney Rowse, Max Christie, Leah Allison, Vinayak Garg, Georgia Foster, Ashleigh Clark and Dylan Waddell (absent from photo)

Year 13 NCEA Honours

Ishara Dhambagolla, April Fini, Daniel Greer, Andre Mason, Hannah Ashby, Lucy Eden, Christie Stringer, Sophie Dodd, Libby Osborne, Lester Chin, Phoebe Riddell, Caleb Hill, Mimi Seagar, Tomo Suzuki, Daniel Hsieh, Katherine Pearson, Ridgely Paxton, Lucy Houghton, Lloyd David and Kane Gibbons (absent from photo)

Year 12 NCEA Colours

William Xu, Grace Wood, Byron Lam, Georgina Alcock, Lucy Conyngham, Harry Rillstone, Caitlin Houghton, Marieke Kruiswijk, Hanna Thompson, Daniel Ng, Zachary Searle (absent from photo), Rachel Worthington, Meheer Zaveri, Jessica Allen, Nick Stanfield, Nathan Walker, Keshini Ketheeswaran, Ivan So, Nick Taylor, Jeffrey Chan, Devika Dhir, Andrew Wei, Daniel Clark, Nick Myers, Becky Lane and Matthew Swiatek

IB Top Scholars’ Awards

Each year, the IB Schools of New Zealand Top Scholars’ Awards Ceremony is held at Government House in Auckland, His Excellency

The Governor General of New Zealand, Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Matapeparae presented awards to those New Zealand IB students who had achieved 40+ points out of a possible 45 in their final examinations. Saint Kentigern College was well represented with seven students being honoured – five of them were available to attend the ceremony. Cai Xuan (Susan) Ji (44/45), Alexander (Jack) Gudgeon (41/45), Sarah Bradley (40/45), Kandarp Dalal (40/45) and Darryn Ooi (40/45) received their awards from the Governor General. Unfortunately sisters, Jessica Aspoas (41/45) and Amy Aspoas (40/45) were was unable to attend the ceremony.

In New Zealand, twelve schools are now accredited and the students undertaking the Diploma course join nearly a million other students from 140 countries around the world who take this qualification. To achieve the title of an IB Top Scholar, graduates must achieve a score of at least 40 points; a feat achieved by only 6% of the world’s IB students.

In honouring the students the Governor General stressed that the IB Diploma is considerably more than a prestigious academic qualification. Here in New Zealand, the IB remains true to the holistic vision of its founders, to create inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. The qualification is highly regarded as a young person not only has to be an excellent scholar, but also embraces a shared global philosophy.

Year 12 NCEA Honours

Josh Holroyd, Anthony Grant, Theresa Yeung, Oscar Sims, Deborah Cheng, Aditya Edekar, Sarah Zhang, Keegan Chessum, Aaron Duncan, Miracle Faamalosi, Harry Rainger, Christopher McMillan, Ming Hong Huang , Carlos Webster, Martin Dow, Scott Murray, William Ning, Kevin Yi, Claudia Luke, Caitlin Dodd, Thomas Arrell, Cameron Dyer and Tom Hammond (absent from photo)

IB DIPLOMA COLOURS AND HONOURS

Year 13 IB Colours

Andrew Qi, Shuo Yang, Callum Andrews, Aditya Arolkar and Rachel Smith

Year 13 IB Honours

Cordelia Oh, James Yang, Jessebel Chan and Eden Hawkins

Bruce HouSe prefect team:

Boys: Ridgely Paxton (Bruce House Head Boy), Jamie Laycock (Deputy), Lloyd David, Jackson Finnigan, Jake Latham, Trent Smith, Sesimani Tupou. girls: Gabrielle Faleto’ese (Bruce House Head Girl), Hannah Wood (Deputy), Jessebel Chan, Leba Korovou, Anastasia Tupusoa.

Change of Leadership at Bruce House

The start of 2014 heralded not only new student leadership within the boarding house, but also a new era of management and guidance with the newly appointed roles of Housemaster and Head of Girls’ Boarding. The ‘change of guard’ was celebrated at the first Bruce House Formal Dinner of the year.

Already well known to the Bruce House boarders in his capacity as the ‘Rev’, Reverend David Smith, Chaplain at the College, has taken up the role of Housemaster. Since joining the College 11 years ago, Reverend Smith has attended Bruce House Formal Dinner almost every week and has always enjoyed his interaction with the boarders.

Joining him ‘in loco parentis’ as Head of Girls’ Boarding is Mrs Juliet Dale, a former drama teacher at the College who has recently returned from maternity leave. In their new roles, Reverend Smith and Mrs Dale will be supported by Matron, Mrs Rosemary Capill and an exceptional team of dedicated staff who care for our boarders and manage the boarding houses.

Reverend Smith says he is excited by the responsibility of caring for the boarders on behalf of their families. ‘I am passionate about the House, looking forward to the challenge and am hopeful that I can build on the impressive legacy left by former Housemaster, Mr Martin Piaggi,’ says Reverend Smith, ‘There is no doubt that during Mr Piaggi’s time, Bruce House has flourished and grown through his leadership and passion for boarding.’

Taking on the role of Head of Girls’ Boarding, Mrs Dale says that she is also fortunate to be taking over a ‘well-oiled machine’ from Deputy Head of College, Mrs Suzanne Winthrop, who had been at the helm since the girls’ inception to boarding three years ago. Mrs Winthrop’s dedication and commitment to the role has left the girls’ boarding house in great spirit.

Mrs Dale has previously worked in a girls’ boarding house in East Sussex, England for two years before she returned to New Zealand. She plans to continue the good work that has been established, offering a range of activities and opportunities for the girls to grow and interact, and to continue to enhance the special atmosphere that exists in the Bruce House girls’ villas. ‘Pastoral care is something that I am passionate about, and I am very much looking forward to this new challenge,’ she says.

This year, representing the student boarders in their ‘home away from home’ will be Head Boy, Ridgley Paxton and Head Girl, Gabrielle Faleto’ese. Ridgley will be supported by Jamie Laycock in his role as Bruce House Deputy Head Boy and Gabrielle will be supported by College Head Girl, Hannah Wood, along with other selected Year 13 boarders who will make up the rest of the Bruce House prefect team.

Ridgley has now been afforded the opportunity to wear the Bruce House tartan in his new responsibility. Ridgley has been a boarder since 2011, describing himself as a ‘shy and nervous little Year 10 farm boy’ on arrival. He acknowledges the impact that boarding has had in developing his

Head of Boarding, Reverend David Smith and Mrs Karen Smith

Bruce House Head Boy, Ridgely Paxton

Head of Girls’ Boarding, Mrs Juliet Dale, Mr Jon Dale and Bradey

Bruce House Head Girl, Gabrielle Faleto’ese

confidence and sense of independence. Ridgely says he does not see his new leadership position as a chore or a duty but ‘as a chance for me to grow as a person and as a leader, and an opportunity for me to make Bruce House a better place and to help it be the best boarding house it can be .’ Gabrielle Faleto’ese is Head Girl of Bruce House for 2014. Gabrielle has been given this leadership role after being at the College and in Bruce House for only one year. In that short time she has proved herself to be a warm, friendly student who goes out of her way to help others, displaying excellent communication and leadership skills. Gabrielle and Ridgely will make an excellent Head Prefect team and along with the other Bruce House Prefects, will set a great example to the rest of the boarding house.

Sir Peter Blake Trust Award

The excitement of being charged by New Zealand sea lions, getting up close and personal with southern royal albatrosses incubating their eggs, jumping off the flight deck of the HMNZS Wellington into the freezing Southern Ocean and getting a rare glimpse of the Aurora Australis are just a few of the amazing experiences that biology teacher, Bernard Potter had on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure to one of Earth’s most unique and special places – New Zealand’s Sub-Antarctic Islands.

Bernard Potter is the 2014 recipient of the Sir Peter Blake Trust Environmental Educator's Award, which saw him take part in a Young Blake Expedition to the Auckland Islands. The two-week voyage was hosted by the Royal New Zealand Navy aboard the HMNZS Wellington and included representatives from the Sir Peter Blake Trust, the Department of Conservation, New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute, scientists from the university of Otago and NIWA, as well as 12 environmentally-focused high school students from around the country who had been selected for their leadership potential and commitment to driving environmental initiatives in their own schools and communities.

During the expedition, Mr Potter worked with the scientists, conservators and students on the critical surveying and planning work required for a proposed climate research station, to be built on the Auckland Islands in 2015. This included sampling sediment 50m below the seawater surface to gain information about the earth’s climate up to 6000 years ago, installing a weather station and surveying the construction site for the new research base, to be named Blake Station in honour of Sir Peter Blake.

One of the aims of this voyage was to inspire New Zealanders to understand the global significance of the Southern Ocean & Sub-Antarctic Islands and the role they play in understanding and monitoring the effects of climate change. This year, Mr Potter will be working with the Ministry of Education and the Sir Peter Blake Trust to help achieve this objective. He will be presenting his work at this year’s National Science Teacher’s Conference and his work will also accessible to teachers and students across New Zealand.

Students Meet Renowned Entomologist

During term 1, students from Year 11 Biology, Year 12 IB (International Baccalaureate) and students from the College BioClub were introduced to the world of entomology by Dr Mark Hoddle, Director of the Centre for Invasive Species Research at the University of California. (He is the son of Mr Les Hoddle, a Numeracy support teacher at the College.)

Mark works on the biological control of invasive pests. He travels the world searching for parasites to control imported pests that destroy crops, prey on native plants and compete with native species for food and shelter. He shared many stories of his travels and research in countries including Peru, Pakistan, India and the Galapagos islands.

Mark discussed his many projects such as his work controlling the Red Palm Weevil, which is widely considered to be the most damaging insect pest of date palms in the world, both environmentally and economically. Through the introduction of natural enemies, including parasites and small predators that attack weevil eggs, the weevil has been largely eradicated.

Mark shared his journey from being a Science student at Pakuranga College to his current role as Biological Control Specialist. Mark completed a BSc and MSc in Zoology at the University of Auckland and then was invited to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, USA to work on his PhD. After 10 years of studying, he is now top of his field. Students were able to see how studying biology at secondary school could lead to a highly specialised, international career as interesting as his. Mark highlighted how working as an entomologist takes him all around the globe. He lives in other cultures for long periods of time and one advantage of the job is that learns as much about the cultures as he does about the pests he is researching

Biology Field Trip

With thanks to Head of Biology, Mr Simon Walker

Biology is a discipline which requires a combination of theoretical study, exper imentation and practical field work. The field work aspect, in particular, helps to bring the theoretical learning into context and can help immeasurably with our students’ overall understanding of a concept.

During Term 1, our senior biology classes studyied the distribution of organisms in relation to environmental gradients, and how that distribution is both a function of adaptations that the organisms possess and the interactions they might have with other living things. Relationships such as competition and predation greatly effect where organisms might be found and the rocky shoreline is an example of an ecosystem where these principles can be seen in action.

As an island nation, New Zealand has a great many easily accessible coastlines and, although familiar, these shores are a natural habitat for many small, unobtrusive and easily over-looked species. Developing an appreciation for how these species survive under challenging conditions enables students to better understand how precarious and demanding life can be in general.

While the summer weather lingered, almost 150 senior biology students travelled to North Head in Devonport to complete an investigation of the rocky shore. Field techniques learned prior to departure were carried out in groups, enabling students to collect the necessary data to analyse how and why species are distributed in identifiable areas in the intertidal zone. This information was then used to form the basis for formal assessments in both the NCEA and IB programmes.

The trip also offered the chance for an exploration of North Head, as a significant geological feature of the Auckland Harbour and as a site of historical interest.

Adopt a Stream

During Term 1, the Year 8 College students took part in a handson field trip that taught them about water quality and their local environment. Included as part of their science curriculum, the lesson outside of the classroom involved learning about the water cycle, how streams become polluted and - the favourite part of the lesson - how to identify the freshwater bugs (macroinvertebrate) living there!

The classes only had a short distance to walk to the waterway at the Pakuranga Rotary Walkway, right on the campus doorstep. After their observations from gathering and recording their data, the students had the chance to put their theory to the test. Precariously balancing on the sides of the steam, they took water samples and had an opportunity to practise testing the turbidity (the cloudiness), and the pH and nitrate levels present in the water.

Both the boys and girls were then very eager to get out their magnifying glasses to identify any tiny water life they had collected. Some of the bugs they found were paddle worm, mayfly nymph, crayfish, cranefly lava, flatworm, sandfly, backswimmers and snail eggs.

Once they returned to the classroom, the students examined their results and made an assessment on the quality of the water in their local waterway. The pH level was within the ideal range and the nitrate level was satisfactory. Mrs Slade’s class made the conclusion that some of the nitrate may have come from fertiliser used on the surrounding gardens, even from our College, as it runs off the land and into the estuary. Overall the students decided the water is of average quality.

Disappointingly, the girls also noted that there was a lot of litter surrounding the walkway that was making its way into the stream, a sad fact for such a busy, scenic walkway.

Students awed by USA Tech Giants

There is no other way to describe the journey to the USA for the Computer Science students other than the experience of a lifetime. Two years of careful planning, long distance Skype calls, a ‘million’ emails and it finally all came together into a successful trip visiting up and coming high-tech businesses in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.

Thirty six enthusiastic, yet apprehensive, senior school students, along with five support staff, touched down in San Francisco, the home of some of the most technologically advanced companies in the world. The group were able to take advantage of their weekend arrival to visit some of the landmarks of this vibrant city. First up was a tour of the Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park, the Cliff House and the Golden Gate Bridge before they headed to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and its spectacular views for a seafood dinner. Pier 33 on the waterfront and the ferry cruise out to Alcatraz Island was a must-see, as was the California Academy of Sciences - a small slice of heaven for science buffs.

Launching into the new week, the group set off to two educational museums in the Santa Clara region. At the Intel Museum they explored the complex world of silicon technology that helps us understand how Intel has changed the world in which we live, work and play. The students also had a hands on and interactive experience in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. The first Tuesday took them to their first technology company, Pivotal Labs, who have been at the forefront of agile software development for more than two decades. The students met with one of the Team Leaders and the Director of the company, who offered sage advice on planning their educational choices to work in this field.

The students were led through what NASA is currently involved in and how they are advancing life right here on earth, as well as in outer space, at NASA’s Ames Research Centre. They then headed off to the Computer History Museum where they explored the 2,000 year history of computers. Finishing off at the Palo Alto Apple Store, the students participated in an hour and a half workshop with trained Apple Consultants discussing the future of where educational Apps and hardware are going.

The end of the week in Silicon Valley brought headquarter visits to Cisco Systems and LinkedIn where the students talked with some of the brightest minds in the field, including fellow Kiwis, about career paths and how to be part of the future of computer science. It was then on to visit two very different and ambitious companies. Twilio, a cloud-based communications company, and Wearable World, a collaborative software development house that specialises in technology that can be worn.

For the second leg of the journey, the group travelled south to Los Angeles which brought a unique and patriotic experience for the students. They were able to join the ANZAC Commemorative Service attended by the Consular Generals of New Zealand, Australia, Canada, France and Germany at the National Cemetery in Westwood. At the completion of the service they were then invited to attend a function at the New Zealand Consular General’s House.

In Santa Monica, the group met with the Orion Health CEO, a global independently owned eHealth software company to hear an inspirational and informative presentation about how this Kiwi start-up company has expanded to be a market leader in the USA.

The final educational stops of the tour were to The University of South California (USC) - School of Cinematic Arts where the students were given a lecture on all of the research initiatives currently being undertaken in Gaming, Animation and Apps development. At the California Science Centre, the students got to observe the Space Shuttle Endeavour in its final resting place after it was decommissioned in 2011.

The study tour was an amazing and rare opportunity for the Computer Science students to expand their networks and knowledge through their visits with companies, founders and CEOs of successful enterprises in the life sciences, software, information technology, advanced materials and new energy fields.

Thank you to Mr Dominic Mooney, who spearheaded bringing the trip to fruition and to the staff, parents and contributors who made the trip possible and such a resounding success.

Partnering with Malawi

Service Coordinator at the College, Mr Mark Robinson, visited Malawi during the school holidays with World Vision as part of a scoping trip to identify community to community partnership opportunities for schools and, in particular, Saint Kentigern.

Mr Robinson reports on his travels:

After a long journey, I arrived tired but pleased to finally be there and after just a little sleep, my first day began with shared devotions at the World Vision office for the staff of around 40 people. We met about plans for our trip and then set off.

Our first stop was Chogodi village where we visited the secondary school and met with staff and the chief. The school faces many challenges but can also count its successes. Teenage pregnancy is the biggest challenge and being a mother at 15 years of age is not easy. Many girls are marrying at 15-16 and have little future or hope.

The school itself has no furniture. There are 80 students in a small, rough classroom where they sit on the floor. There is no power, no toilets, no sports gear….the list goes on. It is my hope, that Saint Kentigern can help a school such as this to provide desks, toilets and accommodation for staff members to sleep onsite – and to provide the means to set up a microenterprise that can give a village some control of their own destiny.

At the medical centre in the next village, that largely deals with cases of malaria, I saw a little baby of 8 months suffering from malaria with a high fever. The baby was in pain but the centre only had malaria tablets to offer, nothing for pain or hydration. As they sent the mother away, I raided my first aid kit for Panodol, Enerlyte and medication for diarrhoea. A baby should not be in pain. This was only day one, I didn’t find it easy.

At the next village I met two ‘Famine Focus’ children supported by proceeds from the 40 Hour Famine. This was the same village that Old Collegian and World Vision Youth Ambassador, Letitia Puni visited (see her article in the Old Collegians’ section). I was welcomed into a home, it was an eye-opener for me. A mud hut with a 20 litre water container, a bamboo mat and a single pot as their only possessions. They were all malnourished and their clothes were rags – yet they welcomed us in and they were all as friendly as could be. There was mum, dad and three children under seven. Young Mike was six but looked about three. He

walks an hour to school each day. It is almost beyond my comprehension how they survive yet their spirit is resolute and like any parent in the world, they strive for the best for their children.

The days were tiring but satisfying and I admit to being a little bit disturbed by what I have seen. I visited many villages and saw their daily struggles to survive. World Vision do an enormous amount of work to try and alleviate suffering and put programmes in place for clean water and sanitation to help build better lives for those whose daily life is a struggle. Pumped water is a necessity for good health as the open wells, that may serve 100 people, are often a source of sickness. At night, many of the villages dismantle their pumps to ensure that that the equipment is not stolen overnight.

World Vision has 52 feeding programmes in place in the area I visited offering a porridge of maize flour and bananas with peanuts for added protein to feed to the children so they have at least one meal a day. It became really clear to me the difference that a cow can make to a village. With milk the children are better nourished. One cow gives up to 5,000 gallons — or 350,000 glasses — of milk in its lifetime. That's enough to provide plenty of protein and calcium for children and surplus milk can be sold for family income. The donated cow becomes a family’s possession once its artificially inseminated calf is born and given to another family, increasing the production in a village.

Pr ior to leaving Malawi, I returned to the first village having identified three families to assist using money raised by our College students at a Theatresports evening. With the blessing of World Vision, I purchased clothes, 100kg of fertiliser, 40kg of maize flour, seeds, soap, sugar, oil, 2 hoes and school books to donate. It is my hope that our students get right behind World Vision’s 40 Hour Famine again this year to help families such as these.

World Vision is currently looking at Mr Robinson’s proposal for a partnership with a school in the Chogodi area. The funds raised by our students during the 40 Hour Famine will be split 60% to the ‘general’ World Vision fundraising and 40% to our own special project. He encourages families to visit the World Vision website. From a $10 chicken to a $650 cow – you can make a difference!

Uganda - A Life Changing Trip

With thanks to the Boyce siblings, Caleb (Year 9), Joshua (Year 11) and Jessica (Year 12)

Last year, the Watoto Children’s Choir from Uganda performed at the Boys’ School as part of their fund raising tour of the world. At that stage Caleb Boyce, now in Year 9 was still at the Boys’ School and as a family they attended the performance. Tear Fund were also in attendance and as a result, they were inspired as a family to visit Uganda.

Atthe beginning of this year, our family, together with five other New Zealanders, flew to Uganda to volunteer with Watoto Ministries in their babies’ homes in Kampala and Suubi village. Uganda is a country that has a lot of poverty, sickness with the AIDs virus and HIV, and where children are abandoned or orphaned.

We were relieved to see our Watoto host at the airport after standing in customs for two hours and being watched by men carrying AK47s. The bumpy dusty ride in the mini bus was an eye opening one as we looked at the wooden shacks lining the roads filled with goods for sale including fruit, vegetables, meat (not refrigerated), whitewear, clothing, bed frames and even bricks. Our refurbished guesthouse with a pool looked like a mansion in comparison. Despite the small supply of hot water and power outages, it was better than we had been expecting. We had a team who looked after us – cooking, cleaning, maintaining the property and guarding the controlled front gate. Most of our stay was spent at Baby Watoto in Kampala where we loved getting to know the nannies and babies. The toddlers were lots of fun and full of energy so we spent hours running around with them. With the babies, we helped feed them their bottles and mashed vegetables or fruit, changed their clothes and nappies, played with them and cuddled them when they cried. We loved spending time with them and they seemed to enjoy the love and attention. While the babies were sleeping, we would help with sorting medical supplies and clothes, folding washing, washing down toys and car seats. Dad bought them a water blaster and spent his whole time blasting the dirt from every outside surface.

We also spent a few days at the Watoto Suubi village. Their babies’ home had more children with most of them 1-2 year olds. From here they go to live with a ‘mother’ (a widow) and seven other children (orphans). There are 182 homes

Seedlings for Primaries

The first round of seedlings, grown by the College Environmental Group for distribution to primary schools was delivered during Term 1 to East Tamaki Primary School to assist with their ‘Garden to Table’ programme. On a visit to the school, Year 11 students, Maximilian Ballard and Nicholas Allen, and Year 12 student, Kristina Tipene presented the seedlings to the Year 6 representatives and Principal, Ms Sarah Mirams to be planted in their school garden.

Garden to Table is a programme found mainly in primary schools which aims to change the way children approach and think about food. The hope is that over the next few years, Garden to Table will encourage children across the country to enthusiastically get their hands dirty and learn how to grow, harvest, prepare and enjoy fresh, seasonal food.

The College Environmental Group is working to support these schools who have taken the initiative. The group undertook to grow over 400 seedlings for four local primary schools. The seedlings were a mix of cabbage, pak choy, broccoli, lettuce, basil and parsley.

The group is also planting native seedlings for ‘Trees for Survival’, an environmental education programme which involves young people growing and planting native trees to help landowners re-vegetate erosion prone land, improve stream flow and water quality, and increase biodiversity.

currently in Suubi. We had the privilege of having lunch with Mama Susan and her ‘children’ which was a very special afternoon. Lots of the village children came and joined in our games and it is a day we will never forget. We also visited their self -sustainability projects including the goat farm (providing milk for the babies homes) and a facility where they make all wooden, brick, metal and fabric items that they require. The village even had a medical centre, church, schooling from primary to secondary and skills based classes (eg mechanics, hairdressing) for those children who don’t go on to university.

Apart from our Watoto activities, we visited a Compassion project (who partner with Tear Fund), went to a cultural show, went on a three day safari to Murchison Falls and visited Watoto church.

It is very difficult being with the babies when you remember the reason why they are in these homes, but after seeing how settled and happy they are in their village homes, you know they are luckier than some of the other Ugandan children who haven’t been rescued by Watoto. We realised we are very privileged to live in New Zealand. It was a life changing experience for our whole family.

Walking for Water

I

n early 1980, hiking a steep trail towards Annapurna in the Himalayas, the author happened upon a young Nepali keen to practise his English. Eight hours walk from the nearest town, he offered shelter for the night at his family home. I slept that night in the attic squeezed between sheaves of drying corn cobs fascinated by the glimpse of extended family life unfolding on the lower floor. The space brought new meaning to open plan living. Despite the altitude and plummeting temperatures, there was no glass in the windows but there was a cooking pot bubbling away on a fire directly on the dirt floor in the centre of a single room that the family shared with two water buffalo! I made the hike with them to fetch their water - a 3km trek back down the mountain to a muddy pond where more water buffalo wallowed. This was the source of all their daily water.

Thirty years later, then Year 12, Cordelia Oh also made the journey to Nepal as part of her Duke of Edinburgh Award. The living conditions for rural families had changed little in those intervening years and the plight of those living in third world conditions spurred her to apply to become a Unicef ambassador this year.

During a weekend in April, the daily walk for water became reality for 85 students from Saint Kentigern and neighbouring schools, Macleans, Pakuranga College, One Tree Hill College and a team from Auckland University who came together to raise funds for Unicef to help address the need for clean water and sanitation for villagers in need. Cordelia, along with a fellow ambassador from Macleans College, organised students into groups of four or five to create a family unit that walked together for an hour carrying buckets of water - having sought sponsorship for the number of laps completed.

The event was to symbolise how more than 2 billion people around the world who lack a safe supply of water must walk 6km a day or 3 hours to fetch drinking water. Spirits were high but it didn’t take long to discover that the task was more difficult than they first imagined. Water is heavy and you can’t afford to spill the family supply. It’s also awkward to carry and soon some resorted to a sight seen around the world – a bucket placed on the head and a sedate and steady walking pace.

The students are now gathering their sponsorship money and hope to have raised a good amount for Unicef. Well done to Cordelia for taking on this task.

Note from the author: Suffice to say the mixture of warm, unpasteurised buffalo milk from a mug washed in the self-same water brought my hiking to an abrupt end!

Blood Brothers

So did y’hear the story of the johnstone twins?

Set in Liverpool, spanning a period from the early 60’s to Thatcher’s Britain of the 80’s when unemployment was rife, this year’s Senior School musical, Blood Brothers, was a classic tale of the haves and have-nots. It tells the story of Mickey and Edward, two brothers separated at birth, destined to discover each other’s true identities too late.

At the outset, we learn the outcome - as the show opens, both brothers lie dead. The Narrator (Jamie Hofer), whose menacing presence brings a sense of foreboding, sets the scene:

‘So did y' hear the story of the Johnstone twins? As like each other as two new pins, of one womb born, on the self-same day, how one was kept and one given away?’

The Narrator remains on stage for much of the show; an omniscient onlooker, he stands aside from the action, passing comment in rhyming couplet and marking the passing of time. He is unnerving; a role Jamie plays with aplomb. Whilst ultimately heart-wrenching, the tale is also heart-warming with plenty of laughs – but throughout you are challenged to ponder on the injustices of British class consciousness, and the place of nature and nurture in the twins’ upbringing.

Lili Taylor took on the role of the twins’ birth mother, Mrs Johnstone. After five children and twins on the way, her husband leaves her penniless. To make ends meet, she takes a job as a cleaner for a wealthy local couple, Mr and Mrs Lyons (Max Bunting and Eden Hawkins).

These two women are pivotal in the show and both Lili and Eden, with their fine singing voices, play these opposing women brilliantly. Desperate to have a child, but failing to conceive, the well-to-do Mrs Lyons persuades Mrs Johnstone her to relinquish one of the twins at birth and deceives her husband into believing it is their child. Cold hearted and manipulative, she plays on Mrs Johnstone’s superstition – that should either twin discover that they are one of a pair, they both will die – the curse becomes a recurring theme with constant reminders from the brooding, ever-present Narrator.

Seven years later, Mickey (Lloyd David), the son Mrs Johnstone kept, meets Edward (Joseph Bradshaw), not knowing they are twins, and after learning they share the same birthday, the two boys make a pact to become blood brothers. The next scenes are fun-filled as Senior School students, Lloyd and Joseph, take on the characters of young boys playing riot in the street. Along with older brother, Sammy (Oliver Hadfield) and young friend, Linda (Caitlin Houghton), the two youngsters overcome the class boundaries to become inseparable friends; Mickey teaching Eddie how to swear and make fun of the police!

These students are to be applauded for delivering their lines in thick Liverpudlian accents, with Joseph, as Edward, maintaining the speech and mannerisms of the upper class.

Mrs Lyons is increasingly worried that the truth will come out and, becoming steadily unhinged, she persuades her husband to move away to the country. The Johnstones also move from the Liverpool slums to new council housing, their lives taking a turn for the better and, now 14, Mickey is falling in love with Linda. The boys meet again by chance, as do the mothers. Mrs Lyons’ true personality surfaces and flying into a rage, she tries to kill the mother of the twins but can’t follow it through.

Four years later and the social divide widens; Eddie leaves for university but in his absence Mickey is made redundant and marries the pregnant Linda. When Eddie returns at Christmas ready to party, the rift opens further as Mickey becomes conscious of the wealth divide. To line his pocket, he assists his brother Sammy in a robbery that goes badly wrong and he is sentenced to seven years in prison where he falls into a deep depression. Released early for good behaviour, he is still dependent on drugs and turns away from Linda. Linda seeks help from Eddie which spells the end.

Enraged, Mickey confronts Eddie with a gun and becomes further enraged when he learns they are brothers and that for all these years, he has been denied the chance of a ‘good life.’ When the police misinterpret his actions, they both end up dead.

As the play closes, we reflect on the actions of the mothers, one who had all the trappings of wealth to offer and one who could only offer love. As Mrs Johnstone sings, ‘Tell me it’s not true,’ we recognise where our sympathies lie.

This was a superb show which relied on the acting strengths of Lloyd and Joseph in the role of the twins to be able to portray both the happy-go-lucky youngsters as well as the anguished adults. Eden as Mrs Lyons, was convincing in her portrayal of the surrogate mother’s descent into madness. If there was a star of the show, it was Lili, in the role of Mrs Johnstone. She carried the weight of the musical numbers with a performance that was both convincing and flawless. Well done to all these students for their excellent work!

We thank Head of Music, Mr Ross Gerritsen, Head of Drama, Ms Emma Bishop and Mr Lachlan Craig, as chorus coach who helped the cast deliver a powerful performance. Mr Glen Mortensen’s technical leadership was well supported by a number of staff including Mrs Megan Buckley (Props), Ms Hannah Lockie (Hair and Make-up) and Mr Terry Haffern (Back Stage).

Stage Star Enjoys Blood Brothers Rehearsal

I f your first dress rehearsal isn't stressful enough, try pulling everything together in the presence of one of New Zealand's most successful music theatre stars! The cast and crew of Blood Brothers, were both excited and nervous that stage star, Delia Hannah was at their first full dress rehearsal. Delia had just finished the season as principal lead in the production of ‘Mamma Mia’ at the Civic. She also played the lead role of Mrs Johnston in the New Zealand/Australia professional tour of Blood Brothers in 2001. Ms Hannah agreed to come in and meet the cast as well as watch the show – she was blown away by the performance and her presence at the rehearsal was a real buzz for the entire cast!

Object Art: Silver Smithing Workshop

Object Art students in Year 11 spent a fascinating, intensive weekend learning the art of silver smithing with artist, Mia Straka at Workshop 6, the work space of a jewellery collective in Kingsland. The weekend course extended the skills taught to the students last year by Cheryl Sills during her period as Artist in Residence in the Jack Paine Centre. Cheryl is also a member of the Workshop 6 collective. Last year she worked with the same set of students, as Year 10’s, to create ‘adornment’ made from copper and silver.

Object Art is an innovative new course that was introduced at Year 10 in 2013. It combines the technical skills of Technology with the creative freedom of Visual Art. It is unique to both the College and the country, offering students the chance to make three-dimensional products that aren’t bound by functionality or a rigid design process. Now in Year 11, the Object Art students are working across the Technology, Design and Visual Communication and Visual Art curriculums. This cross-disciplinary approach offers the students some unique learning opportunities designed to teach them divergent thinking practices whilst developing a range of technical skills such as basic silver smithing, carpentry, illustration and 3D ideation. In 2015, the Object Art course will evolve into Sculpture for Years 12 and 13.

The first major Object Art project for this year required the Year 11 students ‘to make a specified outcome using resistant materials.’ In this instance, silver

was chosen as the medium with a view to producing a piece of jewellery –a silver ring with a stone set into a bezel.

Whilst the task sounds deceptively simple, in reality silver smithing is a complex process that requires expert tuition and facilities. To follow on from the insight gained last year from Cheryl, and to further develop their knowledge and own skill set, the students were offered this unique opportunity to attend a full weekend course in a practising, dedicated workshop.

Over two days, students ran through a complex process that relied on their patience, precision and ability to accurately mark, measure and solder. After the work completed last year with Cheryl, and in class during their course work, the students had already developed a proficient grasp of the basic procedures and the language associated with craft. Mia continued the work, showing them how to extend these techniques, adding burnishing, oxidizing, machine finishes and stone setting to their metal fabrication repertoire.

By the end of the weekend, a group of tired but proud girls had outcomes befitting their hard work. Most importantly, the project has provided students with a broader skill set to assist them with their own design outcomes as the academic year progresses.

College Welcomes Joe Bennett

Earlier in the term, our Year 12 and 13 English students explored the world of writing with author and renowned columnist, Joe Bennett, whose newspaper columns are syndicated throughout the country. He is known for his biting wit, a trait he brought to his workshops as he challenged our students to think about their use of the written word and strategies they could employ to make their own writing more engaging.

Joe reminded the students of the power and responsibility that we possess as the only species on earth with imagination and language. He explained that, ‘Using language well, takes the human race forward’ but that, ‘You don’t have to inflate language to make it read well.’

Together with Joe, the students explored the origins of the English language, coming to understand the layers of Latin, French and Anglo Saxon influence on today’s vocabulary. They then moved on to unpack the structure of a sentence, exploring what could be done to add extra interest. His key pointers about developing a written piece were: don’t worry about the quality of your start –you will always come back to re-craft the beginning; and use descriptive verbs to ‘add muscle’ as commonplace verbs flatten and dull writing.

The students soon came to learn that changing the verb to a more dynamic replacement could have a significant influence on the readability of a piece. As a columnist, his own success lies in drawing the reader in quickly and retaining their interest.

Above all, he said, we have the power to make anything interesting, as long as we think hard enough and long enough about it. As a case in point, he asked the students to write about a common office stapler, then explore further ways to enhance their original writing.

Visiting the College for just one day, Joe inspired students to think deeply about everything and to critically consider the ideas and images sold to them by the ever-present media. We are social beasts, but we need to be thinking social beasts to get the most out of life.

Parents and Friends 15 hour Art Challenge

Over the course of a weekend earlier in March, a small but enthusiastic group of College students from across all year levels took part in the first ever Parents & Friends 15 Hour Art Challenge. The premise was to create an art work based around the theme ‘Something Novel’ – and the art works had to be started and completed entirely on site in the Jack Paine Centre over a maximum period of 15 hours running over the Saturday and Sunday! The theme, ‘Something Novel’ was open to interpretation and led to some really creative thinking by students from all year levels, highlighting their conceptual and technical skills. The students could elect to work alone, in pairs or as a group of three and were given the task to produce an original piece of artwork. All work was required to be completed in the College art studios, only during the allotted time over the course of the weekend. This led to some fevered activity, especially as the cut-off time loomed! Large paintings, detailed pen work, clever collage and 3D installations - the pressure was on!

The event was a great success and is now planned to become an annual fixture on the calendar. The Art Department would like to acknowledge the efforts and enthusiasm of all the participants and to thank the Parents & Friends for their support of this exciting new event. Our thanks to the newly elected Chairman of the Parents and Friends, Mr David Courtney, who attended full school assembly to present the awards.

The prizewinners

Junior Category (Years 7 – 10)

1st Elise Hinomoto - $180

2nd Sarah Peart - $80

3rd Dylan Muggleston and Julian Engelmann - $40

Senior Category (Years 11 – 13)

1st Vinayak Garg - $180

2nd Sian Seeley - $80

People’s Choice Votes Winner:

Senior School: Sian Seeley - $50

Middle School: Elise Hinomoto - $50

Premier Debaters Win Champs

Regarded as the most prestigious competition of the year, our Premier 1 Debating team (Becky Lane, Rachel Worthington, Arun Prakash) talked up a storm to win the Russell McVeigh debating championships during Term 1. Students enter this competition keenly knowing that this event is used to select speakers for the Auckland Development Squad and to pick the Auckland Regional team.

The College had two teams in the competition. Premier 2 (Sarah Courtney, Keshini Ketheeswaran, Jamie Hofer) performed very well on the Saturday, winning two out of four debates, but lost crucially in the last of the heats by a narrow margin to Epsom Girls Grammar.

Premier 1, however, was undefeated on Saturday, winning all four debates to finish ranked first on the opening day of competition. The following morning, the team defeated St Cuthbert’s College in the quarter final and then King’s College in the semi-final - in a hard-fought debate against the banning of plastic surgery.

This win placed the team in the grand final against Auckland Grammar with the moot, ‘this house would abolish the 5% minimum support threshold required by political parties.’ A high level of content knowledge was demonstrated by both teams, who had only 30 minutes to prepare before each speaker presented eight minutes of argument with the College team negating the motion. The result was a clear victory to our Premier 1 Debating team.

We are delighted that Becky Lane (Year 12) was named in a development squad for promising speakers and will go on to train under expert coaching this year. Both Arun Prakash (Year 13) and Rachel Worthington (Year 12) were named in the Auckland Regional team, which will train throughout the year and go on to compete against other regional teams around New Zealand. This represents the highest possible level of attainment in secondary school debating.

This is a fabulous achievement for Senior School debaters.

Our thanks to the coaches, Mr Jesse Hart and Mr Chris Hodder.

Saint Kentigern

Year 7 Camp

Year 9 Camp

Awards for Pipes and Drums!

The Pipes and Drums have had a busy start to the year, performing at Open Day, Flora McDonald Day at the Girl’s School, Celtic Day at the Boys’ School and competing at two major competitions.

auckland provincial cHampionSHipS

It was a hot and sunny Northland Saturday when the Pipes & Drums of Saint Kentigern College proudly competed to win first place in the Juvenile Grade (Under 19's) at the Auckland Provincial Pipe Band Championships. The band fended off a strong challenge this year from the City of Auckland Pipe Band to maintain their title for a record seven consecutive years. The band also competed in the adult division of the competition in Grade 4, placing 2nd in the drumming and 4th overall which was another pleasing result. Special mention should be made of the 2014 leaders: Andre Mason - Pipe Major, Jack Stewart - Drum Major and Nathan Walker - Leading Side Drummer who showed leadership in both attitude and performance throughout the day. The newest members of the Pipes & Drums also showed diligence and determination in their first ever competition event.

national cHampionSHipS

The Pipes & Drums continued their success after a three day visit to Tauranga, the venue for the 2014 National Pipe Band Championships, where our students joined with fifty bands from around New Zealand and Australia to take part in a series of music and marching events.

At the Prizegiving, the band was given two awards: the Ireland Family Shield and the Souter Challenge Cup, awarded for both grade 4 dress inspection and open dress points between college bands. This is fitting recognition of their very high standards of presentation and the pride with which they represent their College wearing the MacFarlan Tartan.

The band was placed 5th in the Juvenile Grade, which included school bands and regional representative Under 19 groups. They were also placed 9th in the adult division of their grade, which is made up of around forty bands from around the country.

One of the important highlights for our students was the positive feedback on their good musical technique and the excellent quality of their sound, particularly for our senior band which this year includes a number of younger, Middle School students. This has been a strong start for The Pipes & Drums as they now look ahead to the rest of 2014 and an invitation to perform in Australia in 2015.

national youtH pipe B and Selection

Congratulations to Year 12 College student, Nathan Walker who has been selected into the National Youth Pipe Band of New Zealand as a drummer. While attending the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association Summer School in Christchurch, (along with fellow student, Jack Stewart), Nathan auditioned and was chosen alongside eight other of the country’s top young drummers.

Nathan is the second College dr ummer to be selected for this elite group, the first being Louis Norton in 2012 who has just become a member of the World Champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band (Canada). The objective of the National Youth Band is to foster and motivate individuals through intensive practice, self-discipline, sharing of talents, and teamwork to produce performance at the highest level. Nathan has worked hard to develop his skills and is very worthy of this selection.

Saturday 30 August 2014

7.00pm for 7.30pm

Elliot Hall

Dress: formal – and a kilt if you have one!

You are cordially invited to The Saint Kentigern Ceilidh

a social event in support of the pipes & drums tour to Scotland

the evening includes great hospitality – drinks on arrival –dancing to live music – roast dinner of fine Scottish fare –a traditional haggis piped in with due ceremony in honour of the Great poet – Scottish country dancing – Scottish Songs – and a couple of Highland flings for good measure.

a cash bar will operate from 7.30pm

auctions will take place during the evening

tickets $70 each, available from the music department administrator, anne clifford phone (09) 577 0707

email anne.clifford@saintkentigern.com

Hamilton Wins Swimming

The first major sporting event of the year brought the entire College to the swimming pool for an afternoon of intense competition. After three days of preliminary races across all age groups during the first week of school, hundreds of students jumped into the pool to gain very valuable House points. The top eight swimmers from each event went on to compete on finals day. Hamilton House gained the most preliminary points, although Wishart was not far behind.

On the much anticipated finals day, the students competed for their House and for championship points. There were some very close races and it was good to have competitors from the Girls’ School join us. The day finished with the fiercely competitive House relays and also, of course, the staff v prefects –which the staff won once again!

1ST 2ND 3RD

YEAR 7 GIRLS

Beth Harford (CA)Elizabeth Lightfoot (H)Holly Simmons (CA)

YEAR 7 BOYS

Tom Harford (CA)Fraser McOmish (W)Nic Stirling (H)

YEAR 8 GIRLS

Olivia Overfield (CH)Annabelle Waterworth (CA) Olivia Montgomery (CH)

YEAR 8 BOYS

Josh Harford (CA) Connor McKenzie (CA) Campbell Tonkin (W)

JUNIOR GIRLS

Ellie Tomoana (W)Mayah Coleman (W)Chelsea Simmons (W)

JUNIOR BOYS

Jonte Wright (H)Ryan Church (CH)Dylan McCullough (H)

INTERMEDIATE GIRLS

Lisa Miyaura (H) Alexandra Gordon (CA) Gabriella McDonald (W)

INTERMEDIATE BOYS

Thomas Moulder (H)Benjamin Fleming (H)Ryan McEwen (W)

SENIOR GIRLS

Emma Hanley (W)Samantha Brown (W)Eden Hawkins (CH)

SENIOR BOYS

Hayden Church (CH) Mathew McCullough (H) Samuel Fleming (H)

year 7 & 8 SoutH eaStern Zone

Congratulations to Olivia Overfield, and Tom and Josh Harford who performed well at the zone swimming.

Olivia Overfield: 1st Senior Girls 100m Freestyle

Tom Harford: 1st Junior boys 50m Freestyle, and Breaststroke, 2nd Junior boys 100m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke

Josh Harford: 1st Senior boys 50m Breaststroke, 3rd Senior boys 50m Freestyle and Backstroke

auckland cHampionS of cHampionS

Emma Hanley, Hayden Church, Ellie Tomoana, Lisa Miyaura and Mayah Coleman represented the College at this event. Notable performances came from Emma Hanley who was 1st in the Girls 16-18 50m Breaststroke and Hayden Church 2nd in the Boys 16-18 50m Freestyle.

The Girls relayteams of Samantha Brown, Alex Gordon, Lisa Miyaura and Emma Hanley won the 16-18 200m Back stroke relay and Alex Gordon, Lisa Miyaura, Samantha Brown and Emma Hanley won the 16-18 200 meter Breaststroke relay.

medalS at tHe open nationalS

Hayden Church was the lead swimmer in the Open Mens 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay at the Open National Swimming event. Along with Old Collegian, Daniel Hunter and two Macleans College students, the team of four won the gold medal. Hayden also did a personal best to qualify for the A Final of the 50 freestyle, a hard event to swim against 20yr+ men when you are only 16! Emma Hanley also won a bronze medal at the same event in the 200m breaststroke final and a further bronze in the relay. Well done to two talented swimmers.

cargill Wins Athletics

I t was a battle of the green and blue to win the status of House Athletic Champions for 2014. On the preliminary day of competition, Chalmers won on participation points with Cargill winning the championship points on Finals Day. With the final combination of points tallied, Cargill were crowned the victors for 2014 with the other three Houses all tied on 2nd!!

Once again, the Year 7 and 8 girls from the Girls’ School joined the College athletes for the afternoon and are to be congratulated on gaining podium places. We have three girls to congratulate for breaking records on the day. Congratulations to Moiralisa Ainu'u Aneru from the Girls’ School who broke the Year 7 girls’ discus record by over 11m with a whopping throw of 28.92m (and also beat the boys’ Year 7 record in the process!). She also broke the Year 7 girls’ shot put record. Year 10 College student, Victoria (Tori) Kolose broke a number of records last year in the Junior Girls events and went on to do the same this year in the Intermediate Girls section with new records for the 100m and 200m. Year 12 student, Isabella Richards also ran a great race to beat the 1500m Senior Girls record.

1ST 2ND 3RD

YEAR 7 GIRLS (COLLEGE AND GIRLS' SCHOOL COMBINED)

Zara Smith GS (W) Moiralisa Aneru GS (Ch) Ling Kong (H)

YEAR 7 GIRLS (COLLEGE ONLY)

Elizabeth Lightfoot (H)

Severine Galland (W)Ling Kong (H)Elizabeth Lightfoot (H)

YEAR 7 BOYS

Tom Downs (Ch)Sam Kensington (H)

Chris Manning (W)

YEAR 8 GIRLS

Sam Watson (Ca) Amber Carmichael-Lowe (H) Sophia Luo (Ch)

YEAR 8 BOYS

Ben Lowe (H)James Archibald (H)Daniel Thibaud (Ch)

JUNIOR GIRLS

Josh Harford (Ca)

Mayah Coleman (W)Caitlyn Hollis (Ca)Yasmin Shakes (W)

JUNIOR BOYS

Michael Wood (Ca) Harry Salvesen (H) Luke Paanakker (W)

INTERMEDIATE GIRLS

Tori Kolose (W)Hannah Ward (W)Mererangi Paul (Ch)

INTERMEDIATE BOYS

Ethan Blight (Ca)Cameron Low (W)Tanielu Tele’a (Ca)

SENIOR GIRLS

Isabella Richards (Ca)Grace Wood (Ca)Nikita Lieshout (Ch)

SENIOR BOYS

Braydon Ennor (H) Andrew Jackson (Ca) Patrick Herbert (H)

Greater auckland atHleticS

A small number of students qualified from the Eastern Zone competition to compete in the Greater Auckland Athletics event at Mt Smart. A number of records were broken at both events including the senior boys relay team who equalled the College record which has stood since 1985.

Grace Wood2nd Senior Girls 3000m

Andrew Jackson3rd Senior Boys Shot Put, 3rd Senior Boys Discus, 2nd Senior Boys Javelin

Silafono Titiuti 3rd Junior Boys Shot Put

Nick Stanfield 3rd Senior Boys 400m

George Ellett 2nd Junior Boys 3000m

Mayah Coleman1st Junior Girls Discus, 1st Junior Girls Javelin

Patrick Herbert2nd senior boys long jump

Junior Girls 4 X100m Relay, 2nd: Mayah Coleman, Elise Conway, Yasmin Shakes, Caitlyn Hollis

Senior boys 4 x100m relay, 3rd: Patrick Herbert, Sam Nock, Emmanuel Lamositele, Braydon Ennor

nortH iSland atHleticS

Congratulations to Andrew Jackson and Mayah Coleman who represented Auckland at the North Island Athletics Championships in Masterton. In the Senior Boys division, Andrew competed in 4 events placing 5th in the Shotput and Discus, 2nd in the Javelin and 3rd in the Hammer Throw. Mayah placed 2nd in the Junior Girls discus and 3rd in the javelin with distances that created new College Records. Well done!

HOUSE POINTS

1ST C ARgILL

2ND= WISHART

2ND= CHALMERS

2ND= HAMILTON

National Tennis Champions Again!

Congratulations to our Premier Boys and Girls Tennis teams who retained their New Zealand titles at the National Secondary School Tennis competition at the Scarbro Tennis Centre this summer. This was the third consecutive year for the boys and the fifth for the girls! This was a culmination of a season of success for our teams with solid wins in both the Auckland and National championships.

nationalS

GirlS’ tenniS

Having held the title for the last four years and with many new faces in the team and injury to No.2, CT Ampornachariya, keeping her out of play, it was a big ask for the girls to defend their title. The girls’ team of Kelly Drew, Shaylee Syme, Lana Popovich and Victoria Hockey cruised through pool play without dropping a set. They were pushed in the semi against St Peter’s Cambridge but out-played the opposition, winning 6-0.

The National final against Westlake Girls – a repeat final of the last three years - went on for just over 6 hours with both teams playing their hearts out to win! At the end of the singles, it was 2-all and the girls had to win both doubles. When the 2nd pair of Lana and Victoria won their game, the pressure was on Kelly and Shaylee for the girls to retain the title. This game went to the 3rd set tie breaker and although Westlake Girls were just as determined, in the end, to the relief of everyone, we won 10-8. This was a remarkable fifth consecutive National title for the girls!

BoyS’ tenniS

auckland cHampion of cHampionS

Our Premier Tennis players had some fantastic result this week in the Auckland Champion of Champions Tennis competition. Played over the course of the week at Merton Road, all our players made it through to the finals winning 10 of the possible 12 titles. Once tallied, the overall points placed the boys as Best Boys’ School with the girls losing the title to Westlake Girls by one point.

Senior BoyS

Singles Champion:Edi Stoica

Doubles Champions:Edi Stoica and Trent Smith

Senior GirlS

Singles Champion:Kelly Drew

Doubles Champions:Kelly Drew and Sarah Wardenburg

intermediate BoyS

Singles Champion:Connor Williamson

Doubles Champion:Connor Williamson and Kieran Rooney

intermediate GirlS

Singles Champion:Lana Popovich

Doubles Champion:Lana Popovich and Shaylee Syme

junior BoyS

Singles Champion:Liam Stoica

Doubles Champion:Liam Stoica and Sam Bird

Singles Runner UpSam Bird

junior GirlS

Girls Doubles Runners Up: Alysha Nowacki and Kirsten Swindell

overall

Boys won Best Boys School Championship Girls lost by one point to Westlake

auckland teamS cHampionSHipS

The boys’ team of Trent Smith, Edi Stoica, William Matheson, Andrew Qi and Liam Stoica won the boys’ title with dominant performances all week. William Matheson came straight to join the team after returning from tournaments in Asia and played some great tennis all week. The top four boys, William, Trent, Edi and Andrew were unbeaten in singles and set the platform for the team’s success. The boys didn’t drop a set in pool play and went on to beat Auckland Grammar in the semi- final.

The final was against Scots College and once again the top four were just too strong in the singles and won the championship before the doubles had been played.

mixed team

The Mixed team also competed in the NZ championships in Hamilton. The team of Sarah Wardenburg, Connor Williamson, Charlotte Booth, Tama Payne, Alysha Nowacki and Trenton Leleni made it through to the semifinals but unfortunately lost to St Peter’s Cambridge but held off Hutt Valley High School in the play-off to claim 3rd place to round up a very successful week for the tennis programme.

Congratulations to the Intermediate Girls Tennis Team of Victoria Hockley, Julia Woolf, Amy Shew, Gemma Johnston, Hannah Wood and Ella Mcfarlan who won the Auckland Teams Championships with both the Junior Girls and Junior Boys were Runner Up

Boys’ Premier Touch Team Auckland Champs!

The Premier Boys’ and Girls’ Touch teams competed in the Zone 2 regional Touch tournament at Moire Park, Massey. This qualifies the top three teams from Pukekohe to the Harbour Bridge to attend the National Secondary Schools Touch championships in December. Both the Girls’ and the Boy’s teams have qualified and they now look forward to taking their spot in the national competition.

BoyS’ team

After losing multiple key players from the squad that finished 3rd in NZ in 2013, this year’s Premier Boys’ Touch team quickly reformed to win the 2014 Auckland championships! The boys last won this competition in 2011, narrowly losing the final in the last two years to King’s and Auckland Grammar. These past losses were avenged this year in convincing fashion in the semis and finals of the competition.

Earlier in the competition, the boys won all pool games to go into the semi-final in top position. Senior players, Thomas Konusi, Patrick Herbert and Jospeh Mitai provided captain, Samuel Nock with valuable leadership support during the day both on and off the field. The younger less experienced players in the squad stepped up to the increased responsibility, resulting in some dominant performances, particularly in the semis and finals where the team played some of the highest level of touch produced by a Saint Kentigern team for several years. This performance indicates promise that the team can push for a maiden NZ title in December after recently coming up just short with top 3 finishes in 3

GirlS’ team

The final game of the day at the Zone 2 regional Touch Tournament was a repeat of the 2013 National Championship where Mount Albert Grammar had defeated our girls 3-1 for the national title. This was the third year in a row that both teams met in the Auckland Zone 2 finals with Mount Albert Grammar winning by heavy margins to claim the previous titles. However, 2014 was a different year with Saint Kentigern College maintaining control of the game for long periods.

With the full time whistle about the blow, and our girls leading, Mount Albert Grammar strung together a series of plays and were rewarded with a touch down on full time. Our team had drawn with the current National Champions, Mount Albert Grammar 3-3.

With both teams on the same win-loss record of 3 wins and 1 draw, the winner of the game was decided on points for and against. Both teams had scored 39 touch downs over four games but with MAGS having only 4 touch downs scored against them and Saint Kentigern 5, Mount Albert Grammar was awarded the Zone 2 regional title. One point difference and a sad loss for our girls.

It is anticipated that both teams may meet each other once again in the 2014 National Secondary Schools Touch championships in December where our girls hope to have the edge.

Congratulations to the following players who have been named in New Zealand teams:

Maia Jean Watene - New Zealand Women’s Open Team and U19 Women’s squad

Christine Oscar - New Zealand U19 Women’s squad

Sydney Frazer - New Zealand U17 Women’s squad

Tori Kolose - New Zealand U15 Women’s squad

Auckland Cricket Champs – Again!

In an exciting four days at Keith Hay Park, the College Premier Girls Cricket team made it four wins in a row at the Auckland Secondary Schools tournament to win the Auckland title. The girl’s victory now qualifies them to represent Auckland in the nationals at the New Zealand Championships in December.

The team faced Avondale College first and enjoyed a five wicket victory followed up the next day with a 103-run win against Glendowie College. Day three was against Westlake and the girls limited them to 83. Saint Kentigern’s chase was methodical and reached the target for the loss of 4 wickets. Next up was Baradene and with the bowling attack dismissing them for only 50 runs, this made the run chase possible with their top bowling attack getting the total required in 17 overs.

RH Maryatt Cup Win

After wins against Mount Albert Grammar, Westlake Boys, Rangitoto College, Avondale College and Liston College, the 1st XI Boys Cricket team qualified top of their pool in the One Day Cricket competition. In the game against Liston, Daniel Young scored his maiden 1st XI century in a team total of more than 300 runs.

This success entitled the team to play against King’s College in the R H Marryatt Cup final. This is the first time in four years that the College has reached the final. Much of the credit for the resurgence to Saint Kentigern Cricket can be attributed to the high level of coaching available to our students; in particular, the work that Mr Rex Hooton has undertaken with our teams in the four years since the cricket academy was started.

The final against King’s was played at Melville Park in brilliant sunshine. Saint Kentigern batted first and, aided by a century from James Ellis and a half century from Daniel Young, the team scored 248 for 6. Kings then batted and came up 40 runs short. Aditya Edekar took 4 wickets and Sandeep Patel took 3. The game was exciting, played in good spirit and was a worthy final.

repreSentative cricket

Congratulations to 1st XI Cricket players, Daniel Young and Sandeep Patel who were selected into the Auckland Secondary Schools Team to take on Canterbury Secondary Schools. Both are skilled stalwarts of the College team and were deserving of their selection. Well done boys!

The final day of tournament was the real challenge for our girls, up against Epsom Girls first in a game that would shape up to be a battle for the title. Epsom were top of the table going into the day but we had a game in hand having already had our bye on the first day. Batting first, things were looking rather bleak with a top-order collapse seeing us teetering on 35-5. The lower order managed to tenaciously hold on for another 40 runs seeing us to 75 all out in the final over. The girls then stepped up and delivered a clinical and focused bowling and fielding display that saw Epsom collapse to just 57 runs.

The last game of our tournament was against Diocesan School for Girls and it was by no means a game that we approached casually.To win the tournament we needed to beat them.The game started with Saint Kentigern fielding and things were looking up when we had them 4 down for very few runs.This situation unfortunately did not last long as Diocesan ended up on 107 at the end of their 20 overs. Our girls then set out to get this total and with some solid partnerships and a couple of good overs we reached the total in the last over.To the delight of the team, they became Auckland Champions for the fourth year in a row.

GirlS team – auckland cHampionS

Rae Allright, Hannah Blake, Isabella Ching, Ishara Dhambagolla, Caitlin Dodd, Olivia Dodd, Lucy Eden, Grace Jordan, Natasha Leishman, Mikayla Mackie, Ella Mayhew, Christina Oscar, Juliet Shepherd, Malaea Tangi, Emma Williamson

TOP SCORERS

Well done to the following students who have taken 5 wickets in a game or scored 50 or 100 runs in an innings over the last cricket season

1st XIChad Crenfeldt-Smith 6-20 v Westlake

Sandeep Patel 5-26 v Rangitoto

Sandeep Patel 5-33 v Liston College 1st XI

Daniel Young 118* v Liston College 1st XI

James Ellis 100 v Kings College 1st XI

2nd XIJack Muirhead 128* (86) vs Mt Albert College 2nd X1

3rd XIAngus Anderson 119 vs Glendowie College 1st XI

3rd XIStuart Blakey 5-30 vs Rosmini College 2nd XI

2014 ColtsMatthew Soroka 7-8 vs Auckland Grammar School Colts 2

2013 ColtsSandeep Patel – 5-4 vs Rosmini College Colts

Finn Allen 109* vs St Peters College

Junior A2Elliot Ching 5-12 vs Auckland Grammar School JA6

Medals for College Rowers New Skiff Named

Our rowers enjoyed a successful weekend at the North Island Secondary School championships held at Karapiro in Cambridge. The club competed in a total of 52 events over all categories from Novice to U18 and qualified to contest the thirteen A finals and ten B finals.

CREWS:

u17 BoyS Quad - Gold medal:

Ayden Lamont, Henry Donald, Matthew Swiatek, Edward Barry, Liam Braithwaite (cox)

u15 BoyS four - Gold:

Tom Mills, Ethan Blight, Thomas Brenton-Rule, Matthew Kelly, Samuel Ingleton (cox)

u15 eiGHt – Silver

Matt Kelly, Nicholas Lyon-Ramsdale, Harry Ramakers, Sam Morrow, Ethan Blight, Thomas Brenton-Rule, Ollie Strang, Tom Mills, Samuel Ingleton (cox), Carl Vincent (coach)

u18 liGHtWeiGHt GirlS iv – BronZe

Jacqueline Chang, Katherine Chang, Leah Allison, Ruby Houghton, Shenny Chiu (cox)

neW Zealand cHampionSHipS (maadi cup)

The rowers then travelled to Twizel in the South Island to compete in the New Zealand Championships. They competed in a total of 18 events over all categories from Novice to U18, taking to the water in over 50 individual races in order to qualify for an impressive 7 A finals, 3 B finals and 4 C finals. No crew or individual finished outside these levels vindicating the tough selection criteria for this event.

Congratulations in particular to the Lightweight U18 IV girls crew who rowed to a bronze medal – the first national medal for girls. The U15 boys continued to enjoy high levels of success, winning silver in the A final of the VIII.

CREWS:

BoyS u15 8+ - Silver medal

Tom Mills, Ollie Strang, Thomas Brenton-Rule , Ethan Blight, Nicholas Lyons- Ramsdale , Harry Ramakers, , Sam Morrow, Matthew Kelly, Samuel Ingleton (cox), Carl Vincent (coach)

GirlS u18 4+ (l) - BronZe medal

Jacqueline Chang, Katherine Chang, Leah Allison, Ruby Houghton, Shenny Chiu (cox), Sophie Cunningham (coach)

The College Rowing Club proudly unveiled their new rowing VIII skiff at the North Island Secondary School Championships. After a significant amount of fundraising by parents and friends of the rowing club, a new high performance VIII was ordered last year and delivered in time for the end of season regattas.

Much consideration was given to what to name the new boat, and the Club was delighted when Head Coach, Mr Geoff Perry agreed to have the boat named after him. Mr Perry has been a coach at the club for 12 years, but a passionate rower and coach for many years before that.

Medals for Multi Sport Athletes

Congratulations to our multisport athletes who have had continued success across a range of competitions during Term 1. There have been many podium finishes and personal bests to be proud.

neW Zealand cHampionSHipS

A new location and two new events for the 2014 New Zealand Secondary School (NZSS) Triathlon Championships meant some new challenges for the 30 College triathletes who attended to compete in a variety of events over two days. Despite the difficult conditions, we are very pleased that our students rose to the challenge to gain ten podium places at the Gisborne event. It was particularly pleasing to see some of our youngest competitors doing well at this national level.

The conditions proved to be quite trying with wind and rough seas, so bad at one point that some races were moved to a swimming pool. Well done to all those battled the conditions to produce some outstanding performances.

nZSS triatHlon cHampionSHip

U13 Boys

U19 Boys 1st Dylan McCullough 3rd Liam Ward

nZSS taG team cHampionSHip

U13 Boys Team 1st (Jacob Hannan Callum Walsh Michael Lindsay)

U14 Boys Team 1st (Ryan Church, Dylan McCullough, George Ellett)

nZSS aQuatHlon cHampionSHip

U13 Boys

U19 Girls 3rd Dylan McCullough 3rd Madeline Evans

nZSS open Water cHampionSHip

U13 Girls 2nd Olivia Overfield

nZSS team SuperSprint cHampionSHip

U13 Team 1st (Olivia Overfield, Callum Walsh, Annabelle Waterworth, Dylan McCullough)

U14 Team3rd (Caitlyn Hollis, George Ellett, Emma Hannan, Ryan Church)

U19 Team2nd (Madeline Evans, Mathew McCullough, Anna Murphy, Liam Ward)

reSultS from auckland eventS

akSS aQuatHlon akSS triatHlon akSS taG team

U19 BOYS

1st Liam Ward

U19 GIRLS

U16 BOYS

U14 BOYS

1st Dylan McCullough

3rd Ryan Church

YR 7/8 BOYS

3rd Joshua Chapman1st Mathew McCullough, James Fouche, Liam Ward

3rd Madeline Evans2nd Samantha Brown, Madeline Evans, Isabella Richards

2nd Tom Moulder, Liam Cappel, Fraser Hamilton

1st Dylan McCullough

3rd Ryan Church

1st Ryan Church, Dylan McCullough, George Ellett

1st Tom Harford, James Archibald, Michael Lindsay

Baseball

Senior baseball had an excellent 2014 National tournament held in Glendowie during Tournament Week. On day one the boys were exceptional in shutting out Botany Downs beating them 11-0. Both Taylor Simmons and Jordan Hosking were exceptional with the pitching and batting.

Unfortunately they lost to Glendowie College in their second game. One thing really stood out in that game - a home run from Sam Yun, our rookie, who hit the ball further than 100m, bringing home three runners.

On the second day we were outplayed by One Tree Hill College, who showed everyone why they were the tournament winners. They pitched very well and stopped us from scoring.

The following day the boys played like a well-oiled machine to beat both Auckland Grammar and Orewa College. At the end of pool play the scores were tallied, the team qualified for the semi-finals against Glendowie College who occupied the second spot.

In an extremely intense semi-final that went down to the wire, both teams were unable to come up with any runs. The defensive structure was overwhelming and after seven innings the score was 0-0. As per tournament rules, a tie breaker was enforced to decide the winner. Unfortunately we were unable to get the required forced run. So close! Congratulations to Taylor Simmons and Sam Yun who were nominated as two of the best nine in the tournament.

Waterpolo

The water polo programme at the College has grown exponentially over the last two years with the introduction of professional coaches to lead the Premier teams. In addition to this, several players in the Premier team have also been selected to New Zealand Waterpolo squads. Up until two years ago, there were no College players in representative teams, this year there are six players who represent New Zealand.

With the recruitment of the new coach, trainings have increased to five times a week. This has made a big difference in fitness and game results. In the Auckland League the team placed 3rd receiving bronze medals. This is the highest placing ever for a College team in the Auckland league.

Congratulations to the following players who have represented New Zealand: James Myers, Sam Fleming, Hamish MacDonald, Ryan McEwen, Ben Fleming and Alex McDonald.

James, Sam and Hamish all played for the Youth Men's Development team. Ben and Alex both made the Born 1999 team. Ryan made the Born 1998 team last year and is trialling for it again this year. James also made the Born 1997 team.

College Archives

Since we began in 1953, the founders of the College and their first Headmaster, Dr Adam MacFarlan have preserved the publications and other written material of the early years. These valuable pieces of history now make up the College Archives, collated and preserved through the good services of the first Deputy Head, Mr Jack Paine and also the first professional archivist, Mrs Anoma De Silva.

Since then a very large amount of College material has amassed, much unsorted and lacking an easy finding system. Throughout the College campus, there are also many artefacts and framed materials that relate to who we are. In fact, Saint Kentigern College has a large and rich collection of historical archive material in a variety of formats – Yearbooks, Piper magazines newsletters, College newspapers, newspaper and magazine clippings, audio, video tapes and discs, printed publications, letters and internal publications, brochures and programmes and photographs, all materials that date back to the establishment of the College in 1953.

The archival material is important for the College as they not only have a large student and staff body for whom awareness of its heritage is significant, but also an active Old Collegians Association interested in the history of the college, and in maintaining contact with the school and each other.

So it was important that Saint Kentigern College, with its rich history of 60 years, should have a well maintained and secure archive of these materials in a pleasant location where the official and unofficial records, materials and artefacts considered to be of value and significance to the continuing history, heritage, culture and direction of the College were secured, preserved and made accessible.

We have now an area for storage display, preservation and processing that will enable the development of a secure archive of the materials, photographs and artefacts of our history. It is appropriately located adjacent to the Library and new Learning Commons, in the area used in early years as the front of the College and the offices of the Headmaster, Bursar and their support staff. Many of the archive items have now been moved to this suite of rooms that at this stage has required little structural change. The removal of the glass screen from the office has opened up the area so that there is now a moderately large area for displays of printed materials and artefacts with sufficient wall space for some of our framed photographs, as well as allowing room for some tables and chairs for people who wish to sit and read College publications or to look at the specific archives in greater depth.

The archive suite has a temperature controlled strong-room for special secure storage; there is a storage room with Lundia shelving which serves for the housing of numbered archives boxes, albeit rather cramped for easy access. There is another room with metal filing cabinets and cupboards that is used for storage of newspaper clippings, audio visual materials from the 60 years of College history and archive materials related to the different Headmasters. Clothing items are also kept there in a metal filing cupboard.

The former Headmaster’s Office functions as the archives office and workroom. At present the old Bursar’s office contains unsorted archives, framed photographs and other materials for which there is at present no appropriate storage equipment.

The development of the archives has been spearheaded by Warwick Bell, an Old Collegian himself and a teacher at the College since 1967. Warwick retired as Associate Head of the College in 2005 but has continued to work part-time there, and has enthusiastically taken up this task of creating a fine, working archives suite.

can you Help?

At this stage we are looking for some more materials for our archives. The first request is related to Old Collegians of the 1950s and 1960s - College uniforms: Grey College suit; Harris tweed sports coat; Bruce House blue velvet dinner jacket; College representative athletic singlet; College representative or colours blazer; grey shirt or shorts; socks and ties of the early years; cap with badge; prefects or house-prefects badge; crested stationery items. College and Bruce House memorabilia: blue-crested crockery; Elliot tartan Bruce House rug; Badges from the 1950s and 1960s; School magazines from the first three years.

If you have any significant and original informal photographs from events during first decade of the College (1953-1963) we would like to add those to our archive collection. The event needs to be precisely indicated and we need the names of the people in the photograph. Also, if anyone has access to furniture display cabinets (jeweller’s type), please let us know.

Please make contact us if you have any of these materials that you are able to donate to the archives. Phone the College Reception and leave a message for Mr Warwick Bell to contact you, or contact him by email at collegearchives@saintkentigern.com

Mr Warwick Bell, College Archivist

College Parents and Friends

At the AGM held in March, David Courtney was elected as the new Chairperson of the Saint Kentigern College Parents and Friends. David is a solicitor with two daughters at the College. He has been involved with the committee since his elder daughter started, most recently as Deputy Chairperson and Treasurer.

David steps in to replace Pippa Styles who after many years on the committee at the College and the Boys' School is taking a quieter role as PR spokesperson and Deputy Chair. Pippa has given years of dedicated service to both schools and we are truly grateful for the passion, enthusiasm and fun that she has brought to her role over the years. Pippa’s two sons have now moved on and with her daughter now in her final senior years, it’s time for Pippa to take a well-deserved rest! Thank you Pippa for all you have done for the College and the Boys’ School before that.

In picking up the PR role, Pippa will replace Heather Skelton who stepped down from the position after her last child left the College. Heather, too, has given countless hours of service to the College, in particular as the representative from the Parents and Friends at the time the current Saint Kentigern website and OLE (Online Learning Environment) was being developed.

Welcomed onto the team at the AGM were two new faces; Julia Clancy who is an ‘events guru’ and will understudy Tracey Goldstine in the Social Convener's role, and Sandra Oliver who is our new Treasurer.

Our Parents and Friends Association is very busy working to support friendship amongst current parents and to support the welfare and activities of the College. The Committee comprises a number of enthusiastic volunteers and each year some step down as their children graduate and move on, leaving vacancies. Parents interested in joining are always welcome. The AGM is held in March for formal acceptance on the committee. Other parents who would like to be involved, if only to offer help occasionally, are encouraged to make contact. You are also most

A Very Royal Day!

What a truly amazing and privileged day for a young Kiwi sailor! In a closely guarded secret, Year 12 College student, Stephanie Kirkman was selected by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron as one of six young sailors to have the opportunity of a lifetime when they joined the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for match racing on board two ex-America’s Cup yachts, NZL68 & NZL41 during the Royal Tour. Stephanie wasn’t the only Saint Kentigern representative with Old Collegian, George Brassell (2012) also part of the Youth Team – and of course, Grant Dalton at the helm and designer, Nick Holroyd also on board!

The Duke and Duchess were to race against each other in two match races, with the crew made up of Emirates Team New Zealand members and the six selected youth sailors. Grant Dalton accompanied Prince William and Dean Barker welcomed Catherine on board.

welcome to attend the Parents and Friends meetings when current and future activities are planned and discussed. Generally a senior staff member or another representative, along with a representative from the Trust Board, bring a report to each meeting. This is an important opportunity for information sharing and for parents to ask questions.

The Association actively raises funds through such things as the operation of the Lunch Bar for Middle School students and Saints Cafe for Senior School students at the College, as well as other special fundraising events. We welcome parents who can volunteer time to assist at these.

The funds that are raised by the Parents and Friends are used to provide additional equipment or facilities to benefit the students. Do come along and join in!

Contact: David Courtney: 021-906-193; Pippa Styles 021-669-769,

College Parents and Friends Executive for 2014

Clockwise from top left: Claire Russell (Functions Convener) , Julia Clancy (Social); Tracey Goldstine (Functions Convener); Desiree Jenkins-Allright (Secretary); Pippa Styles (Deputy Chair and PR); David Courtney (Chairman); Sandra Oliver (Treasurer) and Amanda Selvadurai (Saints Cafe and Lunchbar Convener)

Stephanie did not learn which boat she was to be on until the morning of the race and discovered that she was to sail with the Prince and Old Collegian, Grant Dalton. Stephanie said it was a ‘truly amazing’ day out on the water. Whilst the other team with the Duchess of Cambridge and Dean Barker took line honours in both races, the opportunity to sail with royalty and simply chat to the Prince more than made up for it. On the boat they talked about sailing and the Prince told them about his travels so far in NZ.

Stephanie started sailing when she was seven years old and has been a member of the College Premier Sailing Team since Year 10. Last year, after years of club sailing in the Optimist and Starling Class, she was offered a position on The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Youth training scheme. She sails every Saturday and Sunday throughout the year with just a month off in May. Like George, she will be in the programme for three years.

Stephanie’s impressions: The Prince was really nice, down to earth with a good sense of humour but still very competitive. He was ‘just a really nice guy!’ The highlight? - All of it!

David Courtney, newly elected Chairman

President’s Report

The 2014 SKOCA year started with a tremendously sunny day at the Auckland Golf Club for the Boys’ School Golf Day held in early February, which was another well-run event by Peter Nelson and his team. The ‘hole-in-one’ car prize was not won, however, the Bayleys team, led by Hayden Butler, again took top prizes. This was along with a number of Foundation lads who had been practising rigorously for the day to benefit from the generous prize pool!

The SKOCA Cricket Day was also held in perfect conditions at the College with a rolling barbeque and an enjoyable spectacle of top cricket. The SKOCA team narrowly beat the College 1st XI and there were a number of close calls which had the SKOCA lads performing in ‘international style.’

In March, I had the pleasure to again host the Past President’s Luncheon which is held every second year at the Northern Club at which 18 of the 23 surviving Past Presidents were in attendance, from No 3 David Thomson in 1962 to No 26 John Irvine in 2006. Past Presidents now departed, Bruce McNeil, Terry Harris and Ross Lomas were also remembered in a toast performed by John Gilbert. Special guests included Jack Paine and Ron Stone, Peter Nelson and Rod Biel and the afternoon was a true celebration of Saint Kentigern history. The Heads from the three campuses provided the elite group with an update of life at each school today and Malcolm Cowie provided the well-rehearsed Selkirk Grace, followed by an enjoyable midday meal.

The Rowing afternoon was held in early April on a splendid day and a perfect midday high tide saw a number of Old Collegians back on the water testing their skills against each other. There were no breakages nor capsizes this year and an afternoon barbeque was held in the shade of the

SKOCA 2014 Calendar

THURSDAY 10 JULY

LONDON REUNION

Time: 6.45pm

Price: $45

Venue: TBA – Central London Restaurant/Bar

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com dgowan@dacbeachcroft.com

FRIDAY 1 AUGUST

OTAGO UNI - ROC’S (RECENT OLD COLLEGIANS) COCKTAILS

Time: 6.00pm

Venue: Starters Bar, Frederick Street, Dunedin

Contact: James Hackett 027 7516388

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, hacjames@gmail.com

FRIDAY 15 AUGUST

VICTORIA UNI / WELLINGTON- ROC’S (RECENT OLD COLLEGIANS) COCKTAILS

Time: 6.00pm

Venue: El Horno Bar, Courtenay Street, Wellington

Contact: James Hackett 027 7516388

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, hacjames@gmail.com

FRIDAY 15 AUGUST

BOYS’ SCHOOL DECADE DINNER – 1990-99 & 2000-2008 LEAVERS

Time: 6.30pm

Price: $65 (ROC’s $45)

Venue: JC Chalmers Hall, Boys School, Remuera

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, sue.bowskill@saintkentigern.com

poplars after the event. This event is an enjoyable afternoon for past rowers and their families to reminisce and enjoy the exceptional rowing facilities the College has, all located on the waters edge.

The AGM & Annual Dinner was held at the College with a very entertaining Phil Kingsley-Jones as the guest speaker who provided an insight into his life since his start in the Welsh Coal Mines at the age of 16, to the London Palladium as a winning entertainer, to being the manager of Jonah Lomu and coach of Tonga. Phil had the attendees in rapturous laughter with some jokes very close to the bone yet well-managed like the true professional he is.

The AGM recorded a return to a trading surplus for SKOCA in the year ended December 2013 as presented by the SKOCA Treasurer, Neville Lyne who was re-elected unopposed as was myself as President and Morgan Wardrop as Vice-President. James Bennett was elected SKOCA Secretary. Departing long-serving committee members were Murray Shaw, after some 20 years on the committee including time as President. Murray, however, continues as a trustee on the Saint Kentigern Old Collegians Scholarship Trust. Andrew Muller also stepped down as he is departing for South America and we thank both these gentlemen for their contribution and work on the committee. We welcome back onto the committee, Andrew Finn, now a teacher at the Girls’ School after spending six years overseas and also George Grove, a Past President and committee member, to provide valued input along with the other 20 committee members who were all re-elected. Another busy year is underway with an updated calendar so we look forward to seeing all Old Collegians getting more involved in these various events.

Fides Servanda Est.

The committee welcomes feed-back from members so please keep in touch via: skoca@saintkentigern.com

Andrew Morgan, President

THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER

SKOCA NETBALL

Premier and Senior A Netball versus Old Collegians Girls

Start: Games start at 6.00pm

Venue: Gym1 and Gym2

Contact: Kelly Alexander

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, kelly.alexander@outlook.com

FRIDAY19 SEPTEMBER

CANTERBURY/LINCOLN UNI - ROC’S (RECENT OLD COLLEGIANS) COCKTAILS

Time: 6.00pm

Venue: Volstead Trading Company, 55 Riccarton Rd, Christchurch

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com , jamesb@brb.co.nz

FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER

BRUCE HOUSE BOARDERS’ DINNER – 1990-1999 LEAVERS

Time: 6.30pm

Price: $65 (ROC’s $45)

Venue: Bruce House, College.

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com

THURSDAY 9 OCTOBER

SKOCA COLLEGE GOLF DAY

Time: Assemble at 11.00am

Venue: Titirangi Golf Club

Ticket: $85.00 per head. (ROCS’s $50). Refreshments provided

Contact: John Howard/Sandy Campbell

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, john.howard@raywhite.com

FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER

Time: 6.30pm

Price: $65 (ROC’s $45)

Venue: Bruce House, College.

BOOKING FORM FOR BOARDERS’ DINNER

FRIDAY/SATURDAY 17-18th OCTOBER

AUSTRALIAN REUNION - BRISBANE

Time: 6.30pm (Friday)

Venue: TBA - Central Brisbane Restaurant/Bar

Ticket: A$65.00 per head. ROCS’s A$45, Refreshments provided

Saturday 18th - 3rd Bledisloe Cup Rugby, Suncorp Stadium (tickets available)

Contact: Ross Patrick/John Lewis/Thomas Steel

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, rosspatrick@bigpond.com

FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER

AUCKLAND ROC’S (RECENT OLD COLLEGIANS) COCKTAILS

Time: 6.15pm

Venue: Parnell Bar & Grill (Ex The Bog), 196 Parnell Rd.

Contact: James Bennett/Thomas Steel

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, jamesb@brb.co.nz

SUNDAY (TBA) DECEMBER

SKBS - TOUCH RUGBY & BBQ FOR 2009 LEAVERS

Time: 3.30pm

Venue: SKS Sports Centre & No 1 Field

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com sue.bowskill@saintkentigern.com

FRIDAY 14 FEBRUARY

SKBS - BOYS SCHOOL GOLF DAY

Time: 12.00 for 1pm Tee-off

Venue: Auckland Golf Club

Tickets: $110 per head. ROCS’s $60

Refreshments provided.

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com, sue.bowskill@saintkentigern.com

Boys’ School Golf Day: A Player’s Perspective

With thanks to Boy’s School Principal, Mr Peter Cassie

The annual Saint Kentigern Boys’ School Old Collegians’ Golf Day was held on Friday 14 February at the Royal Auckland Golf Club on what can be described as a near perfect day for golf; plenty of sun, rolling fairways, fast greens and a few brief showers that added much needed respite at the appropriate times.

I was fully prepared to make the most of the 18 hole challenge that lay ahead and had set myself three simple goals for the day:

1. Dr ive home in the Subaru Forrester supplied by Winger for scoring the hole-in-one on the 13th hole

2. Pick up the fishing rods as the team pr ize from Top Catch

3. And win the iPad Air supplied from Genii as a lucky draw.

Unfortunately things didn’t work out as planned, mainly due to the lack of golfing skill required for the task! Ah well, there’s always next year!

With a full field of 20 teams, most of whom were very capable golfers, we teed off right on the dot at 1.00pm spread far and wide around the course. Many kilometres and shots later we returned to the clubhouse for refreshments, regaling stories of wayward and at times perfect shots. Score cards were handed in and I must admit I was pretty confident with my team completing the round with -5 on the card. Taking our handicaps into account resulted in a net score of 59.875, quite a handy result. However it was not to be as 13th place was a long way from 1st!

Congratulations to the winning team on the day; Hayden Butler, Simon Rountree, James Brown and Phil Lewis with a net score of 55.25, clear winners from the second placed team of the day (Victoria Wilkes, Paul Wilkes, Ross Powell and Tim Smith) with 55.3. We look forward to the champions returning to defend their title in 2015.

We thank our sponsors for their support. With naming rights on holes along with the many prizes donated from a variety of sources, it meant that every team walked away with a prize. What more could we ask for.

Our sincere thanks to:

Hole Sponsors:

AFT Pharmaceuticals

ANZ Bank

APS Limited

Boyd Visuals

Business World Travel

Dulux

General Issue

Matassa Property Services

Outline: Workspace Design

Ricoh

Roselle Guardians

Saint Kentigern Old Collegians’ Association

Toshiba

Prize Donors:

About Face

AFT Pharmaceuticals

Andiamo

ANZ BankWinger Motors

Benson Road Deli

DFS Galleria

Ecoya

Family Boats

Flowers After Hours

Gen-i

Jack’s Coffee

Lexel

Moa Brewing Co

New World Remuera

Palmers Garden Centre

Resene Paints

Ricoh

Samex

Sunbeam

Terravin Wines

The Spire Queenstown

Top Catch

Our very special thanks to Old Collegian, John Gilbert for donating his time to supervise the hole-in-one challenge at the 13th hole and to Tom Sinclair, Manager of the Royal Auckland Golf Club, for his work in organising and managing this very successful tournament.

Old Collegians Annual Dinner

In a change of venue this year, the Jack Paine Centre Atrium at the College was transformed into an elegant dinner venue to welcome our Old Collegians and invited guests for their AGM and annual dinner. The ground floor of the Atrium had been set up with white and blue linen covered tables, a dinner buffet and a refreshment bar for the social occasion.

First on the agenda was the formal AGM for the year, followed by a traditional performance from the Old Collegians Pipes & Drums band who played outside in the courtyard. Over refreshments, the guests had a clear view of the Band’s recital through the Atrium’s high glassed windows, before the ensemble made their march through the building and invited guests to take their seats for dinner.

We welcomed back recent graduates, Manase Latu and Grace Sturgess who in perfect harmony, sang the traditional Scottish song ‘Loch Lomond’ before Head of College, Mr Steve Cole opened the ceremonial dinner speeches. Mr Cole said that he could not be prouder of the College as the leading independent school in Australasia and as the roll continues to grow, the aim will always be to provide the best teachers, facilities and motivation for our students to succeed in their education.

This was followed by an address from Principal of the Girls’ School Dr Sandra Hastie and Principal of the Boys’ School Mr Peter Cassie who both thanked the Old Collegians Association for their on-going financial support and interest in all they do. Dr Hastie said that in our ‘family of schools’ we continue to develop strong men and women and she also thanked the Association for the scholarship opportunity for Year 7 girls. Mr Cassie told the guests that Saint Kentigern was a fantastic community living the values where service and leadership are the key drivers and that our boys leave as great citizens who are confident, articulate and engaged in their learning.

After the buffet meal, former long-serving Deputy Head, Mr Jack Paine undertook the roll call for each decade in his own unique style. As he announced each year group, the former students all stood to attention to recite their full name and ID number one by one. The decade of 2000-2009 was particularly well represented by young men and women attending the evening’s function in celebration of the Old Collegians Association.

Welsh-born guest speaker, Mr Phil Kingsley Jones, head of one of New Zealand’s most successful sports management and marketing companies, and former manager of international rugby legend, Jonah Lomu, spoke on ‘Life since the Welsh Coal Mines.’ Mr Kingsley Jones is described as an after dinner speaker with a heart of gold, a mind full of jokes and humourist anecdotes. And he did not disappoint! He entertained his audience with numerous stories of his life and career, capturing his audience with his irreverent wit and his genuine passion for New Zealand. He said that Saint Kentigern was more than just bricks and mortar, that it was an environment where people are proud of what they are doing and of themselves. He thanked Saint Kentigern for giving our students the right path to lead them on to wherever they may travel.

The function closed with the School song ‘We are heirs of Kentigern’, once again led superbly by the talented voices of Manase and Grace.

Grace and Manase

Past Presidents’ Lunch

Aluncheon is held every two years at the Northern Club to which surviving past presidents of the Saint Kentigern Old Collegians Association are invited, along with the three Heads and Trust Board members. This is a time of fellowship and the chance for the Old Collegians to be updated on many of the advancements that have occurred at the Saint Kentigern campuses during the previous two years.

The Association was originally formed in February 1959, the year the Boys’ School opened and was formerly known as the Saint Kentigern Old Boys Association. This was renamed Old Collegians in the year the girls joined the College. The luncheon recognises 55 years of leadership by former students who have taken an active interest in maintaining the ties to their place of schooling. It also provides a forum to reconnect and maintain the two way flow of information to ensure that the members of the Old Collegians Association have a continued voice at Saint Kentigern.

Current President, Mr Andrew Morgan brought everyone up to date on the latest activity and explained about the need to encourage a greater philanthropic interest, particularly in support of the Old Collegians’ Scholarships which afford opportunities for the children of Old Collegians and others to benefit from a Saint Kentigern education. The Old Collegians currently support 12 annual scholarships across the campuses and numerous grants for sporting and other endeavours.

Andrew talked about the many events that now take place under the auspices of the Old Collegians Association that include dinners, sporting events, annual gatherings in Australia and England, events exclusively for Recent Old Collegians and, the newest addition to the calendar, a pre-show function to acknowledge the former students who have been involved the in the Performing Arts.

Mr Steve Cole, Head of College; Dr Sandra Hastie, Head of Primary and Mr Peter Cassie, Principal of the Boys’ School each gave a report on their campuses. This is only the second lunch that the Girls’ School and Preschool have been represented and the progress there is always of great interest.

SKOCA Rowing Regatta

Early in the April the boats were out on the water on a perfect, sunny Sunday afternoon with a midday tide and just little wind. The 2014 SKOCA Rowing Regatta attracted a number of Old Collegians who had rowed for the College including Anthony Allan who is about to depart to Italy to compete in the U23 NZ rowing team.

A number of ‘OC’s’ are still actively involved in a rowing club and were keen to get back in the College boats to reminisce about their early mornings training before school, for all those years so long ago. We were pleased to welcome back McKenzie Lewis, Tim Wilson, Richard Power, Tim McMaster, Sam Carter and Dan Quigley to join other regulars to get back on the water to test their mettle against the College rowers.

An afternoon barbeque in the shade next to Rowing Shed 2 was held after the racing in a perfect setting on the Tamaki. An enjoyable way to end an enjoyable afternoon of rowing.

This year 19 of the 24 surviving past presidents attended. The attendees included David Thompson (1962), Peter Coote (1963), Garth Stewart (1964), Bryan Haggit (1965), David Corbett (1966), Bob McMillan (19681970), Jim Syme (1971-1972), Rick Flower (1973), David Grove (19761977), Malcolm Wilson (1978), Don Craig (1980), John Patterson (19851986), Philip Winstone (1985), Grant Plimmer (1987), Nigel Harrison (1993), Mark Conelly (2001), John Irvine (2004-2007) and current President, Andrew Morgan. There were apologies from David McCulloch (1989) Murray Shaw (2001) George Grove (1991) Andrew Jarvie (1997) and Michael Daniels (1974).

Bruce McNeill (1959) Terry Harris (1967) and Ross Lomas (1983) who have sadly passed on, were remembered.

This was a most enjoyable afternoon with the Trust Board Chairman Dr Bruce Goodfellow and the principals from each of the three Saint Kentigern schools.

Murray Shaw Welcomes Geography Students

Mr Murray Shaw is an Old Collegian and past President of the Old Collegians whose own children also attended the College. For over 20 years he has kindly welcomed the College Year 11 Geography students to his dairy farm, Bella Vista, in Karaka. As a dairy farmer with almost 500 head of cattle, he is a busy man, but he takes time out of his schedule each year to talk through important aspects of farming with our students.

During term 1, 75 young College geographers once again made the trip to gather specific information about dairy farming as an example of a sustainable resource. Murray talked at length to the students about the need to look after not only the health and welfare of the cattle but also the importance of taking care of the land itself to ensure the farm remains a viable resource for future generations.

By following a strict code of practice through good farm management, Murray has successfully farmed his land for over 40 years. He explained to the students that sound practice on his own farm also ensures the viability of the waterways that pass through his land and that correct spraying procedures safeguard other farm use on neighbouring properties.

The students had the opportunity to be guided around the farm and see how nature’s resources are used in a sustainable way and to visit the milking sheds to gain an overview of the scale of the operation.

The chance to visit a working farm helped to put the students’ learning into context and the first-hand information gathered will be used in the students’ NCEA Geography assessments during the course of the year.

We are very grateful to Murray for his on-going interest in Saint Kentigern and for continuing to offer our students this valuable opportunity.

Past Production Students Reunite

It was fantastic to welcome back a group of Recent Old Collegians to a pre-show gathering on the closing night of Blood Brothers. In a first for the Old Collegians, former students who had been actively involved in drama and musical productions during their time at College, and have stayed in contact in the intervening years, were invited to a function prior to closing night of this year’s College musical, Blood Brothers. It was great to see so many ‘key thespians’ return and there was much laughter as they reflected back on their time together in shows that spanned back as far as Stefan Katz, as a young Year 9, playing the title role of Oliver in 2006.

Blood Brothers marked, Head of Music, Ross Gerritsen’s 10th musical production at the College and he, along with Head of Drama, Ms Emma

SEAN BUSLER

Sean who graduated in 2011, did the lighting for all College productions from Jesus Christ Superstar onwards until he stepped on stage himself in his final year to play Bazin in The Three Musketeers. He said that being involved allowed himto meet a diverse range of amazing people and saw him grow in confidence to the point where he was keen to be on stage himself.

ASHTON BROWN

Ashton will be well remembered by many for the lead role he played the 2005 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. In his last year of school, he was also Cargill House Leader.

Since graduating from Saint Kentigern in 2005, Ashton has continued to pursue a career in acting. After a gap year in England, Ashton studied and gained a Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts majoring in acting. Since then, he has appeared in numerous television commercials, professional theatre shows and roles on Shortland Street and Power Rangers. He co-owns and operates his own theatre company, ‘I’m Not Content Productions,’ which has seen his writing and directing skills receive critical acclaim within the industry. Ashton is also a stand-up comedian who recently performed in the NZ Comedy Festival. Ashton is pleased to have recently returned to Saint Kentigern College as an itinerant speech and drama tutor.

Bishop, welcomed the former students to the function supported by the Old Collegians Association and hosted by the College co-ordinators, Malcolm Cowie and Glennis Pearson.

The group represented those that had formerly been actors on the College stage, members of the show orchestra and those involved with the back stage crew from props, to lighting, makeup, hair and costumes. There was much chatter about their involvement in the shows and the impact it had at the time and now later in life. It was interesting to note the reaction at the end of the show. They were universally blown away by the quality of the show they had just seen; the reality was, they had never seen a College production before – they’d always been in them!

EMILY MARTIN

Emily was Head Girl in 2009 and is remembered for outrageous portrayal of Mme Thenadier in Les Miserable. She went on to study broadcast journalism at the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch and since 2012 has been working as a researcher at Attitude Pictures, a documentary production company.

She said, ‘I couldn’t imagine what my high school experience would have been like without the productions. No matter what part you play, you become a part of a tight knit family. The adrenaline rush of performing on stage is like no other, it’s given me a lot of confidence, people skills and the ability to work as a team - and some of the best memories of school!

GRACE BRADSHAW

Grace graduated in 2009 and says she too gained a great amount of enjoyment from being part of the musical productions.

Following College, she went on to AUT and did a Bachelor of Communications degree, majoring in journalism. She now works as a news editor for Yahoo New Zealand.

Grace said that the musicals were a huge part of her life at College and possibly the best! She said, ‘I think it’s once you leave school that you realise how amazing they are to be a part of, because you miss them a lot. But it is such a joy to come back and see students, such as my brother, get involved because I know how much fun it is!’

STEFAN KATZ

Stefan graduated in 2010 having been Head Boy in his final year. He first stepped onto the stage in 2006 as a very young Oliver.

He is currently in his fourth year at The University of Auckland studying towards a Commerce and Arts conjoint degree, majoring in Economics, Finance and German. He is also on the Executive Committee of ADC, a microfinance, not-for-profit organisation helping impoverished communities in Myanmar and Malawi.

Stefan said, ‘Being involved with the musical productions gave me the confidence to pursue activities outside my comfort zone, and I credit a lot of the comfort I have giving presentations and speeches to the experiences I had on the Elliot Hall stage.’

AIMEE RUSSELL

Aimee graduated in 2010 with a distinct career pathway in mind, having found her passion through involvement with the performing arts productions during her time at the College. For every actor on the stage, there is another behind stage ensuring the production runs smoothly. Over a number of years, Aimee was involved with the props back stage as well as painting the sets.

After graduating, she went on to do a full time course at South Seas Film and Television School specialising in Production Design (Sets, Props and SPFX Makeup). Since then, she has been working full time in the film and television industry in the Locations, Production and Casting departments on media such as Go Girls, White Lies, The Blue Rose and When We Go To War. She’s loving it!

Aimee said, ‘Having been privileged to work alongside, Ms Bayley in the Props department, and with Mr Whitmore on the set design, I discovered what I wanted to pursue - a career in the film and theatre industry as it allowed me to express my creativity in roles that I had not even considered prior to signing up.’

MARK BRADLEY

Mark too was greatly involved in music and drama and will be remembered for his final role of the loveable Horton the Elephant in Seussical. He is currently in his final year of studying for a BA/BCom majoring in Music and Marketing. He has continued his involvement in theatre, playing the keyboard for Wicked at the Civic in 2013. He has also done musical direction for shows with Auckland Music Theatre as well as being on stage in many. He hopese to complete his final piano performance qualification this year and be able to travel overseas to permanently be a pianist for professional theatre. He said, ‘The musical productions were the absolute highlight of my time at College. They instilled a lifelong passion for theatre and it was fantastic to be part of such great team of people.’

RORY NOLAN

Rory was no stranger to the stage during his time at College, an interest his has continued since graduating. His latest venture saw him walk the boards in a spangly jumpsuit as a lead role in the Auckland production of Mamma Mia. He is currently juggling his acting with studying law at the University of Auckland and has also been interning at a large law firm in the city.

Rory attended the Boys’ School from 2003-2004 and joined the College in 2003 until graduating in 2009. He is best remembered at the College for the lead role he played as Jean Valjean in the production of ‘Les Miserables’. He says this role was a particular highlight and that it was amazing to play such an epic and iconic musical role at such a young age.

‘I was relatively inexperienced at that stage, and I feel that it was the time I spent playing this role which ignited my passion and performance and equipped me with the necessary theatre skills to progress forward,’ he says. He credits the support from the fantastic Music and Drama Departments for the tremendous opportunities for him to thrive in Performing Arts.

Tavake Fusimalohi

Tavake Fusimalohi entered Saint Kentigern College in 2006 and graduated in 2008. He made his mark during his time at the College as both a stalwart of the 1st XV rugby team and for his leadership at Bruce House, providing a good role model for the younger boarders. He was also a diligent student who applied himself to the best of his abilities to his academic studies and other co-curricular activities. He will be mostly remembered as an excellent rugby player who was a member of the 1st XV for three years, including in 2008 when the team made the semi-final of the 1A competition.

We have been following Tavake with interest since he left school and could not be prouder of his achievements. In his own words, he said he was blessed to further his education whilst playing rugby in Japan, attending Ryutsu Keizai University. He realised that if he was to fully succeed in Japan then he needed to master the language. During his first year in Japan he spent all his time learning the Japanese language, the culture and their way of living while playing rugby for Ryutsu Keizai University.

In 2010, remarkably, he enrolled at the University for a 4 year course in Sport Science; a course where Japanese was the principal language and all assignments required him not only to learn the course work, but also to further his knowledge of the language. He played rugby throughout his time at university and was named in the 2012 and 2013 University Best XV players list as well as named for the 2013 University All Stars.

Matt Duffie

Returning to the No 2 field last term was Old Collegian and Melbourne Storm winger, Matt Duffie when he and his fellow rugby league players paid a training visit to the College. The Storm were the second Australian side to train at our sports facilities that week after Sydney based Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs visited a day earlier. Both teams were in New Zealand to compete in the NRL Auckland Nines at Eden Park that weekend.

Matt, 23, attended the College from 2006 to 2008 and was, unusually, named Dux Ludorum in both 2007 and 2008, the fifth student to ever receive the prize twice (A G Sissons 75-76, M R J Salmond 81-82, G A Billington 82-83 and C G Whiteman 87-88) We welcomed Matt back to

In March 2014, he graduated from the University with a Bachelor in Sport Science, an understanding of the Japanese language and culture, as well as a 3 year signed contract playing in the Japan Top League Competition for NTT Docomo. This is the same team that former All Black, Mils Muliaina has just finished playing for.

Just prior to his graduation, Tavake returned to New Zealand and we were delighted that he took the time to visit the College to bring us up to date with his achievements. We, as a College community, congratulate Tavake on his remarkable educational success and wish him well with his professional rugby career. We are very proud of him.

the College in 2011 to present the prizes at the Sports Dinner. He was a hit with the students and was as humble about his achievements then as he was during his time at the College. An all-round athlete with plenty of natural ability, he played fullback for the College 1st XV and also excelled at athletics, making the national finals of the 200m, 400m and high jump. He is remembered as a fine young man, modest and unassuming, who stood apart from his peers for the quietly determined way he set about pursuing his long-term goal of becoming a professional player.

After being discovered by a Melbourne Storm scout in 2008, Matt was offered a scholarship and moved across the Tasman after graduating College to complete in a Storm training camp. The rest is history. His determination to succeed brought him success in a sport he loves and he continues to make his mark on the field. On returning to the College, Matt said he has some great memories of the rugby fields, teachers and friends, and he was proud to be able to show his team mates his old school grounds.

Letitia Puni – World Vision Youth Ambassador

I

n her final year at College, Letitia Puni was selected as a Youth Ambassador for World Vision. Earlier this year, she travelled to Malawi to see the work that World Vision undertakes – it’s all about a ‘hand up not a handout.’

Here, Letitia reports on her trip:

The day after I had returned from the African nation of Malawi I caught up with mum over our usual weekly grocery shopping. However, this time was different. I had just come back from a country in the middle of a food crisis, where the people are literally fighting to survive each day. As I was sharing a few stories, I paused and looked down the aisles in front of me. I began to cry. When mum asked what was wrong, all I could say was, ‘There is just too much food.’

Running through my mind were the faces, names and stories of those I had met. But they didn’t just belong to people in a country on the other side of the world; they were loved ones, sisters, brothers, friends and family. The people I met became a part of my extended family, so to be standing in a supermarket where I could have any food I wanted, while they would probably be going hungry tonight, absolutely broke me.

From the second I met a young girl named Mtipulula we were inseparable. Though we couldn’t communicate easily due to the language barrier, we played and laughed together, I taught her English and she showed me how to dance. Little did I know that it was her family that World Vision and I was about to visit. I walked through the door of a tiny mud hut with a thatched roof to see her sitting on the floor beside her family. She introduced me to her two younger sisters, Ruth, baby Arinafe, her younger brother Mofat and her parents Alana and Nevtie. Her family shared with us their daily struggles while I sat there in silence, tears running down my face.

They told us how a typical day sees them waking up at 4.30am to walk for 30 minutes to collect the only water that is available to them. We had visited that stream earlier in the day and it was filthy. I wouldn’t have even swum in that water, let alone drink from it. Mtipulula, Ruth and Mofat then walk for two hours to school while their parents work in the fields and look after Arinafe. The family’s first meal isn’t until 11am once the children are home

from school and they only eat what they can grow. Like most Malawian families, they grow corn which is ground into flour and cooked with hot water. They call it nshima. We call it play dough. The family then all work in the fields until around 8pm and if there is food they have dinner, if not they go to sleep. What hit me the most was that this hard working family only earns $30 a year. That is less than 10 cents a day. But Mtipulula’s parents still hope to give their children every opportunity to make their own dreams come true.

There were many heart wrenching stories like Mtipulula’s, however, I also witnessed the incredible hope that World Vision was giving the people of Malawi through empowering them. While visiting a school we were asked by a young girl named Florence, ‘How can you help empower us, the people of Malawi?’ This question only re-enforced that what World Vision was doing by providing a hand up and not a handout - this is what the people of Malawi truly want.

At the end of our trip we visited a village that had been partnered with World Vision for 15 years and saw proof of the difference that World Vision had made. Thomas was given a goat and a 6 day training session on how to care for it by World Vision. Thomas then passed the goat’s offspring on to a local family which resulted in a positive ripple effect through the village. Owning a goat is like having savings put away for a rainy day, as to sell a goat for $21,000 kwacha, ($60), is double what Mtipulula’s family earns a year. This can then pay for unexpected medical bills, children’s education and food during tough times. Thomas’s village also had many clean water boreholes to collect fresh and safe drinking water. This gave me joy because I knew families like Mtipulula’s would soon be thriving like Thomas’s due to her village’s partnership with World Vision.

So I would like to pose to you the question Florence posed to me, ‘What are you going to do to help empower the people of Malawi?’

Laura Walters

Laura was an IB Diploma student who during her time at the College, undertook her Service at Ruapotaka School. Since graduating with a teaching degree, she has returned there as a teacher. Laura reports:

After leaving Saint Kentigern College in 2010, I began my Bachelor of Education specialising in Primary Teaching, something that I had always looked forward to doing. Having taken IB, I learnt a lot of transferable life skills and felt ready for the adjustment to university life.

Under my own steam I found where I wanted to be and stuck with it, even though it presented some hard times. All this paid off when I gained a scholarship at the end of my second year. This scholarship enabled me to experience a south Auckland school for a practicum placement of three weeks. This solidified the idea that I wanted to work in a low decile school - the students there may not have had access to the best resources or have the greatest facilities, but they kept me smiling all day and I had the best bond with my class.

I had experienced this all before of course when I visited Ruapotaka School in Glen Innes through the Service component at the College in Year 12 and 13. I loved it so much and the students there valued our company so greatly that I continued to visit every Wednesday and built friendships with both students and staff. I also started up the end of year ‘Fun Day’ which is currently still running and I’m glad to see the two schools still working together and strengthening their partnership.

In the end, my love of Ruapotaka School, where I had spent so many hours during my own school life, has now become my new workplace. In a profession where there are currently so many seeking jobs, I count myself incredibly lucky to not only have a job at a school which offers me so much support as a beginning teacher, but also to have a job where I love coming to work and have a strong relationship with the school. Ruapotaka School is an amazing place and the staff here are committed to teaching with a passion that perhaps others may not have in the same circumstances. My classroom has become a strong part of me in a little under eight weeks and I look forward to many more years to come!

Catherine Brand (nee Baird)

Our congratulations to former student, Catherine Baird (daughter of teacher and NCEA Coordinator, Mrs Pat Baird) who married Kingston Brand on the 1 February 2014. The wedding took place in the Chapel of Saint Kentigern with the ceremony officiated by the Reverend David Smith. There were a good number of Old Collegians in attendance.

Catherine graduated from Saint Kentigern College in 2008. In 2012 she graduated from Otago University with a Bacherlor’s degree in medical radiation therapy. She currently works at Auckland hospital as a radiation therapist. Kingston is a member of the New Zealand Air Force where he is a Parachute Jump Instructor. We wish the couple all the very best.

Sophie Worrall

T

he latest addition to the teaching staff at Saint Kentigern Preschool is Old Collegian, Sophie Worrall.

‘Back in 2004 I was fortunate enough to start Saint Kentigern College as a Year 7 student. Being a part of only the second intake of girls at the College was exciting, but I felt nervous at the same time as the boys really outnumbered us! Saint Kentigern is really ‘a world of opportunitiy’ and I got so much out of my awesome seven years there, some being; a Student Leader in Year 10, Peer Support Leader in Year 13 and being a part of various sports teams.

After graduating from the College in 2010, I commenced my journey to become a qualified early childhood educator at The University of Auckland. I am due to graduate in May 2014, and I am so thrilled and overjoyed to have a job at Saint Kentigern Preschool which is outstanding!

It is funny to think I am now part of the Saint Kentigern staff, working alongside teachers who taught me! It really is great to be back in the Saint Kentigern circle and being able to give back to this wonderful school. Our Preschool is a fantastic facility and I feel so fortunate to have been offered this position’

Steven Carden

I

n August 2013, former student, Steven Carden took up the position as the new Chief Executive of Landcorp. The state owned company is the country’s largest farming body, owning or leasing 137 farms and generating a revenue of $250 million.

Steven, 40, attended the College from 1987-1991. During his College years he was a lead speaker in the Premier Debating team, played tennis, cricket and soccer for the School and was involved in 1st XI Hockey. After leaving, Steven went on to study politics and law at the University of Auckland gaining a BA and an LLB, before he embarked on his first job with a small funds manager.

But it wasn’t long before idealism kicked in and he took a year off to establish First Foundation in 1998, a not-for-profit which helps talented under-privileged students through university. By partnering the students with companies, they receive holiday work, commercial experience, contacts and confidence. The First Foundation has since grown into a significant non-profit organisation with operations now in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

‘Typically these are kids that have not had any family member ever go to university,’ he says. ‘The failure rates in the first year of university for kids like this is extremely high. So what we’re trying to do is provide that transition pathway from schools through university.’

Steven has established two other organisations, KEA Boston - a chapter of the Kiwi Expatriates Association, and Friends of CCE - a US based nonprofit organisation raising funds to help rehabilitate inmates in Ecuadorian prisons (Steven worked there as a volunteer in 2003). In each of these instances, Steven demonstrated an ability to not only turn his vision into a reality, but has inspired others to join him in making it so.

Steven’s next career move was as general manager for Flying Pig, an early internet retailer, and he completed an MBA at Harvard Business School during 2001-2003, where he was a Knox Fellow.

A stint with global business advisor McKinsey & Co in the United States followed, where Steven worked from 2003-2008 as an Engagement Manager. In 2005, Steven received an Emerging Leader Award by the Sir Peter Blake Trust. Since receiving the 2005 Emerging Leader Award, he has written a book about New Zealand’s future titled ‘New Zealand Unleashed’, published by Random House in 2007.

Returning from the US to New Zealand with McKinsey, Steven made his first move into agriculture at PGG Wrightson in 2008. After working as a Business Development Manager until 2010, he then spent three years as General Manager in Australia running its pastoral seed business.

Gordon Tan

After leaving Saint Kentigern College in 1999 at the end of Form 6 (Year 12), Gordon travelled to Australia with his family where he completed his final year of school in Brisbane, graduating with an OP1. After college, Gordon says he was lucky enough to be accepted into Queensland University of Technology to begin studying a Bachelor of IT / Bachelor of Law. While he was at University, Gordon started an IT services business that began to take off, so he decided to put his studies on hold to pursue the opportunity further.

Since starting his business, Gordon says he has been very fortunate to have met and been surrounded by great people who have helped the company grow. In 2008, he formed Valedus Group and invested in a recruitment business, and he now oversees operations across the two companies. He has a team of 31 staff with offices in Brisbane and Sydney, and his role is to lead the organisation strategically and to continue developing leaders within the business. Being still a small team, Gordon says they are hoping to make their first acquisition next year.

Gordon feels privileged to study at Stanford University in San Francisco and is completing his MBA via distance education from APESMA. He says he finds situations where he still uses principles and concepts taught to him in Computer Studies classes with Mr Chieng, Economics classes with Mr Whiteman and particularly Accounting classes with Mrs Little. ‘People often think I have a Degree in Accounting and I have to explain, no it was because I had a fantastic Accounting teacher in College, and heaven forbid if you didn’t do all your homework!’

Gordon says he has very fond memories of Saint Kentigern and he is very grateful for his education at the College.

Morgan Wardrop

M organ Wardrop was Head Boy in 2005, the first year there was also a Head Girl (Jesse Jarvie nee Emerson). He is also a current member of the Old Collegians Committee. Since leaving the College and completing his BSc at Auckland University Morgan has gained experience in various sectors over the last eight years that has led him to his current position as a project manager for industry leading firm, Xigo where his main commitment is a government owned multi-building project.

Xigo is a team of highlyexperienced project managers based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch who guide building, property and infrastructure projects for the health, education, local government, transport, infrastructure and commercial property sectors. Their ‘best for project’ philosophy, supported by talented people, proven systems and methodologies, ensures optimum business outcomes. Morgan would welcome contact from anyone interested in the services they offer.

Tim Jennings, Jing Seth, Erich Lee and Matt Ellwood

Four Old Collegians have united to take on social media giants with Scrollr.co that has taken off like no one expected. Within 14 days of launching to the public, the ‘horizontal scrolling, content-based social network’ had cracked 25,000 page views, 500 members and had landed on the front page of the New Zealand Herald website. Furthermore, the team behind the engineering of the social media platform includes four Saint Kentigern Old Collegians and University of Auckland business students Tim Jennings, Jing Seth, Erich Lee and Matt Ellwood.

Along with partners Andrew Wallace and AJ Tills, Tim (Director), Jing (Business Development), Erich (Front End Development) and Matt (Head of Design and Logic) have been working for the past ten months in the hope to fill what appears to be a gap for the next generation of social media platforms. The team says recent reports suggest Facebook is set to lose 80% of its user base by 2017, a trend also reflected in stagnating traffic growth for the content sharing platform, Tumblr.

Sam Jimmieson

Sam Jimmieson was a stalwart of the Premier Boys’ Hockey team during his time at the College. He has gone on to pursue his dreams of National representation. He reports on his recent tour to Australia with the New Zealand Tiger Turf U18 Men’s Hockey Team:

Hockey New Zealand has, through Sir Owen Glenn and his generosity, established The Sir Owen G. Glenn Future Black Sticks Programme. I have been fortunate enough to have been involved in this fantastic initiative for the past three years.

The NZ Tiger Turf U18 team was selected after the National U18 camp. The team was provided the opportunity to travel to Brisbane Australia for 10 days for a four match series in February 2014 including two Test matches against the Australian Futures Team (U19). Through the generous support of SKOCA, I was able to realise this goal – thank you as it was a life changing experience that I will remember.

It has always been a goal of mine to play against Australian teams as Australia have long been regarded as one of the very top Hockey countries worldwide. The Australian Futures Squad (U19) was an experienced team. Virtually all the squad is based in Perth as part of the Hockey Australia High Performance programme.

After five days of intense training (in 30+degree heat), we pulled on the New Zealand playing strip for the first time – it was a great and proud feeling to be amongst the players wearing the Silver Fern.

We provided the Futures squad a strong challenge and while we lost both games narrowly (5-3 and 5-4), their coaching staff acknowledged we

Each user is given their own gallery, the difference being that users are effectively now in the driving seat to create their own network. The site uses horizontal scrolling, as opposed to vertical. The young Kiwis’ mission is to change the way people interact with content online; whether it’s checking out what’s trending, following celebrities and keeping up to date with global news or getting inspiration for an upcoming event. They believe Scrollr provides an all-encompassing experience, delivering consistently important and relevant content to users.

The brainchilds behind the idea, Tim Jennings (2003-2009) and Jing Seth (2005-2009), had a moment of inspiration whilst studying at the University Business School. The rest of the Old Collegian team then came together following the recommendation of College Teacher in Charge of Digital Technologies and Tim’s mentor, Mr Dominic Mooney. He presented Tim with the names of former students, Erich Lee (2009-2013) and Matt Ellwood (2009-2013) to help design and code his idea, and from there his vision quickly built momentum and the path to reality.

The business students say New Zealanders are spending more time interacting on social media platforms than any other country in the world, according to futurist and entrepreneur Ross Dawson. They say this reflects a trend indicated in the last New Zealand social media report, conducted by Nielsen in 2010, showing New Zealanders were rapidly increasing their participation online, with content sharing the most popular social media activity.

Confident in these statistics, the Old Collegians have facilitated in the official launch of Scrollr which is now open to the public after nine months of development and a month long testing phase. Head of Design and Logic, Matt Ellwood says news coverage has also seen them recently appear on the Scoop and Yahoo websites.

The website can be found at www.scrollr.co.

Tim Jennings (Old Collegian) - Director

Jing Seth (Old Collegian) - Business Development

Erich Lee (Old Collegian) - Front End Development

Matt Ellwood (Old Collegian) - Head of Design and Logic

Andrew Wallace - COO

AJ Tills - Head of Marketing

dominated good patches of both games. This was more meritorious given these were the first two games we had played together as a team.

Following this, we played Queensland U21 (National Champions in 2013). We achieved what the teams before us had not and that was to win a game on Australian soil, a 3-1 win over the Queenslanders, a historic moment in which the team and the coaches were over the moon!! On the last day, we played them again (less than 18 hours after the previous game and in 33 degrees and 95% humidity); we succumbed to them but not without a challenge and losing a few kilos in the process!

The tour was widely regarded as a success by the players, management and Hockey NZ. The experience of international travel, meeting and playing very competitive top class teams, the intense training required to compete at this level, and camaraderie of teammates was inspirational. It has certainly given me the desire to attain higher levels with the next target being the Junior Black Sticks!

Thanks again to Saint Kentigern for my Hockey experiences and to SKOCA for your valued support.

Annual SKOCA Cricket Day

A great day was had by all at the annual Old Collegians Cricket Match. The pre-arranged toss was won by the Old Collegians who opted to bat first in the T20 match. An unbeaten 2014 SKC 1st XI were to face their sternest test. The Old Collegians were a side made up of a variety of 2010-2012 pupils, the majority of whom are still enjoying their cricket in the Auckland and Counties-Manukau club competitions.

Despite losing an early wicket, that of the big-hitting Ryan Phizackerley, the Old Collegians rebuilt their innings with major contributions from former 1st XI superstars, Samuel Flett (21 not out) and Richard Sillars (52 not out). Steady innings from Vedant Zaveri, Matt Ansell and Travis Sherlock helped guide the score through to 160-4 from 20 overs. The highlight of the innings being Jimmi Ellis of the 1st XI dismissing his elder brother, Matt Ellis after greetings were exchanged.

With 160 the target and an unbeaten reputation to defend, the SKC 1st XI came flying out of the blocks with Finn Allen dispatching the Old Collegians all over the park. The score raced to 90-2 off 10 overs. Youngster, Finn Allen, the chief destroyer, had made his way to 47 off 20 balls. This prompted a change of bowling with Vedant Zaveri picking up three key wickets in an exceptional display of leg spin bowling. This placed a fired up Old Collegians side back in the ascendancy allowing medium-fast bowlers, Travis Sherlock, Matt Ansell and Hayes Woodman to clean up the tail. The SKC 1st XI were bowled out in the penultimate over for 143, with Magnus Walker claiming the final wicket off younger brother, Lachlan.

An expertly cooked BBQ and refreshments capped off a fantastic day which saw the more wily and experienced Old Collegians side come away with honours. Special thanks go to Gerald Hampton who umpired the match for the 3rd consecutive year and also to Malcolm Cowie, Matt Ansell and President, Andrew Morgan whose work behind the scenes ensured a great day was enjoyed by all. Thank you Gentlemen!!

The

Jimmy Neesham

Old Collegian, Jimmy Neesham who attended the Boys’ School between 1996 and 2001, made his test debut for the Black Caps for the second test match against India in Wellington this summer.

The 23 year-old cricket all-rounder achieved his maiden test century in that game scoring an unbeaten 137, the highest debut hundred by a test number 8 batsman.

He began his first-class career with Auckland, before a move to Otago and then made his international debut in a Twenty20 international on New Zealand’s tour to South Africa in 2012-13.

Obituary

It is with sadness that we record the passing of former students and staff of Saint Kentigern.

FINLAYSON, Roger Kenneth

Roger was a foundation boarder at Bruce House. His family note that he passed peacefully on 3rd January 2014 at Hibiscus Hospice.

DUDLEY, Barry Thomas Alexander

Barry was a teacher at the College from 1958 to 1964. He passed away peacefully on 21 February 2014, aged 79.

If you are aware of the passing of an Old Collegian or former staff member, we would be grateful if you could contact us with as much information as possible. Please email: skoca@saintkentigern.com