Piper Issue 62 October 2017

Saint

09-577 0736

Email: trust@saintkentigern.com

Saint Kentigern College

51060, Pakuranga, Auckland 2140

Phone: 09-577 0749 Fax: 09-577 0700

Email: skc_admin@saintkentigern.com

Saint Kentigern Boys’ School

Principal: Mr Peter Cassie

82 Shore Road, Remuera 1050

PO Box 28790, Remuera, Auckland 1541

Phone: 09-520 7682 Fax: 09-520 7688

Email: skb_admin@saintkentigern.com

Saint Kentigern Girls’ School

Principal: Ms Juliet Small

514 Remuera Road, Remuera 1050

PO Box 28 399, Remuera, Auckland 1541

Phone: 09-520 1400 Fax: 09-524 7657

Email: skg_admin@saintkentigern.com

Saint Kentigern Preschool

Director: Mrs Sue Nash

514 Remuera Road, Remuera 1050

PO Box 28 399, Remuera,

From the Head of Saint Kentigern

‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness …..’

Charles Dicken’s 1859 rumination about the French Revolution seems equally apt to the challenges facing us today as we strive to provide the best possible education for this generation of young people. There are so many complex educational dilemmas we need to understand and try to reconcile. These dilemmas include:

• This is the most intensely stimulating time in history to be a student, but this is the most confusing time to understand what is worth studying.

• Students need choice about what they learn and to be able to explore the things they are passionate about, but it has never been more important that they are given the opportunity to be interested in things they have no knowledge of.

• It has never been more important to educate students so they can be successful in future employment, but there has never been a time when the nature of the economy and jobs are changing so fast.

but never has it been more important to be able to synthesise information from differing bodies of knowledge.

• Students need to be able to use digital technology to their advantage, but some of the technology is designed to addict them to mindless games.

• H aving a strong ethical foundation with which to navigate the internet and social media is critically important, but it is difficult for us to predict in what form those challenges to values will come.

oung people need to develop qualities of hard work, perseverance and resilience, but this ‘App generation’ is given the impression that everything should be easy.

tudents without a disciplined mind will not be able to succeed in a demanding workplace, but students who do not also have creative capacities will find their jobs will be replaced by computers.

• The importance of gaining high levels of education has never been greater, but this is the first time in history in which having a higher education did not guarantee you a (good) job.

• It is very important for students to have a strong understanding of their own cultural identity, but it is never been more important to understand and value other cultural identities.

• Learning to communicate expertly in English through a wide range of media is essential to success, but learning languages other than English has never been more valuable.

• Students need to be experts in a chosen field,

One of the ways the Ministry of Education has responded to these dilemmas is to encourage schools to create ‘Modern Learning Environments’ in which they state that there needs to be a shift from ‘teaching’ to ‘learning.’ Students are to be empowered to ‘explore their own learning, working at their own pace.’ Students will ‘coconstruct’ their own learning pathways. Some go as far as to say, Modern Learning ‘is impossible in a teacher directed classroom.’ ‘Young children need to be able to regulate their own learning and become less reliant on the teacher to regulate the pace and goals of learning.’

This is a great theoretical concept but fundamentally flawed in practice. Fortunately, we, in the Independent School sector, are not pressurised to conform to these unproven ideas. In a time of great uncertainty, perhaps the first thing we should do is remember the things we know to be true. In terms of student learning and a ‘Modern Learning Environment’ we know:

• Young people do not have the life experience to possess any skill in salient determinacy. They are not good at working out what is important ‘in life’ let alone having the ability to ‘regulate their own learning’. Adults need to advise and guide them.

• G etting taught something is a far more effective way of learning than having your learning ‘facilitated.’ Education expert, John Hattie gives ‘Direct instruction’ an effect rating of 0.8 – second only to effective feedback.

• There is a body of knowledge that you must have. This enables you to learn important stuff later on. Put simply: the more you know, the more you are able to learn (and the reverse is true). To leave the design of what is important base knowledge up to children is simply foolish.

• ‘ To think outside the box you need to have the box to start with.’ David Perkins – Harvard University. You have to have in-depth knowledge before you can apply it to problem solving and synthesis. This in-depth knowledge is best taught (and in many cases can only be learnt through direct instruction).

• A ‘student’s own pace’ will not reflect their learning potential. We are all intellectually lazy or like our ‘cognitive ease.’ We need to

Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities

1

‘This is the most intensely stimulating time in history to be a student, but this is the most confusing time to understand what is worth studying. ‘

develop intellectual discipline, but until we do, this needs to be supported and structured.

• O ur ability to exercise self-control, while very important, is limited. As any parent will attest, these limitations are even greater in children and teenagers. To do things that are hard takes a lot of self-control. The role of the teacher in providing additional discipline and motivation for students is essential if they are to reach their potential.

• The ‘personalised learning’ pedagogy says that we should teach students only how to access material, not to learn it, and that this will aid critical thinking and creativity. However, the brain ‘thinks’ better if there is embedded factual knowledge that can be used to ‘think’ with. As any ‘smart’ person will tell you, prior knowledge and memorisation are actually a good basis for creative problem solving.

• A third to half the population are, by nature, introverts. The type of M.L.E. learning spaces and the pedagogy that sits in behind them can be distressing for introverts. Introverts are as good at problem solving and creativity as the extroverts in our society. They need to be respected.

• Students face a fast changing society that can seem to lack stability and order. Both at home and school, they need and respond best to routine, clear lines of authority and to a clear set of external expectations. The reality, for most, is that they do not cope well with ‘taking responsibility for their own learning and developing a personalised co-constructed learning pathway.’

I do not pretend to have any easy answers to solve all the challenges of what a modern education should be like to prepare students for their future. What I do know is that there is no ‘silver bullet’ or ‘Education App’. I also know that too many of the initiatives tried in the nation’s schools have not only failed to raise standards but resulted in New Zealand’s steady fall down the International rankings in both Reading and Mathematics. We need to concentrate on perfecting proven educational practices and to innovate by encouraging our teachers – our education experts - to work though the issues with clarity, intelligence and a constant review of what the actual educational outcomes for students are. With a careful, proven ‘best practice’ approach we can ensure that the children at Saint Kentigern get a world class, and world leading, education.

Mr David Hodge Head of Saint Kentigern

John Hattie and Gregory Yates, Visible Learning and the Science of How we Learn. Pg 73

Saint Kentigern Raised $149,125 for World Vision!

During the 40 Hour Famine this year, Saint Kentigern students across all three schools raised a record amount of $149,125.04 for World Vision. Our schools have had a long-standing relationship with World Vision, with the College being one of the top fundraising schools in the country for many years. This year, the College raised a very substantial $102,252. The Boys’ School increased their total from last year, raising a whopping 38,416.84, becoming one of the top fundraising schools in the upper North Island based on roll, with the Girls’ School almost doubling their previous amount with $8,456.20.

The funds raised by the College will go towards our continued support of Chigodi Village in Malawi. Since our relationship began, the improvements to the village have been significant. Their students now have desks, ‘female friendly’ toilets, orchards and gardens, a new library and administration block. Service Co-ordinator at the College, Mr Mark Robinson, will lead a group of students next year to Malawi, the second time students have made the trip.

Our two primary schools joined the wider World Vision focus on providing child-friendly spaces in refugee camps for children from Syria. This project is helping to provide safe, supportive places where children have access to arts, sports, education and counselling so they can start to recover from the trauma of war. Charities cannot stop this war but they can help to improve the living conditions, particularly for the children.

Each campus received awards at the 40 Hour Famine Awards night. The Boys’ School received three awards - one for the Highest Fundraising School (based on roll size) in the upper North Island, an Outstanding Fundraising Effort award, and teacher, Mrs Gaye Pilkington received an award for ‘Outstanding Famine Organiser’ a role she has undertaken for more than 20 years. The College received the award for ‘Top Fundraising School,’ Bella Conyngham received one for ‘Top Individual Fundraiser’ and the Girls’ School received an Excellence Award.

Making a Difference in Fiji

For the second year, Director of the Preschool, Sue Nash, joined the annual Service trip to Fiji with 40 boys from the Boys’ School, four girls from Girls’ School, their parents and accompanying staff.

Arriving at Nawaka District School and kindergarten in Nadi to the welcome of hundreds of children’s voices calling out, ‘BULA’ and the 30 degree heat was, Sue said, ‘Like arriving home.’ From that point on, Sue got down to 11 days of working and building relationships with Nawaka Kindergarten staff and creating a new relationship with Vatutu Kindergarten. These connections are such a special part of service at Saint Kentigern.

As the 40 foot container full of resources from Saint Kentigern was being unloaded, the sheer appreciation and disbelief by the local was heart-warming. Clothes and shoes for ery child at the school and kindergarten, ras and undergarments for every female teacher and student at the school and in the village, through Project Uplift, a laptop and printer for both kindergarten Head Teachers, laminators for the kindergartens, new wooden seats nd tables built under the trees for the school, robotics and Kinex in the classes, art supplies and resources, a new incinerator

constructed, painting of the Community Centre inside and out, medical supplies for the Dispensary and a massive new playground built - all within 11 days.

For Sue, the kindergarten children give meaning to the trip. Always smiling and so thrilled to see us – calling out as they saw the vans arriving and running along the fence line with the most enthusiastic welcome every day. They have so little but we are proud that we can make a small difference each time we go. Sue spent quality time helping to support and educate the staff in best practice of Early Childhood Education, showing them in a hands-on way how programmes can work with their children, and leaving behind resources to make their work more beneficial is so rewarding.

Our ‘world of opportunity’ gives these children and people of the Pacific even more opportunity than would ever be possible without the support and service that Saint Kentigern families and our wider community offer.

An amazing team of teachers drew strength from each other and the drive, determination and enthusiasm to give 100% over the full 11 days was rewarded with the most memorable feedback from the parents and students who attended. We look forward to 2018 and what we can achieve in being of service to others.

M rs Sue Nash Director of Preschool

Exploring Bones and Our Body

‘How does our blood stay in our body?’

‘Where does our food go?

‘How are our bones so strong to keep us standing up?

‘What would happen if we didn’t eat healthy food?’

Our children are always full of questions! When one of our preschoolers arrived one day with a broken leg, it prompted a stream of questions about ‘bones and our body.’ With the interactive screen on for all to see, there was plenty of group IT research, asking Google for answers. However, we are also fortunate to have specialist parents in the medical field who were also ready with answers and we are grateful for the many resources about body parts, diagrams, books and resources that were made available to us!

We were particularly fortunate to receive a visit from a Dr John Perry (one of our Dads) in his hospital ‘scrubs.’ His visit prompted further fascination in anything ‘medical’ and it didn’t take long for a Saint Kentigern Preschool Hospital to be set up with many little doctors and nurses on hand! Dramatic play, dress ups stethoscopes, syringes, bandages and dolls in need of assistance led to fabulous learning by our children!

Farms are Smelly!

Arty Bones

With‘bones’ the topic of the moment, the human skeleton became the ideal starting point to bring science to the art table. Exploring ephemeral and creative art helps to increase children’s concentration and focus. Our preschoolers spend a lot of time in the creation of artwork using the wide variety of resources available. They develop a sense of enjoyment as they contribute to these activities and are learning to share materials and space with others, working alongside each other confidently. They learn that not all art is permanent, that they can create something that they don’t keep but can appreciate for a moment in time or take a photo of. Their creative awareness and imagination increases through moving and manipulating the resources into different patterns. This could be clay, play dough or natural collage.

Atrip to Mt Albert Grammar School to see their ‘working farm’ saw the children in their gumboots looking like real farmers! The smell of fresh air and the, um, not so fresh aroma of animals greeted us as we walked up the farm track to meet Farmer Harris. Soon it was off to watch the cows being milked, taking the milk in buckets to feed the calf, into the barn to watch Farmer Harris shear a sheep, back out to the farm to look at the chickens and sit on the tractor - what a great hands-on learning experience for our city children.

Freshly Hatched Eggs

An incubator with fertilised eggs arrived at Preschool and within three days we were welcoming eight fluffy chicks! Our children, staff and parents were absolutely fascinated with the entire process – especially as we were able to watch seven of them actually hatch out of their shells!

Daily checking on them, feeding them as they grew, moving them into their larger cage, taking them out to the garden and having lots of cuddles made for some very tame chicks. After 6 weeks, the children were very sad to see them leave, as they were taken by some of our children to join our former chicks and ducklings at Mt Albert Grammar School’s working farm. The children were so excited to see how big our Easter chicks and ducklings had grown! It seemed like they still remembered us and were happy for cuddles!

Wonderful, Wriggly Worms

It was great learning about tiger worms and what they like to eat, holding the wriggling worms to inspect them closely with magnifying glasses, singing worm songs and then going outside to look at our own amazing worm farm.

Did you know?

Worms that live in a ‘worm farm’ are called TIGER worms and they have real stripes.

Their favourite food is old apple cores, paper and tissues, used tea bags, leafy green vegetables, egg shells and vacuum cleaner dust! They don’t like cupcakes, sushi, bread, meat or oranges!

They do lots of poo and wees which is great for growing plants and vegetables.

We use our worms compost for our Preschool garden!

Winter Wonderland

The winter dump of snow at Preschool is eagerly awaited each year! The massive delivery of 5 tonnes of trucked-in snow brought smiles to the faces of the children and adults alike as a huge area of the sandpit was transformed into a winter playground. Gum boots, fleecy tops, woolly hats and gloves were the order of day as the youngsters discovered the delight of jumping, rolling and sliding in the snow. The handson winter fun brought yet another new dimension to the children’s learning. As the sun took its toll and the snow began to melt, it became exactly the right consistency to throw snowballs!

You Can’t Catch Me!

Little legs and a LONG way to run – but the achievement of all the children to finish our Cross Country is testament to the value of participation and resilience we are building in the children.

PRESCHOOL CHAMPIONS

Girls - 3-year olds

1st Amber Qu

2ndJayda-Belle Gonzalez-Smith

3rd=Kiki Strickett / Evie Reynolds

Boys – 3-year olds

1st Tristan Darbyshire

2ndTom Fox

3rd David McMillan

Girls – 4-year olds

1st Vanessa Chen

2ndLucia Zhang

3rd Alyssa Wray

Boys – 4-year olds

1st Oscar Hunter

2ndNeil Mackay

3rd Louis Kwok

Let’s Go Surfing Daddy!

Asunny morning dawned for our annual Father’s Day at Preschool – perfect for a surf! A mechanical surfboard greeted our visitors – the children were excited about the prospect but we’re not so sure about the Dads! But in the spirit of the day, they all gave it a go before enjoying spending quality time together with their child around the Preschool. We were surprised by a visit from Head of Saint Kentigern, Mr Hodge – we all made sure he showed his prowess on the surfboard!

We Love Our Mums!

Although the weather was awful outside, the rain did not distract from the huge number of special ladies who came to spend the morning with us at Preschool. Mums, Nanas, Grandmas, Grannies and Aunties were all there!

There’s nothing like sharing a cupcake made with love, especially when you can choose your own topping and someone special is there to help. Decorating continued in the atelier with a plentiful supply of paint in all shades of the rainbow, ready to be creatively painted onto ceramic hearts to take home.

Following morning tea, the children entertained with their favourite songs - much to the delight of our guests!

Kids are like Popcorn...

Afew years ago, I went to an Educational Leadership Conference in Singapore where I heard Professor Yong Zhao speak. Yong Zhao is the Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon. One of the main messages through his speeches was that education should focus on developing the child’s strengths, not ‘fixing their deficiencies.’

Professor Zhao talked about a high school teacher in America who told parents…. ‘Children are like popcorn. Some pop early, some pop late.’ I have used this analogy a thousand times over as a Principal talking to parents. It is especially reassuring to consider when children first start school. Professor Zhao also comments on wider educational issues by extending this thinking about children as individuals who learn at different rates, to a wider community context. He emphasised the importance of having a diverse society of talented and creative citizens.

Children learn at different rates and we can accept this and support their learning journey. There is real pressure and expectations on children to meet certain achievement benchmarks at school. Whilst no one would argue that we want children to be learning and on track, we also have to remember that children learn at different rates. Children take their own time to crawl, to walk and to talk. The analogy of the popcorn reminds us to accept that each child will develop at their own pace.

Children not only learn at different rates, they also have different strengths and weaknesses. Often I use an animal fable, written by George Reavis, to illustrate this concept with teachers as part of our professional development. The fable was about different animals who were in the same class and learning the same things and being assessed on the same things, even though they were very different. The rabbit was having the same lessons as the duck and the eel. He started at the top of the class in running but had to stop because he had so much makeup work to do in swimming! The moral of the story is that we all have different talents and instead of trying to make children the same we can appreciate their individuality. We

can support them with subjects that they find more challenging and at the same time, nurture what they are good at and love doing with a passion. Naturally, the balance of this looks different from time to time.

As a parent, you know your child so well. In fact, you know them better than anyone else in this world. Don’t be afraid to go and talk with the teacher and share what you know about your son or daughter. Talk about what they might need help with at school. Also share what they are really good at and what they love doing at school. This information may relate to the school curriculum or it may simply provide more relatable contexts for learning, if the teacher knows about your child’s interests such as horses, BMX riding or insects. Good teachers will appreciate learning more about one of their students as it helps make learning at school more relevant and meaningful for your child.

When I was a classroom teacher I had a big, fluoro pink poster on the wall for students. I used this poster every year, and it was just as relevant for all ages, new entrants through to intermediate. The opening lines read: ‘I am me. I am special. There is no one else in the world like me. …’ Encourage this uniqueness in your child. Remember to concentrate on your child’s strengths and develop those as well as working on areas for development.

As a parent, encourage individuality in your children. Try to develop their strengths whilst supporting them to improve in all areas.

As educators, we also need to do focus on what children can do and at the same time provide the scaffolded support for children to improve, while encouraging children to celebrate and nurture their areas of strength.

The ultimate success is when we all work in partnership to allow children to be their own person – to grow and learn at their own pace.

Miss Juliet Small Principal

Giving Service in Fiji

Year 8 students, Kate Frazer, Verity Ward, Eva Colyer and Mariana Paravicini represented the Girls’ School on the annual Saint Kentigern Schools Service Trip to Fiji. Whilst the girls are outnumbered by the boys on the trip, they worked hard to make a meaningful contribution. With each successive year, the number of students making the journey has grown and the relationship with the villagers of the Kawaka District in Fiji has strengthened.

Uplifting Service!

As part of the Saint Kentigern Gold Service Award, students are required to work with a charity. In anticipation of her upcoming trip to Fiji, Eva Colyer was introduced to the North Island Coordinator for Uplift Bras. This charity distributes bras, swimwear and new underwear to girls and women throughout the Pacific Island regions. Having grown up with a Fijian Nanny, Eva felt this was the charity she wanted to get behind.

Eva arranged to take an initial package with her to Nawaka Village and on arrival in Fiji, with help from Preschool Director, Mrs Sue Nash and Head of Boys’ School Science, Mrs Patsy Hindson, she set up tables. Word spread quickly and soon the villagers were queuing in the hopes of obtaining a bra. Eva distributed 800 bras to women and girls over a two-day period.

Following the incredibly moving and positive experience of distributing the bras in Fiji, Eva has initiated a collection campaign since her return from the Pacific. Her efforts are based at both the Girls’ and Boys’ School campuses with collection boxes available in both offices. The donations will be packaged up later in the year for delivery to the Pacific Island women in time for Christmas.

Handmade Cushions

Before leaving for Fiji, the girls, together with fellow Year 8 students, put their creative hats on to make comfortable cushions to take with them and donate on behalf of the Girls’ School.

New to sewing, the task was an ideal opportunity for them to extend their skills, become a little more creative and show empathy by donating their finished work to others. In the process, the girls strengthened their personal research and idea developing skills. They were tasked with thinking creatively and critically, and worked collaboratively to develop a useful product. Putting in many hours during their lunchtimes and after school, the girls made a great number of colorful cushions, which were gratefully received by the Vatutu Kindergarten.

Along with the rest of the group who travelled to Fiji, the girls also helped paint the community centre, install a new adventure playground in the Nawaka School, and install outdoor furniture in the school and community. The preschool playground was also furnished with new swings, and a computer and printer were installed in the preschool office.

Wig Wednesday!

The Girls’ School certainly turned heads when they walked along Remuera Road to chapel at Somervell Church! Neat and tidy in their formal uniforms, they were a sea of blue from shoulders down, but their usual navy blue winter berets had been set aside for a parade of wild and funky hair dos blowing in the wind! Wigs of every shade and style entered the church in support of Wig Wednesday, the nationwide appeal for the Child Cancer Foundation, to raise funds to provide practical, financial and emotional support to Kiwi children with cancer and their families.

The Child Cancer Foundation provides strength and comfort to families, parents and children impacted by child cancer; they provide strength in times of doubt, comfort in times of sadness and celebration in times of joy. Every family’s experience is different and so is the support they receive - that support is powered by the funds raised by people like us.

Speech Competition

Why we should stop wearing lycra and using toilet paper, and why woman athletes should be paid more and have equal media coverage. These were some of the persuasive arguments presented at the Girls’ School Speech Competition.

In her words of welcome, Principal, Ms Juliet Small said, ‘One of the stand out educational features here at the Girls’ School is the high level of achievement in Speech and Drama. In the world today, whatever your career path or choice in life, there is such an advantage in being able to speak with confidence, whether it be in conversation or making presentations.’

We were fortunate to welcome communications practitioner, Ms Glenda Pearce to adjudicate this year’s speech competition. In a technology, social media and device driven world, Ms Pearce is a firm believer in the future needs of effective communication. She said, ‘Keep getting up to speak, don’t ever lose that because our ability to communicate is going to be a very powerful tool.’

Selecting the winners was no easy feat; Ms Pearce was looking for passion, engagement, presentation, constructive content and delivery. She said she also looks for someone who recognises their purpose, lands the ending and shares stories to keep the passion alive. Whether speaking competitively or not, the confident delivery of the finalists’ speeches was seen from our Juniors right through to our Seniors and it is something they can be very proud of. Well done girls!

Year Group Winners:

Year 4 – A Skill or Activity

Millicent MacLeod – ‘Art Lessons’

Year 5 – A Personal Experience or Event

Sienna Hirst – ‘Camping at Waiheke’

Year 6 – Something I am Passionate About

Chloe McGregor ‘Human Trafficking’

Year 7 – Persuasive Speech

Miabella Robertshaw – ‘Kids should be able to vote’

Year 8 – Persuasive Speech

Lola Wiltshire – ’16 year olds should be able to vote’

Exploring Commedia dell’Arte

The Commedia dell’Arte characters came to life at the Girls’ School, when the Year 7 and 8 students participated in a workshop as part of their Drama curriculum, investigating the functions of drama in cultural and historical contexts. Commedia dell’Arte, also known as Italian comedy, is a form of improvisational humorous theatre using different types of masks, which started in Italy over 400 years ago. Each character is driven by the desire of something, is led by a body part and is based on an animal.

The workshop gave the girls an introduction to mask work, while learning and experimenting with the characteristics of each main character. They were guided by Lisa Brickell, who trained at Jacques Lecoq Drama School in Paris and specialised in Commedia at the Kiklos Theatre School in Italy.

During the workshop, the girls learnt about the history and its impact on modern comedy, the rules of mask work, such as audience members cannot witness you putting the mask on or taking it off; once the mask is on, you are in character until it is removed. They also learnt how a mask forced actors to project their characters’ emotions through their bodily movement.

After the girls looked at each character in detail, some were selected to have a go at portraying the masked and unmasked characters to their peers. It was wonderful to see the girls fully engage with the genre and have fun extending their acting skills.

How Different it was Then!

Imagine living in an era without electricity or anything readily available. This means no lights or power points, no TV, computer or iPad, no washing machine, no stove or vacuum cleaner, no fridge or freezer - which also means, absolutely no ice cream!

The Year 0-3 students got a glimpse at what life was like back in the mid-1800s when they visited the Howick Historical Village as part of their Social Science Inquiry into ‘New Zealand: Then and Now’. The girls’ focus questions included – ‘How does life in colonial NZ compare to your own life today? How was family life different then and now? What games did they play long ago? How and why are the games and toys different today? What materials were household items and toys made of in the past?’

In groups, the girls undertook four different activities, getting a hands-on and interactive experience relevant to the mid-1800s. Already in period dress, the girls received a lesson on fashion from the Victorian times. Using replica clothing, some of the girls were dressed as female and male, in age-dependent clothing to demonstrate the practicalities of the 19th century fashion items. The students learnt that boys under the age of five were dressed like the

girls, the only difference being, they wore a cap and their hair was parted on one side.

The Village is run as a living history museum that provides an opportunity to learn about Auckland’s colonial period. Howick founder, Governor Captain George Grey requested soldiers to help protect Auckland from possible attack, but retired solders from the Royal New Zealand Fencible Corp were sent instead. The fencibles had served in the wars of Britain in the 1830s and 1840s. The girls had the privilege of finding out what type of items a typical Fencible family would bring on the boat from England to New Zealand. Each family had only one trunk to fill with the many necessary items from their home. It was hard for the girls to grasp the concept of how different the original Victorian appliances were compared to the 21st century, as well as the effort the colonials needed just to get water, light a fire or make dinner.

After playing with a variety of replica and authentic Victorian era toys, and stepping back in time for a typical 1847 school lesson, the girls explored the Village in its full glory. This learning opportunity gave the girls a sense of understanding on how things were done more than 150 years ago and how different it was back then!

Playground Designers

t all began with the Year 5 students’ Social Science inquiry into ‘Continuity and Change,’ with a focus on green spaces, natural resources and their uses. After a series of events, the girls are now helping the Orakei Local Board to design a new playground at the Wairua Reserve across the road from School! They have become official playground designers!

Going back to where it all started, through their inquiry in Term 3 last year, the students were focusing on how communities interact with the local environment and the impact of human activity. Some of their intentions were to identify natural resources in Auckland city and their purposes, map key locations and differentiate between economic, agricultural, recreational and cultural uses.

After noticing how under-utilised Wairua Reserve is, Year 5 Teacher, Mrs Dee-Anne Gonzalez thought it would be an ideal piece of public land for the girls to focus their attention on, as each worked to create their own suggested models of development on paper. Attached to each design, were letters written by the girls to Auckland Mayor, Phil Goff explaining their projects and why it would be effective to develop the reserve.

Proud of how artistic and well thought out their development designs were, the Year 5 class invited Orakei Councillor, Desley Simpson in to view their projects, in the hope they could become a

Get Wise

reality. Ms Simpson took the letters back to council. With no further word, the girls thought that was the end of it, until Deputy Chair of Orakei Local Board, Mr Kit Parkinson visited the Year 5 class during a Girls’ School Open Day!

Intrigued with what they had done, he questioned the girls about the projects. From there he took their ideas back to the Local Board and to the girls’ astonishment, the Board agreed to develop the park, putting $130,000 towards it. Before proceeding, Council members met with the students to discuss designs and what they thought would be appropriate to put in the reserve.

Mr Parkinson said, ‘Effectively, we held off this decision until we had spoken to the students because they have the ability to influence the design of the playground to what they want it to be as children, rather then what we, as adults, would want . We are trying to get their input, so we design something that they will use and their future brothers and sisters will use.’

Park Central Playground Consultant, Mrs Tina Dyer ran through designs with the students before they agreed that they should utilise the dense trees and open reserve, as it would make for great natural play. Council members then took the design back to the Board to be signed off. Weeks later, the girls were asked to design arches to be built in the park. They have researched, designed and have submitted various designs that they think would be effective. With luck, the playground should be in ground by February. What a fantastic way of leaving a legacy – watch this space!

Learning the importance of budgeting, saving and understanding GST sets students up for a great start in life. The Year 8 girls were fortunate to learn this as part of their Social Studies inquiry into the Economy. A representative from the ASB ‘Get Wise’ programme visited the girls to run a workshop on financial literacy and to help them work through real-life money situations. They focused on budgeting, how to budget, why we budget and what things can hinder us saving money; for example, credit cards and everyday incidentals.

Assigned a certain amount of ‘money,’ the girls were put through an exercise budgeting for a fictional trip overseas, including putting money aside for insurance, GST and airport tax. They were required to work out how much money they would spend for the overall trip, break it down to day-by-day expenses, and then work out whether they would pay by cash or credit card. If paid by credit card, the girls had to be aware of the interest free period; would they pay it off before the free period runs out or would they make minimum payments every month, accruing interest that must be paid back? The group that was left with the most money, after taking all these factors into account, were declared the winners – but the real win, was the knowledge they had gained.

The ASB Programme is dedicated to the development of financial literacy and essential money management skills of students. The girls were informed about saving, the cost of day to day living, the traps of GST and using a credit card, hidden costs and scams. The girls also explored opportunities to earn money and appreciate that different jobs have different incomes, consumer rights and responsibilities, and choosing the best mobile plans. Through the workshop and in class activities, the girls are developing the capability to make sound financial decisions.

Three Special Awards at Science Fair

Alove for science saw six Year 8 Girls’ School students receive an award after being selected to represent their school at the NIWA Auckland City Science and Technology Fair. This followed on from their in-school competition where 10 students were selected to go to the Auckland finals. The annual event celebrates excellence in scientific and technological investigations carried out by students in Years 7-12 across Auckland City.

Katie Dirks was awarded 2nd place in the Physical category for her project ‘Pocket Rocket’ and also received a silver special prize awarded by the Science Award Trust. Katie’s aim was to find the ideal amount of water relative to compressed air that makes a bottle rocket go the highest.

Kaythi Finn received a silver sponsor’s award from Auckland Transport – ‘A day in the life of Auckland Transport,’ she was also highly commended for her project ‘Think outside the Soapbox’. Kaythi aimed to find out key factors that will affect the speed of her soapbox car. She looked at four ways to help her car go faster for a better chance at winning, which included aerodynamics, weight distribution, wheel alignment and axle alignment.

NIWA RESULTS:

2nd Place in Physical Category and Special Prize

Katie Dirks – ‘Pocket Rocket’

Highly Commended and Special Prize in Physical Category

Kaythi Finn – ‘Think outside the Soapbox’

Highly Commended and Special Prize in Human Category

Mia Hooton – ‘How sweet is too sweet’

Highly Commended

Torie Pickering – ‘Bubble Trouble’ M aterials Category

Kate Christie – ‘Rethink your Drink’ Living Category

Grace Paul – ‘Sight vs taste’ Living Category

Mia Hooton received the bronze disk award from Baking Industry Trust and was highly commended for her project ‘How Sweet is too Sweet’ in the Human category. Mia wanted to find out whether the ‘bliss point’ of sugar and sweetness for 12-year-old girls is the same as a standard cupcake recipe.

The judges who are all experts in each of the different categories, were looking for thoroughness, technical skills, presentation, originality and a high level of scientific thought and understanding.

Science Helped Kaythi

After being crowned New Zealand Super Stock Soap Box Champion, Kaythi Finn travelled to Akron in Ohio during the July holidays to compete in the All-American Soap Box World Championships. This is the second year in a row that a Girls’ School student has travelled to the States to represent New Zealand after Ocean Scott took the honour last year.

Knowing she needed to create a science fair board when she returned, Kaythi decided on Soapbox racing as it involves a lot of physics and is also her passion. While racing and watching others, she collated a lot of data to add to her board. Through watching videos and viewing photos, she concluded that her new body position was a lot like the best American drivers, which helped her times. By looking at the weight set-up of the best drivers, Kaythi found that some were 0.5lb lighter in the back. Her wheel alignment was set up accurately, enabling her car to go faster which helped her to reach the final of the International Soap Box Division.

As part of her project, she built a 3m race track with the exact proportions of the USA Derby Down track, and made two soapbox cars on the 3D printers. These were weighted up to demonstrate front and rear weight distribution variations and to prove her hypothesis that weight at the back of the vehicle results in a faster ride due to Newton’s Law of Gravity.

Although Kaythi missed her goal of winning the International Soap Box Division by millimetres, she still managed to place second. Such a great experience and achievement, well done Kaythi!

Creative Arts Evening

‘Absolutely everybody, everybody, everybody, absolutely everybody in the whole wide world!’

The cheerful, upbeat song that concluded the Girls’ School Creative Arts Evening summed up the sense of support and inclusion that emanated from this year’s show. Over the course of three nights, ‘absolutely everybody’ from Year 1 to Year 8 stepped out on stage to showcase the Arts through music, dance and drama.

The Kapa Haka group opened with an exceptionally polished performance. Year 8 student, Sharmaine Tapling sang the karanga - the traditional call of welcome, setting the tone for an evening high with expectation. Over the three nights, the group presented a variety of songs with the inclusion of Pokarekare ana on the final night. Xarya Knox and Jade Nomani took the solo spots, both singing with beautifully clear voices.

Next, 45 eager Year 0-3 students commanded the stage as they got ‘All afloat in Noah’s Boat.’ The ark was built on stage in readiness for animals of all shapes and sizes. This was the first inkling for the audience that the tales we thought were so familiar might just have a different twist in this show! The ark was full, busy and noisy…and the animals were bored! It seems they had cabin fever waiting for the floods to subside! Noah found a solution to ease the boredom – a talent show! The animal pairings strutted their stuff, building to the caterpillars’ transformative ending, as they spread their wings for a beautiful finale, returning the tale to shine a light on God’s creations.

In complete contrast, the next item was a calm, balletic interpretation of the Chinese folk song, the Jasmine Flower. Originally composed during the Qing dynasty (AD 1616-1912), it was one of the first Chinese songs to become popular abroad. A team of dancers combined classical ballet and traditional Chinese dancing styles in a mesmerising performance, holding the delicate petals that came together to form the flower. This was a truly beautiful piece.

In complete contrast, with Roald Dahl’s Matilda on stage in Auckland, it was only right that the Middle School girls got the chance to be a ‘little bit naughty,’ as they relished the opportunity to explore Dahl’s inverted fairy tales. When Roald Dahl gave the classic stories a work over, they emerged as ‘revolting rhymes’ that the girls clearly loved delivering to their audience! The formerly predictable Snow White, Cinderella and Goldilocks took quite different turns as surprise endings took the place of the traditional happily-ever-after conclusions.

Rollicking along in splendid rhyme that built with each tale, we found Snow White calling on Uber to get to her destination as a maid for seven jockeys who happen to be compulsive gamblers! She snuck back to steal the magic mirror, to predict the winning horse and made the jockeys millionaires, declaring that ‘gambling is not a sin, provided that you always win!’ Year 6 delivered this offbeat tale with sheer delight!

Year 5’s Cinderella tale followed tradition until one of the ugly sisters swapped the ‘silver slipper’ for one of her own. In a curious twist, faced with marrying the ‘ugly’ owner of the shoe, the prince cut off her head and Cinders, deciding that marrying a prince probably isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, ran off with a local boy instead!

In Year 4’s production, Goldilocks is a rebel and a most unlikable character! So much so, you can’t help but side with the bears. As she invades their home, decorated largely with furniture from IKEA (‘what a price, Mama Mia!), she cuts a swathe, eventually breaking ‘one small child’s dining chair, bought at Kmart, very rare!’ The narrator finishes by saying it would be a far preferable ending if the bears came back and ate her!

Year 7 and 8 concluded the year group performances with a combined circus act, putting on display the skills they had learned and choreographed themselves as part of their physical education programme. Again, every girl had a part to play.

When the whole school came together at the end to sing ‘Absolutely Everybody,’ the smiles were infectious! With each performance, the girls’ self-confidence had grown and they finished each evening knowing that it was a job well done.

The Arts Show was a fantastic platform for the girls to show off their theatrical creativity, and the enjoyment they gleaned from the buzz of being on stage was palpable. Well done to everyone who contributed to the success of the show and in particular a special thank you to Mrs Janine Bennett and Mrs Judy Norton who took on the role of producers.

Bronze Award at Kids Sing

For the fifth year running, the Girls’ School Performers’ Choir received an award at the New Zealand Choral Federation’s Kids Sing music festival. With stiff competition this year, our Performers’ Choir managed to secure a Bronze award in the Primary/Intermediate category, going up against 35 other Auckland schools.

The requirements for the competition state that each choir must sing the same test piece, as well as two other songs, one of which must be written by a New Zealand composer. Following their morning performance, the girls returned that evening to sing at the Gala Concert, where they received their award. Congratulations to the Performers’ Choir on another outstanding year at the Kids Sing music festival.

$2,292.90

Raised for Westpac Helicopter

The Girls’ School students put on their entrepreneurial hats when setting up their Market Day stalls, to sell a wide range of handmade products and food to raise money for the Westpac Helicopter. As the lunchtime bell rang, crowds of students armed with their ‘SK Dollars’ packed out the school hall to see how many goodies they could obtain. A completely student-led initiative, the Market Day was organised by Student Council leader, Sharmaine Tapling and her team.

The Council chose Westpac Helicopter for the incredible work that they do to save the lives of those who need urgent medical assistance. Sharmaine said, ‘My family and I regularly watch Code 1 on television and I was very surprised at the amount of effort the Westpac Helicopter puts into each rescue, especially the tricky places they have to land.’

In the lead up to the day, the Student Council put out a call for the girls to submit designs for the monetary token of the day, the ‘SK Dollar.’ There were two requirements – it had to say ‘1 Dollar’ and represent Saint Kentigern in many ways. Sharmaine said, ‘We decided to do the ‘SK Dollar’ to replace real money on the day. The students

could exchange their real money for the equivalent of ‘SK Dollars.’ This made purchases easier, especially for the Junior students, as no change had to be given. It was also a great opportunity for the girls to design something and use their creativity.’

The winning design was submitted by Year 6 student, Xarya Knox, who included the Saint Kentigern Houses and crest, Principal, Ms Juliet Small’s photo, a tartan pattern, along with the Saint Kentigern motto ‘Fides Servanda Est – The faith must be kept.’ The Council thought these were core representations of the School.

From delicious, sweet treats, to ‘Old Things in Good Shape’ and 200 handcrafted bows, the Market Day was a great success. It taught the girls a thing or two about being entrepreneurs, while having a service aspect and giving back to their community. Well done to the Student Council for their outstanding effort in organising the day and to the rest of the students, parents and staff for their support and donations, the money is going towards such an important cause!

With a goal of raising $500, the girls well exceeded expectations by raising a total of $2,292.90! Well done!

A City Built on Maths!

While studying Geometry, the Year 4 students put their new-found knowledge to the test – to design and build a ‘Geometrocity’ that used 2D and 3D shapes, practising both plane and solid geometry. The unit also focused on social science (mapping skills), writing and problem solving.

Before they started, the girls had to do their own independent inquiry on ‘Geometrocity - building a city with maths.’ As a projectbased learning activity, they used their geometry skills to design their own city. This multi-tiered activity allowed for differentiation because of its size, and the students could select to complete parts of the city or the entire project.

The Year 4 city was broken into four phases including permits and reviewing geometric terms and visuals to create a mini-map. The girls had to use the iPads to find the definition of a shape or angle and then draw pictures of each one before drawing a bird’s eye view of the area they had chosen.

Phase two was design and build. Up to nine city sections could be built with 10-14 requirements for each. During the design process, the girls had to make sure they included a downtown, suburbs, a city hall, an industrial park, public walks, a business district, a city living area, entertainment and a park district. Phase three was construction followed by phase four, building the city up. The girls had to shade in a net of a 3D shapes, draw on windows, construct it and then build their area skywards. The girls put their heads together once they had completed their area to discuss their entire city layout.

While the project’s main aim was on geometry, there were so many other elements of learning present. The girls learnt how to work independently and collaboratively, how to communicate their ideas, showed their creativity through design and expanded their imagination. They also learnt how to immediately problem solve – as all roads needed to link together. What a great way to build knowledge in a subject!

Three Medals At AIMS Games!

It was a great week of sporting competition for our Year 7 and 8 girls at the AIMS Games in Tauranga. It is one of the biggest sporting events in the southern hemisphere, with over 10,000 athletes representing over 300 schools, this was a non-stop week of competition.

We had 15 girls competing across eight different sporting codes as individuals, and some joining the College to create combined teams. Year 7 student, Sacha Earnest brought home two gold medals in the BMX event, despite the howling wind and rain during her event, while the combined Gymnastics team, including Zoe Nel and Tiffany Thompson, won Bronze on Day 2 of the competition. Also, a special mention for the combined netball team who had a great run of games, winning 12 out of the 13 games played. The girls placed 5th overall out of 122 teams

Well done girls and congratulations to those who have come away with medals.

Sports Round Up

The Girls’ School sports teams have had a great winter season, including gaining places in the Zones competition. The Year 7 and 8 Mystics Netball teams have been part of a development programme run by coaches, Mrs Courtney Rowson and Mrs Jill Wahlstrom, supported by strength coach, Mr Gareth O’Donnell and mental performance coach, Mr Dave Neithe. The girls have made significant improvements, which were seen throughout the season and during their two netball exchanges involving Huntley School, Queen Margaret and Diocesan School for Girls.

Both netball teams competed at the South Eastern Zone, with the Year 7 girls placing 2nd and the Year 8 team coming away as SEZ Champions! Qualifying for the Interzone Competition, the Year 8 Mystics competed and placed 3rd in the competition behind Glen Eden and Takapuna. During the July school holidays, Khanye’-Lii Munro- Nonoa was selected to represent New Zealand in the 14 & Under Girls Indoor Netball Team to compete in South Africa.

The Year 7 combined Football team have had a fantastic season, finishing on a high as Auckland Champions in their division! During the zones competition, the team did not have any goals scored against them. Well done girls, such an incredible achievement (see page 75 for more).

The Basketball team also had a great season, placing 2nd in the South Eastern Zone competition. The girls were undefeated until they played Sir Edmond Hillary in the final, who managed to take the win in the last three minutes. This is the third year running that the girls have placed second to them, which has created heightened determination for next year’s season! Also, a special mention to the Year 3-4 Basketball girls who won their first ever game while playing against the Saint Kentigern boys team!

Our girls have played exceptionally well during the winter sports season, displaying excellent sportsmanship and skill. Well done girls on your fantastic achievements.

Cross Country

It was an excellent turn out at the annual Junior and Middle School cross country events, with fierce determination dominating the courses. The Senior girls ran their event earlier this year with their peers from the College. The Year 4-6 event took place on the College grounds and the Year 0-3 on the Boys’ School track.

At each event, the Girls’ School students took it in turns with the Boys’ School to line up. Recent heavy rain made a late change to both the Junior and Middle school tracks but this didn’t deter the students’ determination. At the sound of the clapper, there were a few trips and tumbles resulting in some muddy knees but it didn’t put the students off from giving it their best effort, getting straight back up and running on!

Well done to all our runners for their effort and in particular the age group champions and House champions Chalmers.

Year 0 Champions

1st Lola Leport-Symonds W

2nd Else Taylor

3rd Lulu Lang

Year 1 Champions

1st Kasey Wray

2nd Indi Jury

3rd Ninsi Finn

Year 2 Champions

1st Amelia Hardie

2nd Violet Lindsay-Small

3rd Olivia Lidstone

Year 3 Champions

1st Brooke Rowntree

2nd Rosie Ward

3rd Alexi Bower

Year 4

1st Phoebe Wood H

2nd Amie Hilliam H

3rd Emily Cornaga H

Year 5 Champions

1st Sahara Knottenbelt W

2nd Sienna Hirst CH

3rd Zambezi Butler CH

Year 6 Champions

1st Alexandra Campion CH

2nd Isabella Hughes CH

3rd Kate Green H

Year 7 Champions

1st Olivia Rooney H 2nd Arya Blackler H 3rd Jade Nomani

Year 8 Champions

1st Grace Paul

2nd Lola Wiltshire

Zone Cross Country

Congratulations to the Year 7 and 8 students who competed in the South Eastern Zone Cross Country Championships held at Saint Kentigern College. The best runners from the Girls’ School came away with outstanding results competing against over 100 students from different schools. Year 7 student, Olivia Rooney placed 1st after staying well ahead of the group, with Arya Blackler coming in 2nd. Also, the Year 7 team placed 1st with six Saint Kentigern students in the top 15, of which three were Girls’ School students: Olivia Rooney, Arya Blackler and Jade Nomani.

High Tea

What better way to spend some quality time with our mums and daughters, than spending an afternoon together sharing a high tea. A sell-out event every year, the Girls’ School hosted their annual Mother and Daughter High Tea at the Ellerslie Events Centre.

Principal, Ms Juliet Small welcomed our girls, their family members and our invited guests before sharing a small piece of ‘advice’ from the font of current popular knowledge – Facebook! Details on how to be a perfect mother in 2017 was received with much laughter!

‘Make sure your children’s academic, emotional, psychological, mental, spiritual, physical, nutritional, and social needs are met while being careful not to over-stimulate, under-stimulate, improperly medicate, helicopter, or neglect them in a screen-free, processed foods-free, GMO-free, negative energy-free, plastic-free, body positive, socially conscious, egalitarian but also authoritative, nurturing but fostering of independence, gentle but not overly permissive, pesticide-free two storey, multilingual home preferably in a cul-de-sac with a backyard and 1.5 siblings spaced at least two years apart for proper development, also don’t forget coconut oil. How to be a mom in literally every generation before ours: Feed them sometimes.’

Our thanks to the Parents and Friends Association, and its Chairperson, Mrs Rebecca Scoones, Mrs Abbie Griffiths and their team of volunteers for the time

Father and Daughter Breakfast

Itwas an early start for our girls when they hosted their fathers for a delicious breakfast at Ellerslie Events Centre. Principal, Ms Juliet Small welcomed our girls and their fathers saying, ‘What I see here this morning is absolute commitment from you all to your daughters. Thank you for supporting the girls learning, for driving them to practices, for helping them with homework and for being their greatest support and advocate! Thank you for believing in them.’

Following the meal, we welcomed guest speaker for the morning, Mrs Dianne Levy, a counsellor, family therapist and the author of the bestselling book ‘Of course I love you…NOW GO TO YOUR ROOM.’ Mrs Levy said that the relationship between a father and a daughter is a very protective one. She said that her father led her to believe that there is nothing she couldn’t achieve as long as she worked hard enough. She told the girls to use the morning as a chance to think about their father’s strengths, to value them and let them know they are appreciated.

A big thank you to our wonderful sponsors and to the Parents and Friends Association for organising such a special event.

Measuring Success!

Being an avid armchair supporter of our National Game, I have enjoyed reading the many comments from so-called experts and members of the public as they proffer their opinions after each test.

How quick we are to ridicule coaching selections and suggest that the World’s Best Rugby Player in 2016 is now playing in the wrong position and should be moved to fullback and certainly not be given the kicking duties. All of this after a hard fought game.and win against Argentina on home soil. The All Blacks were now seen as beatable, in danger of losing their invincibility, particularly following a Lions Tour that ended in a draw. Tragic indeed!

A week later, after an emphatic win (57 – 0) over the Springboks, the tide changes and the superlatives keep coming… success again, the All Blacks are back on track!

We are too fickle as a population and need a reality check to ensure we support those who are prepared to give things a go, challenge themselves and in most cases are prepared to step out of their comfort zone. We need to appreciate the effort and commitment that has been left on the field by every player.

2017 has been an incredibly busy year with so much happening each week that school life becomes a blur. Our tagline, ‘A World of Opportunity,’ could not be more accurate when you see what our boys are involved in on a regular basis. As an organisation, we pride ourselves on providing an all-round education that focuses on academic growth, physical and cultural experiences as well as providing opportunities for service and leadership. The question I continue to ask of my staff, our boys and myself, is how do we measure success as an individual or a school? Or perhaps I should ask, ‘How do others measure our success?’

Is it the win on the sports field?

Is it achieving the top mark in the recent assessment?

Is it performing in front of an audience?

Is it raising the most money for World Vision?

Is it being appointed a prefect?

The answer is an emphatic ‘no’ because if this was the case, very few people or teams can say they have succeeded. There is no easy route for success to be achieved.

‘The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and

the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.’ Vince Lombardi

Success for me is quite simple……

• O ur boys arriving at school each morning happy, motivated and excited about the day ahead.

• Watching our teams perform to the best of their ability on the sports field, court, track or in the pool.

• E xamples of sportsmanship from our boys where referees decisions are accepted, support of teammates is evident and acknowledging skill and expertise of opponents is common practice. ‘It is how you play the game that matters the most!’

• Watching our musicians performing on stage in front of an audience.

• S enior Boys acting as role models to those younger providing support, guidance, interest and leadership.

• O ur boys living the values of respect, integrity, service, excellence and love in their daily lives evident by their thoughts, words and actions.

• Receiving feedback from members of the public about how our boys represent our school in the public arena.

• The level of support and initiative our boys show in helping others in our community, where service is an integral part of their development and education.

• Academic acknowledgement of our boys in local and international competitions.

• The level of participation and contribution our boys make in all areas of school life.

• Feedback from prospective parents who want to enrol their son in our school because of what they see in our boys and hear from others.

‘Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.’ Pele

We are incredibly fortunate to have a community who understand that their son’s journey is challenging yet exciting, will require commitment and dedication, and requires those core values that will create great citizens who will make a difference in their communities.

What more can you ask for!

Mr Peter Cassie Principal

Books Gifted to Te Kohanga

After the heavy rains that caused extensive flooding around the country, it came to the Boys’ School attention that Te Kohanga School in Tuakau had lost most of their books and sports equipment through flood damage.

Our School Council put a plan in action and the Year 6 councillors assisted with the collation of books and sports gear, donated by our families, to help their plight. Three of the Year 6 boys, Finn Jorgensen, Ricky Shen and Quinn Campbell, accompanied by Ms Chaney, Head of the Student Council and Deputy Principal, Mr Grayson Aspinall, visited their small school of 30 students. They were welcomed with a mini-assembly, a waiata and wonderful smiles of appreciation!

Approximately 500 books were delivered to the school. Te Kohanga Principal, Mrs Driver was extremely appreciative of our support and along with the donation from our Chapel collection, the school will now be able to also provide uniforms for the students.

There is now an open invitation for their school to take a trip to the ‘Big Smoke’ to show off their uniforms and be hosted for a morning at the Boys’ School.

As well as supplying Te Kohanga, we also delivered, through Mr Steve Farrelly of the Breakfast Club, surplus book supplies of at least 250 books and junior readers to Glenn Innes School. Mrs Collins, their Assistant Principal emailed us to express her sincere gratitude

Artwork for Starship

Earlier this year, each class at the Boys’ School worked to prepare a group artwork for the Brushes and Bids Art Auction evening. Year 6 class, 6AW, put their ideas together and decided to create a piece that explored New Zealand’s Maori heritage and our whenua Aotearoa. They said they wanted to make a connection with our history and culture, yet create a piece with a modern twist. Working with a central theme of a koru, the artwork was assembled from pastel on individual squares of wood, that were mounted to create a single artwork.

On auction night, a group of parents combined resources to make a joint purchase, with the aim of donating the 6AW’s piece to Starship Hospital. A photo of the work was sent to the hospital Art Curator, who determined that the artwork was indeed good enough for display alongside other artworks, both professional and amateur, that brighten the hospital corridors.

On behalf of the class, Ricky Shen, Astin Palenski, Max Irwin, Bruno Cullen, Josh Daly and James Chambers delivered the artwork to Starship Foundation – the hospital staff thought the piece was fantastic! Well done 6AW!

for the books, ‘Thank you...your gifting has made/will make a HUGE difference to my ‘little people’ and their learning journey at Glen Innes School.’

We thank our own Saint Kentigern community for their generous gifts and donations in support of this appeal; we are pleased we could make a difference.

Schools’ Service Trip to Fiji

Over two successive weeks during the July school holidays, two groups of twenty students, along with parents and staff from the Boys’ School, Girls’ School and Preschool, embarked on the third annual service trip to the Nawaka District in Fiji. Over the last two years, close ties have been established with the village to provide time and resources to assist both the local school community and the Nawaka Medical Centre. This year, a further special connection was also made with Vatutu Preschool.

Prior to trip, the Saint Kentigern community once again rallied around to fill a 40 foot shipping container with donated goods organised by parents Greg Horton and Troy Hageman. 160 litres of paint, scaffolding, outdoor tables and chairs, surplus classroom desks and uniforms, an adventure playground and benches (kindly donated by the Auckland City Council), shoes, sports boots, stationery, health products and so much more were tightly packed in. With this phenomenal response from our school community, the key projects were all well supplied. These included painting the community centre, installing a new adventure playground in the school, and installing outdoor furniture in the school and community. The preschool playground was also furnished with new swings, and a computer and printer was installed in the preschool office.

Year 8 student, Thomas Hiddleston reported on the trip:

‘After arriving in Fiji and unpacking, we were driven to Nawaka District School. The school was not what we expected; it only had two main classroom blocks and a big rugby field in the middle. We were then taken around the village by the Chief’s spokesperson, Botica. This first walk to see the conditions that many of the people live in will stand out our minds for a long time. The village houses were very small, made of tin and had dirt floors. The washing and kitchen facilities were often found outside. In the village, we were not allowed to wear hats and the women had to wear sulus, which is a wraparound skirt.

The Chief’s house is very special and only the chief and his family are allowed on the grounds. We were lucky enough to go inside the house as visitors, as part of the chief acknowledging the work that Saint Kentigern has done over the years.

Once the official welcoming was over, it was time to start unpacking the 40-foot container that awaited us that was loaded with the materials the Saint Kentigern community had donated for our service projects.

The service projects included putting together and securing five wooden outdoor tables and chairs for the school, installing an adventure playground and to paint the community centre. There were also lots of donated clothes and shoes which were set up on tables for the Fijian school students.

The work over the next few days was hard. The first group started to put together the playground for the school, as well as starting to paint the community hall. We worked in smaller teams to paint, build and shovel sand and wood chips (5 tons of it!) to get their playground finished. Other small groups worked on spouting for the community hall and an incinerator to burn rubbish.

The trip to Fiji showed me what it means to be grateful for what we have. The Fijian people have very little in our terms but for them it seems like a lot. Our effort in their community has had a big impact in terms of childhood playtime. I also learnt that lots of people wanting to help, makes a big difference to finishing a project. None of us could have done this on our own.’

For our students, their previous experience of Fiji may have been to a resort on a family holiday. It was a special opportunity for our students and their parents to share this service experience together

and, once again, this year’s trips opened the eyes of another set of our students to the hardships that those in developing countries can endure. Students and parents alike felt a huge sense of pride at what they had been able to achieve in such a short period of time with great teamwork and a strong work ethic. However, perhaps the greatest impact on our students and parents came in unexpected ways: The friendships forged between our students and the Fijian students as they worked together and played together. The experience of shopping in a Fijian market and taking turns at making lunches for our own team hard at work. The rugby games with the Fijian students at the end of the day, visiting and playing with the preschoolers, and witnessing the school and village thank the teams at the end of each trip.

Of course, no visit to Fiji is complete without spending a few hours enjoying the sun on one of Fiji’s tropical Islands. Each team had earned a well-deserved rest day, which included a trip to the golden sands of a nearby island and a visit to the famous Bula Water Park. It was a day enjoyed by students, parents and staff alike, but it was experiencing true village life that will leave the greatest memory.

Year 6 Expo –Sharing The Planet

Deep and Meaningful Learning

Each year, the boys in Year 6 are presented with a unique opportunity - to undertake a significant and lengthy inquiry over the course of a term and then exhibit their learning journey for the wider school community in the form of an Expo. Not only is their finished work put on display but the boys are also on hand to answer questions from visitors about the process behind their inquiry and what they learnt as a consequence.

No matter what the year level, when visiting classrooms at the Boys’ School, you are left in no doubt that the boys are actively engaged in their learning. In class there is always a purposeful hum of activity but even when the classrooms are empty, there is much to be learnt about their current inquiry programmes from reading the work proudly displayed on walls throughout the School. Inquiry learning is more than just gathering information; the process is as important as the outcome.

At the heart of inquiry learning is a commitment to structured, purposeful questioning as the leading vehicle for teaching and learning. Inquiry gives ownership of learning to the students themselves, developing their research and critical thinking skills. It allows them to pursue their own interests and make meaningful connections with what they are doing – discovering that all learning across all disciplines is inter-related.

When presented with the idea that the Expo is exclusive to Year 6, the boys were fired into action and quickly took ownership! They were inspired to take up the challenging task of going beyond their previous learning to develop new skills, while keeping the end result in mind – an exhibition intended for a wide audience.

With the theme ‘Sharing the Planet,’ the boys worked in small groups of up to four to brainstorm which path their own inquiry would take. Firstly they picked an overall line of inquiry and from that each planned their own personal exploration within their chosen subject – these ideas were many and varied from world conflict, global warming and the effects of new technological practices such as drones, to deforestation, renewable energy, the plight of refugees, and the inequality of distribution and access to medication.

The boys were required to explore multiple perspectives, including going beyond the school gates to talk to experts in the wider community, conducting all the organisation and

safety information for this to take place. Some boys arranged fantastic opportunities to talk to key people including scientists and business leaders to gain a deeper understanding of their chosen line of enquiry. As the projects got underway, they kept log books that recorded all their work and in the final stages, worked out how best to present their findings to engage an invited audience.

Prior to the arrival of their visitors, Principal, Mr Peter Cassie visited the Expo and took the opportunity to grill the boys on their efforts. He said it soon became clear that deep and meaningful learning had taken place, developing skills for life. The boys were adept at articulating their learning and were also keen to comment on the step by step processes they had learned from the organisations they had spoken to, and the relevance of applying the same thinking to their own learning.

The parents were invited to visit the Expo to view the boys’ displays and seek a deeper understanding of the different topics from the boys themselves. In a frequently changing world, understanding how to inquire, how to sift through the ideas to make informed decisions is a valuable journey that these boys are just beginning to discover. The Expo brought all this into focus and the boys were very proud to present their learning to a wider audience.

Celebration of Cultures

As part of Year 3’s learning inquiry into how ‘people use special events & festivals to celebrate their beliefs’ the boys enjoyed a Cultural Celebration today, to which their parents were invited.

There was much excitement early in the morning as the boys arrived at school dressed to represent their chosen country. There was all manner of dress from countries afar, as well as those from closer to home, with Kiwis and Australians represented. Much to the boys’ delight, the teachers also dressed for the occasion.

Excitement, nerves and anticipation grew as the boys paraded into JC Chalmers Hall. Peers, parents and special guests were invited to watch the boys step up in pairs to showcase their chosen country. During their learning, they not only discussed the differences but also the similarities between cultures. They concluded that one of the tangible things that has been common to all races through time is fire. Fire to take warmth from, fire to cook with, fire to tell stories around. With this in mind, the morning took inspiration from ‘tales around the campfire’ as the boys came forward with their folk tales and music from around the world.

New Zealand has people representing many different cultures and at Saint Kentigern, our schools celebrate a diversity of cultural backgrounds. This inquiry gave our boys great insight into the day to day lives and special celebrations of the many different families that make up our schools. It was an important learning opportunity for the boys to share information about their own background as well as to learn about others, while celebrating the diversity of our country.

How ‘Things’ Work

Asearch of Google or a touch of a button can solve all manner of ‘things’ nowadays, but there are some ‘things’ that just can’t be fixed without the right tool – and, just as importantly, the knowledge to know how that tool works!

With Roselle House well under reconstruction, bringing a daily ebb and flow of workmen and their tools, the Year 1 boys’ latest unit of study has been considering ‘How the world works – All tools have different functions.’ With several lines of enquiry that have seen them brainstorming the shape of tools, what they are made of and how we use them, they have gathered a host of facts and ideas.

At school, they began by assembling many of the ‘tools’ that we take for granted. From glue sticks to tape dispensers, hole punchers, staplers, pencil sharpeners and scissors; the boys looked at the form and function of each. From this first foray, they concluded that tools are designed to help us do things more quickly and easily, and came to understand that even our own hands are remarkably useful tools.

From school items, they moved on to think of tools around the home that assist with our chores such as a vacuum cleaner, a blender or items as simple as a vegetable peeler or egg beater; each designed to make life easier.

In the wider community, they gave attention to hand tools and larger machinery, including those with wheels, gaining an understanding of how early technology progressed with the invention of the wheel to move people and ‘things.’

To extend their understanding, the boys boarded a bus to visit the local Bunnings hardware store. Dressed in hi-visibility yellow vests for safety, they took it in turns to work with store staff to follow instructions to construct a wooden hoopla game and to tour the ‘tools’ section making notes and observations about the shape and function of the wide variety of tools on display. Who knew that hammers and saws come in so many different sizes and shapes that are fit for purpose? The Year 1 boys do now!

Our grateful thanks to the Bunnings staff who hosted our group this morning and to the many parents who took the time to accompany us. Your help is invaluable for trips such as this, to further the boys’ learning beyond the classroom.

How Big is Your Footprint?

If we actually stopped to think about how much rubbish each of us generates, would we change our ways? Our Year 4 boys certainly have a clearer understanding of the enormous task of disposing of Auckland’s waste after a trip to the Waitakere Transfer Station. As part of their topic of inquiry, ‘Where our rubbish ends up and what happens to our waste products,’ they were shown the process behind recycling and rubbish disposal, and what each of us can do to decrease our carbon footprint. They learnt that around half of all we throw away is food scraps that can be turned into reusable compost. By composting, not only can we improve soil quality, but in so doing, we also reduce the amount of methane gas created at landfills and, therefore, help to counter climate change. The boys had a good look at successful worm farm and were not shy about digging in the dirt to find worms!

With hard hats on, they also took a tour around the transfer station to see what happens to the huge amount of rubbish that is trucked in every day, five days a week, every week of the year. Seeing just how much Aucklanders dispose of, and the hard work and infrastructure needed to keep the city spick and span, gave the boys a true understanding of the scale of the issue! They also saw first-hand how other people’s rubbish can become someone else’s art with some cleverly constructed ‘garbage sculptures.’

With awareness raised, ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ has become the boys’ new mantra. Through their newfound knowledge about how much of the world’s pollution is caused by methane and carbon dioxide, the boys are now on a mission. If each can convince just one person to change the way they recycle, and they pass it onto one other person, then we can say that Year 4 from Saint Kentigern Boys’ School are making a difference!

Boys Explore Hidden Depths!

It was dark and damp, and under usual circumstances would be very, very quiet, but with the descent of over 70 Year 5 boys into the 28,000 year old lava caves under Landscape Road in Mt Eden, it became a place for noisy, exciting adventure – if a little scary for some!

The boys have been studying the landforms of Auckland with a focus on the extensive volcanic network in our city. They had earlier visited Mangere Mountain and descended into the small lava cave there, but the Landscape Road experience was a very different undertaking.

We thank one of our past parents for initially arranging access to this extensive cave system on private land. The boys soon came to discover the extraordinary world just beneath the surface of a bustling city suburb! With helmets on and torches at hand, the group made their way into the mouth of the cave and into a huge, rock strewn cavern. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, using their torches to light the way, they gingerly worked their way

downwards as the passage narrowed, wriggling their way through a constricted space that opened to another cave that required carefully negotiating a four metre drop away to the passage below! Here all torches were switched off and the boys discovered the true meaning of darkness.

How 'Things' Have Changed!

Remember a phone with a round dial? A phone box with a coin slot? A camera where you looked through the top? A manual typewriter? And before that a quill?

A trip to MOTAT was a great source of inspiration for our aspiring Year 3 inventors at the Boys’ School; discovering that the course of human creative endeavour can take many varied and unpredictable paths to discover a final outcome!

Further exploration revealed a ‘squeeze’ at the far end of the passage as the cave system continued its descent towards the sea, but this was the point the boys turned back – much to the relief of the parent helpers who stood wondering how on earth they were going to fit!

There was much to learn beneath the surface and even at Year 5, leadership potential emerged as the boys encouraged one another or took it upon themselves to light the way for those who followed behind. The boys finally emerged muddy, exhilarated and glad to see the daylight!

Our sincere thanks to the parents who accompanied us on the trip ….and went home a little muddier than they expected!

The Year 3 boys have been studying inventors and the impact they have had on daily lives as part of their social science inquiry. In class, they researched famous inventions and technological developments that have taken place over the lifetime of their parents and grandparents. The boys were fascinated to learn that bread was once sold unsliced, motor mowers haven’t always been motorised and milk came in glass bottles, and was delivered to your house!

The theme of the past informing the present and the future was continued on their trip to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) where they were encouraged to think about what an invention is and what might inspire someone to take a course of action to invent something new. By matching old products with newer ones that serve the same function, such as a candle and lamp or ink quill and typewriter, they saw how inventions have developed over time. They also learnt about the difference between invention and innovation by examining the multitude of shapes and sizes that cameras and telephones have taken over the years, to the point where, today, the two are combined!

Judging by the fervent discussions taking place on the bus back to school, the trip definitely gave the boys food for thought ready to put their thinking hats on for their own inventions!

Brushwork and Bids

In the style of the great auction houses of the world, some of Shore Road’s greatest artists came under the hammer at the Brushwork and Bids fundraising event organised by the Parents and Friends! In the planning since the start of the year, a school-wide effort culminated in a final auction of ‘fine artworks’ created by each class group.

An exhibition and auction site was opened online in the week prior to the event, with the first few tentative bids placed early. 8HH’s ‘Sir Ed’pin’ Hillary took an early lead as the favourite artwork and continued the charge into the final evening, driving the bidding to a final whopping $4,120 for the piece. 10,000 pushpins formed an amazing portrait of the great man – it was hard to believe a group of 12 year olds and their teachers had created this! Well done!

During auction week, the artwork was put on display in the hall for students and their parents to view after school, with complimentary food and beverages on offer, to encourage all potential bidders to linger and admire the work – the students keen to see their parents go home and place a bid online! A final evening exhibition for parents was hosted by the Parents and Friends at which previously unseen pieces of art were unveiled. One was the most anticipated auction item of the evening, from the hand of our very own Mr Pi-Cassie! Being the first to admit that he had not been gifted with the skills to paint or draw, he favoured a digital approach, artistically arranging the ‘favoured words of Saint Kentigern’ on canvas. Theatrically revealed from behind a tartan covering, it took just a few moments for one eagle eye to notice ‘something.’

At this point, we ask the universal question, ‘What is Art?’ Many argue, it can’t be defined but is generally considered ‘the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions.’ Scott Adams says, ‘Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.’ We will never know whether the artist, Mr Pi-Cassie intended to offer up a provocation or forgot to switch spell check on but like a rare postage stamp with a mistake, the dollar value of his artwork immediately shot skywards! It was a curious ‘trompe d’oeil’ as many read it and still couldn’t spot the spelling error! Suffice to say, the Jubliee Sports Centre hasn’t been renamed!

We encourage our boys to own their mistakes and learn from them. Mr Cassie was quick to ‘fess up’ with a hilarious admission that added a great deal of levity to the evening! It didn’t take long for a skilled auctioneer to coax a handsome sum for the work!

The Boys’ School would like to offer their thanks to the Parents and Friends and to Mrs Fiona Freeland, in particular, for her vision to bring this event together. A labour of love, this took many months to co-ordinate with the aim to bring students and staff together on a project to raise funds. And raise funds it did. By the close of auction all the art work had been sold raising almost $17,000 for the School! Thank you Fiona.

Winning Formula at Science Fair

Following on from the Boys’ School Science Symposium, a select group of young scientists from our Senior School presented their science projects for judging at the Auckland Regional Science and Technology Fair hosted at Epsom Girls’ Grammar. The boys’ projects were put on display alongside the top 200 projects from 22 schools within the central Auckland area.

At the Prizegiving, the judges said that the standard across Year 7 and 8 this year was extremely high, so we were delighted that 14 of our boys were recognised with 16 awards. Five of the projects were singled out for special awards!

The projects were varied, interesting and, in some cases, very imaginative! Two of the projects topped their sections, with Luka Ljubisavljevic’s project ‘Sound Tsuanami’ also attracting The University of Auckland Physics Prize in the Physical World section. His project looked at whether the shape and size of the external ear affected how sound is received by the internal auditory system. Pairing up to work on their project ‘Chill Pill,’ Jackson Horton and Jack Becker also won the first prize in the Material World for their investigation of the rate at which pain medication dissolves in the stomach.

Jack Priddy, Zavier Edmonds and Will Tisdall were all awarded third prize in their sections with Jack also receiving the Auckland Museum Scientist for a Day special prize for his project on micro-organisms

Top Placed Prize Winners:

Luka Ljubisavljevic

Sound Tsunami Physical World 1st + Special Prize

Jackson Horton & Jack Becker

Chill Pill Material World 1st

Jack Priddy

Micro-organisms Living World 3rd + Special Prize

Zavier Edmonds

Memories on TrialHuman Behaviour 3rd

Will Tisdall

Fantastic Filters Planet Earth & Beyond 3rd

Highly Commended:

Sam Roberton & Ben Poole

Music and memory Biology

Tim Shires & Stuart Campbell

Purrr-edators Biology

Jules Webb

Electricity Generation Physics

Cameron Adams

Wifi - the online world Physics

Andrew Davies

Rust Never Sleeps Physics

Jack Harman and Kameron Li

Tsunami Busters Planet Earth

Ferguson Muthu

Beat the Beats Biology

HC + Special Prize

HC + Special Prize

HC + Special Prize

HC

HC

HC

HC

and the health of the Hauraki Gulf. A further three special prizes were also awarded to Highly Commended students, Sam Roberton and Ben Poole, Tim Shires and Stuart Campbell, and Jules Webb for their detailed studies.

As always there was a diverse range of imaginative projects displayed for the judges to ponder but the winning projects were selected on the basis of their rigour to carry out repeated scientific measurements, fair testing, analysis of the results, returning to reflect on the hypothesis and taking into account any experimental error.

Well done boys!

Letters from

the Front

The last excerpt in WW1 soldier, John Billington’s diary reads, ‘Today will haunt me for the rest of my life. I don’t know how I will look myself in the mirror again or look mum in the face. What have I become, what has this war done to me?’

My Dearest Mother and Father

The Turkish snipers have already found us on the ships. The water was already stained red by blood seeping over board because of the dead men. Don’t worry I am fine. When we were landing the row boats were cramped and we jumped overboard into shallow water.

We sprinted for the cliffs while under fire of Turkish snipers. When we got up the cliff we dug the trenches. Poor Bill got shot. After digging some trenches we made the dugouts. The dug outs are 6feet x 5feet x 3feet.In my dugout I got a shower of dirt each time I stood up.

The conditions are worse than the noises overhead. We have to carry water half a mile up the cliff and there’s not that much food and the flies are annoying.

Thanks Mother for the cookies, there’re a legend .I can’t wait for one of Father’s roast dinners when I get home. Is Sophie alright?

From your loving son Harrison

As part of the Boys’ School Year 5 Social Science Inquiry into ‘Who We Are’, with a focus on how conflict can shape our identity and future, the boys embarked on an adventure to the Auckland War Memorial Museum where they alternated between two activities, an Anzac Drama and visiting the Hall of Memories, both led by the Museum Educator.

During their visit, the boys delved into New Zealand’s experience of the Great War and its consequences through the exhibits on display in the ‘Scars on the Heart’ gallery. Whilst the gallery covers New Zealand’s involvement in conflict and peace keeping, dating back to the Anglo-Boer War of the 19th century, the boys were largely focussed on World War I.

The exhibition was a fantastic learning opportunity created with material from the personal experiences of New Zealand’s armed forces, as well as those who remained at home. It is always a chilling reminder that many of the young men who travelled so far to fight a war on the other side of the world were not much older than school boys themselves. Giving the exhibition ‘a voice’ lent considerable impact to the collection. Many of the items the boys saw on display were small and of a very personal nature, including letters to and

Gallipoli 1915

from home, and photographs and articles of clothing from long ago. Interactive computers allowed the boys to browse through photo albums and diaries, while handsets gave moving oral histories of the soldiers' experiences.

Those left at home also suffered as they continued to go about their daily lives without the support of their menfolk, both the normal: work, shopping, planning meals, raising families and the abnormal: coping with shortages, rationing, security precautions and blackouts. Always present were thoughts of those who were absent - husbands, fathers, brothers, children, relatives and friends, and the fear of seeing their names in the growing lists of casualties.

Capturing the boys’ imagination were a recreation of an Anzac ‘bivvy’ at Gallipoli and a Western Front trench from the Great War, complete with periscopes to view the enemy. A ‘captured’ German bunker from the Western Front displayed soldiers' bunks and the command post table of a New Zealand Brigadier. A New Zealand soldier (digger) had left his belongings on one bunk, while a German soldier's belongings were displayed on another.

During the Anzac Drama, staff from the museum guided the boys through a thought-provoking re-enactment that followed the true story

of New Zealand solider, John Billington, from the time he and his brother, Danny left home, to the Gallipoli Beach landing, its terrible outcome, and his last moments before returning to New Zealand. As the scenes were re-enacted, the boys were sombre as they discovered in detail the mental anguish and physical hardship the soldiers went through. In a final harrowing scene, the boys learnt that John was unwittingly responsible for his own brother’s death.

As the boys moved into the Hall of Memories, they sat amongst the names of the fallen soldiers; names etched for eternity in marble as a stark reminder of those who died for their country in time of war. Here, they learnt more about Gallipoli; how the equipment and ammunition carried by one could weigh up to 30kg, and how the men risked their own lives to retrieve the bodies of the dead. It is told that one in three soldiers were buried in an unknown location and were never brought home to rest.

This type of educational adventure exposes a new generation to the experience of war, and why we must 'let their names be not forgotten'. To travel beyond the classroom to extend their learning adds a new level of understanding. On return to school, while the memories were fresh, the boys wrote their own ‘Letters from the Front,’ their new-found learning giving added meaning.

Speech Competitions

The all-important art of weather conversation, enjoying no traffic, a heightened chance of being an All Black, being tough enough to wear shorts in winter, dagging sheep… is Sam McLeod, the winner of this year’s Middle School speech competition, hardy enough to be a true Southern Man? And what was the chance that his family pet, the ‘Latte Lab,’ could adapt to life on a farm? After weighing the odds, Sam had to conclude he’s probably a true Aucklander at heart, but Southern Man or not, his fantastic speech delivery earned him a well-deserved first place in the Middle School Competition!

The following day, it was the turn of the senior boys. Recognising the traits of good leadership proved to be a winning formula for George Beca. Austin Alcock was runner up with a powerful speech about the selfless act of organ donation, knowing the difference it made for his own mother. He beseeched us all to leave a legacy – to tick the organ donation box on our driver’s license.

MIDDLE SCHOOL WINNERS

1st S am McLeod If I was a Southern Man

2nd C hris Revell-Devlin The Gift of Failure

3rd Theo Colyer O rangutans

MIDDLE SCHOOL FINALISTS : Thomas Hageman, Taylor Bai, Oliver Hardie, Johnny Ormond, Jett Evans, Sean Trombitas

S ENIOR SCHOOL WINNERS

1st G eorge Beca Leadership

2nd Austin Alcock O rgan Donors

SENIOR SCHOOL FINALISTS : Sebastian Hardie, Will Tisdall, Robson Reidy, Louis Eglinton, Fionn Steele Smith, Brendan Meyer, Nick Bigio, Jashil Rana

Rising Stars and an Extravaganza!

Whether just starting out or an accomplished musician, opportunities abound at the Boys’ School to learn an instrument, learn to sing and share talent with others. Over the course of the last two terms, a Middle School Rising Stars concert and a Musical Extravaganza from our senior students, provided two great nights of entertainment for our families.

The Music Department is richly endowed and along with curriculum music, almost 200 students have elected to be further involved in either instrumental learning through our itinerant programme or being involved in one of our choirs. Whilst the Performer’s Choir is auditioned, the Saint Kentigern Singers is for boys who just love to sing!

The Rising Stars concert took on a Muppets theme with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy acting as MC’s for the evening; the puppeteers and voices of Year 8 students, Zavier Edmonds and George Beca, working from behind. From the opening Muppet Song from the Singers, to the orchestra finishing with the Muppet’s ‘Rainbow Connection’ and a host of soloists in between, the Middle Schoolers proved they are ‘Rising Stars!’

The Music Extravaganza was filled with some fantastic solo performances from our more accomplished young musicians, showing a depth and breadth of talent on a range of instruments. Following their opening numbers, the orchestra stayed on stage to accompany young vocalist, Charles Adams with his confident performance of Edelweiss. From piano to violin, trumpet and guitar, and performances from the flute group, recorder consort, jazz ensembles and the chamber orchestra, there was much to enjoy.

Our choral programme has always been strong. For the first time this year, a Barber Shop group performed, followed by a polished recital from the Performers Choir singing ‘Side by Side’ and ‘Pink Panther.’ The Jazz Band gave a toe-tapping finale with ‘Up Town Funk’ and ‘Thriller.’

Life without music is hard to imagine. It adds so much colour and expression in almost every area of our lives. In closing each concert, Principal, Mr Cassie, envious of the boys’ ability to play, commended the boys not only for their talent but also their diligent practice to bring them to this level. Life without music is hard to imagine!

It was a double win at the Year 7 and 8 Remuera Zones Speech

Competition with George Beca winning the Prepared Speech and Ben Poole the Impromptu Speech. Well done boys!

Medals for Musicians!

The best musicians from the Boys’ School attended the annual Lewis Eady Music Competition in Ponsonby. Each year our students attend this competition, impressing the judges with their skill. This year was no different with a gold, two silvers and a bronze award for the four groups entered!

Gold was awarded to the Kentigern Minstrels, three recorder players (Luca Evans, Edward MacCulloch and Angus Paterson) who wowed the judges with their version of ‘The Cowboy Sat on the Cactus.’ The Jazz Combo were awarded silver for ‘Cold Duck Time.’ Following on, the Jazz Band also received silver for ‘Uptown Funk’ which was a definite crowd pleaser! Strings Attached, with Sunny Le on piano and Eden Zhang and Gabriel Lee on violin played Sonata in F Major.

Kentigern Minstrels - GOLD

Luca Evans, Edward MacCulloch and Angus Paterson

Jazz Combo – Silver Zavier Edmonds, Sam Harnett, Sunny Le, Oscar Van Drutten, Marco Lazzaro

Jazz Band – Silver

Nicholas Shires, Kameron Li, Will Tisdall, Cole Osborne, Marco Lazzaro, Fionne Steele Smith, Jack Becker, Oscar Van Druten, Matthew Keyte, Thomas Davies, Cameron Adams; Tommy David, Eden Zhang, Zavier Edmonds, Samuel Harnett, Luka ljubisauljevic

Strings Attached – Bronze

Sunny Le– piano, Eden Zhang – violin, Gabriel Lee – violin

World Sailor Visits Boys’ School

The Year 3 boys were fortunate to welcome Old Collegian and world class sailor, Joe Spooner to their class for a question and answer session to tie in with the value of sportsmanship. Joe was a past pupil of Saint Kentigern and attended the Boys’ School from 1984 to 1985, then moved on to the College in 1986. His mother was the much-loved art teacher at the Boys’ School, Mrs Robyn Spooner who sadly passed away. Joe has a son, Reuben, in Year 3 and it was his class who proudly welcomed Joe.

Joe was a ‘grinder’ on Oracle Team USA during the last America’s Cup in Valencia, when Oracle famously clinched a comeback beating Team New Zealand. Prior to that, he had competed in three other America’s Cups with both Oracle Team USA and Team New Zealand, and has been part of two winning teams. He’s currently racing in the Northern Hemisphere summer on the ‘52’ and ‘72’ sailing circuit with both an English and an American team.

The boys were full of questions, learning a great deal. When asked what value he thought had contributed to his success, he replied ‘teamwork.’ He said that sailing teams are like families and the strong bonds helped the team goals.

Skiing Medals!

Over two separate weeks of competition, ‘down the mountain’ our Senior School and Middle School ski teams returned with medals from their respective age group North Island Snow Sports Championships!

The Years 7&8 were the first to head down and in stunning weather on the first day, Year 8 student Jack Mitchell came away with the fastest time, winning Gold for the time trials with Year 8 student, Jack Harman winning Bronze. Day two brought similar weather and the excitement of head to head racing. Race after race went on with our boys winning time and time again, the A team eventually taking 30 of 32 points - an amazing result! With the results from the first two days, the A team finished with a Bronze in the overall results. The last day was the Ski Cross, a fun competition, and after five sets of races, Jack Mitchell again came home with another gold!

A week later was the turn of our Middle Schoolers. With crisp snow and blue skies, both the ‘seniors’ (Year 5/6) and ‘juniors’ (Years 3/4) were tested on a fast Giant Slalom. The boys raced hard with Sebastian Lyne winning gold for the seniors and Jonny Ormond claiming a Bronze for the juniors. The following day was the Dual Slalom, which again saw exciting racing. The A team of Sebastian Lyne, Morgan Lay, William Ormond, Thomas Bowden and Thomas Hageman won the overall team competition, by just one point from St Cuthbert’s College! Another gold!

Winter Sports Round Up

Despite the winter being extremely wet, all the major codes have managed play plenty of fixtures. We welcomed three touring schools for exchanges: Huntley School from Marton, St Andrew’s College from Christchurch and Scots College from Wellington. Our boys thoroughly enjoy playing these visiting teams and billeting them at home. It gives our boys a chance to build relationships with fellow students from other schools around New Zealand and to show off our beautiful City of Sails!

Our Football 1st XI had an excellent season under the guidance of Mr Hessey. As the season went on, they gelled together as a team and became unstoppable. The team took back the Academy Shield from King’s and held onto it for the season. It now stays in our trophy cabinet until next season. The team played 10 games - won 8, lost 2 with 56 goals for and 14 against.

The Hockey 1st XI played a large number of games over the season -22 in total, including tournament games - under the guidance of Mrs Warner. Early on in the season they took the Hockey Challenge Cup off King's and held onto it for the season. They won Eastern Zones and headed to Inter Zones where they didn’t quite reach their full potential. They played 22 games winning 21 and losing just 1.

The 1st XV rugby team had a great season under the guidance of Mr Dorset and Reverend Hardie, although injuries did take a toll, however, boys stepped up and filled these injury spots and kept the team nice and strong. They played some superb rugby and won a number of games by large score margins. A good season with 14 games played winning 11 and losing 3.

Four Medals at AIMS Games!

Travelling away to the AIMS Games in Tauranga is an amazing experience for our students. Whether travelling as part of the basketball or waterpolo teams, or heading down as an individual competitor in swimming, tennis, cross country, sailing or gymnastic, the boys all rose to the challenge and gave it their best shot in a nonstop week of competition. This year over 10,000 students representing over 300 schools from around New Zealand and the Pacific converged on Tauranga. The boys played against teams from all over the country and the standard of competition was exceptionally high as the best of the best Year 7 & 8 athletes came out to battle it out for top honours.

This year, it was our individual entrants who scored highest and came home with medals. Our standout gold medal winner was Christoph Grant in the tennis. Having recently returned from a training camp and competition in Spain, Christoph reached the final of the boys’ open singles division. He completely mentally outplayed his opponent to win Gold for the Boys School and in the process cemented his number 1 seeding for his age group in New Zealand. Fellow tennis players, Dawson Parekowhai Lage, Josh Hartner and James Flay also performed well, winning a number of their games.

Alexander Dennis came home with the biggest medal haul – three swimming medals! Alexander put up a strong challenge in all his races earning silver medals for the 100m and 200m backstroke and a bronze medal in the 50m backstroke.

In a large fleet of sailors, Year 7 student, George Cole-Baker finished 3rd in the Silver Fleet, and Harry Firman (Year 8) was 30th in his first ever Optimist regatta. Our cross country competitors set out in huge fields of runners 170 in the Year 7 race and 188 in the Year 8. Year 7 students James Ford and Adam Morrison, and Year 8 students Jack Mitchell and Cole Osborne were all in the top third. The final individual competitor was Alex Cole who finished 11th overall in the Flyers Men’s Artistic gymnastics.

The basketball boys had 68 boys’ teams from all over the country to compete against. The pool play was tough for them and they lost all three games which pushed them to the back of the cross over draw where they followed up with wins against Whakawatea, Whangaparoa and Mission Heights. They won the next three games and ended up playing Saint Kentigern College for 49th/50th place. In a close final game the College came out on top with a well-deserved win.

The water polo boys had 22 teams to compete against in their chosen sport. As the 2016 AIMS Games Water polo champions, they were placed in a pretty tough pool draw to get through. They won their pool but lost in the quarter finals of the championship 0-4 to Albany Junior High School, who they met again in the play offs for 5th and 6th , this time winning 2-0 to finish 5th overall.

Well done to all the students taking part, especially our medallists! Our sincere thanks to the staff and parents who accompanied the students for the week away.

Cross Country

Adamp, foggy start that turned to brilliant sunshine, along with a firm, flat course, provided ideal conditions for the Year 4-8 cross country held at the College campus. Recent heavy rains made a late change to the track but the new route proved favourable for the boys – just enough ‘squelch’ to make it challenging in places, but otherwise an excellent track allowing the boys to record fast times. As always, competition was fierce amongst the leading pack as the boys dug in for House points and the chance to represent the School at zone level.

The Junior boys event will took place a week later on home ground with our youngest runners setting a determined pace around the campus!

Congratulations to our champions and those that went onto represent the School.

1st 2nd 3rd

Year 0 Bruno Dickenson CH

Thomas Bottomley CA

Year 1 Kieran Vaseegaran-Hey W Amiel Bolkiah H

George Lyus CA

Hugo Gordon CH

Year 2 Benjamin Durose CHHarley Evans CH Sean Doherty CH

Year 3 Miki Cronin W Tom Carter W Jonathan Godfrey W

Year 4 Mikey Higgins Ch Max Trankels H Angus Paterson Ch

Year 5 Oliver Hardie W Luca Souloglou H Monty Simpson W

Year 6 Hugo Wigglesworth C a Thomas Hageman Ca Ethan Knox Ca

Year 7 Baxter Hilson H Jamie Mora Ca James Ford W

Year 8 Jack Mitchell W Eddie Chaytor CaCole Osborne Ch

HOUSE POINTS 1ST CARGILL 2ND WISHART 3RD CHALMERS 4TH HAMILTON

Zone Cross Country Competition

Following on from their wins in the Eastern Zone Cross Country competition, the Year 7 and 8 Boys’ School teams went forward to the Auckland Champion of Champions race held at the Pukekohe A&P grounds claiming victory in both age groups!

Year 7 Team 1st team overall: Baxter Hilson, Jamie Mora, James Ford, Adam Morrison, Joshua Gordon Glassford, Thomas Kippenberger, Oliver Rowntree, Thomas Stokes.

Year 8 Team 1st team overall: Edward Chaytor, Nicholas Davies, Cole Osborne, Archie Nightingale, Jack Mitchell, Luke Hair, Sebastian Hardie, George Beca.

Congratulations to the Year 5 and Year 6 Boys’ School cross country teams who were both placed 2nd at the Remuera Zone Cross Country.

Year 5 Team 2nd Boys team overall: Oliver Hardie, Tom Butler, Luca Souloglou, Sam Hawkins, Monty Simpson, Joe Lepionka, Ollie Davies

Year 6 Team 2nd Boys team overall: Hugo Wigglesworth, Ethan Knox, Luke Gibson, Max Richardson, Thomas Hageman, Dominic Holmes, Luca Roberton

All the Tea in China - Mothers' Morning Tea

Principal, Mr Peter Cassie and his team of Year 8 helpers dusted off their aprons and got down to the serious business of waiting on some very important members of the Boys’ School community – the mothers of our boys! After a visit to the classrooms our mothers were piped to morning tea.

Themed ‘All the Tea in China,’ the hall with transformed with crisp table linen and row upon row of fine china, with the boys lending a hand to do some of the ‘hard yards’ – organising food and beverages, waiting on our guests and helping to clean up afterwards. Guest speaker for the morning was Nicky Pellegrino; author of nine novels, a previous editor of the NZ Women’s Weekly, a feature writer for the Listener and freelance journalist. The mothers each received a copy of Nicky’s latest novel ‘Under Italian Skies.’

In her words of welcome on behalf of the Parents and Friends, Mrs Philly Hiddleston gave cause for reflection saying, ‘While there are times when busy family, school, and work commitments can seem overwhelming, we should remember we are blessed to have the

opportunity and ability to participate, support, help and ultimately ‘belong.’ For many women and children in communities not very far from here, for reasons many of us find distressing, a sense of belonging is something they may never have. With this in mind, proceeds from this event will go to the Women’s Refuge and the Auckland City Mission – organisations who both help to create some sense of belonging for those less fortunate.’

Father and Son Breakfasts

The Boys’ School mums are well used to getting up early each school day morning to make sure that breakfast is on the table for their boys. Two mornings a year, ‘early’ becomes very early and ‘breakfast’ preparation becomes a veritable feast for those mums who kindly offer up their time to help prepare and serve breakfast at school. Yes, on the mornings of the Father and Son Breakfasts, it’s a 4.30am start!

On two consecutive days JC Chalmers Hall was full to bursting as 380 diners per morning took their seats at the breakfast table. Over two sittings, that was 760 bowls of cereal, 760 muffins, 760 pancakes with untold ‘squirty’ cream, fresh fruit salad and the Saint Kentigern mothers’ speciality, lovingly home baked bacon and egg pie for 760, with some extra bacon on the side for those who still had room. Let’s not forget the 760 bottles of juice and free-flowing coffee, tea and chocolate – or the 760 grubby plates, bowls, mugs, knives, forks and spoons that needed dealing with at the end! Our mothers are veritable saints!

Each year we welcome a speaker to our breakfasts and generally leave with a very strong message of inspiration. This year was no different as we welcomed Tony Christiansen to the stage.

Tony is a world-leading, motivational speaker. He is humorous, bold and straight talking.

And he has no legs. Tony lost his legs as a result of a horrific train accident when he was 9 years old - but don’t try telling him he can’t do things! With his mantra, ‘I Am. I Can. I Will,’ he encouraged the boys to set their own challenges and not accept the limitations imposed by their own attitudes or other people’s perceptions.

Our thanks to Tony for sharing his story with us. Our grateful thanks to Cath Costello and her team of mothers for the huge task of getting the mornings underway.

Plus ça change

Plus c’est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. This year, the quote by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808 –1890), a French critic, journalist, and novelist, rings true for our College community. The restructure plan, initiated by the Trust Board and implemented by the Senior Management at the College, has seen the recognition of the two distinct Colleges at Middle and Senior level. While many things have changed, the essence of Saint Kentigern remains constant. The values of our organisation remain at the forefront of our ‘thinking and doing.’ The focus on a holistic education for all students is central to the new developments undertaken in 2017. As the current Board Chair, Dr Kernohan has stated, it will be an evolutionary process and the true character of the Middle College/Senior College model will take time to embed.

If there is one thing that is constant in our lives it is change. When I think back over my 30 years in education, I have seen many significant changes to our classroom and teaching practice, not the least being the evolution that has taken place from chalk and the smell of banda machines, to working on a ‘device’ and sharing files through ‘cyberspace!’ The rate of technological change in more recent years has been exponential and will greatly impact on the future working lives of our current students. Young people, and indeed all people, need to have both the ability to be flexible and adaptable, however, they also need to be discerning and develop the wisdom to recognise those values and practices that should not change.

While we can teach our students the core subjects of English, Maths, Science, and Social Studies, it has been said ‘the heart of the matter is the matter of our hearts.’ The character that we can build in our young people will be more lasting and of greater significance than knowing what y = mx + c means (though as a ‘retired’ maths teacher I think that’s pretty important too!).

In the Middle College years, we are fortunate to have the opportunity, without the demands and distractions of external formal assessments, to focus on student engagement and learning, and developing a positive character within each of our students - and that is what we strive to do.

To ‘spread the load’ and ensure that all pastoral care and curriculum matters receive our upmost attention, this year has seen the establishment two new Assistant Principal roles in the Middle College.

At the start of 2017, we were very pleased to appoint Mrs Marianne Duston as Assistant Principal - Head of Student Wellbeing to lead our Pastoral Care team and programmes in the Middle College. Mrs Duston joined us from St Cuthbert’s College after a very successful time there as Head of Careers. She was a member of the Pastoral team and brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for student wellbeing. Prior to this, she was Director of Pedagogy at St Peter’s College. She has represented NZ in triathlon and running and coached several New Zealand teams.

Mrs Chay Carter was also appointed as Assistant Principal with responsibility for Teaching and Learning in the Middle College and specifically as the Curriculum Leader. Mrs Carter is already very familiar with Saint Kentigern, having first worked here as an English teacher from 2001-2007, she returned to the College in 2014 as Head of Middle College English. She brings extensive leadership experience to her position, drawing on prior roles as a Specialist Classroom Teacher and Head of English at other Auckland schools. She is passionate about quality learning and teaching.

Whilst ‘things’ may have changed this year, the changes are most certainly for the better. Yes, there are also many ‘things’ that will remain unchanged, as those are the values and vision that are at the very heart of a Saint Kentigern education.

Mr Duncan McQueen Principal – Middle College

Marianne Duston, Assistant Principal

Chay Carter Assistant Principal

A Positive Restructure

Whenthe Trust Board restructured the leadership of Saint Kentigern, they disestablished the roles of Head of College, Deputy Head of College, Head of Middle School and Head of Senior School. To strengthen the Senior College, the Trust Board established the roles of Principal – Senior College, Deputy Principal – Senior College and Assistant Principal – Senior College.

Previously, as Head of Senior School, I was responsible for the oversight of Senior School students and, in particular, their Pastoral Care (including discipline). As former Deputy Head, I was responsible for deputising for the former Head of College, as well as the daily organisation of the whole College.

My new role of Principal - Senior College includes oversight of all aspects of the Senior College, including curriculum, teaching, learning, pastoral care and cocurricular activities.

Principal

Mitchell Assistant Principal

Due to most of our teachers on the Pakuranga Campus teaching across all the year levels, Duncan McQueen, as Principal – Middle College, and I work closely together on staffing, budgeting and all other whole College aspects such as staff appointments, Performing Arts, Sport and Service. Oversight of our special Christian character, and Health & Safety are key components of our responsibility.

Under the new structure of the Senior College at the start of 2017, Richard Stead, who had previously been Head of Studies, became the Deputy Principal – Senior College. His role gives him responsibility for overseeing the Heads of Curriculum Departments and deputising for me if I am away from the College. The role oversees our Senior College assessment with both the IB Diploma and NCEA qualifications. Richard works with our Heads of Department to

ensure we continually review and refine our teaching and assessment practices to improve student outcomes. Since the start of his teaching career, Richard has been renowned as an outstanding teacher of Mathematics. Before coming to Saint Kentigern, he was a Head of Department, timetabler and Head of a Boarding House. Richard has been a Senior Manager at Saint Kentigern for the past seven years.

In June this year, Daniel Mitchell joined us as Assistant Principal in the Senior College responsible for the wellbeing and discipline of Senior College students. He is also responsible for organising House events and to ensure the smooth running of the Senior College on a daily basis. Daniel was previously Assistant Head of the Physical Education Department at Howick College and before coming to Saint Kentigern, was the Director of Boarding at King’s College, as well as running one of the Boarding Houses himself, so he comes with much pastoral care experience. This semester he is teaching several Senior College core Physical Education classes allowing him to quickly get to know a number of students. The six Senior College Heads of House report to Daniel, along with the Head of Counselling, Head of Student Services Department (our tertiary and careers advisors) and our Nurse. Daniel is currently reviewing the topics and programme our Senior College Tutors Groups cover in ETT (Extended Tutor Time). He has also taken a keen interest in ensuring our Senior College uniform is worn with pride.

I believe this new structure in the Senior College will allow us to focus more on giving our Year 11, 12 and 13 students the opportunities, skills and knowledge they need to best succeed and to prepare them for the life after school. By having one Senior Manager solely responsible for the wellbeing of our senior students, I expect us to be even better at being proactive regarding the welfare of our Senior College students.

As parents, we all want our children to be happy and we know by being so, they will do their best academically and in their co-curricular pursuits. This is what we, as a Senior College Management Team, will continue to work hard to achieve.

Mrs Suzanne Winthrop Principal - Senior College

Richard Stead Deputy

Daniel

65th Anniversary Celebration in 2018

In March 2018, we will join together to celebrate 65 years of Saint Kentigern on the Pakuranga Campus, a moment in time when we can look back and share our proud history.

Saint Kentigern is stronger today than it has ever been and we gratefully acknowledge the wise stewardship of our Trustees and all those who have gone before, whose clear strategic intent has made the best use of this magnificent campus. As much as this is a celebration of all we have achieved, it is also a springboard for the future; a future that will demand ongoing vision and energy.

We do hope that you will join us for this weekend of celebration. We look forward to welcoming you back to Saint Kentigern for this special occasion.

Mrs Suzanne Winthrop Principal - Senior College

M

r Duncan McQueen Principal – Middle College ege

1953-2018 65th Anniversary Celebration Programme of Events

Our celebrations will bring together students, staff, Trust Board members and parents from past years, along with our current College community. To enable us to plan effectively, especially for catering, please register well in advance by completing the registration form inserted in Piper and return it with your preferred payment method.

FRIDAY 16 MARCH 2018

Cocktail Evening

Time: 7.00pm - 10.30pm

Venue: Goodfellow Centre and Marquee on the Chapel Lawn

Hosted by the Old Collegians Association, this is an informal evening for reminiscing and rekindling old friendships.

Refreshments and finger food will be served. Partners are welcome to attend.

Tickets are limited. Cost: $35 each, $50 per couple

SATURDAY 17 MARCH 2018

Cricket Match

Time: 11.00am onwards

Venue: Saint Kentigern College Sports Grounds

As the summer sports season nears the end, come and see how our 1st XI is faring. Afternoon tea will be available in the Nigel Toy Sports Centre Lounge from 2.00pm - 4.00pm.

No cost but please register.

Guided Campus Tours

Time: All day Saturday

Take a tour with student leaders of the College. No cost but please register.

65th Celebration Dinner

Time: 6.00pm for 7.15pm

Venue: Old Collegians Sport Centre

Join us for the ultimate celebration of our 65th year as the Sports Centre is transformed for fine dining. Pre-dinner drinks will be served from 6.00pm before sitting down to a sumptuous four course dinner.

Tickets are limited. Cost: Adult: $100

Or book a table of 10 for $900

Recent Old Collegian (ROC <24): $65

SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2018

65th Chapel Service and Morning Tea

Time: 10.30am

Venue: Chapel of Saint Kentigern

The celebration weekend concludes with a special commemorative service in the Chapel of Saint Kentigern followed by a morning tea in the Goodfellow Centre. No cost but please register.

SKOCA vs 1st X1 Cricket Match

Time: 12.00pm onwards

Venue: Saint Kentigern College Sports Grounds

Refreshments and BBQ provided. No cost but please register.

Change of Guard at Bruce House

At the end of Term 2, the boarders gathered for a formal dinner to farewell Reverend David Smith from his role as Housemaster; a role he took on in 2014 when he and his wife, Karen moved into Bruce House. There is no question that during his tenure, there has been a strong sense of ‘whanau.’ Rev Smith has always declared his immense pride and ‘aroha’ for his ‘extended family of 120 boarders, both boys and girls, and all that they contribute to the fabric of the College. He has enjoyed celebrating their successes with them, no matter how big or small, and seeing the way the boarders support one another in all their endeavours.

During the course of dinner, the Bruce House Head Prefects, Lisa Miyaura and Harrison Taylor both spoke with great fondness for the ‘Rev.’ Harrison said, ‘Your focus on values has brought the very best out of every boarder. You have provided students with a safe and happy base away from their families and homes, which has allowed us all to flourish in our most formative years’ Lisa mirrored these thoughts, adding, ‘Your acknowledgement of the diverse and different cultures and genders that make up our community, ultimately ensuring every student has a great experience, has been fantastic.’ And both thanked him on behalf of all the students for the many pizza nights!

The formal farewell dinner concluded with the traditional Bruce House Haka in honour of Reverend Smith. Held outside on a crisp, winter’s night, this was a very moving ceremony. We wish Reverend Smith well as he returns his full focus to his chaplaincy at the College and hope that he can now enjoy more time with his own family!

New Head of Boarding: Mr Adam Bannister

Stepping into the role vacated by Reverend Smith, the new Head of Boarding is already very familiar to the boarders. Mr Adam Bannister joined the College staff in 2014, taking on the role of Duty Master at Bruce House. At the start of Term 3, he relinquished his former Middle College Head Social Studies position but retained his role as Head of Admissions for the Senior College. Mr Bannister is also well involved with the co-curricular life of the College, most notably in a coaching capacity with the Boys 1st XI football team, and as Head Coach of the Girls 1st XI Cricket team.

Being part of Bruce House is a family affair and joining him in the Housemaster’s house will be his wife, Dawn and children, Ollie (12) and Eliza (5). Supporting the Head of Boarding’s role is the Head of Girls’ Boarding, a position that Mrs Bridget Anitelea gladly took on at the start of the year. Her family, including husband, Lewis and her two girls Maia (10) and Sienna (8) live adjoining the girls’ boarding house. Several other families make up the staff numbers and soon discover they are part of an extended family that includes not only their own children but 120 additional family members in the boarding houses!

Bruce House has a great sense of belonging and parents can feel assured that their children are in a supportive, family community where they are guided by a team of skilled and caring staff. Mr Bannister is looking forward to his new role and continuing the great work of those who have gone before, in providing a safe and enjoyable environment for the students of Bruce House.

Head of Boarding, Mr Adam Bannister; Head of Girls’ Boarding, Mrs Bridget Anitelea; Bruce House Head Prefects, Harrison Taylor and Lisa Miyaura

Farewell Reverend Smith

Mr Adam Bannister, new Head of Boarding

Reverend David Smith and his wife, Karen

Year 12 Give Service In Vanuatu

With thanks to student reporter, Laura Porter, Year 12

Fourteen of our Year 12 students went back to school during the July holidays, but this was a school unlike any they had visited before, for these students travelled to Vanuatu to spend time offering service at school on Pele Island.

Year 12 student Laura Porter reports , ‘Many of us have been fortunate to visit tropical islands before and so we had an inkling of what to expect, however, we also knew this would be a very different experience from a Pacific Island holiday. Equipped with mosquito nets, sports equipment, books, stationery, gifts, tools and a whole lot more, we arrived at the airport to start our journey.

Our destination was set to be Pele island, a 20-minute boat ride from mainland Vanuatu. Our boats turned the corner and in front of us we saw a beautiful white sandy beach filled with waving arms and the welcoming smiles of the local villagers. Chief John welcomed us onto the island and showed us around the village that would be our home for the next five nights.

Sunday started with attending the local church service in the morning, we then headed over to the school to set up for the coming days. The children were filled with excitement, running around us and guiding us on our walk, which would soon become part of our daily routine. The next morning came and the school was buzzing with 40 happy children from all over the island. We fourteen Saint Kentigern students were divided up into three jobs; painting the buildings with the school colours of black and orange, teaching in the classrooms and rebuilding parts of the school. We got to work and it seemed no matter where we were or what we were doing, there would always be a swarm of kids cheekily surrounding you.

But the best part of the day was lunchtime! Never have I seen so much passion and laughter coming from the boys’ game of no-rules football or the make shift game of volleyball played by the girls. There was never a moment of rest, you’d hear laughter all day from our 6 o’clock wake ups to our 10 o’clock goodnights. Never did it bother anyone, because we knew that they were happy. That’s what we loved about it. The people of Pele Island live every moment with such happiness and ambition, not to forget, with love. Whilst they have next to nothing, every single person we met would be more than willing to give you their all.

This really made saying our goodbyes hard. We were treated with a special song sung by the children, followed by lots of hugs, waves and even a few tears. The bonds we made could in no way be replaced and are something we will treasure forever. All of us agreed that we would be more than willing to go another few days without a shower or a bed if it meant we could stay for longer. However, that wasn’t possible and off we set back to the mainland where we were treated to a day at Vila Chaumieres. A quick stop at the blue lagoon and the cascade waterfalls was the perfect way to end our trip.

The plane ride back was filled with sharing our favourite and funniest moments, and as I looked around everyone had a big smile on their face and their eyes were filled with joy and love for the people. The trip enabled us to fully submerge ourselves into the grassroots of Vanuatuan life, well distanced from the glamorous tourist destinations. Each day presented new challenges and new realisations about the fascinating way these people approach life. It was an experience that I will always remember and has shaped the way I view the world today. We have all come away with so much respect for the happiness of the people who live with such little. We give our grateful thanks to the people of Pele Village and to Mr Chris Dowdle and his wife, Alex for accompanying us on the trip.

Year 13 House Building Service Trip to Vanuatu

With thanks to student reporter, Rebecca Worthington

As a student with the privilege of attending Saint Kentigern College and living in a house with a fridge and air conditioning, the Year 13 building trip to Vanuatu was certainly a humbling experience. Fifteen students and three teachers travelled to Port Vila on the first Saturday of the July Holidays. On arrival, we drove through the countryside to the small village of Eaton – this is where we met the people we would be staying with at a school for the week. We were shown our rooms for the next five days, a classroom for the boys, and one for the girls, and we each found a floorspace to settle down in.

To say it was a culture change would be an understatement. We were introduced to the children and the principals of the school who welcomed us with handmade leis, a speech and a school song. That afternoon, armed with a bunch of tennis balls and hair accessories, we were released into the midst of the children.

The next morning, we went to a church service and in the afternoon, we got our first look at the building site. We were split up into two groups for the week, one for each house, where we started making the frames. We managed to get a large majority of these done before heading off for a swim in the gorgeous blue lake with some of the locals. Come Monday, we finished off making the frames, dug some foundation holes and began to put up the walls. This was definitely a hard day, and probably the hottest. We began to mix the cement with shells and sand collected in wheelbarrows from the beach. Using spades and a wheelbarrow, and giving our arms quite the workout, we filled in the foundation holes so that the frames were standing.

Each evening after we returned from the building site, we would play with the children and then eat a fantastic dinner ranging from chicken to coleslaw, to beef stew and rice - lots of rice! We would then gather together, play games and talk, forming strong friendships - which were then tested in games of ‘Mafia!’

In the mornings, some of us got up early to try and catch the sunrise before starting our day. Tuesday and Wednesday were focussed on nailing up the walls, putting on the roof and painting the

outside. We learnt how to saw, paint, and stand on very little, three metres in the air, and still manage to hammer in a nail!

We somehow managed to get more paint on ourselves than on the actual houses but a couple of handprints and a dropped paint carton later, we were looking at what could definitely be called a house. All that was left was for the concrete to be laid on the inside of the house. This took many, many trips to the beach, so Ms Standring organised a roster that had people alternating shovelling sand into the wheelbarrow and carrying it back to the site. On Thursday, we split in half again, with some of us staying back to teach the students in the school and play games with them, while the other half went to the building site to finish concreting the floors. Just before lunchtime we met to gift the houses to the women and families receiving them.

This was definitely the most emotional moment of the trip. The women were very grateful, in return gifting us some gorgeous fabric to hang on our walls to remember our time in Vanuatu. After this touching moment, we returned to the school for a farewell where we were blessed with some necklaces and a beautiful send-off song from the children. We were then on our way to the accommodation we would be staying at for the next few days. On Friday, we headed to Port Vila where we explored the markets and ate lunch. We then headed off to a lovely beach where we relaxed and swam. That night, we watched a fire show and ate a great dinner before heading back to our accommodation.

We will definitely miss the smiling faces of the children, the delicious fresh fruit, the beautiful countryside, the new-born puppies and kittens, and the hospitality of those in Eaton Village. I speak for all who participated in this trip when I say that it was a life changing event. The real privilege was being able to serve others ‘for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,’ Mark 10:43.

Thank you to everyone who made this trip happen and especially to Mr Stead, Miss Standring and Mr Horsnell.

Semester 1 Academic Colours and Honours

In recognition of our students who strive to achieve at the highest academic levels, Saint Kentigern College awards Academic Colours and Honours to Senior College students twice a year. At the completion of Semester 1, the mid-year point; our highest achieving students in both NCEA and the IB Diploma are recognised at a special Academic Colours and Honours assembly.

The standard set to gain Academic Awards is high and intended to motivate our top academic students to achieve at the highest levels of excellence. The students who are awarded Colours receive a special breast pocket to wear with pride on their blazer.

Senior School Awards

NCEA

Year 13 NCEA Academic Colours

David Thibaud, Alyssa Hatton, Erin Meek, Yasmin Shakes, Victoria Hockley

Year 12 NCEA Academic Colours

Daniel Mar, Amy Waters, Ebba Olsen, Samuel Scott, Ben Creemers, Elizabeth Ellis, Joshua Ng, Hannah Williams, Anna Kong

Year 12 NCEA Academic Honours

Kenya Ashcroft, Victoria Caddle, Roynan Clune, Mackensie Cooper, Sophie Fleming, Katie Harris, Amelia Heimsath, Lewis Hoggard, Samuel Kemble, Ryan King, Brian Lee, Rafe Macdonald, Keegan Manning, Caitlyn Ren, Juliet Shepherd, Benjamin Staite, Douglas Swart, Kahurangi Tataurangi, Peter Vodanovich, Jordan Williams

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE DIPLOMA

Year 13 IB Academic Colours

Josh Looker, Chris Lee

Year 13 IB Honours

Steven Guo, Olivia Hofer, Tate McGregor, Lisa Miyaura, Laura Smith, Sophie Stone, Crystal Sun, Patrick Ye

Year 13 NCEA Academic Honours

Amelia Ayres, Mobeen Bhikoo, Josephine Crawford, Isabella Denholm, Jordana Grant, Ashley Potter, Jason Seto, Matthew Stirling, Stella Taylor, Ryan Tourani Rad

Year 11 NCEA Academic Colours

Isobel Merrie, William Feng, Christopher Simonds, Margaret Li, Misaki Chen, Jenny Jiang, Sophia Chiang, Karl Jorgensen, Benjamin Shepherd, Richard Lu

Year 11 NCEA Academic Honours

Steven Cho, Madison Clarke, Benjamin Fraser, James Grant, John Hsieh, Emma King, Cameron Nahill, Gibson Nevill, Jesse Niu, Gabriel Nolan, Olivia Overfield, Kate Pennycuick, Alice Smith, Jonathan Twyman, Hugo Verry, Jethro Worthington, Cindy Yi

Year 12 IB Academic Colours

Andrew Chen, Yunfan Yu, Joy Han, Ericia Chang, Desmond Yong, Akshay Mor

Year 12 IB Honours

Noel Argoseputro, Ada Chan, Jonnie Danesh-Clough, Jason Hsiao, Callum Lee, George Wu

ESOL Cultural Day

Having trouble using chop sticks? Wondering how to write your name in Chinese? Fancy yourself as a dumpling chef, a dragon artist or Chinese knot maker? The opportunities were all there at the Middle School ESOL Cultural Day.

Our ESOL students, whose first language is Chinese, had been set a three part assignment to help with their developing English language skills. Firstly, they had undertaken a written project to compare their own culture to that of New Zealand. Researching widely, some interesting facts came to the fore such as in New Zealand, we have a food preference for beef and lamb, whereas in China they are more likely to eat pork and chicken. Schooling in China is stricter and the school day is longer, whilst New Zealand offers more subjects and greater opportunities for co-curricular involvement.

In the second part of their assignment, they selected an aspect of their own culture and wrote a set of instructions to explain the task. The third part came to fruition when they set up stalls in the foyer of Elliot Hall to demonstrate their chosen skill to others while giving verbal instructions in English.

The stalls provided fascinating insights into the students’ heritage, and covered many types of cultural expression. Tea was brewed and served, dumplings and wantons were made and students learnt how to mix the glutinous ciba. To entertain, there were demonstrations of Chinese chess, dragon drawing, lantern making and writing with a brush – as well as the opportunity to practise with chopsticks.

It was fantastic to see the students thriving in the opportunity to practise their English, while imparting something that is special to them. Inevitably, the instructions led to more in-depth conversations between the stall-holders and their ‘customers’ as they progressed through the demonstrations. Well done to the students who took part for representing their cultures with pride and passion!

Andrew Knows His Numbers!

Year 12 student, Andrew Chen continues to achieve at the highest level in his favoured subject, mathematics, adding yet another title to his string of successes!

Andrew started the year being awarded Top in the Country for Statistics in the NZQA Scholarship examinations held at the end of the previous academic year. He was only Year 11 when he sat this exam intended for Year 13 graduates. At the same time, he gained a scholarship in Calculus.

He then went on to be selected for the second year in row to represent New Zealand at the International Mathematical Olympiad, held in Brazil during July. The Olympiad gathers the best secondary school mathematicians from around the world to compete in a series of incredibly challenging mathematical problems from almost any field of mathematics. Andrew finished this competition with a bronze award.

His most recent success is a win in the nationwide Casio Victoria University Senior Mathematics competition. The preliminary round of competition was held earlier in the year at College. The top 200 papers from around the country were submitted to regional markers to select 15 finalists. After scoring highly in the preliminary round, Andrew was invited as one of the 15 finalists to be flown to Wellington early in September to pit his mathematical skills against the nation’s

best young minds. We are proud that Andrew’s results placed him ahead of all the other candidates.

The College has been represented at this final round of competition six times. In 2006, 2011 and 2012, when former student Jo Lu won it, and again in 2015 and 2016 when Kevin Shen came second on both occasions. Well done Andrew on this fantastic achievement!

Transformative Spaces

‘I found the project was very challenging but it made a lot of sense as it was a real-life problem that we got to solve. We learnt a lot of problem solving and collaboration skills.’ - Sam Titter-Dower.

With thanks to Head of Technology, Ms Miriam Aitken

Since the Jack Paine Centre (JPC) first opened in 2003, the number of students choosing Art, Design and Technology subjects has substantially increased, putting pressure on specialist workshops and design spaces throughout the building.

Gone are the days when Visual Arts, Spatial Design and Technology classes were taught in one or two rooms with a single teacher and a closed door. Today’s students are constantly on the move across curriculum areas, and there has been a growing need to provide a variety of spaces to meet the requirements of a 21st century innovative learning environment.

Beyond its classrooms and workshops, the Jack Paine Centre is not short on space. The Atrium, in particular, is a large, open, high ceilinged area that has been largely under-resourced and under-used over the years. In discussing how we could make use of the empty spaces in a strategic, forward thinking and designerly way, one that mirrors the studio environment of tertiary learning and industry, the idea of a mobile resource hub came to the fore. The aim was to allow design and ideation to happen in a common space, rather than confined to specialist rooms, while providing students with spaces they enjoy working in, giving them the ability to move around for collaboration with their peers and teachers, and to enable a more integrated design experience.

The thinking sought to create a transformed space that moves beyond walls to provide flow, makes use of flexible, systems-based furniture, incorporates innovative storage, and facilitates new ways of learning in a fit-for-purpose, engaging learning environment.

In the first instance, Think and Shift, a progressive design company, were approached to visualise and design the first stage of the transformation; a mobile design hub for the Atrium space. They were briefed to optimise the high, yet wasted open space under the stairs and convert it into a mobile hub that could be moved and opened up into workstations to accommodate up to 25 students at a time. The stations needed to be designed in such a way that they could be pulled out and packed away quickly and easily after each session, and provide working space for any JPC student, regardless of subject, to work on art, design, research and ideation. At the same time, design suggestions were also sought to seat the growing customer base for the popular student-led Blue Brew café that serves barista-made hot drinks each day, as a subsidiary of the Food Technology programme.

The final solution contained designs for integrated desks, seating, book shelving, storage and exhibition spaces that can be easily pulled out into the Atrium and then safely packed away and stored underneath the stairs.

‘It was

challenging and frustrating

but in the end, I think we are all proud of what we were able to accomplish.’ - Julien Landrey

‘It was rewarding because it took a lot of effort which meant in the end that hard work paid off.’ - Ryan Smith

‘I felt it was successful because it looks good and is a bigger project than I have ever done before.’ - Oliver Brooks Ham

From the outset, the intention had been for Year 11 and Year 13 Product Design students to make use of the initial working drawings to plan and manage the actual construction of the furniture for the studio and Blue Brew Café. In pairs, the Year 13 students worked collaboratively on the construction process. Oliver Brookes Ham and Sam Titter-Dower worked on constructing the wedge bag storage and the square cabinet. The wedge bag storage is a cleverly designed container to safely store students’ school bags while the design studio is in use. This optimised the very limited space at the bottom of the stairs, at the same time as keeping school bags out of the way. The large square cabinet was the main storage unit for resources and student work. Matt Craigen and Ryan Smith constructed the bookcase. This is to house and display the many design books we have in the JPC, making them more accessible for student use. Julien Landrey and Kershawl Skyes-Martin worked on constructing the two angle cabinets. These are for storing resources and the clear Perspex lid allowed for visual display of student work. All five pieces were shaped to follow the contour of the stairs.

The students were working towards NZQA Achievement Standards. The Year 13 students completed two standards, including Achievement Standard 3.2 - Undertake project management to support technological practice (4 credits) and Achievement Standard 3.20 - Implement complex procedures to integrate parts using resistant materials to make

a specified product (6 credits). The Year 11 students worked towards Achievement Standard 1.20 - Implement basic procedures using resistant materials to make a specified product (6 credits). These assessments required students to complete and record all health and safety training, and follow health and safety practices while constructing well-made, safe and stable furniture with a high quality finish.

Early in Term 3, the transformed space was officially opened for all to see – and it was fantastic to see the finished furniture and the way in which it is being used by the students. Since the Jack Paine Centre first opened 15 years ago, many changes to the curriculum have taken place but none more so than in recent years as the ‘JPC’ staff continue to review its practice and respond to our changing world. In this world of ‘disruption’ and unprecedented technological advances, there is a growing need to ensure our students are resourceful and resilient when they leave school, ready for a future-unknown. It is no longer enough to just know; tomorrow’s work force needs to be able to apply their knowledge. If we are to move forward as a nation of creative and critical problem solvers, design has to be a valued part of our culture. That means investing in education that promotes problem-solving through ‘designerly’ thinking, risk taking and intelligent failure – exactly what ‘JPC’ subjects offer our students!

$500 Win for Science Fair Project!

Year 7 students from the College have been recognised for their outstanding work at the Manukau regional final of the NIWA Science Fair.

Six students were selected to represent the College following on from their inschool competition. It was points of difference that caught our judges’ attention when selecting which students would go on to the Manukau final.

Neela Patel received a special award at the Fair for ‘Best Scientific Method for Year 7 & 8’ for her project ‘Washout,’ which looked at whether colour saving shampoo was more effective than normal shampoo for dry hair. Her detailed study earned her a $500 prize! Well done Neela!

Finn Mayer was awarded second place in the Consumer Science category for his research into the smoke points of different cooking oils, aiming to find the ideal combination of oils for frying and roasting. Luke Franich took out third place in the Living World category for his project ‘Tamaki’s Tiny

Toxins’. His aim was to find out if the levels of bacteria in the water of the Tamaki Estuary vary at different locations and during different tide levels, which were all proven.

Mathilde Peace was highly commended for her ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ project which researched what might be the best enhancement for skyscrapers, to hold up against earthquakes in New Zealand.

Bella Franicevic won top project for the in-school competition for her project ‘Bird Buffet’. Researching what colour bird seed our backyard birds are attracted to and whether they were influenced by colours. Ayaana Patel was highly commended in-school for her investigation into whether nail fungus can be transferred through nail polishes.

The NIWA Science Fair judges were experts in each of the different categories and were looking for thoroughness, technical skills, presentation, originality and a high level of scientific thought and understanding.

National Medals for Robotics

After their success at the Auckland Robocup competition earlier in the term, our first place winners in the Premier Rescue and Football travelled to Dunedin to compete against the best robotics teams from around the country at the National event. Each of the teams had built robots suited to their category of the competition, applying their engineering knowledge and skills. They not only built robots that could perform the required tasks but also created the programming to precisely control the robot completely autonomously; any modifications to the robots meant altering the computer programme to suit the sensors.

Xavier Yin and Joseph Chan represented the College in the Premier Rescue, an event that mirrors the real-life use of robots that rescue people from life-threatening situations. The robot is required to precisely follow a line, locate the victim, pick it up and place it on a low platform near the edge of the rescue zone. Ethan Ivanier and Geoffrey Chen collaborated for the ‘Soccer’ competition where two robots need to work together to work against an opposing pair to protect the goal, attack the opposition, gain the ball and score across the field by ‘kicking’ an infra-red transmitting ball.

PREMIER RESCUE:

Auckland 1st , National 2nd

Joseph Chan, Xavier Yin, Owen Chen

SENIOR FOOTBALL:

Auckland 1st , National 2nd

Ethan Ivanier and Geoffrey Chen

JUNIOR RESCUE:

Auckland 2nd

Jonathan Chan, Rohan Chilluvuri

Auckland 3rd

Jacob Attwood, Ethan Fung, Elijah Wong

Artisan Food Market

The annual Artisan Food Market has become one of the most anticipated culinary events in the Jack Paine Centre–customers know, for a very short period of time, the fare on offer will be exceptional!

This year’s market was the final stage of more than two months of planning and preparation by the Year 11 Food Technology students to complete one of their NCEA Level 1 Achievement Standards. Following a research phase, which saw them analyse the products sold at markets and specialty stores around Auckland, they conducted feasibility studies to come up with a food item they believed would prove a popular addition to the market place. Once their product was determined, they established the cost of development and production, refined the recipe to produce a minimum of 20 units, created a food safety plan and nutrition information panel, sourced packaging and calculated a price. Students embraced the brief with enthusiasm and many gave up their free time to perfect their products in anticipation of the opportunity to ‘peddle their wares’ when 50 stalls opened for business to showcase their kitchen creations to a willing customer base of students, parents and staff.

Perfect Patisserie Under Scrutiny!

Seemingly simple, yet deceptively challenging, our NCEA Level 2 Food Technology students were set the task of masterfully creating a perfect tart – not any tart, but Marco Pierre White’s version of the Roux Brothers’ classic Tarte au Citron - the students certainly had their work cut out for them! No pressure, but in true JPC fashion, the challenge was cranked up by putting the practical component of their internal assessment under public scrutiny! Each student’s Tarte au Citron was presented at a ‘Best in Show’ evening with guest judges from industry. This was the first time that this assessment has culminated in a competition, making it very motivating and competitive for the students and teachers alike!

If our students were to succeed in their patisserie assignment, they need to truly master the art of pastry! Why is Pastry so important? Because it is all about science and the knowledge of culinary science. A precise measurement of this ingredient mixed with a certain amount of that ingredient produces this result. It’s chemistry.

So which of our students created the best chemistry – the perfect pastry topped with the perfect filling? Our judges for the evening had the best job in the world! Taking tiny samples from 25 delicious tarts to make their final judgement were Old Collegian, Alex Southwick, who is now half way through his chef apprenticeship at Skycity, Tracey Baird, one of the owners of the City Cake Company, former chef and current Techology teacher, Ms Jo Horgan and Senior College Principal, Mrs Suzanne Winthrop.

Winners

1st Charlize Milne

2nd Gareth Lacey

3rd Gemma Fuller

Highly Commended George Beggs, Olivia Eskrigge, Bella Thornton, Jono Low, Anton Nichols

‘Neverland. Wendy, John And Michael. The Ticking Crocodile. Captain Hook. Peter Pan. Tinkerbell. Do You Believe In Fairies?’

Well over a century since Peter Pan first delighted audiences in Edwardian England, the familiarity of these names and phrases is testament to the magic of J.M. Barrie’s creation – a story with the power to set imagination alight in children and adults alike; a story, like its namesake, that never grows old.

When the carefree and careless Peter Pan flew into the nursery of the Darling household, the stage was set for this year’s Middle College musical production; a rollicking good tale that persuaded the Saint Kentigern audience that no matter how old we are, we should believe in fairies!

Year 9 student, Sam Everitt, was tasked with the title role of Peter Pan, the boy who never wanted to grow up. Young, carefree, brave but naïve, Peter just wants to have fun, fight and stay a boy forever. Sam played the role with cheeky exuberance, connecting with the audience from the outset with his happy-go-lucky nature, demonstrating clear vocals and a strong stage presence. Never far from his side was the ever-loyal, energy-charged Tinkerbell. Gorgeously costumed, Arwyn Stevens (Year 8) may not have had lines to learn but she played the ever-present, flitting fairy brilliantly!

As Peter returned to the Darling nursery in search of his lost shadow, he disturbed the oldest Darling child, Wendy, who

recognised him from her dreams. An intelligent girl with a mature side, Wendy was beautifully played by fellow Year 9 student, Addison Peebles. Wendy has a desire for adventure, tempered with a nurturing, motherly nature. She understands that responsibility will eventually catch up and that ‘we can’t be young forever.’ Addison was a fantastic choice for the role with a superb vocal range and a convincing portrayal of the character.

Wendy’s brothers, John (Jack Webber) and Michael (Neve Winterman-Duffy) soon wake and the irrepressible Peter persuades them to join him as he flies away over the rooftops to his fantastical realm in Neverland. Here, the children join the Lost Boys and Wendy takes on the role of mother to Peter and his gang. The Lost Boys were a lively ensemble of characters who brought the stage to life in action and song each time they bounded in!

Trouble was never far away and for Peter, this took the shape of his nemesis, Captain Hook, the villain of the story - angry, old and terrified of crocodiles! It was Peter who severed Hook’s hand in a fight; a hand which was quickly consumed by a crocodile - a creature that taunts Hook! In a clever piece of characterisation, a group of dancers took on the lumbering form of the giant reptile and with each tick of the clock it had ingested, Hook vowed a vengeance! Peter Wallace played this flamboyant pirate role to a tee! His mannerisms,

facial expressions and voice perfectly depicted every aspect of the fiendish Captain Hook from his evil plan to capture Peter, his fear of the crocodile and his decree to make Wendy walk the plank. Captain Hook’s silly sidekick, Smee was also a favourite, with Charlotte McDonald’s good grasp of comedic acting working well.

The ‘Neverlandians,’ led by the Chief (Samuel Costello) and Tiger Lily (Chloe Haerewa) pledged to protect the Lost Boys but the wile of the pirates proved too great and the boys were soon captured, leaving the sleeping Peter behind – for the iconic scene where Tinkerbell drinks medicine poisoned by Hook and Peter beseeches the audience to believe in fairies so she can be saved.

Now it is up to Peter Pan to rescue his friends, dispatch the pirates and settle things once and for all with Captain Hook. Through cunning Peter steals onto the Pirate’s ship and effects a daring rescue – which culminates in a battle between the Lost Boys and all the Pirates. Wendy, her brothers, the Lost Boys and Peter Pan are victorious – the Pirates are vanquished and Captain Hook disappears overboard into the jaws of the waiting crocodile!

But that’s not quite the end - there is still a home with a mother to be found for the Lost Boys. Little did Mr and Mrs Darling (Ivan Zhang

and Lucy Lyons) suspect that when their adventurous trio returned, it would be with several more children in tow to upturn their household! The final word goes to the four legged member of the Darling family, Nana the dog, played by Anya Kemp who did a great job scooting across the stage to keep the family in check! Woof!

The costumes were beautiful, the choreography superb and the orchestra faultless. The large cast, musicians and crew clearly had a ball bringing the show together!

Do we believe in fairies? You bet we do!

Our thanks to staff who, along with the students, spent countless hours to bring this production to the stage. Produced by Head of Performing Arts, Ms Jane Horder and Mrs Kim Smith, the roles of Director, Musical Director and Choreographer were taken on by three Old Collegians, Mr Ashton Brown, Mr Oliver Gilmour and Ms Morgan Heron, who were all actively involved in the Performing Arts whilst at College. Along with Technical Designer, Mr Glen Mortensen, a host of other staff took on roles in costuming, hair and makeup, backstage and front of house. We thank them sincerely for bringing out the very best in our students.

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in

ll of the wit and romance of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel came to life on the Saint Kentigern stage, in a fast-paced adaptation of her classic story; an adaptation that stepped away from the English gentility of the Regency period to land squarely in the 1950’s! Despite the 140 year gap, the tale of love and values in classconscious England sat well in its reimagined setting. These were both eras when the role of women, and questions of land ownership and inheritance were tightly intertwined with courtship and the need to find a suitable marriage.

With five daughters of marriageable age - the beautiful Jane (Amelia Ayres), the strong-willed Elizabeth (Stephanie Ramlose), the bookish Mary (Natalya Trombitas), the immature Kitty (Molly Griffiths) and the wild Lydia (Amelia Elliot) - their mother, Mrs Bennet, had one purpose in life, to find a match for each of her daughters. Stella Taylor stole the show with her larger-than-life, flamboyant portrayal of the foolish, prone-to-hysteria Mrs Bennet. Stella’s nuances of body language and facial expressions perfectly matched the delivery of her lines.

Mrs Bennet’s over-zealous matchmaking was offset by her gentlenatured husband, Mr Bennet (Matis Ellehuus). Surrounded by a household of excitable women, he observed from afar and interjected with a laconic wit, well-carried by Matis. The need to see their daughters well-married lay in the inheritance laws of the time, which passed property solely to a male heir, in this case a distant cousin they had yet to meet.

The action picked up with the arrival of a rich gentleman, Mr Bingley (Fraser Hamilton) to the neighbourhood. Undoubtedly, amongst his sophisticated circle of friends, there should be no shortage of suitors and good connections for the eager Bennet sisters. In time, true love blossoms between Mr Bingley and Jane, whilst his friend, the handsome, yet steely Mr Darcy (Alasdair Carmichael-Lowe) finds more than his match in the headstrong Elizabeth. Contrary to the time, Elizabeth is determinedly disinterested in romantic pursuits. It’s the meeting of these two strong minds that provides the source of the title – Elizabeth’s pride and Darcy’s prejudice. As Elizabeth tries in vain to speak for women, asserting an intellectual and moral independence, Mr Darcy cannot help but fall in love with her quick wit. Stephanie and Alasdair play these roles exceedingly well, sparring verbally before eventually softening to find love.

Elizabeth’s four sisters could not be more different! Bookish Mary, prim and proper, retains her diffidence, sitting aside watching her sisters with an air of disbelief. Jane is full of charm and grace, flirtatious Lydia almost brings disgrace on the family when she elopes with the raffish, self-assured soldier, Mr Wickham (Will Clark), whilst Kitty’s immaturity bubbles across the stage. Each actress manages to stand out individually, bringing their own unique quirks to the roles.

The arrival of ‘distant cousin,’ the comedic, yet slightly creepy, Mr Collins (Brett Edwards) to make arrangements to inherit the Bennet family home, once again reminds us of the place of women. Brett’s delivery of the gauche, patronising parson, who is equally determined to marry, provides further levity – and a reminder of the perils of marrying for the wrong reasons!

The backbone of the show is undoubtedly Mrs Bennet as she attempts to see all five of her daughters married and secure; constantly counting the income that each successful liaison will bring! For three, Jane, Lydia and Elizabeth, she succeeds and the ending brings a happy walk down the aisle!

The costuming was colourful and the set simple and striking, with billowing borders and a central aisle to represent marriage, offset by

subtle changes of lighting. The essence of the 1950’s parties - balls in former times - was captured brilliantly through the dancing and music, choreographed by Head of Dance, Mr Geordan Wilcox and assisted by students, Erin Meek and Jo Crawford.

The ensemble of senior drama students brought colour and vigour to the stage as they transported the audience back to the 50’s –and left us feeling grateful that society’s values have changed. For whilst Austen’s opening line may have been ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,’ beneath it lies the unstated significance that at the time, a single woman was greatly in need of a husband, especially a wealthy one.

Exploring Dramatic Ideas

Each year, our Senior College drama students perform their NCEA assessment pieces in the intimate setting of the drama suite or Jack Paine Centre, spaces that lend themselves particularly well to these short, often edgy productions that push the boundaries for the students and audience alike.

With minimal props and costuming, the focus is placed clearly on the actors and their stage craft; their ability to not only deliver their lines but to use complex dramatic skills to fully engage their audience.

Year 11 Drama Assessment –‘Explore and Develop Dramatic Ideas’

For Year 11 students who study drama, the NCEA Level 1 course encourages ‘the exploration and development of dramatic ideas in inventive and imaginative ways’ and ‘to clearly communicate ideas and feelings through performance.’

During two evening shows, the anguish of human nature was put under the spotlight as they presented two plays: ‘Find Me’ by Olwen Wymark and ‘The Trial’ by Franz Kafka, adapted for the stage by Steven Berkoff. Each student’s performance was assessed for NCEA Level 1 standard 1.6 – Theatre Production.

‘Find Me’ was based on the true-life struggle of the Taylor family in coping with their ‘mentally disturbed’ daughter, Verity. Wymark was one of the first female writers to tackle mental health issues in this context and the result was a raw text that left the audience questioning what they would do as parents if faced with similar circumstances.

Focused on corruption and mediocrity, the ‘The Trial’ was the terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself - not knowing what the charges are or who is charging him. It was the stark staging that had the greatest impact as eleven door frames constantly moved and regrouped to become doorways, corridors, a rocking boat and a variety of other scenes from K’s life and imagination.

Year 12 Drama Assessment‘Perform a substantial acting role in a scripted production.’

The Year 12 Drama students performed a moving production of German playwright, Bertolt Brecht's 'Fear and Misery of the Third Reich,’ in a series of 24 playlets. Depicting National Socialist Germany in the 1930s, as a land of poverty, violence, fear and pretence, the script was based on the life and times of ordinary people living in Germany as Hitler rose to power.

Staging the production was part of their NCEA Level 2 Achievement Standard 2.6 – ‘Perform a substantial acting role in a scripted production.’ The students were also required to submit a statement of intention for the interpretation of their role and an annotated extract from a part of the script where their role is prevalent.

In preparation, to gain a greater level of understanding of this style of theatre, the students were fortunate to have former College student, James Wenley lead them in a workshop based on Brecht’s ‘Epic Theatre’ style. The students’ portrayal of Brecht’s intentions and performance genre was fantastic. The actors talked directly to the audience, speaking with actions, disagreeing with statements and apologising for swearing; its purpose is to shock, surprise and amuse the audience.

Year 13 Drama Assessment –‘….to

make a meaningful contribution to a play.’

The NCEA Level 3 Drama curriculum calls for students to demonstrate their understanding of theatre in a variety of ways. The Assessment Standard 3.6 requires Year 13 students ‘to prepare for and perform a substantial acting role that must have had sufficient depth and length to allow them to make a meaningful contribution to the play.’

This year the group is studying the theatre form, ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ and chose Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ as their performance piece. ‘Absurd Theatre’ implies that the piece is meant to be irrational, without pre-conceived concepts of drama, chronological plot, logical language, themes or recognisable settings.

A tragi-comedy in two acts, ‘Waiting for Godot’ is viewed as fundamentally existentialist in its take on life and is focused on ‘the suffering of being.’ Most of the play is centred on two key characters, Estragon and Vladimir, who are waiting for ‘Godot.’ Vladimir represents the intellect and Estragon the body, both of whom cannot exist without the other. Without form or function, ‘Godot’ can be understood as one many things in life that people wait for. Taking their turn in pairs, the two key roles were seamlessly shared by the students, as they took on the struggle to prove their own existence.

In developing their roles, students were asked to consider their function within the action of the play, how they would describe their role in relationship to the ideas of the play and what purpose their role played in communicating the key messages.

DANCE SHOWCASE

From contemporary dance to jazz, hip hop and classical ballet, this year’s Dance Showcase was a superb display of talent that brought yet another dimension of student achievement to the Saint Kentigern stage.

The largely student-led performances entailed over 100 dancers who had auditioned from across the year groups, performing 38 pieces that had been carefully prepared by Year 12 and 13 Dance student choreographers, resulting in two fabulous performance nights. The pressure was on both the choreographers and the performers to get every last detail correct as their work was being assessed for NCEA.

For those undertaking Dance as an examinable course of study at senior level, there are a number of objectives to be achieved. Achievement objectives at NCEA Level 2 (Year 12) and NCEA Level 3 (Year 13) each have a performance and choreographic element. At Year 12, there is a requirement to ‘choreograph a group Dance to communicate an intention.’ At Year 13, the requirement is to ‘produce a dance for a performance.’ There is also a requirement for NCEA Level 1 (Year 11) to Level 3 to ‘perform a significant role in a group dance to an audience.’

To meet these objectives, the senior dance students have poured considerable energy into preparing for the Showcase, in readiness

to present their work for NCEA assessment. This year, the show was based on a sense of connectivity. The Year 12 pieces all delved into the theme of family, expressing feelings of love, separation, loss, protection, stability, belonging and companionship. Wider themes were interpreted into dance by the Year 13 choreographers, who had brainstormed the concept of ‘Turangawaewae.’ Translated as ‘a place to stand,’ the students developed works around belonging, individuality and identity. The vast range of meanings conveyed on stage by both year levels was a superb display of the choreographers’ research and imagination, as well as the performers’ dancing ability. The energy the dancers exerted was reciprocated by the warm appreciation from the audience of students, parents and friends.

For the first time, Year 7-8 students were involved in the show, dancing in pieces taught by senior dance students from the College Dance Academy. The Academy/ Extension Programme is a new initiative, set up during the course of 2016, catering for different levels and styles of dance, including classical ballet, contemporary, jazz and hiphop. Students audition for a place, attending extra Period 0 (before school) and Period 7 (after school) classes as well as Saturday classes. The extra classes include coaching, pilates, yoga and conditioning as well as

learning dance works for performance, both at College and beyond. The classes are taught by College dance staff, Mr Geordan Wilcox and Mr Ichiro Harada, as well as a range of itinerant dance specialists who expose the students to a wide range of teaching and performance styles.

Year 12 and 13 Dance students develop many different skills through the process of choreographing for the showcase; they manage auditions, dancers, organise rehearsals, costumes, prepare for rehearsals, manage timelines, work collaboratively with others and develop leadership skills. They are also involved in the technical aspects of the production.

Pursuing Dance as a Career

With thanks to Year 13 student, Erin Meek

For me, my senior years have seen many opportunities in dance. As a foundation member of the Dance Academy at the College, I have been able to take part in numerous festivals and performances, which allowed me to experience a range of choreography and teaching styles I had not previously encountered. I was also encouraged to audition for, and attend, a number of external programmes and workshops.

The academy provides a wide range of classes, which are excellent for building up strong technique and experimenting with different genres. I could see a huge improvement in my stability and strength from yoga and Pilates classes, whilst the jazz, hip hop, contemporary, and ballet classes forced me to extend myself and become a more versatile dancer. Working with guest teachers and choreographers exposed us to new ideas and methods.

The New Zealand School of Dance started a new programme in 2016, in which they selected a group of contemporary dance students from Auckland, from an initial workshop, to continue working with throughout the year. These workshops were recommended to me by Head of Dance, Mr Wilcox, and the classes I participated in as a result were immensely valuable to me.The experience inspired me to pursue a career in dance.

I was also accepted into the Royal New Zealand Ballet National Mentor Programme. Paired with a RNZB dancer, Abigail Boyle, I corresponded with her throughout the year, meeting for sessions where I watched all of the company’s performances, observed company classes, took part in open classes, and spent time with my mentor. I was able send videos to Abigail for feedback and spent a day at the RNZB studios. This was an incredible opportunity I would not have been aware of but for the academy and my teachers.

Mr Wilcox and Mr Harada draw on their international experience with renowned dance companies, and extensive networks, to offer dancers from all genres an environment in which they will develop as performers, take risks, and succeed in their individual goals. I am now working with the teachers through the academy to plot my career path in dance.

Maori and Pasifika Cultural Evening

When we talk about Saint Kentigern’s cultural heritage, we tend to look to our traditional past with deep ties to Scotland. Each year we celebrate these ties when our Pipes and Drums step out to represent Saint Kentigern, with focus given to our annual Ceilidh at the College, Celtic Day at the Boys’ School and Flora MacDonald Day at the Girls’ School.

Alongside our traditional past, we also celebrate the cultural heritage that reflects the growing diversity of our student cohort today. Each year, our Middle College ESOL students present a Cultural Day with the focus on Asian languages and customs, drawing a large number of students and staff to share in the experience. Languages Week gives focus to French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese customs – the four modern languages taught at the College. Another exceptional experience is offered by our Maori and Pacific Island students at their Cultural Evening.

For those of us who are fortunate enough to have travelled to a Pacific Island, we know there is nothing more entertaining than being engaged in an island’s cultural concert. They are colourful, energetic, meaningful, all-inclusive and are bound to bring on the smiles!

a warm welcome to you all!

After a few years’ hiatus, the College Cultural Group reformed early last year, quickly swelling in number to represent a diverse range of nationalities from the Pacific Island nations and beyond. The group is a cross section of all ages drawn from throughout the Middle and Senior Colleges who were very proud to come together and perform for family and friends! The Cultural Evening was their chance to give a performance in public and share a little of their own customs. It was an important showcase of Saint Kentigern’s diverse cultures and a celebration of Maori and Pasifika youth.

The evening began with a powhiri. This custom traditionally served to discover whether the visiting party was friend or foe and acts as the formal welcoming of guests by the hosts. The karanga was called by parent, Jani Wilson, with the manuhiri in return by Old Collegian, Amorangi Malesala. Valance Yates (Year 11) and Jade Stewart (Year 9) both delivered a whaikorero (formal speech); each of them speaking with superb self-assurance. The whaikorero were interspersed with waiata from the kapa haka group, firstly ‘He Honere,’ finishing with the much loved ‘E papa Waiari’ led by Amorangi.

Mrs Suzanne Winthrop, Principal Senior College welcomed all the guests, saying that this celebration is one she looks forward to,

Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Talofa lava, Fakalofa lahi atu, Malo lelei, and

knowing the passion that is poured into each of the items. The night was hosted by Year 12 students, Briana Baker and Tevita Ahokovi who did a fantastic continuity job, keeping the audience informed and entertained from start to finish, including an audience ‘ice breaker’ –an invited audience dance-off that took on a distinct island flavour!

The first item brought all our kapa haka group back on stage to perform a set. This group is largely made up of Middle College students of all cultural backgrounds who meet regularly to learn action songs. Most recently, they performed at the Wearable Arts Show. They sang Tutira Mai, followed by a haka from the boys and finishing with the well-known action song, Poi E, from the girls.

The evening entailed both individual and group performances. Lively Nili, the winner of last year’s SKC’s Got Talent, and Chloe Haerewa both stepped up to sing solo, while Tevita was joined by Solomon Fifita on guitar for a double act. Bella Allan Moetaua represented the Cook Islands and Makerita Isaako, Samoa, for beautiful, lyrical solo dance pieces.

The group dances were superbly choreographed set pieces from the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti; both the boys and girls proudly wearing incredibly detailed, hand-made costumes. The

Tongan boys gave a lively, vibrant performance of Mate Ma’a Tonga, clearly relishing their moment in the spotlight! The Samoan girls finished the evening with an equally lively Sasa – the slap dance.

We also welcomed a guest appearance by Father and Sonz, a Presbyterian Church choir who sang in beautiful harmony. The night ended with a Taualuga; a time when members of the audience are invited to dance with their family members onstage; a chance for donations to be given, often slapped onto the bodies of the dancers.

In closing, Mr Duncan McQueen, Principal Middle College gave thanks to the performers but also to the many staff, tutors and parents behind the scenes who had worked to make this such a special occasion.

This year’s Cultural Evening was a wonderful, happy celebration of the mix of cultural backgrounds that make up our student body and was greatly enjoyed by all who attended. It was wonderful to see the pride with which the students represented their culture, their school and their families and the sense of belonging they brought to the stage. It was a total pleasure to watch! The audience loved it and were not shy about vocalising their support!

Parents turned out in force in support of this year’s Cultural Show. In the hours leading up to the performance, there was feverish activity in the drama rooms below Elliot Hall as mothers adjusted costumes and last minute rehearsing took place. For students involved in the Maori pieces, there was also a need to wait in turn while their moko was carefully applied from a printing block. Our grateful thanks to the group who worked to ensure that each student looked fantastic!

YEARS 7 AND 8 SUPREME WINNER

Also winner of the Pre-loved Avante Garde section

In and Out for Coffee Millie Eaten

YEARS 9 AND 10 SUPREME WINNER

Also winner of the Pre-loved Avante Garde section Wool in Wonderland Emma Savory and Olivia Bartlett

Wearable Arts Show

Masses of empty coffee capsules and miles of recycled wool proved to be the winning formula for the Supreme Winners of this year’s Wearable Arts Show. Millie Eaten, the Year 7- 8 winner was dotted in colourful capsules for her entry ‘In and Out for Coffee.’ Year 9 -10 winners, Emma Savory and Olivia Bartlett, were a successful pairing last year, who had once again joined forces to knit up a storm of recycled wool for a creation entitled ‘Wool in Wonderland.’

All catwalk models were fortunate to work with professional ‘people mover,’ Kiri Whitford-Joynt who generously gave of her time for the sixth year to prepare our students for the show. Under her guidance, art stepped out on to the catwalk as Years 7 -8, along with further entrants from Years 9-10, confidently ‘strutted their stuff’ in a range of garments they had designed and constructed themselves. With almost 80 costumes on show, close to 200 students taking part and plenty of prizes up for grabs across six sections, the excitement was high in the weeks leading up to the show and ticket sales were brisk! There wasn’t a spare seat on the night!

Media personality, Wendy Meyer, was once again the continuity announcer setting a relaxed yet professional tone for the performers. Like Kiri, she has given an amazing six years of support. The catwalk items were interspersed with colourful dance displays choreographed for Year 7 -8 by our Year 11-13 dance students. The combination of fashion and dance made this a fantastic show case of student-inspired creativity.

The two judges this year were Belinda Watt, HOD Fashion Design at Whitecliffe College and Liz Farr, also from Whitecliffe. Judging was not an enviable task and took lengthy deliberation! This was a superb evening greatly enjoyed by a huge audience. Our sincere thanks to Miss Ashleigh McLean and Miss Kristen Schweder who stepped into the shoes that Mrs Leisha Slade, the founder of Saint Kentigern WAS’ left to fill. They were big shoes to fill but the pair, with support from Head of Performing Arts, Ms Jane Horder, can now relax knowing that they, too, have done a fantastic job!

and 8

HIGHLY COMMENDED DESIGNERS

Queen of Mussels

KIWIANA AND PASIFIKA

Chloe Muldoon

Man Cave Jacob Johnston and Josh Evangelidakis

Coastal Whispers Sienna Smith

Conjoined Planet Lia Eliahu

The Depths of the Pacific Caitlyn McKenzie Sugar Rivalry Neve Webster

Year 7

Year 9 and 10

DESTINATIONS AROUND THE WORLD

ILLUMINATION

Paris Icon Charlotte Hayes SCIENCE FICTION Ruby-Soho Neve Winterman-Duffy

A MAN’S WORLD Nuts and Bolts Jacob Attwood and Elijah Wong

Magnificent Muriwai Niamh Bilsborough

Miss Candy Chloe Hughes, Lucia Tang and Rebecca Stevenson Hang Loose Lucy Adamson

VCR Avant Trash Bella Franicevic

Pair of Queens Mia Harries and Sophie Spencer Woodland Fairy Charlotte Cornwall

Year 7 and 8

Midnight in Spring Crystal Chen With a Burst of Colour Emerson McKinley and Emma Straka

Year 9 and 10

House Music - Choir Winners

1st: Hamilton

2nd =: Wishart & Bruce House

4th: Wilson

5th: Chalmers

6th: Stark

House Music - Band Winners

1st: Chalmers

2nd: Cargill

3rd: Wishart

4th: Bruce House

5th =: Hamilton & Wilson

6th: Stark

Wishart Wins House Music!

One of the many big events on the College calendar each year is House Music, now grown so large, it’s held at the Vodafone Events Centre. With the addition of two new Houses, Stark and Wilson, to the mix, along with a choir and band from Bruce House, the rivalry between the seven choirs and bands has become even greater, making it even harder to secure a win!

From the start of Term 2, the massed choirs and bands for each House practised their songs under the direction of their House Prefects. This year’s theme was ‘Grammy Song of the Year,’ with each House selecting a song from a list compiled by Head of Music, Mr Ross Gerritsen. From Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida’(Cargill) to ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyonce (Chalmers), ‘Beautiful Day’ by U2 (Wishart), ‘Don’t Worry, be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin (Hamilton), ‘We are Young’ by Fun (Stark), ‘We are the World’ by Michael Jackson (Wilson) to ‘Rolling in the Deep’ by Adele (Bruce House); the variety of songs was entertaining – if not always quite in tune! Auditions are about enthusiasm and willingness to participate rather than innate musicality!

We were privileged to have two musical

such as Hayley Westenra and Ben Morrison, among others.

Once all the House performances were completed, and the judges were deliberating the results, the final act for the night was the staff band who performed a rendition of a Katy Perry song and The Proclaimers’ iconic song, ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 miles).’

Before the judges announced the winners, they expressed how our students have ‘outrageous talent’ and that, throughout the night, the outstanding energy and enthusiasm shone through. The judges said there were no ‘standout’ acts as each group had been amazing, and the bands backing the singers were fantastic. Based on the judging criteria, including vocal quality, musical accuracy, presentation and originality, ensemble cohesion and overall effectiveness, the judges had a tough job deciding the winners of each cup.

Hamilton was the eventual winner for the House Choir Cup with their upbeat rendition of ‘Don’t Worry, be Happy!’ Chalmers pulled out the stops to win the Band category with a solid performance. Whilst Bruce House competes for the individual trophies, they

House Music - Choir Winner - Hamilton

House Music - Band Winner - Chalmers

House Music - Overall Winner - Wishart

Royal New Zealand Ballet Workshop

Our Year 10 dance students were privileged to welcome Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) education teacher, Pagan Dorgan, along with musicians from the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra (APO) to their class to work alongside them in a workshop setting. Pagan is an experienced ballet and contemporary dancer who had been involved in dance education projects at The Royal Ballet in London’s Covent Garden before joining the RNZB.

The workshop was based on the RNZB current production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and focussed on developing our students’ understanding of choreographic techniques and classical dance. Ms Dorgan put the students through their paces as they moved from warm up exercises through to a choreographed piece that gradually increased in complexity. It was a rare and fantastic opportunity to dance to live music, the APO adjusting their tempo to the pace of the students.

The session finished with plenty of opportunity for our students to ask questions about the life of professional dancers.

Wearable Arts Win!

Afantastic interpretation of a Christmas bauble proved a winner for our Year 10 girls in the ‘Festive Fashion’ category of the ‘Art to Where?’ competition held at Botany Downs Secondary College. The competition, with a ‘Mid-Winter Christmas’ theme, was open to students to recycle, reuse or re-engineer everyday materials into out-of-the-box designs. Rehearsals were held during the week, with two shows organised to bring the designs to the catwalk.

As part of their Fashion and Textiles course, students Simran Chand, Hannah Timo, Beth Harford and Izzy Kozak teamed together in the group entry to create the shimmering bauble that was modelled by Beth on the night. The criteria the judges were looking for were a strong interpretation of the category theme, a clearly articulated concept, creativity, originality and innovation, and a high standard of construction and design. The girls’ careful planning, design, originality and construction met all the criteria resulting in a proud win!

Three Golds and a Silver at KBB!

The College Music programme hit all the right notes with an exceptional haul of awards at the 2017 KBB Music Festival held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral. The annual Festival showcases the very best in secondary school music from schools across Auckland, featuring sections for symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, concert bands and jazz.

The Saint Kentigern groups gave fantastic performances with the Concert Band (Mr Ross Gerritsen), Big Band (Mr Paul Norman) and Chamber Orchestra (Mr Lachlan Craig) all achieving Gold Awards, while the Symphony Orchestra (Mr Doug Cross) was awarded Silver. Both the Chamber Orchestra and Big Band were invited to play at the Gala Concerts.

The Concert Band's programme had a distinctly American flavour, opening with Leonard Bernstein's ‘Overture to Candide’ and moving in to the folk song, ‘Shenandoah’ before Clarinet soloist, Ethan Blight (Year 13), delivered a near flawless rendition of ‘Pie in Your Face Polka’ from the movie ‘The Great Race.’ They finished their programme with Eric Whitacre's ‘Noisy Wheels of Joy’ based on the live action version of 101

Dalmations.  The adjudicators commented that, ‘The band gave fine, very engaging and VERY MUSICAL performances.’

The Chamber Orchestra presented a programme of romantic and 20th century music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Felix Mendelssohn and Aaron Copland, which displayed both the ensemble playing skills and the solo capabilities of many members of the group. One of the unique features of the programme was the inclusion of Solo Music Winner – vocalist, Sid Chand, who joined the group to sing ‘Black is the Colour of My True Love's Hair.’ The group was commended by the judges for their ‘excellent intonation, musicianship and for being able to create some very special moments in a competition setting.’

The Big Band, hot off winning Gold at the Auckland Secondary School's Jazz Competition, once again displayed their KBB Festival quality with their third consecutive Gold.  The band performed ‘Time after Time’, ‘Recordame’ and ‘Fowl Play’ and were joined by singer Sophie Maehl for two exceptional renditions of ‘Caught a Touch of Your Love’ and ‘Fly Me to the Moon.’  The solo work

of YuChen Dong (Piano), Luke Iso (Drums), Chris Manning (Trumpet), Nicholas Scott (Trombone), Michael Ng (Saxophone) and Josh Looker (Saxophone) was exceptional - a notable feature of the jazz programme under Mr Paul Norman.

The Symphony Orchestra's performances of the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony and an extended arrangement of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ sat in the high realms of the Silver Award category, perhaps only intonation lapses in places detracting from what was a performance of significant ability and character under the baton of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Principal Trombone and College trombone teacher, Mr Doug Cross.

In addition to the competitive successes, the College was also represented by the Sinfonia (Mr Oliver Gilmour) and Stage Band (Mr Paul Norman) who took part in the Fringe Festival and non-Competitive sections respectively.  These groups highlight the growing depth of instrumental music at the College ensuring a strong flow of musicians for the future.

Silver for our Choirs

The College's choral programme has been very successful once again, with four fantastic recitals at the 2017 New Zealand Choral Federation’s ‘The Big Sing Finale’ held in the Aotea Centre last term. Both of our competing choirs, the all-boys-all-comers choir, Menasing and our auditioned mixed choir, Kentoris, achieved scores that placed them in the Silver category of the Big Sing this year.

Not only does selection into the National Finale put our students in the ‘Top 24’ choirs nationally, from the original 270 choirs that competed across the country, but a silver award for both means our choirs are in the very top percentage of both boys and mixed choirs in New Zealand.

Saint Kentigern was one of very few schools to have two choirs selected for the Finale, the only school to include Year 7 and 8 students in our choirs, and have an ‘all-comers’ non-auditioned choir selected.

Both choirs impressed at the final Gala Concert with Kentoris joining the Gold Award winning Saint Kentigern Chamber Orchestra to perform Eric Whitacre’s ‘Glow.’ Known for their ability to entertain, Menasing were chosen to conclude the performances with a very entertaining performance of ‘Standing on the Corner’ from the musical ‘Most Happy Fella’.

The recitals are currently being uploaded to the New Zealand Choral Federation’s YouTube Channel and are already gaining acclaim from international composers who are able to see the College choirs performing their works. Radio NZ Concert recorded the audio and will broadcast our choirs over the next few months as part of their ‘Young New Zealand’ programme. The recitals were also livestreamed to several tens of thousands of audience members around the globe.

National Award at Rockquest

Having taken on and conquered over 400 rock bands throughout the country, College rock band, Haze had their moment in the spotlight having won a place in highly coveted SmokeFree Rockquest National final at the Dorothy Winstone Theatre.

Performing two original songs, Thomas Hyland (Guitar), Ethan Jupe (Guitar), Christina Middelbeek-Harrison (Vocals), Tom Mills (Bass) and Jayden Welsh (Drums) were exceptional and at the end of the evening were presented with the National Peoples’ Choice award –one of the major awards in the competition.

The SmokeFree Rockquest has become a national institution for secondary school musicians advertising itself as ‘New Zealand’s only nationwide, live, original music, youth event.’ Now in its 29th year, Rockquest has been the launching pad for a number of New Zealand’s top acts such as Ladyhawk and The Broods.

At the National Finals, world class opportunities and mentoring are provided for the final twelve bands. Haze recorded five original songs at The Lab in Mt Eden as well as receiving a full day’s mentoring from ELEMENOP bassist, Lani Purkis at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios, giving them the opportunity to develop and refine their performance before taking on the best of the best.

The College Rock programme currently boasts 15 bands, comprising 63 students, all directed by Mr Geordie McCallum who also teaches guitar from the Music Centre’s Rock Studio.

A Touch of Rio

The annual Rio de Janeiro Carnival is considered the biggest of its kind in the world, with two million people involved in the street festival each day! Our Year 12 and 13 students, along with their invited guests, experienced a ‘touch of Rio’ at their annual Ball. Bigger and better every year, the Carnival-themed Ball was held in the stunning waterfront location at the ANZ Viaduct Events Centre.

Outside the venue, as students arrived, there were performances by baton-hrowing, poi-spinning, juggling fire dancers. Once inside, everyone enjoyed a pre-dinner mocktail and had access to foosball, air hockey tables, arcade machines and photo booths as they waited for the grand ballroom to be revealed.

The main entrance filled fast with over 850 eager students waiting to see what the Ball Council had in store for them. As the DJ started playing, it was time to pull the curtains back – WOW!

Stilt walkers and ribbon dancers greeted the students along with a cascade of feathers, laser lights, funky lighting, brightly coloured drapes and a chandelier in the style of a circus tent. What a magical start to the biggest social event on the school calendar!

The student Ball Council organise the event, going through the details with a ‘fine-tooth comb’ to make sure they have covered every aspect. It is a huge task to undertake but each year, the students, under the guidance of Mrs Lucinda Williams, surpass the year before and do a fantastic job putting everything together with new ideas.

The Ball Council kept the same DJ from last year but this year they added a new level of ‘wow’ with more lighting and visual effects. To keep the students hydrated and energy levels high, there were popcorn and candyfloss machines, lollies galore, canapes, fries, light snacks and plenty of water and juices.

The girls looked absolutely fabulous in their beautiful gowns both long and short, with a lot of attention to detail in their hair and makeup. The boys were very well groomed in their smart-looking suits and nicely polished shoes. Towards the end of the night, the votes were tallied – who was best dressed female, male and teachers and who was the cutest couple? Each student voted online, which automatically tallied the votes for the best dressed, making the process much easier and faster, with the Ball Council in charge of selecting the rest.

A big thanks to the Ball Council for the dedicated and detailed work they undertook, along with Mrs Williams, in planning the Ball. This is a massive task and one they can be proud of! Also, our thanks to the many staff who attended to enjoy the evening with their students. It was a spectacular night shared by all!

Ball Council: Anna McKee, Ella Moss, Jordan Rogers-Jenkins, Kayla Williamson, Kerry Ni, Laura M Smith, Sarah Gillies and Natalie Lin

AWARDS:

Prince of dia Spain

Cutest Couple: Bella Conyngham & Zac Ballantyne

Best Dressed Male: Jordan Rogers-Jenkins

Best Dressed Female: Tate McGregor

Best Dressed Male Teacher: Mr Tony Parker

B est Dress Female Teacher: Miss Alice Hamilton

King of the Ball: Luke Paanakker

Queen of the Ball: Sophie McCallum-Jones

Arguing their Way to Victory

Congratulations to three Year 13 members of the Premier debating squad who have had achieved outstanding results this year, firstly arguing their way to victory to win the Holyoake Cup. Committed and confident debaters, Joshua Looker, Jordan RogersJenkins and Tate McGregor won this presentation debate, contested in front of a packed Rotary Club audience in the Exhibition Room at Waipuna Conference Centre. In the current political and economic climate, the moot ‘that the battle against global warming is already lost’ was highly topical. This was successfully negated by the College team against Pakuranga College in a clear victory.

This set them up well to subsequently win the Auckland Schools Debating Grand Final! In a close contest between Saint Kentigern and King’s College, the team successfully affirmed the motion ‘this house would tax the work of robots’ in an entertaining and futurefocused debate.

All three of these students are not only superbly confident public speakers but they also have quick thinking, analytical minds that can quickly assess the opposition’s position and be ready to verbally counter-attack! And argue they did, all the way to an Auckland title!

The win was all the more special as this is the first time in 20 years that the College Debaters have ascended to victory in this competition, testament to the skill and commitment to this fine team, and their coach, Old Collegian Dr Jesse Hart. Well done for the second time in two weeks!

Speakeasy

Aselection of Middle and Senior College speech finalists went head to head in the annual ‘Speakeasy’ speech competition last term, along with speakers from the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, to showcase their confidence and speaking skills to family and friends in the Goodfellow Centre.

We welcomed back Old Collegian, Mr Jing Seth as this year’s judge. He has represented his university at four international debating tournaments, as well as judging one, and refers to himself as a professional persuader! Judging criteria were based on each student’s ideas, presentation skills, structure and engagement with the audience. Mr Seth explained that he chose the winner based on the power of their topic and the power of their persuasion. He commended each student on the quality of work, saying the standard was incredible.

Congratulations to each speaker and our winners and our thanks to Mr Seth for taking the time to judge the competition.

Senior College Winner:

Braydon Robinson – Be Passionate

Senior College Finalists:  Natalya Trombitas, Selena Chen, Sam Waldin, Braydon Robinson

Middle School Winner:

Christie Martel – A Broken Rose

M iddle School Finalists:  Austin Alcock, Rachel Courtney, Christie Martel, Jade Nomani, Sam Perkins, George Beca, Wendy Ni, Esther Schubert, Ella Shirtcliff, Lulu Denholm

Pipes and Drums Tour to Basel

With thanks to Mr Andrew Lightfoot

Following on from their successful performance at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Wellington at the start of 2016, it was a great honour for the Pipes & Drums of Saint Kentigern College to be invited to take part in the annual Tattoo hosted by the city of Basel in Switzerland. As Basel is a cosmopolitan city that borders France and Germany the Tattoo attracts around 100,000 spectators not only from Switzerland but from around Europe, and it is also televised across Switzerland and Germany.

As soon as our students arrived in Basel the posters, flags, banners, pictures all around the town and the media reports highlighted to them the importance of the event they were about to be a part of. In between rehearsals and performances they were treated to generous hospitality and time to explore a charming medieval city on the Rhine River, with more than thirty museums and leading fine arts centres.

very apparent to the assembled 1000 strong cast as they progressed from the Swiss folk and classical selection, through the evening hymn, to the finish with Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah.’

Friday 21 July was the opening night of the Basel Tattoo and it set the stage for the season of ten entertaining, exciting and diverse, open-air evening performances. The many elements of the show –marching, song, drumming, dancing and the complex choreographies, horse riding and military displays, along with a range of high quality music ensured there was something for everyone. The standing ovation when all the performers returned to the arena for the finale was a triumph - just reward for the hard work and preparation!

For each of the performances our Pipes & Drums formed up with other bands such as The Royal Scots Borderers, The Highlanders, The Royal Air Force, and others (military and civilian) from Canada, South Africa and Australia. The Massed Pipes & Drums formed the pillars of the show, opening with a marching display and a mix of traditional and contemporary marches, airs and dances under the direction of composer Stuart Samson MBE, then closing with the traditional march-off to ‘The Black Bear’ and ‘Scotland the Brave.’ During the finale each night, the excitement and energy from the audience was

There were other highlights for our students, for example the much loved Basel Tattoo Parade where the cast joined with other bands and formations to play to over 100,000 people gathered along the parade route. The band also performed at a sponsor’s function, the special ‘Kinder Tag’ children’s event, and paraded at Europa Park in Germany which is Europe’s largest theme park and resort.

The band incredibly still made time to make day visits to famous destinations such as Lake Lucerne, and a journey up to the Jungfrau in the Alps. A four night stopover in London, seeing a West End show and attending an Old Collegians’ reunion dinner in St James, topped off an unforgettable trip.

The students had an amazing three weeks together and will take happy memories and lifelong friendships away with them. It was a privilege to have worked with some of the world’s foremost performers who work with such passion in their disciplines. The Pipes & Drums can be justifiably proud of their achievements, representing Saint Kentigern on the world stage!

The Annual Saint Kentigern Ceilidh!

Ready, steady, Ceilidh!

Now in its 22nd consecutive year, our annual Gaelic social gathering brought together young and old on a Saturday in June for an evening of dancing, dining, tradition, pageantry – yet more dancing and a heap of fun to raise money for the Band’s trip to Switzerland! The Saint Kentigern Ceilidh is truly a family affair, attracting all age groups across the generations and whether blessed with a confident sense of rhythm or hesitant two left feet, the smiles were wide and the enjoyment evident as the evening got underway!

As always, when Wee Jock’s Ceilidh Band struck up, few could resist the urge to take to the floor for the dancing. Encouraged to hear there was ‘no right or wrong way, it’s all about participation,’ our guests quickly came to learn that they did need to listen for instructions! This year, Year 12 student, Fraser McEwan gave a brilliantly animated recitation of Robbie Burns’ ‘Ode to the Haggis’ before said haggis was placed on the dinner table for all to try. If laughter is a good measure of success, then the Ceilidh surely succeeded, providing an evening of fun-filled entertainment, mixed with a fine meal and a surprising amount of exercise!

1st XV Auckland Champions

After the disappointment of missing out on a place in last year’s 1A final, the determination stepped up a notch this year as the 1st XV boys set their sights on ensuring they were top of the table, determined to secure a place on the field at Eden Park for this year’s final game. Not only did they secure a place but they also secured the Auckland title!

2017 started with a speed wobble. For the first time in seven years, the 1st XV team took a loss in a pre-season game, losing to Hasting Boys 15-5. This, however, was followed by a win in the annual Presbyterian Quadrangular Tournament between Saint Kentigern, Lindisfarne, Scots and St Andrew’s, beating St Andrew’s in the final.

When the 1A season began, the team had a bye on the first weekend of play as Mt Albert Grammar (MAGS) were still overseas. Their first 1A game came the following week, resulting in a big win against newly promoted Liston College. A loss to St Peter’s on their home ground in the next round was a huge wakeup call and the team rallied to come on strong in the following game with only one loss to MAGS. The tail end of the season finished well setting the boys up to face - and beat - Auckland Grammar in the semi-final. The semi-final proved to be the 10th win against Grammar in the last eleven matches.

With 368 points for, 110 against and 9 wins from 11 games this season, it was game-on at Eden Park for the 1A final. In front of a huge, loud crowd of blue and white supporters from Saint Kentigern, and an equally vocal crowd from Sacred Heart, play got underway.

The final produced an exceptional rugby contest between two very determined sides. Sacred Heart used their forward strength to stun Saint Kentigern

with a 19-6 lead at half time. With the change of ends, there was a change of fortunes. Saint Kentigern enjoyed much more possession, and with possession scored some exceptional tries and went on to win the Auckland 1A title.

Mitch Gibson played a real captain’s game, scoring a try and tackling ferociously for the whole 70 minutes. Both Lui Sholtens and Benji Pauga scored magnificent tries with Lui being named man of the match.

There was not long to savour their hard earned victory, with only a week to prepare for the ‘Blues Region’ playoff, crossing the bridge to meet Rosmini to determine who would take the spot in the national Top 4. Wet and muddy, conditions weren’t easy but a 46-21 win saw the team on the way to Palmerston North to contest the Top 4 for the fifth time in seven seasons. Sadly their game against Hasting Boys High, representing the Hurricanes region, saw them outclassed in a 29-10 win to Hastings, leaving them to play off against Southland Boys High. A win in this game kept them in medal contention, placing Saint Kentigern 3rd top team in New Zealand.

Congratulations to Rivez Reihana, Etene Nanai and Tamaiti Williams who have been named in the NZ Rugby Secondary Schools Squad.

2017 1st XV: Tamaiti Williams, Frazer MiddlebeekHarrison, Matt Graham-Williams, Robert Rush, Alex McRobbie, Joshua Retter, Mitchell Gibson (cocaptain), Sila Titiuti, Anton Hitchcock, Rivez Reihana (co-captain), Benji Pauga, Dakohta Taimani, Lui Scholtens, Peni Lasaqa, Etene Nanai, Vallance Yates, Etonia Waqa, J P Papani, Kayleb Milne, Cameron Church, Kalani Parkinson, Jona Mataiciwa, Viliami Sipa

Football Girls NZ Champs!

In an absolutely stellar season, the Premier Girls Football have been on a roll, earning three titles: the Auckland Premier Champions, Knock Out Cup winners and now the New Zealand title contested during Winter Tournament Week in Taupo!

The girls went unbeaten throughout the Auckland season, beating Baradene 3-0 to win the Auckland Premier title. Delighted with their win, which also secured them a place in the National competition, they headed to Taupo during Tournament Week, full of determination.

Wins against Trident, Hutt Valley, Epsom Girls, Otumoetai and Westlake set them up for a semi-final against Rangiora. With the girls tiring, this match proved a battle, but a 3-2 win put them in NZ title contention for the first time, as they lined up for the final against solid rivals, Mt Albert Grammar; always a strong side when they meet our girls in all sporting codes.

Mt Albert Grammar had previously won the championship many times and by half time our girls were down 2-0. Having come so far they weren’t about to concede and with the wind at their backs, they fought hard to catch up and level the score at 2-2 to take the game to extra time.

This is where it became nail-bitingly close. With a 3-3 draw at the end of the first half of extra time, it went to 4-4 at the end of full time extra time, requiring a penalty shoot-out.

With a big crowd watching one by one the girls lined up. The score was still even after the first five penalties, then after another four penalties, Brooke Wylie tipped a shot over the post to secure the very close but very exciting win. This

Boys’ Football

completed a fantastic season for the girls. Superbly led by Year 13 student, Tate McGregor for the last two years, the girls were very focussed from the beginning of the year and worked hard to achieve their goal.

This team has been unbeaten all season - Auckland Champions, Auckland Knockout Cup Champions and now NZ Champions. The girls are NZ champions for the first time!

Hannah Blake was 2nd in the golden boot calculations. Hannah and fellow team player, Amy Waters bring a strong skill set to the game with their representative playing experience. Hannah plays for the NZU20 team and Amy for NZU17.

Premier Girls XI Team: Hannah Blake, Helena Danesh-Clough, Elizabeth Ellis, Katelyn Gray, Ekaterina Lieshout, Grace Maddren, Henrietta Masson, Tate McGregor (captain), Charlotte Rowden, Erin Shields, Jemma Tasman-Jones, Gorgi Van Lienen, Amy Waters, Amber Whitley, Brooke Wielenga and Brooke Wylie.

The Boys 1st XI Football team travelled to Napier for the National tournament minus five of their key players. The five who were selected for the New Zealand U17 team, were asked not to attend the National Secondary School tournament in preparation for their U17 World Cup campaign. Obviously, while this was disappointing it was also a great opportunity for some of the younger players to step up and play with and against the best school boy players in the country. The team played exceptionally well lead by inspirational captain, Dane Schnell.

Day 1 saw the team record good wins against Otago Boys 3-0 and Marlborough Boys 5-1. On Day 2, another two good wins, firstly 2-1 against St Peter’s from Cambridge, and then a near perfect game against St Andrew’s to record a 5-0l win.

Semi-finals is always a tough day at tournament! The team played Hamilton Boys and at full time the score was 2 all. Sadly, so close, they lost 6-5 on a penalty shootout. Hamilton Boys went on to win the Tournament. Our 1st XI won their two remaining games against Napier Boys 2-1 and Lincoln 2-0 to place 5th overall.

Much credit has to go to Dane Schnell for his captaining, leading from the front. He scored a couple of cracking goals himself but he also showed great leadership of a young and depleted side.

Congratulations to the boys selected for the New Zealand U17 team: Charles Spragg, Max Mata, Kieren Richards, Jordan Spain and Jacob Clark

Great Season for Cycling

It has been a great winter season for our hardy cyclists who are up early on a Sunday throughout the winter to get on their bikes to compete! So far, they have gained many individual and team medals at Auckland, North Island and Individual National events.

Sunday racing at the Auckland Time Trial Series saw a 1st place overall for the Senior A Boys, 3rd place for the Junior A Girls and a total of seven individual medals of which four were gold! At the North Island Road Cycling Championships, Saint Kentigern was placed 3rd top school overall with the Year 7/8 team winning gold, the Senior Girls silver and both the Senior Boys and U16 Girls in bronze place. Again there were another six individual medals. Medal contention continued at the North Island Track Cycling and New Zealand Individual Cycling Championships which resulted in yet another 19 medals for our cyclists!

We now wish them all the best for the upcoming New Zealand National Secondary School competition. Good luck!

Auckland Secondary Schools Time Trial Series

Senior A Boys: 1st overall

Team: Daniel Whitburn, Sam Titter-Dower, Callum Walsh, Dylan McCullough, Ryan Church, Jacob Hannah, Zac Cantell-Roberts, Cameron Manley

Junior A Girls: 3rd overall, Team: Sacha McLeod, Emma Hannan, Niamh Bilsborough, Zara Jancys

Individual Points Race Series:

U13 Girls: Ruby Spring, GOLD

U13 Boys: Harry Hannan SILVER

U14 Girls: Sophie de Vries GOLD

U14 Boys: Ben Connell SILVER

U15 Girls: Sacha McLeod GOLD

U16 Girls: Maddy Clarke BRONZE

U17 Boys : Callum Walsh GOLD

North Island Secondary School Road Cycling Championships

Saint Kentigern 3rd best school overall

Team Time Trial:

Year 7 & 8 Team, GOLD: Sophie De Vries, Finn Bilsborough, Ruby Spring, Jacinta Birch

Senior Girls Team, SILVER : Jamie Lindsay, Kate Fouche, Anna Wilkinson, Annabelle Waterworth, Maddison Clarke

Senior Boys Team, BRONZE: Sam TitterDower, Daniel Whitburn, Callum Walsh, Dylan McCullough and Jacob Hannan

U16 Junior Girls Team, BRONZE: Emma Hannan, Sacha McLeod, Sophie Spencer, Zara Jancys

Individual Road Race

U14 Sophie De Vries, GOLD

U15 Emma Hannan, SILVER

U17 Cameron Manley, GOLD

U17 Callum Walsh, SILVER

Criterium

U13 Ruby Spring, BRONZE

U14 Sophie De Vries, GOLD

North Island Secondary School Track Cycling Championships

U15 Girls Sacha McLeod

2km and 3km Point Race Final, SILVER

U14 Girls Sophie De Vries

9 Lap Points Final, BRONZE

U17 Boys Cameron Manley

5 Lap Keirin Final, GOLD

U15 Boys Ben Connell 1500m Scratch Final, BRONZE

U17 Boys Callum Walsh

4KM Scratch Final, SILVER

New Zealand Individual Cycling Championships

** C – Criterion, ITT – Individual Time Trials, HC- Hill Climb

U15 Boys Overall 2nd Ben Connell 2nd ITT, 3rd C, 3rd HC

U15 Girls Overall 3rd Emma Hannan 2nd ITT, 3rd C

U14 Girls Overall 3rd Sophie De Vries 1st C, 2nd HC

U13 Girls Overall 1st Ruby Spring 1st HC, 2nd ITT, 3rd C

U20 Boys 2nd Sam Titter-Dower, C

U20 Girls 3rd Kate Fouche, ITT

U17 Boys 3rd Callum Walsh, C

U15 Girls 3rd Sacha McLeod, ITT, 3rd HC

Netball Auckland and UNISS Champions!

After powering through the Auckland Championships to claim the Auckland Netball Premier Championship title for the second year in a row, the Premier Netball girls stayed in Auckland during Tournament Week to contest the Upper North Island Championships (UNISS). Unlike the other sporting codes that played their Nationals during Tournament Week, netball has an extra regional round to complete to qualify for the nationals later in the year.

Earlier in the term, they went through the Premier Auckland Secondary Schools season undefeated in eleven games, to face Mount Albert Grammar School (MAGS) in the final. They had previously played MAGS and came out winners on that occasion but they always knew the final was going to be a highly physical and competitive game; MAGS are an amazing opposition!

Buoyed on by very vocal supporters, including an awesome contingent of boys and girls from the boarding house, the girls had to fight hard for this win. Down 9-11 in the first quarter and 16-19 by half time, the team remained strong and focussed until the last whistle with just two points separating them for a win 38-36!

At the Upper North Island Championships (UNISS), the girls took a one point loss to Howick College but won all other games against Hamilton Girls, Westlake Girls, Botany College, One Tree Hill College,

National Gold for Nathan!

It has been an incredible season for our Premier Table Tennis team! The team, comprising Nathan Xu, Conor Ansell and Jono Lo, are Auckland Champions after beating Auckland Grammar in the final; Champion of Champions winners after defeating Westlake Boys in the final round robin; Auckland Knockout Competition winners after again beating the highly rated Auckland Grammar team; and they also came 5th at the New Zealand Secondary School Championships after reaching national level for the first time.

Rising young player, Year 9 student, Nathan Xu, has been unbeaten all season in the Premier competition, going on to win Gold at the New Zealand Secondary School championships in the U15 Boys Singles. Well done!!

Sacred Heart, Mt Albert Grammar and St Pauls. Once again, mirroring all finals in recent times, the girls faced old foes, MAGS in the final. Games against MAGS and Saint Kentigern are always fiercely contested and unbelievably close. Once again the final game was almost too close to call, with just one point separating the teams in Saint Kentigern’s favour to win 39-38. Tori Kolose, Tayla Earle and Ashleigh Garner were named in the tournament team with Tayla named player of the tournament. Well done girls!

The team is led by co-captains, Georgia Ropati and Tori Kolose. These players are leaders both on and off the court and are integral to our training sessions, decisions made and, ultimately, to our success. The Auckland and UNISS winning results are due to continued hard work by the girls and their coaches since the team first started training early in the year.

We now wish the girls well for the National Tournament in Rotorua taking place in October. This will be reported on in the next issue of Piper.

Premier

Team: Tayla Earle, Ashleigh Garner, Jaymie Kolose, Victoria Kolose, Mahina Paul, Lauren Pickett. Kayla Robertson-Tekii, Georgia Ropati, Hannah Ward.

National Silver for Badminton

The Premier Boys Badminton team has had a fantastic season, firstly placing 2nd in the Auckland competition to secure a chance to play at Nationals. The team travelled to Napier to compete in the NZSS Badminton Championships, the first time that a Saint Kentigern boys’ team has competed for many years. The team of Jason Seto (captain) Ryan Tong, Callum Lee and Thomas Hillier started the competition as 4th seed. After four convincing wins over Avondale, Southland Boys, Macleans and Westlake 2, the boys then needed a win over one of the top 3 seeds to secure a medal.

Up against top seeded Westlake, the boys nearly pulled off a huge upset after drawing on matches, but unfortunately they lost on sets. Later that evening, they faced 2nd seeds, Auckland Grammar. Ryan Tong won a great game of singles to give the team the points needed. No. 1 singles player, Jason Seto came back from 12-20 down to win the 3rd set and secure a 4-2 win, with the final point being played at 10pm!

Playing 3rd seed, Hamilton Boys on the last day, the team only needed two matches to secure silver. Callum Lee won his doubles and singles to give the team the two matches they needed for the medal!

We now wish Jason Seto the best of luck as he travels to Yogyakarta, Indonesia to represent New Zealand in the Badminton World Junior Championships in October.

Bronze Fencing Medal

At the Secondary Schools Fencing Tournament held in Wellington, Freddy Hopkins won a bronze medal in the Men’s Individual Foil competition. With a 7am start and knock out rounds running until 4pm, Freddy fought his final bout against Bruce Ng from Auckland Grammar, conceding the round to take third place.

The Team event was held on World Fencing day at Wellington High School and our team of Year 9 foilists, Toby Davies and Sam Dixon, and Year 11 combatant, Freddy Hopkins faced Saint Bernards, eventually losing by just 2 points, 43-45.

This year at Saint Kentigern College the Fencing team has been 35 strong and Noel Argosputro has captained the Foil team while Jessie Liu has led the Sabre team. Our in-school competition resulted in Junior Foil being awarded to Sam Dixon and our Senior Foil to Noel Argoseputro. Our senior Sabre winner was Akito Nakamura.

National Bronze for Golf

Our premier golfers have had an exceptional season with the team of Karl Jorgensen, Andrew Meng, Tommy Liu and Karan Nalam firstly winning the Auckland Team Championships with outstanding scores of 67, 67, 68 and 67 for a total of 201.

Qualifying for the NZ Secondary Schools Golf Tournament, the team competed on a Par 73 course with tree lined fairways. The final was played over two rounds of 18 holes with the best of three out of four scores counting for each round. In the first round, the counting scores were Tommy Liu +1, Andrew Meng +2 and Karan Nalam +1. The afternoon round had counting scores of Karl Jorgensen +2, Tommy Liu -2 and Karan Nalam -5. This gave the team a total of 439 for the two rounds, which put them behind Burnside High School on 435 and Christchurch Boys High on 421, placing them 3rd in New Zealand. Well done boys!

Hockey

The girls Hockey team finished the Supercity Competition on a high beating Westlake 1-0 in the final playoff game to place 3rd, this is the highest achievement so far for the team. The NZ Secondary School Championships is always tough in hockey and is reliant on a good pool to make the top 16. The girls only lost two games all tournament but because of the structure, they end up placing down the field.

The boys teams had a tough year with injuries which made things difficult during the Supercity Competition, where they only secured 5th place. At the national competition, the team placed in the bottom 16 but by winning all of their games they were awarded the India Shield, which was a positive finish to their season. With no Year 13s in this group they are looking forward to moving up the ranks in 2018. Also, congratulations to Adam Alovili who has been selected to play in the U18 NZ Hockey squad.

World Medal for Daniel

Saint Kentigern College Triathlon Captain, Daniel Whitburn, has won a gold medal in the 18-19 agegroup at the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championship, held yesterday in Rotterdam, Holland! Triathletes from all corners of the globe converged on Rotterdam for the finale of the 2017 world triathlon season where Daniel raced in ahead of his nearest rival from the USA. With the air temperature at 11C and the water a ‘balmy’ 16C, competitors needed resilience!

Daniel has continued his run of good form from last summer when he won the prestigious Erin Baker Trophy awarded to an athlete who completes the four iconic Taupo annual events that includes the ‘across Lake Taupo’ swim. His out-right win in the Olympic distance event of 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run, the same distances he contested in Rotterdam, qualified him for the World Championship. With the target set, Daniel began training in earnest for the event; training that has paid dividends!

Daniel also won the Auckland Schools Championship in February and claimed a top finish in the National Championship in March. The College’s triathlon community is immensely proud of Daniel’s emergence internationally to claim the title of World Age-Group Champion. Well done!

Gold Medal for Trampolinist

Year9 student, Claudia Shervell placed 1st in the A Grade for Trampoline at the National Secondary Schools Gymsports Event. Claudia has only been competing in trampoline for the past two years but she was a successful competitive gymnast for a few years prior. Moving to the trampoline was no easy feat, but she was hungry to try something new. Claudia has managed to win 43 medals in gymnastics and trampoline since she started! Claudia will be travelling to Christchurch in October as she has qualified for the New Zealand National Gymsports Club Championships. Well done Claudia and we wish you all the best for the Nationals.

12 Medals at AIMS Games

What a fantastic week of sporting competition for our Year 7 and 8 students at the AIMS Games in Tauranga. Attending one of the biggest sporting events in the southern hemisphere, with over 10,000 athletes representing over 300 schools, this was a non-stop week of competition. It is said that there are more competitors at the AIMS Games each year than there are at the Commonwealth Games! There’s a lot of logistics involved, not the least finding accommodation in Tauranga and providing meals for all our students!

Many of the codes were up against tough competition but like our Premier College Teams, the idea of ‘giving it everything’ regardless of the outcome spread right through the camp. By the end of the week, the College students had earned 12 medals with the Boys’ School and Girls’ School also awarded a further 6 medals! Medallists or not, the experience was fantastic!

The College entered teams in basketball, football, futsal, netball, waterpolo and hip hop, as well as entering students in individual codes such as badminton, swimming, tennis, yachting, golf, gymnastics, cross country and multisport. In some instances players from the Schools joined with those from the College to form the strongest combined squads.

The first medal of the games came from the Hip Hop team with the girls collecting silver; an exciting outcome after coming so close to medalling last year. Well done to this group of dancers: Ayaana Patel, Georgia Eldrett, Ruby Haddon, Maia Perry, Charlotte Richardson, Montoya Ottaway, Gemma Whitford-Joynt, Georgia Doughty.

The biggest haul came from our swimmers, with Sunny Sun winning gold for 200m freestyle, silver for 100m freestyle and bronze for the 50m freestyle, while Isabella Campion won Bronze in the 100m freestyle and came 3rd overall for the 12-year-old girls, as well as Saint Kentigern winning 3rd overall school.

Vivian Wang won a silver medal for badminton, then pairing with Lisa Sun went on to win a Gold medal in the doubles. College golfers, Stephen Liu won gold and Fiona Xu came away with bronze. The Tennis team consisting of Yu Dian Dong, Jack Loutit, Caleb Mattison, Joey Huang and Maddix Brady won an overall silver medal and Jack Loutit and Yu Dian Dong won silver in the doubles.

Whilst they didn’t medal, special mention should be made of the combined College/Girls’ School netball team who placed 5th out of a whopping field of 122 teams!

Sporting events such as these are lifetime experiences and we are pleased to be able to offer this competitive opportunity at a national level to our youngest students. We know they have gained great memories as well as invaluable life lessons.

We would like to thank our staff who provided sound advice and motivation for their teams and a massive thank you to the parents who gave up their time to assist with the organisation of our students. Without the help of all these people, we are unable to run a successful tournament away.

Well done to all the students taking part, especially our medallists!

AIMS Medal Winners

AIMS Badminton

Vivian Wang Silver – Singles

Vivian Wang & Lisa Sun Gold – Doubles

AIMS Golf

Stephen Liu Gold

Fiona Xu Bronze

AIMS Gymnastics

Combined SKC/SKGS

TEAM: Amy Chamberlin, Zoe Nel (SKGS), Tiffany Thompson (SKGS), Sienna Smith Bronze

AIMS Hip Hop

TEAM: Ayaana Patel, Georgia Eldrett, Ruby Haddon, Maia Perry, Charlotte Richardson, Montoya Ottaway, Gemma Whitford-Joynt, Georgia Doughty Silver

AIMS Tennis

Boys Team: Yu Dian Dong, Jack Loutit, Caleb Mattison, Joey Huang, Maddix Brady Silver

Boys Doubles: Jack Loutit & Yu Dian Dong Silver

AIMS Swimming

Sunny Sun 200m Freestyle Gold

100m Freestyle Silver

50m Freestyle Bronze

Isabella Campion 100m Freestyle Bronze

Inter-Zone Football Champions!

The Girls’ School/College Year 7 combined football team are Auckland Champions in their division. The team firstly competed in the South Eastern Zone tournament where they played seven matches, winning all, with a total of 40 goals scored and no goals scored against them. This qualified them for the inter-zone competition, where they faced the best teams from five other Auckland zones. They won four matches and drew one. The winning goal was scored against Murrays Bay just moments before the final whistle, placing them one point ahead on the finals table, making them the 2017 Auckland Champions. Well done girls, such a fantastic achievement!

Year 7 Combined Team: Charlotte Snookes SKGS, Libby Yee SKGS, Asha Gin SKGS, Danielle Levy SKGS, Arya Blackler SKGS, Sacha Earnest SKGS, Bridie Boyd, Emily Clark, Mathilde Peace, Briar Richards, Charlotte Richardson, Ruby Spring, Olivia Steele.

Cricket XI Tour to the UK

With thanks to Year 11 student, Nikith Perera

The long wait was over! The buzz of anticipation and excitement ran through the hearts and minds of 16 young men as they embarked on an adventure never to be forgotten. After landing in the UK and spending an amazing first couple of days shopping and sightseeing in the capital, we’d almost forgot what we came for, the cricket!

We drove west to the county of Somerset, where one of the most prestigious schools in the country awaited - Millfield. A great bowling spell up front from Simon Keene and constant wickets throughout the middle overs restricted Millfield School to a defendable yet subpar total of 189. Although it was a good pitch, 190 runs in school boy cricket is never considered an easy job. Our openers, Sajith Dhambagolla and Conor Ansell worked hard, and a flurry of boundaries saw them both reach half centuries. The game was finished with Saint Kentigern winning by 8 wickets.

With a win under our belts, there was confidence going into the second game. The hosts, Eastbourne College, batted first and managed to scrape through to a total of 145. Unfortunately, our batting line up failed to fire and we were skittled for a total of just 70. This taught us a lesson about batting sensibly and with greater consideration of the conditions. On to the third game against Hurstpierpoint College and we had another well-executed bowling performance from all of the bowlers, and a stellar effort in the field led to a small target to chase of 135. The game ended with Saint Kentigern winning by 9 wickets.

Another well-known cricketing school, Harrow was next. On a good wicket, we failed to put up a par score, crumbling to 137 all out. Unfortunately, we could not remove the final batsman but could hold our heads up high. The pride shown in the school and desire to win was obvious in this group. Younger players learned how proud Saint Kentigern cricketers are of their performance and how important it is to compete until the final runs are scored.

A tough challenge awaited us with Cranleigh, national champions and unbeaten in more than 30 games. Sajith captained the side for the first time and we were shown just how good Cranleigh were when they put up a total of 272 in their 50 overs. We were off to a shaky start in reply, however, a great partnership between Sajith and Simon gave us a fighting chance. Both batsmen showed class but made the fatal mistake of getting out at the same time, meaning all momentum was lost and the youthful middle order were never able to regain ascendency in the run chase. The game finished with Cranleigh winning by 50 runs and our players learning another valuable lesson.

For us to achieve our goal of winning three games, our final game was a ‘must win’. Once again, our fielding unit set a high standard and drew positive comments from the hosting coaches and parents. A fantastic spell at the death from Daman Bhatti left him with 5 wickets, on a pitch that wasn’t offering much for the pace bowlers. A platform was set for Matt Soroka to see the team home, which he did scoring 44 not out. To finish on a high was really nice and was an appropriate way to end the tour fixtures.

Although we had finished playing, the cricket wasn’t over. After an amazing tour of Wembley Stadium, we went to Lord’s Stadium, the famous home of cricket. We were lucky enough to have tickets for Day 1 of the first test match between South Africa and England. An amazing setting with such rich history behind it was the perfect way to cap off an amazing cricket experience, one that I’m sure none of the boys will forget. A big thank you to the teachers who accompanied us; Mr Parker, Mr Prins and of course, Reverend Smith.

Leading Cricket Coach

Saint Kentigern cricketers are about to reap the benefit of highly experienced cricket coach, Mark Greatbatch. After an 18 year career as a First Class player and 10 years as an International player, followed by coaching at the highest level, Mark joins Saint Kentigern as the new Cricket Development Officer. After his notable playing career came to an end, Mark went on to become the New Zealand Junior Cricket Coach of the Year, New Zealand Black Caps Batting Coach, New Zealand Black Caps Head Coach and New Zealand Black Caps Chairman of Selectors, as well as a number of positions coaching in the UK. Clearly Mark comes to us a former player and coach of the highest calibre and is looking forward to using this experience to develop the cricket skills of all our young players.

CROSS COUNTRY HOUSE RESULTS

1ST HAMILTON

2ND STARK

3RD CHALMERS

4TH WILSON

5TH WISHART

6TH CARGILL

Hamilton Defends Cross Country Title!

At the sound of the airhorn, the runners took to a track that was wet, muddy yet firm for the annual College cross country. Despite the chilly autumn air, there was a great turn out of runners along with some hardy spectators!

We were pleased to welcome back the Girls’ School Year 7 and 8 students to compete alongside the College runners. Whether competing for the top three places and the chance to represent Saint Kentigern or just participating for house points, students each took their turn at running the distance up and down hills and across the flat. Many family and friends lined the sides of the course cheering the students on.

The courses ranged from 2km to 6km, depending on age. Hamilton House only just managed to defend their title for another year as newcomer Stark was in close competition with fellow newcomer Wilson also edging on to the leader board in 4th place.

Congratulations to Hamilton, all our age-group champions and those who were selected to represent the College at regional events.

CROSS COUNTRY RESULTS

1st

2nd 3rd

SENIOR BOYS James Uhlenberg (HA) Daniel Whitburn (ST) Ryan Church (CH)

SENIOR GIRLS Hannah Ward (WI) Hannah Blake (CH) Lizzie Ellis (HA)

INTERMEDIATE BOYS Logan Cowie (CA) Samuel Waldin (CH) Daniel Woud (WL)

INTERMEDIATE GIRLS Kenya Ashford (HA)

JUNIOR BOYS Jacob Spring (CH)

JUNIOR GIRLS Sophie Spencer (CH)

YEAR 8 BOYS Callum Murray (WI)

YEAR 8 GIRLS Neve Webster (HA)

YEAR 7 BOYS Maddix Brady (CH)

YEAR 7 GIRLS Olivia Rooney (SKGS) (HA)

ZONE COMPETITIONS

Maddison Clarke (HA) Sophie Furness (HA)

Zachery Clarke (ST) Joshua Grant (CH)

Sacha McLeod (HA)Emma Hannan (CH)

Joshua Muggleston (ST) Jack Pirret-Buik (HA)

Isabella Campion (CH) Grace Paul (SKGS) (CA)

Tyler Laing (HA) Daniel Hayes (ST)

Ruby Spring (CH) Arya Blackler (SKGS) (HA)

Congratulations to Neve Webster who placed 1st in the Year 8 race at the South Eastern Zone competition and James Uhlenberg who placed 3rd in the Senior Boys at the Auckland Championships.

From the President of the Old Collegians

One of the main reasons I came on board as President of SKOCA was the desire to see greater communication and networking of Old Collegians. There’s no doubt that the way we communicate and share information as a society has changed in the last 5-10 years.

I am pleased to announce that SKOCA will be establishing both a Facebook Page and LinkedIn profile to better connect and inform our alumni of events and achievements involving present Saint Kentigern students as well as Old Collegians. Please keep an eye out for these pages and once established, get all of your old school friends to join with you!

The annual SKOCA London Reunion dinner took place at the Royal Overseas House, St James, in the heart of London. As luck would have it, the Saint Kentigern Pipe band was passing through on their way to the Basel International Tattoo and literally stopped the street with several superb pipe pieces. It was a special sight watching a full Pipe drum corps march up and down a street in London. Afterwards at dinner, we had Trust Board member, Dr Bruce Goodfellow address the function and also Mr Duncan McQueen, Middle College Principal give attendees an update on the status of the College and its growth. I also gave updates on both the Girls’ and Boys’ Schools. A great evening, and my thanks go to John Shuker for organising and co-ordinating. Let’s see a few more Old Collegians make the effort to come along next year!

The rugby season this year saw many close games in the 1A 1st XV competition. It was commented on numerous occasions that there was little between the top 6 -8 teams. The Old Collegians had several events at home games and welcomed other old collegians from the opposing team schools into our after match functions to recap on the game and create fellowship. The semi final held at the College was no different, with a large support base of Old Collegians cheering on the team. The final at Eden Park was something to behold with a huge number of supporters attending. Between both schools, the entire North Stand was packed and a great atmosphere prevailed. I spoke with a number of both Sacred Heart Old Boys and Saint Kentigern Old Collegians at the game and it was great to see so many past students taking an interest in their respective schools. A great comeback in the second half from Saint Kentigern proved their superior fitness levels and skill sets. Great win Boys!

The Boys’ School hosted two reunion lunches at the School for both the Standard 3 and Standard 4 classes of1959. A tour of the school grounds kicked off the day with lunch to follow. Both events were successful. Look for the full page article in this edition of Piper.

The Australian Reunion was held in Sydney on 18 August to coincide with the first Bledisloe Rugby match, with Sydney turning on some very chilly weather and the All Blacks turning on a scintillating 50 minutes to warm up All Black Fans! A number of OC’s made the trip to Sydney from NZ to join a good number of ‘locals’ including a fair number of ROC’s which was very pleasing to see. On Friday night, we held a special function at Kingsleys Steakhouse private room where Mrs Susan Winthrop, Principal of Senior College, was our special guest and gave a great overview of where things are at with Saint Kentigern. Our thanks to Regan van Berlo and Rodney Steele for organising the Australian Old Collegians.

The Otago ROC’s (Recent Old Collegians) was held on Friday 12 August and our thanks to Josh Bardell for organising both this and the Christchurch events. The Dunedin event was very successful, with a good 50 people making it to the night. Held at Starters Bar in Dunedin with some good food and a few drinks, it was a great way for those who have made the move down south for university and jobs to catch up with mates and siblings’ mates that they all used to know. Once the All Blacks game came on, attention was turned to the screens and it was a fantastic way to finish the night. These events enable OC’s at the local universities to socialise and build the OC fellowship network.

Please check the SKOCA calendar for the events yet to occur in 2017. We have the Premier and Senior A Netball team versus the Old Collegian Girls being held in October and both the SKOCA College Golf Day at Remuera Club, and the ROC’s Auckland event, being held in November. Our Final event of the 2017 Calendar is the Boy’s School 2010 Leaver’s BBQ in December. I encourage you all to become more involved in your respective alumni events. Fides Servanda Est.

The committee welcomes feedback from members so please keep in touch via the website: skoca@saintkentigern.com

Mr Hayden Butler, President

WHERE ARE YOU?

WHAT DO YOU DO? EVER WONDERED WHAT YOUR OLD CLASSMATES ARE UP TO? EVER THOUGHT THEY MAY BE INTERESTED IN WHAT YOU DO?

These pages belong to you, our Old Collegians. We need your help to make these pages interesting and informative. Write a few lines to fill us in on what you’ve been doing since leaving school, or what you are about to do, a recent achievement, a momentous event or any other item of interest. Alternatively, we also welcome more in depth articles, as appear on these pages. Family and friends, tell us what our sons and daughters of Kentigern are up to nowadays.

Pictures speak a thousand words! In this digital age, it’s really easy to provide a photo but please email all digital pictures at maximum resolution. We look forward to hearing from you.

Please direct all correspondence to the Editor: jane.kneale@saintkentigern.com Communication Manager, Saint Kentigern Trust Board

SKOCA 2017-2018 Calendar

BOYS’ SCHOOL BBQ FOR 2012 LEAVERS

– THURSDAY

College Netball v Old Collegians Girls

Start: Games start at 7.00pm

Venue: Gym 1 and Gym 2

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com

kelly.alexander@outlook.com

SKOCA – COLLEGE GOLF DAY

13 NOVEMBER - MONDAY

Time: Assemble at 11.00am

Venue: Remuera Golf Club

Ticket: $100.00 per head.

Refreshments provided.

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com

AUCKLAND - ROC’S

RECENT OLD COLLEGIANS COCKTAILS

17th NOVEMBER - FRIDAY

Time: 6.15pm

Venue: Juice Bar, Windsor Hotel, Parnell

RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com

15 DECEMBER - FRIDAY

The 2012 graduates and their parents are invited to return to the Boys’ School to rekindle old friendships before the boys move on to tertiary studies or work.

Time: 4.30pm

Venue: Jubilee Sports Centre

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

BOYS’ SCHOOL - SKOCA GOLF DAY

2 FEBRUARY - FRIDAY

Time: 12.00pm (1 pm Teeoff)

Venue: Auckland Golf Club

Refreshments provided

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

SKOCA vs COLLEGE XI HOCKEY

22nd FEBRUARY

Time: 12.00pm

Venue: Lloyd Elsmore Park Astro Refreshments & BBQ provided RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com

COLLEGE 65TH ANNIVERSARY

CELEBRATION

16-18 March – FRIDAY to SUNDAY

Venue: College

Cocktail Evening – Friday Night

65th Dinner – Saturday Night

Chapel Service – Sunday Morning

See the full advertisement on page 42

SKOCA vs COLLEGE 1st XI CRICKET

18th MARCH - SUNDAY

Time: 12.00pm

Venue: No 1 Field, College

Refreshments & BBQ provided RSVP: skoca@saintkentigern.com

The Original ‘59Ers!

In a simple ceremony on 4 February 1959, 190 boys, from Primer 1 to Form 1, gathered around the flagpole in new school uniforms, whilst proud parents looked on. The flag was raised, morning prayers were said and then the very first day got underway for Saint Kentigern School (as the Boys’ School was then known), with Mr Jack Chalmers as the first Headmaster and Mr Ross Perry as Deputy Principal.

Amongst the boys around the flagpole on that first morning were Tony Baker, Roger Browne, Miles Cain, Mike Daniel, David Lees, Peter Millar, Scott Palmer and Felix Tattersfield – eight of the Standard 4 boys in Mr Claret’s class. Alongside them were Hector Cumming, Charles Edgar, Geoffrey Ennor, Michael Gowan, Max Kidd, Ross Mansell, Andrew Paterson, Wendall Phillips, Christopher Porter, Roger Recordon, Philip Westwood and John Wright from Standard 3, Mr Garry Murray’s class.

Fifty eight years later, the ‘boys’ convened on two separate occasions at the Boys’ School for lunch with their former classmates. With Principal, Mr Cassie in attendance, along with Head of Saint Kentigern, Mr David Hodge, Chaplain to the Schools, Reverend Reuben Hardie and ‘old boys’ liaison, Mr Peter Nelson, and former staff members, Mr Garry Murray and Mr Bob Gray, the events got underway with a tour of the School led by Head Prefects, George Beca and Archie Nightingale.

The ‘boys’ soon found that much has changed on campus in those intervening years. In 1959, much was centred in Roselle House, the stately home gifted to the Trust. Today, Roselle stands wrapped in plastic waiting to be revealed as a new centre of learning later this year. The Senior School, Middle School and Junior School are all new additions, as are JC Chalmers Hall, the swimming pool, music centre and Jubilee Sports Centre! As Mr Cassie explained, from the original 190 boys, the roll has expanded to 558 this year, with campus development ongoing over the years to keep pace. While much has changed physically, spiritually, the same family values are instilled in the new generations of boys. Mr Cassie said, ‘We want our boys to go out and be great citizens!’

Two beautiful meals were enjoyed by all, prepared by PA Mrs Sue Bowskill, with help given by Mrs Julie Rand and Mrs Karyl Kidd. We thank them for their support of these ongoing luncheons to connect our former students. As the meal went on, the ‘boys’ relaxed back into each other’s company and chatted away, recalling their early Saint Kentigern school days. Each left with a copy of ‘Sons of Kentigern – A History of Saint Kentigern School 1959-2009’ and a personalised School shield.

Standard 3 1959 Lunch

Former Boarders Honour Matron

Whatdo you say to our magnificent Matron who has given 25 years of her life to Bruce House? How do you give thanks for a quarter of a century that has been filled with love and devotion for the young men and women who have passed through her care? How can you let her know that her passion, patience and reassuring motherly presence were central to your life as a boarder at Bruce House?

Hosted by the Old Collegians Association (OCA), Bruce House was filled one Friday night with former boarders who had returned to pay homage to Matron, Mrs Rosemary Capill, as she moves towards a well-deserved retirement later this year, after so many years of dutiful, caring service at Bruce House. Each, in their own way, found the time to thank Rosemary for all she had done. It was an emotional evening and hugs were aplenty!

The newly elected President of the OCA, Mr Haydn Butler admitted that this was the first time he had entered Bruce House – being off limits to non-boarders during his day. He quipped that back then, he and his fellow students were always wary of the boarders ‘in case they nicked our lunches!’ Nowadays, with the vast improvement of the meals under Rosemary’s direction, with the equally loved Shobna’s cooking, there is no risk of that!

Following drinks and dinner, with grace offered by former Bruce House Head Girl, Emma Appleton, Senior College Principal and inaugural Head of Girls’ Boarding, Mrs Suzanne Winthrop addressed the guests. She said that just as the first 143 girls who joined the College in 2003 were pioneers, so were the first fifteen

female boarders. It took eight years after the girls joined the College for the Trust Board to make the decision to introduce girls’ boarding. The arrival of girls meant a change in culture, but one for the better and Saint Kentigern is much richer for this.

Reverend David Smith has just completed his tenure as the Housemaster of Bruce House. Eyeing the older male boarders, he assured them that ‘the Lodge is now escapeproof.’ The antics of the early escapologists have now been put to rest!

Rev Smith thanked Rosemary for her soothing, calming words and deep institutional knowledge during his time at the House, ‘You have been a gracious, supportive colleague whose deepest aroha for those you work with and those you care for knows no bounds.’

Former boarder, James Hackett acted as MC for the evening, recalling the earlier days when life at the House was maybe a little ‘firmer’ than today and the standard discipline for the boys at the time included a great deal of running! Leonard Powell, a more recent boarder, stepped up and surprised Rosemary with a humorous poem to he’d written over dinner. The final words went to Alan Hartles, a boarder in the early 90’s who said Rosemary’s love is so tangible it is something you will never forget. He finished by saying, ‘This place can build you up, if you allow it to.’

Rosemary was given a standing ovation. With one term left to go, it will be the turn of the current boarders to say goodbye later in the year.

America’s Cup

Saint Kentigern Connection

In the lounge of the Old Collegians’ Sports Centre, there is a gallery of photos representing a large number of Old Collegians who have gone on to sporting greatness across a range of sporting codes. Amongst them is Grant Dalton, who has long since made his mark in the world of competitive adventure sailing and is best recognised for his role with Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ). Despite the disappointment of their 2013 defeat by Larry Ellison’s Team Oracle in San Francisco, work continued, and earlier this year the team was proud to celebrate New Zealand’s success, winning on the waters off Bermuda.

Grant Dalton

Some years back, Old Collegian, Grant Dalton attended a Boys’ School Leavers’ Dinner and told the graduating Year 8 boys that ‘there isn’t a lot of difference between dreaming and goal setting; be resilient when you dream, set a goal that is believable and if you earnestly work towards it, your dream will eventually be achievable; it may just take a while to get there….’

After the decisive 2013 America’ Cup loss to Oracle in San Francisco, a lesser man may have bowed out, but despite the bitter loss, and criticism levelled at the him at the time, Grant ‘got back in the saddle,’ knowing full well that with hard work and sheer determination, New Zealand’s sailors had the ability to ‘bring the Cup home.’ Grant is tenacious, some say a ‘hard-nosed’ businessman, but he set a goal and the dream was achieved!

Grant, along with his brother Graham, is a former student of both the Boys’ School and the College, graduating in 1974. His three children have also attended Saint Kentigern. Whilst he readily admits that he wasn’t that ‘academic’ during his time at school, his love of the sailing determined a future on the water.

Grant has sailed competitively on the world’s oceans, racing around the world seven times, the first five as part of the Whitbread Round the World Races, later to be called the Volvo Ocean Race. In 1995, he was awarded an OBE for services to yachting. In 2003, he was called in to restructure Team New Zealand after its loss of the America’s Cup to the Swiss team, Alinghi. His mission: to rebuild and revitalise the

team. The team came close to victory in Valencia in 2007 but it was Oracle that took away the Cup that year. In 2013, with Grant as Managing Director and part of the crew on the water, ETNZ still remained one of the fiercest contenders in San Francisco. The nation watched as ETNZ raced ahead on the scoreboard only to see Oracle close the gap and win. The loss was bitter but there was a huge surge of support from New Zealand for Grant and his crew of great sailors.

Between 2013 and this year’s challenge in Bermuda, Grant relinquished his place on the boat, leaving that to a new team of younger sailors. Taking on the position of ETNZ CEO, the team regrouped and prepared for racing 2017 style; the speedy, hydrofoiling catamarans a far cry from the early days of mono-hull racing on the Hauraki Gulf! Between 2013 and 2017, New Zealand quietly took the racing to another level, replacing the traditional role of grinder with the pedal power of ‘cyclors;’ a stroke of genius that gave ETNZ the final, winning edge!

Speed on the water is not all Grant aims for. Lesser known about this adrenalin junkie is his love of speed on land, having competed in the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races three times over the years, getting back on his bike, despite a dangerous high speed fall in this year’s races! However, for a driven man, work never stops and he is currently working towards preparing a team and venue the next America’s Cup challenge with a return to mono hulls on the cards! Bring it on!

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO

Blair Tuke

Emirates Team New Zealand: Cyclist/Foil Trimmer

With his many sailing triumphs alongside 49er sailing partner, Peter Burling, including Olympic Silver (2012) and Gold (2016), Blair and Peter were natural choices for selection to the sailing crew of ETNZ – although early on, Blair may not have realised that as part of the team, he would be adding a cycling role to his list of many achievements, especially as a cyclist on the water!

With Peter, Blair has made a name for himself as a competitive sailor since leaving College in 2006. They were the 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 European and World Champions in the 49er class and won all 28 of the major regattas in the 49er between the London Olympics (2012) and the Rio Olympics (2016); a record for this Olympic class. They were awarded the ISAF World Male Sailor of the Year for 2015 and the Halberg Sports Team of the Year 2016.

In the 2017 New Year Honours list, they were awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sailing. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, we were all proud to see Blair and Peter selected as co-captains and flag bearers for the New Zealand Olympic team. The pride compounded when they won Gold!

Following the America’s Cup loss in San Francisco, ETNZ signed Blair and Peter to the new-look team in January 2014. When ETNZ first revealed their boat with the innovation of ‘cylors’ – pedal power replacing the grinders –Blair was among those providing the pedal power, also working as the foil trimmer. The rest is history! Blair added an America’s Cup title to his long list of achievements and has now gone on to sail on Mapfre in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race.

Nick Burridge

Emirates Team New Zealand: Boat Captain/ RIgger

Nick Burridge is another Old Collegian who has carved a niche as a professional sailor, making his way up through the ranks to Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ). Like many, he started building his experience sailing optimists from the age of 10, eventually becoming a professional yachtsman in 2003. As a youngster, he recalls seeing ‘Lion New Zealand,’ Sir Peter Blake’s entry into the 1985-86 Whitbread Round the World Race, sail into Auckland; a boat that inspired his sailing career and he later went on to sail.

Nick has been with ETNZ on and off since 2009 taking on the job of Boat Captain and Head of Rigging during the 2017 campaign. The role created the link between sailing team and shore team, ensuring that the boat was ready and signed off for sailing each day. Along with the career highlight of being part of the winning the America’s Cup team, Nick has also been part of the ETNZ Camper team in the Volvo Ocean Race, played a part in setting the Transpac Race record, setting the 24 Hour Monohull Speed Record and was part of the winning crew in the 2015 Sydney to Hobart Race.

Hamish Hooper

Emirates Team New Zealand: Media/Communications

Hamish graduated from the Boys’ School in 1991 where his father, John, was a foundation pupil. Hamish first came to notice as a videographer for his work on Camper’s tough Volvo Ocean Race. With a background in TV commercials and advertising, it was a bold move to join the crew for his first physically and emotionally demanding ocean race. Despite his lack of offshore experience Hamish completed the challenge and was presented with the Inmarsat Media Crew Member Award for the skill and flair with which he documented life on board.

Two weeks after returning, he started his next job with Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) in the media department for the 2013 challenge. He said there was a huge amount of stress in 2013 role, helping to manage the throngs of media ‘all wanting a slice of the Emirates Team New Zealand story’ at a time when the team, felt the weight of disappointment on the final day of racing.

Between Cups he continued with his partnership in a video and photo production business, the Visual Collective, until he was called back onto ETNZ as the Communications / PR manager for the 2017 challenge, taking on all aspects of communications, video, photography, social media, media management – this time with the joy of a positive outcome for the team!

Greg Horton

Emirates Team New Zealand: Board Member

Whilst not an Old Collegian, Greg is a highly respected parent with two boys at the Boys’ School who has shown a loyal commitment to Saint Kentigern as Chairman of the Boys’ School Roselle Foundation. Specialising in corporate law, with interests in a number of private business, investment, charitable and personal trusts, Greg brought a wealth of business and legal acumen to the Board of Emirates Team New Zealand and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the experience when the team won in Bermuda!

Martin

McElwee

Emirates Team New Zealand: Production Coordinator

Whilst not an Old Collegian, Martin also has a son at the Boys’ School. Martin was part of the design team involved with the design of the wing, rigging and mechanical systems. He looked after the many sub-contractors that were used during the construction of the boat and wing components. Having been with the team since 2004, with the ‘near misses’ both in Valencia and San Francisco, he said it was ‘awesome’ to finally get over the line!

Kevin Shoebridge

Emirates Team New Zealand: Chief Operating Officer

Whilst not an Old Collegian, Kevin is a former parent; his son having attended all 13 years at Saint Kentigern. Kevin has been involved with the NZ America’s Cup teams since 1985. He has also competed in five Round the World races, initially as a sailor and then in management. Kevin works alongside Grant Dalton in the overall management of ETNZ with responsibility for coordinating the smooth running of everything from HR to finances, logistics and overall strategy. He said that whilst the last four years since San Francisco were tough, the win in Bermuda was the highlight of his America’s Cup experience!

Geoff Bates – Pastoral Robotics

Astudent at the Boys’ School from 1973-1978 and the College from 1979-1981, Geoff Bates recently won the Institute of Professional Engineers Environmental award for ‘Spikey®’ a solution to nitrate leaching. Spikey directs the nitrate into plant growth, avoiding a major source of water pollution and increasing dairy farm productivity. Spikey has been developed by Geoff and co-founder, Dr Bert Quin through their company Pastoral Robotics. Geoff is currently the Co-Founder and Director of Pastoral Robotics, as well as the Managing Director for Atelier Tech Ltd.

After graduating from Saint Kentigern, Geoff gained a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Engineering through The University of Auckland. Following on from university, Geoff secured a job as a research engineer in Switzerland, developing engine technology, with the highlight of leading the team that homologated the first car to meet the EPA FTP Ultra Low Emission Level rules.

Moving back to New Zealand, Geoff turned his focus to farm technology forming Clever by Design Limited (now known as Atelier Tech Ltd). He developed a range of farm equipment, including the Dungbuster®, an effluent cleaning system that is now used on about a third of NZ dairy farms. Selling part of the business in 2006, but keeping the agri technology, he became Sector Manager for AgriTech at Industrial Research Ltd and a Senior Business Development Manager at Callaghan Innovation. A chance meeting between Geoff and soil scientist, Dr Bert Quin, led to the combination of two completely different skill sets and the technological breakthrough that Pastoral Robotics has developed.

Through Pastoral Robotics, they have developed cost effective, practical, technology to reduce nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions from dairy and other pastoral farms by up to 75%. Their recent award-winning invention, ‘Spikey’, is a robotic trailer which is towed through recently grazed fields and uses signals from spiked metal wheels to detect and treat urine patches. Each day after grazing, cow urine patches are treated with a mix of environmentally-safe products. One of the main ways that nitrate gets into underground water is from these patches. The amount of nitrogen in a cow urine patch is many times of that required for pasture growth, and the excess moves down through the soil into underground water.

After trialling the prototype, they went on to produce a 2.8m wide version, which was successfully trialled on several farms throughout New Zealand.

David Burton - Jacks Coffee

Coffee baron…. 40 years on!

David attended the School (989) and College (2718) between 19701976. Currently he owns a boutique coffee roasting company, Jack’s Coffee, named after his father, Jack. Jack’s coffee was established to meet the demand for better tasting coffee in the home and from the success he has seen over the last few years, this was the right decision.

After leaving school, David followed his father and grandfather’s footsteps into the tea and coffee industry. He worked for 10 years with Quality Packers (Choysa Tea, Old Mill Coffee) where he mastered the art of tea and coffee tasting and buying. This involved numerous overseas trips to the producing countries of Sri Lanka, India, China, Kenya and many more, where he started to build his relationships with commodity suppliers.

Burton Hollis was established in 1990 at a time when there was significant change to the cafe scene. In 1996, David also helped launch Columbus Coffee which has now grown to be New Zealand’s largest and most successful coffee franchise, with over 70 stores nationwide. The coffee used in these stores is still proudly roasted by David.

Now 40 years on, David looks back at the changes, ‘There has been dramatic changes in the coffee industry, from a strong filter base in the 90’s, to a dominant espresso market today. New Zealand is recognised on the world’s stage as a country where you can get great coffee’. And, as a national and international barista judge, David can certainly pick them. ‘We are seeing more and more homes being

equipped with professional machines to bring that cafe experience into the home. For me, it’s an opportunity to pass on my knowledge and experience to help others improve what they do in coffee.’

David still meets up with a group of school buddies on a regular basis .So if you are from his year, he’d be pleased to hear from you. He still supports the Boys’ School at various functions with his great tasting coffee! His son Jack attended the School and College between 2004-2010.

Photo credit: Ashburton Guardian

Nathan Walker – Freelance Web & Graphic Designer

Graduating from the College in 2015, Nathan was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship to AUT, going on to study a Bachelor of Design at AUT, majoring in Communication Design. He is studying the UX/UI pathway, which involves designing interfaces such as websites and apps. As part of AUT’s exchange programme, Nathan is currently studying abroad at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.

Aside from university and his exchange, Nathan is a freelance web and graphic designer. After learning Photoshop in Year 8 at College, he started freelancing in Year 10 (2012), and his work has involved designing websites, apps and print material for various clients, some of which include Xero, Glory League, MacroActive, TNX and Nothing Else Food. Nathan said, ‘I really enjoy thinking through how a user will experience the products I design. This involves considering everything from how and where information needs to be presented to users across the entire application, right down to the typeface and what happens when you hover over a button. Increasingly I think about design as a way to build complex systems that go beyond aesthetics.’

Since graduating College, Nathan has returned to speak at a Jack Paine Centre (JPC) workshop focused on ‘Design for Social Good’ for Year 7 students, during which he spoke about his process as a freelance designer and helped mentor the students. Nathan believes the International Baccalaureate Diploma was a huge advantage. He said, ‘The critical thinking and writing skills I learnt have been invaluable during my tertiary studies, and an IB diploma is very attractive to most universities. The broad visual arts curriculum meant I could experiment a lot too, so my university entrance portfolio had a variety of work.’

Overall, Nathan believes the most valuable aspect of his time at Saint Kentigern was the support he received from JPC staff. The feedback was always honest, and he was often given access to design inspiration and extra-curricular industry events that took his learning beyond the traditional classroom environment. He said, ‘What this all adds up to, is that attending Saint Kentigern is a privileged opportunity and I don’t take lightly how lucky I am to be where I am right now.’

When Nathan graduates from university in 2018, his goal is to either begin his own web design practice or move to the San Francisco Bay Area and work as a user interface or product designer at a technology company.

Chris Lynch – RNZA Aircraft Technician

Back in 2010, when Chris Lynch was in Year 13 at the College and Bruce House Head Boy, he attended a careers event where he saw the possibility of combining his love for mechanics and sports, alongside an exciting career. For many, leaving secondary school can be a daunting process but Chris knew he wanted to get paid to learn and that’s when he enrolled to become a part of the Royal New Zealand Airforce.

Some years on, Corporal Lynch is now working as an aircraft technician with the No.40 Squadron. Had he not taken the leap of faith, he said he would ‘most likely be working on a car engine somewhere, instead of working on a complex system like an aircraft’, which, for Chris, is a far greater challenge. Not knowing what each day holds, Chris could be conducting routine maintenance checks, dispatching and receiving an aircraft, with the next day changing an aircraft propeller. Recently, he has returned from the United States, where he took part in Exercise Mobility Guardian 17, a biennial air mobility exercise.

It was a long way from home to Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Seattle, Washington, but Chris said ahead of the trip he was looking forward to the challenge of working at the fourth largest military establishment in the world. Exercise Mobility Guardian 17 is a multinational and large exercise practising Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Recovery (HADR) in a potentially hostile environment. The Royal New Zealand Air Force took a C-130 Hercules aircraft, two crews and supporting personnel to operate alongside the United States Air Force and up to 18 other nations in the multinational exercise.

When Chris is not busy working on aircraft or flying half way across the globe, he plays an active role in sports teams - he represents the RNZAF in rugby and manages the RNZAF cricket team.

Jessie Jarvie – Corporate Lawyer to Business Opportunity

Jessie Jarvie is well remembered as a foundation girl who went on to be the first Head Girl of Saint Kentigern, graduating in 2005. She and her husband, Paul, were the first two Old Collegians to marry, Paul being one of the ‘last of the old boys’ – the final year of boys to graduate as a boys-only year in 2004.

In their first year, the foundation girls soon discovered that they needed to be resilient. In that first year, there were only 25 girls in the entire Senior School of approximately 500 boys! Recently, Jessie came back to College to speak to the girls explaining that in her first year at Saint Kentigern, the boys did not give them an easy time but she said this made for some strong, stroppy girls and that resilience has stood her well as she moved through College, university and on to her working life.

After studying law, Jessie started her working life as a corporate lawyer but once her first child was born, she discovered the dilemma that many mothers face when returning to the workforce, trying to establish the work/life balance and doing the best for the child. Based on her own experience, she established a consulting business to help new mums transition back into their profession after they’d had children.

With the birth of her second child, she discovered ‘phase 2’ of family life. ‘Popping out’ to the supermarket is hard enough with one child, with two it takes on a whole different meaning! It’s from this, that a new business venture grew, resulting in Jessie moving away from law to concentrate on the growth of ‘Baby Bag.’ Following a similar idea to ‘Food Bag,’ a company that takes the stress out of preparing family meals, the ‘Baby Bag’ collates and delivers personal orders for ‘everything baby’ from nappies and wipes to formula, baby food and basic medicine. From small beginnings this has grown and when they outgrew their first warehouse, they were fortunate to have a

neighbouring property become available for rent – making ‘travelling to work’ a breeze!

Jessie told the College girls that nothing comes without hard work. She said the more work, the greater the satisfaction at the end.

She also said that as a College student, she hadn’t realised the benefit of the connections she had made and the value that this has had in both her personal and working life. She also admitted to something else – at College, she hated the sound of the bagpipes! She said that all changed when she left school and now she loves the sound of them for the sense of nostalgia they invoke, so much so, she and Paul were piped into their wedding!

J’aime Bellingham - USA College Golfer

After graduating from College in 2015, I moved to Boone, Iowa in August 2016 to attend Des Moines Area Community College on a golf scholarship. DMACC is a large school with 36,000 students on 7 campuses throughout central Iowa.

I started playing golf at the age of 10, and had already decided that I wanted to become a professional. I found out, at the age of 14, that the best path to take before going pro would be playing at the collegiate level.

Our head coach here is Larry Briley, who previously caddied for his sisterin-law on the LPGA tour, and our assistant coach was previously a PGA professional at Iowa State University. The experience that Coach Briley gained while caddying has been invaluable and has helped to improve my game immensely.

It was easy to settle in here. I am the first international golfer to play for DMACC and happened to be the only international student on my campus so everybody knew who I was. This meant that I had priority with my academic advisor as well as any other faculty that I needed to speak to. Our head coach’s family took me in and look after me really well; his parents even refer to me as their ‘adopted granddaughter!’

As far as daily life goes, we schedule our classes for the mornings so that we can attend practices in the afternoons. Although we follow our schedules closely, we have been known to practise, have coaches’ meetings and take exams into the night leaving us with very little spare time. The lifestyle is definitely not for everyone. I also share an apartment with my team mates, so we got to know each other very well after living together, going to class together and practising together.

Our school is a two year school, this means that we get an associate’s degree before we move on to a larger school to get our bachelors. The idea of this is that you can get all of your general education subjects done at a cheaper price and you can take a range of different classes to find out what you like and what you would like to major in. Although I never intended on going to a community college, it is the best decision I ever made. It has given me exposure to schools in the NCAA division 1 and 2 have I have just signed to transfer and play golf at the University of Missouri, Kansas City next August for my final two years of college golf.

As a team we played five tournaments in the fall, and seven in the spring in five different states. Our national tournament was held in Georgia, where our team placed 11th and I came 20th individually. In total our team had 4 wins, and four runner up finishes. Individually, I had 6 wins, 4 runners up, a 3rd place finish and a 20th place finish. Although golf was our main focus, we got to spend some time exploring the various states we found ourselves in. I am proud to have been named an ‘All-American’ for placing in the top 18 nationally.

In summary the experience has been awesome and I would recommend it to anyone who gets offered the opportunity. You will never regret it.

Alex Waimora – Proud Solomon Islander

n conjunction with this year’s World Vision 40 Hour Famine appeal, the New Zealand Herald ran a series of articles about a side of the Pacific Islands few of us see - The Hidden Pacific. Each was a personal reflection from an islander. Alex Waimora, now 23, was Head Boy of Bruce House in 2013. Currently completing a BA in Screen and Media studies at the University of Waikato, he is grateful for the start that Saint Kentigern College gave him. He reports:

‘Our world is constantly changing. As it does, the difference between those who have plenty and those without becomes starker. Nowhere is this more evident than the difference between my homeland, the Solomon Islands, and my adopted home, Aotearoa. The Solomon Islands are made up of more than 900 islands with a population of more than 600,000 people. It is my home and a place I am proud to represent on foreign shores. For the last four years, I have been living in New Zealand. My experience here has transformed my way of thinking.

I travelled to New Zealand as part of the Solomon Islands national U17 football side in 2011. Despite my spirits being dampened by the rain, by the end of the tournament I was offered a scholarship to study at Saint Kentigern College. It was here that I saw what our countries can learn from each other.

In the Solomon Islands, old men teach their sons by talking. Communities organise games to spend time with each other. When

Team Work on Peter Pan

Four Old Collegians teamed up to work on this year’s Middle College production of Peter Pan! Oliver Gilmour, Ashton Brown, Mark Bradley and Morgan Heron took key roles in this fantastic production!

Oliver Gilmour is currently the Head of Middle College Music and a Social Studies teacher at the College. He was the Musical Director for Peter Pan. Oliver graduated from the College in 2007 and went on to study a Bachelor of Music and Diploma of Teaching at Auckland University. He is currently studying Educational Leadership, also at Auckland University. Oliver is a flute, saxophone and piano player and has worked extensively in community theatre as a Musical Director. In addition to working at Saint Kentigern, Oliver directs the Auckland Wind Orchestra which is a community concert band.

Since leaving College in 2010, Mark Bradley has been heavily involved with musical theatre in Auckland. Initially, he continued his on stage role, but quickly moved to the orchestra pit as a keyboard player. He has since played piano for Wicked, Phantom of The Opera, Evita, The Producers, West Side Story and in November, will be playing for Sister Act. Mark also currently teaches piano at the College and privately at his home studio, as well as playing for exams, cabaret artists and musical theatre auditions throughout Auckland. Mark played a supporting role with the orchestra for Peter Pan.

Since graduating from Saint Kentigern in 2011 Morgan Heron has completed a Bachelor of Dance Studies at the University of Auckland. She says that specialising in dance has opened up many doors including teaching, performing and choreographing. Last year

someone dies, the whole community comes together, to comfort the family and respect the dead. Life is peaceful and simple, and people smile endlessly, surrounded by beautiful islands. In New Zealand, the outlook on life seems buried under busyness. People communicate with each other through social media. They mind their own business and many do not know their neighbours. They work hard to ensure they can meet their needs and wants – often a source of their stress.

Education in the Solomon Islands is limited. My school was 10km down the road. I walked there and back every day. On many occasions, I went through school without food, and waited for dinner. I did not own a mobile phone so if there was something I wanted to tell my friends, I had to walk lengthy distances to spread the news myself.

In New Zealand, students have many advantages allowing them to learn at a faster pace. The sole focus of many schools in the Solomons is written work, without the experience of sports, music and other areas of knowledge. New Zealand students take their education for granted, while students in the Solomon Islands cope with student life as well as being helpers at home. Many Solomon Island students have a lot of passion for an education they cannot get and I think if Kiwi students saw this, it would make them feel more passionate themselves. People in New Zealand are friendly, but I believe they can learn the value of community work from the Solomon Islands. Community is the core of building a united nation. In the Solomon Islands, a community helps each other, and communities help other communities; together the live in peace.

The Solomon Islands are still developing. My heart is with my homeland, and I dream of being able to develop opportunities for the younger generation to learn. I admire Aotearoa, I love the Solomon Islands and I definitely love the people of these two great Pacific nations. By looking to each other, I believe we can pass on a brighter future to young people, whether they are living in villages or super cities, and create a more prosperous Pacific.

accepted intro a summer training programme with the Radio City Rockettes in New York City and she has just returned from her second year completing the course. She has also had opportunities to dance and choreograph with professional dance companies, including dancing for season one of The X Factor New Zealand. She teaches a dance studies paper at the University of Auckland as well as classes at The Dance Studio in tap and jazz. Morgan took on the choreography for the show.

Ashton Brown attended drama school shortly after graduating from Saint Kentigern. He is now the TIC of Itinerant Drama at the College and has been a Speech & Drama Tutor and Acting Coach for the last four years. Teaching over 50 students a week, Ashton is an integral part of the performing arts at the College. Ashton was the Director of Peter Pan. Outside of College, Ashton writes for the TV3 hit show ‘7 Days’ and is an award winning writer for theatre as well as a professional stand-up comedian, actor and advocate for mental health in New Zealand.