St Cuthbert's Chronicle 2021 - Issue 100

ST CUTHBERT’S

CHRONICLE 2021

CHRONICLE 2021

Chronicle 2021, Volume 100

Contents CONTENTS

01 Introduction Principal’s Report �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������2 Trust Board Chair’s Report. ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������4 Head Girl’s Report. ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������5 Head Boarder’s Report �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������6 Chaplain’s Report �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������7 Staff Leavers ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������8

10 Junior School Head of Junior School Report ����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 11 Leadership ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12 Values ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13 J.A.M. (Jesus and Me) ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 14 Glow ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15 Music ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16 Physical Education ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18 Sport ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������20 French ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Classes ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Prize Giving ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������40

42 Senior School Head of Senior School Report ����������������������������������������������������������������������������43 House Reports ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������44 Committees ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������60 Year 7 Homerooms �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������68 Faculties Reports �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 74 Visual Arts ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 110 Co-Curricular Performing Arts ������������������������������������������������������������������������ 128 Sport ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������134 Kahunui – Life Skills Experience ����������������������������������������������������������������������144 Cultural Groups ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 146 Graduation Ball ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 147 Prize Giving ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 148

Staff Photo �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 155 Autographs ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 156

Editor: Louise May | Designer: Janice O’Kane Photography: Staff and students of St Cuthbert’s College, BW Media, White Door Photography, Photolife Studios Ltd St Cuthbert’s College, 122 Market Road, PO Box 26 020, Epsom, Auckland 1344, New Zealand Phone: +64 9 520 4159 | Email: info@stcuthberts.school.nz | Website: www.stcuthberts.school.nz

© All material is the copyright of St Cuthbert’s College and may not be reproduced or used in any way without the express permission of the College.

1

PRINCIPAL’S Report

Despite the exigencies of this second Covid pandemic year, in 2021 there have been many successes and achievements and this owes much to the hard work and dedication of many, especially our teaching staff. The staff at St Cuthbert’s are the elixir to our success. In both our academic and support sections, we have exceptional people.

The StCuth’s@home learning programme continued to support our students’ wellbeing, as well as their academic needs. This is evidenced in the feedback from teachers and deans as well as the results achieved. The 2020 NCEA pass rates outstripped the 2019 results in the numbers of students gaining Excellence and Merit pass rates, with Level 3 grades being significantly higher than for several years. We also had double the number of girls sitting the IB diploma and last year’s dux, Belinda Hu gained a perfect score, one of only five students in the country. Six girls received bilingual diplomas, a first for St Cuthbert’s, and we had six IB top scholars, those students who have achieved over 40/45. We are immensely proud of our Scholarship 2

candidates from last year who gained a total of 56 Scholarships, the top per capita nationally for a NZ school which offers both qualifications. Such a categorisation needs to be highlighted as, for IB/ Cambridge NCEA hybrid schools, fewer students are able to transfer their subjects to the NZQA scholarship exams as the curricula are too different. These fine results have catapulted the 2020 students into a wide range of fine universities across the world. Renee Zhang is going to Cambridge in September, Violette Perry to Yale. Millie Caughey has been awarded the prestigious Robertson Scholarship to Duke and others are off to the universities of Melbourne, Sydney, Edinburgh, Kings College, London, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, and London. I look forward to sharing the 2021 results, which already look even more promising, with you as well as the stories of where our 2021 Year 13 cohort has gone to study.

We are unapologetic in encouraging the quest for Excellence in our students and St Cuthbert’s is, proudly, the first Knowledge Rich School in NZ through its partnership with Auckland University’s Keru unit. We know how transformational the educational environment is and we take very seriously the responsibility to provide programmes and opportunities which challenge students’ understanding of themselves as well as the world. Every activity in school life plays a significant role in the development of students. When the culture of student engagement is positively reinforced through co-curricular involvement, young people develop the skills to stand out from the crowd in competitive selection processes. There has been much evidence in 2021 that St Cuthbert’s is successful at this and we look forward to continually delivering, reviewing and improving our offering.

Enjoyment of the Senior production with Auckland Grammar ‘The Sound of Music’ was further enhanced when this year’s Showdown Awards were announced, and we were named the Outstanding Musical of 2021. I had to stifle a giggle when it was announced that the St Cuthbert’s

production also received the award for best male in a minor role due to one of our Grammar brothers! At both the Auckland and National Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, our top actors and directors excelled. Megan Hails was recognised as the best student director at both competitions with actors Megan Hails, Helena Haldane, Alys Evans, and Rosie Lammiman awarded Best 15-minute Scene and the outstanding presentation of ‘A Tragedy’. Helena Haldane received the Award for Most Powerful Monologue (Auckland) and Outstanding Delivery of the text (NZ).

Our choirs, orchestras and bands did St Cuthbert’s proud in the 2021 Auckland competitions. Our Premier Choir, ‘Saints Alive’ won the Te Tohu Manu Waiata special award for best performance of a work using Māori text, along with a Distinction award. At the KBB Competition, the Black Watch Orchestra was awarded Best Performance of a Classical Work: and at the Secondary Schools Jazz Band Competition, Stage Band, B Band and Milestones all received Silver Awards.

In the sporting arena, our results were no less impressive and we were grateful that many events were able to be held before the August 2021 lockdown. Our 1st XI Hockey team had already won the Auckland title and had played several games in the Super City competition. As a result, Auckland Hockey announced that St Cuthbert’s was the winner of the Super City Hockey competition. Our Athletics team produced some stunning results at the NZ Secondary Schools Athletics Championships including Isabel Allen, Lily Allen and Charlotte Goldsmith winning the 100m relay and Isabel Allen, Bella Browne and Chloe Browne taking gold in the 400m relay event.

We’ve had some incredible success at the College Sport Young Sportsperson of the Year (YSPOTY) awards. St Cuthbert’s had three girls win overall: Brodie Cochrane for hockey; Chloe Browne for distance running; and Bella Browne and Chloe Browne who were both recognised as top all-rounders.

SCHOOL REPORTS I feel particularly sad that this year we are losing some wonderful families who have given so many dedicated hours to building the strength of co-curricular activities within the school. Whether it be on the football field, hockey side-lines, working on the Graduation Ball committee or with the Kapa Haka groups, your tireless energy, inclusivity and dedication are building blocks for a strong community. I know that there are some of you out there, with two or three daughters, whose many years of association with the school now come to an end; you will be missed.

As I reflect on 2021, and all the challenges it presented, I want to farewell the most

special group of all, our Year 13 leavers.

None of us thought that in 2021, we would have another ‘Covid cohort’ or that this Year 13 group would miss their winter ball for the second year in succession and have so many rites of passage blighted by the Delta variant!

Once again, it has been the impressive young women of Year 13 who have inspired us. Carmel Ah Chong, the 2021 Head Girl, has done an outstanding job leading the school across Years 0 – 13, displaying an equanimity and empathy that belied her age. Charlotte Berry proved herself to be a force of strength and positivity in the Boarding house in periods of great flux; and our wonderful deputies, Katya De Silva, Helena Haldane and Florida Mataio added immeasurably to the Prefect team through their warm, inclusive approach and their readiness to assume responsibility for any task that would improve the life of other students at St Cuthbert’s.

To all our spectacular Year 13 girls, I will remember your outstanding resilience, courage and flexibility throughout 2021.

As I explained at the Leavers’ Service, you have had more weeks in lockdown than any other group of girls in St Cuthbert’s history. You have your place in history as this has happened before in our 106-year history including during polio epidemics and World Wars. It has truly been a privilege to have worked with you, and as you move into the world, please know I have so much faith in you all. As you leave St Cuthbert’s, you will be able to do what Ruth Bader Ginsburg urges all women to do, “fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you”.

Ngā mihi nui,

Justine Mahon, Principal, St Cuthbert’s

3

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

I am grateful to our Directors of Sport, Elizabeth Howard and Kerry Lancaster and their great staff for leadership in this area. I am also mindful of the fact that it is a partnership between school and home that enables students to reach their potential and achieve at this level.

CHAIR’S Report

come our way in 2022. We are deeply grateful for the way in which all staff met the challenges posed; through their creativity and hard work they delivered a remote learning programme that was simply world class.

It is my privilege to be writing this report as St Cuthbert’s Trust Board Chair, celebrating 100 years of the Chronicle.

The Chronicle is an important publication for the College, as it captures the key moments of each year in our history.

I know how much the girls treasure receiving the Chronicle, and looking through the highlights of the year, remembering the different experiences, and seeing the photos of one another.

2021 was a particularly significant year for our school, as we continued to navigate our way through the ongoing pandemic.

As such, a key priority for the Trust Board has been ensuring that the leadership team and staff were well supported to deliver the very best education for our students.

The outstanding StCuths@Home programme is now well established and ensures that all students, across Year 0 to Year 13, can continue to receive the very best education during these times. The work that has gone into the development, delivery and continual enhancement of our remote learning programme gives us great reassurance that we are well equipped to face any challenges that may

4

I would like to make special mention of the wonderful generosity of our community who donated their time, and financial gifts, to support our inaugural Giving Day. The funds raised have helped girls come to the school who would not otherwise be able to receive the life changing benefit of a St Cuthbert’s education. We are deeply grateful for your support in what we know was a challenging year for many families.

I would also like to pay tribute to all our students who continued to work so diligently during the year, particularly during the extended Auckland lockdown.

I know how disappointing it was for our students as they faced the many cancelled events, and usual rites of passage, with dignity and grace.

Throughout the year we saw such wonderful examples of creativity to support our girls to remain engaged and connected to one another, despite the many public health restrictions. It was so wonderful that our most senior students, our Year 13 leavers, still got to enjoy their Leavers Soiree, albeit, online, but with wonderful treat boxes from our fantastic Parents and Friends’ Association.

One of the many moments that personally resonated with me was when our Junior School welcomed some of our very youngest students to the College during lockdown. These students’ first experience of school life was online, something I am sure they will remember for the rest of their lives.

Over the past two years the Trust Board has spent considerable time looking at international best practice in education.

We are excited to be looking forward to the next phase of our strategic planning, including the development of our campus masterplan, enhancing the use of technology and innovation in our

curriculum, and ensuring we have the very best wellbeing programmes in place to support our girls to confidently face the futures they choose.

St Cuthbert’s is 106 years old, with a powerful legacy of excellence in girls’ education. Our alumnae young and older, compete on the world stage in every area; in academic fields, sport, in the performing arts, as entrepreneurs and business leaders. Our statement of intent, ‘Making Girls Amazing’, is our commitment to you, and is about ensuring we support every student who comes through our gates to fulfil her potential. It reflects the incredible focus of our teachers to prepare our young women for their futures, to unlock their dreams, and to give our girls every opportunity to discover their own personal amazing.

As we reflect on the challenges of 2021, on behalf of the Trust Board, I would like to especially thank our Principal Justine Mahon, our Heads of Schools, and the wider Senior Leadership Team for their hard work and significant contribution to St Cuthbert’s. A personal thank you too, to my fellow Trust Board members for their incredible support during such unprecedented time in our history.

And to our Year 13 leavers, we send you out to the world with our very best wishes and heart-felt pride. We also thank your parents for all they have done to support you, and the school, during your years here. We look forward to staying in touch and hearing of your achievements through the Old Girls’ Association.

Warm regards,

Hayley Buckley, Trust Board Chair, St Cuthbert’s

Report

a major highlight being our Prefect team beating our staff in both the swim and sprint relays, breaking what felt like a century-long losing streak!

It never ceases to amaze me how fast time passes at St Cuthbert’s College. As each year begins, our staff go above and beyond to make our 39 weeks at school remarkable, and they ensured that 2021 was no different, despite the circumstances.

Term 1 was kickstarted with a five-day stay at Kahunui, with the re-visiting opportunity being extended to the entire Year 13 group at different stages during the year, for the first time. ‘Kahu’, for many of us was such a memorable part of our journey at the College, so it was fantastic to be able to experience it one last time. Throughout those few days, we all took a trip down memory lane and reflected on how much we had grown not just as individuals, but as a cohort during those three years. It was eye-opening to see how close we had all become and I was incredibly grateful knowing that my final year would be spent with such a phenomenal bunch. It was also special to welcome 2021’s Year 10 Intake 1 and give a bit of friendly advice to our ‘younger sisters’, who, to be frank, looked quite terrified, but I guess that’s just part of the adventure. Upon our return, we jumped right into our highly anticipated Swimming Sports and Athletics Day competitions;

Term 2 quickly approached and so did winter sports with our historic Parent Shield matches. This year, however, our new premier sports uniforms weren’t the only thing to launch, with the addition of our first-ever school mascot the ‘Tartan Tigress’. No doubt it could use a bit of work, though I’m sure future year groups can make the required adjustments.

On the topic of sports, Cross Country was an absolute blast! The weather was delightful and it’s always a great feeling to see everyone supporting each other, regardless of where they place. That’s something that’s always stuck with me throughout my time at the College, the realisation that we’re all on our own journeys and whether that be in school or just life in general, we’re always there to help each other along the way. This is evident in occasions such as the ‘Making Your Mark’ ceremony, where Old Girls are celebrated for their achievements and willingly share advice from their experiences with us students.

We wrapped up House events for 2021 in style, with the legendary House Music competition. Year after year, I’m surprised by the talent of not only our students, but our staff too, or otherwise reminded of why some of our teachers’ skills remain best suited to a classroom environment.

From a student’s perspective, House Music is not to be missed as everyone is in tears of laughter by the end of it.

Unfortunately, that was to be one of the last events for a while, with Term 3 proving to be very challenging, with numerous cancellations due the Pandemic. There was a layer of disappointment in the air, but in true St Cuthbert’s style, we came together and with a little bit of resilience, made the most of our situation. The Prefects provided a much-needed laugh with our ‘Lockdown Expectations vs Reality’ series, whilst the Games and Visual Arts Committees ensured we were keeping our bodies moving and creative

juice flowing with our ‘GetFit@home’ and ‘Lockdown Photography’ challenges. We also kept in touch with our ‘little sisters’ in Years 7 and 8 and the Junior School, through reading stories, virtual quizzes, and a few delicious baking videos. Our Year 13 Prefect Leadership team realised that many students nationwide would be feeling the same and teamed up with Epsom Girls Grammar to create a project on Gratitude. This involved over 70 school leaders across the country and Dr. Ashley Bloomfield, highlighting the importance of Gratitude in these trying times.

This was a value that our Seniors took on board in Term 4 specifically, as we embarked on our final three months at the College. Putting aside the stress of exams, and celebrations such as the Graduation Ball, I know we were all cherishing what little time we had left. Change is never easy, but knowing that you’ve made some wonderful memories, met some amazing people, and made many lifelong friends, makes it that little bit easier to move on.

So, to the class of 2022 and beyond, treasure your time at the College while it lasts, as you may never know how remarkable it is until it’s gone. St Cuthbert’s will leave an everlasting impact on my life. From cultural groups, College sports teams, coaches, and past students, all the way to our exceptional teachers, who’ve been there for me through thick and thin, I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. I am beyond thankful for everyone who has been a part of my journey and it’s been a privilege to be a part of yours.

To my 2021 graduates, you will always hold a special place in my heart. I wish you all the very best for the future ahead. You have all been blessed with unique gifts and abilities, and with a bit of hard work, perseverance and courage, you will go far “May the wind always be at your back. May the sunshine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields”.

Until we meet again, Carmel Ah Chong, Head Girl 2021

5

TRUST BOARD CHAIR’S REPORT | HEAD GIRL’S REPORT

SCHOOL REPORTS

HEAD GIRL’S

HEAD BOARDER’S Report

enjoyed a Samoan dinner prepared by the Violet Wood Dining Hall team, accompanied by a language quiz with spot prizes. Another highlight of Term 2 was the school musical ‘The Sound of Music’, in which many Boarders participated, and the other Boarders went along to show support in the audience.

Boarding 2021 kicked off with a blast.

For our first two closed weekends, Boarders participated in a range of activities that helped us bond and get to know one another. On the second weekend, we spent a memorable day in the Waitawa Regional Park, where we experienced a sunny summer day and had fun in the water.

This year, the Boarders participated in lots of arts and crafts during weekend activities – including painting pots (that have become a staple of Melrose Boarding House) and Kindness Rocks that were placed around the school.

Durham Shield, a long-time Boarding tradition, was a chance for each Boarding house to showcase their incredible creativity through performance. The performances were followed by a swimming competition. These were fun to watch and congratulations to Dunblane House for winning this year! We were also treated to Mr Whippy as a special treat in the beginning of the year.

Many of our Boarders participated in Po Fiafia night this year, and it was absolutely sensational, celebrating so many different cultures. The performances showed the amazing hard work and dedication of many students.

One of the highlights this year was Samoan Language week, when we 6

Throughout the year, our Buddy Programme went well, and it was lovely to see the Senior Boarders form close friendships with new Boarders. It was such a privilege to be able to be a part of this mentoring programme as a Year 13 student.

Even though the end of Term 3 found us, as Boarders learning at home, the year was still fun and fulfilling. We had lots of chances to connect during the lockdown with quizzes, House meetings and online chats. All the Boarders have shown incredible resilience with so many disruptions to their lives, and it’s been heartwarming to see the overwhelming support in the Boarding community during this uncertain time.

We enjoyed Mid-Winter Christmas dinner, albeit online, where we played Kahoots, listened to Christmas music, Carols by Candlelight, and had some incredibly creative festive costumes. We also had quizzes and photo competitions over the weekend, run by our weekend supervisors,

Ms Dickson and Ms Pillay.

I’d like to give a massive thank you to all the Boarding staff. It’s been wonderful working with Mrs Hogg and Mrs Hunt throughout the year. I’m massively grateful to the House managers for their staggering support both in and out of lockdown, as well as the weekend supervisors who have been phenomenal.

The prep tutors help to all the Boarders has been immeasurable and I’m sincerely grateful for this Boarding community and the continued support they provide.

I’d also like to give a special thanks to all our Boarding leaders who have worked incredibly hard this year to make Boarding home for many of the younger girls.

Special mention goes to our international leaders who did an exceptional job in organising activities and helping our international Boarders during COVID-19.

I’d especially like to thank Juneia, who has been incredible in Melrose as House leader.

To all the Boarding community: thank you so much for a brilliant year. Thank you for being what makes Boarding so special, and I hope the best for everyone in the future.

– Charlotte Berry, Head Boarder 2021

Report

“If you do not change, you can become extinct.”

“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?’’

“Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese.”

“Imagining yourself enjoying your new cheese, leads you to it.”

We must adapt. We must change the way we have been doing things and find a new direction. Then we will find the new ‘cheese’.

I believe that change is possible, but it is always easier when we have a base to work from.

For Father’s Day this year, my sons bought me a few books - I love reading, and maybe I am still ‘old school’ in this regard, but I love the feel of real pages.

One of the books they bought for me, is the well-known book ‘Who moved my cheese?’, by Dr. Spencer Johnson.

Working through this, I realised how appropriate it is in our current scenario.

Pandemic, lockdowns, uncertainty.

Not wanting to re-write the whole book into the Chronicle, here’s just a few quotes from it.

Our faith in God is our base, our foundation. In a world that is everchanging, and so unpredictable, we need to know there is one aspect that will never change. God’s love and His grace will never change; it will never cease to exist.

Depending on God and His unfailing grace will allow us the freedom to adapt, to change the way we do things, the way we express His Kingdom.

The Sunday Family Chapel Services this year have been wonderfully supported by our families. The Chapel Services during the week are also such a blessing and an opportunity to learn about God’s love

Prayer:

Thank You, Lord God Almighty, that we can call upon Your Name.

Thank You that Your written Word teaches us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. And that You, the LORD our God, are with us in all we do.

In the Name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

and His grace. During lockdowns we had to adapt to virtual services. Although we all would prefer to have Chapel in person, it has been such a blessing to see the students on the screen, participating in their Chapel Services, sharing prayers, and blessings with their fellow students.

During this year, I have realised again how precious the St Cuthbert’s College community is. Staff, students and parents alike are generous, and focussed on being there for each other, being there for those that they don’t even know.

The Foodbank donation drives, and all the support for the various House projects, have been exceptional, again. I absolutely love the attitude of this community –an open handed attitude that brings so much happiness in the lives of the many recipients.

In The Scriptures, we are constantly encouraged to keep our faith, to keep our peace. Philippians 4 verses 6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

– The Rev Dr Francois Joubert

Blessing:

St Cuthbert’s College community, on this day, I bless you with every blessing and promise in the written Word of God.

May El Elohim bless you. May you be flooded with resilience, with peace, with vision.

I bless you in the Name of YAHWEH EL ELOHIM. Amen.

7

HEAD BOARDER’S REPORT | CHAPLAIN’S REPORT

SCHOOL REPORTS

CHAPLAIN’S

STAFF

Leavers The staff at St Cuthbert’s are a key cornerstone to our success, and we pride ourselves in the exceptional people we have.

We are delighted that many of them choose to stay with us for as long as they do – surely a sign that St Cuthbert’s is a special place. The end of 2021 saw us farewell several long-serving staff members as they left for well-deserved retirement or new horizons.

Roberta Batistich

Roberta Batistich Roberta Batistich, or “Bertie” as she is affectionately known, spent much of her career at the College. In those 36 years, she has made a remarkable contribution to girls’ education by instilling in our students a deep love of biology, science and psychology.

Her classroom was always a place of affection and humour, allowing much learning to occur in a safe and happy setting. Her dedication was legendary – even up to the second to last day of the school year in 2021, when she was upskilling with a new piece of technology to enhance the learning of her students.

Bertie’s outstanding professionalism and clear commitment to each of her students as individuals went well beyond the

8

classroom, extending to both her role as a very empathetic Deputy Dean for many years and also to her involvement in a variety of co-curricular activities. Students were always eager to join projects run by Bertie such as Science Fair and Brain Bee. Bertie’s motivational teaching skills and dedication to her students were characteristic of her time at the College.

She always maintained a professional and insightful approach to her role in the Science Faculty in the Senior School.

However, above all, it is Bertie’s warmth, generosity, common sense, humour and wisdom that are held in the highest regard by colleagues and students alike.

We all wish Bertie a very happy and wellearned retirement!

SCHOOL REPORTS STAFF LEAVERS Anna Ready

Therese Adsett

Melinda Crookenden

Anna Ready

Therese Adsett

Melinda Crookenden

The wonderful Anna Ready spent 25 years promoting commerce subjects and being a champion of relevant co-curricular programmes at St Cuthbert’s. As Head of the Commerce Faculty, she very ably managed a harmonious team where staff felt valued and stimulated in their opportunities for professional growth.

Highly regarded as a perceptive leader and creative problem-solver, she was also a caring mentor to many young teachers over the years.

Both the Social Sciences Faculty and York House are keenly feeling their loss in the retirement of Therese Adsett after nearly two decades at St Cuthbert’s.

Melinda Crookenden has retired after 28 years of outstanding service to the College. Melinda was a real trail-blazer and valued advisor during the assimilation of the Middle School into the Senior School.

She could quite rightly claim to be an authority on early adolescence, drawing on her various roles during her time St Cuthbert’s.

Students loved coming to Anna’s classes.

As a teacher, Anna was passionate about her specialist subject of accounting and always had time for every student.

She was known as ‘The Queen of YES’ by the girls! Under her tenure, our students achieved stellar results in NCEA, IB and Scholarship examinations and have won many national awards in the Young Enterprise NZ scheme.

Anna’s extensive global network of contacts have significantly enhanced the programmes and opportunities available to our students, and she organised many fantastic trips outside the classroom both around New Zealand and overseas. She truly personified the College’s ethos of “making girls amazing”.

Anna’s dedication, infectious enthusiasm and superb teaching skills will be sorely missed at the College, but she goes with our warmest wishes to her exciting new role as Education Officer with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

Therese was an advocate of students taking Social Sciences throughout their time at the College. She was keen for all students to see the world through these eyes. She wanted students to be balanced in their academic work and build their understanding of the world they live in. With her strength of intellect and prodigious work ethic, Therese gave exceptional service to students of geography which was her specialty subject. She never hesitated to go the extra mile to give help to a student in need.

Therese’s tireless commitment to ensuring the best outcome for each student extended to her role as Dean of York. Her tireless co-curricular work over many years in mentoring cultural groups, including the Samoan Dance group, made a fabulous contribution to the College.

As a colleague, Therese was sometimes known to play tricks on fellow staff members to lighten the load and create some fun. She was also famed as an avid consumer of the news, always sharing articles with Social Sciences teachers that related to their courses. Therese’s wise counsel, humour and genuine care of our students will be greatly missed by us all.

Over the years, Melinda did wonderful work with our Years 7 and 8 students.

She was also an inspirational Year 8 teacher, a Year 9 homeroom teacher, and a knowledgeable teacher of Maths and English in the Senior School, not to mention being a real stalwart at school camps!

Melinda always brought flair and imagination to her classroom teaching.

Her students knew that she followed their journey through the school with deep interest and had their best interests at heart. Her specialised expertise and care in managing girls approaching puberty and providing support to their families was deeply valued by all. In this, she skillfully blended the need for an honest and forthright approach with real understanding and sensitivity.

Warmth, professionalism and a lovely selfdeprecating sense of humour were the hallmarks of Melinda’s time at the College – as a teacher, as a colleague, as a Dean and Deputy Dean, and as a keen supporter of co-curricular student activities.

9

10

Head’s Report

It has been a privilege to lead the Junior School through 2021, although it did feel slightly like déjà vu, as we continued to make even more adjustments to our daily lives due to the pandemic.

Although these uncertain times have brought challenges for everyone, they have also brought us gifts – we yet again had the opportunity to pause, take a deep breath and reflect upon what is really important in our lives.

athletics days. When we reflect and look back through many of our Evergreen newsletters, we see the incredible lengths our staff and students went to, in order to showcase these exceptional girls and their wonderful abilities.

2021 was an extraordinary year in the Junior School, where we were able to recognise the girls’ achievements across many areas of school life, both in person and online. A year such as this one; so unusual and different to “the norm”, did bring some apprehension around learning and progress. But I am thrilled that the dedication from the Junior School teaching team, and perseverance from our amazing girls has proven to be lucrative in their progress, with our end of year data showing that even during a pandemic, our students have made great steps forward in their learning! Many of our Year 5 and 6s also participated in the Australian ICAS assessments, where the girls have to use higher order thinking and problem-solving skills. Our girls continue to achieve to a high level in ICAS, and this year was no exception with some truly impressive results.

It goes without saying, that I am immeasurably proud of my Junior School team. They maintained an energy and excitement in the teaching and learning programme that was beyond my expectations in 2021; any idea I threw at them, any challenge I set them, they grabbed with both hands, and crafted an even more incredible concept out of it. I am so grateful to work alongside an outstanding group of colleagues and cannot thank them enough for being such a huge part in making my job such a joy.

The way that parents, grandparents, and brothers and sisters adapted and moved with such ease back into our online learning programme was outstanding… and the makeshift classrooms at home, became even more creative as the weeks went on making sure that inspiring learning continued and that our Junior School girls were engaged as much as possible.

Lockdown enabled our girls to become more independent and resilient in their learning which will be a life skill that they will call upon, time and time again.

I can recall the day lockdown was announced on the 17th of August so clearly… it was a Tuesday and all of our choir girls were busy rehearsing and getting excited about performing in Kid Sing at the Town Hall that evening, which we now know was sadly, cancelled. The myriad of musical and sporting events that usually occur throughout the year were impacted on a large scale, but our talented students contributed to Junior School music and sport in many other ways and occasions throughout the year; such as online assemblies and even online

We continue to have high aspirations for all of our girls academically, but in 2021, nothing compared to the importance of protecting and promoting our girls current and future wellbeing, and I am excited that the Junior School is implementing The Resilience Project across all year levels in 2022, where there will be a focus on three powerful tools that will enable girls to be more content in who they are as they grow up – gratitude, empathy and mindfulness.

These tools are going to be our girls’ new superpowers to becoming happier individuals. ‘By Love Serve’ continues to be at the centre of all we do, and by focusing on wellbeing, leadership and a feeling of safety when taking on challenges in their learning, I know that our Junior School girls are going to be well equipped to chase their dreams, find their element, and recognise that the hurdles along the way are all part of the adventure.

We will all continue to face new and exciting hurdles and I know that the Junior School will continue to succeed and flourish, due to the incredible girls and their families and their continued trust and confidence in the culture of this special little part of the College.

We are much more than a School and 2021 has reminded us of this – we have seen the very best of humanity here in the Junior School. St Cuthbert’s is an extraordinary place and it continues to be my privilege to be part of your daughter’s journey.

– Kerry Oldman, Head of Junior School

11

HEAD’S REPORT

JUNIOR SCHOOL

JUNIOR SCHOOL

JUNIOR SCHOOL Leadership Wet Day Monitors On rainy days at morning tea and lunch the Wet Day Monitors team go to look after the Years 0 - 3 classes. When we see that it is raining outside we get excited and happy to go and play games with the younger girls. After finishing their food we go and play games and we also read stories. This is a big responsibility to take care of a class of young girls. Sometimes we get the whole class together to watch a movie, read a book or play games like ‘Heads Down, Thumbs Up’. We love spending time with the girls.

— Issy Reid, Jessica Huang and Scarlett Harvey

Road Patrol Leaders Road Patrol is a fun and very important responsibility in the Junior School. Road Patrollers are role models for other students and responsible for ensuring the safety of our students, parents and community. As a Road Patroller, you get to wear a high vis jacket and control the flow of traffic using bright orange ‘STOP’ lollipop signs so pedestrians can cross the road safely. You need to be reliable, demonstrate good judgement and decision making, be firm yet respectful, be aware of what is going on around you and take your responsibilities seriously as everyone is trusting you to get them across the road safely. I loved being able to serve my school and community as a Road Patroller and are proud of everyone’s hard work this year.

— Sophie Webster

Tour Guides Our job as Tour Guides is to welcome new people and get them excited about coming to St Cuthbert’s College. We love telling people about our amazing school and showing them all the fun things we do. We want people to feel like a part of the St Cuthbert’s family from the minute they walk into our school to when they graduate and more. The Tour Guide team were not able to do many events this year because of COVID-19. Our big event of the year was Open Day which was a huge success! We got to meet so many people 12

and it was absolutely amazing. Being a Tour Guide means being ‘By Love Serve’, be kind and so much more. The Tour Guides have a passion for guiding and have a huge impact on people deciding whether or not they choose to come to St Cuthbert’s. We are usually the first people guests meet so they need to get a good first impression of what our school is like.

One of the skills you master when being a Tour Guide is having the ability to socialise with lots of different people. We all love St Cuthbert’s so much and want to share its “amazing-ness” with the everyone.

our routine during break is basically ‘Eat, Library, More Library, then Class’.

Junior Playground Angels

— Annie Han and Mariana Somaratne

— Micayla Lin

Being a Junior Playground Angel Leader is a very rewarding and special role that includes kindness, helping others and giving out lots of great cuddles. Junior Angels care about the Junior girls and by being excellent role models, we make sure that everyone is being a ‘By Love Serve’ individual and having fun, playing happily together in the playground and surrounded by their friends during break times. Sometimes girls can have disagreements or simply lose their friends while playing games, and if that happens, we’re there to help with friendly smiles by listening, finding solutions, encouraging the girls to do the right thing by listening to others or simply giving out cuddles if they feel hurt, sad or lonely.

— Sophie Webster

Librarians From assisting teachers at break times, to taking a trip to the Senior Library to return books, or even assisting the library when the teachers could be busy after lunch, it is a big job for librarians. Usually at lunch, we issue books for others, recommend books, and also help with looking up categories.

Occasionally, some librarians would read books to younger girls or recommend books to others. Other times we would shelve the returned books or help out with finding specific authors. Each librarian needs to be responsible to turn on time to their rostered sessions. On those days,

Miss Hodge, Ms Walker, and Miss Black are the librarians; they do so much for us in the Junior Library, as well as helping out in the Senior Library. We really appreciate all the effort every librarian has put in, and what we’ve achieved this year.

Occasionally we’d go up to the Senior Library. It’s always such an honour to go up there, a wonderland filled with so many books. At the end of lunch time, we would settle down in our classrooms, and look forward to more people arriving the next day.

House Leaders Our role as House Leaders is an honourable and exciting one. We play a big part when it comes to organising assemblies, House lunches and of course, the exhilarating House party at the end of the year.

All 16 of us House Leaders love to help, especially when it comes to welcoming our newest girls into their Houses. We believe nothing is more important than connecting and interacting with our House members.

— Amy Tang and Olivia Storey

Reception Leaders As Reception Leaders, we help Mrs Colyer around the College campus when she is very busy or away from her desk. We do small jobs such as collecting mail, watering plants, getting supplies for the staff room, taking girls up to the tuck shop, getting ice packs for hurt girls, and taking them up to the nurse if necessary.

Along with helping Mrs Colyer and Miss Fork, we also help with IT in classrooms and during assemblies.

We love being Reception Leaders because we get to spend time helping new girls around the Junior School, and we get to help the amazing school staff and students.

— Lilah McDonald and Isabella Clarke

JUNIOR SCHOOL

JUNIOR SCHOOL Values In Term 3, we had Daffodil Day – a day to raise money for support towards cancer.

The Cancer Society NZ has helped people battle against all kinds of cancer for 90 years already! They are a specialised group of passionate researchers, doctors and scientists that play a big role. Daffodils are the first flower to pop up after winter.

They’re a symbol of spring and represent new beginnings and rebirth. They are a positive, reassuring sign, with a bright and joyful yellow colour.

Daffodil Day is a time to remember those who have experienced cancer and to raise money for support.

— Leila Roosen and Amy Tang

Mobility Dogs is one of several charities we support in the Junior School through Mufti Days and other events. Mobility Dogs help people who have physical disabilities and are unable to do some of the important elements of life. At St Cuthbert’s we are lucky enough to have Gilbert, one of many Mobility Dogs.

Gilbert comes in every Tuesday to join the Junior School for the day. Mobility dogs are trained to retrieve dropped items;

open doors, refrigerators, cupboards and drawers; press lift and pedestrian crossing buttons; pay for purchases across the counter; take shoes and socks off; turn on lights; load and unload washing machines; bark for help and more. Mobility Dogs are very special dogs and are helpful in many ways. At St Cuthbert’s we are supporters of Mobility Dogs and we want to help more people have access to these wonderful dogs and their services.

— Claudia Milne and Charlotte Bruford

Although there are so many different and lovely charities in New Zealand, we chose Cure Kids. Why Cure Kids? Well, simply because we love its motto and desire to help for children. They understand and think for the sick children who may not have accomplished everything they would like to do. They encourage children and let them know that everything is possible.

Since 1920, Cure Kids has supported some of New Zealand’s brightest researchers with more than $16 million of funding across 60 different child health projects. One of their biggest projects is Red Nose Day, where we are given the

chance to help make these children happy again. The red nose symbolises hope and humour which is likened to the thought of a clown. This day gives happiness and joy to these kids while they are in hospital.

We can bring hope to these children who are miserable because they cannot run around the playgrounds with their friends or go to the beach with their family eating fish and chips. In fact, all they do is sit in their bed all day or undergo surgery or get new treatment repetitively, unlike us, free, and living the best times in our lives. So that is why Cure Kids is there. They saw the problems. They understood how it really feels to stay in hospital all day. They raise money for these poor children so they can enjoy the life they deserve.

— Teresa Sun, Arya Dixit and Yeih Seol

Foodbank is very important because it helps people who can’t afford to buy any food. Canned food can last for a long time, so people usually donate canned goods.

You can also donate things that are in packs, such as pasta or rice. Foodbank is a great way to be ‘By Love Serve’.

— Nora Qu

13

LEADERSHIP | VALUES

An overarching theme across the Junior School this year has been Kindness, encompassing our school motto, ‘By Love Serve’. This year the values we studied were Respect, Compassion, Resilience and Empathy. Our values underpin the service opportunities we have. Our chosen charities for 2021 were Mobility Dogs and KidsCan.

JUNIOR SCHOOL

J.A.M. (Jesus and Me) — Sue Porter

In our ‘Jesus And Me’ (JAM) classes this year there has been a focus on unpacking the Values of Empathy, Compassion and Being Inclusive. We aim to include others with the strong belief that we are all God’s children.

A wonderful example of this was evident in a study the Year 3 and Year 4 girls did of Corrie Ten Boom, a woman who displayed great compassion during World War 2.

She was a hero of Being Inclusive.

During this study we unpacked a poem called ‘Life Is But A Weaving’. This poem likens our lives to a tapestry, beautiful and tidy on the upper side but perhaps messy underneath. As the poem states, this is OK because God is working in our lives and His loving hand helps us through those unsettled and messy times. They can indeed be times of learning, discovery and healing. God ensures the tapestry of each individual life is very special and very beautiful. This knowledge has been particularly poignant during our times of lockdown this year.

All Year 4 girls created a weaving with calico ribbons. Each individual ribbon weaves in and out of our tapestry showing Preparing via zoom lessons for our Nativity

we all belong together; we are connected and no-one is left out.

We are entwined and surrounded by special words of empathy, compassion and inclusivity.

Our tapestry is a weaving of love.

In our JAM lessons, at all levels, the concepts of Belonging and Love are paramount.

During Terms 3 and 4, our StCuth’s@home online lessons travelled along a different pathway. It was a journey that, at times, may have felt confusing and unsettling.

The journey may have seemed to be without a compass.

Together we held hands and walked along this pathway, supporting, and encouraging each other. In our Zoom lessons, we discussed the beauty of God’s love. We likened His love to the feeling of warm sunshine upon us, filling us with a strong sense of security and wellbeing. This notion was celebrated with prayer, stories, songs and beautiful artwork done by the girls.

We focussed on the concept that we are being looked after, that God has taken our hand, and He is leading us in the direction of love and peace, hope and joy.

He is, always has been, and always will

be, our compass as we journey along the pathway of our lives.

— Sue Porter, Junior School RE Teacher

In the girls’ words…

I think being inclusive means ‘opening the door’ and helping anyone who is lonely by saying “Are you OK?” I help them feel safe and included in God’s warm hands.

— Annie Zhang I am learning to open my circle of friends and that God loves us, no matter what.

Including others means much more than you may think. It’s about loving one another.

— Zara Reddy God wants us all to include others because it makes them happy and us happy, too. I like it when you say, “God will always love us”.

— Emily Zhong-Zhang Let’s make everyone feel they are special… that they belong!

— Molly Burt

If you include others, they feel better, and you feel better, too!

— Charlotte Thorpe Everyone deserves a friend.

— Melody Lian Bella Rad weaving in her ribbon

Our special tapestry

14

JUNIOR SCHOOL

JUNIOR SCHOOL Glow

I love the Q & A sessions. Most of the time, these sessions are unscheduled, and that makes it exciting. I continue to be amazed at how our students’ minds work and the questions they come up with.

This year, it was decided to change the name of Footprints. We ‘practised’ democracy where every student could vote for their preference for a new name from three options.

It was most enjoyable, and the classes who voted first struggled to contain themselves as they had to wait for the rest of the classes to vote. The anticipation was huge. Eventually, all six classes finished voting and the new name that was settled on was ‘Glow’. The idea behind Glow is that we need to shine our light so that others may find their way.

Kindness, forgiveness, and love, are what makes us shine. During the first term, we were focussing on principles such as Gratitude, Kindness, and Generosity.

For the Year 5 classes, we also focussed on the Parables Jesus shared such as Judge Not, The Sower, The Talents, The Wise Man and The Mustard Seed. The reason there are so many parables in the New Testament, is that Jesus used things that were familiar to people, things that were known, to explain the unknown and heavenly principles.

A typical Footprint class

In the Year 6 classes, we focussed on Virtues. We discussed Virtues such as Compassion, Empathy, Honesty, Humility, Inclusion and Kindness.

Although StCuth’s@home classes held during the lockdowns are not ideal, I was comforted by the fact that we can at least still engage the students and get to hear from them and experience their excitement.

I, myself, enjoyed spending time with the Junior School students online and my respect for the girls kept growing as they moved though challenging times.

To the parents of these wonderful girls, I would like to thank you for raising them to be who they are.

Thank you for caring and loving them in the way that you do.

The Year 5 and Year 6 ‘Glow’ classes are a real blessing.

— Francois Joubert, College Chaplain

15

J.A.M. | GLOW

It is an absolute privilege to be able to spend time with the girls on a weekly basis.

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Music

2021 has been a wonderful year for music in the Junior School. While the Term 3 and 4 COVID-19 lockdown was unexpected, it provided an excellent opportunity for girls to engage with an even wider variety of musical topics than they might have otherwise.

Year 5 and 6 learnt about composers such as Handel and Mozart and their respective contribution to world music. As well as this, the girls also did investigation topics on The Beatles, and Rock’n’Roll music.

It was fantastic for the girls to compare their musical taste and musical knowledge with other girls in their Year groups, as well as with their family members at home.

Everybody has a favourite Beatles song!

Girls at every level have shown improvement in their sense of beat and rhythm by participating in the Home

16

Learning music programme. Girls have all learnt new body-percussion songs of varying complexity (aka Patty-Cake Games or ‘Handshakes’) and have been busy teaching catchy songs to one another and to members of their bubbles.

Girls also made fantastic gains in their instrument playing. The Year 5s individually learnt to play the flute, clarinet, or saxophone for a brass instrument during Terms 1 and 2 this year, while Year 6s also made fabulous gains with their instrument playing. They even performed together as one huge band in a Senior School assembly during Term 3!

We are all looking forward to continuing to develop our music skills in 2022 through our fulfilling, ongoing weekly lessons.

— Andrew Stewart Head of Junior School Music

JUNIOR SCHOOL MUSIC

Junior Black Watch Orchestra The Junior Black Watch Orchestra is a large group of talented young musicians from the Junior School. There are a variety of instruments, from violins to cellos, flutes to clarinets, trumpets to trombones; we love having more and more students join our musical team.

In the past few weeks, we have been working on a piece called ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. This is an extract from the famous piece, Messiah, which the world-renowned composer, George Frideric Handel, wrote.

We rehearse every Thursday lunchtime in Mr Stewart’s classroom and have lots of fun! We’ve also enjoyed performing at many events such as the Instrumental Showcase and the Junior School Prizegiving. In one of

our performances, Mr Stewart conducted with a banana and wore a very silly fruit hat!

We would like to say a big thank you to Mr Stewart for helping us progress so much and building up our musical skills. Thank you!

— Amy Tang

17

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Physical Education Physical Education (PE) lessons provide our students the opportunity to explore movement in a variety of ways, develop strength, flexibility, and agility, and build up a repertoire of transferable skills. Our philosophy is for the girls to experience a range of fun, structured and unstructured physical education activities, to promote a positive attitude towards fitness and sport participation. It is a time for students to develop both independence and cooperative skills.

As the girls progress through the Junior School, they begin to make more choices about their learning in PE, become more reflective about the skills they are developing and games that they are playing, as well making selections around the equipment they use and the strategies they apply.

The Tokyo Olympics was a highlight this year and we participated in our own mini-Olympics including modified wacky races and throwing events. We were lucky enough to have Olympic Ambassador, Lukka Jones, come and share her Olympic journey with the students before she jetted off to Tokyo.

18

This year, with some of the year’s learning occurring online, PE took on a new look. The students have been fantastic embracing ‘Virtual PE’. We have danced, juggled, punched, kicked, ‘boot camped’ and Yoga’d our way to fitness throughout StCuth’s@home online learning.

We are already looking forward to next year, being back on campus and incorporating the exciting new ‘MoveWell’ resource into the Junior PE programme. ‘MoveWell’ places well-structured game experiences as central to learning so that children can develop physical competencies and the confidence to play games.

Physical Education is all about developing well balanced, physically competent lifelong learners and this year hasn’t been any different, even with all the challenges that 2021 has brought with it. The Junior School girls have still bounced, thrown, hit, caught, swam, communicated, made decisions, and perspired their way through PE, with a great deal of energy, enthusiasm, and laughter along the way.

— Des Knight

19

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

JUNIOR SCHOOL

JUNIOR SCHOOL Sport

Junior School Cross Country Champions Year 4 Champions 1st Mclane Cary 2nd Talitha Mitchell 3rd Vanessa Chen Year 5 Champions 1st Annie Wang 2nd Mila Firth 3rd Emily Zhang

Year 6 Champions 1st Sophie Qu 2nd Jessica Thomson 3rd Ava Butt

Flippa Ball We had a wonderful two terms of flippa ball for our Junior School students. We had a total of seven teams from Years 2 – 6. All of our teams were entered into the Water Wolves competition which is run on Sunday afternoons at St Cuthbert’s.

We had many teams gaining some great results in their grades. It was fabulous to see many of our Junior School students enjoying the game and gaining great water confidence and flippa ball skills.

Football Skills developed fast among our young footballers over the 2021 season. We had two school teams playing in local competitions. The regular Wednesday

morning sessions before school each term attracted 25 – 30 students who are each provided a ball which is key to learning and practicing new skills. Our Director of Football, Haley Gleeson, oversees each session and has great help from our volunteer Senior players who get to pass on their own tricks plus learn coaching tips from Haley. A highlight in Term 3 was a visit from the Football Ferns just before they left for the Olympics.

Meeting the Ferns has now inspired some to aim for the stars themselves. MVPs from the competition teams were Hazel Lo and Annabel Palmer, with Katie Potter winning the award for most improved player during the seaon.

Gymnastics was once again a popular lunch time sport for Year 3 – 6 students in the Junior school. Throughout Terms 1 – 3 we had around 60 girls training with our amazing coaches from Tristar Gymnastics. 16 girls were then selected to represent St Cuthbert’s at the Remuera Zone gym competition and achieved some awesome results! We had 10 girls qualify for the Champion of Champions competition.

Tennis

Year 5: Team. 3rd place: Alicia Li, Nalani Tuhoe, Cleo Lindsay, Iris Dun. Individual. 3rd place: Alicia Li

Our young hotshots had impressive results at the annual Year 5 and 6 tennis doubles tournament for local schools.

Our Year 6 girls Angelica Zhao and Issy Reid, paired up to win Group A, while the combination of Coco Alpe and Olivia Storey won Group B. Kate Xu and Hope Wang teamed up to win the Year 5 Group A title. Their club competition plus the option of after school coaching is paying off for these young stars and we look forward to seeing them join our Seniors teams from Year 7.

Gymnastics

Year 3: Team. 2nd place: Rosie Gibbs, Estella Jiang, Lucy Fenwick, Cassie Cashen.

Individual. 4th Place: Rosie Gibbs Year 4: Individual. 4th Place: Lucy Gill

Hockey We had six teams across Years 4 – 6 for the Junior hockey programme. All of our teams are coached by our wonderful student coaches which allows our Junior teams to train and play once a week during Term 2 and Term 3. The dedication and enthusiasm throughout the Junior hockey programme is always great to see, and it is awesome to see our Senior school players giving up their time to assist in the development of the Junior teams. We were lucky enough to have Blacksticks Julia King (Olympian / Old Girl), Katie Doar (Olympian / Old Girl) and Kaitlin Cotter assist with the Junior teams’ training sessions. We look forward to watching these students progress their hockey pathways through the school.

Netball This year, St Cuthbert’s had six Junior netball teams across Years 3 - 6, playing in the Auckland Netball competition at St John’s on Thursday nights. All of our Junior teams trained and played weekly in Terms 2 and 3. Our Tigers, Leopards, Firecrackers, Sparklers, Diamonds and Emeralds were all coached by Senior School students, creating strong bonds 20

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Skiing Unfortunately our Junior School teams didn’t manage to compete this year, but they had some great training sessions at Snowplanet during the season. A few students managed to get some club racing in.

Amelia Huang competed in the 2021 Auckland Points Race Series in June this year and placed 2nd in her Under 10 group.

Lexi Liu won Gold in the Under-10 girls giant slalom race, at Cardrona Junior Interfield, Bronze in the overall Southern Lakes Junior Interfield Series Championship, and Silver in the Snowsports NZ Junior Freestyle Nationals ski-cross race.

Junior School Swimming Champions Year 6 Swimming Champions 1st Sophie Qu 2nd Teresa Sun 3rd Amy Tang

Year 5 Swimming Champions 1st Hope Wang 2nd Jessica Yeoman 3rd = Lucia Yoon and Olivia Lambie Year 4 Swimming Champions 1st Talitha Mitchell 2nd Harriet Glenie 3rd Lyndsey Ma

Swimming Remuera Zone Our Years 5 and 6 Remuera Zone team had a very strong showing at the Remuera Zone Year 5 and 6 Swimming Championships. The students gained some fantastic individual and team results, and it was great to showcase the strong selection of great swimmers we had in Year 5 and 6 this year. The team won the Year 5 and 6 Cup for best overall girls and the Year 5 and 6 Remuera Zone Cup for best overall school.

21

SPORT

within our school netball community. We also ran several netball holiday programmes which were well attended, which enabled us to introduce the sport to some of our youngest Year 1 and 2 students in the Junior School. We look forward to building on these introductions to netball so we continue to have a large number of teams participating in the Auckland competition at Junior level.

JUNIOR SCHOOL French

Learning another language helps to develop communicative skills and to encourage intercultural knowledge and understanding. Learning languages opens students’ minds to different cultures whereby students feel ‘Citizens of the World’.

Learning another language helps to develop communicative skills and to encourage intercultural knowledge and understanding. Learning languages opens students’ minds to different cultures whereby students feel ‘Citizens of the World’.

At St Cuthbert’s Junior School, we nurture a lifelong passion and curiosity for languages and consolidate the skills for future language learning. The students have the opportunity to learn French from Year 0 to Year 6.

French in our Junior School is all about hands-on learning and having fun.

The students get to know France and important landmarks, as well as learn about the French language and culture.

In 2021, we enjoyed most of Term 1 and 2 in school. We learned French songs together, played games and had team challenges in class. It did feel like a more ‘normal’ time as we could really be part of a bigger language learning community.

At the beginning of Term 3 we celebrated languages in our College and our Junior

22

School girls had the opportunity to get a glimpse of the variety of languages our Senior students can choose from.

Our ‘Big Sisters’ from the Senior School visited their ‘Little Sisters’ and presented an activity in the language they have chosen. What a huge variety of choices we experienced, from Mandarin to Spanish, Latin, French and te reo Māori. It was amazing to learn some words and special traditions from different cultures. Our wonderful senior languages teachers also gave us some insight into their respective languages. What a buzz it was around the Junior School!

We ended the week on a high, with dressing up in a cultural costume, and parading around the Tennis Courts to showcase our cultural diversity present at the College. We were quite surprised how many different cultures actually are represented at our Junior School. The costumes were amazing.

We were so lucky to be able to have such an event go ahead and we really appreciated it. Online learning did find us

again though, and we moved back into our small bubbles. We made the most of these times as well, by creating games to enhance our number knowledge, making origami houses, creating furniture and labelling the items in French.

The students recorded the week’s weather on a chart and gave weather reports in French, and they created and presented sports gear. We used Kahoot and online challenges to check our progress and created signs for school subjects.

The girls learned and performed traditional French songs and dances and they loved using roleplays in French.

It was a very unique year again but we made the most of it. Our girls adopted so seamlessly to the different challenges this year surprised us with, and had great fun all the way through.

— Birgitta Hartinger, Teacher in Charge, Junior School French

our computer screens and has been undeniably heartwarming.

In the first few weeks of school, we enjoyed listening to and reading stories together, poems, nursery rhymes, writing, singing songs, and playing fun maths games; and as we endeavour to become more independent learners, we collaboratively developed a Classroom Treaty outlining the rules and routines of Bubble School. We also discussed what it is to be a St Cuthbert’s girl and living by the motto ‘By Love Serve.’

The most common theme in our learning, has been honouring and valuing diversity.

As we grow to learn about each other and all of our wonderful differences, we also enjoyed celebrating some of the many languages, cultures and celebrations from within our classroom and around the world.

By embracing the gift of learning and all of the wonderful things around us, we build on the stepping stones to ‘Colour Our Future.’

— Bella Ali

Anna: “When I grow up, I want to be an ice-skating teacher, and a doctor.”

Chloe: “When I grow up, I want to be a police officer.”

Eliana: “When I grow up, I want to be a librarian.”

Ella: “When I grow up, I want to be a surgeon and cut bones, and be a makeup artist.”

Jennie: “When I grow up, I want to be a dentist to look after people’s teeth.”

Kate: “When I grow up, I want to be a Snowplanet skiing teacher.”

Litia: “When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut and discover the earth, the cold planets and the stars.”

Shera: “When I grow up, I am going to be a teacher so I can tell everyone to come to St Cuthbert’s College.”

Stella: “When I grow up, I want to be a doctor to look after animals.”

Skylar: “When I grow up, I want to be a makeup artist.”

Zahra: “When I grow up, I want to be a science teacher so we can do science experiments.”

This wonderful range of ambitions bodes well for our future.

23

FRENCH | OBLI

At the beginning of Term 4, eleven of our youngest students started in Year 0 and made history by being the first Intake to begin their St Cuthbert’s learning journey, online. The girls eagerly logged onto their computers, thrust into this new way of learning, and adjusted to their new norm. They displayed a resounding sense of resilience as they met their new teachers and friends on digital platforms within the four walls of their home. The delight, curiosity and keenness to learn shone through each little square on

JUNIOR SCHOOL

0BLI

0BOY

When girls first start school, we spend time learning about what it means to be a St Cuthbert’s girl? We talk about the qualities and values that we strive for at our College. Here is what the girls in 0BOY think a St Cuthbert’s girls should be like:

‘A St Cuthbert’s Girl’ She is kind, she is nice, she is fun, she is giving.

She is friendly, she is caring, she is helpful and honest.

She is brave, she is curious, she is strong and intelligent.

She is inclusive, respectful, thoughtful and generous She is amazing!

She can be anything!

— written collectively by the students of 0BOY 2021

Online Learning

Each week we had a menu that inspired us to keep learning at home. We covered lots of topics from what plants need to grow, to how penguins live in Antarctica and on into Space.

While we were learning about Penguins, we had a visit from Lucy Sudbury, one of the Education managers at Kelly Tarlton’s.

Lucy joined us on Zoom and answered lots of our questions about Penguins. We also enjoyed showing her our Penguin habitats that we had made at home.

24

At the start of Term 4, we spent a few weeks learning about ‘What is in Space?’.

John Rowe, an Astronomy Educator, from Stardome Observatory popped in to our Zoom class, to talk to 0BOY about Space.

He helped us understand what we are seeing when we look up at the night sky and how the Sun and the Moon affect the heat and light available to Earth.

I am an astronaut I can see the moon.

The sun is hot.

I am Eloise the astronaut!

— Eloise Carruthers

Dear John, Thank you for teaching me.

I like looking for Venus in the night sky.

— Ophelia Guest

I am an astronaut, I am in space.

I can see the Earth.

I can see the Moon.

I can see the Sun. I can see lots of stars.

I can see the trees down on Earth.

I can see the Space Station and I love Space.

— Alexis Hefer

“My favourite memory from 1FSH was our amazing princess tea party. The best thing was having nice teachers.”

— Amelie

“The thing I loved most about being in 1FSH was having the best teachers and learning about fractions and number bonds.”

— Ana

JUNIOR SCHOOL

1FSH

“The thing I loved most about being in 1FSH was learning how to sing.”

— Averie-Lee

“My special memory from Year 1 was playing with Veronica Sia on the playground. We were always so happy.”

— Ela BACK ROW: Ms Valeria Harris (Teacher), Mrs Susan Grazier (Teacher), Fairy Jiang, Elsa Shi-Zhang, Chloe Chiu, Maiana Tuhoe, Amelia Sun, Veronica Sia Russell-Park, Miss Emily Fisher (Teacher) SECOND ROW: Serena Liu, Averie-Lee Kaufusi, Olivia Rainsford, Nadia Sheikh, Ana Firth, Harriet Perry, Adele Davidson FRONT ROW: Sloane Milne, Sonnia Cheung, Annelise Ng, Amelie Jardine, Esme Sun, Zara Neuberger

“In Year 1 I learnt how to read and write. The thing I loved most about being in 1FSH was having kind teachers and lovely friends.”

— Elsa

“My favourite memory from Year 1 was playing secret fairies with all my friends. In Year 1 I learned to add numbers, read chapter books and how to write about princesses.

I loved being in 1FSH. I loved my teachers. I loved my friends…I loved everything!”

— Fairy

“In Year 1 I learned to read. Miss Fisher helped me when I found it hard to learn.”

— Maiana “My favourite memory from 1FSH was our trip to watch ‘Beauty and the Beast’. I loved our princess picnic with our Year 6 buddies. I loved all the art we did.”

— Nadia

“The thing I loved most about being in 1FSH was having Miss Fisher as my teacher because we did amazing art. My favourite memory from Year 1 was making my crown for our 100 days. In Year 1 I learned to enjoy maths.”

— Olivia “My favourite memory from Year 1 was having the princess tea party with my buddy Sophie. The thing I loved most about being in 1FSH was having a teacher like Miss Fisher. In Year 1 I learned how to read and write.”

— Serena “In Year 1 I liked learning because Miss Fisher was the best teacher.

— Sloane

“In Year 1 I enjoyed making new friends. I liked dressing up with my buddy.”

— Veronica Sia “I loved being in 1FSH and making new friends.”

— Amelia

“The thing I loved most about being in 1FSH was my lovely teachers. I loved the art we did with Miss Fisher. In Year 1 I learned to read and write.”

— Adele

25

0BOY | 1FSH

“I loved seeing the teachers dressed up as book characters for the Book Week parade.”

— Annelise

1MER

We started our first full year at school very excited as 1MER girls and asked the question ‘What does a St Cuthbert’s girl look and act like?’. We began to understand and discuss ‘Belonging’ to different groups within our community.

Then we were hit with another COVID-19 lockdown, just six days into school! It was strange at first getting used to using Zoom, but we were adaptable learners.

A few weeks later, we were back at school and excited about running in our first Cross Country race. We warmed up with some Jump Jam favourites enjoyed running with the kind Year 13 girls dressed as fairies.

BACK ROW: Mrs Sheryl Meredith (Teacher), Marissa Kawengian, Sisi Guo, Charlotte Taylor, Ava Milne, Florence Neal, Mrs Wandzia Barron (Teacher) SECOND ROW: Océane Renault-Pollard, Liliya Wu, Fifi Somaratne, Annabelle Ellett, Elaine Sun, Aideen Qin FRONT ROW: Ophelia Guest, Tiffany Song, Milly Hawkins, Doris Chen, Isabelle Jo, Mikayla Chan, Chelsea Xu

During PEACE, we looked inside our lunchboxes and even though we thought we were doing well with our waste, we could see there was room for improvement, so we went to the Henderson Recycling Plant on a trip.

WOW… what a place, we had so much fun exploring and extending our knowledge about waste and recycling.

For ‘Book Week’ we dressed up on different days in our pyjamas, silly socks, with crazy hair and as our favourite book to film character for the parade.

Term 2, arrived, along with our much awaited celebration of ‘100 Days at School’. We laughed a lot when we saw one another dressed up as grandmas with our grey hair, handbags, cardigans and pearls. Our own Year 1 Mini Olympics allowed us all to shine as gold medal champions.

Spring brought with it another lengthy lockdown and we were off again on our Zoom timetables. We learnt and practised the art of letter, led the Year 1 assembly, joined in the fitness challenge and had many dress-up days. Our Zoom classes continued with ‘Once upon a time’ in Term 4, and we learned the elements found in a traditional fairy tale, narrative writing, along with dramatic role-playing of these tales during Stretch.

We have all grown this year, ‘Zoomed’ off in our own learning and have developed our friendships. As Mrs Meredith has said all year ‘We are a class of cutie patooties.’

Watch out Year 2, because we are ready and racing your way!

26

BACK ROW: Ms Minka Car (Learning Assistant), Miranda Chen, Annie He, Faye Mai, Grace Fan, Monica Wang, Grace Wang, Carina Liu, Ms Lynda Harris (Teacher) SECOND ROW: Emily Fraser, Hayley Hui, Jiayi Li, Olivia Mann, Sophia Mi, Lara Sun, Molly Liu, Giselle Gong FRONT ROW: Meadow Nash, Carla Hocken Cubi, Sisi Liu, Isabella Hibbins, Arna Liang, Kerker Zhang, Saffron Heppner

At school, we had three teachers to guide us through the year. Miss Harris did amazing butterfly work with us, and we immersed ourselves in learning around that topic. In Term 2, we had Mrs Mowbray to work with us and we loved doing work in P.E.A.C.E. about water. Mrs Lightfoot came to work with us in Term 2 also, and we enjoyed learning more about water through science experiments.

Some of the ‘at school’ highlights for this year include our Book Week, where every day had a new theme, and we even got to wear our pyjamas to school! There was also a book character day where we could all dress up. We even had Ms Oldman and Gilbert the ‘By Love Serve’ dog come to read a story to us. We had so much fun learning about the Olympics and dressing up to support our chosen country or sport. We even made Olympic ring hats. Our friends from Kings’ School came to spend a morning with us, and we were the hosts which meant we needed to show our manaakitanga; extending our aroha to them to ensure they liked their time with us. They really enjoyed seeing our classrooms and playing on our playground.

We had a wonderful time learning about Matariki, and we were able to do some lovely pencil and vivid art showing how the seven stars were represented in our lives. In maths we learned a lot about fractions and about money, and we loved playing shopping games in the classroom.

Some of our ‘online’ highlights include our Stretch session with Ms Car, when we got to find out more about festivals and celebrations. We really loved learning more about Diwali as well. In writing, we got to plan a Family Disco and make invitations and a menu, as well as planning the party games. It was exciting to make our home bubbles more fun! We especially enjoyed news time online where we could catch up with our friends and find out about all the new wiggly teeth and family news.

Year 2 has been a year of many changes and challenges, and we learnt so much about ourselves as learners, our families and our willingness to embrace new things. We have shown that we really can be ‘By Love Serve’ in all that we do.

27

JUNIOR SCHOOL

This year has provided many challenges that our wonderful 2HAR students have taken in their stride; developing their resilience and ability to succeed even in changing and challenging situations. Twice this year we have been into lockdown learning mode, with our second lockdown being the longest and toughest we have had. We have developed incredible skills in using technology, online etiquette and learning outside the classroom.

1MER | 2HAR

2HAR

2JAE

My favourite part of Year 2 was…

I really enjoyed doing our big autumn art project. We had our photos taken in different poses. We got to do lots of painting using some beautiful autumn coloured paints. My favourite part was painting the tree as my background. I felt so proud of myself and my class when I saw our incredible artwork on the wall in the reception foyer.

— Aeryl Zhang My favourite moment of Year 2 was when we got to wear our pyjamas to school. It was part of our Book Week celebrations. I really liked it as I did not have to wear my school uniform that day. It was really cosy wearing pyjamas to school, and Olivia Clack-Li and I had the same dressing gown. I saw so many different and colourful pyjamas that day.

— Eva

BACK ROW: Mrs Nichole Mayer (Learning Assistant), Effie Ko, Olivia Li, Emma Tang, Alina An, Maile Mowbray, Melissa Wang, Olivia Chen, Mrs Lisa Jane (Teacher) SECOND ROW: Valerie Sun, Elena Zhao, Aeryl Zhang, Aubrey Hooper, Amira Bashirdeen, Carren Wei, Samaira Singh, Sofia Fisher-Wells FRONT ROW: Cordelia Worthington, Serena Chen, Eva Liu, Sophia Xu, Dina Feng, Savannah Ni, Emily Lim Absent: Vivienne Guan

My favourite part of being in Year 2 was when we started to learn about water in PEACE lessons. I really enjoyed the fun activities like the true or false game. We got to do lots of really cool science experiments like making the rain catcher out of a plastic milk bottle. I loved dancing and singing to the water cycle song.

— Cora Worthington

My favourite Year 2 moment was when the boys from King’s College came to our school. We were the hosts so that meant we had to show the boys around our classroom.

We got to make some Olympics sports people out of tinfoil. It was quite tricky. I liked playing on the playground with the King’s boys.

— Valerie Sun My favourite part of being Year 2 was when we had the Book Week parade. It was on the last day of Book Week. Everyone came to school dressed as their favourite book characters. I loved that we did not have to wear our school uniform for the whole day.

It was great to be in the parade and we got to walk across the stage, while everyone clapped. The teachers all got dressed up too; they looked really funny.

— Sophia Xu

My favourite moment of Year 2 was when we all walked to the big trees to collect leaves to use as the painted background for our writing. We had lots of photos taken of us under the big tree throwing leaves in the air.

On the way back, Valerie kicked her shoe in the air, it was so funny.

— Olivia Chen My favourite part of Year 2 was doing maths online and Zoom. We did some fun games like ‘hit the button’. I really like calling out the answers to the doubles game. We sometimes went into breakout rooms to do maths with the teachers.

— Savannah Ni 28

The most exciting thing this year was getting to go to the gymnastics competition with two of my friends.

— Rosie

Reading ‘Matilda’! I liked it because it had some reading activities that were fun to do.

— Emelia

JUNIOR SCHOOL

3ING

I loved spending time with my friends.

— Apple

When we went to the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ show because we got to see Lilian on stage.

— Mia Bain I loved doing Pyjama Day for Book Week.

— Chloe BACK ROW: Mrs Vicky Hacket Pain (Learning Assistant), Lilian Peng, Claire Zhang, Amber Qu, Sarina Zhu, Estella Jiang, Chloe Ma, Ashley Rao, Ms Kristin Inglis (Teacher) SECOND ROW: Alina Chen, Annie Liu, Lucy Burton, Stella Chen, Melissa Zhu, Adela Mai, Apple Lu FRONT ROW: Rosie Gibbs, Emelia Haydock, Lucy Fenwick, Kiki Strickett, Samiya Liu, Mia Burt, Mia Bain

Our favourite moments from 2021 I loved being in Year 3 because you can do lots of fun art. I loved our mini humans art.

— Stella When we did fun activities, like building our boats with 3STV. — Samiya

Going on the bus to the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ show. My favourite part of the show was when Belle wore the golden dress and danced with the Beast.

— Mia Burt

I loved Book Week because it was really fun and entertaining, especially Pyjama Day because I could wear my comfy clothes.

— Lucy B

My favourite thing was the gymnastics competition because I had lots of fun and my team got second place.

— Lucy F I really liked the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ show. I thought it was amazing.

— Melissa

The Easter Bonnet parade because we got to design our Easter hat and whoever designed the best hat, got a prize.

— Adela

My favourite moment was when we went to the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ show because Lilian was in it.

— Claire

My favourite event in Year 3 was touching a real America’s Cup medal because it was very special and not everyone gets to touch one.

— Amber I loved doing art in our class! I really liked painting the Olympic rings because I want to be an Olympian when I grow up.

— Ashley

I have enjoyed making new friends in 3ING like Rosie and Claire.

— Jemima

My favourite time in Year 3 was when we went to the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ show because I liked going on the bus, and I had read the book before I went to the show.

— Sarina My favourite time was when I did the gymnastics competition because I really like gymnastics.

— Estella

My favourite moment this year was going to 3ING for literacy and maths.

— Monica When our class made mini humans because we got to create our own versions of ourselves, and I love art!

— Kiki My favourite part of the year was learning new things every day.

— Lilian

29

2JAE | 3ING

I liked the Easter Bonnet parade because we got to make our own hats. It was so fun!

— Annie

3STV

BACK ROW: Amelia Huang, Lisa Shi, Aurelia Boldarin, Cassie Cashen THIRD ROW: Laura Egerton, Olivia Taylor, Livvy Boyes, Emma Mueller, Mia Yuan SECOND ROW: Mrs Kristen Slade (Learning Assistant), Joanna Cao, Yvonne Guan, Clara MacCulloch, Cate Power, Scarlett Campbell, Karin Xu, Miss Liz Stevens (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Winnie Wang, Stefanie Wang, Charlotte Booth, Michelle Tao, Sofia Sheikh, Jennie Xu, Rita Qiu

My favourite moments…

I enjoyed Pyjama Day because we invented the magic words – ‘potato’ that made us fall asleep and ‘watermelon’ that woke us back up.

— Aurelia Boldarin One of the things I enjoyed about Year 3 was Book Week. I really liked dressing up as book characters!

Charlotte Booth I liked building boats because we were creative.

— Livvy Boyes

30

I enjoyed building the boats. We got to get together and recycle things.

— Scarlett Campbell My favourite moment in Year 3 was….

Book Week! We got to read lots of fun books and did fun activities.

— Joanna Cao I loved the gymnastic competition because we got to do lots of different events.

— Cassie Cashen My favourite part of Year 3 was creating

our fairy tales because we were able to be creative.

— Laura Egerton I enjoyed building the boats with 3ING because it showed teamwork.

— Yvonne Guan My favourite part of the year was Cultural Day, because we got to celebrate our culture at school and wear cool costumes. We also took a photo. Say cheese!

— Amelia Huang My most favourite special moment in Year 3 was Cross Country because I beat my record from my last school! I ran two kilometres and I came 21st.

— Clara MacCulloch My favourite part of Year 3 was Crazy Hair Day. I liked seeing everyone’s crazy hair and had fun figuring out what to do with my hair.

— Emma Mueller My favourite moment of Year 3 was making lots of new friends in 3STV and in 3ING too.

— Cate Power I loved the dancing at lunch because it meant I can get better and I want to be a dancer!

— Rita Qiu I enjoyed making the book covers, it was really fun and we could choose any book we like… I chose ‘Ella Diaries’.

— Sofia Sheikh I love that Miss Stevens let us do the boat building, because I got to be really creative about it, and design.. It was really fun to do!

— Lisa Shi I enjoyed being Values Rep the best, because I could help people!

— Michelle Tao My favourite part of Year 3 was during Book Week… We got to dress up in silly clothes!

— Olivia Taylor The activity I enjoyed the most from Year 3 was all the fun arts, crafts and games we did. I found them super fun and thought they were wonderful. I am very grateful to have had amazing teachers to teach me and I think they have helped me to learn so many fantastic things.

— Stefanie Wang My favourite part of Year 3 was the Easter Bonnet Parade. I liked the music and enjoyed seeing everyone’s hats.

— Winnie Wang This year in 3STV, I really enjoyed having Mr Hickey, a Team NZ Materials and Design Engineer, visiting our class. I learnt lots of facts and information about the America’s Cup and Emirates Team NZ, including their sponsors.

— Jennie Xu I liked it when we learnt about the America’s Cup and when we got to meet Mr Hickey. I liked seeing the medal and trying it on. I was surprised how heavy it was.

— Karin Xu My favourite moment in Year 3 was going to The ‘Beauty and the Beast’’ show because Lilian was singing in it! I really enjoyed the show.

— Mia Yuan

In Term 2, we had a whole term at school and we had enormous fun learning about electricity with a wonderful visitor from Vector. We were lucky to go to the Senior School Science lab and find out all about how the Van De Graaf generator worked. Talk about bad hair days! The term rounded off with Book Week, where every day we got to dress up in something different, from odd socks to pyjamas.

BACK ROW: Alice Feng, Bella Payne, Lyndsey Ma, Eadie Coote, Kiki Kilmister-Blue SECOND ROW: Ms Sarah Klisser (Learning Assistant), Mrs Merril Stewart (Learning Assistant), Harriet Glenie, Suri Wang, Lydia Tang, Jocelyn Ke, Bowie Adding, Mrs Leigh Knight (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Mia Pan, Christina Yeou, Lara Feng, Gladys Hou, Yi Ke Liu, Nina Ni, Kylie Young

Term 3 started off well with Languages week and we had more excitement dressing up in our cultural outfits and having a parade. We started our Olympic study learning about ancient Greece and the ancient Olympics as well as keeping up with our modern Olympic heroes. From week 3, we were in lockdown again, but continued with our enthusiastic approach to learning. We had a fantastic time drawing ancient Greek vases and researching famous landmarks in modern Greece. We all dressed up in yellow for Daffodil Day and we even had our planned visit to the Chelsea Sugar factory, except it was a virtual visit, but just as exciting. We dressed in pink and made face scrubs and rock candy.

Term 4 started in lockdown and although we were disappointed not to be back with our friends, we started our exciting study of wee beasties and critters, looking at our own backyard and then onto wider New Zealand.

We even had a virtual museum visit, which was really interesting, to learn all about insects. We made a diorama on a spider’s web and learned how to make spiders from any spare materials we had at home 2021 has been a year to remember.

31

JUNIOR SCHOOL

2021 has been a full-on, helter-skelter year. In Term 1, we had all the fun of swim carnival, the Life Education Caravan, Easter Bonnets and ANZAC crosses, as well as coping with two lockdowns. And we still managed to go to our camp, which was a highlight for all the girls, especially the mud activities!

3STV | 4KNI

4KNI

4MAA

BACK ROW: Sabrina You, Raya Dinesh, Pansy Qu, Alira Patel, Aimee Gill SECOND ROW: Ms Sarah Klisser (Learning Assistant), Mrs Merril Stewart (Learning Assistant), Olivia Zhang, Olivia Webster, Alva Zhang, Isabella Rad, Talitha Mitchell, Mrs Victoria Mauala (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Juliette Clarke, Vanessa Chen, Aria Haroon, Audrey Yang, Hailey Ko, Kennedy Campbell, Ana Li

We have had an extraordinary 2021 in 4MAA. Although our ‘in-person year’ was cut short, with the unexpected lockdown, we managed to jam-pack our time together with so many incredible experiences. One of our standout memories was Camp Adair. We loved wobbling across the two-wire bridge, tackling the confidence course, and slipping our way down the mudslide! However, we weren’t so sure about the early morning runs with the teacher’s walking behind us, “encouraging us on”. Piggy-backing off of the camp energy, we participated in many sporting events. We are so proud of our class’s efforts! The Swimming Sports day was a huge success and our camp runs proved to be useful after all when it came to the Cross Country race. In between these more serious sporting events, we had many rounds of ‘Squirrel Run’, an all-time class favourite ‘hide and seek’ game.

As you can see, we had a lot of fun physical activities this year, but we can assure you we didn’t forget about our brains! Book Week was especially fun with a pyjama dress-up and a silly sock/hair day. We also attended a fantastic youth production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at the Aotea Centre. Without a doubt, the most exciting moment of this year was when our teacher Mrs Mauala welcomed her beautiful baby, Adrianna, into the world. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to say goodbye to our wonderful teacher at the end of Term 3, but we are so grateful for all the work and love she poured into us. We can’t wait to see her again soon and to meet Adrianna! Don’t worry – we weren’t left alone to teach ourselves for the rest of the year. Our new teacher, Mrs Bradley, took over in the middle of the lockdown. Despite Zoom’s many challenges, we were optimistic that we could continue to learn and grow with exciting topics of Biodiversity, Sweet as Sugar, and Celebrations. Taking a virtual visit to the Chelsea Sugar Factory and the Museum was incredible! The lockdown learning has encouraged us to be creative problem solvers, adaptable learners, and supportive of one another. We are so grateful for all the experiences we have had together. We look forward to seeing one another again soon!

“It’s okay to struggle. It’s not okay to give up.” selected by Kennedy Campbell “There’s no ‘normal’, only be yourself.” selected by Juliette Clarke “Life is like a coin, you spend it any way you wish, but only once!.” selected by Pia Grover “The purpose of life is to be happy.” selected by Talitha Mitchell “Never give up on the people who you love.” selected by Pansy Qu “Kindness always comes back.” selected

by Isabella Rad

32

Book Week: “It was a fabulous Book Week! The whole week had been a blast, but one day...we got to wear our PJs to school!”

— Zara Reddy

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Swimming Sports: “The energetic kids swam frantically in the clear water and everyone was cheering wildly like a deafening volcano erupting.”

— Annie Zhang

4MAA | 4WEL

4WEL

“The last day of Book Week had finally arrived, I walked into my classroom and saw colours everywhere, on different clothing designs.

It was fun to see all my friends dressed up in their outfits as different book characters. I went as Alice in Wonderland as, just like me, she is very curious.”

— Missha Lin

BACK ROW: Missha Lin, Chloe Liu, Annie Zhang, Melody Lian, Molly Burt SECOND ROW: Ms Sarah Klisser (Learning Assistant), Mrs Merril Stewart (Learning Assistant), Luna Wu, Elisa Xin, Van Nguyen, Ella Gu, Charlotte Thorpe, Miss Joanna Wells (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Vianna Cheung, Sofia de Court Long, Mclane Cary, Zara Reddy, Hannah Sun, Nora Qu, Miaomiao Zhong-Zhang

“Everyone clapped and cheered as we all did our best. We zoomed through the pool, like arrows zooming to a target.”

— Charlotte Thorpe “We were all so nervous. When our first race began, the pool was noisy and splashy.”

— Melody Lian

Camp “Looking down from the ladder to spy your teammates, small as dots below you; moments after, everybody’s hearts were pounding as the clicks of the harnesses rushed through our minds. Flying through the air like a rocket, swinging back and forth. Wow!” — Annabel Palmer “The confidence course was amazing and we all got covered in sticky, gooey mud.”

— Nora Qu

“One of us had to pull the raft through a lake of freezing cold water. Camp made me strong and I conquered my fears.”

— Ella Gu “Zoom! I went down the mudslide, landing in the cold, muddy water.”

— Emily Zhong-Zhang

“I loved waking up my friends at 6.00am. I ran with my bare feet down to their cabin and I bounced with excitement and said “Good morning!”

— Chloe Liu “My favourite thing about this year was starting at St Cuthbert’s and all the amazing opportunities I’ve had. Year 4 camp was a highlight, especially the raft building and the confidence course in the mud, because it pushed me out of my comfort zone.”

— Sofia de Court Long “As I climbed on to the pole to do the high swing, my heart was beating nervously.

SWISH I did it! It was so much fun.”

— Hannah Sun

33

5BLN

It was time to get back on the bus, so we drove back to school. What a great day that was! It was so fun, and I would like to do it again. Thank you, teachers, for organising this.

— Hazel, Aiza, Chloe, Hannah W, Kayla, Carmen, Jessica and Artemis

BACK ROW: Hannah Warren, Chloe Lu, Pippa Rae, Katie Potter THIRD ROW: Molly Atkins, Kate Xu, Kayla Tarak, Hope Wang, Artemis Sloan SECOND ROW: Mrs Katrina White (Learning Assistant), Lucia Yoon, Carmen O’Neill, Jessica Yeoman, Hazel Barron, Emily Wang, Iris Wen, Mrs Amy Blanchard (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Iris Dun, Sophia Gong, Annie Wang, Aiza Haroon, Bella Guthrie, Katie Xie, Hannah Yun

‘Beauty and the Beast’ Musical When we arrived at school everyone was so excited! Everyone got into their class lines and we got onto the bus to Aotea Square. There were three schools there to watch the show, and we had to wait some time for it to start. All of us could hear echoes of voices all around the

34

room. “Ladies and gentlemen, please take a seat and the show will be starting soon,” said a voice over the loudspeaker.

The play was so magical with a very detailed storyline. Beauty was beautiful and Beast… was, well, a beast. We loved it so much, we didn’t want it to end! After the show, we applauded for a long time.

Online Learning The first day of lockdown was very boring because we didn’t have home learning.

Everyone was lying on their beds, doing nothing. But the next day, the first day of home learning, it flew by! Everyone was learning at their desks, then we had PE (yay something fun!). Last term in PE we were (trying) to learn to juggle! This term we are doing lots of fun and entertaining dance videos. It was August when we started lockdown and then kaboom, it was November! What we like about lockdown is doing all these cool peace projects like: ‘Build your own country’, ‘wanted’ posters, but my favourite was the ‘make your own’ persuasive TV advertisement. There is not a moment that we feel bored. We are looking forward to seeing our friends again and going back to normality!

— Pippa and Asha

Topic: Sustainability and Olympics In Term 2, we created recycled projects.

We could use a plastic bottle, glass jar and a cardboard box. Out of these objects we could make anything we want, like using a plastic bottle you could make a pencil case. We also learned to make an animated Keynote on how to reuse and how to make our project. Everyone had so much fun making our projects! At the end of our video editing in our groups, we selected the best one to present in front of the Year 5 girls and teachers.

To kick off our Topic for Term 3, we had the honour of meeting Luuka Jones. She talked about her journey through Canoe Slalom as an Olympic athlete. Luuka Jones’s talk was very interesting for 5BLN, because some of us want to go to the Olympics one day. We learned to make some goals, so we can get better in everything we do. Luuka also said, “If you finish a goal, build onto it”. She also explained that if we want to reach our goals or dreams, don’t give up! This is something we will remember for a long time, We unexpectedly went into lockdown in Term 3 for our PEACE topic, the Olympics.

One of our projects was to make an information report about an Olympian or Paralympian. We could choose to build a diorama, cardboard person or make an interactive poster. It was fun designing our projects. We also enjoyed researching our information on the Olympian we chose. It was an engaging and amazing experience with our teacher Miss Yu! We can’t wait to go to campus in Term 4.

— Kate Xu, Hope Wang, Iris Wen, Katie Potter and Hannah Yun

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Our Lockdown Journey Learning is so much fun Education on Zoom, Our family make noisy backgrounds when we are on Zoom as we try to make them keep quiet.

On breaks we go on walks to get fresh air, and come home to Zoom again.

I learning is so fun education on Zoom Noisy birds singing — Ariel Su, Ashley Mi, Chloe Cheng, Gracie Xu, Michaela Sun, Seraphina Somaratne and Yiyi Tao BACK ROW: Gracie Xu, Michaela Sun, Pippa Allen, Seraphina Somaratne THIRD ROW: Yiyi Tao, Isabella ZhongZhang, Poppy Davison, Fiona Wang, Isla Mitchell, Ashley Mi SECOND ROW: Mrs Katrina White (Learning Assistant), Indi Rowe, Olivia Lambie, Miri Harrison, Mila Firth, Olivia Andrews, Sylvie Haldane, Ms Laura Hadfield (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Abigail Zhu, Hazel Lo, Aashna Sidhu-Brar, Ariel Su, Georgia Mollison, Gina Lewis, Chloe Cheng

This year we went to ‘Beauty and the Beast’ because a Year 3 girl called Lillian was performing. She had also written two songs, one about kindness, and one about sailing. All of the Junior School went to the production. There were a lot of songs, dancing and action! It was beautiful and exciting. It took 3 – 4 months of practice but it was worth it! At the end we all clapped because the production was so amazing! We enjoyed ‘Beauty and the Beast’ because of the wonderful storyline and great acting.

— Sylvie Haldane, Mila Firth, Indi Rowe, Gina Lewis, Isabella Zhong Zhang

Walking to the auditorium, excited to meet Luuka Jones who is a famous Kiwi because of her amazing slalom canoe skill. Finally we got in and we all crowded around the front row trying to get the best view. She talked about how she trained to quality for the Olympics and she told us she trained for 5 – 7 hours a day and how she spend lots of time in the water, but also exercising in her indoor gym, with her chickens, during lockdown. She answered questions and then signed people’s drink bottles and pieces of paper.

— Poppy Davison, Georgia Mollison, Olivia Lambie, Pippa Allen, Miri, Harrison Aashna Sidhu-Brar, Isla Mitchell

35

5BLN | 5HAD

5HAD

5HAE

The end of the show was very intense. All the townspeople were scared of Beast and tried to kill him! When he died he ended up turning into a prince! The show ended and everyone couldn’t stop chatting about how much they loved it, who their favourite characters were and what songs were stuck in their heads. Overall, we had a great trip to the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ show.

— Lila Dilly (5HAE) Lockdown Learning Not being able to go to places freely, wondering when school is going to open, distractions from devices and younger siblings… Do all these sound familiar? Yes, it’s lockdown once again. Do any of you like being in lockdown? Personally, we don’t like it at all. For many people, lockdown has been a hard time.

BACK ROW: Mandy Feng, Nicolee Fernando, Bella Wang, Lila Dilly THIRD ROW: Lexi Liu, Anna Xu, Isabel Mahon, Sophie Lapish, Sophia Zhang SECOND ROW: Mrs Katrina White (Learning Assistant), Emma Harris, Samantha Thomson, Nalani Tuhoe, Leonie Grayston, Lyvia Sun, Iris Zhou, Ms Melissa Hayes (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Alicia Li, Meera Thayalan, Pippa Moore, Billie Wild, Emily Zhan, Cleo Lindsay, Holly Ip

Trip To ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Our trip to ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was like no other! After getting on the bus, we all couldn’t stop talking about how excited we were. As soon as the bus stopped, everyone stood up and wanted to run off.

When we walked through the doors, I was so excited I might have exploded! It was so big, but it was nothing compared to the stage. Once we all found our seats, we waited for the show to start. Then

after about ten minutes... it started! The beginning was so cool; it’s where Belle sings a beautiful song while dancing through her town. Belle was so good at singing; her voice sounded like heaven.

Not long after the singing and dancing, Beast came in. At first he was mean and scary but then he slowly warmed up to Belle’s kind personality. About halfway through the show we all had a break to stretch our legs and have some water.

We miss school, with its familiar corridors and colourful hallways, the sweet and fresh scent of flowers as bright as rainbows from our pretty gardens, and feeling the sun smile warmly at us. Oh, we miss the good old days… having oodles of fun with our friends, playing on the huge playground, running around. What happens if Auckland is in lockdown for the rest of the year?

Will camp go ahead? Lots of things worry me during this time. Sitting at home cooped up with an iPad is NOT as fun as going to school. Have I got a strong Wi-Fi connection? Is my video working? Am I on the correct Zoom? We have to ask these questions every single day as the number of COVID-19 cases bounces up and down.

Nevertheless, we still try to be positive and make lockdown fun… playing Kahoot, scavenger hunts, or just singing songs. We need to look at the bright side… The hustle and bustle of our homes is loud and lively.

We don’t have to wear our school uniforms and we get to have story time each day with surprise guests. We get to spend more time with our families. We’ve made lockdown as fun as we can. The days are flying so fast and we have come through so much. Lockdown has its pluses and minuses but we can get through it.

We are very grateful for the wonderful teachers spending their time to make us, the amazing girls that we all want to be. We’re very lucky that technology has advanced by now because we are still able to learn in a virtual classroom environment.

Imagine how the older generations would have studied in lockdown when they did not have the technology??? Online learning is a great time to practise using our initiative and self-motivation. Let’s all hope that lockdown won’t last long, but in the meantime, stay safe and be happy.

— Lexi Liu and Meera Thayalan 36

BACK ROW: Micayla Lin, Tara Murphy, Ava Burt, Olivia Storey, Sophie Webster, Celine Liu, Fiona Sun SECOND ROW: Abby Ma, Bianca Rae, Suie Wang, Charlotte Bruford, Amy Tang, Elina Holland, Ms Shelley Ireton (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Freida Coote, Sophie Qu, Nicole Zhang, Maya Sheikh, Cedar Adding, Olivia Liu, Anya Patel

We walked into the class knowing it would be a great year. The theme for Term 1 was ‘Teamwork makes the Dreamwork’.

Our Leadership Day at Cornwall Park was about choosing our leaders for Year 6.

We did a variety of activities in our House groups that involved teamwork. The highlight of Term 1 had to be camp. Camp was so much fun; we did so many exciting

activities such as the flying fox, climbing wall, horse riding and kayaking. We came back from camp, polished our uniforms, yet we weren’t in them for long because lockdown came again. Lockdown was not that bad because the teachers were there to guide us through it. We had an amazing first term of school.

‘Guardianship in Action’ was our theme

37

JUNIOR SCHOOL

for Term 2. A variety of activities were based around this theme, from plays, undertaking a guided tree walk along Puriri Drive, to having a guest speaker on Kauri dieback and spending the day with our parents planting trees. We had an exciting trip to see the musical ‘Beauty and the Beast’, as well as attending the Writers’ Festival to hear a variety of authors speak on the books they have written. Towards the end of the term there was a buzz of excitement in the air. We all knew it was going to be a fun day especially when ‘buzz buzz’ out came the teachers in bee costumes. They were dressed as bees for the Year 6 Spelling Bee competition. We were all impressed with how everyone participated enthusiastically and how well they had learnt their words.

Term 3 here we come! Our Spoken Word speeches on Diversity were a big part of our writing sessions. Not only did we learn how to write a good poem, we also learnt essential public speaking skills and how to perform in front of an audience. It was so nervewracking when we had to perform our pieces, but we persevered and got through it in the end. Who would’ve thought, just after two weeks of being at school, it was lockdown Level 4!

During the lockdown, we were very privileged to get to talk to our wonderful sport guest speakers in our 2 o’clock sessions. This was part of our PEACE topic, ‘Women in Sport Resilience.’ Inspired by their achievements, we made a special book using ‘book creator’ to showcase our learning about how sportswomen show resilience. We were privileged to hear an Old Girl, Theresa Fitzpatrick speak about her experience at the Tokyo Olympics where she won a gold medal playing sevens rugby, she actually showed us her gold medal - wow!

Later in the term, we worked on many art projects based on Māori language and culture. We learnt that pepehas were a way to introduce yourself. Then we went away and created our mini pepeha booklets and visual pepehas. These were really fun projects to do and it was great to be able to personalise our pepehas the way we wanted.

Here we go again! Term 4 kicked off with another frustrating lockdown. On the first day we celebrated Ms Ireton’s birthday with a surprise virtual party and a big cake that was sent to her house. Our Term 4 topic was ‘Celebrations.’ We investigated ‘Bird of the Year’ by doing an ongoing presentation about our top native NZ birds. During one weekend, a mysterious brown bag appeared on our doorstep. We were told not to open it until 8.30am during our Year 6 Chapel service. Little did we know, it was the Year 6 Graduation launch 2021! When we were allowed to open the brown bags, we discovered our graduation invitation and beautiful cupcake. We soon learned that our theme was ‘magic forest’. We would like to thank all the parents and teachers that made our graduation possible and by making it so special and memorable. We can’t wait to see what Year 7 brings as we continue our journey through St Cuthbert’s College.

5HAE | 6IRE

6IRE

6PIN

Girls in 6PIN went up to class 1FSH to meet our buddies. We made ooblick! We got our supplies and took them outside to mix and play with.

— Peng Ming

In Term 1, Year 6 went on a trip to King’s School to watch ‘The Addams Family’ play. It was so cool! My favourite part was when the uncle fell in love with the moon and my favourite person was Pugsley the brother.

— Coco C It was Book Week! Which means we were given a whole week to dress up in amazing and funny things like wear a hat day, weird hair day, silly socks day, pyjama day, and of course, Book Character day, and all was super fun. — Ava

BACK ROW: Coco Alpe, Issy Reid, Indigo Lucas, Lillian Tang, Joyce Liu, Teresa Sun, Jessica Thomson SECOND ROW: Adele Zhou, Mariana Somaratne, Sophie Qu, Ava Schaumkel, Isla Thompson, Jessica Huang , Mrs Stacey Pinique (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Elsa Chen, Aveia Renault-Pollard, Peng Ming Qu, Coco Cutfield, Alice Li, Lilah McDonald, Ray Zhang

Swimming Sports was special to me because we were able to experience teamwork within our class, House and year group.

— Teresa

Leadership Day was an opportunity to get to know our new classmates. We spent the day at Cornwall Park doing activities that required teamwork and collaboration.

— Coco A Being the Durham House leader for this year was very special to me, so that, if we

become leaders in the future, we know what to expect.

— Adele

There were so many fun things to do at camp! My favourite activities were riding a horse and kayaking.

— Mariana After camp, our class did dioramas made from shoeboxes, covered in paint and glued with paper, and decorated with whatever you wanted.

— Joyce

The day of Cross Country I was really excited because it was also my birthday. I had trained really hard this year as wanted to be in the Remuera Zones.

— Jessica T

My highlight of this year was the moana post cards, creating a wonder world and its creatures out of clay.

— Aveia

The tree walk along Puriri Drive was peaceful, beautiful, gorgeous, windy, Pukeko and berry filled.

— Elsa

Year 6 went to Brookby for a tree planting project.

We planted around 1000 trees. We also did water testing to see how cold the water was for the Long fin eel.

— Isla We had a Fair Trade bake sale to support the Fair Trade companies. Students made baking, like cookies and cakes out of Fair Trade ingredients and brought it to school for the sale.

— Issy In Term 3, my teacher read the book ‘Ghost’ to us. I really enjoyed listening to the book because not only was it humorous, it was exciting and suspenseful as it ended with a cliff-hanger.

— Heeya For our Olympics topic, we were put into groups and told to do activities in our booklet for a week. I really enjoyed the bouncing ball game.

— Sophie Qu We worked on spoken word poems around our topic ‘Diversity’. Each of us wrote about a topic we were passionate about. — Lillian We had fun at school and went into lockdown – still here for more than 60 days of staying at home. We had a task for every day, a chance to win a merit card. — Alice

During lockdown, the Year 6s were on Zoom with some athletes, they told us about how to overcome things when they are tough, they also told us about their life story. — Jessica H

38

Lockdown has been disappointing for everyone, but Year 6 got a chance to speak to two amazing artists, Hannah Jenson and Ari Apa on Zoom!

I found them both so inspiring and interesting.

— Lilah

BACK ROW: Sherine Chen, Yeih Seol, Ava Hua, Claudia Milne, Arya Dixit, Leila Roose SECOND ROW: Isabella Clarke, Zoe Yuan, Alyssa Yuan, Tanya Li, Aidi Li, Zoe Mallett, Miss Jacqui Tyler (Teacher) FRONT ROW: Bella Deng, Scarlett Harvey, Annie Han, Isabelle Qu, Angelica Zhao, Bella Chen Absent: Sophie Andrew

Just thinking about going into the first term of Year 6 as the biggest role models of the Junior School, brings so many emotions. It was fun meeting new people and welcoming them into the St Cuthbert’s family and also sad knowing that this would be our last year in the

Junior School that held many wonderful memories of our teachers. You feel big and strong; you are the oldest ones in the Junior School gaining roles and responsibilities and learning how to be independent.

There were four very memorable parts of

In Term 2, the focus was mainly on trees. We had fun recreating the ‘Truffula trees’ from the movie ‘The Lorax’. We also created scripts and prepared costumes for plays, explaining why we need to preserve trees. It was a nerve-wracking but a fun time. We went on a guided walk through Cornwall Park, learning about Kauri dieback and the origins and specialties of many trees. Term 2 sure was a fantastic experience!

In Term 3 COVID-19 struck again! We were back in lockdown, but that didn’t stop us from learning. We got busy and started doing our Science Badge work, maths and more. Even though we were busy with schoolwork, we had time to be with our family doing fun activities like going for walks, family challenges, game time, puzzles, Lego, baking and more. The amazing ‘By Love Serve’ and hardworking teachers surprised us by sending us a gift of treats and pens. We really liked the dress up times on Fridays; they were super fun and we dressed up according to a theme, such as funny costumes! One of the best parts of home learning was the special guests at the end of the day.

We logged onto Zoom knowing Term 4 was going to be online. We were so sick of having to do work on our iPads. People on the news were saying that if children can’t get their COVID-19 vaccinations, they may not be able to go back to school this year. We were all so desperate to see our friends in person. This didn’t stop us from getting ready for our Year 6 Graduation.

On 1 November, the St Cuthbert’s teachers and parents surprised us with an invitation to our Year 6 Graduation and delicious cupcakes!

Year 6 has made us more organised and ready for Year 7. Whether it was online or in person, we still had so much fun. We are all so grateful that we spent our childhood in the St Cuthbert’s Junior School. Having our classes online was a memorable experience for us.

“A positive mindset has positive outcomes.”

— Anonymous.

39

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Term 1: Leadership Day, 2021’s first COVID-19 lockdown, Swimming Sports, and our camp at Lakewood Lodge. Leadership Day was spent at Cornwall Park, learning about what it means to be a leader and gave us the opportunity to get to know one another better. Unfortunately, in the first few weeks of school we had a Level 3 lockdown! Once we were back at School, we had our Years 4 – 6 Swimming Sports. The Huia Whānau got to spend the whole day in the pool. We finished our radiant term with a fun three-day camp at Lakewood Lodge, where we overcame fears, tried new things, and most importantly had fun!!!

6PIN | 6TYL

6TYL

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Prize Giving Academic Awards 4KNI Academic Excellence Kylie Young Academic Effort Lydia Tang and Alice Feng

4MAA Academic Excellence Raya Dinesh Academic Effort Aria Haroon and Pansy Qu

4WEL Academic Excellence Nora Qu and Annabel Palmer Academic Effort Ella Gu and Molly Burt

5BLN Academic Excellence Lucia Yoon Academic Effort Hope Wang and Chloe Lu

5HAD Academic Excellence Yiyi Tao Academic Effort Isla Mitchell and Olivia Lambie

Deans Honours 5HAE Academic Excellence Alexia Liu and Meera Thayalan Academic Effort Emma Harris and Samantha Thomson

6IRE Academic Excellence Micayla Lin Academic Effort Ava Burt and Olivia Storey

0BLI Eliana Somaratne, Litia Narube and Shera Qu 0BOY Alexis Hefer, Elina Kannangara and Alissa Pan 1FSH Ana Firth, Chloe Chiu and Fairy Jiang

1MER Charlotte Taylor, Tiffany Song and Mikayla Chan

2HAR Grace Fan, Arna Liang and Lara Sun 2JAE Alina An, Eva Liu and Valerie Sun

6PIN

3ING Amberlina Qu, Claire Zhang

Academic Excellence Alice Li Academic Effort Adele Zhou and Teresa Sun

3STV Scarlett Campbell, Alivia Boyes and Charlotte Booth

6TYL

Academic Excellence Bella Chen Academic Effort Thea Yi and Yeih Seol

and Stella Chen

4KNI Harriet Glenie, Jocelyn Ke and Christina Yeou

4MAA Alira Patel, Sabrina You and Isabella Rad

4WEL Vianna Cheung, Annie Zhang and Elisa Xin

5BLN Pippa Rae, Kayla Tarak and Kate Xu 5HAD Seraphina Somaratne, Ariel Su and Pippa Allen 5HAE Isabel Mahon, Nalani Tuhoe and Leonie Grayston

6IRE Maya Sheikh, Olivia Liu and Elina Holland

6PIN Jessica Huang, Jessica Thomson and Joyce Liu

6TYL Arya Dixit, Aidi Li and Tanya Li

40

JUNIOR SCHOOL

Special Awards

House Awards

Cross Country

Junior School Speech Cup

Year 4 Mclane Cary Year 5 Hope Wang Year 6 Sophie Qu

Award Lilah McDonald

Work Cup Durham Sport – Vera Fowler Cup York Champion House Iona

Swimming Year 4 Talitha Mitchell Year 5 Hope Wang Year 6 Sophie Qu

Junior School Sports Cup Award Charlotte Bruford and Coco Alpe

Year 6 Music Prize Elsa Chen

Sir Peter Blake Young Leaders’ Award Lilah McDonald

Remuera Lions Club Junior Citizenship Award Charlotte Bruford

PRIZE GIVING

Sports Results

Parents and Friends’ Awards 6IRE Abigail Ma and Sophie Webster

6PIN Isabel Reid and Mariana Somaratne 6TYL Isabella Clarke and Claudia Milne

Junior School Merit Cup Year 6 Amy Tang and Lillian Tang

Old Girls’ Association Cup ‘By Love Serve’ Leila Roosen

41

42

Head's Report

2021 was an extraordinary year that none of us, especially Year 13, will forget. The resilience and determination to keep going with their learning, and the care and support the girls have shown to one another, are qualities in our students of which, as Head of the Senior School, I am very proud.

When we went into lockdown in August, we all expected we would be back at school before the end of Term 3. It was so disappointing for us to be told in the Term break that we would not be returning to school for the start of Term 4. Credit goes to Mr Vink, our IB Coordinator, and the Year 13 IB teachers for so effectively running our first ever online practice exams.

Fortunately, we were back onsite the very week our Year 13 IB students were to sit their crucial final IB Diploma exams and NCEA practice exams.

Notable successes in 2021 included Year 12 Spanish student, Julie Li coming 2nd in the National Spanish Speech Competition and at the 2021 NZ Mathematics Olympiad, Dawn Chen gained a Gold award (top 5 in NZ).

Three teams of Year 8 students qualified for the Future Problem Solving National Finals hosted online. The students had three weeks to prepare for their topic, ‘Personalised Medicine’. We have never had three teams qualify at the same time for the National Finals, so congratulations to the students and their coach, Ms Walls.

Despite all the disappointments Year 13 faced, as school leaders, we thank them for the way they continued to show leadership throughout lockdown in their roles as ‘Big Sisters’ and by keeping spirits up through ‘Talking Tartan’ and their other communications with their peers and the younger students.

To Head Girl, Carmel Ah Chong and her team of Deputies: Katya De Silva, Helena Haldane, Florida Mataio and Head Boarder Charlotte Berry, thank you for your

outstanding ‘By Love Serve’ leadership and role modelling. To our other Year 13 Leaders and Committee members, you can be proud of all you achieved despite the lockdown.

With the end of another academic year comes the sadness of farewelling staff.

We are so grateful for the 36 years of service Mrs Roberta Batistich has given St Cuthbert's College, she will be sorely missed by both the Science Faculty and the College as a whole.

My sincere appreciation goes to Mrs Melinda Crookenden for her 20 years teaching mathematics full-time to Years 8 to 10 as well as having been, Year 8 Dean and more recently Elgin’s Deputy Dean.

We also farewell Anna Ready who late last year was offered a wonderful role with the New Zealand Olympic Committee as its Education officer. Anna has spent 25 years promoting commerce subjects and relevant cocurricular programs such as Young Enterprise at St Cuthbert's and she has done an outstanding job.

Thank you also to Therese Adsett for the care and concern you have shown to our students over 16 years as both, Dean of York House and a Geography teacher. We also thank Jack Mooney for his incredible 43 teaching guitar at St Cuthbert’s, Jack’s students have indeed been very fortunate to have been taught by such a master.

We wish Mrs Batistich, Mrs Crookenden, Mr Mooney and Mrs Adsett all the very best for a long and happy retirement.

Farewell and thank you to Mr Aniel Smith a popular Physical Education teacher and Running coach, and Ms Natasha McAnearney, a wonderful Homeroom teacher for Year 7 and teacher of Social Studies.

Despite the disruptions of the year, both students and teachers can be incredibly proud of their resilience and all they achieved throughout 2021.

43

HEAD'S REPORT

SENIOR SCHOOL

SENIOR SCHOOL

HOUSE

Reports Dunblane 2021 has been a year of memorable moments and success for Dunblane. It has been a pleasure to see the girls form friendships, work as a team and create a space for themselves within the College, where each of them has grown and thrived. Events such as House Flowers, Athletics, Swimming Sports and House Music were a tremendous amount of fun, yet would not have been possible without the participation, enthusiasm and support brought to them by both the girls and staff.

This year, we have particularly enjoyed watching the willingness of every student to support their peers. The girls have, quite admirably, approached House events with an openness and consideration for those around them.

This has contributed significantly to the

44

success of the House and is the true definition of being part of Dunblane. We were immensely proud of the girls for participating, as we know House events can push students beyond their comfort zones. We are, therefore, extremely grateful to have placed 2nd in Athletics, 6th in Swimming Sports and 2nd in Cross Country.

House Flowers is a rite of passage and as Year 13s it was a special event to participate in. Our response to the theme was the ‘Celebration of Growth’. After meetings and deliberation, our final design was a flower bud with the front petal open, revealing yellow flowers. Our construction symbolised growth, as through the chapters of our life we are opened up to new opportunities and are able to flourish

SENIOR SCHOOL A success of this year was House Music, where we approached the theme; ‘in these times my choice of the best gift would be the gift of empowerment’. As a House, we explored feminism in a new light to show women can be powerful however they choose to live their life. Each year level assumed various jobs including doctors, athletes, tradies, businesswomen and stay-home parents to highlight you do not need a high-powered role in society to be happy and successful. On the day, the House was full of enthusiasm.

Alongside a strong team of directors and choreographers, we took out 3rd place as well as the award for ‘best coordination

of a large group’. This is a testament to the high spirits and hard work of the House. We were also fortunate to have had the Year 8s participate in House Music, dancing alongside the Year 9s.

They brought a sense of vibrancy and passion to the day and this was a great opportunity for the Year 8s and 9s to build a relationship from which they will benefit greatly in 2022. Most importantly, being able to watch everyone be confident and enjoy themselves was extremely rewarding for us.

Term 3 took an unexpected turn, however, everyone fell seamlessly into the routine of online learning and demonstrated a magnitude of resilience. We are proud of our students for staying connected and supporting one another through these

unprecedented times. The opportunity to host our Family Chapel online was a great moment to reconnect with our peers, even if, it was through our screens.

We would like to thank the tutor leaders and tutor teachers, Ms Muller, Ms Thwaites, Mr Waugh, Mr Thrasher, Ms McLeod and Ms McCardle. Throughout the year, they have organised engaging activities, even in lockdown, which has allowed the girls to form support systems and friendships which transcend their year group and will last many years to come.

We would also like to thank our amazing dean and deputy dean, Ms Disbrowe and Ms Sheng, who have consistently been the pillars of our Dunblane community.

Their endless support and flexibility allowed us to flourish and grow in the St Cuthbert’s environment.

Lastly, a special thanks to all the Dunblane students. To be a leader is an honour but they are the true stars of Dunblane. As Marshall Goldsmith says, ‘you're only as good as your team’. This experience has been extremely rewarding and one of a kind. We are looking forward to seeing Dunblane grow in the years to come.

— Lexi Butler and Kathryn Budge, Dunblane Leaders

45

HOUSE REPORTS

into a better version of ourselves. The girls put in a valiant effort and we were pleased to place 4th overall.

HOUSE

Reports Durham Reflecting on 2021, what a colourful year it has been. Yet, we assure we stand with our feet firmly in pink.

Durham House continues to grow from its root in 2012, and 2021 has been a particularly pivotal year. While continuing to enjoy traditional House events including Athletics and Swimming Sports, Durham has sought new challenges this year. A notable success was our first placing in the new Giving Day video competition.

Durham girls have continued to display high spirits, as well – in the words of our Year 8 House leaders, Dina and Jordan, of

46

Swimming Sports: “everyone is cheering and encouraging one another”. In events in the creative sphere, such as House Music, the artistic capabilities of our students have shone. We were blessed to have a wonderful performance choreographed

by Year 13 student, Isabella Bullen, and directed by Jemima, which girls showed enthusiasm towards learning and perfecting. Although facing the adversary of postponement of events including the creative Wearable Arts competition, Durham girls have demonstrated their abilities to collaborate with one another to

SENIOR SCHOOL HOUSE REPORTS push their creativity in new ways. Indeed, it has been a very busy year!

A key notion that has been such a privilege to witness as leaders is the commitment and perseverance of Durham girls. Through all challenges, we have been in awe of the enthusiastic attitude expressed, and it is admirable to see how our girls make light of challenges and nevertheless enjoy themselves. In events such as Year 13 House Flowers, it was heart-warming to see the strong motivation each peer displayed towards working to complete the flower arrangement. Durham spirit is very strong – personally, we still think Durham has the loudest chant! Beyond this, it has been a blessing to feel the sense of community. In Tutor Groups, you will find girls from Year 8 to 13 engaging in lively conversation, and older students have keenly demonstrated their willingness to support younger

members of Durham through programmes such as Peer Support and the ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ programme. We are so proud to have led such a caring House with a strong sense of community.

We couldn’t have done it without our sensational Durham teachers along the way. To Dean Ms Coleman, deputy dean Mr Gilmore, and all the wonderful tutor teachers of Durham, we express our gratitude for all the guidance and tremendous support you have tailored towards every girl in Durham throughout their journeys this year. Despite the hardships of lockdown, you have remained in support. As House leaders, our journey in Durham may end here, but we have utmost faith in the continuation of pink spirit for decades to come.

— Eden Ballantyne and Jemima Hawkesby, House Leaders

Spotlight on Year 8 Being Durham's Year 7 and 8 House leaders has been an incredible experience. Swimming Sports was one of our highlights, as we led the girls in crafting a chant that we then screamed with excitement as members of our House raced. That day, there was a lot of House spirit. All of a sudden, everyone is cheering and encouraging one another.

This opportunity is not only about leading our House, but it is also about friendship and kindness. We've created so many wonderful moments with our House that we'll never forget, and even if we don't always win, we always have an amazing time. Thank you for allowing us to lead the House! Go Durham!

— Dina Eshankya and Jordan D’Mello, Year 8 Leaders

47

HOUSE

Reports Elgin Through unity and collaboration, Elgin House has found success continuously throughout 2021. Despite the many lockdowns separating Elgin students physically, we have come together to support and grow with one another. We believe that this has greatly contributed to the amazing results Elgin has had this year.

We began the year with Athletics Day, in which Elgin placed third. The participation was outstanding, with everyone competing in the competitive and House events.

Everyone was eager to showcase our House pride through our chants and participation.

Some even signed-up for championship events, in which we gained House points.

The energy and enthusiasm Elgin had was incredible and set the standard for the rest of the year. Elgin carried this level of

48

enthusiasm through to Swimming Sports.

Auckland moved from Level 3 lockdown to Level 2 the night of this event. We were lucky the Swimming Sports went ahead, as we had the chance to display the remarkable talent of swimmers in our House. We had fantastic results in the championship races.

We are immensely proud of those who participated, despite swimming in front of the Senior School being a challenge for many.

Our final athletic event was Cross Country.

Elgin managed to win this event which was a huge accomplishment. Although running is not a favourite amongst the House, everyone participated to show their House spirit, and for that we are very proud.

Everyone persevered and made it to the finish line!

SENIOR SCHOOL In preparation for St Cuthbert’s Day, a new House competition began. Each House performed the College Chapter together.

Elgin managed to win this competition, thanks to the effort from every student in the House.

The next event was House Flowers. The Year 13s worked together to decorate a hanging basket, in response to the theme ‘Celebration’. Inspired by our own celebration, St Cuthbert’s Day, the Year 13s decided to decorate the basket to honour our school emblem. As we did not have access to green flowers, we adapted by creating our basket using green foliage.

Many thanks to our Creative Director, Nikeisha Parsot, who worked extremely hard to bring our ideas to life.

House Music is a highly anticipated event.

Our goal for this year was to make the day enjoyable for all year groups. The

theme was ‘The gift of…’. We decided on ‘The gift of escaping reality through our favourite TV shows’. A year of lockdowns showed the importance of finding ways to escape reality. We chose a range of iconic TV shows from our generation.

‘Hannah Montana’, 'H20: Just Add Water’, ’Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘The Vampire Diaries’, and ‘Gossip Girl’. Thanks to our Creative Director, Marilena Crisci, and our Year level choreographers, ours was a great performance. It was a day filled with fun and laughter, and definitely a highlight of 2021.

The Fair Trade Bake Sale was the next event. There were House points awarded for the number of Fair Trade ingredients used. Over the weekend, many girls spent time baking and there were many amazing entries from Elgin, so we ended up receiving the most House points.

Throughout the lockdowns, Elgin has continued the ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ initiative that began last year. Older students have been so caring towards the younger students. They have ensured they looked out for younger ones, whilst also making sure they, themselves were coping. We have seen resilience from everyone, as we have dealt with many events being cancelled. Elgin has become closer as a House, and grown as a family.

2021 has been an amazing year, full of success, excitement and fun. We would like to thank Mrs Waalkens and Ms Crookenden for all their support throughout the year, the success and growth would not have been possible without them. Many thanks to the tutor teachers who have been there for all of us throughout this busy year; we really appreciate all their support. Lauren and I have been lucky to lead such a fantastic group of girls, who have made our last year at school so enjoyable. We are proud of everyone and the House pride and spirit they have shown throughout the year. We wish them all the best for next year.

— Olivia Lawgun and Lauren Sharma Elgin House leaders 2021

49

HOUSE REPORTS

We could not have achieved the high level of sporting success in Elgin without the outstanding help from the Year 8 leaders, Regina and Bianca. Their excellent leadership skills saw their cohort through many House victories. The Year 8 leaders also agree that they enjoyed the Swimming Sports and Athletics Day. They believe that everyone participated eagerly in all activities, leading us to gain fantastic results. They also thoroughly enjoyed House Music, as they experienced an event with the older girls in Elgin. Regina and Bianca believe it has been an amazing year for Elgin in 7 and 8, stating how proud they are of everyone.

HOUSE

Reports Iona What a year it has been! Full of many memories which we are so blessed to have made with our Iona family. We've loved every minute of leading this House through many successful results in house events and becoming stronger competitors. Despite setbacks, the girls of Iona have shown what resilience and perseverance look like.

The year started off as perfect as it could be. With St Cuthbert’s girls filling the school quad and cheerful welcomes all around, we were happy to have a face-toface connection with the girls. In Term 1, we had a variety of groups starting such as sports groups, music groups, cultural groups etc. It is safe to say that Term 1 is definitely the most chaotic one, with

50

new girls entering their first year of Senior School and Senior girls entering their final year with new positions of responsibility.

Amongst the energetic beginnings, Term 1 contains the majority of the House events. Some of the events include our annual Swimming Sports and Athletics Day. Our theme to dress as ‘royals’ utilising the colour purple, was an offer we couldn’t refuse! So during the first Term Iona was transformed from St Cuthbert’s students to ‘Iona Royals.’ In saying that our House proudly did very well and we won the Athletic Sports! This was a true reflection of the wonderful House spirit Iona has, our competitive athletes and the huge willingness of all to gain points in the House events. We could not have

SENIOR SCHOOL been more proud of Iona. Our 4th result in the Swimming Sports was another opportunity to dress up as ‘Iona Royals’ and support our keen swimmers.

HOUSE REPORTS

We had a keen and talented team put together the annual House Flowers and the hanging basket theme, winning the award for best response to the theme ‘Celebration,’ with the help of our House flowers group who came to school at five o’clock in the morning. We appreciated the dedication demonstrated by our loyal Year 13s throughout the year. We definitely would not have had such a fun year without the willingness of all year groups to give everything a go! Cross Country was another example of the purple royals racing around the course and often stopping to help those in need, which really does define the sense of family Iona has created.

Our House Chapel was a lovely time together and the Chapel collection funds have been used to purchase sporting equipment for the Painga Trust. These goods, and the wonderful donations from toothpaste to stationery, from all our Iona students, has enabled us to make a very generous donation to the Painga Trust.

Our ‘back to normal’ year was quickly turned as we returned to our most trusted app, Microsoft Teams, to do some online learning. While there were a few disappointments with cancellation of events, the girls in Iona did not let it stop them. We had a lot of participation in Tutor Groups with our amazing teachers setting up all sorts of activities, like Kahoot and ‘show and tell’ but with your pets. This is a great representation of the amazing lengths the teachers at St Cuthbert’s will go for our students.

We would like to thank you all, Iona! We have had a fabulous year as your House Leaders and we know we couldn’t have done it without your support, particularly our Year 13s, Tutor Group teachers, Mrs Gardner and Ms Morrison!

— Nieve Campbell, House Leader, and Enyah Talamaivao, House Prefect

51

HOUSE

Reports Kelso 2021 has been an outstanding year for Kelso. Amongst the many adaptations we have been forced to make, we have been so proud to lead a House which has adjusted so seamlessly and assuredly.

Together, we as a House, have been able to form such an inclusive support network for one another and make this year truly one to remember.

We started this year off with a bang on Athletics Day, which instantly highlighted Kelso’s unmatched House spirit. Our eager attitude to participate in all the events saw us race through to be the first House to finish all the fun events, and still have the energy to smash the House relays at the end of the day. We were so proud to see a placing in all our age group categories for the famous House 4x100 relay, and we were especially impressed by our Year 13 relay team for taking the win in their final year of athletics. Members of Kelso used this opportunity to step outside their comfort zones and get involved in all kinds of events

52

aiming to boost our House points, whilst having fun and supporting one another.

Kelso continued to reverberate into the following week of Swimming Sports.

The Swimming Sports were one of the most enjoyable days had together as a House, as our smaller numbers bonded together to take the plunge in all available events. We put on our caps and tried our hardest, no matter our abilities or confidence. Kelso’s determination and ability to demonstrate prowess in all the House events this school year was also seen at the Cross Country.

As House leaders, our proudest moment for Kelso was the unforeseen, remarkable contribution to the new St Cuthbert’s initiative, Giving Day. Kelso soared to lead the scoreboard in this House competition raising money for the amazing scholarship fund, closing the 24-hour day with an enormous $89,728 dollars from 98 generous Kelso donors. We were so

SENIOR SCHOOL We did have opportunity to show off our creative talents with both House Music and House Flowers. Our biggest achievement this year was coming second in House Flowers.

We interpreted the theme of ‘celebrations’ with Matariki, the Māori New Year, a spectacular creation led by our Year 13s which undoubtedly amazed the whole school.

House Music was one to remember this year, as we executed the theme ‘The gift of…’ so cleverly, focussing on the concept of free speech and protest. The dedication and eagerness to get involved was put on display when Kelso took the stage. We had eye-catching posters that the girls worked hard on during their Tutor Groups, amazing vocals led by Kaea and Maddie, and impressive dances from the whole house. Although we did miss out on many of our much-loved events in which Kelso tends to do so well, such as Wearable Arts, whilst we were still at College, Kelsonians were able to once again demonstrate artistic talents and more should be able to be showcased in the years to come.

All in all, this year truly has been one to remember and we are so grateful for the immense support and resilience the wider Kelso community has shown. Our heartfelt thanks go to our outstanding Dean Mrs Margaret Olsen, Deputy Deans Mr Buino Vink and Mrs Sarah Stevens and our tutor teachers.

Despite the setbacks we were forced to overcome due to COVID-19, the Kelsonians did not let this hold them back continuing to give everything in all the events on campus.

Fellow Kelsonians, your resilience, involvement and overall positive vibes have made leading you an experience we will forever cherish. We hope we have done our part to make 2021 memorable for you all and wish you all the best for next year.

— Cushla Hemingway and Rebecca Fala Kelso House leaders 2021

53

HOUSE REPORTS

overwhelmed to see the extreme generosity of our House members and blown away by all contributions. This incredibly hard-to-beat precedent has been set. Other Houses and future generations of Kelso hopefully will have the same overwhelming sense of generosity and kindness that Kelso, 2021, manifested in these hard times.

HOUSE

Reports Lindisfarne What another amazing year for Lindisfarne – in our competitive successes, and in the growth of our House community and relationships across year groups. We are proud of each and every member of the House for showing enthusiasm, resilience, team spirit, positivity and passion throughout this year. So what did Lindisfarne get up to this year?

Lindisfarne started off the year brilliantly with Athletics Day. With the theme “Lindisfarm”, Athletics Day brought a brilliant sight of everyone dressed up in an assortment of animal and farmer costumes across year levels. From gum boot throws, to competitive sprints, the participation of Lindisfarne was unparalleled. Our top pride was winning the Junior House Relay, our up and coming Lindisfarnian’s smashing it out of the park.

Soon after, Lindisfarne found itself at

54

Swimming Sports. Although the sporting arena may not be the area in which Lindisfarne thrives, the unwavering enthusiasm of everyone to get involved was all the more important. It was brilliant to see everyone have such fun and involved in both the competitive and fun races.

After a jam-packed term, at the end of Term 1, Lindisfarne enthusiastically got involved in the House Chant competition.

Following many practices chanting the College Chapter in Tutor Groups and House meetings, Lindisfarne presented a stunning performance of the College Chapter! In particular we would like to thank our star chanter Emma Thompson, who led the House with a strong, unquavering voice.

A major highlight of our year was winning House Flowers, once again. House Flowers had been an exciting event that our Year

SENIOR SCHOOL HOUSE REPORTS 13s had been looking forward to since Junior School and it did not disappoint. We were inspired by the theme ‘celebration’.

We created a mask out of flax, palm, white and yellow flowers and toi toi. This mask represented the idea of celebrating our individual identity. Our idea was that people hide behind masks, trapped by society, and we wanted to encourage people to break the restraints that stop us from being our true authentic selves. Our arrangement, unlike others, was 3-D, bursting with vitality. The flowers escaping from behind represented Lindisfarne's message: to break free from social restraints and be who you are. No matter your ethnic background, culture, or sexuality you have the ability to express your beautiful colours within.

Another highlight of our incredible year was House Music. This year the theme was ‘In these times our choice of the best gift in the world would be the gift

of...’. We were inspired to think about what we thought was the most important message to express to young females going through high school. We decided that we thought the greatest gift a young girl could have was loving herself. Selfesteem is something that we all struggle with and this inspired us to create the piece. Each year level represented a barrier standing in the way of us loving ourselves such as academic pressure, body image, relationships and so on. You can have all the gifts in the world but without self-love, how can you really be amazing!

Unfortunately, due to lockdown, we were not able to participate in Wearable Arts.

However the ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ programme during lockdown, allowed continuous connection and support within our House community during these uncertain times. The resilience and positive attitude of everyone in Lindisfarne makes us immensely proud to be part of both

such a wonderful House community and College.

Despite some slight disruptions, this year has been nothing short of incredible for Lindisfarne. Not only did we achieve some notable successes in the House events, but more importantly, we grew as a community within the House. It has been an absolute privilege to lead a House of such amazing girls and we couldn’t have done it without some very special people.

We would like to extend an enormous thank you to our Year 13 cohort, our tutor teachers, Deputy Dean Mrs Smith, and of course, our wonderful Dean, Mrs Cullinane. We are incredibly grateful for the invaluable support provided which has allowed Lindsifarne to flourish in the way it has. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for Lindisfarne and wish everyone a splendid 2022!

— Arrabella Patrick and Jennifer Wu 55

HOUSE

Reports Melrose Melrose had a sensational year with all students exemplifying true House spirit.

Melrosians embraced the challenges, strengthened the connections between each other and enjoyed healthy House competition.

team of Year 13 students designed and constructed a three-tier hanging basket.

Melrosians all helped to collect foliage. The baskets were so beautiful, and we were awarded “Best Team Presentation”.

Swimming Sports was the next event, and the atmosphere in the Centennial Centre was electric. Dressed in red sporty costumes, Melrosians from Years 9 – 13 were ‘Hot to Go’. In true Melrose spirit, the chants rang out as the competitors were encouraged along. Everyone did their best, competing in a variety of events along with house races and relays. Melrose came out in 1st place!

Cross Country was the first House event in Term 2. It was another wonderful day seeing so many colourful Year 8 – 13s running a range of distances in true House spirit. Once again Melrose placed 3rd, having a great deal of success from our competitive runners.

The first House event was Athletics Day held at Mount Smart Stadium. Melrosians dressed up in red beachwear as they marched around the stadium. Years 9 – 13 entered a variety of events. Winning was not the priority, instead, everyone was encouraged to have a go and show House spirit.

The theme of House Flowers this year was ‘Celebration of...’ and Melrose chose to reflect on the College Chapter with a focus on ‘Faith, Hope and Love’. A talented

56

The new College Chapter competition allowed Melrosians from Years 8 – 13 the opportunity to recite the College chapter.

Each House delivered a performance which was judged by Ms Mahon and Ms Winthrop.

It was a fun way to polish up on each verse. Melrose ended up coming a very respectable 2nd place!

Melrose’s House Service Project was ‘Blankets on Beds’. Blankets and bedding were kindly donated by the St Cuthbert’s College community to benefit De Paul House for Emergency Housing. These donations went to help families in genuine need. Thank you to everyone for your generosity.

SENIOR SCHOOL HOUSE REPORTS

House Music wrapped up Term 2, with Year 8 – 13s coming together to perform as one.

The theme was ‘The Gift of …’ and Melrose performed ‘The Gift of Life’ following the path from childhood to family. We placed 1st,and also won the Term 2 House Cup, which was a real thrill!

Again this year, we were fortunate enough to see the involvement of the Year 8 Melrosians in all of our House events and Tutor Groups. The ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ Programme continued to be successful particularly in lockdown, enabling the Senior Academy to connect with our ‘little sisters’.

Finally, we would like to thank every student along with the tutor teachers for their commitment and support of Melrose, and an extra big thank you to Mrs Middleton and Ms Donovan for always being there for us, especially with the setbacks we faced this year during lockdown. We feel very honoured to have had the opportunity to lead Melrose House. Good luck for 2022 Melrosians. We are so proud of what you have achieved this year.

— Hayley Minturn and Charlotte Marvin, Melrose House Leaders

57

HOUSE

Reports York Leading York alongside our Year 13 cohort this year has truly been an honour and we have had so much fun doing it! We are so proud of all the effort and hard work that has been put into the events this year from Athletics Day, Swimming Sports, House Flowers to House Music. Us ‘Yorkies’ have so much talent to be proud of not only in the sporting areas, but also in the creative areas.

At the beginning of 2021, we had Athletics Day and Swimming Sports where our House spirit and support really shone, running across the track with our bright orange colours and loud cheers. It was impressive to see the sporting talent within York, but to see the encouraging

58

support given to all the students was truly heartwarming. It was also incredible to see the high level of involvement and contribution to our House points and everyone gave it a go. An extra bonus was being able to come third for Swimming Sports, with our talented swimmers making this possible.

Next came House Flowers, with the overall theme being ‘Celebration’, our creative Year 13 Yorkies came up with an idea to interpret the theme as a homage to the “Day of the Dead” celebrated in Mexico.

The orange-coloured marigolds that are so significant in this celebration gave us our initial inspiration, and the many motifs involved in the holiday, provided us with

SENIOR SCHOOL House Performance was the next creative event. Following the theme ‘Celebration’ from House Flowers, the overall theme was ‘The Gift of…’. To honour this theme, York decided to celebrate the ‘Gift of Music’. We thought this theme would give us an opportunity to showcase our House’s great personalities and performance abilities. We explored different genres such as rock, hip hop, pop, country and disco. Our performance resulted in us coming in 4th with an award for Best Theme/Story. It was evident that each girl had an awesome time out on stage and really put their all into the performance.

Unfortunately, with the impacts of COVID-19 continuing through 2021, we weren’t able to showcase our talents through Wearable Arts, however we are extremely proud and grateful for the events we were able to have. It is so amazing to see our girls thrive and have so much fun during these events, no matter the outcome. The network and involvement that we have received from our Year 13 cohort has been astounding and we could not have done it without them. We would also like to thank Mrs Adsett, Mrs Choi and the other York tutor teachers for their endless support. We have been so grateful to lead York for 2021 and have had created such amazing memories. What a year it has been!

— Mitsuki Yamauchi

59

HOUSE REPORTS

more than enough creative material.

Working from 6.00am, a group of Year 13 students crafted an incredible display, creatively using plants of various textures to create the effect of the bridge between death and life. This allowed us to come third overall!

COMMUNICATIONS Committee

The Communications Committee has shown admirable cooperation and teamwork in moving forward with plans and possibilities, despite the challenges and unpredictability of 2021, COVID-19 and lockdowns. The Committee’s goal in 2021 was to promote writing and communication across the College and work towards connecting our Year 13 cohort with the rest of the Senior School.

Sadly, we had to cancel our star events such as the annual Writers’ Night, a

showcase of the strong and keen writing talent in our Senior School. Similarly our Valentine’s Special, writing competitions and videos were all compromised.

COVID-19 lockdowns also affected our key initiative which was to create a Leavers’ Yearbook, a memento of the exceptional last couple of years. Perhaps this might be a welcome challenge for next year’s Committee.

inconveniences and we believe this has taught all of us valuable skills in teamwork and collaboration. We hope next year's Communication Committee will enjoy their time as much as we have, and we can’t wait to see what they will achieve.

— Sarah Boswell and Megan Hails

‘Comm Comm’ 2021 was a team who have worked together overcoming

GAMES

Committee The Games Committee is a team of Year 13 students, who work alongside our amazing teachers from the Sports Department, Tori Vao and Vic Methven, who aim to try and encourage participation in physical activity and to promote engagement in a wide range of sports across the school. Being at St Cuthbert’s College we are all privileged to have the vast range of opportunities available in a number of different sports both team and individual, with the support of amazing coaches, managers and teachers.

At the beginning of the year, the Games Committee started off with a trip to Kahunui; for many of these girls it was the second time, but for some of us, it was the first. We did many different activities such as kayaking and tramping together to form a bond and gain leadership skills.

This year our committee has aimed to be a presence at the big sporting events.

We started off with Swimming Sports and 60

helped run and coordinate the full school Cross Country and Athletics Day, many of us dressing up alongside the girls who were running and participating to add a little bit of extra colour and laughs.

Again, like last year, there have been some extremely difficult challenges that have tested and affected us all at times, due to cancellations and postponements associated with COVID-19 lockdowns.

Due to these lockdowns, the Games Committee had to adapt and find different ways to keep moving and fit throughout this period of time, unaware of how long it would go on. To remain with the ideas of promoting sport and physical activity, we adapted and formed a Senior School challenge similar to the College Sport 3K Challenge which involved having the option of a 3k run or a 3k walk to allow our fellow St Cuthbert’s students to earn House points and we were amazed by the responses we had from the girls. In the Junior School, we formed a Jump

Jam competition, also for House points, and we were so delighted to see the amount of participation and watch some amazing dance moves from our ‘Little Sisters’ at the College and their families.

This was all promoted online on our school sports Instagram page @stcc. sport which allowed us to reach many of the girls and wider community to inspire them. The sporting season for many of us, this year was very on and off, which was not something new as many of us had to deal with this last year. We were still able to achieve some great sporting achievements from a range of different sporting codes, which is a testament to the hard work that our girls and coaches had put into training previously. We hope that everyone had an amazing year and were still able to keep fit and healthy.

— Brodie Cochrane and Emma Thompson, leaders of the Games Committee

SENIOR SCHOOL

DEVELOPMENT Committee

COMMITTEES

We were extremely lucky to be involved in such significant projects this year, especially being able to hold the St Cuthbert’s College Fashion Show a week before the Level 4 lockdown. From the beginning of the year, we have worked hard to make sure this year’s Fashion Show went ahead in order to raise money for the Sporting and Cultural Achievers’ fund, established to support students with financial need to participate in cultural, academic or sporting opportunities. We partnered with Auckland Grammar School and a variety of amazing fashion houses to make this event possible.

Our fashion houses were Ilabb, Dressed

by Meg, Under Armour, People Like Us, Ruby, Three Wise Men, Thread Rentals, and Gregory. Amazing sponsorship was also involved to provide products for our goodie bags and raffles. The sponsors involved were VitaSport, Prescription Skin Care, Sophie Jewellery, Tan in the City, The Remarkable Chocolate Company, MONDAY haircare, Dose and Co, Essano, Toto Pizza, Citta, Kapiti, Clarity, By Violet and Kokomo. As a Committee, we were all thrilled with how the Fashion Show came together and enjoyed learning how to plan and execute such a big event.

In 2021, the Development Committee was also involved in the first St Cuthbert’s College Giving Day. It was great being able to participate in an event which raised so much money for scholarships at the College, and we were so proud of everyone for doing such a fabulous job and getting involved. Sadly, Auckland went into Level 4 lockdown before the Club 50 event for Old Girls of St Cuthbert’s but we are sure this would’ve been amazing and are excited for the Committee who get to help out with it next year.

The Committee has been so great this year and we have all loved getting involved in the College and executing some amazing events.

— Marilena Crisci and Alexandra Lyne

61

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

Committee Despite the tumultuous year that 2021 has been, the Global Citizenship Committee has managed to raise huge awareness for important issues and implement actions that create positive change within the St Cuthbert’s Community.

A highlight of the Global Citizenship calendar is always Love and Diversity week. It's a wonderful celebration of culture and inclusivity at the College.

This year, we transformed the Atrium with decorations, pride flags, positive messages, and bunting handmade collaboratively by Junior and Senior School students.

There was a quiz on human rights and pacer history where Tutor Groups competed to win the ‘love cake’, and on Thursday we had cultural food trucks.

These were incredibly popular, especially the churros! To finish the week with a bang, we had Pink Shirt Day and a special Senior School assembly. During the assembly, we talked about the importance of gender identity and also had pronoun sticker-making stations. To accompany this, we sold rainbow ribbons for a gold coin donation to the Rainbow Youth Organisation. And of course, the Fair Trade Baking Competition returned with a bang.

This year we took a more serious approach in the use of Fair Trade products, such that there was a system where the more Fair Trade ingredients you used, the more House points you could get. The strong sense of House pride and competition within our College really helped spur the Fair Trade Baking Competition into greater popularity. It was amazing to see everyone in the College involved, where most of the top prizes were won by Junior School students. In total we raised a whopping $1500 which will be used to donate to Fair Trade, Duffy Books, as well as put forward for ongoing Global Citizenship projects.

We held our second annual Tree Planting Day in July which was, once again, a

62

resounding success. 65 girls and their families from all over the College got up bright and early on the first Sunday of the holidays and headed down to Brookby. It was wet and windy but fuelled by fruit bursts and jelly snakes we planted over 1,500 trees. This was a great contribution towards the ‘Brookby Project’ which is protecting New Zealand’s waterways, promoting biodiversity and fighting climate change.

— Lulu Cullen and Jessie Lin Global Citizenship Committee Leaders

Committee Despite the lockdown disruptions in 2021, the Junior School Committee has managed to enjoy a number of different events with our Junior School ‘little sisters’. Some of the Committee’s favourite events included; the close to, but not quite Carbon Zero, Easter bonnet parade, the ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ dance party and the Year 5 and 6 movie night.

The ‘Big Sisters’ loved letting loose and dancing along to some classic old tunes as well as some iconic Jump Jam with the Junior girls.

A favourite event was definitely hosting an eager bunch of Year 5 and 6’s for an ‘at

school’ movie theatre experience of ‘Mrs Doubtfire’. The girls came fully dressed in their comfiest PJs and enjoyed an extensive variety of sweets and popcorn provided by the Committee. By the end of the evening, we predicted we’d be sending home exhausted girls, but surprisingly, it was the Committee who were absolutely shattered. However, we were met by tumultuous cheers from the girls at the end of the evening which enlivened our spirits and reminded us of what a breath of fresh air it is to work with such bundles of joy!

We all believe that being a part of the

Junior School Committee has been a special experience that has allowed us to make memories and build connections with our ‘Little Sisters’. For many of the girls, it has definitely taken us in a full circle as our own journeys started in the Junior School some time ago.

It has been an absolute pleasure to have worked with the Junior School community this year. Being able to work closely with such warm-hearted and supportive staff to bring smiles to the Junior School has been an extremely rewarding and memorable experience for us all.

— Stephanie Lu and Isla Slade

63

COMMITTEES

SENIOR SCHOOL

JUNIOR SCHOOL

PERFORMING ARTS Committee The Performing Arts Committee had a very successful start to the year. Our first committee involvement within the College was the annual Shakespeare Soirée. We had so many incredible performers, and our committee took part in all aspects of this event, collectively helping to create an enjoyable night for both the performers and audience members.

Next, we ran our May Music Month busking event which turned out to be incredibly successful. It allowed our students to showcase their musical talents at lunch time in the atrium, which was met with outstanding enthusiasm from a very supportive audience. We heard from a wide range of talented St Cuthbert’s musicians, singers, pianists, guitarist, violinists and drummers. By running this event, we were lucky enough to be able to raise and donate a sum of money to Sistema Aotearoa, which is an organisation which enables children to have access to instruments, lessons and the joy of music.

In early Term 3, the committee also began planning for what was to be a memorable Talent Quest evening. Unfortunately, the Level 4 lockdown in August made this night impossible to hold. We were still able to have auditions before the announcement, and were amazed at the raw talent and passion that the girls had, exhibiting how incredibly gifted our St Cuthbert’s girls are.

— Mathilda Howson and Chanel Mahon, Performing Arts Committee Leaders

64

SENIOR SCHOOL

SERVICE

Committee

This year, the committee has aimed to not only continue with the various projects that had been occurring throughout the years at the College (such as mufti days and food banks), but also to improve the new House services projects that were implemented only a few years ago. The focus has really shifted from money donations to a more hands-on approach, which allows our girls to really show their ‘By Love Serve’ and directly engage in service activities within the College.

Iona and Elgin continued to work on donating a variety of items to the Painga Trust, which is an organisation that aims to bring enrichment and comfort to the lives of many young primary students attending low decile schools. Similarly, Dunblane also donates various lifestyle items to Manurewa East Primary, aiming to provide important necessities to the children and their families. Lindisfarne donated various hygiene products to Girls in Need, which is an organisation that helps alleviate period poverty within our communities. York had a strong focus on bringing in entertainment items, such as art supplies or old books, to help support Camp Quality, in their goal of enriching the lives of young children, and bringing delight and colour to their childhoods. Melrose works on a project started by one of our very own members - Blankets on Beds, or as we like to call it, BOB. BOB takes donations of blankets, duvets, pillows and even warm clothing to ensure that those who may not have the privilege of sleeping in warm beds and homes are able to keep warm during the night. Durham works with the Vincent De Paul House (Emergency Housing) to provide new and second hand donations

of good quality, clean, practical items that would be useful for setting up a new home.

However our focus this year was on Kelso, and their project with the Mangere Refugee Settlement Centre. Originally the girls aimed to create video clips and short movies to help refugees better understand their new home in New Zealand, but we decided that it would be more practical and beneficial to provide these people, who had lost significant parts of their original lives, just to be safe, with items that may help them to feel more comfortable and ready in such difficult situations and times.

Donations ranged from old plush toys and books to hygiene products and warm

clothing.

Overall, this year’s projects have been incredibly successful and rewarding, and we would just like to give a massive thank you to the House Deans and Reverend Francois Joubert for making the logistics and large group planning such a breeze for us, and helping us with the collections and communication with the Houses to ensure that the service projects would be such a great success. However, most importantly, we’d like to thank our committee members for making the 2021 Service Committee a truly ‘By Love Serve’ group.

— Leaders of the Service Committee, Jennifer and Elle

65

COMMITTEES

The Service committee is a group of young women who all have a drive to give service and acts of kindness to all groups and communities of people, regardless of any obstacles that may interfere. Despite the many disruptions COVID-19 has brought, the challenges and difficulties we each experienced due to such trying times, has only strengthened our drive to help those in need, and has also challenged us to improvise and overcome these barriers.

VISUAL ARTS Committee For the second year in a row, COVID-19 has unfortunately stolen the St Cuthbert’s College annual Ball from our Year 12s and 13s.

That’s not to say it wasn’t going to be amazing!

The Visual Arts Committee worked hard for the first two terms of the year preparing and organising what was going to be an occasion that went down in history - bringing the St Cuthbert’s Ball back to Clouston Hall, as was tradition many years ago.

Our Ball embraced the theme ‘Illuminate’, which provided both a modern and environmentally-conscious approach to a College Ball, using lighting as our main form of decoration.

We didn’t get to experience the College Ball first hand, but here is an insight into

66

what you could’ve expected on this special night.

The first glance as you arrived was to be a stunning light display illuminating the front of the Robertson building, with a red carpet travelling from the front gate to the top of the Robertson steps. There, you would be greeted by staff, deans, and our Principal, Ms Mahon.

The inside of the Atrium was to be lit by coloured up-lights creating a luminous effect, with fairy lights, hanging down from the balcony, shaping the area.

Connecting the Atrium and Hall was to be an enclosed tunnel of lights, setting the scene for the main attraction, the inside of Clouston Hall.

The Hall foyer would have been lined with a plant wall, handmade by one of our St

Cuthbert’s parents. There would have been photo booth stations from White Door Photography.

Clouston Hall would have felt like a night club, with coloured lights and fire sparklers and smoke machines creating a true concert-like atmosphere, as well as a lit-up dance floor to follow the ‘Illuminate’ theme.

The Hall would have featured music by a well-known DJ (who also provided most of the lighting displays).

Sadly, much to our disappointment as a Committee and a cohort, this amazing Ball did not go ahead this year, and many fingers are crossed that this special event will be able to finally beat COVID-19 next year.

— Georgia Foley and Anna Mcfall, Visual Arts Committee

Committee Being on the Year 7 and 8 Committee has been such a fun-filled and rewarding experience, working together with a team of committed members, to ensure that the Year 7 students had a great time in their first year of the Senior School, and also including the Year 8 students as they moved into a full Senior School timetable.

It has been such a pleasure working along such a great and fantastic team and cohort.

Throughout the year we established long lasting friendships among the younger student bodies within the St Cuthbert’s College community.

One of the first activities planned for the year was classroom visits. We thoroughly enjoyed the company of the Year 7 students as we engaged in many Kahoots and online quizzes. Although it did get a little competitive, we shared heaps of laughter. A shared morning tea was another highlight, where we encouraged the girls to get involved. These two activities were a perfect way to start the year as we all did our best to immerse ourselves and get to know each other.

As a Committee, we were passionate about creating a ‘Sustainable Social’ as we wanted to limit our plastic waste. We made a conscious effort to use sustainable and biodegradable lolly bags, cups and cardboard. We spent many hours delegating tasks, designing the tickets and meeting with volunteers to create

an exciting and memorable night for the younger girls (with the help of the fantastic and supportive Parent Committee).

However, not everything went as planned, as we all went into lockdown with just a week until the social. We were devastated that this event could not be held, two years in a row.

Still, as a Committee, we were determined to find new and exciting ways to stay involved with the younger girls during lockdown. We conducted a virtual baking competition and integrated the ‘Space’ theme, that was initially planned for the social. The outcome of every participant's baking was appetizing and delectable. The baking competition was definitely a raging success!

Throughout lockdown, the Committee were still eager to stay in touch with our 'Little Sisters' online, so we organised some tutor time Kahoots and classroom visits.

Here is some feedback from the Year 7 students on what they have acquired throughout the year:

“Our class loved having them there, it was such a joyous time listening to them. We feel now more prepared for our future years at St Cuth’s.”

“The Senior girls were such nice girls. We think it will be important to be as kind and gentle to others as they were to our class.”

“Everybody enjoyed the Year 13s' company and hearing their advice and suggestions.”

“We learned how to have the motivation to continue a hobby, because the Year 13s replied by saying, that if you love and enjoy something, you should always continue.

Even if it may be hard to continue, you should never give up things you love to do.”

“It was really interesting to learn about what the Year 13s will work to achieve when they grow older. For example, Ella wants to do something with water polo skills in her future years and they are all going to different places to study.”

Regardless of the year not being in our favour, our Committee has experienced and learned valuable life lessons, from decision making, to taking on a group of amazing members. This has been an enriching and challenging experience.

We have been so fortunate to have such a resilient, hardworking and dedicated Committee this year to support us through the challenges of COVID-19. Even though many of our planned events did not go ahead, we still managed to find creative ways to connect with the younger student body. We have also formed important and memorable connections both within our Committee and with the younger girls.

Needless to say, being a part of the Year 7 and 8 Committee with an amazing cohort, has definitely been a highlight of our final year at St Cuthbert’s College.

— Juneia Chan Chui and Ella Palmer, Year 7 and 8 Committee leaders

67

COMMITTEES

SENIOR SCHOOL

YEAR 7 AND 8

YEAR 7

Homeroom How did we use Mt Albert/ Owairaka in the past?

Owairaka was named after Wairaka, a chief’s daughter who sailed from Hawaiki all the way to New Zealand to Tamaki Makaurau, to avoid a forced marriage.

Early Māori believed that Owairaka and volcanic cones are said to result from the effort of a powerful Māori priest to destroy a war party; there were a lot of battles on the mountain. When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, they made Tamaki Makaurau the capital city of New Zealand. Then the Pakeha settlers renamed Owairaka Mt Albert after Queen Victoria's new husband.

68

How do we use Mt Albert now?

Mt Albert originally had two craters but one was levelled and turned into a playing field. The other crater was used to form the water reservoir. The mountain was famous for its high quality scoria that was used for the city railway and the domain near the museum. Mt Albert is used by people because it is good for a nice walk or run and even though Mt Albert is not dog friendly, the mountain has great views.

Mt Albert also has the finest archery club in Auckland and a fantastic soccer club.

— Aisha Mitha

7MCN

SENIOR SCHOOL

7PSN Online Teams Personalities After three months we now know who is likely to…

be later to a call to skip awkward solo chats with teacher — Aimee Bradley

YEAR 7 HOMEROOM

to attempt ‘the stupid’ to take on a challenge — Mollie Jackson hope for some AFK time — Ana Kailahi

start a conversation to share Greek info — Lexi Klouwens be incognito — Elyse Lam, Abby Liu

be remembered as ‘Reading Rita’ – Rita Lan share kidney memes — Eunice Li

have their pet in Teams calls — Olivia Lindon, Meg Fowler have the quietest voice — Iris Liu

announce their love of maths — Bonnie MsCarrison

be kindest to turtles and humans — Sophie Ng be sewing and crafting — Maia Rambisheswar perform a handstand in a meeting lull — Amelie Reck

write and perform songs — Ritisha Sen

have taken a 5km run between meetings — Zara Sharp say, ‘I’m here’ — Faith Siasau

tell a joke or ask a question — Maddy Tipping be e-reading — Jessica Wang

think BTS? Yes please — Angela Wei swim the world — Grace Wills

think K-pop or hair — Cynthia Yang

be the most efficient — Carolyn Zhang

Scoria The rocks stand still Sun beaming on their backs, Bodies growing darker and darker Their ragged holes wide open Creating an entrance for air.

As the years stroll along Their skin gets smoother – Smooth as a satin dress – Their life is stuck on the island.

The scoria dries And grows strength Holding onto each other As wind-blown dirt Cements each rock together.

Rangitoto’s scoria sleeps Do not disturb.

— Faith Siasau

69

YEAR 7

Homeroom Mr Van Campen started our year We enjoyed his company while he was here Soon after school had begun There would be no camp fun A lockdown in the early weeks We became familiar with online techniques It was short and we returned to school Seeing our new friends was ‘oh so cool’

We settled into our school routines With using books and our fancy screens We Googled his name from time to time He was in an article about mould and grime

He was always funny and very kind A teacher like this is hard to find We said goodbye to him in Term 2 And were handed over to someone new

70

7VCN Mrs Duggan, our new teacher, started Term 3 But being in the classroom wasn’t to be We painted our koru and blocked the sink Before COVID appeared and we had to rethink

The switch to online learning was done so fast Learning in school was a thing of the past Daily meetings were made on Teams We often turned up, half in our dreams

Studying Ancient Egypt became the norm We learnt new ways to study and brainstorm Gratitude and empathy were themes throughout Though we longed to play with friends and get about While people were vaccinated we continued to learn And dreamed of the day to school we could return It was a funny year but we coped nonetheless Here’s hoping 2022 is not such a mess!

SENIOR SCHOOL

7VUJ A – Amazingly awesome adventure with 7VUJ. (Harriet) B – Brilliance inside of all of us. (Millie)

YEAR 7 HOMEROOM

C – COVID-19 has made us learn online.

(Sonya) D – Dreams and hopes are created and achieved. (Lily)

E – Excellences flow throughout this class.

(Melody) F – Fantastic memories with each other.

(Anna) G – Good times and memories spent online. (Lucy)

H – Happiness comes from the class!

(Angela) I – Intelligently, we learn together.

(Sophie)

J – Just keep pushing through. (Cathy) K – Kind words from the class! (Orla) L – Let’s all be happy! (Bowie)

M – Memories in 7VUJ was magnificent.

(Elaine) N – Never a dull moment in this amazing class! (Ari)

O – Obviously we’re still in lockdown. (Ella)

P – Positive memories all through the year.

(Amelie) Q – Questions to answer, thoughts to fulfil.

(Mei) R – Resilient learners working hard together. (Rosabelle)

S – Strive to be the best that you can and don’t let anyone bring you down! (Mia) T – The funnest class is 7VUJ! (Rylee)

U – Upbeat memories and no bad vibes!

(Dulcie) V – Very fun and epic class! (Camryn)

W – When will we get out of lockdown?

(Ranmeng)

X – Xena is how we all act in 7VUJ. (Adora)

Y – Yikes, I thought that 2021 was going to be better than 2020. (Rylee) Z – Zigzag through the year with a zesty class! (Harriet)

71

YEAR 7

Homeroom

7WAL

Haiku

What am I?

Ode to ice cream

Shivering night Sitting lonely in the dark I look at the moon.

— Vanessa Fan

Happy – flier Speedy – glider Cat – escaper Worm – eater Sharp – spotter Insect – swallower Naughty – pooper What am I? A bird — Michelle Sun and Sophie Wakelin

Oh wonderful ice cream You chilly delight Making my mouth water at the thought.

Snowflake in my hand I watch as it gently melts Driveway covered up.

— Lilian Liu

Who am I? Hair - puller Little - drooler Nose - picker Mess - maker Bad - thrower Vege - hater Candy - over ‘No’ - shouter Annoying – spitter Money – stealer Lego – eater Who am I? A baby brother — Vera Du

72

What am I? Small – squeaker Little – nibbler Attic – invader Tiny – warrior Cheese – lover Cat – escaper Trap – conqueror Fast – listener Silent – scratcher Mess – maker What am I? A mouse — Eva Baker

With flavours galore Chocolate, vanilla, cookies and cream, Possibly something minty?

As I pick up my spoon And take a bite It’s as refreshing as a glass of water.

— Lucy Wright

SENIOR SCHOOL

7WIT On the first day of Year 7, St Cuthbert’s Old Girls were very welcoming and warm. Our teacher, Mrs Withy, was very kind and helpful. She introduced us all to our new school environment. It was a surprise hearing our names being called out as Class Captains after voting had taken place, and going up on stage to collect our badges. It was so much fun planning games for the class to do during Tutor Group and organising Cake Days.

This year has been hard for everyone, our teachers and students have spent weeks staring at screens and adjusting to our new online learning surroundings.

Although lockdown isn’t ideal, our St Cuthbert's College community has persevered through it, and we have all learnt new things throughout lockdown that will never be forgotten. This year has truly been one to remember!

— Sabrina Solomon, Aamani Patel, Isla McGhie and Josie Thompson

Haiku Poems Camp’s not going on Corona ruined it all Now we’re stuck at home — Sunny Chung

Stars are bright beacons And our glowing orb of hope Is the shining sun — Alison Li

As the sun rises As nature all comes to life Spring has now arrived — Bella Tian

The Robertson Steps Personification Poem Don’t touch me You’re not special enough Don’t take one step on me You’re not old enough Maybe one day You could walk, leap or stand on me But not until you’re in Year 13

Polished shoes Without gum sticking out Are very rare I have only seen one of this kind

Autumn is the worst Leaves falling everywhere And cleaners bringing humongous hair blowers As huge as the Eiffel Tower With an unpleasant sound Waking me up while I’m trying to sleep

YEAR 7 HOMEROOM

Class Captains of 7WIT

My most common guests are Teachers, parents and principals I know all the gossip I know everybody’s secrets But you can trust me My lips are …

Zipped!

— Brooklyn Rankin

73

SENIOR SCHOOL Commerce We produced a children's picture book that educates on healthy food alternatives, with accurate nutritional information and illustrations designed

by Keven Mealamu. Our mission was to educate children on healthier eating habits whilst providing an entertaining and memorable story. We are donating a large portion of our books to Starship Kids.

We, as a company, value the health and wellbeing of future generations, aiming to educate them on the importance of healthy eating and nutrition. We aim to proactively help solve the community issues of obesity and diabetes that are very prominent in New Zealand.

We promote health-conscious consumerism, encouraging awareness of the importance of nutrition starting from a young age.

— Arabella Patrick

Young Enterprise team, Kakapo’s Kai

Left to right: Anna McFall, Georgia Foley, Jemima Hawkesby, Arabella Patrick

74

SENIOR SCHOOL COMMERCE Emma Qiu (pictured above), wins the Business Award in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Case Competition (NSSCC).

Emma Qiu was a member of the team that placed first in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Case Competition (NSSCC).

Despite all the cancellations due to lockdown, Taeho Lee (pictured above),managed to squeeze in a wedding.

The NSSCC is the Premier Schools Business Case Competition in New Zealand. Teams compete in two rounds, each with a different business case to analyse, and present to a range of university and alumni judges.

Emma is pictured in the centre, holding the award proudly.

The two Year 12 Young Enterprise teams for 2021 were hindered by lockdowns and supplier issues (below).

75

SENIOR SCHOOL English

Year 10 Spoken Word Poetry Competition winner I feel the Spoken Word Poetry unit this year was a great opportunity for us to learn more about ourselves and learn to express our emotions better. At first, the task seemed a bit daunting as a lot of us had never written poetry before, but with support from the Action Education workshop and from our teacher, it became easier to navigate. In class, we watched some very powerful exemplars, where people expressed their personal issues through poetry. We broke down their performances and identified different techniques they had used in their poems.

In the next lesson of the unit, Old Girl, Gabrielle Maffey, came in to help us get used to writing poetry. We spent a lesson writing poetry from words that were cut out of old books. This was really helpful and taught us that poetry can be about anything and, that even with limited words, we could still write beautiful poems. Knowing this helped build our confidence in our poetry writing skills for the upcoming task. She also told 76

us about some poems she had heard in the past that had stood out to her, and the techniques that were used in those poems. I think the workshop was extremely beneficial because it got us used to writing poetry and it gave us good preparation for writing our own poems.

Due to lockdown, Gabrielle wasn’t able to come in for a second lesson and read us her own poetry as planned.

The inspiration behind my poem came after I had gone home and watched a few more videos of spoken word poetry. I realised that all the poems I enjoyed had something in common; it always felt as if the person performing the poem was speaking about an issue they had never had the confidence to talk about before.

This left me thinking of things in my life which I had never had the opportunity to talk about, so I decided to talk about the struggles and the beauty of being afakasi.

I really enjoyed and benefited from the process of writing my poem. It allowed

me to develop my voice and get more comfortable with expressing my emotions through words. It also opened doors to meaningful conversations about what I had written with both my mum and my dad. I believe writing about things that we have experienced allows us to connect with ourselves more and think of possible solutions to our struggles. Doing this unit through lockdown was a bit tricky, but it took away the fear factor of performing in front of our class. I was both shocked, and grateful to have won the competition as the calibre of my friends’ poems I had heard was very high.

I have truly appreciated the opportunities the spoken word poetry unit has provided for me this year. It has helped me build confidence in my voice and understand myself more. I really hope the girls in years to come will enjoy, and benefit from, the Spoken Word Poetry unit, just as much as I have.

— Anita Iese

SENIOR SCHOOL

Two forests stand side by side, Two types of trees grow, but on the divide of the forests, A tree has defied the usual and tried To grow, with one root on each side.

One root of white blooded lines, One root of brown blooded lines, Within me, they intertwine, And I stand as a product of brown and white combined.

You can’t really define the divide Between my white and islander side, That divide is something I’ve tried to hide.

Yet, it still feels like both sides want to exempt me.

Whispers from both sides, I’ve heard plenty; My brown sisters say I have it easy, As an afakasi.

I got white family, So I feel guilty when I see their struggles and say, “Hey that’s me” My white sisters I’ve heard your commentary Looking at my grades you seem uneasy, You say it’s my “personality” But, in reality, It’s because people who look like me Don’t have the tendency To achieve – usually in poverty -

So you think probably, my work wasn’t done by me.

But, whispers from both sides, I disagree.

I’m not a Polynesian wannabe, I’m not too Palagi I’m me.

Afakasi

It might mean half of one, but two halves make one whole; One whole that can see beauty in both you and me, One whole that can see beauty in our unity.

So, I say we choose to be colourblind Rather than letting our colour blind Our vision of who someone truly is.

Rather than letting our colour bind Us to stereotypes that aren’t us.

Colourblind, We’ll see the beauty in both you and me.

Year 7 and 8 Speech Finalists

ENGLISH

I’ve tried to find Unity within me; Bouncing from one skin to the next, Putting my culture on to fit in with the rest.

Trying not to be the minority, In a vain attempt for you to accept me.

Our congratulations to the 2021 winners:

Year 7

Year 8

1st place Alesha Mehta 2nd place Ari Manners 3rd place Annabelle Hegan

1st place Dina Ehsankya 2nd place Zara Toes

Year 9 Spelling Bee Luckily, a mere two weeks out of lockdown, the annual Spelling Bee was able to take place this year!

It was very different to other years with the COVID-19 restrictions. Everyone had to be masked and we had to stay separated when we were sitting down. It felt like something from a science fiction novel! The most significant difference was that the other people in our Year weren’t able to come in and watch us. This felt very strange, because instead of being able to see our friends supporting us, we were instead spelling in front of empty seats – although I think in a way the participants didn’t mind this too much because it reduced some of the nerves!

The Spelling Bee also felt quite vintage too. We rely so heavily on things like autocorrect these days, that it almost feels quite special and retro to have to spell words out loud like our grandparents did!

One thing that also made the Spelling Bee even more exciting was that you weren’t able to know what words you were going to have. No matter how much you had practised, a lot of it comes down to luck with what words you are given on the day. One could have stayed up all night revising for words they wouldn’t get! This really put us on the spot.

Well done to all the students who made it through to the Spelling Bee final in 2021!

— By Ciara Wynn

The tree that lies on the divide’s branches erupt with the fruit of two trees.

Its roots whisper to the neighbouring trees, “In your unity is where I’ve found the beauty of me”.

77

Your Loving Vincent The golden fields of wheat stretch forward and dissolve into the slowly-setting sun. Pink flecks mix to lavender in his blue eyes - a fitting contrast, he thinks, to his blue-black mood. Although admittedly, Vincent has always liked harsh contrast, it makes him feel safe, knowing he has control over the colours in his little splattered palette.

He takes a look at the beauty around him - beauty that should be reflected onto the canvas propped up in front of him.

Instead, he sees angry gashes of red and yellowish-green.

He’s fed up with the sheer blue-blackness of it all. If he tried to put it into words he’d end up even more jumbled and confused then when he started. He feels… well, blue-black. Like stretched satin. Like midFebruary. Like wet chalk.

He knows he should be grateful, after all, this is a good day. Some days he tries to pry his eyes from his skull because he can’t see anything but blue-black. Where he swears he can hear whispers crawling up the walls of his room, but even when he jams his thumbs into his ears, he’s never quite managed to drown them out.

Some days, however, he’s all pink-orangeyellow. Those are the days that Vincent yearns for. The days where he might jump around his house and paint something silly just because he can. The days where his dreary old town of Saint-Rémy glows golden under the scorching heat of the sun; the days Theo writes. You see, Theo’s the only man Vincent has truly loved. Out of six siblings, Theo actually cared when Vincent kicked and screamed his way into the Saint-Paul Asylum; and when Vincent coated his hand in wax and set it alight, Theo was the one to snuff out the flames before the smell of burning flesh pushed Vincent over the edge. And when everything tasted like soap and metal and moss green, Theo was there.

So, Vincent drags himself up, palette still in hand, colours bleeding together from the sudden movement, and makes his way down the hill. He leaves his easel. It’ll be there tomorrow.

He makes his way along the narrow country trails of Saint-Rémy, towards his small flat, perched on top of a bakery, which always smelt warm and orangegreen-pink. The sun hangs low in the sky as Vincent ambles along the stretch of land that he refers to as No Man’s Land - where the birds stop chirping but you could not yet hear the chatter of the town as cafés and bars begin to open for the night. He stands still for a moment, basking in the silence as the orange light of the setting sun spins his auburn hair into gold. He could almost taste the 78

stillness of it all - like the vol au vent his mother used to make him before she deemed him crazy, or the familiar smell of ochre in his brown oil paints. Time stands still here, and Vincent is temporarily thrown from his blue-black mood, until the thick trees lining the pathway begin to stretch their shadows along the path, preparing for the night looming above.

Vincent hates night. He continues hurriedly along the path before the blueblack night swallows him whole.

When he reaches the bakery, Vincent warily greets the smiley, gap-toothed owner of the shop. Her name is pink, August-y and reminds him of the letter M, but he can’t quite put his finger on it, so he settles for Madame . She asks him how his painting went.

“Very well, thank you.” Blue-black. The way grapefruit tastes. The lowest E on a piano.

The conversation is brief. The shop owner says something about closing the shop, and Vincent is happy to oblige the dismissal. Vincent glances briefly at the plaque on his flaking door at the back of the shop - the gold is fading to a dull silver, but no matter how many times his fingernails trace the engraving, he can’tseem to wear away the words scratched into the metal.

– VINCENT WILLIEM VAN GOGH – UNDER SURVEILLANCE

SAINT-PAUL-DE-MAUSOLE ASYLUM

The words serve as a cutting reminder.

Vincent creaks open the door and makes his way up the dusty stairwell - the candles he lit earlier were long burnt down to the wick, leaving the hall in almost complete darkness. The moon shines in through an open window, the faint sounds of music and chatter drifting up from the streets. He reaches his desk, papers strewn over the dark mahogany wood, some blank, some sketched, some written. He pulls out the tattered leather stool and eases down, back hunched over the table as the breeze flutters paper scraps on the desk.

The pile in the corner. Theo’s letters.

Vincent reaches for it, picking up a leaflet at random and holding it under a sliver of moonlight. Theo’s hurried scrawl calms

Vincent, and his fingers trace the black ink. He skims the text, searching for, if anything, solace... And me? I’ve been thinking of travelling… How deeply I love those cities… Possibly to ease your sadness… You love to paint, do you not?

Vincent stops. He doesn’t remember reading that. He’s re-read Theo’s letters countless times - he could practically recite them word for word. He must have skipped over the faded text. Why, I’ve never seen a single painting where you combine blue with black. You see, Vincent had told Theo of his blue-black days, where everything felt like iron and candle wax, thinking that Theo would brush off his ramblings as nonsense. But no, Theo cared. Vincent feels lavender-red fill his body. He reads on. Perhaps you should illustrate the night sky? I’ve always found beauty in the sky and the stars, and, after all, it is blue and black.

Vincent looks up at the sky, and its cruel eyes stare back. He looks closer. The stars seem to blink back as his eyes adjust to the darkness. There – the stars seem to melt into the indigo background, and over there the blue dissolves into purple. He sees the wind swirl through the air and stars pine after it, clustering together in clouds. He hears how the light roars and he realises, the moon isn't the only thing washing Saint-Rémy in silver, the magic of the night blazing everywhere around him.

Vincent knows what he has to do. He jumps up from his stool, heart thumping in his chest. Palette in hand, he stumbles down the dark stairwell and out the creaky door, not caring as its hinges squeak in protest. The shop door, left unlocked, opens at Vincent’s push, and he’s out onto the street. A giggling couple look at him strangely - after all, it must be quite a sight to behold - a crazed man blundering across the dimly lit streets of the little town. Up, past No Man’s Land, and down the narrow gravel trails towards the hill with a view of the wheat field, the moon drowning out the rich ochre. The canvas is still there, beckoning to him. He sits on the grass as it starts to glow with dew. He looks up.

The brush streaks unfamiliar colours on the canvas. Blue-black. His eyes light up.

— Emma Akeroyd, Year 13

My brown femininity haunts me. My brown femininity tells me, “You’ll never be like your white friends.” It feels my thighs touch and refuses that next cookie. My brown femininity plucks at those little black hairs in my smile line, and it hurts.

It hurts when my brown femininity is asked, “Where are your parents from?” for my mum, I say, London. London is her safety net. She spent thirteen years there, grew up there, learnt there, but she isn’t from London. My dad, I say without a lie, “Baghdad.” You see my dad is not what you think he might be; ill-acquaintanced mutual of a jihadist’s son, doctor, father, husband, son. My parents are their own without negative association to their origins but it feels like more than that.

I’ve never been to an airport security check where at least one member of my family hasn’t been questioned. I was put through a “randomly selected” bomb check when I was nine years old. Even though my place of birth is Takapuna, it’s my appearance that throws me in the deep end.

You see, to feel connected to your own culture as well as the culture that surrounds you, is too difficult for a young child. I never learnt to speak Arabic. I tried, but I didn’t.

I never learnt to make dolma or read the Quran. I never felt the need to cover my hair or look down when men walk past.

When I grew older, in pursuing the passion of wanting to be in touch with origins and culture, I did one night of learning one to 10 in Arabic and gave up when I realised the only time I would have the nerve to use them is buying bulk souvenirs to bring back for my white peers. So instead I learn French. I learn the language of colonisers, those who colonised some very lands that I can call home. I learn the language of oppression. And I am quite good at it. It feels good to have no shame in knowing it.

To be an Arabic woman is one thing, but to be an Arabic woman with little to no connection to the culture, yet being the physical embodiment of it, is another.

I know that I am identified in this way, but I feel a sense of wrong when I look Arabic but have no internal connections to it. I feel white inside, not brown. I feel with every identifier I have, my eyes, my skin, thick black hair, that I am merely something for someone to look at and recognise, not understand. People in my community don’t understand. “Why doesn’t she speak Arabic?”

When I was eight years old, a white girl in my class asked me why I had a moustache. Sat in my P.E. uniform, top-lip covered out of confusion, I did not know what to say. When I went home that night, I asked my mum, and she started crying.

I had never seen her cry over something that someone had said to me. She said I could get it waxed off. At eight years old. I had never felt ashamed of who I was until that day. That shame has never left.

I am far from being the only person sinking in this boat. I see the people around me change and grow into people they said they’d never become but it’s helpless, they are surrounded by it. Surrounded by whiteness, unable to escape the idea that ‘they’ are not ‘them’, unable to escape their surroundings, their assimilation, their upbringing, their heritage, their origin story, their life. It is too hard when it is all you see.

I wish that I could feel proud of my heritage and origins, but with a constant lingering feeling of being different, it gets too hard to even think that one day, I can feel proud.

The 21st century has not changed a thing.

Those who identify themselves as outside the confines of their culture still physically embody that which makes them who they are, or used to be. It cannot be escaped

– not enough ads for skin bleaching or waxing or botox can change it. I can identify every Arabic woman just by their nose. That nose that tells their story and their family tree. They all went to the same doctor. That same doctor makes a profit from their need for Eurocentric features every day, and it has been like that for 20 years. In the next 20 years, we will move onto a different part of the face, maybe it will be eyes, or lips, foreheads, or chins.

But it is all lies.

In an article for Gal-Dem, Parisha Hashempour writes of sudden beauty standards changing in society, and the influence of wanting to have a Middle Eastern looking face. “Despite some Middle Eastern features being embraced by Western society, it hasn’t stopped seeking out cosmetic procedures to alter the biggest identifiers of their heritage.”

In reflection to this article, in a society where whiteness reigns supremely, the recent influence of white people wanting to have more ‘Arabic’ features, does not even come close to deterring the mental need for some Arabic women to have Eurocentric features. If anything it makes them want it more. Being so ingrained into society and our minds, having Eurocentric features and origins have connotations of power and supremacy, beauty and perfection.

The ideals of society are frightening; to feel uncomfortable in your own skin, is frightening. But these ideals are inanimate, they should not define who we are or who we want to become. We will learn to love our noses, love our little fuzzies that keep our cupid’s bow warm. Love the hollowness under our eyes. And love the curvature of our bodies and the curvature of our lives.

Maybe I’ll learn numbers 10 – 20 and maybe I’ll learn to let those little hairs grow.

— Layla Al-Abid, Year 12

SCC Writing Prizes and Awards 2021 Berry Short Story Award Emma Akeroyd Senior Science Writing Emma Akeroyd Senior Prose Prize and Second in Berry Award Layla Al-Abid

Year 12 Writing Scholarships Layla Al-Abid, Ishannita Chaudhuri, Kate Lin Year 11SCC Writing Award Emily Whineray Year 11 Science Writing Alisa Rao Year 10 SCC Writing Award Emily Zhang

Year 10 Science Writing Aanya Naidu Year 9 SCC Writing Award Ava Dilly and Alice Wei Year 7 and 8 SCC Writing Award Eassin Wang Year 7 and 8 Science Writing Jackie Xu 79

WRITING

SENIOR PRIZE FOR PROSE

SENIOR SCHOOL

Divine Brown Feminine

SENIOR SCHOOL Languages Chinese

Classics

During Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, our Year 10 Chinese and Year 13 Mandarin class learned how to make traditional and iconic Dragon Boat Festival food, Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). We used bamboo leaves to wrap sticky rice, pork and mushrooms. Students enjoyed making and eating their “school-made” zongzi!

We may not be able to experience the culture of the ancient world firsthand at the moment, but we have had some interesting and insightful learning experiences about it during the year, particularly the Golden Age of Athens for the Year 12s and the politics, art and literature of Roman Empire for the Year 13s.

Year 13 IB Class

Augustus, the first Roman Emperor, has played a huge part in the lives of our Year 13 as has bribery and sugar-based treats to help with energy, motivation and attendance. Hearts were broken when Ms Smith forgot a promise end of term feast, but this was made up for soon after. One hopes the students remember what they have learned about the great buildings and art works of Rome when they visit one day, as well as all the laughs and snappy comebacks of class discussions. ‘The Aeneid’ in lockdown was perhaps a blessing for Ms Smith who was frequently faced with a screen of icons rather than faces of students to confirm her fears of inattention during long reading sessions. Students at home make for a captive and quiet audience. Attendance was also excellent. The Year 13s have faced big challenges to their learning in the last two years, but have impressed with their commitment to this class, their assessments and genuine interest in the Classical world.

Both Year levels enjoyed a trip to see the King’s College production of Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’ mid-year and dissecting each aspect of it in class the following day.

The Year 12 and 13 NCEA students went to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate Languages Week!

Year 10 Chinese class students made Lanterns to celebrate Chinese Lantern Festival.

During lockdown, Year 7 and Year 10 students learned how to make dumplings from scratch and cook them at home!

Year 12 IB students tried out traditional Chinese clothes in preparation for Languages Week.

80

The Year 12 class was a small, close knit, bubbly and demanding lot with what seemed like 50 questions every lesson and some very firmly held views during discussions. They may not have had a trip to Greece but did make it out to a local Greek restaurant for lunch (which was a highlight of the year), flexed their creativity making theatrical masks and put a huge effort in to win the ‘recreate the artwork’ competition held during Languages Week. This group of nine took pride in both convincing younger students to pick up classics as a subject and putting off their peers to keep the membership of Year 13 classics ‘exclusive’ in 2022. They are very supportive of each other, often outwit Ms Smith and always impress her with their ideas and insights.

ESOL SENIOR SCHOOL

The ESOL students at all levels started the year productively and enjoyed collaborating in class and after school with older students. These opportunities to use the language, really help them to develop their skills, and the older students treasured the time they get to spend with their buddies.

LANGUAGES

Sadly, this became very difficult in lockdown, but they enjoyed catching up with each other virtually as well. Online learning can be even more challenging for language learners, as a lot of the cues they use to build understanding are gone, and these students should be proud of the way they continued to work hard and do their best across all their classes.

French Online French exchange

Big Sister, Little Sister

This year we started the Online French exchange with the famous Parisian school l’Ecole Alsacienne. 12 Year 11 and 12 students from St Cuthbert’s participated in this exchange. Each student paired with a French correspondent. They were tasked with creating an online book to share information about their life and also present themes from their respective countries in French. The French students did the same in English. The exchange lasted two and a half months and we finished off with a presentation from each group online.

During Languages Week, a group of Year 12 students went to teach French to a Year 4 class. It was amazing to see their Year 4 ‘Little Sisters’ interacting in French with their ‘Bigger Sisters’.

Australian Assessment of Language Competence test in French Some students from Year 9 to 10 completed the Australian Assessment of Language Competence test in French with the majority achieving High Distinction.

French assistant This year, Jenna came on board as our French assistant. Originally from Brittany, she has been working with the students from all levels and has been a valuable addition to our department.

Cooking and lockdown activities Our French students savoured some French cuisine. Year 12 Ab Initio students enjoyed making and eating crêpes.

We collaborated and shared delicious cooking with 12IB Spanish who made tortillas.

One of our units in Year 10 French is all about life at home, and the classes came up with ‘while we were in lockdown’, so the timing was very appropriate. For the sections on eating and drinking, there was some home baking taking place shared by photo!

81

Spanish Our Spanish Assistant One of the things we love about our Spanish learning at St Cuthbert’s is the chance to have classes with the Spanish assistant. Olaia Perez Imirizaldu arrived from Pamplona in the North of Spain in February of 2020, to work with us and stayed for two years. She has a passion for her language and culture which she has shared throughout her time here.

Escape Rooms Olaia developed several Escape rooms in Spanish which students enjoyed. One of the favourites was based around the film ‘Coco’. A more recent one had students discovering a painting stolen from the Prado in Madrid. Escape rooms give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in some Hispanic culture while practising their language skills to solve puzzles of all kinds.

Above: Year 13 Escape Room

Pintxos In the evenings, groups of people can be seen heading to the cafés and bars in cities and towns all over Spain. They are going to socialise with friends while sampling the many small savoury treats created by their favourite chefs. These are known as ‘pintxos’ or ‘tapas’ and are very much a part of life in Spain. In Year 10 students participated in a pintxo competition.

Above: Year 10 Cooking

Cooking Year 10 and Year 12 this year also enjoyed some time in the Food Technology room, preparing simple Spanish tortillas and sweet treats made of marzipan.

Languages Week Year 12 enjoyed time in the Junior School sharing some of their knowledge of Spanish language and culture. We look forward to doing it all again next year!

Latin MMXXI This year we celebrated teaching Latin as a formal subject to Year 8 students for the first time, following its start in Year 7 last year. The Year 8 students learnt the language and lifestyle of the Romans through the eyes of a citizen who lived in Pompeii before the famous eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

One of the highlights of the course were the dioramas of Roman life created by each student as well as the Roman dinner party complete with genuine Roman food.

The Year 9 students competed in the annual toga tying competition while Year 10 was treated, during lockdown, to a live online tour of the museum in Bath, the modern city of Aquae Sulis which was part of the Roman empire and features in the Year 10 Latin course. The students also got the opportunity for a question and answer session with one of the curators who showed many of the exhibits from the collection.

Senior Latin students were treated to an array of Latin literature ranging from the timeless story of Orpheus and Eurydice for Year 11, and ‘love poetry’ for Years 12 and 13, including relationship advice from the Romans! Some of the Senior students ventured to the Junior School during Languages Week, teaching some Latin to the younger students and running a competition to recreate a Roman arch from blocks.

82

Above: Year 10 making tortilla

LANGUAGES

SENIOR SCHOOL

Te Reo Māori

Above: This year marked the first time Year 8 students have taken te reo Māori as a core subject in both Year 7 and 8, which had our Middle School Kapa Haka group well-equipped to host Kings’ Prep students in the annual exchange.

Above: Students attended ‘The Haka Party Incident’: A moving verbatim performance bringing back to life one of the pivotal moments in Aotearoa’s race relations history.

The experience was made even more memorable when after school groups all around the theatre, performed a haka in response to the show. It was a touching example of tikanga in action.

Above: Students also participated in a workshop based on ‘The Haka Party Incident’ run by the Festival’s Teaching Artists, going deeper into the text and themes of the show.

LANGUAGES WEEK

Above: Senior te reo Māori students attended ‘Wāhine Toikupu’, a showcase of the Maya Angelou poems which have been translated into te reo as part of the ‘Kotahi Rau Pukapuka’ project to release 100 Māori language books.

Students were inspired by the artistry of the translators and their ability to weave emotion into the language while reimagining Angelou’s iconic poetry.

Above: Back on campus, our youngest te reo Māori students expressed their whakapapa / genealogical connections visually through carvings etched into soap, while they learned how to speak about themselves and their whānau.

Our annual celebration of Languages Week was launched by Professor Robert Greenberg, Dean of Arts at the University of Auckland. As well as English, Professor Greenberg speaks Russian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, French, German, Slovenian and Czech, among others. He was robbed of his sight while completing his doctorate at Yale University and so took a year off to learn Braille, before returning to finish his PhD. Professor Greenberg emphasised the way in which the ability to speak a foreign language immediately transcends differences and creates an instant connection among people. His story is one of resilience, adaptability and academic brilliance which inspired the students in his presence.

83

SENIOR SCHOOL Mathematics 2021 Mathematics Highlights Congratulations go to three of our Year 11 students who gained NZQA Scholarships in Calculus: Silei Wang, Grace Pui, and Maria Gong.

This is an outstanding achievement. The faculty gained very pleasing numbers of scholarships overall. We are also extremely proud of Brena Merz, Year 12, who was selected to represent New Zealand internationally, in the NZ Olympian Mathematics Team.

In 2021, the Years 7 to 10 curriculum was streamlined further under the faculty umbrella and key focus areas addressed for smooth transitions. Much discussion and development work was done to ensure the courses flow well into Senior School and continue to be 21st Century, engaging and challenging. This included fun matchstick algebra pattern and insightful GeoGebra geometry and Desmos activities.

In the Senior School, the IB students sat new examinations for the first time in two mathematics pathways. IB introduced two separate mathematics courses in 2021: Analysis and Approaches (AA) and Application and Interpretation (AI), with both courses running at HL and SL. There are several mathematics competitions in which students participate. These encourage problem solving skills and lateral thinking. We are very proud of our girls’ achievements: • We are delighted to have had a record number of student award winners who are likely to be selected for the January NZ Mathematics Olympiad Camp. Dawn Chen's attaining a Gold award was outstanding.

• St Cuthbert’s took out five prize winning places in the Otago Junior Mathematics Competition.

• In the Australian Mathematics Competition, our students achieved highly, with Julia Sung gaining a prize winning award.

84

NZ Maths Olympiad 2021-2022 These places are extremely tough to gain.

• Dawn Chen Gained a Gold award, the top five in NZ and the only girl.

• Belle Yin, Brena Merz and Ena Yin Gained Silver awards, in top 14 in NZ, three of only five girls • Grace Wu An honourable mention

Congratulations to Amie Gilliat and Ellie Siu for also being invited to the NZMO Round two, selection.

The four medal winners above are highly likely to be selected in the top 25 for the NZ Olympiad training camp at Auckland University in January 2022. This is paired down to a team of six students who compete at the 2022 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

University of Otago Junior Mathematics Competition This annual Years 9 to 11 Mathematics Competition, was held in two parts in 2021. In the first part around 180 students took part, online, in Clouston Hall.

46 students were invited to sit the second part. Nationally, 4500 students participated from 140 different schools. The competition has an emphasis is on problem solving skills. We are very proud of our prize winning students as well as the record number of St Cuthbert’s students who gained a Distinction award, placing them in the top 15% of the country – this is an outstanding result.

Prize winners for scoring in the top category of students in the top 30 in NZ, an impressive achievement, were awarded to: • Grace Wu • Lingshi Chen • Ena Yin • Vanessa Bu • Ellie Siu

A further 37 students were awarded Distinction awards for being in the top 15% in NZ.

Scholarship workshop class 2021 in lockdown

Australian Maths Competition SENIOR SCHOOL

The Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) involves students in more than 30 countries attempting the same problems. The problems are designed to test mathematical thinking. These problems get more difficult through the competition, so that at the end, they are challenging to the most gifted students. School-based maths competitions don’t get any bigger than this one with around 600,000 students! Congratulations to our high achieving students:

MATHEMATICS

Prize Winner (Top 0.3% ) and Best of School – highest score in the College with a Percentile Rank of 100% Julia Sung, Year 9

High Distinction (Top 3% ) were awarded to: Seniors: Brena Merz Year 11: Grace Wu Year 10: Lingshi Chen and Ena Yin Year 9: Mabel Zhao and Bella Jiang Distinction awards were awarded to: Seniors: Tingmeng Wang, Charlotte Wen, Yixuan Zhu, Natalie Berry and Grace Pui

Year 11: Amie Gilliat, Design Siripaopradith, Dian Kun Yin, Jifei Shao, Mohan Hu and Claire Heimgartner Year 10: Belle Yin, Vanessa Bu, Yicky Zhou, Teresa Yu and Maddy Proctor

Year 9: Audrey Huang, Regina Cao, Jolin Yu, Meagan Luo, Ava Dilly, Ariel Liu, Scarlett Robb, Elaine Heimgartner, Alicia Wu, Ziyue Zhou and Avery Fu Year 8: Eassin Wang and Yunqi Ke

Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) A problem-solving competition which seeks to identify computer programming potential, involving students in both New Zealand and Australia.

Distinction Awards were awarded to: Theresa Yu, Vanessa Bu, Lucy Hawke and Maddy Proctor.

APSMO (Australasian Math Olympiad) Junior Competition – Year 7 and 8 This competition is a real challenge; it develops flexibility for problem solving, fosters creativity and ingenuity and strengthens intuition. Schools participate from around Australia and New Zealand.

Year 8: Top 2%, 1st Angle Ke, 2nd Eassin Wang Year 7: Top 2%, 1st= Cerisa Gu and Jackie Xu, 2nd Angela Wei

Olympiad Maths 2021 Dawn Chen, Belle Yin , Ena Yin, Grace Wu , Brena Merz ( absent)

NZ Math Olympiad representative This year, the International Mathematics Olympiad was held remotely due to COVID-19, without the opportunity to travel to St Petersburg, Russia. We arrived at the summer camp on a Wednesday in January and were thrown straight into training, with a 4.5 hour long mock exam that very evening. We had to adjust our exam time to fit the Russian time zone, meaning all our mocks started at 7.30pm with exercise and lectures in the afternoon.

After four straight days of lectures and mock exams, we had a maths-free Sunday. On the last day before the IMO, we went to an escape room in the evening to calm our nerves and have some fun. The IMO itself over the next two evenings was very similar to our mocks; our coaches had prepared us well for it. The only problem was that it was much, much harder.

This year’s IMO is known as one of the most difficult sets of problems in its history, with the gold medal cut off the lowest it’s been in 40 years. After these painful two days of problems, however, we were finally free. Still boarding at school while our coaches marked and deliberated, we spent the next four days relaxing and going on outings into the city. We spent the early mornings awake, playing games and chatting, then sleeping till lunch in the early afternoon. Despite the dreadful exams and lack of travel, our team of six still had a great amount of fun, improving our maths skills and getting closer as friends. Our team’s score was less than we had hoped for, but it was still a great experience, and hopefully next year, the team can travel to Oslo, Norway.

—Brena Merz, Year 12

85

Otago Problem Solving – Year 6 to Year 8 Problem Challenge is a mathematics problem solving competition aimed at students in Years 7 and 8, run by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Otago. The 2021 Prize winners – gaining a $25 Book voucher were: Alice Li, Lillian Tong, Bella Chen

Right: Algebra matchstick patterns

Mathex 2021 The St Cuthbert's Mathex teams were rearing to go for 2021, having had class competitions and lunchtime sessions to fine tune their technique for the excitement of the competition. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the Mathex competitions were not held in 2021.

However the teams were:

Year 10 Team: Ena Yin, Ella Cham, Sophie Robb, Yicky Zhou, Dawn Chen, Vanessa Bu, Belle Yin, Elisha Lam and Lily Allen

Year 9 Team: Christen Li, Mabel Zhao, Priyanka Gai, Catherine Sun, Julia Sung, Lillian Cao, Olivia Wei, Caitlin Pendleton, Alicia Wu and Bella Jiang.

86

Year 8 Team Emily Cheng, Ellie Sui, Easson Wang, Violet Liu, Ziyue Zhou, Zara Toes, Scarlett Robb and Evie Tan. Reserve: Yahan Duan.

Year 7 Team: Elyse Lam, Abby Liu, Candace Liu, Bonnie McCarrison, Cerisa Gu, Angela Wei, Jackie Xu and Alison Li. Reserves: Peony Westwood, Lucy Gill, Emma Zheng and Chloe Song.

SENIOR SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

Auckland University Olympiad Day (AMO) On Saturday 8 May, around 350 top mathematics students attended the Auckland Mathematics Olympiad run by the University of Auckland, at their campus. This is held in a large lecture theatre with volunteer university student markers who thoroughly enjoy, and are specialising in, mathematics.

Brena Merz came 3rd overall, gaining a $100 award, with Belle Yin and Grace Wu both gaining $50 awards. St Cuthbert’s College was the only girls’ school to have any girls in the finalist places!

Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, “It is terribly amusing how many different climates of feelings one can go through in one day.” I’ve always found this hard to believe until my experience at AMO back in May. AMO stands for Auckland Mathematical Olympiad, which is an annual mathematical competition for high school students in Auckland. To call it a unique experience would be an understatement, for what I felt during that mere two hours of exam could not be put into one or two words. I can still remember the absolute joy after I figured out the solution for one problem, the unbearable anticipation while I was waiting for my solution to be graded, the sheer confusion when I couldn’t figure out the error that seem impossible to find, and the growing frustration when people around me put up their hands with determination.

Although I was pleased with my result, what I enjoyed the most was the thinking process and my emotional roller coaster ride. Furthermore, these ten questions made me discover my strengths and weaknesses in different areas of mathematics, steering me onto the right path for future improvements.

—Belle Yin, Year 10

87

SENIOR SCHOOL Performing Arts Dance

Year 7 Dance

Year 8 Dance

Year 9 Full Year Dance

I absolutely loved the dance course this year.

There were so many fun-filled activities and I always looked forward to going to Dance classes. The energy in the classroom was always so welcoming and bouncy.

We began the year with a High School Musical performance, Ms Thwaites choreographed the chorus and we had a great time making up our own opening in class groups. Each group presented their finished dance in front of the class.

Ever since I arrived at St Cuthbert’s, I have been waiting to do dance and being in Year 9 Dance was one of the best parts of my day. All the people who taught me were amazing, always supporting me and making me and all my peers laugh. My favourite part of dance was hip hop. We were fortunate enough to have an amazing hip hop teacher.

During the course, we explored dance through different activities. Our first activity was learning the dance elements. We also went through ‘shapes in spaces.’

We did these two units online, so it was fun and interesting, for all of us to experiment with the space around us and learn how to move our body in other ways.

One of the fun units that I personally really enjoyed, was doing ‘group dance work.’ It was really nice to be in a team and use our creativity to produce a dance together.

Our last unit was Māori Mythology. As a class, we all created a big, beautiful piece to perform at assembly. This was a great experience, as all our ideas contributed to a great class dance. There were little groups performing onstage, there were even solos, and everyone had a chance in the spotlight.

Dance was such an exciting class to have, I won’t ever forget the fun times I had in this subject.

— Alesha Mehta

88

Next, we were given the chance to work together in small groups and choreograph our individual dance. Working outside the Dance Studio, each group chose an outside space around the school and incorporated this into the dance. Here we were given the freedom to express ourselves using our own choice of music and dance moves. This was a very enjoyable part of the year.

The well-known musical ‘Annie’ was our final dance for the semester, and this was the highlight of the year. Ms Thwaites taught us the dance then, working in pairs, we made up our own entrance for the performance. We each had our own prop which was a tea towel to represent the rags the orphans used to clean. We had so much fun throwing them around and playing tug of war. Overall, this was an awesome semester of dance and everyone had a fabulous time.

— Amber Hughes

Unfortunately, being in lockdown is a very hard way to learn dance, but I feel that our teacher, Ms Warne, has really kept everyone involved by doing online dances with the whole class, it was a great way to feel like we were back in the classroom with everyone.

One of the most memorable parts of dance was when we did our ballet genre because I felt like it challenged me.

Overall, dance is my favourite subject at school and I really enjoyed it.

— Amber Bason

Year 11 Dance I really enjoyed my experience in Year 11 dance this year and I am excited about continuing NCEA Dance in 2022. The subject is an amazing opportunity to have fun and exercise with my friends.

SENIOR SCHOOL Dance allows me to learn, be creative and express myself with my whole body in a way other subjects can’t. A heartfelt thanks to Ms Warne for an amazing year made especially difficult by COVID-19.

— Giselle Patrick

Year 12 Dance In Year 12 Dance, our class was composed of a small tight knit group of students with one even being a Year 10. Our dance class is very close to each other and is a space where we can always feel free to express ourselves.

Although we have faced many challenges due to COVID-19, we still managed to make the most of the time we had. A personal favourite dance of mine was the Samoan dance we learnt, which was taught by two of our own classmates, Eden and Ula. This was a good opportunity to bond as a class even more and learn a different dance.

Throughout the year, we worked on various pieces of choreography including hip hop contemporary fusion, musical theatre, contemporary, group choreography and kapa haka contemporary fusion. Although the Dance Showcase was cancelled, which was disappointing, everyone kept optimistic and was grateful for the time we had in class to be together, have fun and enjoy each other's company.

— Charlotte Ng Waishing

Year 13 Dance Taking dance as an NCEA subject at St Cuthbert’s has been a highlight of my time at the College. There is something truly special about being in a class every day doing what you love most with a group of people who love it just as much as you do.

Dance has given me many opportunities, such as trips to watch live performances at the Civic and the Aotea Centre, performing on stage in front of a live audience, and being able to push myself to choreograph dances with a tight set of instructions.

This year we were challenged to learn very unique styles of dance that told stories through movement, including a contemporary dance of ‘Schindler’s List’, a musical theatre piece from ‘West Side Story’ and our personal favourite, a country dance from ‘Footloose’ which included cowboy hats!

The biggest highlight for our dance class every year is the Dance Showcase.

This is something we work towards all year, looking forward to, showcasing our internal assessments to our family and friends, while also learning about everything that comes along with being a performer.

I have found NCEA Dance to be a place where I am truly myself and am able to express anything through performing.

Our teacher, Ms Warne, works hard with us every day until she believes we can succeed, supporting us all the way. Within our dance class, we have worked together to create a special safe place with one another, which makes making mistakes into something that we can laugh about as a group and also encourage each other to do our absolute best. It has been such a high note to finish on at the College.

— Jemima Hawkesby

Drama Year 7 Drama In 2021, there were only two single terms and a limited amount of sessions to spare for drama, but I definitely loved it, especially with Ms Walsh as our drama teacher. I adored every single millisecond of drama, not wanting to waste any part of the precious experience. From interesting melodrama to creative playwriting, Ms Walsh was always prepared and ready to teach us all sorts of things regarding drama, including transforming each and every one of us into mini drama queens!

Over the course of two terms, we had learnt many, many techniques. This was a fantastic experience for me, and I wouldn’t exchange this for anything in the entire world, and I

wouldn’t dare think about it either.

Ms Walsh, on the other hand, is a wonderful, amazing teacher who could just crack-up the entire room in a few seconds of time! Of course, she was one of the best teachers in the school; a teacher who is all a student wants. She is a caring and thoughtful person, and she made the best jokes in the whole entire year (I seriously think Ms Walsh deserves recognition for how good she is at teaching her subject).

Whenever we had absolutely no inspiration for an activity she assigned us, she would give us great and unique ideas. Whenever we were insecure and nervous about doing something, she would encourage and push us through it and she would always give us a big thumbs up at the end.

I have to admit, this was the best of the best experiences for this year. I just can’t wait for next year’s drama sessions!

— Peony Westwood

Year 8 Drama Year 8 drama is the craziest, most exciting, creative class you can take. From scripted performances, to characterisation, to mime, every lesson is a fun-filled learning experience. I loved every single minute of Year 8 drama. Mrs Walsh brings humour to everything! Each lesson is filled with jokes and laughter, and the classroom is a safe space to make mistakes and learn.

I always felt completely safe when I was acting in front of the other people in the room. You meet new people, and, by the end of the course, everyone is very close friends. It is too hard to choose one favourite activity – they were all amazing.

However, one of my favourites would definitely be the scripted performances that we did in groups. Everyone was getting really into their character and trying to be as over-the-top as possible!

Watching everyone else’s group performances was hilarious.

Year 8 Drama was the highlight of my timetable, and I looked forward to each lesson.

— Ellie Carson

89

PERFORMING ARTS

I developed important skills such as teamwork and leadership.

Year 9 Drama

Year 10 Drama

We had a really small class for drama this year, but that didn’t stop us from learning everything a bigger class would.

Taking Year 10 drama has taught me so much about the behind the scenes of acting and it’s such a fun, collaborative class which I’m thrilled to be taking.

At the beginning of the year, we learnt about improvisation. We participated in many games and activities that would help us be more confident with speaking freely.

The first lockdown hit, and we had to cut off improvisation, so we picked up Greek Theatre instead. In this unit we explored the different aspects of the Greek Chorus.

We even continued with studying this after lockdown, where we created our own choruses in groups and performed them.

Usually, the Year 9 drama class would learn a One-act play and perform it in public. We had chosen ‘Appropriate Audience Behaviour’ a comedy play, and had learnt most of our lines when the second lockdown hit and our rehearsals had to be put on hold for the rest of Term 3. We were all quite upset about this, but we still managed to make lockdown drama fun, by moving on to writing and performing our own monologues. During this unit, we created a background story of a character, and we wrote, memorised and filmed our own monologues.

— Caitlin Pendleton

90

Over the course of this year, we have looked at many different aspects of drama. In our devising unit, we got to create a scene in groups exploring new techniques such as freeze frame, flashback and split stage, adding more backstory and depth to our scene. While doing the play ‘Dags’, we worked with life-size dolls who acted as characters such as our parents and friends. One of my favourites, was a unit we did on acting for the camera, in which we learnt all about the use of camera shots and then filmed individual monologues where we focussed on the precision of our movements, expressions and tone.

In drama, we are stretched and pushed out of our comfort zones to study and play a wide range of roles and styles of acting which I love, from Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummers Night’s Dream’ to our end of year Production ‘We’ll be Better Later’ a modern script about internet-addicted kids. ‘We’ll be Better Later’ is a oneact play our class performs to friends and family in Term 4 which is a great

opportunity to gain confidence and public speaking skills.

— Amelie Birchenough

Year 11 Drama Despite the challenges that came with being in and out of lockdown, Year 11 drama was an entertaining and exciting class to be in this year! We’ve explored a range of drama techniques through internals, like performing a scripted scene in pairs, as well as devising our own performances in small groups. Although we were nervous about the devising unit, it has ended up being a highlight for many of the class. It was a meaningful experience as we explored a range of themes relevant to us today from academic pressure to the #MeToo movement.

Throughout the year we have also had a focus on Elizabethan Theatre, the style of theatre that prevailed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. We specifically focused on Shakespeare and it has been enlightening to learn more about how his plays were performed 400 years ago.

Our class performance of Twelfth Night wasn’t able to go ahead as planned due to COVID-19 which was greatly disappointing, however, we learnt a lot from rehearsing the scenes in class and

Through Ms Stone’s teaching, we have been able to embrace a style of theatre that was new to us and we have learnt new skills that have only increased our love of performance.

— Cate Tipler

Year 12 Drama Year 12 drama is a rewarding class that I thoroughly enjoyed taking this year.

Throughout the course, our class supported each other in studying the theatre form created by the famous playwright Bertold Brecht, which is a form of political theatre. We also performed four internal assessments throughout the year.

Two of these were online, as we went into lockdown in Term 3, which came with new challenges to overcome, but taught us a lot about working together as a team in challenging situations. Luckily, before we went into lockdown we managed to

have completed, pushing us to transfer the skills we have gleaned as group performers to an individual context.

— Jessica Went

We worked on the play ‘The It’ written by Vivienne Franzmann that follows the topical story of teen anxiety through the character, Grace, whose fears manifest themselves into ‘The It’ that grows inside her.

We are all very grateful to our teacher, Mrs Waalkens, who directed us to our full potential, and helped us understand the underlying messages of feminism and the power of standing up for what you believe in. Drama has taught me a lot about my skills as an actress, as well as working with others, and putting on an effective performance.

Year 13 Drama Year 13 drama has been an inspiring and eye-opening experience. My classmates and I have been taking drama since Year 11, making this year special as it will be our last working together in a class environment, which has allowed us to grow as an ensemble and, as friends.

We have worked our way through three internals that have continued to build upon the skills we have gathered over the last two years. The year began with us working our individual techniques performance, the first individual performance we

Our devised piece was also completed individually; this was a challenging internal that pushed us as creatives and challenged our ability to create cohesive, yet impactful theatre. ‘Top Girls’, a piece of political, feminist and epic theatre written in the 1980’s by Carol Churchill, is the theatre form we have studied for our external and the scene we have performed as pairs, testing our ability to produce a piece of emotive work that would stay true to the theatre form.

Drama this year has been a combination of individual work along with our continued work as an ensemble, a wonderful way to end the experience of NCEA Drama which has provided us with a continued safe space to express ourselves creatively and established lifelong friendships.

— Helena Haldane

91

SENIOR SCHOOL

perform our drama play; ‘Eating the Wolf’.

I have no doubt that working together as a class to put on this fun and engaging performance for our family and friends was the highlight of the year, for many of the girls in the class, myself included.

PERFORMING ARTS

over Microsoft Teams. We rehearsed and performed scenes from Shakespeare’s plays to be as close as possible to how they would have been performed in Elizabethan times. It felt like a huge novelty to be able to wear Elizabethan costumes and investigate what theatre would have looked like during that time.

Music Year 7 Music Year 7 music 2021 has been ‘a blast’! I am always happy and uplifted heading into the PAC; it’s my happy place. I love to see Sam’s kind, welcoming smile and then the beauty of the atrium hits me. I am thankful that I am in the Senior School where we get one of the best classrooms to learn in; sunny, warm and totally kitted out.

This year, I was excited about meeting our new music teacher and Head of CoCurricular, Mr Mike Young. Would he make music lessons as fun as Mr Stewart? The answer is yes! Mr Young’s music classes have been super enjoyable, rewarding and are definitely expanding our musical knowledge.

We started the term with recognition of note values and pitch which was going fluently until… you guessed it… lockdown!

At first, I was a bit worried about my online progress in music as singing and guitar lessons have had their challenges over Zoom, but Mr Young kept us all in sync.

Our lessons have continued to be productive and progressive. I’ll admit, I’d love to be with my friends enjoying the vibe of a noisy, energetic music class but online learning has some advantages too. It has given me more chances to do my research and time to finish my Assessment Task. Mr Young, your Teams calls teaching us ‘music in context’ have been dynamic!

— Bonnie McCarrison

Year 8 Music In Term 1 music, we studied famous New Zealand artists and different genres.

We learned about their backstories and what kind of songs of songs they play, then we studied one of their songs and its meaning. We learnt notes, rhythm and beats. What I really enjoyed was playing music together and learning a wide range of instruments. We then got sorted into groups and wrote our own children’s songs on the piano. We got to learn the piano, guitar, bass guitar and the drums.

After learning the instruments, we played a variety of hit songs, which was very fun.

— Amber Cai

92

Year 9 Rock Music The aspect of Year 9 Rock which I most enjoyed was just having fun. Year 9 Rock is very enjoyable, and I always look forward to when I have it! This year I have had the pleasure of learning about music, which I love. During Lockdown, we did some really fun projects, like creating an interview with one of the famous rock musicians (I loved learning about Paul McCartney!), recreating music on ‘Google Music Chromelab”, and composing our own little music piece! If we were at school, it would’ve been different because we would be in our own bands, recreating music with real instruments while making new friends and having ‘a blast’. While this is not possible now, it does not mean we didn’t all have a blast! Year 9 Rock Music in Lockdown rocks! (Pun intended).

— Karla Larsen

Year 10 Music Music can evoke thought, inspire creativity and create a positive atmosphere for a heightened learning experience. Year 10 music was no different. Learning about music has been an incredible experience; no two lessons have been the same. We explored genres

such as jazz and impressionism in-depth, learnt about the effect of music through film, and had a hand in creating our own music through song writing, film backing tracks, impressionist and instrumental composition.

What has made music memorable is the uplifting, positive environment we work in as a class. Everyone is supportive and ready to help and encourage each other.

I absolutely loved music this year. I am sure everyone who has taken Year 10 music also enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

— Jifei Shao

Year 11 Music This year in Level 1 music, our small class of six bonded through many class activities. These activities included writing and composing our own music and also learning about famous pieces of music from the past. We also participated in solo and group performances, showcasing our skills on our instruments individually and also coming together as an ensemble to perform in a group.

During lockdown, we were granted permission to enter the school campus for our group performance internal. I saw my

— Bonnie Yu

Year 12 Music In 2021, Level Two music faced many obstacles due to the multiple COVID-19 lockdowns. Despite this, we continued learning our curriculum and working on internals and had many great memories of this year.

The two pieces we studied this year were ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ by U2 and Lilburn’s ‘Overture Aotearoa’. We learned all about the history of why these pieces were written, and the many unique musical features which are in the songs.

We also had to work on multiple internals throughout the year, and due to the flexibility of this course, these were

Learning the Year 12 music curricular has been lots of fun both online, and in class, and created many laughs and memorable moments. To any music lovers, I would definitely recommend this course as it teaches you a lot about new aspects of music, expands your musical knowledge, and creates many unforgettable memories with your peers!

— Heidi Erhard

Year 13 Music Year 13 music is a constant source of inspiration, comradery and outstanding musical expression. The class's creativity is supported by a joyful connection with the Year 12s who share the classroom space with us, providing students from both year levels the chance to learn from one another and form cross year level friendships.

The Year 13 curriculum is special as the students are able to tailor it to their strengths; we select internals and

externals in areas in which we know we thrive and will challenge us as performers, audience members and composers.

Students work both individually and in groups to complete compositions, arrangements, solo or group performances and research internals, grounded by the learning completed around significant musical works that have to be described in the exams.

It is in this course that students are given the opportunity to enhance their performance abilities and grow to become active audience members of both classical and contemporary works.

During online school, the Year 13 music class meetings are filled with laughter and active discussion about the pieces we are studying, Gustav Holst’s suite ‘The Planets’ – in particular the two movements ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Mars’, are pieces that push us to understand the contextual elements around their composition. This class never fails to be a welcoming and supportive environment that provides a safe space to express oneself creatively.

— Helena Haldane

93

SENIOR SCHOOL

internals that we had picked to do from a variety of options. Some of the internal choices include composition, instrumental arrangements, New Zealand work, and musical performances.

PERFORMING ARTS

fellow classmates for the first time in two months and performed with them, making this experience truly memorable. I also enjoyed the composition assessment, as it gave me the opportunity to utilise my creative side, turning my interests and feelings into an original piece of music. I found that this aspect of the NCEA Level 1 music course was the most enjoyable.

This year of Year 11 music was assuredly pleasant.

SENIOR SCHOOL

Physical Education Core Years 7-11 Health and PE 2021 showed us that from our experiences in 2020, we were well equipped with a different set of skills, tips and tricks. What we had gathered from learning at home previously, meant that we were able to adapt, modify and keep the students as the focus and teach in meaningful ways from different environments. Our programmes in physical education and health have been designed for us to be flexible, adaptive and transformational. Our staff and students understood that the structure of our lessons were able to be taught both on-campus and from a home learning environment.

With everyone a year wiser in regards to online delivery of some units, the experience still pushed students and teachers out of their comfort zones in both physical and social limits.

94

This resulted in some rich learning experiences.

The Year 7s started the year with Adventure-Based Learning (ABL) and team sports such as touch and warm-up games. Many gymnastics lessons and a few of our new traditional games were completed at home as part of the online learning experience. Most classes had an aquatics module of stroke development, with snorkelling and water safety concepts taught in the summer months.

In health lessons, we covered friendships and relationships and had a focus again on mental health while working from home. We were fortunate enough to work with the Tutor teachers and have the opportunity to enjoy some lessons with the new Resilience programme.

The Year 8s, now in their second year of being integrated into the Senior School, had their first outdoor education camp experience in the cold winter months of June. This enabled them to demonstrate Team-building from their physical

education lessons. The team sports Year 8s participated in were soccer, water polo and basketball. These large ball sports are important places for the students to develop an understanding of the importance of team cohesion and skill development which can be transferred to other areas of sport and life. The miniOlympics unit gave the students the opportunity to collaborate, design and implement a unique warm-up game in which they could teach their peers. Health units this year included mental health, puberty and anatomy.

There are two overarching themes as the focus for Year 9 students in physical education. The first being TEAM (together everyone achieves more) which gives students the chance to take on a range of roles within a team while experiencing sports such as volleyball, netball, ultimate frisbee and touch. The second is a challenge unit which enables students to get out of their comfort zones in a personal goal-setting environment.

SENIOR SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION For the first time, we held the aquathon in Term 2 during the exam week. This showcased the students’ hard work and dedication they had demonstrated in their training. All students participated to the best of their ability in a safe and supportive environment.

The Year 10 students spent a lot of their time preparing for their Kahunui experience by developing their interpersonal, teamwork and aquatic skills. Opportunities to experiment with leadership and demonstrate persistence gave them a strong foundation for their challenging month away. This year the disabilities unit moved online and was taught from home. We were fortunate with the timing to have the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics run in sync with our lessons.

This enabled students to make real-world connections to the learning from home.

Skill acquisition was taught in badminton, while strategy was a focus in both lacrosse

and the invasion games units.

The Year 11 health and wellbeing students had an opportunity to experience a new sport this year. For the first time, we embarked on a journey to the Carlton Bowls Club next door and took the opportunity to learn some new skills. The students loved this and it quickly became a highlight of the first term. The range of games, sports and leisure activities we experienced in classes helped the students to build a foundation for a lifelong approach and appreciation of Wellbeing.

Contrasting to bowls were the boxfit sessions, highlighting the range of ways to keep moving in an enjoyable way.

Year 11 NCEA Physical Education The Year 11 NCEA students have had a successful year undertaking experiential

learning. The students were intellectually, socially and physically engaged in activities to develop emerging skills and support new learning. The class has worked with determination and an energy in the classroom, during practicals, and online.

We started the year with our first level 1 Physical Education standard ‘1.7’.

The students had a wide variety of outdoor activities in which they had an opportunity to demonstrate and reflect upon responsible behaviours which aimed to enhance the safety of themselves and others. Working around the early 2021 Auckland lockdown, we were able to do our experiential learning at some epic locations including rock climbing at Clip’n’Climb and Extreme Edge, and Paddle Boarding in the school pool and around Auckland’s waterfront.

Term 2 was a busy term for our class with the students undertaking two

95

internal standards, ‘1.2’ and ‘1.3’. They enjoyed the balance between theory and practical that was brought about from doing two internals in parallel. For the practical performance standard, we were fortunate to have two expert Auckland badminton coaches, for five lessons, who helped us learn new skills and refine existing skills. Over the course of the 1.2 internal, the students developed their theoretical knowledge around anatomical, biomechanical, and exercise physiological principles. They produced some excellent final work and applied their knowledge to a sporting context of their own choice.

We started Term 3 by exploring leadership and interpersonal skills. The class was married up with three Year 7 physical education classes to run a series of lessons to demonstrate their leadership and interpersonal skills. Part way through

96

Term 3, we were back to online learning, but this did not stop the class from continuing with their assessment. The class delivered some engaging and enjoyable lessons to their Year 7 students online via MS Teams video calls. Finishing off the year, what would have been a performance standard for Tchoukball, has been swapped to running. This change has allowed the students to complete a series of practical sessions at home including yoga, stretching, workouts, running drills and technique, and, most importantly, a tailored running program for different levels of fitness.

Year 12 NCEA Physical Education 2021 has been another eventful and challenging year for Year 12 NCEA

physical education students. Everyone has worked exceptionally hard to achieve their goals, support their peers and stay positive with the ever-changing plans.

We started the year with a bang as we worked towards our Rotorua camp and ‘Dino Park’. Students refined their leadership and safety management skills in preparation for taking the lead in mountain biking, kayaking and rogaine at camp. Significant improvements in not only skills, but also in confidence, saw students excel in these standards.

Term 2 saw us begin our training for the muddiest, slippery and wettest day of the year, the Tough Gal Mud Run! Students developed their knowledge and understanding of biophysical principles to create training sessions to improve performance. We had an exciting day

As we all know, Term 3 flipped everything on its head. The students adapted extremely well to online learning in order to deepen their understanding of biomechanical principles, and applied this knowledge to analysis of new skill learning in their internal assessments.

Overall, it was another great year of physical education!

Year 13 NCEA Physical Education Year 13 physical education this year has

In Term 1, we focused on developing safety around water activities; we were lucky enough this year to go to WERO White Water Rafting to experience this firsthand. The Year 13 students also had the opportunity to experience their amazing race around Auckland. During this they completed an escape room, biking around Devonport and travelling around Auckland City and Mission Bay to complete their challenges to gain the most amount of points possible.

days at AUT Millennium to further their understanding of how to train effectively for their sport. The students got to see how New Zealand's top athletes train and use equipment and instructors to further their knowledge of how to become better athletes themselves. They then spent six weeks training in the school Fitness Centre to then return back to the Millennium, to retest and see their improvements.

In Term 3 was the final internal for the year.

The students had amazing experiences at school and from home trying a variety of activities for NCEA standard 3.1 for example, golf, trampolining at jump, mountain biking, dodgeball, water polo, boxing, pilates and more!

In Term 2, the students spent two

97

SENIOR SCHOOL

had a large focus on learning through movement. The students have had a variety of opportunities to develop a range of skills and to try new sports and activities. The students undertook these activities both in school time and at home throughout lockdown.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

at the event, with the first female back (Zara Stewart) and once Zara’s time was combined with Jaime Lewis and Jade Holmes, we also won the top girl’s school award!

SENIOR SCHOOL Science Years 5–10 Science While the year was significantly disrupted

by COVID-19, the girls have still managed to achieve a huge amount. During both lockdowns, teachers were creative with delivering the curriculum and the students worked hard to produce some amazing projects. This ranged from talks from Wellington Zoo, Aqueduct building and creating density columns. Students have remained engaged and continue to work hard despite the obstacles of trying to teach a practical subject via Teams.

Over the 2020/2021 Christmas holiday break, we renewed and built bigger vegetable planter boxes. The new layout of the gardens allowed Year 5 students to have better access to the plants and made planting and harvesting much easier. We found that for many students, this was the first opportunity to care for a garden bed.

This year the girls grew bumper crops and sold them to parents as well as testing their baking skills by making vegetable muffins. They raised over $700, which has gone towards buying native plants for our campus. The vegetables grown in Terms

98

3 and 4, were harvested and distributed to food banks.

As part of our Year 8 science programme students learnt about kitchen chemistry.

They were lucky enough to enjoy a trip to the Chelsea Sugar Factory, to extend their understanding about the chemical and physical changes involved in sugar production.

Auckland science Fair changed from its usual format to online due to the COVID-19 restrictions. We had six entries from Year 8, with Grace Thomson and Charlie Bamford coming 1st in the Material World category.

A large number of Years 5 – 10 students have assisted with Trees for Survival.

Students have been involved in either potting, maintenance or planting.

Unfortunately, we were unable to plant them this year due to lockdown. The land owner had the massive job of planting 700 plants.

A special mention to Bonnie Wang (Year 9) who entered and did very well in the following competitions:

• NZ Cartographic Society Children’s map competition: 2nd • University of Canterbury Art of Science competition: 2nd

Physics

Physics is a great part of the science faculty at St Cuth’s. I’ve really enjoyed physics because it teaches you so much about the world around you, and how things work.

Topics covered include mechanics, electricity, light and waves, and nuclear physics.

We had two teams of three students that competed at the New Zealand Young physics tournament in May. Competitors had a few months to conduct experiments and prepare a solution to different, challenging physics problems. These were then presented to judges and students from other schools. These were then presented to judges and students from other schools in an intense debate. It was a great experience to be able to meet other students with a passion for physics.

Another competition that physics students were able to take part in was the Engineering Science competition,

SENIOR SCHOOL SCIENCE run by the University of Auckland. The competition involves small teams writing a report in response to a topical question.

This year, the question was “How many 1 in 100 year extreme weather events can NZ expect to experience over the course of the next decade?” Teams can interpret this question however they wish and research online, to aid their reports.

Year 13 physics students were also able to go on a trip to Rainbows End, to learn about the mechanical physics behind how the rides work. The St Cuthbert’s Physics Faculty also planned an overseas trip to America, however, this was not able to go ahead due to COVID-19, but hopefully will be able to go ahead in the future!

— Amy Huxford (Year 13

Biology Due to COVID-19, we only managed to get one Senior trip in this year for the Year 12s. They had the chance to visit Goat Island to study the Rocky Shore for their Zonation internal. They visited the Auckland University Marine Science Discovery Centre where they listened to a fantastic talk from one of the scientists.

They then visited the tide pool tank full of marine creatures which they were able to touch and interact with before setting off to collect data on these organisms.

Our Year 11 Brainbee students were able to complete Round 1 and 2 this year, albeit online. 8 students made it through to Round 2 with Grace Wu gaining 5th place out of 128 students. The students were able to visit the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Auckland University.

They took part in a team quiz, had a

‘meet the scientist’ session, toured the laboratories. They were also lucky enough to visit The Auckland Medical Research Foundation (AMRF) Medical Sciences Learning Centre which contains a wide range of anatomical models and over 1,100 pathology specimens.

Wang, Grace Wu and Jessie Zhan.

Katya De Silva’s outstanding efforts with her IB EE entry – ‘Synergy for the Win’ about Manuka oil and its antimicrobial properties gained 1st place on the Senior Science category, the Matauranga Māori context award, New Zealand Statistical association award, Microbiological society Mike Baxter award, as well as the Niwa Platinum special award: runner-up to the Premier award.

Chemistry

Our IB biology students were extremely successful at the Auckland 2021 Science Fair.

Stephanie Lu gained 2nd place as well as receiving a prize for Food Science.

Doris Chen, Felcia Fong, Spring Zhang, Jessie Lin and Jessica Gong all received Gold special awards. A fantastic effort!

New Zealand International Biology Olympiad programme Nine Biology students received Bronze certificates for completing the entrance examination and have been accepted into the biology tutorial programme. They have done extremely well completing the examination and achieving at this level, during lockdown.

Congratulations to the following girls for the results this year:

Dawn Chen, Cherry Chen, Lily Hu, Emme Kearney, Grace Liang, Annabelle Mar, Silei

Six other students have auto entry from results last year: Ella Liang. Maria Gong, Mishaarni Aravinthan, Jiayi Li, Jifei Shao and Charlotte Wen.

In total, we have 15 students working through online tutorials in biology for the selection examination and camp next year, 2022.

Our Olympiad Team: Ten of our Year 12 chemistry students sat a Chemistry Olympiad selection examination in October.

Congratulations to the following seven students who were invited into the National Chemistry Olympiad training group. Maria Gong (Gold award), Grace Pui, Charlotte Wen and Julie Li (Silver awards) and Emme Kearney, Vera Wang (absent from photo) and Yixuan Zhu (Bronze awards). Brena Merz has also joined the group due to her results from last year’s entry examination.

These eight students are now undertaking further online training and assignment work supported by tutorials with Mr Torrie until early March, when an elite training group will be selected to attend a live-in, week-long course in Auckland from 25 – 30 April, 2022. At the end of the camp all students will sit a three-hour practical exam and a three-hour theory exam.

These results will determine the four students invited to represent New Zealand at the International Chemistry Olympiad, to be held in China from 10 – 20 July, 2022.

99

SENIOR SCHOOL Social Sciences Geography and ESS 2021 saw the geography classes at all levels enjoying diverse courses. All classes were fortunate to attend field trips to deepen their understanding of topics taught in class.

In Level One geography, we enjoyed investigating a range of units including studying the catastrophic Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 and the 2020 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes. The latter prompted St Cuthbert’s first ever geography field trip to Christchurch to further our studies of these tragic events. We visited the council and drove through the city to see first-hand how the community is adapting to the earthquake aftermath. We concluded our enjoyable yet moving trip visiting the Antarctic Research Centre, where we all braved the cold in an interactive snow-storm experience.

We also went on a day trip to examine the pattern of eateries across suburbs of Auckland, noticing the differing socio-economic and ethnic makeups and exploring the sustainability issue of deforestation in the Amazon.

“I love geo!!! The course teaches such a wide range of what happened or is happening not only in NZ but also around the world. The trips are also sooooo fun!!!!!”

— Jojo Hoube

Early in, 2021, the Level 2 geography students enjoyed a day trip to Goat Island to see New Zealand's largest coastal marine reserve. We had a great trip in the glass bottom boat where we saw lots of snapper and crayfish. Additional issues explored in the year looked at inequality across the globe and measures that have been taken to reduce these inequalities.

This gave us a wake-up call of the social challenges so many in the world face today, with nowhere to turn.

Level 3 geography 2021 has been a valuable and interesting way to learn more about the world we are living in today. We examined the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and then the tourism processes operating in Queenstown. We had the amazing opportunity to travel

to Queenstown to get an insight into the world of tourism and the commitments that different companies have made to be sustainable. We went jet boating, luging at Skyline and visited AJ Hackett Bungy.

Then, it was time to see who was the bravest of them all! Milly Webb and I took the plunge doing a tandem jump while Mrs McLeod gave the bungy jump a go, too.

Most of the class did the zipline ride, the bravest award going to Courtney Pettitt who flew down the wire upside down and, runner up to Mrs Luxton-Reilly, who despite being afraid of heights, also flew down the zipline.

We also visited the Goldfields Mining Centre to learn more about the 1860’s Gold rush. Unfortunately, no gold was found in our pans, but it was fascinating to see this historic place. This trip provided an opportunity to learn from the locals about the history of tourism … Oh, and to also enjoy some yummy food with a quick stop at a true NZ icon - the Fergbaker, each morning.

— Fern Webster

IB Geography From the beginning, I loved IB geography.

The content we covered, has all areas of interest to me, making these two years a very fruitful learning experience. Paired with our small class and extremely helpful teacher, Ms Robinson, I had a friendly and personal learning environment.

I can assure you geography is an extensive course with intriguing case studies, gripping content and adventurous fieldwork. To me, geography is a subject with distinct spatial dimensions which takes advantage of position to examine concepts and ideas from a variety of disciplines and case studies. We examined the ‘Rat-tribe’ in megacities of Beijing and the deindustrialization of Detroit to exploring the ‘Great-smog’ of London and the influence of global-superpowers.

IB geography brings into light the different challenges, different places 100

SENIOR SCHOOL SOCIAL SCIENCES face, at the personal, national and global scales. Realising this, I began to understand why the answer to many geopolitical, economic and social issues are “it depends”, as the why and how can sometimes be very difficult to answer.

Ms Robinson is unquestionably one of the most engaging teachers I’ve known, making geography a class I look forward to. Our class debates and discussions created an inclusive learning environment where everyone contributed different ideas and perspectives, making learning an interesting process. Throughout my IB geography journey, we’ve made countless memories together such as the IA field trip travelling around Auckland, in-class debates and watching geo documentaries on Friday afternoons. Apart from the learning experience, our ‘weekly-tea party’ and last period Gongcha orders, will forever be my highlights of IB geography.

— Yolanda Lin and Spring Zhang

IB ESS The ESS course is an exciting one which we have all loved. The course combines our interests in sustainable practice across all areas of the economy as well our dedication to ensure that New Zealand continues to strive to be clean and green.

The best parts of the last two years have included a trip to Goat Island to examine the impacts that marine reserves have on the marine life in the region; impromptu field trips around the school to learn about quadrants, species identification and conducting surveys of litter and other environmental issues. We have also enjoyed the opportunity to learn in a very personalised way with our small class; lots of discussions and fabulous video clips have helped us really understand the concepts we have covered. Perhaps the best thing of all has been working with Ms Robinson who has helped us improve our understanding of the course and see the links across all our subjects from economics, history, physics and English.

— The IB ESS class

History Level 1 History Living through such a momentous historical event of a pandemic during Year 11 makes Level 1 history even more fascinating, and solidifies just how important learning about our past is. This past year, we have immersed ourselves in World War One, and explored New Zealand’s own participation through a scrapbook-style internal, and also the affect the Great War had on New Zealanders, both then and now. Learning about how New Zealand became a nation, and began to evolve into the country we know and love today, was fun and super intriguing. Looking into the decade between the two World Wars was especially interesting as we saw how one war lead into another. Our essay on the Invasion of Manchuria provided an in-depth look into both the causes and the consequences of the Invasion, in our end of year exam. I found it particularly interesting to learn how the League of

101

Nations failed so shortly after being set up, and to then look towards today’s version, the United Nations. As a class we also learnt about Nazi Germany, with specific focus on the Hitler Youth, and also the Black Civil Rights movement. I enjoyed looking closely at different perspectives and choosing my own protest to focus on.

Overall, history is an incredibly engaging subject and the class environment is fun and lively, and I look forward to learning more about our past.

— Natalie Lamb

Level 2 History This year in Level 2 history we looked at the number of protests New Zealanders have been involved in and why we protested on issues such as racism, the Vietnam War and the use of nuclear weapons. We also looked at how New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the right to vote, with Mrs Glanville’s class even participating in a Victorian tea party pre-lockdown. We also looked at how far women have come since we got the vote and what obstacles we still have to face even in today’s society. We also learnt about the Russian Revolution and how ideologies such as socialism and communism appealed to people from different sectors of the Russian society.

It was an interesting topic to examine and learning about the lengths people will go

102

to, to try and improve their situations even if it goes against life long held beliefs, was fascinating.

Level 3 History This year, we were really lucky to have had the chance to get out of Auckland and take a trip to the Bay of Islands before lockdown hit us. In Level 3 history, we learnt about the Early Contact period and the forces that influenced Māori and Pakeha to interact in the early 19th Century. Then we looked at why the Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed and the consequences of our founding document.

It was an excellent experience travelling up North to go and see the places we had learnt about in class and visit sights that are historically significant. We visited Russell (or Kororareka as it was once known). Here we visited Pompallier’s House and learnt how leather was made (which made a few of us question any leather purchases in the future) and the printing process. We also visited a few mission stations including Kerikeri and examined the influence Hongi Hika had in the area and, of course – most importantly, we went to the Treaty Grounds. It was amazing to see the new museum Te Rau Aroha with the theme of ‘Price of Citizen’ about Māori commitment to the armed forces. We then studied the Holocaust and learnt about Lotte Weiss amazing story,

Lotte unfortunately passed away earlier this year so this made her story much more poignant. It was a very important topic as we are seeing anti-Semitism increase around the world. During lockdown, we learnt about the creation of the state of Israel and the differing perspectives of historians on the 1948 War. This was an eye opening revelation about a very contentious event in the history of this region.

Model United Nations My first Model United Nations event was the 2021 Auckland MUN. Knowing barely anything about resolutions or amendments, I found myself gazing nervously around the room with no clue as to what was happening, as 30 opinionated high schoolers engaged in a heated debate. Despite this, I found myself gaining confidence throughout the two-day event, and even started looking for more opportunities afterwards on how I could become involved, which is how I became a high school ambassador for UN Youth. Little did I know, attaining this role was the easy part; fulfilling this role, was what pushed me to grow my awareness of the world around us. Together with four other schools, we initiated our first ever

— Emma Qiu

Social Studies report Years 7-10 2021 was a year like no other but social studies continued to be enjoyed and loved by the students across these year levels.

The courses incorporate current issues when and where is appropriate and have included this year, the impact of COVID-19 on the tourism industry; the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, issues in the agricultural industry and how the role of women is seen across the globe.

Year 7 social studies has a focus on Tāmaki Makarau. The students have got to know their city in detail. Looking at how the volcanoes around the Auckland region have been used by people across time

The Year 8 course has been a fun experience (despite lockdown). We looked at different endangered environments across New Zealand and had a visitor from the Maungakiekie Songbird organisation who helped students to understand the importance of looking after the birdlife in urban environments.

In Year 9, we started the year looking at different epidemics across the globe through time, comparing the responses to different pandemics to what we know about COVID-19. The students were amazed that the Italians quarantined people in the Black Death and people wore masks in the 1918 Flu Epidemic.

Some classes made pomanders with cloves and oranges to ward off evil spirits – a bit of light fun. In other topics we looked at how democracies work and how they compare to places more autocratic such as North Korea. We looked at the issue of migration to NZ and within NZ, injecting some new content that relates directly to the Aotearoa NZ Histories curriculum. The students enjoyed learning about the urbanisation of Māori and the

consequences this had on urban areas and indeed, rural areas.

Year 10 students were immersed into globalisation and the impacts that this has had on society. They looked at how the world changed because of the agricultural and industrial revolutions and the consequences of these on people.

We examined the role that trade has had on society including the inequalities that result from this. The students were treated to two units focusing on geography and history, to give them a taste of what these subjects look like in Year 11. The geography unit looked at how women have become change makers across the globe and the history unit focussed on the bombing of Hiroshima and the consequences which this had on people and places. Finally, and most appropriately, we examined how modern media has changed the face of communication. Social media became a focus of our studies towards the end of lockdown as we examined the benefits and pitfalls of social media for individuals, businesses, and governments.

Thanks to all the awesome students and teachers who made this year amazing!

103

SENIOR SCHOOL

(quarrying; adventure and as parkland) has been an interesting experience for our students. A trip to Rangitoto in Term 1 cemented their knowledge. The students also investigated how our city has grown over time.

SOCIAL SCIENCES

high school led online civics workshop, where topics such as voting age, herd mentality, and activism sparked lively and meaningful conversations among youth.

Although this year has been filled with uncertainty, UN Youth has given me the platform to foster connection with likeminded youths, as well as the opportunity to be a contributing member addressing global issues.

SENIOR SCHOOL Technology The obscure title of technology doesn’t always do justice to the mahi that is done down in the corridors of this department.

Students are always being introduced to new things and yet connections are constantly made to all other areas of learning in our classes.

The four areas of technology on offer at the College attract a diverse range of students all with different visions of what they wish to make. We love the diversity that is here in our space, as it is vital in

104

design, for students to be able to see the different approaches that are possible with the same brief. Better conversations and discussions can be had because of this.

The junior programme this year saw the introduction of Cross Reality (XR) and students got to create their own Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences for the Year 7s. While in Design and Visual Communication (DVC), Year 8s were introduced to the 3D scanner as a tool. There is so much to show to

students, and we have to make hard choices at times about what to teach in the short time we have with the Year 7–10s.

With the advent of a lockdown in Term 3, DVC students in Year 9 were given the opportunity to develop a 3D printable wearable art piece and enter the Women in Engineering (WEN) CAD competition.

Two students, Olivia Wei and Morgan Abel-Pattison, took the first and second runner-up prizes for the junior division. It was a great achievement to have made it through what definitely was the most trying lockdown yet.

Their ability to work independently and problem solve enabled them to successfully create a functioning outcome (website or app).

The Year 7 curriculum is more hands-on with unplugged computational thinking tasks and projects exploring topics such as interacting with a hologram,

understanding the difference between virtual, augmented and mixed reality, further designing and programming robots to compete in a dance off. However, slight changes were made this year to accommodate remote learning. Both Years 9–10 context focuses on one of the goals from the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The Year 9 students design and use block programming to develop an app on Thunkable. The Year 10 students design a magazine spread on Adobe InDesign.

Then the students use Reality Composer to create an interactive augmented reality experience. These junior courses underpin the senior courses.

105

SENIOR SCHOOL

Carrying on was the norm for Digital Technology students during the level restrictions throughout the year.

With senior students gaining a solid understanding of the context of ‘Teach Me’ in Term 1, and then applying it to designing and programming their digital outcomes for their intended stakeholders.

TECHNOLOGY

Digital Technology

Design and Visual Communication This year saw the first graduating cohort of DVC students and the work they were able to achieve is highly commendable.

With no one having done this before them, at this College, some beautiful work was produced for the Term 4 Exhibition in the Atrium. Sadly because of level restrictions and ever shifting dates, the opportunity to host an evening and share the success with the wider community was not possible. From a full-scale 3D printed prosthetic or a dining chair inspired by bones to a guitar that was poking fun at the patriarchy, these final displays have set the bar for the next lot of DVC students.

Year 12s also had a new project this year

106

which involved proposing redesigns to the well-beloved Robertson Circle. After receiving the brief and visiting communal spaces around the CBD, students were challenged to turn the asphalt into a more active and engaging space.

Year 11 created Flora and Fauna inspired perfume bottles for their Product Design unit, then produced a magazine article based on the design process that was used to bring the bottle to life, for their Graphic Design unit. The Year 11s then battled on through lockdown to complete their Spatial Design unit, swapping pencils and rulers for computers and CAD to design their ideal common space influenced by a designer of their choice.

107

TECHNOLOGY

SENIOR SCHOOL

Textiles Technology Year 13s this year worked with Grace Stratton from ‘All for All’, to create accessible clothing for wheelchair users, and other people of limited physical ability, which provided a challenge for students for their projects this year. The Year 12

108

students created full outfits to enter in to ‘Walk the Line’ competition that is held during NZ Fashion week. Unfortunately, with lockdown meant the pieces didn’t get a chance to go down the runway.

The Year 7s had fun using different foods as Beauty Remedies instead of the usual egg-based recipes covering a multitude of techniques. The Year 8s were included in Food Tech this year with an emphasis on

“Healthy“ and what that looks like from a food point of view.

Year 9 classes covered recipes, techniques and ideas for a whole month of cooking in preparation for Kahunui!

The Year 10s continued to look at the worldwide issue of Food Waste. Those

students who were lucky enough to actually do some cooking at school, came up with some very innovative ways of using up a selection of the top 10 most wasted foods in New Zealand = “Lettuce Soup“ anyone ?

TECHNOLOGY

Food Technology 2021 looked a whole lot different due to extended lockdowns.

SENIOR SCHOOL

Food Technology

109

SENIOR SCHOOL Visual Arts Art in Lockdown As everyone knows, 2021 has been a challenging year, and visual arts staff committed enormous time and energy to ensuring that the curriculum continued to be taught at all levels.

COVID-19 art packs were distributed to all students in the Art Faculty, allowing staff to deliver programmes online.

It was exciting to see the many ways that staff taught from home. Students responded by being adaptable and resilient. Staff communicated via Teams and blogs and students continued to make work.

At the same time staff focused on the wellbeing of each learner, targeting classes at an appropriate depth and pace.

The achievement of all learners is clearly evident in the examples below and on the following Visual Art pages.

Here is a sample of online learning tasks at Year 8, 9 and 10.

Year 9

110

Year 8

Year 10

‘I must do it. If I don’t I feel physically ill. Art is like eating or breathing to me.

A trip to the Auckland City Art Gallery IB visual art Students and Year 12 and 13 Art History took a trip to the Auckland City Art Gallery to see the highly acclaimed

Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art Curated by Nigel Borell “Empowered by Māori knowledge, Toi Tū Toi Ora looks to a future in which Māori art continues to stand tall – toi tū – and healthy – toi ora” Nigel Borell, Curator, Māori Art. Māori culture celebrates the place enduring art traditions play in the lives of people. The artforms of whakakai (body adornment), raranga (weaving) and uku (clay making) continue to be integral in shaping Māori visual culture. These living traditions can be seen in the work of Māori artists throughout time and they continue to inspire today. The work of contemporary makers connects to a

It’s just a question of being able to make it work.’ HenryTurner, April 2021.

Characterful and highly talented artist twenty one year old, Henry Turner entranced all of us who were lucky enough to be present at his artist talk in the Art Department, May 17th.

Henry generously shared his art diaries with students while images of his work were projected on a screen behind him, giving focussed, in depth answers to questions about his practice. The conversation was enlightening, often wryly humorous and the students fully participated with excellent comments and questions.

All the while, Henry sketched and spoke, highly focussed, generously presenting his drawing at the end of the session, which he had been developing on the fly leaf of his book, ‘Fever’, now a part of the St Cuthbert's Art Department library collection, and a treasured memento.

He talked about the experience of being an artist, (or his preferred term,“general practitioner”) gave insight into his development of the fantastical, surreal, emotional, conceptual and figurative imagery of his work, gouache techniques, how he uses drawing, the convenience of using phone images as reference for

Deborah Smith – Scholarship Workshop Deborah Smith has been a photographer since 1985 and an art teacher since 1992.

In 2008, she established Cloud Workshop, a free art programme that provides an outlet for young people dealing with grief.

At one time, Deborah was on staff at St Cuthbert’s College and over the last decade she has continued to work with senior art students as a visiting tutor.

In Term 1, Deborah gave a group of Visual Arts Scholarship students a brief entitled, ‘’The Personal is the Political – Button Badges". The Brief asked the students to make two or three small protective tondo (a circular artwork) on the paper provided, that the next week, could be pressed into badges. On the first evening, the students were asked to brainstorm and to make three thumbnails. On the second evening,

the students used the badge maker machine and then presented their work to the group. A general critique followed.

The students were encouraged to discuss their work, to think about processes in the visual arts, and to start using a visual diary.

We always look forward to having Deborah back in the College, to take further workshops during the year.

111

SENIOR SCHOOL

Henry Turner – Artists talk

his work (“I’m very enthusiastic about the phone’s capabilities – I can carry around 40,000 images in my pocket”), framing devices, exhibiting – multiple group shows and 4 solo exhibitions, book-making, his speech studded with quotes; drawing on his strong knowledge of literature, classics and art history. This energetic presentation illustrated Henry’s intense commitment to living and breathing his “general practice”.

VISUAL ARTS

legacy of ancestral knowledge, technical skill and material relationships. These traditions navigate customary knowledge while introducing contemporary materials and sensibilities that speak to present conditions.

1.

2.

4.

3.

6.

5.

7.

8.

9.

1–4. Vivian Liao, 5–9. Jun Li

112

2.

SENIOR SCHOOL

1.

7.

9.

4.

5.

6.

VISUAL ARTS | IB | YEAR 13 PAINT

3.

8.

10.

1. Nekeisha Parsot, 2. Briar Ellyett, 3. Georgia Cathro, 4. Vanessa Chen, 5. Sophie Hammonds, 6. Ava Stiven, 7. Ellama Devereux, 8. Helena Liang, 9. Amanda Tao, 10. Amelia Zhang

113

2.

1.

4.

5.

6.

7.

9.

3.

8.

10.

1. Crystal Wu, 2. Michelle McCallum, 3. Sofia Barron, 4. Lisa Gu, 5. Leafine Cronin, 6. Oleana Lavea, 7. Linda Yang, 8. Sophia Wood, 9. Linda Yang, 10. Nina Hood

114

2.

SENIOR SCHOOL

1.

4.

6.

7.

8.

9.

5.

VISUAL ARTS | YEAR 13 PRINT + PHOTOGRAPHY

3.

10.

1. Christina Tan, 2. Amelia Zhang, 3. Georgia Cathro, 4. Iris Hector-Taylor, 5. Alex Lee, 6. Ginny Parker, 7. Celia Zhang, 8. Michelle McCallum, 9. Kelly Cai, 10. Sinaitakala Langi

115

1.

5.

2.

3.

4.

6.

8.

7.

9.

11.

10.

12.

14.

13.

1. Ava Stiven, 2. Georgia Cathrow, 3. Madie Lane, 4. Georgio Foley, 5. Amanda Tao, 6. Briar Ellyett, 7. Nikeisha Parsot, 8. Cristelle Blanchard, 9. Ginny Parker, 10. Vanessa Chen, 12. Zoe Liddell 13. Bella Wright 14. Ellama Devereux

11. Isabella Bullen, 116

2.

3.

5.

8.

4.

VISUAL ARTS | YEAR 13 DESIGN | YEAR 12 PAINT

SENIOR SCHOOL

1.

7.

6.

9.

1. Jennifer Wang, 2. Vivian Lu Tobin, 3. Emily Gin, 4. Scarlett Gibson Read, 5. Frances Melville, 6. Vivian Lu Tobin, 7. Chelsea Middendorf, 8. Tania Lin, 9. Vera Wang, 9. Emily Han

117

2.

1.

4.

3.

6.

5.

7.

7.

8

1. Rose Hollister, 2. Bhavleen Kaur, 3. emaily Han, 4. Chloe Pollard, 5. Holly Richardson, 6. Vera Wang, 7. Isabel Brooks, 8. Jennifer Bu, 9. Emily Han

118

2.

3.

SENIOR SCHOOL

1.

5.

6.

8.

9.

VISUAL ARTS | YEAR 12 RINT + PHOTOGRAPHY

4.

7.

1. Kaitlin Breed, 2. Christina Zhou, 3. Sophia Hall, 4. Lucyana Lai, 5. Emme Kearney, 6. Jennifer Wang, 7. Anysha Rees-Webbe, 8. Scarlett Gibson-Read, 9. Emma Ford

119

1.

2.

3.

4.

6.

7.

120

5.

8.

1.Katie MacIntosh, 2. Eva Zhang, 3. Madeleine Want, 4. Jennifer Bu, 5. Jennifer Wang, 6. Nilei Chen, 7. Emily Han, 8. Chesea Middendorf

2.

3.

5.

4.

SENIOR SCHOOL

1.

6.

11.

9.

VISUAL ARTS | YEAR 12 DESIGN | YEAR 11

8.

7.

10.

12.

1. Cynthia Pan, 2. ChiaraHirt, 3. Aria Kidd, 4. Emily Zhang, 5. Renee Flavelle, 6. Wendy Ding, 7. Debbie Zhang, 8. Charlotte Wren, 9. Zoe Stiven, 10. Ara Tuhega, 11. Isabella Stewart,

121

1.

4.

2.

3.

6.

5.

7.

8.

1. Jordan May, 2. Rose Aleksich, 3. Rose Aleksich, 4. Fiona Chen, 5. Debbie Zhang, 6. Ara Tuhega, 7. Felicia Qin, 8. Isla McCarthy

122

SENIOR SCHOOL

The 2021 Chronicle Cover Art

VISUAL ARTS | YEAR 11 | YEAR 10 COVER DESIGN

“I wanted my painting this year to focus on a woman’s right to education and how this has changed over time.

I explored the contrast between the access my peers and I have now as female students and those of young women in the past. This is represented by the two protagonists who are connected through their desire for knowledge. This work is an acknowledgement and celebration of the hard work involved in striving to attain goals.”

— Vanessa Chen

BELOW: Mockup showing the spine

BELOW: Mockup of back cover

123

2.

1.

5.

18.

22.

7.

6.

11.

10.

1.

3.

12

15.

8.

9.

13.

16.

19.

4.

14.

17.

20.

23.

21.

24.

1. Kara Robertson, 2. Jessica Sutherland, 3. Kelly Zhang, 4. Elaine Zhang, 5. Amelia Lucas, 6. Victoria Chen, 7. Meiling Joenson Lee, 8. Alina Jin, 9. Dilani Dinesh, 10.Chelsea Yang, 11. Briony Doo, 12. Jamie Slade, 13. Geneva Ryan, 14. Jilly Hay, 15. Mei Ling Joensen Lee, 16. Milla Pavore, 17. Yvonne Hsu, 18. Kara Robertson 19. Victoria Chen, 20.

Amelia Lucas, 21. Hiro Han, 22. Olivia Gillingham, 23. Ruby Mehihopt, 24. Isabella Hayse

124

2.

3.

SENIOR SCHOOL

1.

5.

9.

12.

17.

6.

8.

7.

10.

VISUAL ARTS | YEAR 10 | YEAR 9

4.

11.

13

14.

18.

15.

16.

19.

1. Mia Kelliher, 2. Bonnie Wang, 3. Jo Lin, 4. Zhu Xin, 5. Ciara Outram, 6. Katherin Qin, 7. Alicia Gan, 8. Janri Venugopal, 9. Merci Turvey, 10. Joanna Yeam, 11. Cynthia Li, 12. Zitong Chen, 13. Jessica Zha, 14. Emma Feng, 15. Valerie Huang, 16. Christen Li, 17. Zitong Chen, 18. Ava Dilly, 19. Alannah Sharp

125

2.

1.

4.

3.

6.

7.

5.

9.

12.

8.

10.

11.

13.

14.

1. Praewa Saguanwongsa, 2. Aarzu Qureshi, 3. Eassin Wang, 4. Maddie Milne, 5. Madeleine McDonald, 6. Maggie Zeng, 7. Dora Chen, 8. Dora Chen, 9. Minnie McCormack, 10. Christine Fu, 11. Ellie Carson, 12. Freya Mei 13. Evee Tan 14. Christine Fu

126

2.

3.

4.

SENIOR SCHOOL

1.

8.

6.

9.

10.

12.

15.

7.

13.

16.

VISUAL ARTS | YEAR 8 | YEAR 7

5.

11.

14.

17.

1. Emily Gu, 2. Meg Fowler, 3. Alesha Mehta, 4. Jackie Xu, 5. Crystal Tan, 6. Trinity Gai, 7. Tavina Mataio, 8. Angela Wei, 9. Claire Dun, 10. Iris Liu, 11. Elyse Lam, 12. Tavina Mataio 13. Olivia Lindon 14. Eunice Li 15. Angela Wei 16. Crystal Tan 17. Claire Dun

127

SENIOR SCHOOL Co-Curricular Performing Arts Dance Black Watch Company Years 7 to 10 Black Watch Company is an auditioned contemporary dance group that takes place on Monday lunchtimes.

Auditions took place early in Term 1 and, throughout the year, we have learnt new skills to add to our pieces.

It is an extremely enjoyable dance troupe filled with girls with a variety and range of different abilities and skills. Black Watch Company always gives us a reason to enjoy a Monday and a way to look forward to getting some exercise during break time.

We start off our classes with some basic stretching to loosen our muscles and warm up then we recap over what we learnt the class before and move on to learning new figures. Ms Thwaites taught us lots of floor work and I loved the turns she included in our dance. We also partnered up and created eight-count movements to

combine with everyone to exhibit our own creative ideas and expertise.

Students have a great time learning new dance variations, patterns and steps. We are pushed to our best possible ability and taught to always give 100%.

— Jazmin Robinson

The Company What another amazing year of dance we have had! Starting off with a bang, with the opening of the new studio. The Company had the honour of performing an empowering piece entitled ‘Rosas danst Rosas’ at the opening event. The best part of the night though, would have to be Ms Warne’s dramatic cutting of the red ribbon.

This year, two other Year 13 students and I had the incredible opportunity to choreograph a piece for The Company.

This was the highlight of our time within this group. We held auditions, chose dancers, choreographed, and chose the music, set,

and lighting. Although challenging at times, creating these pieces was a huge learning point for us, and it was a joy to work with the younger students.

One of the many reasons I love dance is because of the way in which it brings people together. As cheesy as it sounds, there is something beautiful about people with the same passion, creating something of which they are really proud.

My cohort and I will greatly miss the family we have created within dance over the years, especially in The Company. We are extremely grateful and have loved every minute.

— Arabella Patrick

Hip Hop Crew St Cuthbert’s hip hop is a great way to expand your hip hop skills and make new friends throughout the College.

Our choreographer, Josh Cesan taught us so much, it was so cool to learn from someone that has travelled the world for dance and someone whom many dancers have admired. Working with Josh was always fun as training had a mixture of games and laughter and dancing and learning. One of the many highlights from this year was getting to learn a show dance with lots of different styles in it.

I loved being in the hip hop group and I got to learn so many new things about the dance industry and expand my knowledge of dance with new styles. If you dance and are interested in hip hop, I would highly recommend joining this group next year as you will learn so much and make so many fun memories.

— Cate Denny

K-Pop Crew As leaders of the K-pop crew for 2021, we have had such pleasure in leading and participating with our fellow dancers as well as working with the finest K-pop 128

SENIOR SCHOOL We all enjoyed working with Rina Chae, our brilliant and skilled choreographer who taught our personalised choreography and shared her experiences in the dance industry. Throughout the practice times, we are inspired, encouraged and work hard to explore a completely different style to what is usually taught in class. Everyone’s positive and enthusiastic attitude created a closer and comfortable learning environment.

Personally, I was enabled to physically push my limits and identify my own strengths.

I believe this gain of confidence will effectively help all of us to fully express our love for K-pop on the stage. As a collective, we grew more confident in ourselves and showcased our style specifically in our individual solo performances. Our valuable experience together had brought more than just performance to the stage.

— Maataua Taniely-Seve and Gloria Fang

Drama 2021

Cuthbert’s Shakespeare Soirée, finale we were so privileged to have Lisa Harrow as our adjudicator to choose the final eight scenes to represent the College at the Auckland Central final. Lisa is not only an internationally renowned actress, she has also portrayed many roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was very moving when Lisa, with tears, in her eyes as she gave back feedback, said she was proud to see Shakespeare so alive and well and performed with such understanding of the text.

We did very well in the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ)’s competitions this year. In the Auckland Central competition, Megan Hails won the student director award as well as her 15-minute scene from ‘Hamlet’ being chosen to represent the region at the national festival. The actors were Helena Haldane, Alys Evans, Rosie Lammiman and Megan Hails.

Ms Waalkens' teacher directed scene of Henry VIII, also won the award for best

use of music/song which was composed

by Emma Qiu and Megan Hails and was performed by Emma and Megan along with Helena Haldane and Rosie Lammiman.

Helena also won the Auckland Central award for most powerful monologue as Katherine in ‘Henry VIII’.

At the national competition in Wellington, our girls were also very successful.

Hiro Han came third place in the Poster Competition and second place in the Costume Design competition. Bonnie Wang also came third in the Static Image competition. Megan Hails won the Outstanding Student Director award, this time in the national festival, for her direction of the 15-minute scene from ‘Hamlet’. Helena Haldane won an award for Outstanding Delivery of the text from their scene and their group, which also included Alys Evans and Rosie Lammiman, won Outstanding Presentation of a Tragedy.

Megan Hails was also lucky enough to be one of 47 students nationally selected to be part of the National Schools Student

Shakespeare Company St Cuthbert’s Shakespeare Soirée is an amazing way for girls to learn to direct, act and self-direct in small groups and create a five-minute or 15-minute Shakespeare scene.

For drama fans, it is the most anticipated and exciting event of the year and an amazing way for girls to express their talent and creativity, from tragedies that break our hearts to comedies that make us laugh out loud. The Shakespeare Soirée provides much more than the opportunity to perform on a stage. The girls enjoy learning about the historic language and universal themes of Shakespeare, not to mention the strong friendships formed between senior directors and Year 9 and 10s.

This year we had 62 groups and more than the 250 girls involved. At the St

129

PERFORMING ARTS CO-CURRICULAR

choreographers in New Zealand.

Production, but was unable to take part due to COVID-19.

We are immensely proud of every girl and cannot thank Mrs Waalkens, Ms Stone, Mirabai and the Drama department enough for yet another successful year of Shakespeare Soirée.

Our Theatresports commitment has been an important aspect of our Senior years in the College, with our dedicating every Thursday lunchtime to the group for the past three and a half years.

— Rebecca Ross

— Megan Hails

Music

Theatresports

Black Watch Strings

Theatresports 2021, although cut short, has been an amazing learning experience.

Theatresports has attracted more and more students over the last couple years and for the first time, we split into two smaller groups, one with Seniors and the other with Juniors. This has allowed us to focus on the development of the Senior team for player nights, as well as the Juniors' foundation player skills.

This year, we played a buddy match against Onehunga High School. This was an exciting opportunity to get to know our partner school and learn from them. Unfortunately, this was the only player night we were able to attend as the Theatresports festival was scheduled during Level 4 lockdown.

Despite this, Ms Stone is a fantastic and knowledgeable teacher who makes every Thursday lunchtime inviting and fun.

130

Music is food for the soul. Why not nurture your soul? Tuesday mornings, the PAC Building comes alive as it overflows with orchestral music that saturates the air.

This is the backdrop for the Black Watch Strings which is an orchestra directed

by Ms Dragana Yelavich for Years 7 – 13 students. Ms Yelavich rubs her enthusiasm onto every one of her students, Black Watch Strings is so grateful to have a director who is as talented about music as her.

The role of an orchestra in the twentyfirst century is not just playing, it is about developing future audiences and performers. Join the Black Watch Strings, it affords opportunities for everyone who are passionate about music from classical to jazz, from waltz to canons! Orchestra enthusiasts are able to get a feel for their instruments and create music together.

There are huge other advantages to being

members of the Black Watch Strings as it lends opportunities to meet students from different year levels and widen your circle of friends. It also leads to having fulfilling experiences such as performing at assemblies and at the school showcases, which is quite an honour and privilege. You can create music together and have the satisfying experience of contributing to the music of the orchestra. Shakespeare once said, “If music be the food of love, play on”.

— Emma Zheng

Saints Alive I have been involved with the choirs at St Cuthbert’s since I was in Year 7 and, since then, singing has become a passion of mine. Being able to be a part of such a prestigious group within the College, like Saints Alive, is an honour and something I will never take for granted.

The highlight of our year was being able to perform together onstage again at The Big Sing Regional competition. It gave us all such a thrill as it is always great to be able to showcase our hard work to the Auckland choral community. For many members of the Senior choirs, this was their first Big Sing experience and it was so special to be able to lead them through this wonderful experience, especially receiving a Distinction and a Special Award; ‘Te Tohu Manu Waiata’, the prize for the best

However, looking past the disappointment, our choirs have had enormous pleasure training each week and we have really enjoyed the events where we have been fortunate to perform.

— Hayley Minturn

Black Watch Singers This year, it was exciting to be able to attend The Big Sing Competition after it was cancelled last year, so we were finally able to share with the wider choral community what out choir had been practising. It gave us a great sense of accomplishment to compete on behalf of the school and we received a highly commended award for our efforts and a place at The Big Sing Upper North Island Regional Festival, Cadenza, held in Rotorua in August.

Qualifying for this next level of competition was so special for us. We were so excited about travelling to another city as a group, but also, we felt like we had exceeded

Getting to compete at Cadenza was the major highlight of the year. We were able to spend more time with our fellow choir members in and outside of rehearsals and we were also able to connect with other like-minded people from other schools across the upper North Island. Upon seeing the other schools competing at this level, we were able to get a grasp for the bigger picture and know why we practised so hard for our recitals. We realised that we were truly capable of being a great choir and we are even more motivated to do better next time!

— Mishaarni Aravinthan & Poppy Patterson-Boock

Honours Band Honours Band is a musical group for Year 6, 7 and 8. We have recently been working on the songs ‘Havana’, ‘I’m a Believer’, ‘Mallet Maniacs’, ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’, and ‘Overture 1812’.

The instruments currently in our band are clarinets, bass clarinets, oboes, saxophones, trumpets, and flutes, and we are a welcoming community to new instruments. We rehearse once a week on Friday mornings from 7.30am – 8.25am.

We have loads of fun opportunities including playing in Year 7 and 8 assemblies, the Choral Showcase, an Honours Band Exchange and our weekly rehearsals are a blast!

Mr Andrew Stewart is our director, and he always keeps things funny and enjoyable.

The variety of age groups in Honours Band, makes it an incredible place to grow, practise and enjoy playing your instrument.

—Georgie McGregor-Macdonald

Rock Band – Carpathia The St Cuthbert’s rock band is a great cocurricular activity that anyone can enjoy.

There aren’t many other opportunities to play rock music at the school, which is why rock band is so special to us.

Rock band is a great way to develop musical skills, as well as learning how to work as a team and collaborate with other people. We meet twice a week to practise and work hard alongside a band tutor, Felipe Simonetto, but our main goal is just to have fun and connect with one another whilst playing our instruments.

We perform in the atrium every year during Music week and aim to perform in the 2022 St Cuthbert’s Music Showcase.

—Ellen Lucas

131

SENIOR SCHOOL

expectations as the un-auditioned choir from the College, doing so well in competition.

PERFORMING ARTS CO-CURRICULAR

performance of a work using a Māori text.

Our efforts gained us a coveted place at the National Finale, which was to be held in Christchurch, but for the second year running, due to the COVID-19 lockdown, we would be unable to attend. This was devastating for many of my fellow Year 13s in the group, as it would have been our last.

Jazz Group

Flute Choir

Sebastian Squad

Being a part of the jazz groups at St Cuthbert’s is definitely the highlight for a lot of students.

Flute Choir is open to all Years 9–13 flute players and is directed by Mrs Pene Brawn-Douglas. Throughout the year, we meet once every week to work on a wide variety of pieces as well as learning various musical and ensemble skills.

Sebastian Squad is our College’s auditioned string chamber orchestra for girls in Years 9–13, directed by Mark Bennett. This year, the Sebastian Squad has been able to enjoy more opportunities to share our music with those around us.

A highlight of our year was definitely our annual mini tour where we performed at various locations throughout the day in the hopes to bring some joy to others through our music.

In addition to the existing three jazz groups: B Band, Stage Band and Milestones, we introduced Mighty Pebbles halfway through the year. The newly formed Mighty Pebbles provides the opportunity for Year 7 and 8s to develop their jazz skills, preparing students for their jazz journey in the Senior School. We have also welcomed new students to all the groups and have witnessed the development, perseverance and resilience of all members throughout this challenging year of 2021.

In light of the current COVID-19 Pandemic, we were faced with multiple disruptions and obstacles due to irregular lockdowns.

However, we are extremely grateful to have the opportunity to perform at various competitions and events such as the annual Principal’s Party, St Cuthbert’s College Instrumental Showcase as well as regular atrium and assembly performances. The Instrumental Showcase also marked Mighty Pebbles’ successful debut, receiving great acclamation from the audience.

We kick-started 2021 with Stage Band heading to Tauranga for the National Jazz competition, winning a gold award.

B Band, Stage Band and Milestones also achieved outstanding results at the annual KBB Music Festival and Auckland Jazz Competition before New Zealand headed back into Level 4 lockdown in August.

We have explored a large range of music this year, experimenting with different genres as well as improvisation. Some of our favourites were ‘The Chicken’, ‘Moten Swing’, ‘Watermelon Man’ and more.

Despite the irregularity of 2021, we are all eminently proud of our achievements as individuals and a collective group representing St Cuthbert’s. We have formed a strong bond between one another and have all learnt to embrace our individuality and personal colours. A special thank you to Mr David Edmundson our director, for always pushing us to strive for the best we can. We have thoroughly enjoyed the jazz programme this year and cannot wait to see what 2022 holds for all jazz groups at St Cuthbert’s College.

—Audrey Tsang 132

During lockdown, we have been regularly rehearsing and connecting with each other over Microsoft Teams. Flute Choir has been a really great experience this year and we are all very grateful for Mrs Brawn-Douglas for always being there to encourage and support us.

We have all thoroughly enjoyed being part of the group and having the opportunity to work in a supportive and enthusiastic environment to create music together.

—Julie Li

Many memories are always made through being a part of Sebastian Squad. With such a lovely bunch of girls there is never a dull moment. Thank you to our director and the music department for being a huge support of the Sebastian Squad family. I hope the group continues to be a joyful environment for years to come where girls can enjoy playing music together.

—Stephanie Lu

Black Watch Orchestra is a is really special group - being the College’s symphony orchestra, it brings together players from a wide range of musical backgrounds.

After being unable to perform at the KBB music festival in 2020, we returned in 2021 with a drive to make the year count!

Our repertoire included movements from Hadyn’s ‘Le Matin’, ‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring’ by Delius and our very own ‘Black Watch Overture’ by David Hamilton.

We’re incredibly grateful for our conductor Mark Bennett whose support and expertise helped produce some wonderful performances over the year.

—Katya de Silva

Just Another High School Play It all begins when a group of high school actors, abandoned by their drama teacher for good reason, have been left to fend for themselves on opening night in front of a live audience.

Complete chaos breaks out. What follows is a wild show full of physical comedy and gags. The fun is not just on the stage but in the audience too; this is an interactive play that will have you in stitches!

It has been a challenging time with rehearsals. We started off in the classroom, then lockdown happened but that didn’t deter us, we were rehearsing online in Microsoft teams. Our brilliant cast of Year 7 and 8s pulled through by working together under the amazing help of our director Ms Walsh.

We had a fabulous experience making this humorous and uplifting play!

—Jordan D’Mello

Senior Musical ‘The Sound of Music’ The best part about being cast in ‘The Sound of Music’ was being part of a team. It was so much fun when we all had rehearsals together, blocking and learning the script, and being taught all the iconic Rodgers and Hammerstein's songs as a cast.

Some challenging aspects about putting on a musical include learning all the blocking, choreography, and songs but thanks to Mr Gilmour and Ms Warne, we were able to have amazing choreography and vocals as well.

It was great to be able to have the show before the COVID-19 lockdown period because of all the fun and experiences we had together. Overall, I'm very grateful to have been part of this amazing show and can't wait for next year's musical, ‘Legally Blonde’!

—Bella Fairbairn

133

SENIOR SCHOOL

Production

PERFORMING ARTS CO-CURRICULAR

Black Watch Orchestra

SENIOR SCHOOL Sport

Senior School Athletics Champions Junior Champions 1st Francesca Wright 2nd Zara Ford and Grace Meredith 3rd Arki Hunter

Intermediate Champions 1st Charlotte Goldsmith 2nd Sophie Robb 3rd Lily Allen and Emison Styris

Senior Champions 1st Isabel Allen 2nd Chloe Brown 3rd Isabella Richardson

Athletics We have had another strong athletics season for Years 9 - 13 with a lot of success across the Junior, Intermediate and Senior age groups. In our Junior Girls we saw Zara Ford place 1st in the 800m and 3rd in the 300m. Grace Meredith placed 3rd in the 3000m and 4th in the 1500m. Daniella Van Delden placed 4th

in the triple jump. In the Intermediate age group we had Charlotte Goldsmith 1st in the long jump and triple jump, and 2nd in the 100m. Lily Allen 4th in the 200m with Charlotte Greenwood 1st in the 1500m and 2nd in the 800m. Sophie Robb was 1st in the 3000m and 3rd in the 1500m and Olivia Power was 1st in the High Jump and 3rd in the Long Jump. In our Senior Girls, Isabel Allen was 1st in the 200m and 3rd in the 400m. Isabella Richardson came 2nd in the 3000m. Chloe Browne was 3rd in the 3000m and Bella Browne came 4th in the 3000m.

We then had 12 of our Years 9 –13 students attend the College Sport Auckland Champ of Champs at Mount Smart Stadium, receiving a total of 17 medals. We achieved some fantastic results at this event, across all age groups, especially in the long distance events! Our 4x400m relay broke the College Sport Record which was previously held by St Cuthbert’s College (see below for the time and the athletes). In the Junior Girls, Grace Meredith was 2nd in the 3000m and Zara Ford placed 2nd in the 300m and

800m. In the Intermediate Girls we had Sophie Robb 1st in the 3000m, Charlotte Goldsmith 1st in the Long Jump, 1st in the Triple Jump and 2nd in the 100m and Olivia Power placing 3rd in the Long Jump. In the Senior Girls, we had Isabella Richardson come 3rd in the 3000m, Bella Browne was 2nd in the 3000m and 2nd in the Steeplechase, Chloe Browne was 1st in the 3000m and 1st in the Steeplechase (record broken) and Isabel Allen placed 2nd in the 400m and 3rd in the 200m. In the 4x100m Senior Relay, we were first (Isabel Allen, Olivia Power, Arki Hunter and Charlotte Goldsmith) and we had the RECORD BROKEN (3:58.98) in the 4x400m Open Relay (Zara Ford, Bella Browne, Chloe Browne and Isabel Allen).

Badminton With 25 teams signing up from St Cuthbert’s for the weekly school competition over Terms 2 and 3, this indoor sport proves to be a popular winter option, once again. Weekly after-school coaching is offered for players keen to improve their skills, while some opt to learn the basics and join a team when they are ready. Alas, our top players missed out on defending their title at the upper North Island School teams’ tournament while our Year 7 and 8s will hopefully return in 2022 to excel as usual at the annual Central Zone competition. Year 9 player Lillian Cao is the current NZ Under 15 Champion in both singles and doubles while Danica Su is 9th in the NZ Under 13 Doubles rankings.

Basketball The basketball programme at the College continued to grow during 2021. We had a total of three teams (U15, U17 and U19) as part of our Senior basketball programme, and one team in our Intermediate programme. All of our Senior teams were entered into the Auckland Secondary Schools Basketball Competition run by College Sport, and our Intermediate team was entered into the Year 7 and 8 Youth Basketball League.

134

SENIOR SCHOOL Our Year 7 and 8 team was a part of the Auckland Youth Basketball Year 7 and 8 league out of Diocesan, on Thursday afternoons. Our team was a part of the mixed Year 7 and 8 grade, which gave them some strong competition. The team showed great fight and determination throughout the season, coming away with a few wins and a few close fought losses.

Cricket Our Senior cricket team had another good season picking up from where they left off, at the end of 2020. The 1st XI was entered into the 1A grade with the goal of placing 1st and being promoted to the Premier Grade for 2022. The girls trained weekly at Cornwall Cricket Club with coach Arul and continued to improve throughout the season. The girls’ hard work paid off and they breezed through their pool games to reach the final. Unfortunately, the final was called off due to rain and will now be played at the start of 2022, this game will decide who is promoted into the premier grade for 2022.

We also had some incredible individual success with both Emma Irwin and Kate Irwin being selected into the Auckland Under 19 representative team which took out 1st place at the national tournament.

Emma Irwin was then also selected as part of the NZ Under 19 Cricket team as well as being awarded Auckland Cricket Association’s Nessie Hammond cup for most runs in the Premier Women’s Grade.

Senior School Cross Country Champions Year 7 Results 1st Jackie Xu 2nd Jessica Wang 3rd Mia Vinall

SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

All of our Senior basketball teams had some great games this season, and all teams showed considerable improvement throughout the season. Our Under 15 team was a part of the Auckland Girls Junior B grade and managed to finish 4th overall. Our Under 17 team was entered into the Auckland Central East Grade and gained an 8th place finish overall. Our Under 19 team was a part of the Auckland Open Central/ West Grade and gained a 10th place finish overall.

Year 8 Results 1st Scarlett Robb 2nd Ellie Siu 3rd Zara Toesl

Junior Results 1st Grace Meredith 2nd Samantha Bradley 3rd Madeline Vinall

Intermediate Results 1st Charlotte Greenwood 2nd Sophie Robb 3rd Hannah Piper

Senior Results 1st Chloe Browne 2nd Bella Browne 3rd Isabella Richardson

Cycling This year the St Cuthbert’s cycling team had four Year 8 cyclists, Ines Grayston, Zari Lindsay, Madeleine Milne and Zara Scott. The girls trained hard and were lucky enough to get to compete at the Auckland Schools Team Time Trial Series (TTT) at Pukekohe Park. The girls were completely new to this gruelling sport, and took to the track on Sundays with no fear despite being some of the youngest there.

The growth and confidence of this young team over the year has been impressive.

Kate Waters competed in an EGGS composite team for TTT and placed 1st and also competed in the North Islands where she raced in the road race and criterium. We are looking forward to seeing the girls out there next year.

135

Senior School Sport (Continued) Dragon Boating We had 23 Year 12 and 13 students make up our dragon boating team this year.

Unfortunately, due to restrictions, the calendar of competitions was cancelled.

The team was lucky to have two very experienced coaches back for their fifth year coaching for St Cuthbert’s Alisha Zanetich and Ricky Greaves who always make training fun and exciting.

Duke of Edinburgh I would like to congratulate our Duke of Edinburgh participants on getting through a difficult year. Many of you have had to alter, tweak and work outside the square to keep progressing through your Award.

Congratulations to all of our Gold Award recipients.

• Sophia Owen (Year 12) • Pippa Dixon (Year 12) • Renee Findlay (Year 12) • Sarah Lock (Year 12) • Charlotte Marvin (Year 13) • Lexi (Alexandria) Butler (Year 13) • Isabel Allen (Year 13) • Jessie Lin (Year 13) • Jennifer Wu (Year 13

Distance Running Our distance running squad has had great success this year. We had a large team compete in the Central, Eastern Zone Cross Country Champs at Llyod Elsmore Park. Our Junior three-person team placed 3rd. In the individual races Charlotte Greenwood came 1st in the Intermediate Girls and Grace Meredith placed 2nd in the Junior Girls. When then had eight of our Years 9 –13 students

136

attend the College Sport Auckland Champ of Champs Cross Country event. All of our students ran extremely well and achieved some fantastic results.

Intermediate Girls 3rd Sophie Robb

Senior Girls 1st Chloe Browne 3rd Bella Browne 3rd place three-man team Chloe Browne, Bella Browne and Jaime Lewis

We then had a fantastic team of students compete at the NZSS Cross Country Championships, Chloe Browne placed 3rd in the Senior Girls Race and our Senior three-person and six-person teams both won gold medals.

Three-person team Chloe Browne, Bella Browne and Isabella Richardson Six-person team Chloe Browne, Bella Browne, Isabella Richardson, Jaime Lewis, Charlotte Greenwood and Olivia Greenwood

Just before we headed into lockdown, we have a team of students compete at the AKSS Road Race Championships:

Individual Results Under 16 Girls Race Sophie Robb 1st Under 19 Girls Race Chloe Browne 2nd, Bella Browne 3rd, Isabella Richardson 4th

Team Results Under 14 Girls three-person team placed 2nd Zara Ford, Grace Meredith, Samantha Bradley Under 19 Girls three-person team placed 1st Chloe Browne, Bella Browne, Isabella Richardson

Equestrian Our team won the North Island Secondary Schools Horse Trials Event in Taupo back in May. Our four-rider team of Holly Richardson, Jessica Sutherland, Ariella Grant and Petra Grant competed in the three disciplines of dressage, Show Jumping and Cross Country. They incurred the least number of penalty points which earned them the title from 40 other school teams. We have also had success winning regional competitions where our students sometimes vie with adult riders. Jessica Sutherland competed at the NZ Eventing Championship and scored strongly in dressage, cross country and show jumping to place 1st overall in her division and was awarded the Sir Mark Todd Challenge Cup, plus the Secondary Schools Trophy for the highest placed secondary student. Her composite team also placed 2nd overall.

Year 8 student Isabel Hawkins competed in Show Jumping finishing 3rd in the Auckland Champs plus accumulated the most points from various events nationwide to finish top of the standings.

She then went on to win the New Zealand Super Series Grand Final and was also selected to represent Auckland in the National teams event which has yet to be held. Petra Grant won the Under 15 age group at the New Zealand Pony Club National Dressage Championships. With twin sister Ariella, they were then both part of the six rider Auckland team winning the North Island division with their team finishing 2nd nationally in the New Zealand National Dressage Championships. Holly Richardson finished 2nd at the National Grand Prix competition and earned 3rd

SENIOR SCHOOL SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT placings in both the Easter Grand Prix plus the National Grand Prix Super Series Show jumping finals. Holly is now ranked as one of New Zealand’s best Under 17 pony riders for Show Jumping. Our expert coach Jacque McKinley holds regular training sessions open to any of our 30 school riders which improve skill levels and prepares them for competitions.

Football Premier Grade coaches Mark Thompson and assistant Nicole Mettam, primed the team well for the season which started perfectly with a win over Diocesan in the annual Parent Shield match. This team suffered more than most with a variety of injuries which was then reflected in a run of losses. This led to an opportunity for a few Year 9 and 10 players to help out and experience top grade football. Eventually finishing mid-table, the team appears to be well equipped for a strong season next year. The team again frustratingly missed out on attending the annual Premier Grade tournament in September with what would have been, a full-strength team. We say farewell this year to captain plus player of the year Charlotte Marvin, along with fellow Year 13 player Lexi Butler.

Year 11 player Ruby Luxton stood out with her form for club and school leading to selection in the New Zealand training squad to prepare for the FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup due to be held in India in 2022.

Our 2nd X1 team competed in the Senior B

Grade and had plenty of fun along the way winning five of their 10 matches. With the usual mix of players with experience, plus some new to the game, coach Mitchell Carter got the best from the team which finished with two wins in the play-offs and the girls are enthusiastic for next season.

Special mention to players Bella Sandler Wright, Brooke Munro and Emma Ford who helped wrangle the team for trainings and matches.

Player numbers among the Year 9 and 10s were enough to field two teams this year. It was a demanding season as they played more skilful and experienced teams although spirits remained high and their attitude and resilience were admirable. This was demonstrated with Fiona He, Hannah Murray, Joesalina Mafi, Olivia Gillingham and Sasha Lockington being asked to make their debuts for the Premier Grade team.

The Year 7 and 8 team only played a handful of matches in their nine-a-side league during the shortened season, although their highlight was at the annual Central Zone day where they won their last two play-off matches, in exciting penalty shoot-outs.

Futsal Hosting the local school competition makes it easy for our Year 7 and 8 students to enjoy this fast-paced five-a-side indoor sport. Futsal during the summer months is excellent preparation for its football cousin.

Our talented young team applied their speed and skills to finish 3rd in the annual Central Zone competition.

Fencing In Term 2, we had a fantastic return to fencing at St Cuthbert’s with students giving a new/old sport a try, and filling the gym until it was bursting at the seams!

First task for the new fencers was to help bring in the masks, jackets, gloves and epees we use each session. We continued into Term 3 with a committed group who have great energy – it has been a pleasure seeing them develop as athletes, especially their support and encouragement for one another. Three students who had fenced before were part of a four person team which entered and won the local Secondary Schools Team Epee competition on 15 August.

We are training in epee, where you really need to outwit and outmanoeuvre your opponent. The entire body is the target, and unlike foil or sabre, the first person to hit scores the point so there is a lot of figuring out your opponent, and quick reaction when you see your opportunity to hit. The St Cuthbert’s fencers have learnt new bladework skills, developed their footwork, and improved fitness and agility.

Here is what one of our students, Jessie Yan, had to say, “Until 2020, I never thought I would become so involved with fencing – I barely knew what it was before I started.

I started going to competitions with the encouragement of the coaches at my club, almost immediately after I started fencing, 137

Senior School Sport (Continued) in May of 2020. I've learned that everyone in the fencing community is incredibly kind and always willing to help if you're struggling, or just in need of advice. The many unexpected friends I've made along the way only make me love fencing even more than I do. At my first fencing event, the 2020 Fencing North Island Secondary School competition, I placed 2nd, which I completely did not see coming. I remember how nervous I was that morning, and how much I doubted myself. However, the people surrounding me didn't put any pressure on me and instead motivated me to just try my best. That day stuck with me, every competition and reminded me that the results weren't everything; the experience and connections were just as important. I sincerely believe this is what made me achieve 1st place in the 2021 Under 17 Nationals in Wellington and in the Fencing North Under 17 competition results that I was really proud and surprised to claim. Recently, St Cuthbert's has started a fencing team again, and we achieved 1st place in the Fencing North Secondary Schools Girls Epee Team Championship, earning the Darby Trophy. Fencing in a team is very different to individual fencing, and I love the cheering, encouragement, and team talks that come along with it. As our team also became closer and more comfortable during the competition, we fenced better and better, reinforcing my belief that building connections and living in the moment while you're there is incredibly important. Fencing is an amazing sport, and I encourage anybody that is interested to just give it a go.”

138

Gym Sports

,Hockey

This year we had five girls represent St Cuthbert’s at both the NZSS Gym Sports competition and the Auckland Secondary School Gym sport competition. These gymnasts compete for St Cuthbert’s and train 20+ hours a week with their club gyms. Congratulations to Scarlett Lynas, Daniella VanDelden, Chloe Lindon, Freya Reid and Milana Henderson.

St Cuthbert’s continues to lead the way in school hockey, having one of the best hockey programmes in New Zealand.

In 2021 we had 10 teams represent the school from Years 7–13 and were lucky again with the extremely high quality of coaching available for the students in both pre-season training as well as in their respective teams throughout the year.

The commitment and dedication of our students, coaches, managers and parents is the reason St Cuthbert’s hockey continues to thrive, so thank you all for your support.

NZSS Gym sport results Milana Henderson 2nd overall in WAG Step 7, ranking 1st on both beam and floor.

Freya Reid 2nd overall in WAG Step 9, ranking 1st on beam and uneven bars.

The Year 7 and 8s had another successful year, training weekly with their coaches from the Tristar gym. The girls competed at the Central Zone gymnastics competition and achieved some awesome results which qualified them all for the Auckland Intermediate Champs of Champs Year 7 individual 2nd Imogen Gifford-Maposua 3rd Sascha Newland

Year 7 team 2nd Imogen Gifford-Maposua, Sascha Newland and Paige Van Delden Year 8 individual 1st Samiya Cavney 3rd Amy Brockley

Year 8 team 1st Samaiya Cavney, Amy Brockley, Kate Bruford and Chloe Buckley

Year 7 individual (Competitive gymnasts) 2nd Mia Vinall 5th Olivia Lindon

The 1st XI kicked off the hockey season with the annual ANZAC hockey festival.

The three-day festival in the April school holidays was the 20th year St Cuthbert’s has hosted the tournament and included ten of the top hockey schools from around New Zealand. The festival gives teams a chance to play some top quality hockey but also a chance to get to know girls from all over the country. A highlight of the festival was the Old Girls game where a mixture of players from all schools played against Old Girls. This game was followed by a festival dinner in Clouston hall where the girls were able to hear guest speaker Susie Bates.

Having just played ANZAC, our 1st XI then went on to dominate Auckland school girl hockey for another year. The team won the Parents' Shield vs Diocesan, and then went on to play them in the Auckland Championship final, coming out victorious for the 6th year in a row. Prior to going into lockdown, the 1st XI were set to play Westlake for the title of the Premier Supercity competition. This could not be played, but because St Cuthbert’s

SENIOR SCHOOL The 2nd XI also had a fantastic year, improving hugely throughout the season and really hitting its strides heading into tournament week. Similarly to the 1st XI, the 2nd XI was set to play off for the Auckland A Grade title against Howick College when lockdown hit. Because the girls qualified 2nd heading into the final, the girls were announced as runner-up for the Auckland A Grade, this is an amazing achievement for a 2nd XI who played mostly 1st XI teams.

Our 1st and 2nd XI were also fortunate to participate in their annual exchange in Christchurch during week three of the July school holidays. This exchange was cancelled last year so the girls were thrilled to be back down South. The exchange offers our 1st and 2nd XI some quality hockey and a different style of play to what they are used to in Auckland. The girls stayed in the Rangi Ruru boarding house and were hosted for dinner and a quiz night with both Rangi and St Margaret’s 1st and 2nd XI hockey teams.

This year, to honour the close friendship between the schools, Rangi Ruru donated a trophy. The games were extremely close and the first winner of the trophy came down to a penalty shoot-out decider, in which St Cuthbert’s was again victorious.

The 3rd XI was a very exciting, up and coming team. The young team was coached by ex-Argentinian international Rocio Gonzalez and played in the B Grade against mostly 1st and 2nd XI teams.

This was a good challenge for the girls,

usually playing against teams much older than they are. The girls didn’t let this phase them and ended up making the 3rd/ 4th playoff against Diocesan whom they had beaten 4 –1 the week before.

Unfortunately, they didn’t get to play this final game but nonetheless, finished their season on a high!

Our two Under 15 teams both got to complete their full season. Both teams showed incredible enthusiasm and commitment to their weekly training which led to huge improvements made by both teams throughout the season. Our 4th XI had another successful season and despite being semi social was put into the C Grade Champs. The team’s games were filled with laughter and encouragement with a couple of girls new to hockey.

We had four teams across our Year 7 and 8 age group this year; it was great to see so many dedicated players after the disrupted season last year. Our Year 7 and 8 Robertson hockey team competed at the Central Zone Hockey competition finishing 1st. This then qualified them for Inter-Zones where they played some incredible hockey and placed 3rd overall.

This age group is very promising and we look forward to seeing the progress they make in years to come.

On top of the amazing school results we achieved in 2021, we also had some incredible achievements outside of school. Twelve girls from our 1st XI hockey team were selected to represent Auckland, North Harbour and Northland at the National Under 18 hockey tournament.

The tournament was a great success with a large portion of St Cuthbert’s girls playing in the Auckland vs North Harbour final. At the conclusion of this tournament, a NZ Under 18 squad was identified and we had six St Cuthbert’s students

named, more than any one single region.

Congratulations to Bella Browne, Chloe Browne, Brodie Cochrane, Kaea Elliott, Emma Irwin and Rose Parkinson. Our 1st XI vice-captain Emma Thompson was also awarded a hockey scholarship to Indiana State University for 2022. Amazing achievements girls!

Lacrosse 2021 was a strong development year for lacrosse. A committed group of 18players trialled, trained and competed against other greater Auckland Secondary Schools. Thanks to the support crew of Coach Lachlan Lee, Team Managers Michelle Aleksich and Trevor Nicol, the team finished 3rd in their grade.

Congratulations to Grace McCarthy who has been selected to join the Development Squad for the NZ Women's Lacrosse Team preparing for the World Cup in July 2022.

Multisport We had some great results at the start of the year in the AKSS Multisport events.

Triathlon Champs. Samantha Bradley won the Under 14 Girls Individual. We also had a couple of teams compete in the Under 14 Girls Team, Ines Grayston, Zari Linday and Zara Scott came 1st whilst Daniella Van Delden, Madeline Vinall and Grace Meredith all came 3rd. At AKSS Duathlon Champs, Samantha Bradley won the U14 Individual championship followed by Aimee Bradley in 5th place.

Netball Netball continues to be the largest participation sport at St Cuthbert's. In addition to our players, we also have large numbers of students involved with coaching and umpiring throughout the 139

SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

was undefeated going into this game we were announced competition winners.

This is the 5th year in a row they have won the Supercity title and a true reflection of the depth of talent within our hockey programme from the Junior School right through to Senior School.

Senior School Sport (Continued) season, resulting in around 350 students involved in our school netball community as well as over 40 coaches and managers!

Despite losing the last few games of the season to COVID-19, our Years 9–13 teams had a successful season in the Saturday competition at Auckland Netball Centre – our Premier team competed in the very tough Premier 1 grade, while our other teams all had some great performances in their various grades. A special mention to our Years 10 –1 team which was were promoted to A grade during the season.

Our Year 7 and 8 teams played on Tuesday nights and also had a very competitive season, with a surprising number of draws and one goal wins/losses for many of our teams! Our Year 7–1 team in particular has had an amazing season – it made the top section of A grade and managed to retain the spot in that section through the promotion-relegation part of the season.

This has meant the girls have been playing the top netball schools in the competition week in and week out. This experience proved invaluable in the Central Zones tournament where they placed 2nd and so qualified for the challenging Interzone tournament.

In addition to our regular competitions, we have been working in netball to implement a pathway programme for our top players across the year groups, with several workshops, clinics, tournaments and the introduction of our Year 9 and 10 Development Squad. We continue to

140

build and expand on this, and also look to develop further opportunities in netball, for all our players at all levels.

New Zealand School Orienteering Championships were held in Hawke’s Bay with fabulous results:

Orienteering

Long Distance Championship

The challenge of combining running with quick navigational decision-making, attracts students to this sport. Making national team selections this year were Zara Stewart and Sofia Toes to the New Zealand Secondary Schools Team for Senior Girls, while Katelin Toes was the non-travelling reserve for Junior Girls. Zara Stewart was also selected to the New Zealand, Under 20 Junior World Orienteering Champs team.

Orienteering was able to enjoy both the North Island School Championships and New Zealand School Championships. At the North Island Championships, in Long Distance, Zara Stewart placed 1st in Senior Girls, Alicia Wu 3rd in Junior Girls and Zara Toes 1st in Year 7and 8 Girls. Zara Toes also won the sprint event for Year 7 and 8 Girls and Alicia Wu repeated her 3rd in Junior Girls. Our relay teams placed 3rd in Senior Girls, 2nd and 3rd in Intermediate Girls, 3rd in Junior Girls and 1st in Year 7 and 8 Girls. Congratulations to Sofia Toes, Jessica Fraser, Zara Stewart, Katelin Toes, Eliza Went, Grace McGregor-Macdonald, Maddie Bell, Vanessa Bu, Grace Liang, Georgie McGregor-Madonald, Chloe Gribble and Zara Toes. As a result St Cuthbert’s orienteering placed 1st in the Top School Competition for both Year 7 and 8 Girls and for the Senior Girls Years 9–13 team.

Senior Girls 2nd Zara Stewart

Senior Girls 4th Sofia Toes (seven seconds off a podium time).

Long Distance Standard grade Senior Girls 3rd Jessica Fraser

Intermediate Girls 3rd Phoebe Li

Sprint Championship Senior Girls 1st Zara Stewart

Year 7 and 8 Girls 1st Zara Toes

Year 7 and 8 Girls 3rd Georgie McGregor-Macdonald

Relay 3-person team Senior Girls 3rd Sofia Toes, Jessica Fraser and Zara Stewart Intermediate Girls 1st Katelin Toes, Grace McGregorMacdonald and Grace Liang.

St Cuthbert’s Senior Girls team placed 2nd in the Top School Competition and

SENIOR SCHOOL Strong performances at each Auckland Schools' regional event indicates the depth of our College team with many team members achieving podium places.

We celebrate their successes. At the Sprint Championships Alicia Wu, Zara Toes, Georgie McGregor-Macdonald and Abby Liu all placed well at the Individual Championships, Katelin Toes, Alicia Wu, Zara Toes, Phoebe Li, Samantha Bradley, Eila Brown and Paige Baker all stood on the podium. At the Auckland Rogaine Championships, Biba Hermann, Alicia Wu, Samantha Bradley, Madeline Vinall, Katelin Toes, Grace McGregor-Macdonald, Zara Stewart, Sofia Toes, Jessica Fraser and Alisa Rao gained top three places. At Year 7 and 8 Central Zones, St Cuthbert’s teams won both the Year 7 and Year 8 relay. The Year 7 team of Aimee Bradley, Emily Gu, Anika Mohan, Grace Wills, Abby Liu and Chloe Gribble went on to place 2nd at Interzones while Zara Toes (Year 8) and Chloe Gribble (Year 7) placed 1st in the Interzone individual event.

Rock Climbing We went out for 12 sessions of rock climbing this year, one of which was at Northern Rocks, an indoor boulder wall.

The rest were at our regular haunt, Extreme Edge Panmure. It was great to interact

across the year groups from Years 8–13.

Students were able to choose their own challenges and work on their own projects pushing or extending their problemsolving and physical skills. We are a fun, supportive crowd and you don’t need any prior experience to join us. We look forward to continuing in the future and also having a camp up and running again in 2022. A big thanks to Emma and Charlotte who have supported Rock climbing for many years and enjoyed their experiences along the way. They are our retiring “grannies”. Good luck for your future.

Rowing 2020/21 has been our first season of rowing at St Cuthbert’s and naturally a learning year. 18 girls have thrown themselves into this compelling sport whole-heartedly and have utterly enjoyed it. The rowing programme is on offer from Years 9–13 and girls train together but are placed in a range of boats ranging across eights, quads and doubles. As our 18 new rowers embarked on their first year as the St Cuthbert’s Rowing Squad, they have had to adapt to ups and downs both on the water and off due to COVID-19 disruptions but this never dampened their team spirit.

Snowsports We had a fantastic team of students represent the school at the AKSS Ski Champs this year: Junior Girls Dual Race 3rd Genevieve Lyne

Senior Girls Dual Race 4th Chloe Browne, 5th Bella Browne, 7th Hana Ehsankyah and 9th Amelie Stow

Girls Ski Race Overall Champs St Cuthbert’s Team – Chloe Browne, Bella Browne and Hana Ehsankya Girls Team 2nd Overall for the day across the ski race and the slopestyle St Cuthbert’s Team Angelina Brotherston, Bella Browne, Chloe Browne, Molly Charlesworth, Hana Ehsankya, Bella Firman, Libby Jackson, Genevieve Lyne, Ella McCutcheon, Amelie Stow and Harriet Swasbrook.

Other stand out performances included: Mt Hutt National Point South Island Championships for Under 14 Slalom Bronze Dina Ehsankya Coronet Peak race in the Under 14 Bronze Genevieve Lyne

Junior Nationals Snowboarding Champs 3rd Sophia Starrenburg 2nd in the boardercrossw

Surfing I’ve really enjoyed surfing and have done it since Year 9. Now that I am in Year 13, I can look back and realise how much fun it was and how many valuable, practical lessons about the ocean, surfing has taught me.

Before we get into the water, we learn about onshore and offshore winds, how and where rips form and signals to make sure that everyone knows you are okay.

We set off every Wednesday to Piha (or Orewa if the conditions are better) to surf.

141

SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

the Year 7 and 8 Girls team came 3rd. The Years 9 –13 girls were 2nd in the Premier School Award, an award that recognises the achievement of the top orienteers in each school age grade. The Premier Team for New Zealand School Championships consisted of Madeline Vinall, Alicia Wu, Katelin Toes and Zara Stewart.

Senior School Sport (Continued) We are equipped with our surfboards, some pretty trendy neon yellow high-vis rashies and a wet suit, throughout Terms 1 and 4.

The surfing lesson usually consists of an introduction at the beginning, where we recap and the instructors let us know the safe zone to surf in. From there, people who are new or want a little refresher stay with the instructors who go over the basics with them. The rest of us head out into the waves and surf and are joined by the ‘freshies’ when they are comfortable. We tend to surf for about an hour and a half.

I think everyone should give surfing a go because it’s a really good stress reliever from our school work, not to mention you get to go to the beach! There is a myth that you need to be a superstar at swimming to join but I can confirm that you definitely don’t need to be that good at swimming! It’s an amazing experience and you make lots of new friends from different year levels.

Ms McMahon and Ms Crabbe are the sweetest and come along to surf with us.

If you join the club, you will be in for a treat because Ms McMahon usually brings her miniature pinscher along for the ride as well!

— Rawinia Wikaira

As a new St Cuth's girl this year, surfing has really helped me meet new friends and raise my confidence in a welcoming environment. I've always wanted to try surfing and this was an opportunity I could not miss. I hope to surf again next year and see more people join.

— Faith Cameron

Swimming Senior School Swimming Champions Year 7 Swimming Champions

1st Jackie Xu 2nd Jessica Wang 3rd Grace Wills

Year 8 Swimming Champions

1st Isabella Lambie 2nd Sophie Yeoman 3rd Scarlett Robb and Emily Martin Junior Champions

1st Elisha Lam 2nd Mia Kelliher 3rd Daniella van Delden

142

Intermediate Champions 1st Hannah Piper 2nd Islay Boyes 3rd Erika Patterson

Senior Champions 1st Hannah Milne 2nd Amelia Wilby 3rd Ella Palmer

Our Year 7 and 8 zone swimming team gained some great results at the Year 7 and 8 Inter Zone Swimming Championships. Our Year 8 4x50m Free Relay team of Zoe Knight, Scarlett Robb, Sophie Yeoman and Isabella Lambie gained first place in the Year 8 4x50m Free Relay and Isabella Lambie picked up silver medals in the Year 8 50m Free, Year 8 50m Backstroke and Year 8 100m Freestyle.

Our Senior school swimming team had some great results this year. At the College Sport Individual Schools Swimming Championships, Erika Paterson won a silver medal in the 14–15 Girls breaststroke, Hannah Piper gained a bronze in the 14–15 Girls 200m butterfly and silver in the 14–15 Girls 200m medley and Elisha Lam gained a gold medal in the U13 Girls 100m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke. At the AKSS Champs of Champs Swimming Competition, Erika Paterson placed 4th in the 14–15year age group 50m breaststroke and our relay team won the Intermediate Girls 200m breaststroke relay. Congratulations to Kayla Gaskill, Caitlyn Gjelstad, Emison Styris and Erika Paterson. At the NISS Championships held in Wellington, Erika Paterson came 2nd in the 100m breaststroke and 3rd in 50m breaststroke, while Elisha Lam placed 2nd in 50m breaststroke and 2nd in the 100m breaststroke.

We had a team of 10 girls who represented St Cuthbert’s at the 2021 NZ Secondary Schools Swimming Championship which took place at the Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre over the holiday break (22 –25 July 2021). The event ran across six sessions and saw the best secondary school swimmers go head-tohead for the title of national champion and the secondary schools seeking the top school gong. Stand out results included 2nd Elisha Lam (50m Breaststroke –14yrs) 3rd Elisha Lam (100m Breaststroke –14yrs) 3rd Islay Boyes (200m Butterfly –14yrs)

Table Tennis Our Table Tennis programme had another good year in 2021. We had a total of 17 players playing in our Years 9–13 age group. Our various teams competed in the Auckland Table Tennis League and gained a wide variety of great results. We also had a strong Year 7 and 8 Table Tennis team which competed in the Central Zone Year 7 and 8 Championships, where Year 8 student Ariel Liu gained 2nd place in the overall girls grade.

Tennis Our newly resurfaced Senior courts looked a picture for the start of the season back in February. With seven school teams ranging from Premier Grade through to our Year 7 Junior team, we had 60 players for the Term 1 inter-school competition. Add in the 30 ‘newbies’, who chose the coaching only option and this makes tennis a perennial summer favourite. School competition highlights from Term 1 had our young Premier team finishing 3rd equal, plus Tiaare Ahovelo captaining her team to win the Senior A3 grade. Sophia Wood led her team to 2nd in Group C of Senior B, Charlie Bamford anchored her Junior B team to 2nd place and the other Junior B team, claimed 3rd spot in their pool of teams. Renee Zhang is the current NZ Under 14 and 16 singles champion in addition to being the runnerup in both the doubles events. Xin-Xin Zhu was the runner-up to Renee in the NZ Under 14 singles final and is the Under 14 Auckland Singles champion. Xin-Xin also finished 2nd in the College Sport Champ of Champs, Under 14 singles event and combined with Mala Krzanic-Sullivan as runners up in the doubles. Xin-Xin and Mala both represented their respective regions at the National Under 14 Teams Event, with Xin-Xin’s Auckland team winning the title.

Touch Rugby We are very fortunate to have Trevor Nicol involved in our school touch programme.

Term 1 saw our Senior touch team competing in the College Sport One Day Tournament, which is a fun day on the touch calendar. With several games played over one day, Trevor was able to pass on his wealth of knowledge. It was great to see our players’ skills and understanding of the game improve immensely.

In the Easter holidays, a group of ten very fit and intrepid girls flew to the South Island, and went straight into the first day of the Abel Tasman track. After three days walking on the coastline of golden beaches, we emerged at the Northern end, did a food restock and went straight into the start of the Heaphy track. This was a long tramp but the views were stunning and the company was delightful.

At the end, the girls had walked for seven days and covered about 140 km. This was a challenging expedition, both mentally and physically, but the girls were positive, enthusiastic and amazingly resilient.

Volleyball This year, we commenced lunchtime volleyball sessions for our students keen to give it a go. We had a fantastic number

Water Polo The 2021 year began in Term 1 with our Senior programme. This involved students from Years 9-13, and we had a strong year with a total of six teams entered into the Auckland Secondary School Championships. Our Premier team worked extremely hard and managed to gain a bronze medal at the North Island Secondary School Championships, which was followed by a 4th place in the Auckland League and 5th place overall at the New Zealand Secondary School Premier Championships. We also had many pleasing results with our remaining team such as our Senior A team gaining a silver medal at the Auckland Secondary School Championships and bronze medal at the New Zealand Secondary School Division Two Championships which were held in Hamilton. It was great to continue the strong number of students playing Water Polo in the Senior School and gain

such pleasing results. We also had some of our Senior students gain selection for New Zealand age groups. Ella Palmer was selected for the New Zealand Under 20 Women’s team and Erika Paterson and Tiaare Ahovelo were selected for the New Zealand Youth Women’s squad.

Our intermediate programme for Years 7 and 8 students began in Term 2. We had a total of four teams competing across all competitions. We gained some amazing results from our teams. Our Years 7 and 8 Blue team won the Central Zone Water Polo Championships and then followed it up by winning the New Zealand Water Polo Winter Festival, which was a mixed competition against many schools from around the North Island. This was a huge success for our team. The Years 7 and 8 Blue team continued their great form by going undefeated in the Auckland Eastern Water Polo League and gaining second place at the BayFest Years 7 and 8 Water Polo Tournament which was held in Tauranga. Our three other remaining teams (Green, White and Black) all had great seasons in which they showed continued improvement and development throughout the team. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the remaining intermediate season was not able to be completed, but in the time that the season was running, the teams achieved some fantastic results.

143

SENIOR SCHOOL

This year the tramping club managed to do two different overnight trips. In February a group of 20 girls headed into the Waitawheta Valley. After a three hour walk, beside a beautiful river, we set up tents at an informal campsite. After a brisk swim, the girls cooked their dinner in groups. Meals varied from basic to gourmet as everyone had planned their own food. The following day we did a longer walk through stunning forest and out to the road and enjoyed a welldeserved ice cream.

of players involved throughout Terms 1 and 2, which resulted in separating the group into social and competitive sessions. Our competitive players were preparing for an interschool competition later in the year, while our social group continued trainings and games on Fridays at lunchtime. It is great to see our students participating in one of our new sporting codes under the guidance of our fabulous teachers Ms McKibbon and Mr Taeho.

SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

Tramping

KAHUNUI

Adapting for the future Adaptability – a term that always has and always will be central, to the Kahunui programme. Our students demonstrate their ability to adapt from the time they board the bus at Epsom, to the moment they leave here, with sights set on home. They adapt to new houses, new roommates, and a new environment, with busy motorways replaced by meandering streams. They adapt to wearing gumboots in the rain, high vis vests in the bush and mud on every piece of clothing imaginable.

Our students astound us every day with their ability to adapt and this has all come in handy, as 2021 has been a year for the adaptable!

With all that is changing in the world around us, the pillars of the Kahunui experience remain the same. Our outdoors programme still incorporates time spent tramping in the

144

bush, hours paddling the waters of Ohiwa harbour and a night sleeping in a survival bivvy, while our centre-based programme still revolves around activities such as Solo and Trapping. It is through these activities that the Kahunui five key values of Attitude and Perseverance, Kaitiakitanga (Guardianship), Gratitude, Connectedness and Global Citizenship are taught to provide an enriched learning experience.

While the pillars of the programme remain strong, 2021 has seen change and progression in the forms of a new campsite, multiple new tramping tracks, an overhaul of the trapping programme, the repurposing of existing teaching spaces and, as always, plenty of new trees planted by all Intakes as part of our sustainability focus.

We have included a new award to accompany the much sought-after Glad Thomas ‘By Love Serve’ award. This is called the ‘Kahikatea award’ and is named after the towering trees which call the Waiotahe Valley home. It recognises the student who embraces the Kahunui journey and acknowledges the positive way she approaches every challenge, her willingness to adapt and grow during her time at Kahunui. We would like to acknowledge and congratulate the winners of this award for 2021.

Looking ahead to 2022, there are many exciting goals on the horizon, one of the biggest being further development of the edible garden initiative. Lockdown has allowed time for the chicken coop to be built and the existing fruit trees to be pruned, while the next 12 months herald

SENIOR SCHOOL KAHUNUI

the construction of a new greenhouse and the development of the existing programme to incorporate these new facilities and the learning opportunities they provide. Once construction is complete, students will gain a hands-on experience cultivating, growing, caring for, harvesting, and utilising produce. We are excited about having this project up and running for our future students.

We can’t wait to see our next Intake of students utilising the new resources available and we look forward to seeing their smiling faces walking through our gates!

—Kelly Dockery, Senior Outdoor Instructor, on behalf of the Kahunui team

145

CULTURAL Groups

Years 9 –13 Cultural Group Report Every year the school offers a diverse variety of cultural groups in which students (Years 9 to 13) have the opportunity to participate. For a whole term, cultural group members practise hard and come to rehearsals full of dancing and fun, and

by March are ready to take the stage at the College’s annual Po Fiafia (cultural performance). Po Fiafia is a wonderful night full of support from peers, family and staff creating a vibrant atmosphere like no other. This year’s turnout was particularly spectacular due to it being the first Po Fiafia in two years. Students from many schools came to support the performances by our girls. By late March, we were all ready to compete at the annual Polyfest with schools from all over Auckland. Expecting a wonderfully sunny day of running around watching amazing performances on all the different stages and getting delicious

146

snacks, we were, instead greeted with huge bouts of torrential rain. Rather than lounging in the sun and cheering on our fellow school mates on the Diversity Stage, we ended up being a part of a frenzy of students squealing and seeking refuge in tents! We were grateful to be able to watch our kapa haka group perform in the sun in the morning, though; they looked so polished and put on a mesmerizing show.

Our Samoan group performed on the Saturday and were amazing with so much power and emotion in their set. Despite all the excitement leading up to the festival, our day was short lived and the large majority of us left the event that day cold, damp and hungry. However, it still left us with many positive memories and definitely created an experience like no other. Every year cultural groups are such fun and loved by many.

—Stephanie Lu (Chinese Dance Group Leader 2020 and 2021)

Years 7 and 8 Kapa Haka After the excitement of Polyfest and Po Fiafia night, some members of the Kapa Haka group ‘paid forward’ with their skills and passion to our younger students. On Thursdays, they return to the Te Reo Māori room to mentor keen students from Years 7 and 8. Their energy and enthusiasm inspire these younger girls to turn up each week and refine their skills for their prized events of the King’s Exchange and the Albert Eden Festival. These self-directed ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ interactions, are a wonderful expression of our ‘By Love Serve’ culture.

—Sue Elgar

SENIOR SCHOOL

GRADUATION Ball

CULTURAL GROUPS | GRADUATION BALL

Regrettably, due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were unable to give our 2021 Year 13 cohort the Graduation Ball send-off they so deserved. However, we were able to mark the occasion by welcoming the girls on the final day, wearing their cocktail dresses, to walk around the campus to commemorate their school days whilst being led by a piper. Girls, we will always remember you fondly, what a wonderful cohort you were!

147

SENIOR SCHOOL Prize Giving Cups and Trophies 2021 Junior Champions Mackenzie Cup for Swimming Elisha Lam

Philippa Joyce Cup for Athletics Francesca Wright

Junior Cross Country Champion Most Improved Runner Grace Meredith

Intermediate Champions Intermediate Cross Country Champion Charlotte Greenwood Susan Oliver Cup for Athletics Charlotte Goldsmith

Webster Cup for Diving Natalia Wilcox

Sandra Robinson Intermediate Memorial Cup for Swimming Betty Glanville Memorial Cup for Swimming Open Medley Hannah Piper

Senior Champions Fyfe Netball Trophy for Sportsmanship Rebecca Fala

Games Committee Cup for Service to Sports Lexi Butler

Brooke Farmer

Cup for Service and Involvement in Winter Ball Sports

Games Committee Cup for Service to Sports Brooke Farmer

Kirsten Falconer Cup for Senior Water Polo Most Valuable Player Ella Palmer Candy Filters Cup for Swimming Hannah Milne The Nicky Bason Braveheart Cup Avisha Maini

Alf Postles Memorial Prize for Cricket Emma Irwin

2020 Trust Board Scholars Maria Gong, Year 11

Cushla Hemingway, Year 12 NCEA Phoebe Jones, Year 12 IB Yi Ran Zhang, Year 13 NCEA Belinda Hu, Year 13 IB

148

Hockey Player of the Year Rose Parkinson Gwen Spencer Memorial Prize for Leader of the Games Committee Emma Thompson Service and Leadership in Rowing Cup Nieve Campbell

Hockey Player of the Year Gwen Spencer Memorial Prize for Leader of the Games Committee Young Sports Person of the Year Hockey Winner Brodie Cochrane

Games Committee Cup for Athletics Isabel Allen

Wilcox Cup for Soccer Player of the Year Charlotte Marvin One Tree Hill Memorial Cup for Netball Player of the Year

John Wigglesworth Trophy for Involvement in the Sports Centre Kirsten Falconer Cup for Senior Water Polo Most Valuable Player Tiaare Ahovelo Nancy Anderson Cup for Best All Round Sportsperson Sherilyn White Scholarship

Young Sports Person of the Year All Rounder Winner Bella Browne Josie Sinclair Cup for Cross Country

Nancy Anderson Cup for Best All Round Sportsperson Sherilyn White Scholarship

Young Sports Person of the Year All Rounder Winner Young Sports Person of the Year Distance Running Winner Chloe Browne

SENIOR SCHOOL

International, National and North Island Trophies Athletics

Cricket

La Crosse

2021

NZSS Athletics Championships – 1st Junior Girls Triple Jump Charlotte Goldsmith

New Zealand U19 Women’s Cricket Team Emma Irwin

New Zealand Women’s Lacrosse Development Squad Grace McCarthy

Elizabeth Caughey Cup for House Flowers Lindisfarne

NZ Track and Field Championship – 1st U20 Women’s 1500m Bella Browne

NZ Athletics Championships – 1st Senior Girls Steeplechase Bella Browne NZ Athletics Championships – 1st Senior 3000m Chloe Browne NZ Athletics Championships – 1st 4x100m Senior Relay Isabel Allen, Charlotte Goldsmith, Lily Allen

NZ Athletics Championships – 1st 4x400m Senior Relay Isabel Allen, Bella Browne, Chloe Browne New Zealand U20 400m Relay Squad Isabel Allen

Badminton NZ U15 Singles Champion and National Doubles Champion Lillian Cao

Distance running New Zealand Secondary Schools Senior Girls Team Bella Browne, Chloe Browne

New Zealand Senior Girls 3 Person Team Champions Bella Browne, Chloe Browne and Isabella Richardson New Zealand Senior Girls 6 Person Team Champions Bella Browne, Charlotte Greenwood, Chloe Browne, Isabella Richardson, Jaime Lewis, Olivia Greenwood

Fencing National Fencing New Zealand Cadet Championship – 1st U17 Jessie Yan

Football New Zealand U17 Women’s Training Squad Ruby Luxton

Hockey U18 New Zealand Hockey Squad Brodie Cochrane, Rose Parkinson, Kaea Elliott, Emma Irwin, Bella Browne, Chloe Browne

Orienteering New Zealand Secondary Schools Senior Girls Team Sofia Toes, Zara Stewart

New Zealand Junior Orienteering Championships U20 Team Zara Stewart

Sports Cup for House Sports Elgin Beverley Parkinson Cup for House Performance Melrose Black Watch Cup for Champion House Melrose

NZSS Orienteering Championships – 1st Senior Girls Sprint Zara Stewart NZSS Orienteering Championships – 1st W18A Long Distance Zara Stewart

NZSS Orienteering Championships – 1st Intermediate Girls Champions Katelin Toes, Grace McGregorMacdonald, Grace Liang

Water Polo New Zealand U20 Women’s Water Polo Team Ella Palmer

New Zealand U18 Women’s Water Polo Team Erika Paterson, Tiaare Ahovelo

U21 New Zealand Māori Hockey Team Brodie Cochrane and Jaime Lewis

149

SENIOR PRIZE GIVING

House Cups

Prize List 2021 Year 7

Year 7

Year 9

Award Name Recipient Name

Top Academic Achievement Cerisa Gu

Top Academic Achievement Morgan Abel-Pattinson

Award Name Recipient Name

Top Academic Achievement Angela Wei

Top Academic Achievement Sienna Evans

Award Name Recipient Name

Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name

Year 8 Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name Award Name Recipient Name

150

Top Academic Achievement Madeline Tipping

Top Academic Achievement Jackie Xu Top Academic Achievement Olivia Lindon Top Academic Achievement Tavina Mataio Top Academic Achievement Bonnie McCarrison Certificate of Achievement Alesha Mehta Certificate of Achievement Grace Wills Certificate of Achievement Emma Zheng

Year 8 Top Academic Achievement Bianca Brdanovic Top Academic Achievement Ellie Carson Top Academic Achievement Emily Cheng Top Academic Achievement Zara Toes Top Academic Achievement Eassin Wang Certificate of Achievement Arya Naidu Certificate of Achievement Danica Su Certificate of Achievement Evee Tan Certificate of Achievement Natalie Wackrow

Trust Board Scholars’ Award Winner Regina Cao Top Academic Achievement, The Sydney Old Girls’ Association Award for Citizenship and All Round Excellence Ellie Siu

Top Academic Achievement Susannah Carroll

Top Academic Achievement Avery Fu Top Academic Achievement Xin-Xin Zhu Certificate of Achievement Caitlin Pendleton Certificate of Achievement Mikayla Sieu Certificate of Achievement Bonnie Wang Certificate of Achievement Helena Wong Certificate of Achievement Alicia Wu Certificate of Achievement Jolin Yu

Certificate of Achievement, Year 9 Writing Award Olivia Wei Certificate of Achievement, English Department Spelling Cup Ciara Wynn

Top Academic Achievement, Year 9 Literature Prize, Year 9 Writing Award Ava Dilly Ida Gray Cup for Oratory Teuila Leota Ethel Thatcher Memorial Cup for Diligence Katie Marshall

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Zoe Davis-Calvert Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Laura Knight Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Ella McCutcheon Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Chi Nguyen

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Melinda Niuhulu Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Karla Larsen Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Rose Mullins

Year 10 Top Academic Achievement Dawn Chen Top Academic Achievement Hershal Randhawa Top Academic Achievement Katelin Toes Top Academic Achievement Belle Yin Top Academic Achievement Ena Yin Certificate of Achievement Charlotte Goldsmith Certificate of Achievement Fiona He Certificate of Achievement Sophie Robb Certificate of Achievement Renee Zhang

Certificate of Achievement, Junior Science Writing Aanya Naidu Certificate of Achievement, Junior Music Composition and Song Writing Prize Jifei Shao

Top Academic Achievement, Year 10 Literature Prize Kelly Zeng Year 10 PhotoLife Studios Award Rosa Cox Taylor Cup for Oratory Anita Iese Year 10 Writing Aw Emily Zhang

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Jaime Lock Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Poppy Bridgman

Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Ella Billcliff Parents and Friends’ Gold Award and Friends’ Gold Award

Year 11 Accounting Kate Irwin

Chemistry and Physics Georgie Huxford Chemistry and Physics Grace Merrilees Core Science Tania Huang Dance Giselle Patrick Dance Mia Reddy

Design and Visual Communication Zoe Stiven Drama Natalie Lamb History Bliss Wang

Latin Grace Liang

Mathematics Vanessa Bu Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics Kelly Zeng

Mathematical Studies Tabitha Stevenson Music Zoe Guan

Music Annabelle Mar

Physical Education Charlotte Greenwood Physical Education Olivia Greenwood

Spanish Sylvia Xue

Te Reo Māori Selina Bernard

Textiles Technology Brookelyn Muir Visual Arts Wendy Ding

Visual Arts Debbie Zhang

Chemistry & Physics, Chinese Fiona Chen

Digital Media Technology, Mathematics Design Siripaopradith

English, Hewitt Cup for Top English Scholar Imogen Weenink English with Writing, Latin, Year 11 Writing Award Emily Whineray Business Studies, Economics, Mathematics Piwara Jeatrakul Chemistry & Physics, French, Geography Grace Wu

English, Science with Biology, Hewitt Cup for Top English Scholar Dian Kun Yin Asian Friendship Group Prize in Chinese Ella Winterbottom

Nairn Prize for Mathematics Bonnie Wang

Year 11 Reading Award Kenisha Sarda Year 11 Science Writing Prize Alisa Rao

Anne Clark Cup for Public Speaking Hana Ehsankya

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Eden Dwight

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Jessica Armstrong

Sally Jamieson Award for Visual Arts Isabel Brooks

Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Grace Wagener

Physics, NZIP Physics Prize Emma Corban

Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Lizzie Hardiman

Year 12 Art Design Nilei Chen

Art Painting Jennifer Wang Chinese Megan Brook

Dance Charlotte Ng Waishing Drama Rebecca Ross

Economics Vanessa Evans

Film and Media Studies Meagan Tupuola-Faalogo French Mirabelle Williams Geography Sofia Toes

Mathematical Studies Madeline Want

Mathematics with Calculus Dawn Chen Mathematics with Calculus Fiona Chen Mathematics with Calculus Julia Sung Mathematics with Calculus Belle Yin Mathematics with Calculus Dian Kun Yin

Mathematics with Statistics Bianca Young-Smith Music Audrey Tsang

Physical Education Zara Stewart Spanish Maya Stapleton Te Reo Māori Johanna Geary

English, Fay Pearce Scholarship for English Clementine Ainley

SENIOR SCHOOL

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Rylee Schuster

Production Science, Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Rebekah Goodall

Accounting, Mathematics with Calculus Emma Irwin Biology, Chemistry, Photography Emme Kearney

Art History, Chemistry, Printmaki Vera Wang

Business Studies, Production Science, The Clayton Charitable Trust Scholarship for Horticultural Science Bella Sandler-Wright Classical Studies, Design and Visual Communication, Visual English Phoebe Thomas

English with Writing, History, Senior Writing Scholarship Kate Lin Latin, Carr Cup for Oratory, Senior Writing Scholarship Ishannita Chaudhuri

Textiles Technology, Argyle Schoolwear Prize for Textiles Chloë Pollard

Judy Walsby Science Award Esther Hooper Senior Writing Scholarship, Senior Prose Prize Layla Al-Abid

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Sophia Owen Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Pippa Dixon Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Renee Findlay Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Sarah Lock

151

SENIOR PRIZE GIVING

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Ash Bajaj

Prize List 2021 Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Emma Qiu Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Tingmeng Wang Academic Excellence Baccalaureate, NZIP Physics Prize Grace Pui

Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate, Hanna Cup for Service in the Boarding House Romy Lee Top Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Maria Gong Top Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Silei Wang

Top Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate, Asian Friendship Group Prize in Chinese Charlotte Wen Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Lara Hamilton Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Brea Bertram Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Kate Waters Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Hannah Williams

Year 13 Calculus Sophie Robb Chinese Ella Qiao

Design and Visual Communication Sofia Barron Photography Kelly Cai Photography Celia Zhang

Physical Education Amelia Wilby 152

Printmaking Linda Yang Statistics Grace Wu

Te Reo Māori Maioha Holmes

Art Cup for Most Dedicated Art Student Nina Hood Asian Friendship Group Prize in Chinese Taelim Kim

DGE Brown Commerce Prize Jonti Matthewson

Claudia Clatworthy Technology Award Lili Morgan-Rees

Netta Simich Prize for Music Claudia Sayers Senior Music Song Writing Prize Brooke Darrow

Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Zhi Yi Gong Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Grace Qin Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Jenny Yuan Senior Science Writing, The Berry Short Story Prize Emma Akeroyd The Art + Object Award for Visual Arts, Art Design Nikeisha Parsot

Art History, Painting, Art Cup for Overall Top Achiever in Visual Arts Vanessa Chen Digital Media Technology, Old Girls’ Association Irene Fife Prize for Geography, Visual English Fern Webster

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Marni Brewis Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Isabella Bullen

Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Anisha Khanna Parents and Friends’ Silver Award Guinevere Parker Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Isabella Rankin Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Crystal Wu

The University of Auckland Pacific Academic Excellence Scholarship Rome Afualo University of Canterbury Hiranga Scholarship Ellamia Devereux

University of Canterbury Engineering Pacific/Pasifika and Go Waitaha Scholarship Sinaitakala Langi University of Canterbury Hiranga and Horomata Scholarship Lottie Marshall University of Canterbury Hiranga Scholarship Harriet Parker University of Canterbury Hiranga Scholarship, Textiles Technology Emily Price Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship Amelia Cutler Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship Alys Evans

Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship, Production Science Henrietta Mackie Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship, French Victoria Ryan

University of Otago New Frontiers Scholarship (with Excellence) Angie Chadha

University of Otago ViceChancellor’s Scholarship Sophie Hammonds University of Otago Performance Entrance Scholarship (with Distinction), Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Isabel Allen

University of Otago New Frontiers Scholarship Madie Lane University of Otago New Frontiers Scholarship Zoe Liddell

University of Otago New Frontiers Scholarship (with Excellence) Anna McKenzie University of Otago Performance Entrance Scholarship (Distinction Level) Rose Parkinson

University of Otago Māori Entrance Scholarship Rawinia Wikaira Indiana University Sports Scholarship Emma Thompson

University of Central Florida Sports Scholarship Isabella Richardson Leader of Communications Committee, Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship, Principal’s Award for Excellence in Music Theatre Performance, Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Sarah Boswell Leader of Communications Committee, Amess Cup for Excellence in Drama Performance Megan Hails Leader of Development Committee, University of Canterbury Hiranga Scholarship, DGE Brown Commerce Prize Marilena Crisci

Leader of Global Citizenship Committee, Top Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate, Principal’s Award for Global Citizenship Lulu Cullen Leader of Global Citizenship Committee, Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship, Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate, Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Jessie Lin Leader of Junior School Committee, University of Otago New Frontiers Scholarship Isla Slade Leader of Performing Arts Committee, Cup for Excellence in Dance Performance Mathilda Howson

Leader of Performing Arts Committee Chanel Mahon Leader of Service Committee, Music Cup for Vocal Performance Elle Daji Leader of Service Committee Jennifer Zhang

Leader of Visual Arts Committee Anna McFall

Leader of Visual Arts Committee, University of Otago Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship Georgia Foley Leader of Year 7 and Year 8 Committee Juneia Chan Chui

Lead Academic Mentor, Physics, NZIP Physics Prize, Qureshi Family Prize in Physics Amy Huxford Lead Academic Mentor Avisha Maini

Head Librarian, Biology, English Literature with Writing, Latin Aaliya Ramanathan

Head Librarian, Top Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate, Old Girls’ Association Kathleen Goulding Prize for Latin Phoebe Jones House Leader of Dunblane Kathryn Budge House Leader of Durham Eden Ballantyne House Leader of Elgin Lauren Sharma House Leader of York Mitsuki Yamauchi

House Leader of Kelso, University of Canterbury Hiranga and Horomata Scholarship, Dance, English Literature Cushla Hemingway

House Leader of Lindisfarne, Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Jennifer Wu House Leader of Melrose, University of Otago New Frontiers Scholarship, Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, Parents and Friends’ Gold Award Charlotte Marvin

House Leader of Iona, Student Council Award for Support of and Dedication to the College Nieve Campbell

Leader of Junior School Committee, Old Girls’ Association Award for Citizenship, Music Cup for Classical Performance Stephanie Lu

Leader of Year 7 and Year 8 Committee, Parents and Friends Gold Award, Brown University Academic and Sports Scholarship Ella Palmer College Prefect, UCLA Athletic and Academic Scholarship, Physical Education, Visual English Bella Browne College Prefect, UCLA Athletic and Academic Scholarship Chloe Browne

College Prefect, University of Canterbury Hiranga Scholarship Emmeline Duncan

College Prefect, Victoria University of Wellington Tangiwai Scholarship, Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate, Music Cup for Jazz Performance Felcia Fong College Prefect Georgia Gao College Prefect Grace Li

College Prefect, The University of Auckland Top Achiever Scholarship, Accounting, Chemistry, Music, Mathematics, Old Girls’ Association Ruth Owen Prize for History Demira Singh House Prefect of Dunblane, Economics, Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award Lexi Butler House Prefect of Durham Jemima Hawkesby House Prefect of Elgin, Spanish, University of Canterbury Hiranga Scholarship Olivia Lawgun

House Prefect of Iona, Pippa Sinclair Cup for Leadership in Music Enyah Talamaivao House Prefect of Kelso, University of Canterbury Kaitoko Pacific/Pasifika School Leaver Scholarship Rebecca Fala

House Prefect of Lindisfarne, The University of Auckland Top Achiever Scholarship, Business Studies, Eve Brown Achievement Award Arabella Patrick House Prefect of Melrose, The Egmont Trust Trophy for Music Leadership Hayley Minturn House Prefect of York, The University of Auckland Top Māori Achievers’ Scholarship, Qureshi Family Prize in Physics Sophia Wood

Head of Boarding, College Prefect, Waikato Old Girls’ Association Cup for Service in the Boarding House, Bews Prize for Literature Charlotte Berry

Deputy Head Girl, Kiley Family Memorial Trust Scholarship, Massey University Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Scholarship, Academic Excellence in International Baccalaureate Katya De Silva

Deputy Head Girl, Classical Studies, Drama, Film and Media Studies, Music, Mae Lovie Speech and Drama Memorial Trophy, Bews Prize for Literature Helena Haldane Deputy Head Girl Florida Mataio

Head Girl, University of Otago Pacific People’s Entrance Scholarship (with Distinction), Special Award from the Old Girls’ Association for Head Girl Carmel Ah Chong Dux Demira Singh (NCEA) Dux Phoebe Jones (IB)

153

SENIOR SCHOOL

Lead Academic Mentor, University of Otago Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship (Distinction Level), Chemistry, Economics, Statistics Ashley Ganda

SENIOR PRIZE GIVING

Leader of Development Committee, University of Otago New Frontiers Scholarship (with Excellence), Mathematical Studies, Development Cup for the Year 13 Student Most Respected by her Year Group Alexandra Lyne

External Awards 2021 Auckland Science Fair Material World Year 8: 1st

ASTA Award for Experimental Design Year 7 and 8 Silver Grace Thomson, Charlie Bamford Senior Science Year 13: 1st Katya De Silva Year 13: 2nd Stephanie Lu

Prize for Food Science Year 13: Silver Stephanie Lu

University of Auckland Faculty of Science Gold Doris Chen, Felcia Fong, Spring Zhang, Jessie Lin

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Gold Zhi Yi Gong Mātauranga Māori Context Gold Katya De Silva NIWA Runner Up to the Premier Award Platinum Katya De Silva

Biology Silver Certificate Biology Olympiad Maria Gong

Chemistry Gold Certificate in Chemistry Olympiad National Training Groupd Maria Gong Silver Certificate in Chemistry Olympiad National Training Group Julie Li Brena Merz Grace Pui Charlotte Wen

154

Drama

Competitions

Shakespeare Competition Winners 2021

SGCNZ/Adam Foundation Shakespeare Costume Design Competition 2nd: Hiro Han

SCGNZ UOSWSF Auckland Central Award for Best Student Director Megan Hails

SCGNZ UOSWSF Auckland Central Award for Best 15 minute scene chosen to represent the region at the National Festival Director Megan Hails

Actors Megan Hails, Helena Haldane, Alys Evans, Rosie Lammiman

SCGNZ UOSWSF Auckland Central Award for Best use of Music / Song – Henry VIII Director Debbie Waalkens

Actors Helena Haldane, Hayley Minturn, Rebecca Ross, Jessica Went, Megan Hails, Kate Lin, Emma Qiu, Frances Melville, Kaitlin Breed, Ruby Whitefoot, Mia Parker, Isabella Ross, Rosie Lammiman, Ava Alpe, Mia Vanderkolk SCGNZ UOSWSF Auckland Central Award for Best use of Music / Song – Henry VIII Helena Haldane SCGNZ University of Otago Shelah Winn Shakespeare New Zealand Festival SCGNZ UOSWSF National Award for Outstanding Student Director of Hamlet Megan Hails SCGNZ UOSWSF National Award for Outstanding Delivery of the text Helena Haldane

SCGNZ UOSWSF National Award for Outstanding Presentation of a Tragedy; Hamlet Megan Hails, Alys Evans, Helena Haldane, Rosie Lammiman SCGNZ UOSWSF National Award for Outstanding NSSP selection Megan Hails

English English

Year 11 Young Reporters for the Environment Article (15-18 years) 2nd: Bliss Wang, Piwara Jeatrakul

Languages American National Latin Exam Gold summa cum laude Mirabelle Williams, Ishannita Chaudhuri, Tingmeng Wang, Kate Lin Silver maxima cum laude Yuting Guo, Evelyn Zhang, Jessica Robinson, Phoebe Jones

National Spanish Speech Competition NCEA Level 2 2nd: Julie Li

Mathematics University of Otago Junior Mathematics Competition Year 11: 1st – Grace Wu Year 10: 2nd = Lingshi Chen and Ena Yin

Australian Mathematics Competition Year 9 – 100 Percentile Rank (Top 0.3%) Julia Sung Year 12 – High Distinction, 100 percentile Brena Merz Year 11 – High Distinction, 99 percentile Grace Wu

Year 10 – High Distinction, 99 percentile Lingshi Chen, Ena Yin Year 9 – High Distinction, 99 percentile Mabel Zhao

NZ Representative International Mathematics Olympiad Team 2020–2021 Year 12 Silver Award Brena Merz

NZ Mathematics Olympiad Awards 2021–2022

Year 10 Gold Award, selected for the Olympiad Training Camp.

Only girl in Top 5 in New Zealand Dawn Chen

Year 10 Silver Award, selected for the Olympiad Training Camp.

Only girl in Top 5 in New Zealand Belle Yin, Ena Yin

Kahunui Awards 2021 The Glad Thomas ‘By Love Serve’ Award Intake 8, 2020 Isabelle Stewart

Intake 1 Ella Cham, Lucy Gilmour Intake 2 Dawn Chen Intake 3 Jessie Ju

Intake 4 Ariella Grant Intake 5 Maddie Bell Intake 6 TBA Intake 7 TBA

Intake 8 Reported in 2022

Significant Awards Visual Arts The Trust Board Art Award Helena Liang, Jun Li

155

Price, Jamie Lloyd, Nina Seja, Lynn Walker

SENIOR PRIZE GIVING | STAFF PHOTOGRAPH

Mary Robinson, Suzanne Joyce Libby Giles, Sue Elgar, Anna Ready, Liz Howard (nee Goer), Nicola Boyens,

SENIOR SCHOOL

Front Row: Judy McIntosh, Deb Cullinane, Amelia McKibbin, Rob Griffiths, Amber Lloyd, Thomas Curtis, Andy Parker, Ann Louise Jordan, Peter Nouwens, Kerry Oldman, Justine Mahon, Fiona Cottam, Mason Spiers, Julie Hogg, Francois Joubert,

Pearl Yee, Jan Walls, , Beth Rush, Sena Choi, Roberta Batistich, Elly Wang, Preeti Kah loon (nee Bhatia), Alana-Rose Miller, Jude Berman , Jessica Thwaites, Shona Trass, Sam Meagher, Liz Charsley, Kirsten Donovan, Laura Lyard, Sue Birdsall, Cherie Sowter, Pam Hutton, Alison Galloway, Joanna Zoricich, Emma Luxton-Reilly

2nd Row:

Odette Mihaljevich, Connie McArdle, Kristin Inglis, Jessica Sheng, Stacey Pinique, Judy Watt, Leah Johnson, Sarah Stevens, Susan Jackson, Emily Heather, Leonie McLeod, Julie Mahoney, Joanna Wells, Rosie Remmerswaal, Marie O'Connor, Jade Lake, Lucretia Kemp, Hannah Needham, LinErn Goh, Helen Dallaston, Amy Shen, Ritu Rajan

3rd Row:

Craig Howe, Jacqui Tyler, Nichole Mayer, Virginia Burns, Helga Burns, Minka Car, Ros Ali, Michelle Wheeler, Birgitta Hartinger, Gail Morrison, Elizabeth Cullinane, Melissa Hayes, Reena Raphael, Elizabeth Parsons, Victoria Elisara, Valeria Harris, Sheryl Meredith, Lynda Harris, Michelle Colyer, Laura Hadfield, Sarah Klisser, Katrina White

4th Row:

Issy Coleman, Kate McKay, Rebecca Fowler, Briar Lawry, Jack Payne, Amy Blanchard, Des Knight, Leigh Knight, Aniel Smith, Natasha McAnearney, Josephine Pavlovich, James Waugh, Melinda Crookenden, Michael Zhang, Shelley Ireton, George Bowen, Florent Pieri, Cheryl Van Dijck, Jonathan van Campen, Michelle Finch, Vanessa Fork, Susan Tee

Dragana Yelavich, Lisa Fletcher, Harpreet Kaur, , Jeanine McCaig, Helen Withy, Emily Fisher, Melissa Dyer-Causton, Kathryn Patel, Angie Tipping, Victoria Mauala, Sylvia Sun, Kristen Slade, Julia Fuge, Rachel Walsh, Robyn Larsen, Lisa Brown, Liz Stevens, Louise Fisher, Michele McMahon, Erica Soman

5th Row:

6th Row:

Back Row: Taeho Lee, Kate Hunt, Jarvie Tunnicliffe, Sharma Nand, Ian Torrie, Erin Johnston, Oliver Gilmour, Felecia Tomich, Chris Way, Mark Dikstaal, Alex Smith, Tom Rutledge, David Howard, Francis Bryden, Manuka Cliffe, David Thrasher, Terry

Staff

Autographs

156