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In next week’s Prep Newsletter there will be Information about our class placement process.
Congratulations to the MacGibbon House children on winning last week’s weigh-in. The celebration will be held next week on Thursday 29 August (please note change of date). Your child may like to wear a little or lot of yellow.
Reading Is Magic
Excitement is starting to build for our annual Book Week at the end of this term. We have five days of activities and fun planned around the theme of 'Reading is Magic', designed to celebrate the wonder and magic in stories and books.
Activities will include a visit from inventor and author Steve Mushin, a Story Walk, our inter-class Battle of Books Quiz, a variety of competitions and lots of fun activities.
The highlight of the week as always will be our annual Book Parade. This will take place on Thursday 26 September starting at 12.00pm. All students are invited to dress up as book characters for the day and join in the fun.
Regards
Jonathan Bierwirth
Principal of Preparatory School
Deputy for Rector
Last Friday, in association with the Secondary School Boarders’ Assembly, the annual St Andrew’s College Gumboot Friday was held. This saw many students across the Pre-school, Preparatory and Secondary Schools trading in their black school shoes for a pair of gumboots. Gumboot Friday raises money for the I Am Hope Foundation, which provides financial assistance to young people requiring support with their mental health.
During Boarder’s Assembly, the StAC Unplugged policy was briefly paused to allow everyone to text BOOTS to 469, which automatically donates $3.00 towards Gumboot Friday. This function is still available for anyone wishing to donate.
At lunchtime the Agriculture Committee hosted a sausage sizzle; it was fair to say this was well supported by the massive line that kept all the committee members very busy. A total of $658.30 was raised by the sausage sizzle. Overall last Friday was a great day which raised lots of money for a well deserving cause.
The Year 5–6 Girls’ and Boys’ A basketball teams recently represented the College at the Canterbury Indoor Basketball Tournament, held in Rolleston. Both teams showcased impressive talent and sportsmanship in a highly competitive environment, facing off against some of the best young basketball teams in the region.
The Girls' team, in particular, had an outstanding performance, securing a place in the top 8. They demonstrated strong teamwork, resilience, and determination throughout the tournament. The Boys’ A team also had a commendable showing, playing with energy and focus. Their competitive spirit was evident in each game, and although they faced some challenges, they represented their school with pride and integrity.
Flickr >On Tuesday, the Preparatory School welcomed Huntley School for a sports exchange. Huntley flew into Christchurch in the morning and St Andrew’s College was the first stop of their winter sport tour. The games were well contested. Thankfully Monday’s rain turned into Tuesday sun, and some of the performances helped to warm everybody up. Thank you to the players, coaches, supported and referees for their contribution to a successful exchange.
Results:
On Wednesday night the Preparatory School had two teams competing at the annual Cantamaths competition in the Wolfbrook Arena. Cantamaths sees teams of students from across Canterbury Schools competing to be first to correctly answer 20 mathematics problems. First to compete was the Year 7 team, consisting of Yule Ding, Chloe Sha, James Zuo and Zhenan (Jayden) Lai. The team scored a respectable 70 points out of a possible 100 and came 10th out of 80 teams. Next up were the Year 8 team of Cong (Zilong) Chen, Benjamin Yu, Emmett Lawler and Baizhen (Tony) Chen. The team started out strong and took the lead early on. They remained calm and confident, coming away with a coveted ‘golden ticket’ and a first-place win in a record time of just over 14 minutes. Well done to all the students who took part and also a big thank you to the parents and siblings who came to support.
On Tuesday this week, 35 St Andrew’s College Preparatory School students took part in the annual ISSA Schools Ski Race at Porter Heights, racing to defend the College’s 2023 titles. Lovely weather and amazing parent support made the day run very smoothly.
Once again, the Co-ed Primary team consisting of Luke Russell (Year 6), Alessandria Greer (Year 5) Archer Bryant (Year 5) and Francesca Greer (Year 4), took out the title of the fastest Co-ed Primary team of 2024.
The Intermediate team, consisting of Edward Park, William Patterson, and Lara Isar (all Year 8) also took out the title of fastest Co-Ed Intermediate team of 2024.
Luke Russell (Year 6) was the fastest Overall Boy in the Year 1–6 category. Alessandria Greer (Year 5) was awarded the title of fastest Year 1–8 Girl Overall. Alessandria won this title in 2023 as a Year 4 and was fastest overall Year 1–6 girl in 2022 as a Year 3 student.
Georgia Gregg (Year 7) danced at the Temuka South Canterbury Competition last weekend. She was the winner of the South Canterbury Championships Highland Reel Under 12, winner of the South Canterbury Championships Highland Fling Under 14, winner of the most points under 12 and runner up most points of the competition.
Please note the annual Ballet photo for all dancers Years 1–13 will take place on Friday 20 September, 8.00am–8.35am in Gym 1.
There will a sport medley holiday programme in the final week of the October holidays, 14-18 October. Information will be sent to all families in the next few days.
When: Tuesday 27 August, 6.30pm–8.00pm
Where: Gough Family Theatre
At this time of year at St Andrew’s College, we see an increase in stress levels of students as they head into examinations and finalise their internal assessments. Stressed students can behave in even more peculiar ways than normal; increasing procrastination and avoidance, mood levels fluctuate even more, relationship issues arise, and more…! As a response, we wanted to spend an evening together with Year 7–13 parents, sharing the best tools and tips to encourage supportive positive communications with our teens, so we can better influence and guide them through these times. Hear from the College’s Psychologist, Kate Scott, and Julie Forman, leader of the extremely popular ‘Tuning into Teens’ parent group run here at the College, and other guidance staff, who have been working with teens for 100 years collectively, about their best hacks for listening to and communicating with adolescents.
Q&A: We would also like the content of the evening to be guided by you, so please send us any specific questions around this topic with your ticket registration, and we will address them throughout the evening.
Register now >Join us for the StAC Ag Show on Thursday 26 September. Students at all year levels can enter a number of fun events, such as baking, art, flower arrangements, and Lego creations, with placings from first to third place receiving a ribbon, and all first-place winners will also receive a prize. Some incredible grand prizes are up for grabs including an animal care package from Rangiora Vet Centre for the animal categories, a Willowbank Family pass for the plant and food categories, and a Willowbank Family pass for the art and photography categories.
There is something for everyone at this A&P Show-inspired event. Come along to Gym 1 to experience all the art, baking and other pet entries as well as the petting zoo – get set for a day of agricultural fun!
The Year 12 Agribusiness students will be selling their food and animal products at the show, including deer velvet dog treats, rocky road, and lolly packs. Eftpos will be available, and a pre-order form will be sent out a week before the show.
Entries: Cost: $3.00 per category entered (viewing the entries on the day is free). Entries close 4.00pm Friday 20 September. To enter your Years 1–8 child/ren into the StAC Ag Show, please complete the Preparatory School entry form below:
The online sales for the following 2024 photographs are now available:
Details of how to order the photographs can be found on our website using the button below and you will need to log into StACNet using your St Andrew's College login.
If you have any questions relating to this service, please email photography@stac.school.nz.
For any illness, students should stay home if unwell. Any student should also feel free to wear a mask if they wish to do so while at school.
For any absence, whether ill-health (including COVID-19) or otherwise, the College’s preferred platform for reporting this is via our online form which can be found at the button below:
If you are not able to report your child's absence using the online form, please report their absence via the relevant email address below. If you cannot get through to us via the form or email, please call our attendance line on +64 3 940 2031 (term time only).
