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Dear Parents and Caregivers
Kia ora koutou katoa.
It has been great to see student life back on campus over the last three days. Year 9 students gathered a little nervously in the quad on Wednesday but for most by the end of the day, these nerves had largely disappeared thanks to the care of the peer support leaders, Dean Ms Gormack, and tutors. Preparatory School students were excited to meet their new kaiako (teachers) and find their new classrooms. For 11 of our new entrants in the Preparatory School, Wednesday marked their very first day of school. We also welcomed 42 new boarding students who are beginning to settle into their new routines and boarding houses.
First Day of Term 1 Flickr >
A Secondary School Mihi Whakatau on Thursday was an opportunity for all 1,161 ākonga to gather in the Quad. Our tangata whenua welcomed 265 manuhiri (new students) to the College and around 100 whānau joined us for the occasion. New kaiako number five in the Secondary School, one in the Preparatory School, plus five support staff. Thank you to parents who came to the tutor conferences on Thursday, a good way to focus the Secondary School students at the start of a new year and help them set some motivational goals.
Mihi Whakatau Flickr >
Today was our traditional Leadership Assembly, including the investiture of 32 Prefects. Heads of College; Torin Ward, Lily Champion-Smith, Poppy Rumble and Lachie Odlin introduced each other, and then Torin and Lily gave their first address as Head Prefects where they introduced the Prefect Theme “Blue and White, Get it Right”. In this theme, they will promote a St Andrew’s student culture which has a strong sense of belonging for all. Other Year 12 and 13 leadership positions recognised were Peer Support leaders, Senior College Council, Academic Captains, Cultural Captains, Heads of Cultural Activities, Pipe Band Officers, Sacristans, Community Service Leaders, International Cultural Leaders, House Leaders, Boarding House Leaders, Sports Captains and Sports Council. A wonderful music interlude from the band Black Wired was enjoyed by all and a handover address from Harry Withers and Thomas Kamo (Head Boy and Deputy Head Boy 2022) added to the ceremony of the occasion. Congratulations to all students who were recognised this morning.
Rector’s Assembly Address >
Heads of College Morning Comment >
2023 Prefect Team >
Prefect’s Investiture and Leadership Assembly Flickr >
At today’s assembly, we also recognized the significance of Waitangi Day and our country’s commitment to the three principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi; Partnership, Protection and Participation. At St Andrew’s we will honour these principles working together to value the taonga all our students bring to our school community.
It has been a busy but very productive start to the new school year. Thank you all for your support.
Kai pai tō mutunga wiki.
Best wishes
Christine Leighton
Rector
Our 11 new entrant students are featured in this picture with their Teacher Mrs Anna Wylie in Class 1CW.
Our team of 80 Peer Support Leaders welcomed and lead our new Year 9 students on the first day of the term. The programme included a chance to learn names and interests, an orientation tour and various activities designed to help the group relax and connect. The Peer Support team were fantastic role models and enjoyed supporting the teachers while connecting with the brand new students in tutor groups. This connection will continue throughout Term 1, as the Peer Support programme unfolds each week around themes such as belonging, respect and communication. The Year 9 Parent Evening taking place next week will also be a fun-filled night for students run by our Peer Support team.
It is wonderful to have new international students join us in 2023. With COVID-19 restrictions now starting to settle and borders open, this year we welcome Junee Kim (Year 9) and Geonwoo (Jeremy) Kim (Year 11) from South Korea, Hoi Sang (Kevin) Chen (Year 11), Wan Yu (Coe) Chen (Year 12), Qi Cheng (Iven) Wang (Year 11) and Manzhao (Cherry) Xu (Year 11) from China and Tim Hellmann (Year 12) from Germany.
Very enthusiastic and noisy House chants rang around the campus today as House leaders created House spirit in preparation for the Secondary School Athletic Sports Day on Friday 24 February. Middle School students participated enthusiastically in Athletic Prelims, and it was a very positive way to finish the first few days of school.
A big feature of the past three days has been the individual and class/tutor group photographs for all 440 Preparatory School and 1160 Secondary School students. Parents will receive an email in the coming weeks advising when these are available to purchase online.
The South Island Club Rowing Championships were held last weekend at Lake Ruataniwha in near-perfect conditions. The rowing team made 24 A-Finals and six B-Finals. Eleven crews gained a podium finish, with the team receiving one gold, four silver and six bronze medals. For a more detailed report on the latest rowing programme please see the latest issue of On Strowan.
For South Island Club results, click here.
Twelve students have been selected to attend Basketball New Zealand representative camps in February.
In December, Alyssa Sanders (Year 10) Scarlett Gray and Amber de Wit (both Year 11) were part of the U15 Canterbury Futsal team that won their division of the 2022 New Zealand Youth Futsal Championships, becoming National Youth Futsal Champions. On top of becoming divisional champions, Scarlett also received the Golden Glove Award for being the top keeper, and Amber was named U15 MVP.
At the 150th Waipu Highland Games, Georgia Eagle (Year 13 – Drum Sergeant), won the A Grade side drumming MSR, hornpipe and jig, and drum fanfare, which won her the overall A Grade side drumming.
Alanna Brook (Year 10) won the Intermediate tenor drumming 2/4 March, Open MSR, and Open hornpipe and jig, which won her the Aggregate Open tenor drumming overall. Tayla Eagle (Year 11) placed third in the B Grade strathspey and reel, the U21 strathspey and reel, and the U21 New Zealand Championship 2/4.
Harrison Mugford (Year 8), Eden Taylor (Year 9) and Miah Taylor (Year 12) all auditioned for Frozen Junior at the Court Theatre at the end of last year and were successful in gaining roles out of over 380 auditionees. Miah Taylor (Year 12) will be playing the lead of Elsa, Eden Taylor (Year 9) will be playing Olaf the snowman, and Harrison Mugford (Year 8) gained the role of the Bishop.
Cohnor Walsh (Year 10) competed in the Secondary School Triathlon on Sunday 11 December and won first place in the U14 category and fourth overall for all age groups.
Late last year, at the final Preparatory School assembly of the year, Emma Geddes (then Year 8), was presented with the 2022 Elsie Locke Writing Prize, awarded by The Elsie Locke Memorial Trust. The Trust asked young writers aged 5 to 13 to develop a piece of writing inspired by New Zealand history or Elsie Locke’s work for peace, the environment, women’s issues and her community. Emma received $250 for her winning story, titled The Boy and the Grasshopper. Emma participated in the St Andrew’s College Extension Writer’s group last year with Writer in Residence, Kerrin Davidson.
Miu Kim (Year 11) received the Irene Lassen Cup for 2022 for her outstanding Grade 8 flute examination result. Ethan Waines (Year 7) received the Irene Lassen Cup for 2021 for his similarly outstanding result in his Grade 8 piano exam in 2021. The awards were presented at a special ceremony held by the ABRSM at The Piano, with both students also performing.
Gemma Lewis (Year 13) attended the New Zealand Olympiad in Informatics Summer Camp.
The below students have been selected as follows:
New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Symphony Orchestra for 2023:
Christchurch Youth Orchestra 2023:
There has been a great deal of activity from Pipe Band members throughout the holiday break. The highlights are listed below.
RESULTS >
Pipe Band Summer School 2023
The Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association Summer School was held at St Andrew’s College Wednesday 11 – Sunday 15 January, with 140 bagpipers and drummers from around New Zealand and Australia attending. St Andrew’s College was represented by Toby Cammock-Elliott (Year 13), Ethan Higgs, Theodore Lagias, Emily Carswell (all Year 11), Sam Foote, Alanna Brook, Emily Brook, Emily Watt (all Year 10), Cameron Sharpe, Austin Paterson (both Year 9), Charlie Gregg and William Nicholls (both Year 8). The students attended classes and private lessons and performed in a final concert with their summer school group. It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to meet many other pipers and drummers throughout the week.
Rachel Holyoake (OC 2022), Georgia Eagle, Connor Higgs (both Year 13), Lucas Paterson (Year 12) and Tayla Eagle (Year 11) also attended Summer School with the National Youth Pipe Band of New Zealand. The Youth Band performed in a concert finale. Link to a performance recorded before the final show >
The summer school featured on One News and St Andrew’s College pipe band tutors Scott Birrell, Jamie McEwan, Tiffany Gilchrist, and Graeme Bryce formed part of an exciting group of tutors from around Australasia.
In addition to the boys’ success reported in last year’s final Rector’s Comment, a number of our female touch players were also named as Canterbury Representatives last year.
Blair Currie (OC 2018) has become the first New Zealand footballer since All Whites star Joe Bell in 2019 to be named in an All-American College team. Blair was named in the All-American team after winning the NAIA women’s championship with her Spring Arbor University from Michigan at the final's tournament in Alabama last week. The 2022 season was Blair’s first year in the NAIA league, but she still managed to come out as the top-ranked goalkeeper across all 188 NAIA women’s football colleges. As well as being named to the NAIA All-America team, Blair was awarded Defensive Player of the Tournament and named to the Tournament Team.
Tapenisa Havea (Head Girl 2021) has been announced as one of the 76 nominees in the 60th ISPS Handa Halberg Awards, run by the Halberg Foundation. Tapenisa has been nominated in the Sky Sport Emerging Talent category for her incredible performances as a shot put and discus athlete.
Henry Shipley (OC 2014) is the latest newcomer in the Black Caps’ ODI squad for their tours of Pakistan (three ODIs) and India (three ODIs) in January.
Madeline-Rose (Maddie) Morrow and Karereatua Williams (both OC 2022) have accepted full Basketball athletic scholarships to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, USA, and are leaving this weekend.
Rory Sloan (OC 2022) was selected for the 2023 Māori Secondary Schoolboys Cricket team.
Richie Mo'unga (OC 2012) has signed a three-year deal with Japanese rugby club Toshiba, starting in 2024.
Holly Munro (OC 2021) has been named as one of three new apprentice players ahead of the 2023 ANZ Premiership.
Good luck to all students who are representing the College over the weekend in sports and cultural activities over the weekend.
A polite reminder please that any ākonga (students) who are unwell should not attend school. For any absence, whether ill-health 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 form linked above, please report their absence via the relevant email address below. Please only report a student absence via email if you cannot access the form. Years 1–8: prepschool@stac.school.nz | Years 9–13: attendance@stac.school.nz
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).
Ākonga who are household contacts but test negative and do not have COVID-19 symptoms, should continue to attend school. It is the best place for them to be so they can be engaged in their learning, and connected with their teachers, classmates and friends.
All the other recommended public health measures will stay in place, as we know they reduce the spread of infectious illnesses including COVID-19. These include ensuring our indoor spaces are well-ventilated, maintaining good hand hygiene, encouraging everyone to cough or sneeze into elbows and, most importantly, staying home and getting tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms.
Do you have a fabulous fence in a prominent and busy thoroughfare within a 30km radius of the College?
We are looking for some spaces for our corflute signage for our Open Days in March. They will be put up and taken down by the College so you don’t need to lift a finger. If you can help, please contact Alumni and Community Relations Co-ordinator, Lisa Clark, at oldcols@stac.school.nz, or Registrar, Lynn Smith at enrol@stac.school.nz.
For further information about the pipe band or Highland dance, please contact one of the following:
Click here to read about the Pipe Band on the College’s website.
Click here to watch a video of the Pipe Band at Prizegiving.
PIPE BAND AND HIGHLAND DANCE SIGNUP >
Mondays: 7.30am–8.15am, commences Monday 13 February in Gym 1. This popular class is open to all Secondary School dancers and high performance athletes. It focuses on conditioning the body – developing core strength, control, flexibility, and much more. This training is beneficial for all genres of dance and is key to injury prevention. It is also a great way to start each week off on the right foot (or the left!). Casual workout gear and must bring own small towel. Contact Ballet Academy Artistic Director, Dr Carolyn Cairns, to register at ballet@stac.school.nz.
The Community Business Directory is on our website under Alumni & Community and represents over 100 parent businesses. Please do take a look at how many businesses you can support locally.
The St Andrew's College Community Business Directory >
If you would still like to register your business, complete the following form.
Community Business Directory Registration >
For a full list of upcoming school events, please refer to the fixtures page on StACNet.
