You are logged in as
Logout
You are logged in as
Logout
Dear Parents and Caregivers
Kia ora koutou katoa.
School is now well underway. Students have met their teachers and a number of co-curricular activities have begun. Chapels and assemblies have celebrated recent successes and positive messaging has encouraged our tamariki and rangatahi for the new year. Some Preparatory School classes have enjoyed beach education or surf safety days, plus trips to Spencer Park or Velocity Karts.
Scholarship Results
On Wednesday, Scholarship results were published online, and the great news is that 33 St Andrew’s College students earned 76 Scholarships between them. Scholarship is the premier New Zealand qualification for Secondary School students which is awarded to 2–3 per cent of students taking the subject at Level 3. The numbers of St Andrew’s Scholarships this year represent a massive 15 per cent of Scholarships relative to the number of our students sitting Level 3 (in comparison to the national 3 per cent).
These results reflect the exceptional commitment and talent of our students and the quality of guidance, encouragement and support given by their teachers throughout the year.
Below is the breakdown of Scholarships by subject:
|
SUBJECTS |
NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS |
OUSTANDING LEVEL |
TOTAL |
|
ENGLISH |
7 |
1 |
8 |
|
TECHNOLOGY |
5 |
3 |
8 |
|
HISTORY |
2 |
|
2 |
|
CHEMISTRY |
7 |
1 |
8 |
|
GEOGRAPHY |
8 |
|
8 |
|
PHYSICS |
7 |
|
7 |
|
STATISTICS |
7 |
1 |
8 |
|
CALCULUS |
4 |
2 |
6 |
|
RELIGIOUS STUDIES |
1 |
|
1 |
|
BIOLOGY |
5 |
1 |
6 |
|
DRAMA |
|
2 |
2 |
|
HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUATION |
3 |
|
3 |
|
CLASSICAL STUDIES |
2 |
|
2 |
|
AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE |
2 |
|
2 |
|
DESIGN AND VISUAL COMMUNICATION |
1 |
|
1 |
|
DESIGN |
1 |
|
1 |
|
PHOTOGRAPHY |
|
1 |
1 |
|
MEDIA STUDIES |
1 |
|
1 |
|
MUSIC |
1 |
|
1 |
|
TOTAL |
64 |
12 |
76 |
The following students received five or more Scholarship subjects placing them amongst the top academic in New Zealand:
|
NAME |
SCHOLARSHIP |
OUTSTANDING |
TOTAL |
SUBJECTS |
|
Sarah Anthony |
5 |
|
5 |
CHEM, RED, STATS, BIO, CALC |
|
Tom Edwards |
5 |
2 |
7 |
GEO, CHEM, PHYS, CLASS, CALC, TECH (O), STATS (O) |
|
Toby Harvie |
6 |
1 |
7 |
TECH, GEO, CHEM, PHYS, ENGL, STATS, CALC (O) |
|
Corin Simcock |
4 |
3 |
7 |
GEO, PHYS, STATS, BIO, TECH (O), CHEM (O), CALC (O) |
|
Luke Zhu |
7 |
1 |
8 |
GEO, CHEM, PHYS, ENGL, STATS, CALC, AGH, BIO (O) |
Five Year 12 and two Year 11 students also gained Scholarships, as below:
|
2022 YEAR LEVEL |
NAME |
SCHOLARSHIP |
SUBJECTS |
|
11 |
Christine Jeon |
1 |
MUSIC |
|
12 |
Gemma Lewis |
2 |
CHEM, STATS |
|
12 |
Annika MacDonald |
3 |
CHEM, PHYS, STATS |
|
12 |
Lachlan Odlin |
2 |
CHEM, HISTORY |
|
12 |
Daniel Robertson |
1 |
PHYS |
|
12 |
William Russell |
1 |
GEO |
|
11 |
Megan Simpson |
1 |
PHE |
NZQA Top Scholar Awards (St Andrew’s College Leavers 2022)
Breaking News … Yesterday four of our students were named as a Premier Scholar, Outstanding Scholar or Top Subject Scholar in New Zealand.
Premier Award: Corin Simcock has been named as one of the top 11 scholars in New Zealand. He, and one student from Burnside High School, are the only students in the South Island to achieve this award. Corin will receive his award from the Prime Minister in Wellington in the coming weeks. A Premier Award earns Corin $10,000 each year for three years of his university studies.
Outstanding Scholar Award: Luke Zhu, Toby Harvie and Tom Edwards have been named as recipients of the Outstanding Scholar Award. Recipients of this award are in the top 62 scholars in New Zealand, earning each student $5,000 each year for three years of their university studies.
Top Subject Scholar Award: Tom Edwards has been named as a Top Subject Scholar in Digital Technology. This award earns Tom $2,000 each year for three years of his university studies.
We warmly congratulate all our students on this outstanding success and look forward to celebrating our Scholarship winners along with Excellence Endorsements at next Friday’s Academic Assembly.
Year 9 Welcome Evening: Thank you to parents who attended the Year 9 Welcome Evening on Thursday. It was great to welcome parents back in person to this event after the restrictions of last year. Thank you also to Head of Middle School Mikae Tuu’u, Year 9 Dean Liz Gormack, and the Year 9 tutors for their input into this informative and social event.
Boarders: Last weekend our Year 9 boarders enjoyed three days of special activity organised by Director of Boarding, Matt Parr and the boarding staff. Congratulations to our Year 9 boarders who have made a great effort to settle into their home away from home. This weekend is the Boarders’ Weekend for Years 9–13. Best wishes to Head of Girls’ Boarding Freddy Todhunter, Head of Boys’ Boarding George MacLeod, and the Boarding House Leaders for an activity packed weekend.
Helen Balch Memorial Service: We were saddened to hear that Helen Balch, Itinerant Teacher of Speech and Drama for many years at St Andrew’s College, passed away recently. A memorial service for Helen will be held on Wednesday 8 March at 3.00pm in the St Andrew’s College Centennial Chapel. We extend our sympathies and thoughts to Helen’s family.
Heoi anō tāku mō nāianei,
Best wishes
Christine Leighton
Rector
We seem to be in a good space with regards to COVID-19 at the moment, with staff and student absence related to the virus very low. However, it is important that we keep a close eye on the situation and as such we please ask that you continue to report to the College any COVID-19 related student absence using the same process as for non-COVID-19 related absences. Ākonga (students) who are household contacts but test negative and do not have COVID-19 symptoms, should continue to attend school.
Parent Guidelines >
Ākonga Absence and Ill-health
A polite reminder that any ākonga 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 below.
Recording a Student Absence >
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).
Staff and student leaders started the year on a high note attending an inspiring presentation delivered by resilience expert, Dr Sven Hansen. In this blog post, Head of Well-being, Kerry Larby reflects on the main ideas she took away from his inspiring session, including thoughts on creating rhythm and finding flow in life and prioritising self-care in order to contribute to others.
Read the Latest Well-being Blog Post >Yesterday evening, the Year 9 whānau community met in the Centennial Chapel where they heard from Head of Middle School Mikae Tuu'u, Year 9 Dean Liz Gormack, and Rector Christine Leighton. This year’s Heads of College were introduced and shared some insights into their journey towards their leadership roles. Following this, whānau met in tutor groups and had some great discussions on how their children have started the school year and raised any questions. This was followed by some drinks and nibbles in the Senior College.
At the same time, Peer Support Leaders ran an activity evening for the Year 9 students around the campus. The theme was ‘tutor group battles’ and the groups enjoyed activities including a bouncy obstacle course, charades, team plank challenge and tug of war. The night was high energy and a lot of fun.
A total of 32 Year 9 boarders have joined the College and Boarding Houses this year. Over Waitangi Weekend the students completed an orientation programme to get to know the boarding staff and one another. Saturday activities included 10-pin bowling, a visit to Adrenaline Forest, fish and chip lunch and a surfing lesson in Sumner, followed by a swim at Jellie Park in the evening. On Sunday the students experienced an overnight stay at the Castle Hill Lodge and enjoyed a jet boat ride at Alpine Jet Thrills in Springfield.
The Castle Hill Outdoor Education staff ran an orienteering activity and boarding staff ran some Adventure Based Learning (ABL) games designed to plant seeds for the boarding journey. These challenges required tolerance, good communication skills, valuing other people, inclusiveness, and collaboration to be successful – much like what is required as a boarder. Monday morning was spent rock climbing and abseiling before the students headed ‘home’.
On Tuesday, the Year 7 students spent a day at Sumner Beach learning to surf. The day was part of their Transition to Year 7 programme. The students learnt the basics of surfing and body surfing with a strong emphasis on surf safety. The day was also an opportunity for students to get to know each other outside of the classroom and form new friendships and connections.
On Thursday, Year 7 students faced another challenge by testing their skills at the Adrenalin Forest Aerial Park, in over 100 challenges across six different levels. They learnt to work co-operatively with others to assist them and to persist when the challenges became more difficult. Students also spent time at Spencer Park playing co-operative and team building games.
The Year 1–3 students enjoyed an action-packed day at South New Brighton Surf Life Saving Club this week, learning about IRBs (Inflatable Rescue Boats), safety rules around water and in the sun, and had fun playing beach games and boogie boarding. The Year 3 students also learnt about the 3 R’s if caught in a rip (Raise, Relax and Ride).
Holly Munro (OC 2021) has been selected for the National Netball League Mainland squad. Arlya Guard (OC 2022) and Sienna Stowers-Smith (Year 13) have been named in the 2023 Development squad. This is a key competition on Netball New Zealand’s calendar, underpinning the ANZ Premiership and is vital in strengthening the performance pathway for emerging talent and competitiveness of New Zealand ‘s elite teams.
Noah Cole (Year 11) plays futsal for the Canterbury Dragons U15 Boys’ team and won the National League final against Wellington Phoenix Capital 6–4 in extra time. This was Wellington's only loss and was a very high quality and fast paced boys' youth final.
In addition to the students mentioned last week, two other students have been successful in the casting of the production Frozen Jr, which will run in the Court Theatre children’s show in July. Edward Keenan (Year 9) will be playing the reindeer Sven and Austen Fraser (Year 6) will be in the company.
Seb Calder (OC2019) and Joel Lam (OC 2020) are playing for the Crusaders this afternoon against fellow Old Collegian Will Stodart (OC 2021) who is part of the Highlanders team.
Good luck to all students who are representing the College over the weekend in sports and cultural activities over the weekend.
There is a very limited amount of St Andrew’s College scrunchies still available to purchase. These are made from blazer material and come in sizes small or large, $10.00 each.
Purchase Online >
In Weeks 4–5, Writer-in-Residence, Kerrin P. Sharpe will be running half-day student writing workshops in The Green Library and Innovation Centre. This is a rare, free, opportunity for students to work an extended period with an acclaimed writer to develop, complete and submit one or more pieces of poetry or prose. The Years 9–10 workshop will be on Wednesday 22 February, and the Years 11–13 workshop will be on Wednesday 1 March. Interested students should ask their English teacher for a permission letter which should be signed by their subject teachers and returned to their English teacher by the Monday before the workshop.
We have a record number of students joining choirs this year. It has been great to have such talent and enthusiasm join us before we head away for music camp in two weeks. There is still time for students to join any of the 25+ music groups that we have at St Andrew’s College.
Being in groups is a great way to meet people with similar interests and become part of many communities. In most cases, students juggle both sporting and cultural commitments. Students can get more information about any of these groups by coming along to a session or emailing Performing Arts Co-ordinator, Ginnie Thorner at GTH@stac.school.nz.
As a College we are offering an opportunity to all Year 11–13 students to participate in some generic conditioning sessions. At this stage we strongly recommend that summer sport is the priority. These are voluntary sessions and are designed as an extra opportunity to assist our athletes across many codes. This will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays 6.45am–7.30am at the athletics track, during the rest of February only.
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.
