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Dear Parents and Caregivers
Kia ora koutou katoa.
This week began with a trip to Dunedin for 150 students and staff for the traditional McGlashan and Columba Colleges exchange. Both the girls’ and boys’ exchanges were evenly matched, and the students certainly enjoyed the opportunity to play against teams not in the Christchurch competition.
On Monday St Andrew’s College hosted the ‘Thriving Minds’ philosophy conference in the Centennial Chapel. Over 170 students from 17 schools around Christchurch and the wider Canterbury area gathered to work with visiting academics from Oxford University and King’s College. Thank you to our Academic Extension and Enrichment teacher Ellen Hampson for organising this opportunity.
This is a particularly busy time of year for our music groups. On Saturday, the Big Band and Jazz Orchestra took part in the Ōtautahi Jazz Jam spectacular, on Wednesday Staccoro, Stacchorus, VOX16 and our two Barbershop groups performed at a lunchtime concert at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, and tomorrow nine rock bands are competing in the Regional Rockquest competition. Thank you to all our music staff for the great variety of opportunities provided.
Last night at the May Board meeting, our Chief Information Officer Dave Hart gave a presentation on Cybersecurity and Digital Transformation, College Chaplain Rev. Paul Morrow reflected on the role of the chaplaincy and the RE programme and the important place this has in our StAC culture, and our Executive Team member and Head of Values and Culture Hamish Bell presented the overview of ‘Education Outside the Classroom’ with a focus on health and safety. The recent caving tragedy in Whangārei has put a spotlight on Outdoor Education programmes and school trips. The St Andrew’s Board and Senior Management regularly review the College’s Health and Safety programmes and practices. We have confidence our Outdoor Education programmes at Castle Hill are professionally run with very high standards of health and safety. External audits are conducted each year by AdventureMark. We will complete a more comprehensive report for parents in the coming weeks.
Tomorrow is a busy day on our campus with our annual Rugby Club Day. All 11 teams (four Preparatory School and seven Secondary School) will play at St Andrew’s College with the 1st XV annual fixture against Christchurch Boys’ High School at 2.45pm. There should be a great atmosphere, with refreshments organised by the Rugby Committee.
This weekend St Andrew’s is also hosting the 50 Years On Reunion with 52 Old Collegians returning to catch up with school friends – Form 3 (Year 9) from 1972–1973. The annual Ceilidh, organised by the Pipe Band Supporters Committee, is also being held on Saturday night with the silent auction now open (details in the notices section below). Thank you to all who are attending this fun Scottish night which is an important fundraiser for the Pipe Band’s upcoming trip to the World Championships in Scotland later this year.
Best wishes to all for a good weekend.
Ngā mihi mahana
Christine Leighton
Rector
Eleven teams travelled down to Dunedin on Sunday to compete in the annual sports exchange against John McGlashan College and Columba College. Five matches were played on Sunday afternoon and 11 matches on Monday, with a number of matches being played for a second time.
The games were competitive and played in good spirits. On the girls’ side of the exchange, Columba won the exchange 6–2, with two matches being drawn. On the boys’ side, St Andrew’s won the exchange 3–2 with one drawn match.
Yesterday, a number of our up-and-coming young leaders attended the ‘Lead with Character Youth Leadership Day’ at the Christchurch Town Hall. The day was all about how co-founders Ritchie McCaw and Dan Carter believe sport and character development can positively transform the lives of people and communities, providing a connection and sense of belonging toward a greater good. The students listened to Ritchie, Dan, Dame Valarie Adams and Dame Sophie Pascoe about their journeys and the key character strengths that made them the force they were in their chosen sports and also life after sport. It was a fantastic opportunity for the students, and they thoroughly enjoyed the Leadership day.
On Saturday the Big Band and Jazz Orchestra took part in the Ōtautahi Jazz Jam Spectacular at Christchurch Boys’ High School. This is a recent initiative started by Christchurch schools to provide an opportunity for local groups to get together and perform in a friendly, non-competitive environment to a receptive audience. Both bands proved to be the highlight of the night with stunning performances.
On Wednesday the Staccoro, Stacchorus, VOX16 choirs and the Senior and Junior barbershops performed at an annual lunch-hour concert at St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral. The performance was well received and finished with a combined item of the three choirs singing My Hearts in the Highlands.
On Tuesday the Year 10–13 Drama students attended a school’s matinee performance of the award-winning play Appropriate at the Court Theatre. The students were mesmerised by the performances and the story. Following the show there was a Q+A session in which the students found out more about the actors’ processes to bring this to life.
On Tuesday, 10 Senior College students visited Trimble’s Christchurch office to gain insight into engineering, technology, IT and surveying career pathways. Trimble is internationally recognised as a world-leading company in the field of connecting the physical and digital worlds through hardware, software and services across agriculture, construction, geospatial and transportation. Students had the opportunity to use some of the latest GPS and GNSS devices as well as see some current developments in Virtual Reality devices focused on improving Health and Safety training for New Zealand construction companies.
Sam Wilkinson from Tesla spoke with the Year 13 students at Focus on Monday. Sam shared his views on how students can best position themselves for a future in an ever-changing technological work environment. Students had the chance to see the latest Tesla Model 3 as well as hear about Tesla’s focus on the future of sustainable transportation.
On Monday, the Preparatory School held their annual Cross Country. Students participated at a range of levels and demonstrated success both on and off the track, with all students involved in one way or another. With participation at the forefront, there was a close race between houses regarding participation points. Thompson made up a lot of ground with very strong runners, however, was pipped at the post by one point, with Erwin House winning the 2023 Preparatory School Cross Country.
This term our Year 5 students are taking on the role of Mission Command. Class 5A and 5C have buddied up with two local engineers, Keegan Chen from WSP and Nina Chen from Beca, who are supporting our budding STEM enthusiasts to design, build and launch their water rockets. While the rockets are flying, students will learn about Newton’s laws, the engineering design process, and working as a team. Keegan and Nina are volunteer industry ambassadors from the Wonder Project, Engineering New Zealand’s free programme for schools, designed to get young Kiwis excited about science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). We are extremely grateful to Keegan and Nina for their weekly commitment to help bring this rocket challenge to life. We also wish to thank WSP and Beca for allowing the weekly visits from their inspirational young engineers. This invaluable time spent with our tamariki illuminates potential future careers in an industry where there is a huge skills shortfall.
FOOTBALL
The Girls’ 1st XI played Rangi Ruru Girls’ School this week defending the Connetics Shield for the first time in schoolgirls’ history. The game started balanced, with St Andrew’s creating more opportunities. Rangi Ruru's goalkeeper had a fantastic first half, which kept things even leading to the break. The second half saw St Andrew’s dominating possession and creating more opportunities. Alyssa Sanders (Year 10) scored her first goal of the season in the 12th minute of the first half and again in the second half. St Andrew’s dominated possession and finished the game with a 2–0 win and kept the shield.
Playing a rotated Boys’ 1st XI team against John McGlashan College last weekend gave many players a weekend off. Students who played well in the Sports Exchange were given the chance to feature in the game this Wednesday against St Bede’s College, a tough league fixture against a top-of-the-table team for the past few years. From the start St Bede’s looked to press high and play the ball in St Andrew’s half, with varied success. The players set up very well and defended honourably but despite this, the final score was 0–2. The Man of the Match was goalkeeper, Fraser Balasingam (Year 11) who pulled off some great saves and kept St Andrew’s in the game.
HOCKEY
In their first competitive match of the season, the Girls’ 1st XI played Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. Rangi started strongly in the first quarter, but in the two middle quarters, St Andrew’s turned things around and played some good hockey. Going into the last quarter St Andrew’s was up by two goals and had a win in their sights. Rangi came back strong in the last quarter and with not a lot of time left scored the equaliser to make it a 2–2 draw.
Playing against Ashburton College, the Boys’ 1st XI threw the ball around waiting for their scoring chances. They didn’t have to wait long and at the end of the second quarter St Andrew’s were 3–1 up. St Andrew’s kept the pressure on throughout, with the match ending in a 3–1 win.
NETBALL
The Senior A game against Kereru C was a ‘nail biter’ with St Andrew’s up by three goals in the second half. However, by the end of the third quarter, the score was even, 37–37. With the shooters making sure every goal went in and the remainder of the team working hard to get every intercept possible, the final score was 50–49 to St Andrew’s. Ruby McPhail (Year 11) played her first game in the Premier 2 competition as the centre in the nerve-racking last quarter.
Wednesday’s game against Rangiora High School was an important one to ensure the Senior A team reaches its goals. The St Andrew’s players started strong, with some very good play at the attacking end. The defence strived to get every loose ball so that it could then be converted into a goal. Excellent shooting by Savannah Caulfield (Year 12) meant that each quarter we gained a few more goals to finish with a 43–26 win.
RUGBY
Last weekend, the 1st XV had a very hard-fought 22–8 win over Marlborough Boys’ High School on a very heavy field. The forwards rolled their sleeves up on Saturday and played extremely well in the conditions, making their first up tackles and controlling the ball well in the close contact areas. The half-time score was 15–8, but some great defence and the energy our bench players brought to the game starved Marlborough Boys’ of any opportunities to score in the second half. All 22 players contributed hugely to the win.
BASKETBALL
On Tuesday night Our Senior Girls’ team travelled to Kaiapoi for a 5.45pm tipoff. After jumping out to an early lead, the team were able to give all 12 players a run in a convincing 99–50 win.
Our Senior Boys’ team hosted the undefeated, number one-ranked, St Thomas of Canterbury team in the second game of the evening. Despite Mitchell Corkery's (Year 13) heroics on the offensive end, the team picked up their first loss of the season by a final margin of 66–76.
Today in the Senior College Assembly, the following students were presented their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award, many of whom are already working towards the prestigious Gold Award. There are now 25 students to date who have received their Silver Award in 2023.
Silver Awards: Nikkita McIntyre (Year 13), Isobel Bhatia, Lucia Croft, Jack Flanagan, Noah Grossmith, Madison Hughes, Jayden Okeroa, Jack O’Neil, Xanthe Pearce, Hugo Ranken, Samuel Scott, Alexandra Shepherd, Sienna Spark, Jemma Treleaven (all Year 12).
Gold Award: Campbell Searle (Year 13) received confirmation last week that his Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award has been approved by the National Office in Wellington.
Our pipe band drummers, assisted by our pipers, had the opportunity to compete in the first indoor competition of the season on Sunday 21 May. The competition was run by the newly formed Canterbury Drummers Club.
After the recent success in the VEX Nationals in February, the finals of the Canterbury Challenge were held at Tūranga last Saturday. The Canterbury Challenge was attended by seven local schools and is made up of two categories: VEX IQ which included two of our Preparatory School teams, and VEX VRC, which included five of our Secondary School teams.
This year’s VRC game, Colour Carnage, involved picking up coloured tennis balls and scoring them into portable goals. Three of the four teams in the finals were St Andrew’s teams made up of Victor Sherborne, Owen Menzies, Flynn Blackler (all Year 12), Oliver Murchison, Aki Hansen, Edison Pang, Oliver Cooper (all Year 11), Alexander Harbrow, Luke Manson, and Alex Manson (all Year 10). Two of the teams were in the same alliance and the third team was with a team from Ao Tawhiti but driven by a Burnside High School student. In the end, the alliance including Oliver Cooper, Alex and Luke Manson and the Ao Tawhiti robot came through and took out the final, making them the overall Canterbury Champions for this year.
In the IQ section, the game called Rise Above involved the students scoring Risers by placing them in goals and stacks; a bit like 3-dimensional tic tac toe. The competition was tough, as it included the Nationals winners from Hillmorton High School who had recently returned from the Worlds held in Texas in April. The St Andrew’s teams made up of Matilda Atkins, Charlotte Withers, Lyra Spenner, Zoe Spenner, James Bennett, and Jessica Armstrong (all Year 8) scrimmaged well but did not make the top four teams that made the finals. This competition was taken out by an alliance of Burnside High School and Hillmorton High School teams.
Three students competed in the Canterbury Secondary Schools Squash Championships held last weekend. Brooke Hughes (Year 12) had a condensed game schedule after withdrawals from the girls' competition, which saw her play three games on Sunday to place third. Jacob Bunting (Year 11) finished sixth in the A Grade, competing against older players. Ryan Hawker (Year 13) was graded as the top seed in the B Grade and won all his games to win the B Grade.
Luca Graham (Year 11) competed in the 2023 Apollo Projects Division II Swimming Competition, coming second in the 15-year-old 50m backstroke category. His time of 29.53 was also a personal best and met the New Zealand Short Course qualifying times.
At the North Canterbury Highland and National Dancing Association competition held last weekend, Iaera Abrahamson (Year 3), won Most Points Under 8 Years and Nayana Abrahamson (Year 1) won Most Points 6 Years and Under.
Kalisa Zhang (Year 8) competed at South Island Championships (Stage 4) over the weekend. She placed first for all four routines – Free, Hoop, Ball and Club, and won the overall South Island Championship.
Tanae Lavery (OC 2021) has been named in the New Zealand U23 3x3 basketball team to play in next month’s FIBA 3x3 U23 Nations League for the first time. The squad heads to Shandong, China in early June, where they will compete in six stops over six days alongside China, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia and Singapore.
Good luck to all students who are representing the College over the weekend in sports and cultural activities including:
Please continue to report to the College any COVID-19 related student absence using the same process as for non-COVID-19 related absences.
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).
We have a big weekend ahead with our Annual Rugby Club Day on Saturday 27 May. All teams will play at St Andrew’s College in a festival atmosphere. Our hard-working Rugby Committee along with parent volunteers from each team will host and feed all our players and visitors. Refreshments will be served out of the Cricket Pavilion. All parents are also welcome to support the players, catch up over a hot drink and connect as a rugby community. There will be a BBQ, a coffee truck, pipers and some exciting rugby on display.
The silent auction for the Ceilidh is live. Please register and view the Silent and Live auction items here, which are open to everyone.
REGISTER AND VIEW ONLINE AUCTION >
We still have a few tickets available for the Ceilidh tomorrow. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate our Scottish heritage and help support the Pipe Band get to Scotland for the World Championships this August this year.
Date: Saturday 27 May, 7.00pm
Venue: St Andrew's College Gym 1
Tickets: $69.00 (drink on arrival and light supper)
Orchestra and Chamber Group performance – All are invited to enjoy and support our wonderful classical musicians. Next Tuesday 30 May our College orchestras and seven chamber groups are performing in the Centennial Chapel. This is a great warm-up for all the chamber musicians who are about to compete in the NZCT Chamber Music competition.
Rockquest – We wish all the rock musicians well as they compete in Rockquest this Saturday at Burnside High School. St Andrew’s has nine bands competing which is the most of any school in Christchurch and possibly New Zealand. They are competing throughout the day with updates posted on Music Department Facebook.
Choir Tour – Staccoro and VOX choirs are going on tour next week to Oamaru, Dunedin and Timaru. The tour finishes at St Andrew’s next Friday evening, with a concert at 6.00pm in the Centennial Chapel. It would be great to have our community come along and support our singers, who are also about to compete in the Big Sing competition.
We invite you to follow the official St Andrew’s College social media accounts through the links below:
Instagram: @standrewscollegenz
Facebook: St Andrew's College
By following our accounts, you will have access to photos and the occasional video showcasing the events, latest news and activities taking place around the College involving our students and staff.
Join us for a fun and entertaining evening with coaching legends Andy Ellis, Stephen Fleming, Marianne Delaney-Hoshek and Shane Bond, who will provide insight into their experiences and what it takes to be a high-performing athlete, both on and off the field. This event will end with a Q+A session open to all guests who attend. Raffles and auctions will be held throughout the evening. The proceeds from this fundraiser will support St Andrew’s College rugby and cricket.
Date: Friday 23 June, 6.30pm
Venue: St Andrew’s College Gym 1
Tickets: $75.00
During this technology-focused presentation, St Andrew’s College staff and members of the College wider community will discuss the topic of technology and adolescent well-being. They will present their ideas about the positive and negative impacts of technology use and will reflect on the approach St Andrew’s has adopted in response to research about technology, pornography, teaching and learning and social media.
The evening will conclude with a panel discussion where parents will have the opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback, and consider strategies they can adopt at home to promote positive technological use and prioritise well-being.
Date: Tuesday 20 June
Time: 6.30pm–8.00pm
Location: Centennial Chapel
The online sales for the following 2023 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.
ORDER PHOTOGRAPHS ONLINE >
The Community Business Directory is on our website under Alumni & Community and represents over 100 parent businesses. Please 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.
