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Dear Parents and Caregivers
Kia ora koutou katoa.
This week has seen the start of NZQA examinations for NCEA Levels 1, 2, 3 and Scholarship. The students I have spoken to have seemed disciplined and focused, ensuring they are well prepared to give these their ‘best shot’. Some students are sitting as many as 10 external examinations with NCEA and Scholarship combined.
In the last week some impressive individual student achievements have come to light:
Earlier this week the NCEA Art Folios were on display in the Centennial Chapel foyer. It was great to see so many parents on campus to view their child’s work and that of other students. The painting, photography and design folios were impressive in their creativity, imagination, flair and technique. Well done to all!
Good luck to the Pipe Band who will be competing at the Hororata Games this weekend and to the Year 10 students some of whom begin their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh and Te Waka Solo next week at Castle Hill.
Board of Governors’ (BOG) Meeting
At last night’s BOG meeting, two half-hour presentations took place. The first was from our Four Heads of College Lily, Torin, Poppy and Lachlan. Their reflections focused on their leadership highlights, goals and achievements, and thoughts on critical issues for young people now and in the future. This impressive group are representative of our graduates, and we wish them and all other leavers the very best.
A second presentation was from our Health & Safety Manager, Art Preuss. Art has now been in his role for three months and has already made himself well-known around the campus. In identifying the top 10 critical risks, Art has focused his attention on making our campus and activities safer for all tamariki and staff.
Central to this is a ‘Shared Culture’ whereby all students, staff and parents recognise the need for safe practice everywhere. One of the critical risk areas is our Drop-Off Zone. While Art is introducing better and more visible controls to make this area safe, each one of us is responsible for the way we behave while driving in this busy area. Thank you for your continued vigilance and patience at busy times.
With it being a short week next week, the next Rector’s Comment will be Friday 24 November 2023.
Best wishes to all for a good (and hopefully warmer) weekend.
Ngā mihi mahana
Christine Leighton
Rector
In this blog post, Head of Well-being, Kerry Larby provides some reminders about how best to revise and prepare for examinations. Prioritising well-being, creating a plan, and using time effectively are key messages.
READ THE WELL-BEING BLOG >Yesterday, the Year 10 cohort visited the Christchurch Adventure Park as part of their Year 10 Te Waka programme Challenge Day. The activities involved team problem-solving in an outdoor education setting, as well as a 5km uphill walk to the top of the Christchurch Adventure Park where the students got to enjoy the beautiful view of Ōtautahi, before coming down on the chairlift.
The purpose of the experience was to provide opportunities for our students to tackle problems, learn from their mistakes, work with others in a pressured environment, and build knowledge and resilience. It was a fabulous day enjoyed by everyone. Thank you to all students for embracing the experience and giving it their best effort and the staff for allowing the day to run so smoothly.
Sebastian May (Year 13) has won the 2023 New Zealand Men’s Amateur Golf Championship. Sebastian beat Auckland’s Steven Van Heerden 6&5 in the 36-hole final at Hamilton Golf Club – St Andrews Course, to write his name next to many New Zealand golfing legends. The final started as a close affair with both players trading 1up leads, which was the margin Sebastian held at the midway point. After lunch, Sebastian birdied four of the next nine holes to establish an insurmountable lead. He quickly found himself Dormie 6, and calmly rolled in a 15-foot putt to win on the 31st.
Bede Miller (Year 13) won Best Cinematography for his film The Swap at the International Youth Silent Film Festival. The awards ceremony was held in Tauranga last Thursday and Bede attended the ceremony to accept the award. The International Youth Silent Film Festival (IYSFF) is a global competition that challenges young filmmakers from across the USA, Australia, The UAE, and New Zealand to create a three-minute silent film set to one of 10 musical scores composed especially for the festival. The top three winning films are now entered into the Grand Final competition that is held in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Maniah Taefu and Makenzie Disher (both Year 9) have been selected for the HoopNation U16 Girls X-posure Tour team. Rafferty and Ophelia Powell (both Year 12) were also selected for the U18 X-posure Tour team. The tour allows athletes to play in the world’s biggest youth basketball event hosted in Melbourne.
The annual Canterbury Secondary Schools Junior Volleyball Championships were held last weekend. On day one the Junior A Girls’ team (Division 1) beat Te Aratai College and Rangiora High School to qualify into the top eight. They then had two close contests, the first against Burnside High School A, losing 28–26 in the third set decider, and the second against Christchurch Girls’ High School, who they beat to qualify first in the pool. The semi-final was against Villa Maria College A, who they beat to then meet tournament favourites St Margaret’s College in the final. The team put up a strong performance throughout the game, finishing second overall.
The Junior A Boys’ team (Division 1) also had a successful weekend, finishing in the top six. On the first day, the team had strong wins against Hornby High School A and St Thomas of Canterbury College A to successfully make it into the top eight. Day two provided a tougher challenge coming up against eventual finalists Riccarton High School A and Te Whānau Tahi A. Despite losing to both teams, the team regrouped on the final day and came away with a win against Middleton Grange School A and a close loss against Christ’s College A.
For a number of ākonga in the Junior B Girls’ team (Division 2), this was their first tournament, and they had an awesome weekend of volleyball. On the first day, they beat Papanui High School and lost to Cashmere High School, to make the top eight in the division. Day two started with a good win against Riccarton High School and a loss to eventual winners Hillview High School. This led to a must-win game against Burnside High School B to make the semi-finals. After a close 1–2 loss the team played off for 5–8. Day three consisted of a win against Christchurch Girls’ High School B and a close loss to Riccarton High School to finish sixth overall out of 14 teams.
FLICKR >
Georgia Lewis (Year 10) debuted in the 1/4 midget car class at Ruapuna Speedway's opening meet. Starting rear of the field with her fellow rookies, she kept tidy lines and moved forward in all three heats, passing a total of 13 cars and won 1/4 Midget Driver of the Night.
The 1st XI played North West at Burnside Park on Saturday. Sent into bat the St Andrew’s top order struggled on a good wicket and were in a precious position at 57/8. Timothy Richardson (Year 12) and Will Ullrich (Year 13) combined to produce a fighting partnership of 138, with Richardson making a debut 106 n.o and Ullrich 22 n.o to give St Andrew’s a score of 195. Richardson showed great maturity and composure in craving his century. Having North West in trouble at 64/5, they too combined in a good partnership, with the St Andrew’s team unable to sustain enough pressure to create opportunities. North West got the runs in the 49th over seven wickets down. Toby Smith (Year 12) bowled well with 3/36. The team now go into a top-four round robin and play St Bede’s College at home this Saturday.
Last Thursday and Friday, a group of 10 enthusiastic Year 7–8 cricketers took part in the annual Canterbury Junior Cricket Association (CJCA) Girls’ Cricket Festival at Hagley Park. Playing three 20/20 games over the two days, the girls were eager to put their bowling and batting skills to the test against some of the other schools in Canterbury. There were some great individual performances and the St Andrew’s team scored well over 100 runs in each of their games as they defeated Cobham Intermediate School and Cathedral Grammar School, and narrowly lost to Christchurch South Karamata Intermediate School.
On Wednesday, two Preparatory School tennis teams competed at the annual Canterbury Primary Schools Tennis Championships. This year both teams took part in the ‘Open’ section comprising 14 school teams. StAC 1 - Alexander Allan, Oliver Gilbert, Toby Lang, and Theo Smith (all Year 8) finished the tournament in second place. StAC 2 – Billie Feaver-Banks (Year 8), Frank McHarg (Year 6), Mia McHarg (Year 8) and Sabine Waghorn (Year 7) finished the tournament in third place.
Cameron Lyons (Year 8) was successful with her recent audition with the New Zealand School of Dance, in their elite ‘Classical Major – Associates’ programme. With many competitive dancers competing throughout New Zealand for just a handful of places, this is a wonderful achievement for Cameron. This part-time programme sees dancers travel to Wellington for intensive weekend training to study with New Zealand’s best practitioners, as a pre-selection for a possible future career in the art form.
Neve Aitken (Year 10) was successful with her recent audition to continue with her place in the elite ‘Contemporary Major – Associates’ part-time programme with the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) in Wellington.
Last weekend, Georgia Gregg (Year 6) competed at the Pleasant Point competition for Highland dance and won Most Points U12.
Rylee McBride (Year 11) has been selected as a member of the Swimming Canterbury West Coast (SCWC) Gold Squad. In recognition of this achievement, Rylee has also been invited to attend the upcoming 2023 SCWC Annual Awards Dinner.
Alvin Na (Year 9) represented New Zealand as part of the tennis U14 team which competed in Europe earlier this year. He will soon depart for Florida for a one-month trip as part of the same team, sponsored by the Grand Slam Player Development Programme and the International Tennis Federation.
Lauren Whittaker (Year 13) has been named in the Tall Ferns (the New Zealand national basketball team) extended squad in the lead-up for FIBA Qualifying and the 2024 Olympics. New Zealand basketball podcast Shooting the Breeze named Lauren Whittaker as their pick for the best current player in her age group in New Zealand.
Gemma Lewis (Year 13) riding Ruanuku R was selected for the New Zealand team for the FEI World Dressage Challenge (WDC), being by far the youngest team member of the four-team riders in this open competition. Gemma rode in the Intermediate I class (the highest class at the WDC) and scored 67.35%, winning her class and achieving a counting score for the New Zealand team, as well as the top score for New Zealand Individual rankings on the world stage. Gemma also won the Fair Play Award for the New Zealand competition for her thoughtfulness towards other competitors.
Britney-Lee Nicholson (OC 2017) is now the top goal scorer of all time for the New Zealand Futsal Ferns after scoring two goals against the Philippines. Britney-Lee is our Girls’ futsal and football current Head Coach.
Sam Gilbert (OC 2016) has signed with the Highlanders, and Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula (OC 2021) has joined the Fijian Drua for the 2024 season of Super Rugby Pacific.
Good luck to all students who are representing the College over the weekend in sports and cultural activities, including:
The College has been working with SchoolDocs to create a website for our policies and procedures. We are excited to announce that the site is now live and available to our school community.
The College works on a subscription basis with SchoolDocs to maintain, update, and review our policies. SchoolDocs provides us with a comprehensive core set of policies, which have been well researched and align with the National Education and Learning Priorities. The policies and procedures have been tailored to the College, and the College supplies specific information such as our values, and procedures for behaviour management, reporting to parents/caregivers, etc.
SchoolDocs updates, modifies, or creates policies in response to changes in legislation or Ministry guidelines, significant events, reviews/requests from schools, and regular reviewing from the SchoolDocs team. Our Board of Governors has the opportunity to view changes/additions and comment on them before they are implemented. We will advise you when policies are up for review and how you can take part in the review.
College Policies >We are looking forward to welcoming our current, past and potential future members of the St Andrew’s College community at the Canterbury A&P Show. Please look out for us on our new site M58 and M59, in the Schools and Education Zone on MacKenzie Drive.
This year we present Trilogy, a triple bill showcasing three different performance presentations in one show! Kaleidoscope – a colourful fusion of dances developed over this year, creating a kaleidoscope of artistic endeavours. Peter and the Wolf – a delightful ballet that tells the story of Peter, his animal friends and a menacing wolf, with a score composed by Sergei Prokofiev in which each character is represented by a distinct musical theme. Winterscape – an original ballet, capturing the spirit and beauty of winter, journeying from a misty landscape to an enchanting skating party.
When: Friday 1 December – Saturday 2 December 2023
Where: Gym 1
Adult ticket: $35.00
Student ticket: $20.00
Please note: Seating allocation will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
PURCHASE TICKETS >For those who placed a PTA Christmas Goodies order, there will be several opportunities to collect your order from the Second-hand Uniform Shop, on the following dates and times:
COLLECTION DATES/TIMES
Please note unless arranged directly with the PTA, these are the only collection times available.
You can reach out to PTA member, Rachel Gunn, on email by clicking here if you need to arrange an alternative.
Strowan House Receptionist Marisa Cappetta will be launching her new book, a poetry collection called Tender Insurrections published by Sudden Valley Press, here at St Andrew’s College in the Strowan House Staff Room. Marisa graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Hagley Writers’ Institute in 2011, winning the 2011 Margaret Mahy prize. In 2013 she was awarded a mentorship with James Norcliffe by the New Zealand Society of Authors. Her first poetry collection was How to Tour the World on a Flying Fox (Steele Roberts, 2016. Tender Insurrections is described as “a kaleidoscopic roller-coaster ride. With a jeweller’s precision, figures from myth, personal history, and the heart-breaking world of our current times, are clipped, layered, and framed in a way that brings them shockingly to life.”
For more information about the book or to pre-order, please click here.
To RSVP your attendance at the book launch event, please email Marisa on MCA@stac.school.nz for catering purposes.
The Community Service team is helping organise the College’s contribution to the Christchurch City Mission’s Christmas Appeal. Students and their families are invited to help disadvantaged children by donating gifts for children aged 3–14. The unwrapped purchased gifts can be taken and placed under the Christmas tree in the Centennial Chapel. This is a great opportunity to help our wider Christchurch community during the Christmas period, which can be a tough time for families, so we hope you all get involved. For more information, please contact communityservice@stac.school.nz.
Please bring in your donation by Wednesday 6 December.
Come along to a gathering in the Scottish Highland tradition. Hosted by St Andrew’s College in partnership with the Canterbury Caledonian Society Pipe Band, join us for this free event as we celebrate all things Scottish, with a hint of Christmas cheer! Featuring piping, drumming, Highland dancing, Scottish country dancing, and a Pipe Band contest. With a bouncy castle, food vendors and a licensed bar, there’s something for everyone to enjoy at this fun, family day out!
When: Sunday 3 December, 9.00am–5.00pm
Where: St Andrew’s College Field
This is a free, non-ticketed event, no bookings are required.
With senior students departing campus next week to prepare for external examinations, starting on Monda 30 October, the Sports Department will be offering an additional slot in the Fitness Centre, 11.00am– 1.00pm, to support student well-being. These slots will be fully supervised to help support our students.
Operating Hours
Monday – Friday: 6.30am – 8.00am, 11.00am – 1.00pm, 3.30pm – 5.45pm, 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Saturday: 9.00am – 11.00am
Sunday: 9.00am – 12.00pm
End Date: 28 November 2023
With international borders well and truly open and the movement of people across boarders back to normal. We have the privilege of having international students join us at St Andrew’s College to enrich their learning journey.
We are looking for families who are willing to host international students in their homes in the following three capacities:
For more information please Director of International Students and Exchanges, Pale Tauti at PTU@stac.school.nz.
All 2023 photographs are now available to purchase online:
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 >
Effective from 12.01am Tuesday 15 August, the seven-day mandatory isolation period for positive COVID-19 cases has been removed. The Ministry guidance is to stay at home for five days if you test positive for COVID-19, but this is not a requirement. However, 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.
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).
For a full list of upcoming school events, please refer to the fixtures page on StACNet.
