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Dear Parents and Caregivers
Kia ora koutou katoa.
This week’s Rector’s Comment comes to you from the stunning Lake Ruataniwha and the 75th Maadi Cup with over 1,400 competitors. After a week of perfect conditions, the finals on Friday and Saturday have begun with great excitement for the St Andrew’s College crews who have battled it out with strong New Zealand competition and have made it to eight B Finals and six A Finals over the two days. In the last hour, St Andrew’s has secured two amazing gold medals in the U16 Boys Coxed 4 and the U16 Girls Coxed 8, plus a gutsy effort to secure a silver by the U18 Boys Coxed 4 in the Springbok Shield behind Hamilton Boys’ High School, which was an outstanding result for these senior boys who have put so much into their season. They will combine with the rest of the U18 crew in the Maadi Cup final.
Of course, other students have been competing in this Summer Tournament Week with great competition and amazing results (see below). Medallists have included:
On Thursday evening, the St Andrew’s rowing parents hosted a cocktail function on the shores of the lake in conjunction with Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. Parents from North Island schools enjoyed mingling with Christchurch independent schools. Two StAC Year 13 students, Jack Boon and Matthew Lee, delighted the 400 strong crowd with Jack’s piping and Matthew’s Address to a Haggis. Calm and perfect conditions made this a South Island night to remember!
Of course, while our students were competing all over New Zealand the rest of the College were getting down to business at 347 Papanui Road. Yesterday in chapel, Secondary School students were treated to a stunning performance from Chloe McFedries (Year 10). This is the first time Chloe has sung a solo at school and she stunned everyone with her performance of You Say. This song was a great addition to a powerful message from Religious Education teacher Bridget Roth on the power of words. Please click here to view her performance.
That is the wrap up for this week. Thanks to all staff away with teams and to those continuing with teaching and learning at school, it has been a big week!
Best wishes to all our rowing crews competing tomorrow, including the StAC U18 Boys’ 8 in the ultimate prize of the Maadi Cup.
Nga mihi nui
Christine Leighton
Rector
The final corrected results from the annual Secondary School House Swimming Sports are now available, by clicking here.
Following a highly successful Fiafia Night, our Polyfest group attended the Canterbury Polyfest 2024 on Saturday. Canterbury Polyfest is a representation of Pasifika traditional dance, music and customs featuring secondary school students from around Canterbury. Performing fifth out of 23 schools, the group represented the College and their cultures with the upmost pride and passion. It is safe to say that as a school, we are extremely proud of the legacy that this group has created, and we look forward to seeing more from them later in the year. Faafetai Lava.
Flickr >
Year 13 students Siara Clarke, Alexandra Hirschfeld, Jenna Howell, Grace Vincent Parr and Aria Wilke attended a Changemaker Leadership Day for young women at Avonside Girls’ High School on Thursday. Designed to unleash leadership potential and hosted by Student Engagement Manager at Waikato University, Victoria Gray, students made meaningful connections with other young women around Ōtautahi. Key messages were to be yourself, understand you are part of a legacy of other wahine toa, and look out for others along the way.
This week was La Semaine de la Francophonie – an international week to celebrate countries and territories around the world where French is spoken. Staff were able to test their knowledge of the French speaking world with a Kahoot quiz. On Wednesday lunchtime there was a quiz featuring five teams of staff versus students, with first place tied between the staff team and a Year 12 boys’ team, appropriately called ‘The Winners’. All students of French found out about countries where French is spoken. Year 10 French students researched a different country and created a poster. The Year 9 French students shared with their class three facts about a French speaking country, whilst enjoying some Belgian waffles. Learning about other languages and cultures is a wonderful way of connecting with each other. C’était une semaine fantastique!
St Andrew's College hosted a highly successful club rugby muster on Tuesday for Years 9–13. The morning began with a parent information session around all aspects of the rugby development programme. Players then participated in a position-specific session delivered by St Andrew’s coaches and invited specialist coaches. Attention to detail and understanding players’ positions and roles was the focus. This was followed by mini games and a club BBQ to connect our rugby community. Thank to specialist coaches who kindly gave up their time to support the programme: ex All Black coach Mike Cron, Crusaders Super Players Seb Calder (OC 2019), Tahlor Cahill and Joel Lam (OC 2020), Mid Canterbury Coaches Matt Winter and Jimmy McLeod, and Crusaders Academy player, Hugh Robinson.
Xavier Dickason (OC 2020) visited 9ACEE this week to present a lecture focused on the challenges of being a Gifted and Talented student and provided helpful tips and solutions to these challenges. Xavier’s lecture covered common issues amongst GATE students such procrastination, boredom, perfectionism, and burnout. Xavier completed his BA (triple majoring in Political Science, European Union studies and French) in 2023. He has since commenced a master’s degree at the University of Canterbury focused on Political Science and International Relations.
During a recent Theatresports session, Dan Allan, a Court Jester from the Court Theatre, took the students through games and strategies to help their improvisational skills. Dan is currently playing Monsieur Bouc in the Agatha Christie run of Murder on the Orient Express at the Court Theatre. It was 90 minutes of much laughter, weird noises and strange characters. In other words, a typical Theatresports practice. Any interested Secondary School students can message Year 10 Dean, Liz Gormack, for more details about joining this group.
Rehearsals for the Preparatory School production, The Aurora Stone, are well under way. Year 13 students have been coming in to help over the last two weeks. Head of Dance, Shaun Cooper (Year 13) has choreographed a piece for two Year 8 classes. Cultural Captain Jenna Howell, Head of Theatresports Tamaroa Connolly, and Head of Drama Dara Ballard (all Year 13) have all helped direct scenes and help the younger students bring their characters to life. Keep an eye out for more information on ticket sales in Term 2.
This morning, Pre-school tamariki took part in a music session lead by award winning children’s musician Michal Bush (aka Music with Michal). Michal’s music is the perfect balance of catchy, meaningful, joyful and silly – just the right mix to capture Pre-schoolers! This morning, the children sang and danced along to some familiar tunes such as Rockabye Your Bear and Sleeping Bunnies, and also learnt a new song Pirate Party. The children had a lot of fun – a music and movement session was a fabulous way to end the week.
FLICKR >
This year we have had 13 teams and two squads representing St Andrew’s College in nine different sports, competing from Tauranga down to Invercargill.
New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championships (Aon Maadi Regatta) – There has been a lot of success on the water for our rowers so far, with our Girls’ U18 Double of Libby McNee and Abby Baxter (both Year 13) placing second in their B final to get a top 10 place nationally in a notoriously difficult event. A fourth place from our Boys’ U18 Quad got the ball rolling on what was going to be an epic 30 minutes for our U16 rowers. A win by a length in the A final of the Boys’ U16 4 (Bradley Hughes, Kaelan Graham, William Currie (all Year 12), Oliver Barker (Year 11) and William Kamo (Year 13) (cox)) was the first gold of the regatta. Following this, our U16 Girls’ 8+ (Robbie Miller (Year 12) (cox), Lucia Apse, Katie Taggart, Alanna Brook, Chloe Lowe, Sayler Hedgcock (all Year 11), Abbie Hartstonge, Sophia Drury and Mollie Thomas (all Year 12)) made history by winning our first Girls’ 8 medal ever, winning a nail biter to beat Rangi Ruru Girls’ School and Waikato Diocesan School for Girls in the boat named Christine Leighton. With our Boys’ U18 4 taking out silver late this afternoon in the Springbok Shield, and our Maadi Cup 8 in the final tomorrow afternoon, we have started off finals weekend well on the water.
South Island Secondary Schools Touch Championships – The Senior Mixed touch team performed very well at the South Island Secondary Schools Touch Championships at Sheldon Park last weekend, becoming South Island champions for the second consecutive year. The team played a strong semi-final, beating Rangiora High School and then in the final, the St Andrew’s team made a strong start and never looked back beating Lincoln High School 11–4.
COMBINED TOURNAMENT WEEK FLICKR >New Zealand Secondary Schools Volleyball Championships – The Senior A and B Girls’ and Senior Boys’ teams went to Palmerston North with high hopes of doing well in their respective divisions. The Senior A Girls had a wonderful tournament, playing some of their best volleyball of the season. They fought hard and in the semi-finals were beaten in a tight match. In the Bronze medal match today, the girls wonto secure third place in New Zealand. The Senior A Boys’ team also did very well winning Division 3, which was a great result and the perfect way to end their season. The Senior B Girls’ team fought hard throughout the championship and came a creditable 47th in New Zealand.
New Zealand Secondary Schools Tennis Championships – The Mixed tennis team consisting of Marija Filipovic, Jack Wheeler, Alvin Na (all Year 10), Lily McHarg, Ruby McPhail, and Ricky Kotepong (all Year 12), headed up to Auckland. The first round saw the team take on Kristin School, who they beat 6–0 and set them up well for the second round against Scots College. This again was a convincing performance, losing only one tie to a much higher ranked player, winning the tie 5–1. This led to a tie against Saint Kentigern College (another Presbyterian school) which was a very closely matched draw. At the end of the four singles matches, the round was tied on matches and sets and set up two great doubles matches. The students dug deep winning both mixed doubles resulting in a 4–2 win. This saw the team face Macleans College in the final, which was a huge task with all players ranked higher than ours. With our number two ranked boys’ player, Alvin Na, being taken away for a Tennis New Zealand teams event in Malaysia on the final day, it saw number three Jack Wheeler step up against a much higher ranked player – he showed true heart and guts and played really well but was defeated. The final score against Macleans was 5–1. The team finished second in New Zealand.
New Zealand Secondary Schools 3x3 Basketball Championships – The Girls’ team won the Basketball New Zealand 3x3 Championship after the three-day competition in Ashburton. The Boys’ team finished 12th against some tough competition.
South Island Secondary Schools Mountain Biking Championships – The mountain biking championships are being held at Coronet Peak in Queenstown, with three different categories – Cross Country, Downhill (which is not for the faint-hearted) and Enduro, a cross between cross country and downhill. When writing this report, William Pringle (Year 11) won silver in the Boys’ U17 Cross Country event and Abigail Scot-Douglas (Year 11) also won silver in the Girls’ U16 Cross Country event. A great start to the championships which end on Saturday.
South Island Secondary Schools Water Polo Championships – This year, we have our Senior A Boys’ team and Senior Girls’ team competing in the championships, which continues throughout the coming weekend. At the time of writing this report, the teams have only played a couple of games each, with the boys winning all their matches and the girls having a couple of defeats.
New Zealand Secondary Schools Futsal Championships – The Senior A Girls’ team had a fantastic run all the way from the group stage to the final where they beat Napier 4–1 to become New Zealand Secondary School Futsal National Champions. Amber de Wit (Year 12) was named MVP of the tournament. This is the first time in StAC history that the girls’ team have won this national tournament, and completes the treble for the 2024 season, after winning both the Canterbury Tournament and the Regional Championship.
Summer Tournament Week Latest Results >
Our A and B bands had 56 students competing at the Onewa Domain, Auckland last Friday and Saturday, accompanied by tutors and staff. Both bands had fantastic performances in the Juvenile event as well as the B Band in Grade 4A and the A Band in Grade 2, which are both adult grades. On the Friday night, the Pipe Band dinner with 112 students, staff and supporters, celebrated the contribution to the Pipe Band of Old Collegians (2023) Toby Cammock-Elliott, Connor Higgs, Emily Ung, Samuel Jaspersmith, George MacLeod, Quenn Lovatt and Georgia Eagle.
Juvenile: A Band – 1st Winning the 2003 Contest Committee Trophy; B Band – 4th.
The A Band also won the Antony Purvis Cup for Juvenile Bass and Mid-Section.
Grade 2 Championship: A Band – 2nd Winning the James Lothian Memorial Cup; A Band Drum Corps – New Zealand Champions, 1st Winning the Premier Lewis Eady Cup.
The A Band also won the I.D. Cameron Shield for College Aggregate and Street March and the A.A.P. Souter Challenge Cup for Dress.
Grade 4 Championship: B Band – 3rd.
Congratulations to our Pipe Band tutors Richard Hawke, Graeme Bryce and Jamie McEwan who performed with the Canterbury Caledonian Society Pipe Band – winning the Grade 1 Championship, and Tiffany Gilchrist who won the Grade 2 Championship with Celtic Pipe Band Inc. and also the Grade 4B Championship with South Canterbury Pipe Band.
FLICKR >
A small group of students competed in the Battery Zone New Zealand Jet Sport Nationals last weekend at the Mighty River Domain, Lake Karapiro.
Jake also won the Perpetual Cup for the New Zealand Jet Sports Boating Association (NZJSBA) #1NZ Jet Sports Rider of the Year.
Georgia Lewis (Year 11) travelled to the Horse of the Year Show in Hastings and competed over six days riding Patterns of Promise for two National Titles in Mounted Games. In the U15 pairs she came third and in the U18 teams she and her team were Reserve Champions.
A small group of students have been selected to participate in the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Symphony Orchestra (NZSSSO) course from Monday 15 – Saturday 20 April, at St Margaret’s College. Entry is by audition and is highly competitive. The successful applicants represent their school in a full-size orchestra made up of 80 secondary students from 33 schools from across New Zealand.
The 1st XI played day one of their match against St Bede’s College, at St Bede’s. Batting first on a wicket that offered plenty of assistance to the bowlers, the St Andrew’s opening batsmen of Spencer Hair (Year 11) and Jackson Hodgkinson (Year 13) negotiated a tough period and saw out the first 20 overs. At the lunch break St Andrew’s was 108/2 off 41 overs. Then William Carrodus (Year 13) 78 and Jack O’Rourke (Year 12) 129 n.o. combined to slay the bowling to all parts of the ground. O’Rourke’s innings was all class as he mixed his innings with power and finesse and got the score through to 269/4 declared. The bowlers then backed it up with great accuracy and had St Bede’s in all sorts of trouble, dismissing them for 70 with all the bowlers contributing. With St Bede’s back in, they negotiated the 15 minutes none down for five.
Other highlights were Angus Schmack (Year 9) and Hugo Peers (Year 9) who both made 58 against Christchurch Boys’ High School. Oliver Orchard (Year 10) compiled an incredibly good 81 against Rolleston College.
Neil MacLeod (OC 2016) released his new single, Fear, last week. Neil is a singer-songwriter, producer, engineer and artist. Neil recently received a nomination for Te Tohu Hopunga Puoro Mariu (Favourite EP/Mixtape) at the 2023 Student Radio Network Awards with his EP, We Have Known Lost Days.
Lose Faingaanuku, Holly Munro (both OC 2021) and Sienna Stowers-Smith (OC 2023) have been selected for the 2024 Mainland Synergy Hair Netball League team. Mainland open their Synergy Hair Netball League campaign when they play the Comets on 21 April.
Good luck to all students who are representing the College over the weekend in sports and cultural activities, including:
Get ready to be tickled pink! Our dazzling production of Legally Blonde is a high-energy, heartfelt production that will leave you cheering for girl power. Follow Elle Woods, the ultimate fashionista, as she trades her designer handbags for law books and takes Harvard Law School by storm. With catchy tunes, hilarious antics, and a dash of romance, this show celebrates empowerment, friendship, and the colour pink. So, grab your shades, slip into those stilettos, and join us for a legal drama where fashion is always in session! Recommended 13+ (a few sexual references).
When: Sunday 12 May – Saturday 18 May, 7.00pm (Sunday Theatre Opening event for donors only, no Wednesday show)
Where: St Andrew's College, Ngā Toi – Performing Arts Centre and Gough Family Theatre
Tickets: Adults $35.00 | Students $17.50
We are excited to confirm that the 2024 St Andrew’s College Black & Bling Ball is raising money to support the hockey and netball communities. The highly successful Black & Bling Ball is a biennial fixture on the St Andrew’s social calendar and incorporates a delicious sit-down dinner, a fully licensed bar, live and silent auctions, and live music.
The Ball will be held on Saturday 25 May in Gym 1. Please save the date and keep a look out for details on ticket sales, which will be sent out via email next week.
Dates and times for the Parent-Teacher Interviews (Years 9–13) this term are as follows:
Boarder Interviews: There will be no boarder interviews at the end of this term. This means that classes will finish at 3.20pm on Friday 12 April.
The first of this year's well-being information sessions, StACTalks, will focus on nutrition and fueling growing students to flourish. Join us to learn more about the science and importance of nutrition for teenage development and performance across all areas of school life, general health and well-being. Presenter Conrad Goodhew is an expert in his field, with a broad nutrition knowledge with links between high performance sport and general nutrition. He has his own private practice and has worked within the community, as well as with professional teams such as the Black Ferns and the Crusaders rugby team. He has also supported athletes in the Coast to Coast, and the Auckland, Queenstown and Hawke's Bay marathons, and Motatapu events. Important tips and information will be provided to help promote a flourishing student/athlete. This StACTalk is designed for both students and parents who are interested in understanding the science of nutrition and its link to performance, well-being and general function both mentally and physically.
Date: Monday 25 March
Time: 6.00pm–7.00pm
Location: Centennial Chapel
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).
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.
