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Dear Parents and Caregivers
Kia ora koutou katoa.
Today’s Assembly focussed on the success of our sports teams, individuals and Pipe Band at a National and South Island level. Thomas Russel (OC 2017) was our special guest who presented the rowing medals from Maadi Cup. Thomas graduated from StAC in 2017 and was a member of the U18 Boys’ rowing crew who won Gold in both the Springbok Shield and Maadi Cup in the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ regatta that year. He is a great example of athletic talent, determination and resilience and, having represented New Zealand in rowing in recent years, is hoping to return to rowing to win a spot in the Olympics 2028 after recovering from a current shoulder injury. A number of awards were presented to the Pipe Band, Girls’ Basketball, Golf, Mountain Biking, Mixed Touch, Mixed Tennis, Girls’ Futsal, Girls’ Volleyball and Rowing – all of whom won medals or Top three placings in South Island or National tournaments. Colour Awards were also presented to 16 individual athletes.
Rector’s Assembly Address >
Assembly Awards >
Assembly Flickr >
On Thursday the Right Reverend Rose Luxford, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa, was our guest in Secondary School Chapel. Her message of being your authentic self and finding reasons to be hopeful was well received by the students. I was again reminded how fortunate our students are to hear thoughtful and inspirational messages from a variety of guests, Old Collegians and staff members in chapels, assemblies and Deans Hui.
Last evening was the second Board of Governors meeting for the year. Mathematics Teacher and Data Analyst Sarah Exon, along with Head of Secondary School Evert van Florenstein, presented to the Board on NCEA and Scholarship results and evidence of ‘Value Added’ in student achievement. They also explained StAC responses to NCEA changes and the strengthening of Literacy and Numeracy through Year 9 and 10 programmes.
A second presentation explored the College’s risk management strategy around cybersecurity and the response plan in the event of cyber-attack or a significant failure of core systems. Lead by our Chief Information Officer, Dave Hart, we are well informed of the threats to data and information security or the impact of potential loss of IT services. We have several mitigations in place to help protect sensitive information and functionality, but we as a collective staff know everyone has their part to play.
Congratulations to Maggie McConnochie (Year 10) on the marvellous success in winning the Silver medal at the Easter Hawkes Bay Highland Games competition. This National achievement is unprecedented for a Year 10 student. Congratulations also to Harrison Justice (Year 13) and Daniel Liu (Year 11) who will be joining with three other StAC students – Tayla Eagle (Year 12), Sam Foote (Year 11) and Lucas Paterson (Year 13), in the National Youth Band of New Zealand who are travelling to Canda to compete in July.
Best wishes to all for a good weekend after a short week!
Ngā mihi nui
Christine Leighton
Rector
It was great to host Downlands College from Toowomba in Australia and Christchurch Girls’ High School at St Andrew’s College over Easter weekend to launch the girls' rugby sevens pre-season programme. Some great rugby, fun and connection was on display.
Two St Andrew’s netball teams also played against visiting Downlands College on Saturday. Both matches exposed our players to a new style of netball and were highly competitive. The girls enjoyed playing against new opposition and were please to record two strong wins.
Twelve students attended Wānanga 1 at Ara yesterday as part of PMP Haumi (Programming Māori and Pasifika Potential). This is St Andrew’s second year in this competition run by parent Chante Hakiwai, after last year securing second place in the nationals. The St Andrew’s tutors are Raiha Campbell and Te Koha Ware (OC 2023). Wānanga 1 was about creating a brand identity that reflects the shared values of each team.
Yesterday the Year 9 cohort competed in their first of a number of Tutor Group competitions – the Wearable Arts fashion show. Students were tasked with creating a garment out of completely recycled materials and given three weeks to complete their pieces. Each tutor group came up with a theme and design for their garment which was explained to the audience whilst their chosen model presented the piece. There was a wonderful array of various designs and concepts which made the judging very difficult! Head of Art, Mallory Swadel and Student Head of Art, Oscar Reed (Year 13) had the unenviable task of deciding which garments, themes and presentations placed on the podium. In the end, 9KBO and 9BMK were awarded first place for their respective designs with 9WPI coming in second and 9DJS taking out third place.
FLICKR >Maggie McConnochie (Year 10) was a major prize winner at the annual Hawkes Bay Easter Highland Games. Maggie won the Comunn na Piobaireachd Silver Medal and John Allan Magee Memorial Trophy playing Lament for Finlay following on from her success of winning the Bronze Medal in 2023. She also won the Under 21 New Zealand Championship Piobaireachd playing the tune The Little Spree. Results as follows:
Results:
Around 30 St Andrew’s College students competed last Thursday at the Canterbury Secondary Schools Athletics finals. Highlights were the trifecta in the U15 Boys’ 800m of Kupa Rule, Oliver Jackways and Samuel Cook (all Year 11) and the eight other titles won. Oliver Jackways also won the 400m and was third in the high jump. Jock Sidey (Year 11) had a good day winning the Under 16 Boys’ Javelin, placing second in the 100m and fourth in the 200m. Melenaite Havea (Year 11) won both the Under 16 Shot and Discus while Abigail Scott-Douglas (Year 11) won the U16 Steeplechase and was third in the U15 1500m, behind Sophie Lampe (Year 10) who won the event. Cohnor Walsh (Year 11) won the U16 3000m and placed second in the 1500m. The U14 Boys’ 4x100m team finished first. There were also six other second placings and eight further third placings.
FLICKR >
The New Zealand Grass Kart Championship was held over three days in Timaru over Easter. Josh Silcock (Year 13) finished second in the 0–205cc Four Stroke Class, with his brother Harri Silcock (OC 2019) winning the championship. In one race of six total, there was only 0.04 of a second between them over the finish line.
Over Easter weekend, the Senior Boys’ and Girls’ basketball teams had a chance to shake off the proverbial cobwebs at the CBA pre-season tournament. The girls won all five of their games to win the tournament, and the Boys’ team went 3–3 to finish fourth.
FLICKR >
Georgia Gregg (Year 7) competed over the Easter Weekend in the Oxford Show and won the Under 16 trophy for the Highland reel and won the trophy for the Most Promising dancer of the competition.
Siara Clarke (Year 13) performed in the Hastings Highland Games over Easter, winning seven out of 10 dances, including two North Island Championships for the Highland Reel and Sailors Hornpipe, and two Hawkes Bay Championships, for the Irish Reel and Sword Dance, and also winning the trophy for the Most Points Under 18 years.
Genevieve and Katrina Wallis (both Year 10) represented Canterbury in the U14 Girls’ category at the New Zealand Waterski National Championships at Piarere, Lake Karapiro from 26–31 March. Genevieve came in third overall with two Bronze placings in Slalom and Jump and a fourth placing in Trick. Katrina won Gold in Slalom, making her New Zealand champion of this discipline, along with a Bronze and PB for Trick and a Silver and PB for Jump. Katrina also received a Women’s Silver Star Series placing at the Nationals prizegiving. These awards recognise the best skiers in their age groups across the whole season. Katrina won third place and Genevieve came fourth.
Sam Hoshek (Year 8) has been selected for the North Canterbury Representative A basketball team.
Tenor drummer Harrison Justice (Year 13) and side drummer Daniel Liu (Year 11) have been accepted into the National Youth Pipe Band of New Zealand. They join existing St Andrew’s Pipe Band students Lucas Paterson (Year 13), Tayla Eagle (Year 12) and Sam Foote (Year 11). The band is currently preparing for a trip to Canada in July.
Genevieve and Katrina Wallis (both Year 10) represented New Zealand as members of the U14 water ski team that competed in the Oz Kiwi Challenge at Lake Wiritoa, Whanganui from 15–18 February. It was Genevieve's first international cap and she skied personal bests in the competition’s three disciplines. Both girls then competed at the Canterbury Regional Championships at Lake Hood in mid-March, with Katrina winning the category overall and Genevieve coming in second. Genevieve received two silvers for Slalom and Trick, and Gold for Jump, while Katrina took Gold for Slalom and Trick and Silver for Jump.
A group of Old Cols represented Canterbury in the New Zealand Mixed Nationals Easter Netball Tournament in Auckland at the weekend. Charlotte Elley (OC 2014), Sam Paterson (OC 2017) and Olivia Clark (OC 2017) were in the Canterbury A Mixed Open team. Grace Cameron (OC 2021), Arlya Guard (OC 2022) and Holly Maraki (Year 13) were selected for the Canterbury U23 Mixed team. The U23 team lost their final by one goal in the final seconds and the A team placed fifth across their grade.
Harri Silcock (OC 2019) was unbeaten in all six rounds of racing to become New Zealand Champion in the 0–205cc Four Stroke Class.
Alicia Smith (OC 2019) has received the Distinguished Undergraduate Award from the Universities Space Research Association (USRA), becoming just the second non-American student to receive one of these prestigious international awards. The Frederick A. Tarantino Memorial Scholarship Award comes with US$5000. Alicia is now working for Rocket Lab in Auckland and graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Canterbury this week.
Frankie Morrow (OC 2019) has been signed for the Florida Elite Soccer Academy for the Summer League football season in Florida.
Tapenisa Havea (Head Girl 2021), representing Arizona University, recently won the shot put to open the outdoor season with the second-best mark in the nation and a new personal best of 16.83m.
Gary Christie (OC 1959) visited the College from Auckland to donate a saxophone he played while he was at St Andrew's College to the Music Department.
Good luck to all students who are representing the College over the weekend in the following sports and cultural activities:
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 StAC Careers Expo is being held on Wednesday 8 May in the Senior College Common Room, 5.00–6.30pm (the first Wednesday of Term 2). Over 25 Tertiary and industry representatives from around New Zealand will be in attendance. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to find out more about pathway opportunities beyond school.
Learn more about the Expo on the StAC Careers website by clicking here >
The online sales for the following 2024 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
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
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.
