SCHOOL CALENDAR 2014 / 15

Term 4
Congratulations to our
Director of Sport, Teacher
in Charge of Rugby, Mr
Henley who has r ecently
received an award for
Outstanding Contribution
to Secondary School Rugby
at the QBE Insurance North
Harbour
Rugby
2014
Annual Awards. They read
out a wonderful citation
acknowledging his huge commitment to rugby at the
school. Mr Henley has worked hard to develop and
promote rugby, steadily increasing the number of teams
to 6, including a girls’ team. He has been our 1stXV
coach for several years, achieving promotion for the
team, to 1A. Mr Henley also works with the local rugby
club to recruit school leavers back into rugby, and
promotes rugby in our local schools.
Ex Student
It was great to see Alex Shegay in our staffroom today.
He was our Deputy Head Boy and Dux in 2010. He has
just completed his civil engineering degree, BE(1st class
Hons) at the University of Auckland and intends to study
for his PhD. His research will look at the performance of
concrete walls during an earthquake. Pretty relevant!
Year 9 Exams
starting Thursday November 20th
All Year 9 students have exams in their core subjects of
Maths, Science, English, and Social Studies. All exams
start at 8.45 and go for 2 hours. They will have one exam
a day, and then normal classes after that for the rest of
the day.
The Year 9 exam timetable is as follows:
th
Thursday 20
Friday 21st
Monday 24th
Tuesday 25th
Monday 17 November is Day 2
English
Maths
Social Studies
Science
Issue 5
14 November 2014
SCHOOL CALENDAR 2014 / 15
TERM 4
Week 6
Thur 20 Nov
Year 9 Exams
Week 9
Mon 8 Dec
Junior Activity Day
Wed 10 Dec
Junior Prizegiving &
Last day Term 4
TERM 1 2015
Week 1
Mon 2 Feb
Year 9s only
Tue 3 Feb
Whole school starts
Congratulations
to Katrina George
We have received wonderful
news that our Arts Person of
the Year, Katrina George, has
been offered a place at the
prestigious Toi Whakaari :
NZ’s
National
Drama
School in Wellington.
Auditions for a place are
really gruelling. Katrina was
one of over 300 applicants, which were shortlisted to 40,
and then again to 20. The auditions took place in
Wellington from 31 October to 3 November.
Surprisingly, Katrina says that at the time of the
auditions she didn’t actually feel nervous. However,
now that it has been confirmed that she has a place at the
school, she feels so excited and incredibly nervous! She
realises that it is unusual for a place to be offered to
someone straight from school, which only adds to her
excitement.
Toi Whakaari shar es facilities with New Zealand
School of Dance, which is another passion of Katrina’s.
Katrina will study for a Bachelor of Performing Arts,
which is a 3 year degree course. A whole new life
awaits in Wellington!
J O Mathewson, Principal
"Truly a class act"!
The senior Jazz Combo were hired over the weekend to provide music entertainment for James Russ's
40th birthday party. Mr Russ is a Director of Epsilon Lighting and a strong supporter of the school. He
invited the students to perform by way of supporting their studies.
1stXI Cricket
st
Last Saturday, Birkenhead College 1 XI had one game to go, to finish their 2014 season unbeaten.
After moving up a grade in Term 4, this team needed to step up their game to ensure they were strong
competitors for the other teams in this higher grade. The 1st X1 proved their prowess after firstly
dispatching Liston College, then last week, they beat Waitakere College 1st XI too. The game against
Waitakere was a fine display of quality cricket.
Waitakere won the toss and elected to bat first. A great opening spell of bowling by Captain Jonty
Hawkins and Jayson Jooste helped pick up a couple of wickets, and shar p thinking by
wicketkeeper Scotty Gannaway helped to get the Waitakere opening batsman run out. This got the BC
team off to the best possible chance of finishing unbeaten as the pressure was building on the Waitakere
batters. To sustain the momentum, BC needed another bowler to step up and take wickets. Matt Bristow
stepped up to the task in style, getting a double wicket maiden over (2 wickets and no runs). Other
bowlers who chipped in by taking wickets were: Frankie Sturny, Oban Hawkins and Kyle Macadam.
Waitakere were bowled out for 116 from 24 overs. This meant that BC cricket team had 24 overs to get
117 runs, in order to stay unbeaten. In the end BC very comfortably got the runs required with good
knocks from Matt Bristow 32 runs not out, Jason 26 runs and Kyle 27 runs not out.
Well done boys! A big thank you goes out to Birkenhead Cricket for supplying Mr Akesh Christian as
coach, Mr Mckeown and Mrs Macadam (school coach and manager), Mr & Mrs Bristow, Mr Cox and
Mr Hawkins (scor er s and umpir es) for helping out thr oughout the year .
Pictured – Jayson Jooste running in to bowl the first over.
Congratulations to Josh Davies
BRIGHT SPARKS 2014 — THE RISE OF THE DIGITAL NATIVE
http://www.brightsparks.org.nz/what-is-bright-sparks/
This year there was a noticeable increase in the number of digital entries for Bright Sparks 2014 competition,
with more than 100 entries being submitted from around New Zealand.
We were very proud that our
own Josh Davies, 9WT, was
selected as a finalist in the
2014
Bright
Sparks
competition after submitting
the Scratch computer game
created
in
his
Digital
Technologies class. Well done,
Josh!!
The Bright Sparks competition,
now in its 14th year, was set up
to encourage youngsters to get
involved
in
electronics,
software design and technology
using a hands-on approach.
Bright Sparks manager, Ross Petersen, said
software entries had increased again this year, a
reflection of the changing technological landscape. “The rise of the digital native is
becoming more apparent as each year goes by,” Petersen said.
Prominent New Zealanders Sir Ray Avery (Keynote address) and Michelle Dickinson
(MC) were in attendance.
Ms McCavana
Junior Activity Day 2014
Junior Speech Competition
The Activity day for Year 9 and 10 students will be
on Monday 8th December.
There will be a variety of
in school and out of school
activities e.g. Sports/swim/
movie, Paintball, Pamper
Day,
Rainbow’s
end,
Waiwera,
the Zoo,
Golf, Horse riding, and more. Some
will be free, others more expensive.
Letters with details will be sent
home next week.
The 2014 Junior Speech Competition was held on
Thursday. Ten finalists gave powerful speeches
on topical themes including judgement,
maoritanga, beauty and animal cruelty.
Students will only be able to join in
activities if they have no outstanding
detentions and have returned all
library
books.
Sports and music
fees should also be
paid.
Both of the winning speeches for this year tackled
defining happiness. Sherry Ng (10YA) was the
2014 winner, with Kate Watt (9ED) receiving the
runner-up prize. Both speeches left a clear,
positive message: be happy being you! A huge
congratulations to all of the participants in the
speech finals. Speech winners with two of the judges
(Ms Mexted & Mr Rutheray)
Defensive Driving
North Shore
9 Ponderosa Drive,
Browns Bay
Learn the skills to become a safer driver, reduce the
time on your Restricted Licence by 6 months.
Holiday Programmes
1.
Tue 25 Nov, Thur 27 Nov, Tue 2 Dec,
Thur 4 Dec.
2.
Mon12 Jan, Wed 14 Jan, Mon 19 Jan,
Wed 21 Jan.
You must attend all four sessions. If you wish to
attend or require further information please phone
476 3603 or 027 494 5794
Email: [email protected]
www.defensivedrivingnorthshore.co.nz
KidsCan Santa Run
The Great KidsCan Santa Run is a 2-3km fun run/
walk in a Santa suit to raise funds for KidsCan!
It will be held on Wednesday 3rd December at
6.30pm.
Register for the Auckland North (Albany) event,
with the start/finish on Albany Lakes Bridge, near
Westfield Albany.
Adult "one size fits all" Santa Suits are
provided, although they are too big for
children (12yrs and under). For those
younger ones there have been
awesome outfits and dressing up in
previous years. Lots of elves, Rudolphs and other
characters make the run and are rewarded with a spot
prizes for the best dressed.
Birkenhead Primary
School Fair
Sunday 16 Nov
10am—2pm
Put the date in your diaries, a
fun day for all the family, featuring an International Food
Hall, Bouncy Castles, Face Painting, Fun Rides, BBQ,
Waterslide, Entertainment, Rollerballs, Prizes, and much
more!
Can you assist...
The Drama Department is requesting information/
ideas and resources as we start preparations for our
production next year based on WW1. If anyone has
family members who were deeply affected by
World War 1 (either as participants or people who
stayed home), or have objects or remembrances
from the war that they would like to share, please
contact Mr. Willis or Ms. Eichstaedt. We would
love to hear from you.
Lost Property: Ther e ar e sever al jackets and
jumpers that have not been claimed. Please see
Mrs Eberly at the Sick Bay if yours is missing.
Borrowed Shoes: PLEASE r etur n shoes, socks
and other uniform items that have been borrowed.
We really need them, especially the shoes – our
stocks are very limited.
2014 Yearbook
Please don’t forget to order your copy of the 2014
Yearbook as we will only have limited supplies.
$20 per copy. This is a wonderful, colourful
record of our year. There are always a large
number of photos, including the standard class and
sports photos.
Looking for a career in Natural
Health?
Open Evening on Tuesday 18 November from
6pm , at 6 Francis Street, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Wellpark College of Natural Therapies is over 20
years old, they offer NZQA accredited courses,
certificates, and Diploma and Degree courses. The
subjects they teach are Naturopathic and Herbal
Medicine, Nutrition, Yoga Teacher Training and
Yoga Therapy and Certificates and Diploma's in
Massage.
School Publications - if
you do not wish
your child’s image to be used in any school
publication, please advise me of this in writing.
Linda Asselbergs - Privacy Officer