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Newsletter
No.5 - 13th June, 2006
PRINCIPAL'S
NOTES
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Changes
to the Normal Timetable: School Closure, 12 June
The decision to close the school at 11.00am yesterday morning
followed a 2.5 hour period without classroom lighting and
heating and with the prospect of another 2.5 hours without
the electrically powered sewerage pumps needed to keep the
toilets operational. Fortunately, Ritchies were able to provide
buses to service the Balmoral and Titirangi routes.
Late
Start for Year 10s on Wednesday, 14 June
Springs hosts the Year 8 Ponsonby Intermediate students for
a full menu of workshops covering all curriculum areas on
Wednesday morning, 14 June. As a result of the impact on our
teaching resources Year 10 students are asked to delay their
arrival at school until interval ( 11.00-11.30am ). The normal
teaching timetable will operate for periods 3, 4 & 5.
If this schedule change seriously inconveniences any families,
parents are welcome to contact the school office staff so
that arrangements for supervised study can be made for your
daughter or son during periods 1 & 2.
Early
Finish: Paid Union Meeting, 23 June, 12.30pm
The school is required by law to finish early on Friday, 23
June, to enable the teaching staff to attend a regional NZPPTA
meeting to address issues relating to the upcoming renegotiation
of the Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement. Consequently,
all students will finish their lessons for the day at 12.30.
End-Of
Term Farewell for Springs Librarian
After over 15 years of wonderful service to the students and
teaching staff of Western Springs College librarian Jenny
Harper has decided to take on the challenge of managing a
library in a tertiary institution. Towards the end of the
month Jenny will take up the librarian’s position at
St John’s Theological College in Meadowbank.
During
her tenure at Springs, which began in 1991, Jenny has led
or facilitated an impressive range of developments which have
made the college library a true centre of learning. Jenny
readily embraced the move to improve student access to the
library by increasing the hours: for a number of years the
doors have opened before school at 8.00am and do not close
until 5.00pm. She has always shown an active awareness of
the changing interests of students and technological developments,
witnessed, for example, by the way that graphic novels have
become such a popular feature of library borrowing in recent
months.
Jenny
must be credited for the excellence of the special collections
– Maori; Pasifika; Asian – which distinguish the
Springs library, and for the constantly changing, eye-catching
displays which have helped generate student and staff interest
in current events and research themes. Not least noteworthy
is the physical environment Jenny has created: our library
is a wonderfully welcoming, aesthetically pleasing space where
students feel at home and inclined to linger. Jenny, you have
served us so well!
Sports
Facility Development
The WSC Sports Facilities Development Committee has decided
to invest $300,000 in the construction of an artificial turf
surface across the courts area. The internal fence dividing
the courts in half will be removed, opening up the whole area
for Physical Education and Sports Academy classes as well
as sports team practices in hockey, netball, basketball, touch,
soccer and rugby, not to mention the provision of six tennis
courts and a running track around the perimeter. We expect
the works to be completed by term four this year.
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Social
Studies Department
Asian-Wise
Competition – Promoting the Social Sciences:
Once again this challenging learning experience is being offered
to all Year 9 and 10 students. They will be tested on their research
skills, particularly in the use of ICT to answer 50 multi choice
questions. The questions will focus on Australia, New Zealand and
Asia. Different topics are covered, they include Geography, History,
Climate and Famous People.
In
previous years our students have achieved excellent results and
I anticipate the same success this year. This is an excellent opportunity
to do extension work in Social Studies.
All
students will receive a certificate recognising their achievement
and this year the department will acknowledge the top student with
a reward.
Sharda Patel
News
from the mathematics Department
1.
In the previous newsletter, we put parents to the test with 3 problems.
Here are the answers:
Problem 1: How many lame ducks? Answer: There were 12
Problem 2: How many sheep and how many turkeys? Answer: 9 sheep,
18 turkeys
Problem 3: The minimum number of people required for the relations
to exist was 7.
2.
Maths Extension program:
The first of two half-year programmes for junior students is slowly
but surely coming to an end with students working towards presenting
their information through oral presentations and displays. Topics
include human reaction time related to sport, carbon dating, maths
in music and much more. Student selection for the second half-year
programmes will take place at the end of this term.
3.
Maths Publication:
With student editor Tom Wilson and student mentor Catherine Roberts
at the wheel, Maths Uncensored is yet again well on its way to becoming
a very popular and interesting read. Articles cover topics such
as blackjack, bunny populations, eggs and omelettes and much more.
The publication date is set for later this term.
Thea Kilian
Paanui
mai te Wharepukapuka/ Notice from the Library
In
2005, two Rumaki students from Nga Puna o Waiorea achieved highly
in the Ngarimu VC and 28th Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund essay
competition. Book credits to their school library formed part of
their prizes. Te Ura Taripo Hoskins won the Senior English and Rei
McLay won the Intermediate English competitions. Te Ura chose a
high quality hardback book of the coffee table variety about the
dress designer Chanel. Rewi chose the autobiography of Anthony Kiedis,
lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers, who has survived to escape
the drug dependency trap. There was even enough in Te Ura’s
and Rewi’s credit to replace some much-read and worn out fiction
in the Pukapuka Whakamarama Maori collection.
Several
donations have been made to the Library this year. Staff have passed
on good used books and recent magazines of high quality, and one
member of the Board of Trustees has been especially generous in
sending the payment involved in this position to the Library accounts.
Many thanks.
On
the purchasing side, the Library has just bought the new edition
of the World Book encyclopaedia, an excellent source of quickly-accessed,
well-researched, trustworthy and reliable information which never
goes off-line and is pitched perfectly for our readers.
Jenny Harper
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Performing
Arts
The
‘Bring it On’ hip hop dance group performed recently
at the Western Zone competition. After 6 weeks’ rehearsal
led by Jeremy Poi and Desiree Westerlund, the group of experienced
and beginner dancers grew in skill and confidence. Though
they knew their dance was not competitive with groups such
as Kelston (the Boys’ High School were winners) and Massey,
their enthusiasm remained high and their seriousness carried
them through. Ms Davison, who organised rehearsals and ran
the group, expects student leaders to emerge for next year’s
competition.
Bruce
De Grut
Comedy
Festival
Winner of the Stand-Up Comedian Award at last weekend’s
Class Comedians Showcase, Alaric Arapai.
The
Showcase, part of the Oddfellows NZ International Comedy Festival,
featured students from secondary schools all over Auckland.
Look
out for Alaric as MC for the Fiafia Night on June 29th.
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Winner
of the Stand-Up Comedian Award at last weekend’s
Class Comedians Showcase, Alaric Arapai.
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Ponsonby
Intermediate Dance Exponents
Ponsonby
Intermediate students have nearly completed a term of Dance
at WSC. They have learned salsa, contemporary dance and hip
hop and have created their own imaginative dance sequences.
Look
out for their performance at the Arts Festival in Week 8,
18th - 23rd June, 6 – 8pm.
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Arts
Festival in Tapac and hall 18 – 23 June Week 8
| Sun.18 |
Mon.
19
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Tue.
20 |
Wed.
21 |
Thurs.
22 |
Fri.
23 |
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4
– 6pm Battle of our Bands - hall |
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Video
Fest |
Video
Fest |
Video
Fest |
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| 6pm
Literary Festival |
6pm
Theatre Sports/comedy
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6pm
Wearable Art |
6pm
Year 10 plays |
6.30pm
Music concert |
6pm
Dance |
| 7
pm Top Girls |
7.30
pm Top Girls
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7.30
pm Top Girls |
8pm
Chalk Circle |
8pm
Chalk Circle |
8pm
Chalk Circle |
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Shakespeare
Festival
Congratulations
to Anthea Hill and Alida Breitag who received three awards
at the national Sheilagh Winn Festival of Shakespeare in Schools,
in Wellington at Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
Anthea
and Alida, selected to represent Auckland at the regional
competitions last term, returned with the Student-Directed
Ensemble Award and the Globe Link Award for Interaction. Additionally,
Alida collected a Special Individual Performance award.
The
girls chose a scene from Henry V which was spoken entirely
in French!
Further
to the Shakespeare win, Anthea Hill has won a place at the
National Shakespeare workshop in New Plymouth. Only 30 students
nationally were chosen. From this group 15 will be selected
to visit the Globe in London next year.
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Alida
Breitag, Anthea Hill and Josefine Welsch perform in Top Girls
at the upcoming Arts Festival. Arts Festival in Tapac and
hall 18 – 23 June, Week 8
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Stage
Challenge
Dancers,
set-builders, costume workers and the organising team have been
putting many hours in to complete the necessary tasks ready for
the big performance day; 14th June. However, these tasks (which
include the construction of a 4m high rocket, and the making of
70 costumes) could not have been made possible without the financial
support of Harry Gosselman from Atomic Roasted, the Auckland Petanque
Association for allowing us to hold a baking fundraiser for one
of their tournaments, the PAG who gave us the opportunity to do
three Ericsson Stadium clean-ups, and the students, parents and
PAG members who helped to pick up rubbish at these clean-ups.
This
year’s theme is ‘Alien To Me’. It explores a German
philosopher’s theory of the process that a person goes through
when dealing with the unknown. The story follows three astronauts
who have landed on an unchartered planet and proceed to encounter
three differing tribes of aliens, each representing a stage of dealing
with the unknown; rejection, curiosity and acceptance.
Come
and see the show!
Tickets can be bought at Ticketec.
We hope to see you there!
Message
from Dal McGuirk, Dean of International Students
Host
families for international students required.
Our partner language school, Worldwide School of English, is
looking for host families in our area. At times it has short term
family bookings (mother and child) or individual international students
requiring homestay accommodation. Payments are from $250 per week
for an individual child up to nearly $800 per week for a family
of 4 (2 bedrooms). They also have a need for host families interested
in hosting older students. Rates are from $190 per week for over
18 year olds. Please also note that currently the IRD do not tax
income earned from a homestay student. If interested please contact
:
Mrs
Jeanne Northwood on 302 5288 or jeanne@worldwideschoolofenglish.com
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