Strata Issue 34

STRATA

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TE RM 4 2017 ISSUE 34

STRATA TE R M 4 2017 ISSUE 34

The ACG Strathallan Magazine

Tournament Week Winter Tournament Week is a national secondary schools’ sporting event that provides a great opportunity to build team spirit, make lasting friendships and have good fun. This year, Strathallan’s Premier Netball Team spent the week at the Auckland Netball Centre in Mount Wellington for the five day tournament, our Girls Football Team went to Whangarei, the Boys Hockey Team travelled to Wanganui and the First XI Boys Football Team headed to Hamilton. All teams thoroughly enjoyed their time away and found it to be a rewarding experience.

Callum McNally shared his experience of participating in the Boys’ Football tournament: “Fifteen of us represented Strathallan at the 2017 Secondary Schools Football Trident Tournament based in Hamilton. We drove down to our accommodation, the Rob Waddell Lodge at Lake Karapiro, arriving on Sunday afternoon to be ready for an early start the next morning. We were excited for the week of football to come.

After winning our first game on Monday morning, we came off the pitch feeling enthusiastic and ready for more wins. However, we were physically exhausted and were only just starting to realise the strength and endurance that would be required to play an entire week of sport.

Between games, the work of Janette King, our Flinchlock Release Practitioner, became invaluable in helping us rest and recover in the limited time between games.

Although Tournament Week was packed with competitive sport, we were still able to find the time during the week to unwind, relax and further bond as a team. On Wednesday afternoon, we were able to use the hot and cold pool facilities at the local Finlay Park, which allowed us some time to recover as well as spend time together as a team.

Overall, we placed 15th out of the 24 schools that participated in the tournament. It was obvious to see the high level of enjoyment that every single player, coach and helper had for the duration of the week. It was also extremely encouraging to see the general work ethic and positivity of the team, in both victory and defeat.”

Team captain, Josh King, also summed up his thoughts on the overall experience: “The week was very successful in improving our playing ability as well as building team chemistry. It was a great bonding experience with exceptional banter between the lads. Overall, it was a great experience which really helped the younger players in the squad, giving them a chance to grow and learn skills which will make them great leaders in future teams.”

We all know that sport provides many benefits for young people, such as opportunities to be social, and to improve health, wellbeing and social skills. But the learning that happens on trips such as these is invaluable to the students and, as the football boys have noted, benefit the team tremendously in terms of team spirit and bonding.

“The difference between success and failure is a great team”

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2017 ACG Strathallan

Sports Awards The following awards were presented:

Premier Sports Team of the Year

Equestrian Team

Lara Butler-Gallie, Eden Doull, Alena Dorotich, Molly O’Leary and Emelia Forsyth Sportsperson of the Year

Grace Schroder

(Rhythmic Gymnastics)

Junior Sportsperson of the Year

Regional Sports Team of the Year

(Equestrian)

Tegan Allan, Brierley Anderson, Enya Fuhlendorff, Kim Fowler, Alex Gosling, Nicola Hallberg, Danielle Harris, Alia Jones, Sara-Jane Moore, Sophie Povey, Georgia Vendt, Britney Walker, Brooke Wells, Renee Wells, Georgia Willis and Amy Wood

MacKenzie Sim

Girls First XI Football

Distinction awards: Charlotte Francis Molly O’Leary Eoin Ross Jacob Sahota Excellence award: Ella Chitty All Rounder of the Year

Daniel Tilsley

Honours awards: Scarlet Billingham Scarlet Boxall-Hunt Alena Dorotich Amber Goodger Georgia Long Grace Schroder MacKenzie Sim

Service awards: Dave Armstrong (Basketball) Simon Benge (Basketball) Michelle Engelbrecht (Netball) Jo McNally (Football) Marg Northcott (Netball) Tony Parker (Badminton) Paula Ross (Hockey) Robert Tilsley (Rugby) Shona Willis (Football)

(Athletics/High Jump/ Rugby/Basketball)

A special guest

Junior All Rounder of the Year

Georgia Long

(Gymnastics/Cross Country/ Swimming/Athletics)

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This year, Fiao’o Fa’amausili, retiring NZ Black Ferns captain, attended our Sports Awards as the guest speaker providing an inspirational message on how we should approach playing a sport, or any other life challenge for that matter: “You never lose, you either win or learn.” These words certainly rang true for all the nominees this year. Their achievements are really the tip of the iceberg of all the hard work they have invested in their sporting endeavours throughout the year. While their effort has not always met with success, they have continued to persist and persevere, always with the prize in their sights.

Congratulations to all our winners.

“You never lose, you either win or learn”

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Primary focus

A term in the life of a primary school student Besides their studies in the classroom, ACG Strathallan Primary students enjoy many activities beyond the classroom.

Cherie Boucher-Cunningham shares their exciting Term 3 programme with us:

Term 3 started with the Book Fair where students loved reading the new books that were on display in the atriums and filling out their wish lists. This was followed by Strathallan’s Got Talent with Michelle Gao winning the competition by playing a beautiful piano piece. A special mention goes to Minho Choi who rocked out a guitar solo and a Year Six Rap Group who gave us a lesson in comedic timing, for which they took out the People’s Choice Awards.

After weeks of daily cross-country training sessions, it was finals time.

Emilie Long from Year Four was happy to finish first equal with Charlotte Maxwell and is looking forward to 2018 where she will be eligible to compete at Inter-Schools. Melvin Jia was proud of trying his hardest after setting himself the goal of completing the entire course at a steady pace.

Daffodil Day saw money raised for the Cancer Society, and the Primary children were delighted when College students came down during lunchtime to give out Daffodil Day tattoos and stickers.

As we moved into the second half of the term, junior students had a busy night with the Year 0–1 picnic. According to Sam Maxwell, the best food on offer was pizza and cake, while Simrita’s favourite part was being able to play on the monkey bars at night time. The Year 3s had a field trip to Ambury Park where

Josh loved watching the cows being milked. Emmie and Bela also loved being able to make and eat their own butter.

All classes had five swimming sessions at Massey Pools where they took part in structured lessons and a water safety course. Many students spoke of how proud they were when they stepped out of their comfort zone and learned a new skill in the water.

After all this, the last week of term was even busier! Tuesday saw the seniors rolling out new fashion designs in this year’s Wearable Arts Show. The theme of “Imagination” gave plenty of inspiration: dragons, chefs, princesses, swordsmen and seasons, just to name a few. Wednesday was our second ‘challenge’ themed UFOs Day where firm favourites were the chance to create and complete an obstacle course in the hall and making personal marble runs.

Thursday night saw the Moana-themed disco, and some serious talent on the dance floor! Jamie Ruiterman and John Malins won the best dancer awards, with Lily Francis showcasing her high level of flexibility and balance in taking out the limbo competition.

All in all it was a busy term three, but what wonderful memories the Primary students have made which they will cherish for years to come.

“Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire” – W.B.Yeats

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Charity begins at home In a world full of need, it is important for students to not simply sympathise with the plight of those in need but know how to respond appropriately.

As a result, the House Leaders ran a charity drive to provide an opportunity for action.

What prompted you to do a house charity drive?

Nicola Campbell: We decided to do this charity appeal as we wanted our house system to include not only sports and cultural activities but community service as well. We don’t want everything to be a competition. We want all four houses to unite to support the local community, and, to maximize our impact, every house supported a different charity.

Caitlin Wallace: McLaren chose the SPCA, who are very much in need of blankets etc, so we thought it would be nice to work together with our house and collect as many blankets as possible. The SPCA does so much good work in our community so helping them in this way was really a way of showing how grateful we are for all they do.

Amy Johnston: Wilkins was in charge of the Salvation Army charity and we specifically focused on shoes. We chose to contribute to this charity as we feel that it is a great idea for us to be able to gift less fortunate people with good quality shoes that we don’t need.

What were the charities you supported and why?

What have you learnt from this experience?

Mckenzie Northcott: Batten House chose Riding for the Disabled because they are a well-known charity within the Papakura/ Pukekohe area and our school already has a connection with them. To promote this to our house, a Kahoot was made which incorporated an activity to encourage the students to get behind this appeal. It was a great way to encourage students to get involved.

Caitlin Wallace: We learnt as a house the importance of team work and community. It warms our hearts to know that the blankets we have donated are going to be very useful to the SPCA and help keep lost animals off our streets and back in good homes.

Nicola Campbell: Angus House chose Lifewise as it is a social development organisation that works with families, older people, people with disabilities, as well as people at risk of homelessness.

Lifewise provides sustainable solutions rather than meeting

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immediate needs to address social isolation. Everyone has some clothes at home that they could donate so Lifewise is a perfect match.

Mckenzie Northcott: All the charities we supported were greatly appreciative of our efforts and it was great to raise awareness about the good work that is happening in our local community and to contribute to this in a meaningful way.

“No one has ever become poor from giving” – Anne Frank

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Community-minded A striking feature of supporting communities beyond school is the enthusiasm that it generates amongst students. Guided by their teachers, students have an opportunity to give of their time and talents and learn the value of serving others.

The student council was actively involved in leading a number of fundraising events this year. They supported the Cancer Society by hosting Daffodil Day with fun activities in the quad, a sausage sizzle and a yellow mufti day. For breast cancer, the annual Pink Breakfast was once again a huge success with students, parents and staff across the whole campus getting involved. In support of SADD – Students Against Dangerous Driving – a Quiz Night was held, providing parents, teachers and students an opportunity to go head to head in a battle for “the most knowledgeable”. Again, the student council actively participated to provide food and entertainment on the night.

What is clear to see in all these events is the meticulous preparation that goes on for months to make these occasions successful. Students gathered in their lunchtimes to strategise, coordinate and delegate. Then, in the weeks leading up to the event, there are promotional posters to produce, tickets to sell and lots of encouragement from House Leaders to get students involved.

Senior students also co-ordinated with representatives of these organisations so that we could understand the importance of their cause. One such occasion was a heart-felt presentation which was made on behalf of SADD. During a school assembly, a young lady who had been involved in a near fatal car crash shared her horrific and miraculous story which the students listened to in pin-drop silence. Always, at the heart of these events, are students with a strong desire to make a difference.

Strathallan music students took a further step out into the community by performing at the local retirement village, Summerset Karaka. Performance students, accompanied by their music teacher, Bruce Wilson, took the opportunity to play their solo coursework pieces which ranged from a bit of classical to contemporary and jazz. The concert bands have also performed for Summerset residents. Besides valuing the experience as an opportunity to perform in front of an audience (around fifty to sixty people on any given occasion), the students also had the opportunity to chat with residents at the end and hear their nostalgic memories. No doubt as our community continues to grow, there will be many more opportunities for our students to reach out and make a difference, to others and to themselves.

“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows” – Sydney J Harris

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Dinosaurs come to life What a dinotastic time our preschool seniors had in Term 3. Their growing fascination with dinosaurs has led to us living, breathing and even eating these prehistoric creatures.

This popular theme created many opportunities for learning with children learning names and facts, looking at skeletons and creating some magnificent “ROAR”s. We even had dinosaur dress-up costumes which was a great favourite with the children. The imaginary play with the dinosaurs also came alive in our bark pit with one group of children incorporating dinosaur figures, chalk and tennis balls into their play. They drew shapes and marks on the wooden plank and balanced tyres on top of each other, filling them with wood, bark and balls.

When asked what was happening, Sam happily explained: “It’s a booby trap! These three are buttons,” he said, pointing to the circles he had drawn. “If the person goes along here and they step on the buttons, they slip and go into the nest.

Then they turn into a little egg.” Georgia explained further: “These are the eggs!” pointing to the tennis balls. Wow, what imagination and creativity our preschoolers have.

The children have also enjoyed getting very messy, as always.

They made their own dinosaur eggs from flour, salt, coffee grinds, sand and water. They formed their egg around their dinosaur figure and patiently waited a few days for it to dry.

Once dry, they turned into palaeontologists, armed with wooden hammers, brushes and magnifying glasses to prise their eggs open. It has never been so quiet as they turned into silent explorers, engrossed in their task of revealing their dinosaur once more.

The seniors also made baking soda eggs and then experimented to see what would happen when they used their droppers to apply vinegar to them: “Fizzing!” (Jacob), “exploding!” (Sam), “cracking!” (Ashleigh) and “hatching!”

(Ben) were some of the cries of excitement during this colourful experiment. Who said learning wasn’t fun?

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As a finale to our learning, we went on a trip to the museum to see real-life dinosaurs. All the way the bus was buzzing with conversations amongst children mainly establishing with their friends that dinosaurs are actually extinct and that we weren’t going to see ‘real dinosaurs’, just their bones! It certainly brought our learning to life, especially as the children got to see the enormity of these fascinating creatures and to touch their bones: a Stegosaurus plate, a T-rex skull and teeth. They were also able to measure themselves against the jaw of an Ichthyosaurus but the highlight of course... fossilised dinosaur poo! What trip can beat that?

“Play is the highest form of research” – Albert Einstein

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Here at Strathallan, we focus on the holistic development of students by providing them with opportunities to learn in five key areas:

1. Academics 2. Wellbeing 3. Sport & Activities

We firmly believe in the benefits of providing students with a holistic education with strong core values that underpin everything that we do. The core values of integrity, respect and compassion are such important values and these should guide our interactions with one another at all levels. We will continue to focus on developing a holistic programme with the goal that your children find their passion and have a life-defining experience at Strathallan.

ademics Ac

Leadership & Service

Exposure to a multitude of experiences and challenges will also help students to find their passion. It could be in the classroom, at a sports fixture, on the stage in a production or helping out a local charity.

e in Achievemen Prid t

Vision & Values

LEARNER Skills & Qualities

xp d u e ri e n c a ti a l ti o n

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A growing number of schools acknowledge that the key to helping students develop into happy, successful adults is to provide them with a curriculum that focuses on their holistic development as an individual.

Focusing on addressing the physical, emotional, relational and intellectual aspects of a child’s development isn’t a new phenomenon and there are a number of leading educationalists who have championed this approach

for many years. The ideals of Kurt Hahn in particular have influenced many educators to promote a holistic, experiential, values-based education.

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The vision of ACG schools has always been to provide students with a challenging academic curriculum, complemented by exceptional pastoral care. However, in recent years there has been a purposeful shift at ACG Strathallan to broadening our curriculum to provide students with a learning programme that nurtures the development of the skills and qualities necessary to not only be successful but to also make a positive difference in the lives of others.

5. Experiential Education

vi r t & t ie s

Holistic education

4. Leadership & Service

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Danny O’Connor

Executive Principal

“I regard it as the foremost task of education to ensure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self denial, and above all, compassion.”

– Kurt Hahn

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all” - Aristotle

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And so we bid farewell to the Class of 2017 – a cohort of students in a class of their own.

Caleb Pahina, the president of the Student Council, shared some of their significant moments with us: What has the year been like for the Class of 2017?

We have had an amazing final year at Strathallan.

With some of us starting at Strathallan from as early as preschool, we have all created and shared special memories that we will cherish forever. The Class of 2017 set out this year to have fun, be influential role models and make a positive difference in our school community.

And we did.

We hope that students can look up to us and see just how much we have got out of our time at Strathallan. As we move into the next chapter of our lives, the school value of ‘Pride’– pride in our school, year level and selves – has been a feeling experienced by all.

What have been some significant events or moments for you and the Council this year?

This year, our student council team has been amazing. From planning successful events such as Valentine’s Day and Quiz Night, to running our ever so popular lunchtime sausage sizzles, they have worked ardently as a team in order to be positive role models to our students. A highlight for me was collaborating with the Primary School in events such as Daffodil Day as it was awesome to see the smiles on the kids’ faces.

We have made many other special memories together at events such as Leadership Camp, Relay for Life, or even during the times where we would all be catching up over some pizza.

Tell us a bit about the Class of 2017 legacy you are leaving behind The Class of 2017 have created two Year 13 traditions which we hope will be continued by Year 13s in the years to come. After seeing them planned, designed and completed, I am extremely proud of how our Year 13 family worked together and most importantly left a positive legacy to be remembered by. The first item is our handprint mural. All of our names are listed in the numbers “2017”, and each and every one of us have genuinely left our own unique and special mark on the school through this mural. The second item that we will be leaving behind is a framed leavers’ jersey which was hung up outside the Year 13 common room, with space for next year’s leavers and so on to continue the tradition. It was an awesome way to bid farewell to our school.

Staff and students felt quite emotional saying goodbye to this outstanding group of young people on their last day. They have certainly left a very powerful legacy.

“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave” – Proverb Hayfield Way, RD1, Papakura, New Zealand 09 295 0830 | strathallan@acgedu.com strathallan.acgedu.com