Communityservice

ANZAC Day Chapel Service

and Hoop It Up

Rev. Paul Morrow hosted the annual ANZAC Chapel Service in the Centennial Chapel on Tuesday 25 April. Highlights included Deputy Head Prefect, Lachlan Odlin, speaking on the relevance of ANZAC commemoration for students of today, drawing upon the World War II experience of his great grandfather (a St Andrew’s student 1925–1932); Noah Fanene (Year 11) singing a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria; Naomi Dana (Year 13) sounding an outstanding Last Post and Reveille; and Pipe Major, Toby Cammock-Elliot (Year 13), playing the Piper’s Lament

A special guest at the service was William McDonald (OC 1959) who travelled from Rotorua to attend the service. William served in the army for 20 years in Borneo, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

The bi-annual Hoop It Up gala dinner was held as a fundraiser for the St Andrew’s College basketball programme. A record number of guests were privy to a phenomenal panel of speakers – Tim Bateman, Tessa Boagni, Shane Bond and Jack Salt. The support from the community was great to see.

Jake Bailey Presentation

Students from Years 8–13 had the opportunity to attend an inspiring presentation delivered by Jake Bailey. Having battled an aggressive form of cancer at the age of 18, Jake has made it his mission to empower young people with resilience. The presentation encouraged students to reflect on Jake’s message and the invaluable four strategies he shared, serving as a reminder that resilience is a skill that can be nurtured and developed, regardless of the challenges they may face.

Junior School Agriculture

The Year 13 Agriscience students had tuakana teina focus, to teach younger students a new skill by making beeswax wraps. The Year 2–3 students enjoyed spending time with the senior students and making the beeswax wraps, which can be used as a reusable wrap for perishable food products. Bee products are covered in Agriscience, and the senior students did a great job of sharing their knowledge.

Pink Shirt Day

St Andrew’s celebrated Bully Free New Zealand Week alongside the Mental Health Foundation’s Pink Shirt Day. Both events aimed to raise awareness of the prevalence of bullying in our society. Student leaders celebrated the week by raising awareness on two key foci: What constitutes bullying? and What does it mean to be an upstander? It was wonderful to see so many staff and students wearing pink in support of the day. Donations were made to the Mental Health Foundation to support this cause.

Schools’ Pride Week

Led by the College’s Rainbow Group, students and staff celebrated diversity and the College value of Inclusivity during Schools’ Pride Week. Colour was evident around the campus, with rainbow flags flying proudly outside the Middle School Office and on the main flagpole. The Library celebrated the month with a book display, Out on the Shelves. To kick off the week, staff and students wore colourful socks and tights, and alongside Rainbow Group members, prefects, and members of the student Well-being Committee, provided hot chocolates.

Year 10 Days Out

The Year 10 classes all completed a Red Cross First Aid course, covering emergency response, CPR, operating AED, and other basic first aid skills. This certificate is a great addition to students’ curriculum vitae and counts towards their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award. Most classes also completed a couple of hours of red zone planning of native shrubs and trees as part of the Eco-Action Trust Christchurch Schools’ Project.

Foundation of Peace Walk

Daisy Thake (Year 10) set off from her home at Redcliffs one morning at 4.30am to complete a 13km ‘Walk with a purpose’ to St Andrew’s to raise funds for The Foundation of Peace Children’s Foundation in Uganda, which plans to construct a new family-based home for eight orphaned and abandoned children in their care. Daisy has raised over $2000 so far, which will be put towards the furnishings of the home, which will be called ‘Canterbury House’. The significance of Daisy’s walk is that many children in Uganda walk very long distances to and from school each day, often without food.