Academic successes

Late 2021 successes*

Creative Writing Year 9 students, Thomas White, Oliver Murchison, Jackson Evans, Olley Collett, Lachlan Grant, Max Barclay, Jonty Lang, Kaelan Graham, Alasdair McCall and Olivia Glass, had their poems selected for publication by Paula Green in NewZealand Poetry Shelf. Alasdair McCall and Olivia Glass also received Editor’s Choice prizes.

ICAS English Gold Medal Winners Each year thousands of students sit examinations in various subjects in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) examinations. In 2021, six St Andrew’s College students received an ICAS Gold Medal for achieving the top mark in New Zealand for their year group, which is outstanding. Congratulations to the following students, whose medals were presented during the online celebration on Founders’ Day:

* Please note the use of 2021 year groups. ICAS Gold Medal winners (back) Aaron Moore (Year 10), Fraser Walls (Year 7), (front) James Hart (Year 10), Aneel Bartlett (Year 4), Corin Simcock (Year 12), (inset) Portia Bennie (Year 11).

• Year4 Spelling Bee – Aneel Bartlett; • Year7 English – Fraser Walls; • Year10 English – Aaron Moore; • Year10 Science – James Hart; • Year11 English – Portia Bennie; • Year12 Science – Corin Simcock.

2022 Successes

Biology Olympiad Sarah Anthony (Year 13) achieved a Silver Award in the New Zealand Biology examination. She was also one of 26 students selected to attend a Biology Olympiad Training and Selection Camp at the University of Otago during the Term 2 holidays. Based on their performance in the assessments at the camp and their personal attributes, a team of four students will be selected to represent New Zealand at the 2022 International Biology Olympiad in Armenia, in July.

Chemistry Olympiad Corin Simcock and Luke Zhu (both Year 13) have been selected among the top 30 students in New Zealand for the Chemistry Olympiad training camp. They are two of just four students selected from the South Island. After the training camp, four successful candidates will be chosen to represent New Zealand in the International Olympiad competition, to be held in Tianjin, China in July 2022. Debating In mid-January, Tom Edwards and Thomas Kamo (both Year 13) competed at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ British Parliamentary Debating Tournament, finishing in the top six out of 38 teams. British Parliamentary is a format where four teams compete in one debate as opening government, closing government, opening opposition, and closing opposition. Tom Edwards was named the third Best Speaker of the tournament.

The St Andrew’s College B team, comprising Year 12 students, Millie Keith, Luke Wylie and Mia Fraser, won the Canterbury Regional Debating Championships, after beating the top St Andrew’s College team, Tom Edwards, Thomas Kamo and Ethan Adams (all Year 13), in the semi-final, and winning the final against Christ’s College. Tom Edwards and Luke Wylie were named in the Canterbury team, and Thomas Kamo was awarded Highly Commended Speaker, while Millie Keith and Kate Simcock were named in the Canterbury Development Squad.

Poetry Saskia Fitzgerald (Year 6) had her poem Wheo – Blue Duck published on NZ Poetry Box.

VEX Robotics A St Andrew’s College team, comprising Ewan Mander, Hannah Withers and Matthew Bluck (all Year 9), competed at the VEX IQ National Championships, held in Palmerston North, which was a qualifying competition for the VEX World Championships in Dallas, Texas 2022. The competition was called Pitching In, with the aim to score as many points as possible with an alliance partner by scoring balls in goals, clearing corrals, and hanging the robot at the end of the match. The team made the final round as part of the fourth pair and finished fourth overall. They were also awarded the Build Award.