The secondary schools principals’ conference was a thought provoking experience where some astonishing claims were made. The current generation of young people in the Western world will be the first in recent history to NOT out live their parents. Surely not. Let’s investigate further.
In a school setting, in our drive for success, we need to ensure we have time for POD (Play; Others; Downtime) New technology can be a wonderful tool for learning, but it can also inhibit opportunities for POD and needs to be carefully managed, both in the home and during school.
When taking a closer look we do see some troubling issues emerge. A major factor is the change in diet, with today’s young people eating far less healthy food than previous generations, and consuming far more sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, junk food and processed food than ever before.
proactive in meeting the needs of our young people facing today’s pressures. One of the six projects in our school’s Annual Plan for this year is to “develop a range of programmes to build resilience and improve the health and well-being of our students”. Our Assistant Principal, Mrs Wynne, and our Board member, Dr Ihirangi Heke, are leading this project. Currently they are researching what more we can do to grow the resilience of our students. Mrs Wynne has recently attended a conference in Christchurch on strengthening wellbeing in young people. Dr Heke is involved in research through Auckland University, which our school has been invited to participate in.
But it is not just diet. Today’s children have a much more sedentary lifestyle due to such factors as urbanisation and digitalisation. Over 50% of the world’s population now live in cities with less space for free play; many children now spend more time playing indoors on their devices than they do outside in the fresh air and sunshine with their friends. A third reason, and these are all linked, is the worldwide crisis in mental health. The World Health Organisation has recently declared stress as the major 21st century health epidemic in the developed world. The less healthy diet and more sedentary
Issue 02 2018
lifestyle have no doubt contributed to this, as has the growth in social media, creating a condition in our youth known as FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Overprotective parenting also contributes; when children are protected from dealing with the smaller stresses of everyday life they do not develop the resilience they will need to cope when larger issues come their way. Many people struggle with the rapid pace of economic, social and technological change in our modern society and workplaces. Canadian psychiatrist, Dr Shimi Kang, a speaker at our conference, proposed that many young people today are losing their natural, built-in optimisers of healthy food, exercise, sunshine and face to face interaction with others. She said in building positive mental health, we all need POD – Play, Others and Downtime. The good news is that we can do something about it. We want to be
As mentioned previously, last year we undertook to listen carefully to our parents and community; finding out what they really wanted from our school. The above project is just one of 33 that evolved from this invaluable consultation. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to
MAHUHUKITERANGI CHALLENGING. EXCELLING. BELONGING. OUR PLACE
find out what else we have learnt. On Wednesday 30 May we are throwing a party at Our Place - a celebration of our past and present success and future direction. Hear our Mahu stories, chat with our school leaders, reconnect with our Alumni and understand what our new Strategic Plan means for your kids. To thank you for your contribution to our past, present and future successes, the party is on us! Food and coffee trucks, local wine and cheese - come along and make Our Place your place for the night. Further details will follow in Term 2. If you are a past student, staff or board member of Mahurangi College, I’d like to direct your attention to our official Alumni Facebook page. Historic photos are uploaded daily. News of any major developments at Mahurangi College and invitations to events will also be posted. DAVID MACLEOD PRINCIPAL
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YEAR 8 EDUCATION OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
During weeks 7 and 8, our Year 8 students attended their annual camp at Tawharanui Regional Park. A team of experts from Auckland Zoo engaged students in learning about this exquisite environment right on our local doorstep. We would like to say a huge thank you them, to Miss Turrell, Mr Ganley, Mr Frost, Mrs Hodder, our senior PE and Hospitality students, our awesome parent helpers and the dedicated Year 8 teachers for another great outdoor experience. Pictured above: Year 8 teacher Mrs Holm, with students from her class.
OUR NEW SCHOOL APP
SCHOOL, NORTH HARBOUR & AUCKLAND ATHLETICS
In addition to our new website, we have launched a school app for phone and tablet. The new app enables parents and students to receive essential information on the go; especially valuable for sports practices and games, as well as to quickly notify our parents of any unforeseen changes. It’s free to download. Search Mahurangi in your app store (for both iOS and Android) under phone apps.
Athletics day is always a highlight on the school calendar. Thank you to all our staff who worked tirelessly throughout the day officiating. There were many excellent performances, including four new school records from Zoe Peacock Year 7 Girls High Jump, Ava Jane-Rashleigh Year 7 Girls Discus, Blake Heaven Intermediate Boys 100m and Korotaake Tebutokai Intermediate Girls Shot Put.
PICTURED (from left to right): Yr 7 Girls 50m Freestyle Relay Team NH Swim Champs, George Durban-Burgess wins 400m at NH Athletics Championships. Below: School and Interhouse Athletics.
A few weeks after school athletics day our top Year 9-13 athletes competed at the North Harbour Athletics Championships. Top performances came from the following students who won their events:
Kate Rowe Intermediate Girls 1500m, Brianna Cadwallader Senior Girls 100m, 200m and Triple Jump, Lucy Rowe Senior Girls 1500m, Titiera Bura Junior Boys Shot Put and Discus, Litia Arawatau Junior Boys Javelin, Robbie McFarlane Intermediate Boys Javelin and George Durban-Burgess Intermediate. Boys 400m. The Auckland Championships followed. Our top 3 performances were: Lucy Rowe Senior Girls 1500m (2nd), Brianna Cadwallader Open Girls 300m Hurdles (2nd) and Robbie McFarlane Intermediate Boys Javelin (2nd). KHAMAL GANLEY
TOBY SWANN-McKAY ACHIEVER OF THE MONTH 2018 HEAD BOY Cultural Blue 2017 Rugby 1st XV 2017 Member of Senior Jazz Band Member of Academic Academy Pictured with Walter Braidwood Mitre 10 Warkworth Team Leader
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