June 2013

Come "Back to the 80's" Next Week
 

It is that exciting time of year again when hours and hours of practice culminate in our students taking the stage for our annual production - to which we are all invited!

 

This year Lynfield College is presenting the teen favourite “Back to the 80s”. This is the story of a man looking back to his high school years during the 80s and his painful coming of age as well as dealing with the school bully. It is studded with fantastic 80s hits like, “Girls just wanna have fun”, “Material girl”,”Man in the Mirror” just to name a few. 

 

As the poster below indicates the show runs from Wednesday July 3 to Saturday July 6, 7pm in the college hall. Tickets are available from reception or at the door.

 

 

Lynfield Celebrating Matariki
 

Matariki stared on the 22^nd of this month and we are promoting the Maori New Year, and taha Maori within the college with a range of student activities planned up until the end of the term. 

 

Our festival has everything from making harakeke gifts and poi to hangi and traditional kai for sale.  Proceeds from sales will contribute to fundraising for new carvings (pou and waharoa) for the entry to the school and for our marae, Te Ringa Awhina (MCC).

 
In traditional times, Matariki was a season to celebrate and to prepare the ground for the coming year. Offerings of the produce of the land were made to the gods, including Rongo, god of cultivated food. This time of the year was also a good time to instruct young people in the lore of the land and the forest. The name Matariki is used also for the central star in the Pleiades cluster which is visible at this time of the year.

The Maori Focus Group at Lynfield College welcomes whanau involvement.  To get in touch please email our Head of Te Reo Māori, Jennifer Leauga,  jleauga@lynfield.school.nz or phone Leisa Munro, Deputy Principal, Student Services on ext 706.
 

Waiho I te toipoto, kaua I te toiroa
Let us keep close together, not wide apart
 
 

Celebrations for Matariki last  a month, check out www.matariki.org.nz for events around Auckland and be involved with the events that we are running at our school to celebrate this time of preparation and new beginnings.

 

The images below were taken as students keenly acquired their moko.
 

 

Matariki Activities (during lunchtimes at Te Ringa Awhina unless stated otherwise)
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Week 8  June 24-28	Get a Moko $1	Make a harakeke gift $2	Short film in the seminar room (FREE) Limited entry.	Fried bread  for sale $1	Teacher Only Day
Week 9 July 1-5	Buy a poi $5	Make a poi $2	Ki-o-rahi game on the field	Steamed pudd and custard for sale $3	Short film in the seminar room (FREE) Limited entry.
Week10		Make a “taniko” band $2	Short film in the seminar room (FREE) Limited entry	Hangi meal  for sale $5 (by pre-order)	Haka competition

 

First XV in Game of Week
 

Lynfield College's First XV game against Rutherford High School on Saturday was UNITEC's Game of the Week. Further images are available on http://on.fb.me/127Etml

Library of Thinking Skills
 

The college Library and Information Centre plays a crucial role in the development of thinking skills and the new signage on the wall to the right of the library entrance draws attention to this.   The Thinking Schools Framework poster is displayed in every classroom and the new sign, designed by library staff in conjunction with Corporate Signage Limited, reinforces the emphasis placed on acquiring, developing and using higher order thinking skills.

 

Childcare Students in Real Setting

 
Students from the Childcare Advanced class are spending time at various local early childhood education centres as part of their Alongside Work Experience for this year.

 

They gain valuable practical experience in a realistic work environment which helps them with the theory requirements of the course. In addition, two assessments must be carried out in an early childhood education centre, so students gain credits from this exercise. The students are really enjoying their time working with the children.

 

As Gillian Rushton, Teacher in Charge of Childcare classes, says

"We are very appreciative of the welcome and support given to our students by early childhood teachers in our community."

 

Uniquely Waikowhai

Guidance Counsellor Brian Tonks writes with pride of how ex-student and talented musician Matt Nanai is helping Waikowhai Intermediate School musicians in their Rockquest success.

 

“UNEEK”, Waikowhai Intermediate’s Rock Band, is quickly in the groove with its mix of rhythm, melody, rap, crisp instrumental playing, sweet harmonies and slick dance moves. Under the attentive observation of their tutor, Matt Nanai, musician and ex-Lynfield College student now in his final year at Auckland University, they are performing their original song, “That Feeling”. This song has taken them, along with eleven other schools, ten of them secondary, through to the Regional Finals of the Smokefree Rockquest.

 There is an air of confidence when I ask what happens after the Regionals. “We go on to win the Nationals,” replies Jackie, keyboard player and Deputy Head Girl.
 

“UNEEK’S” members – Dhruv Gupte, drummer AND  Head Boy , Jackie de Pont, Flynn McLennan, Sam Gibbons, Isla Mayo, Amelia Siamomua, Martha Johansson and Leonardo Fo’ou – set about writing the second song they will perform at the Finals at Auckland Girls Grammar School on July 5. Matt has given them the opening line of the lyrics, with chord progressions and melodic ideas gathered from the performers. It is a team effort, and the students have gained confidence from the weekly “fun” theory classes Matt offers them and the members of the Waikowhai Funk Band he also tutors.
 

Roz Tuitama, Coordinator of Performing Arts at Waikowhai, who is often spoken about with affection by ex-Waikowhai students at Lynfield, talks with me about Matt, “small and with hair right down his back” when he first came to Waikowhai as a Year 7 student. “I feel a lot of emotion,” she says, “ when I meet a former student who comes back and has formalised their natural talents with the right qualifications. Matt has the kids eating out of his hands because he is young and knows their world and because he really knows his stuff.”

 

When I ask UNEEK what they think of Matt, they reply that he is laid back and friendly. “He doesn’t growl at us and he gives us confidence,” they say, as they delight in mimicking the repertoire of “stares” he uses to get the results he wants.
Go UNEEK !  Have fun at Pasifika Beats on the 29^th June, at the Smokefree Rockquest Regional Finals on July 5, and then onto the National Finals……
 
 

 

Trip to Germany - brilliant!

 

- by Annabel Larsen

 

In April, a group of 16 German language students together with Frau Zimmer and Frau Delgrosso went on an educational exchange to Germany for four weeks. 

 

We stayed with host families from our partner school, Ernst-Haeckel Gymnasium in Werder, 35 km from Berlin. We spent time individually with our families and we all gained our own experiences of the German lifestyle and culture. We went to school each morning and attended a class - it was extremely interesting for us – imagine biology or calculus in German!  After the class our group would meet and then travel by train to our destination for that day.  

We visited countless famous landmarks and historical places and we were very grateful for our English-speaking tour guides. Every day was an eye-opening history lesson. Each afternoon we had a chance to really test our language skills during our free time.  We ordered food in German, asked for directions,  went shopping and had to learn what questions like “would you like a bag?" were,  but we got the hang of speaking German (outside of our classroom in Lynfield ) eventually. 

 

In the middle week the group travelled to Dresden. We stayed in a youth hostel, with a brutal history, in a small town called Hohnstein.  The youth hostel, previously a fortress, a prison and court, and a prisoner of war camp, was built in the early 1200s.  Our group travelled on a bus into the Czech Republic to Prague for a day trip; the atmosphere of the country was noticeably different from that of Germany.  In the youth hostel we started preparing for our farewell party.  During the last week in Werder the tree blossom festival took place. It is the second largest festival in Germany, after Oktoberfest, and it celebrates the spring fruit tree blossoms. At our farewell party we all gave a speech in German to the families and teachers, we also sang the national anthem and the Maori song “Te Waka”. The German students also gave speeches and sang.

At the airport it was a very emotional and hard good bye for us all and many gifts were exchanged. Frau Zimmer told me to stop crying and that if I don’t leave I can’t come back. The exchange was very educational and we all gained many things from it. We now look forward to welcoming 20 students from our partner school next year and can’t wait to repay their generosity and hospitality.

                                         
 

Road Race Results

 

The annual Lynfield College Road Race was held Thursday 13 June.  All Year 9 and 10 students ran a 3.3km course while a relatively small group of keen, competitive  seniors took on a more challenging 5.5km course. 

 

All students finished the race looking as though they had enjoyed this opportunity.  The finishing times for the 1^st placed in each age group were very impressive!  Dale Pitout bettered his 2012 time, while Anthony Jones-Lewis had a comfortable win and has proven he will definitely be an athlete to watch in future.  Results as follows:

 

Senior Boys
1^st                    Dale Pitout      18:08
2^nd                   Richard Allen

Senior Girls
1^st                    Grace Kukutai 22:03
2^nd                   Lizelle Borges
 

Year 11 Boys
1^st                    Callum Drew               21:15
2^nd                   James Asiata
 

Year 11 Girls
1^st                    Alice Neville-Smith     23:25
2^nd                   Harshaa Prasad
 

Y10 Boys
1^st                    David Beddingfield      12:40
2^nd                   Caleb Bowles
 

Year 10 Girls
1^st                    Amy Pitout      15:10
2^nd                   Maddy Poland

Year 9 Boys
1^st                    Anthony Jones-Lewis            12:54
2^nd                   Josh Mukherjee

Year 9 Girls
1^st                    Bhavina Rathod                      17:02
2^nd                   Sivani Vetukuri
 

Geographers Visit Rotorua

 

Rotorua seethes with volcanic drama, but it was the prospect of rain that caused trepidation for a number of Year 13 Geographers.

 

The forecast threatened the annual field trip to study how tourism operates in one of New Zealand’s premier destinations. However, armed with ponchos and umbrellas we enjoyed the thermal environment of Whakarewarewa and experienced the recreated Maori village of Tamaki Tours. Following a concert, the 40 students and staff enjoyed a fabulous hangi meal of kumara, potatoes, fish, pork, lamb, also salads, pavlova and steamed pudding.

The sunshine and clear blue skies on the second day made it easy for students to research tourism business in the city centre. Following a lesson on tourism development at the museum, the group set off to Skyline Skyrides for gondola and luge rides. In addition to Geography students there were several Tourism students on the trip who were hosted by the Sir George Seymour College of Tourism.

Champion Bowler Liam Van Rijn
 

Congratulations! Liam Van Rijn is the Auckland Secondary Schools Lawn Bowls Champion for 2013.

The boy's singles post section play was completed with Liam taking out the title winning all his games by large margins. He comfortably beat Benjamin Fisher (Dilworth School) in the semi-finals by 17 shots to 4.

 

Liam got off to a good start in the final.  He picked up 4 shots on the first end and 2 shots in the following end to lead 6 shots to nil, and never looked back to win the singles title by 10 shots to 4 against Lance Fisher from Kelston Boys.

Liam has been rewarded for his good form by being selected for the Auckland Secondary Schools Lawn Bowls team competing against Waikato next weekend. Also joining him is his fellow pairs partner from Lynfield College Brayden Silby.

All Blacks Visit Lynfield
 

Last term our rugby 1^st XV won an Adidas Scholarship when the senior players in the team made a video which showed why they were “All in” when it comes to rugby.

On Friday there was huge excitement as All Blacks Israel Dagg, Beauden Barrett, and Francis Saili together with the Adidas team, were welcomed to our school with a powhiri and cultural haka in the Sports Centre.  They were visiting to present the boys with the team’s prize of a complete playing strip, tracksuits, boots and gear bag.  

 

After winning the scholarship the team members designed the new jersey, shorts, socks and track suit then Adidas had all items custom made to fit the measurements of each team member.  All boys were individually fitted with boots of exactly the right size and design for their playing position.  While this was happening there was the opportunity to meet and chat with the 3 All Blacks as well as have some photos taken with their heroes!

Fit for the Army
 

Darren Pace who left the college in 2011 with the dream of joining the New Zealand Army has returned to visit those staff who kept encouraging him. The obstacle he faced was the fitness level he had to achieve.   Darren joined the Advanced Training Centre’s Military Prep School in Greenhithe and is now very proud to have met Army requirements and completed his basic training. He is pictured with Mrs Sofia Hameed, his Dean during his years at Lynfield.   Darren says "I'm enjoying my chosen career and encourage others to strive for their dreams."

 

 

 

Gateway to Event Management

 

Samantha Ryding completed a 12 week Gateway work placement at YMCA Jordan Recreation Centre in Onehunga during Term 1. Her focus was event management and she worked every Friday with the staff to plan, organise, advertise and implement the school holiday programme in April. Samantha had full responsibility for one part of the programme which she delivered on and earned 14 credits at Level 3 and 4 related to event management. The employer stated she showed great confidence in running her programmes she had planned, she was proactive, committed and hard -working, took her job seriously and worked well with all the team members. They would welcome her back at any time and she was a joy to work with.

Congratulations Samantha on a job well done and for actively finding a career pathway you enjoy.

Golden Karate Student

 

Sonia Mehta, Year 13, has been building her skills and her reputation as one of New Zealand's rising stars in karate. Most recently she has won gold at the New Zealand Open Karate Championships.   Sonia regularly claims the top spot on the podium at the many national and international competitions she has entered. She won 2 gold and a silver at the 2012 Oceania Championships and gold at a 2011 International competition.     Congratulations Sonia and our very best wishes for your continuing success.

Win at Musical Competition

 

Year 9 student Angelo D'Souza is all smiles after winning at the New Zealand Accordion Championships. Winning the Entertainment Solo in the 13-15 year age group is cause for pride and we wish Angelo continuing success.