56 Mahurangi Matters September 3, 2014 localmatters.co.nz

Ryan Torckler (Y7) and Lukas Vikstrand (Y9) both gained High Distinction in the recent ICAS Science exams, placing them in the top 1% internationally. A further 17 of our students gained Distinction for being placed in the next 10%.Whaia te iti Kahurangi, our Maori Achievement Evening, was held on Tuesday 19th August in the school auditorium. The guest speaker was Hayley Schiscka who was a House Prefect in 2004 when she was also a leader in our Kapahaka and involved in many sporting activities. Hayley has since completed her degree, learnt Te

Reo and is currently employed by Auckland Health Board and working towards her Masters in Business Administration. She spoke of how she applied the skills and determination she developed from sporting involvements into other areas of her life.

The school has voluntary BYOD

(Bring Your Own Device) so students at all levels are allowed to bring any device to school and log onto the school internet system, provided they have signed our Board approved Digital Citizenship Policy. In the Junior School however, from 2015, iPads are the “highly recommended” device. Not all students have access to the internet at home, so much of the teaching in Year 7/8 is Apps based rather than Web based, and our staff have found the Apple Apps to be more stable. Students at this age also seem to enjoy the touch screen technology. Various affordability options have been made available to families, contact exec@mahurangi.

school.nz. It is still very important

| Mahurangimatters

NEWSLETTER

from the Principal

David Macleod

important datesISSUE 7: September 2014

MAHURANGI COLLEGE

Dear Parents and GuardiansTena Koutou KatoaCongratulations to our Deputy Head Girl, Rose Gannaway, for winning the Zone Championships for the Lions Young Ambassadors Competition. She will now represent our zone at the Northern District Finals in October this year. Rose spoke about the little known role and plight of horses in World War 1. Our thanks to Mr Cave for organising and compering the event on behalf of the Rodney District Lions Club and to Mark Mitchell (MP for Rodney), Murray Chapman (Warkworth Toastmasters) and Burnette O’Connor (Company Director) for judging the contest.Congratulations also to our Head Girl, Alana Hathaway, for winning the Northern District Rotary Speech Competition with her passionate speech about the plight of modern

day people held in various forms of slavery and what we can do about it.Congratulations to all our Senior students, and in particular to our Head Prefects and Mrs Newlove, on another very enjoyable and successful school ball. Photos can be viewed and

downloaded for free from the website: http://www.cactusphotography.co.nz/mahurangi14 .

Term 3 Week 7• Hockey & Netball Winter Tournament weekMonday September 1• L1-3 Solo Music Performances• L2/3 Drama Evening Performance• Student Rep BoT Nominations Open

Tuesday September 2• L1-3 Solo Music Performances• L2/3 Drama Evening Performance

Wednesday September 3• Yr 8 Science Fair Display - HallThursday September 4• Yr 11-13 Parent/Teacher EveningThursday September 4 - 7• Underwater Hockey Nationals - RotoruaFriday September 5• Teacher Only Day• Student Rep BoT Nominations closeTuesday September 9• Yr 6 Enrol 2.00pm - 6.30pm• Student Rep BoT Candidates speak at assemblyWednesday September 10• Yr 6 Enrolments 2.00pm - 6.30pmFriday September 12• Senior Exams Begin• Touch Nationals Fundraising Night Tuesday September 23• Hockey Prize Giving Evening - HallWednesday September 24• Yr 9 10 Graduation print out to parents• Pasifika Celebration Evening 6.30pm - 8.00pmThursday September 25• Sports Photos - all day• Netball Prize Giving Evening - HallFriday September 26• End of Term

The Rodney District finalists in the Lions Young Ambassadors

Competition with the organiser, Mr Cave.

The winner, our Deputy Head Girl, Rose Gannaway, is third from left.

King & Queen of the School Ball

that all students learn and maintain the ability to handwrite quickly and legibly because, to ensure authenticity, all NCEA Senior External examinations are still handwritten.On Monday 17th August, Darren Pereira presented his Shape Your Destiny programme to our Year 11 students, guiding and supporting them as they thought about their own aptitudes and interests, set goals for their future and developed actions plans to help them get there. From the feedback, all our Year 11 students enjoyed the day and found it extremely helpful so we will continue with this programme in the future.

David Macleod, Principal School Ball Commitee: Mrs Newlove & the Head Prefects

57localmatters.co.nz September 3, 2014 Mahurangi Matters

Achiever of the Month: Ariaana Osborne

Mahurangimatters |

Proudly Supporting Mahurangi College WARKWORTH Corner Woodcocks Road & Mansel Drive, Phone 425 8119

• NCEA Level 2 with Merit• Maori Senior Student of the Year Award (Te Tohu Whetu)

• House Leader & Peer Support Leader• Senior Girls Touch Rugby (NZ Rep)

• Co-Director Stage Challenge• Performing Arts Academy

Presented by Andrea Jacka - Customer Services Supervisor, Mega Mitre 10

Summerset Falls VisitThe Mahurangi College Junior Choir had the pleasure of performing for the residents of Summerset Village on July 24th this year. We walked to the picturesque venue, surviving a torrential downpour. Needless to say we looked very washed out on arrival, but the students still managed to put on a wonderful performance, which was enjoyed by both residents and staff.The varied programme included choir pieces, solos and a duet. The choir performed “Pompeii” by Bastille, “Let it Go” from Frozen, “Dumb ways to Die” a comic piece known well by most kids! and “Wind of the Western Sea” a beautiful 3 part piece with text by Tennyson and music by Bradley Ellingbone.

Emily Martin (Year 8) treated us to her rendition of “I see Fire” by Ed Sheeran and Aurelia Torkington brought some American folk music along with “Eli the Barrow Boy” by The

Decemberists.We were joined by brother-sister duo Alex (Year 7) and Nicole Bindon (Year 12) for this concert, singing a delightful version of “Lucky” by Jason Mraz and Jenny Eirena, the Choir’s Director, performed a comic piece called “The Alto’s Lament”. All in all it was a lovely event.Jenny Eirena, Music Teacher

Peer MediationThe Peer Mediation program at Mahurangi College has been up and running successfully all term. This program runs all year long and involves a team of twenty-four Year 12 students who are rostered to monitor the Year 7 and 8 area at lunchtime, keeping an eye on the students play and interacting with them in order to form a strong relationship between the Senior and Junior schools. One pair walks around while the other stays in one of the Year 7 classrooms which is open for any Year 7’s and 8’s with an issue they want to talk about or if they just want someone to hang out with. The Year 12’s also run mediations for any recurring problems between two students that want a safe and relaxed environment to discuss any issues.This year the Mediators are running a program called ‘Stand.’ The program has the support of the staff and has been introduced through the house and school assemblies. Junior and Middle school students have been given the opportunity to sign a pledge against bullying in the form of an acronym of the word ‘RESPECT’. Once students have signed the pledge they receive a badge with the word STAND that acknowledges their agreement to stand up against and not partake in bullying. The program has been very successful with a large majority of students enthusiastically signing up. Each day more students are signing the pledge and joining the program. We feel confident that this program will assist in reducing bullying and indicate to potential bullies that they are in the minority. With so many students showing their support, students learn that working together with a common goal can achieve success.Tom Dowling

Technology Expo Evening 2013

Girls’ Mobile App Development Course

Te A

ra Poutama Maori Student

Open on a drop-in basis every

Thursday 3.30-5.00pm in

School Library. Friendly,

informal environment.

Join us!

Mahu Student

Study Centre.

Helping Every Student

Reach for the Heavens!

If you carry an iPad, iPhone, Android phone or tablet, or any other small handheld, it is very likely at some point you will set it down and walk away from it. Hopefully it will still be sitting where you left it when you realise what you’ve done, if you remember where you left it! If you don’t, Find my iPhone or Android Device Manager can help. The catch is they need to be set up ahead of time. For information on setting up Find my iPhone, see http://www.apple.com/nz/icloud/find-my-iphone.html.To learn how to set up Android Device Manager, see: http://www.androidcentral.com/how-set-android-device-manager-lock-and-wipe-your-phone.

BYOD Tip of the Month:Setting up Android Device

Manager or Find My iPhone.

Mahu Sport on FacebookMahurangi College Sport page on FacebookJust a reminder to everyone that we have the Mahurangi College Sport page on Facebook, which everyone in the Community is able to add/view us on. We are posting on there regularly with sport information and photos.We encourage you all to join us and keep up to date with Sports within our school. If there is anything that you would like posted, please feel free to get in touch with Sports Coordinators, Sandra & Angela on 09 425 8039 Ext 726, and they will be happy to help!

Our team of runners competed successfully in these Championships help on 12 August at Onepoto Domain, Northcote.The rain cleared but the runners faced very heavy conditions underfoot.There were big fields of runners representing the major North Harbour Intermediate Schools.Katherine Rowe and Shona Illingworth ran aggressively in the Yr 7 Girls race and led the field most of the way to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.Lucy Rowe in Yr 8 ran a very well judged race to take over the lead at the three quarter mark to finish strongly in 1st place.Many others ran fine races with George

D’Urban-Burgess finishing 11th in Yr 8 Boys and Davina Jones 13th in Yr 8 Girls.A number of these runners qualify for selection to run next month in the Greater Auckland Yr 7 & 8 Championships..Les Cave

Girls’ Mobile App Development Course

Year 7 & 8 North Harbour Cross Country Championships