Race Unity Speech Awards
Congratulations to Gauri Prabhakar 13KK who won the Auckland final of the Race Unity speech competition.
The theme of ‘Big Change Starts Small’ asked students to examine some challenging questions including: how far have we come as a nation since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) 175 years ago, and how might young people steer our nation towards becoming a more harmonious nation?
At a special Year 13 assembly held to acknowledge Gauri’s success we were honoured with the presence of these special guests: Dame Susan Devoy, Race Relations Commissioner, representing the Human Rights Commission; Superintendent Richard Chambers, representing the NZ Police and Eric Neal, representing the NZ Baha’i Community. Gauri was presented with the shield by superintendent Richard Chambers following speeches by each of the invited guests.
As in previous years, the standard of speech making during all of the competition rounds was outstanding. Congratulations also to Khadija Bari (12ET), and Andrew Sampson (13KK) who made it to the Auckland final, and also to Elysha Negi (12ET) for her participation.
 Gauri with our special guests after the awards assembly. |
 Gauri with her proud parents |
 Gauri with Deputy Principal Mrs Gabrielle Clark (left) and Head of Faculty (Language and Languages) Ms Cathy Feist |
Learning from the Writers' Festival
The Advanced Learner Year 9 and 10 classes along with all Year 12ENC and 13ENC classes attended the Writers' Festival schools programme towards the end of Term 2. This included a range of lectures and workshops by internationally renowned writers. Students enjoyed hearing of the authors’ love of their craft. As one Year 10 student stated: “Our English programme encourages students to read and write, and so did the authors . I think the best and most beneficial thing from the programme for us, was that encouragement overall. I came home wanting to write some more. I think it boosts students into English. It would be great to go again next year from school and, if not, I would definitely go outside of school. This was an event I would love to go to every year to experience different authors and just what they say to help us in writing”. |
 |
Write That Essay - Guidance from the Best
Year 13 students have some additional support for their many writing assignments this year.
Dr Ian Hunter, the creator of Write that Essay, recently spoke to the year group about adding flair to their essays and reports. Dr Hunter also challenged a group of potential scholarship students to take a clear stand in their writing rather than waffling – a technical term, he insisted!
In addition, teachers attended a session with Dr Hunter to look at their own writing styles and how to write with a range of sentence types.
All Year 13 students have access to the Write that Essay web-based programme. While teachers can set specific assignments to complete, there are also activities for students to work through, specific sentence help, and guides for structuring different types of paragraphs
.
Feedback from the students, who are facing writing reports in subjects from Classics to PE to Biology, showed they were excited about the possibilities to learn different styles of writing and to have support right through the writing process.
| Potential Scholarship students Erica D’Souza and Nicholas Dobbie with Dr Ian Hunter. |
 |