February 2012

Juniors Enjoying Athletics Day
 

 
Student's Career Story in the Headlines
 

It is always satisfying to hear of the success of a former student of the college. One such success story is that of Jared Svedlund who decided to continue his Hospitality studies by seeking an apprenticeship in the industry.

His career story thus far has been documented and published in the industry magazine Hospitality, in its January 2012 issue. With permission from the editor we quote from their article “How to Pick a Winner.”
 

“Since December 2006 the Restaurant Association of New Zealand (RANZ) in conjunction with the Hospitality Standards Institute has been running the Group Modern Apprentice programme for apprenticeships in both Kitchen and Food and beverage electives.
 

One apprentice who has flourished under the scheme is Jared Svedlund from The French Cafe in Auckland. When Jared walked into The French Café for his interview he was a 17 year old student at Lynfield College showing talent in hospitality. “I wasn’t the best at cooking, but I loved trying different types of food.”
 

Owner Creghan Molloy-Wright remembers: “His presentation was immaculate. He was wearing a crisp white shirt. I could tell he was a perfectionist and would be comfortable with the standards we expected. He was confident, had a great attitude, a fantastic smile and we offered him a job on the spot.”
For a few months Jared juggled school, working at Acacia Café (New Lynn) 3 nights a week, and completing a trial period at The French Café on Friday and Saturday nights. He passed the trial with flying colours and when school was over started full time at The French Café in Symonds Street.
 

“The role was a huge responsibility for someone so young,” says Creghan. “We have 30 tables here in the summertime and offer a nine course degustation menu. There’s a lot to learn and he’s a fantastic listener but we have to make sure he can walk before he runs.” Jared started at the bottom, coordinating between kitchen and waiters and acting as back-up for the waiters on the floor. “There’s a lot of pressure and he needed to learn the restaurant inside out. At times he needs to be authoritative with professionals who are much older but he’s already gained their respect.”
 

Adding to his kudos, Jared was recently judged one of several runners-up in the Modern Apprentice of the Year Competition held at the Culinary Fare 2011 in Auckland.
 

Looking ahead, Jared’s keen to travel, then return to New Zealand and maybe one day own a restaurant of his own.
 
 
 

New Head of Department (Te Reo Maori)
 

We have warmly welcomed a number of new staff to the College for 2012. One of these is Ms Jennifer Leauga, Head of Department of Te Reo Maori.

 

Jennifer is working extremely quickly to have our Maori students prepared to perform at the annual Schools Polyfest next month. With her enthusiasm, and the abilities and commitment of tutors and students (and their families) we know Polyfest will be a rewarding and memorable experience for everyone involved.
 

Jennifer has a clear vision for her role at Lynfield and has met with parents and students to outline her aims and expectations which will support students with their learning and their involvement with their language and culture.
 

From Jennifer :
 

Ko Hikurangi te maunga
 

Ko Waiapu te awa
 

Ko Putaanga te marae
 

Ko Ngâti Porou te iwi
 

Ko Jennifer Leauga tôku ingoa
 

He mihi mahana ki ngâ Kaiwhakaako, mâtua, whânau, tauira katoa nô te rohe o Te Whau, arâ te Kaareti o Pukewiwi.
 

Acknowledgement to staff, parents,  families and students of Lynfield College ( and the greater area of Lynfield).
 

Kia ora!
 

My name is  Jennifer Leauga,  HOD of Te Reo Mâori at Lynfield College. The first goal I have for the department is to stage a Kapahaka Group at Polyfest in 2012. This will be happening for the first time in many years and our students, staff and parents are excited to see the beginnings of something great.
 

I believe in setting high expectations, so that students will excel because they want to and are expected to. This year Te Reo Mâori students will be undertaking courses of Achievement Standards,  these credits are university approved and will contribute to Universiy entry requirements.

 

Mâori students will flourish when given opportunities, thus, providing Kapahaka, e learning, noho marae, haerenga students are able to adapt to different learning environments, have a variation in learning styles, and be engaged and excited about achieving and doing well, because it should be the norm.
 

We need to:

 

1. Increase Te Reo Mâori senior student numbers

2. encourage positive, respectful, and respected students within the student body

3. Welcome non Mâori into language learning classes

4. Create a learning environment where students want to come to school, want to be involved and want to succeed

5. Enter  candidates into NCEA Scholarship Te Reo Mâori

6. Include whânau in the department’s initiatives by informing parents of upcoming events

 

I am looking forward to working with the students, whânau and staff of Lynfield College.
 

Whakapiki ki te taumata o te maunga, nâ kei reira he tohu, he aha tera tohu? Ko te mâtauranga, te whânautanga, te hiranga hoki.
 

Jennifer Leauga rehearsing with the Kapahaka group at lunchtime.

 

Congratulations to our top 2011 Scholars

41 Scholarships were awarded to Lynfield College students in 2011 – an outstanding result which is the highest achievement by any group of Year 13 students.
 
Penelope Walbran-Oakley was the top achiever gaining five scholarships which included one outstanding scholarship (in Statistics and Modelling).  Penelope has been awarded an ‘Outstanding Scholar Award’ for being in the top 50 scholarship results in the country.
 
Two students gained three scholarships (Vaspan Raimalwala and Boxuan Fan) and will receive a ‘Scholarship Award’.
 
All the students who gained a scholarship are given a monetary award for their university study.  The College is very proud of each student who gained one of these top academic awards and also recognises the work done by the teachers to prepare and tutor these achievers.
 
Scholarships were achieved in:
Accounting (3)                      Biology (4)            Chemistry (3)                       Classical Studies (2)
English (1)                            History (1)             Maths with Calculus (7)      Media Studies (1)
Photography (1)                   Physics (9)            Physical Education (1)         Statistics and Modelling (7)
Technology (1)                     
 

19 of the 31 2011 Scholarship Winners with Principal Steve Bovaird

Back row: 
Esther Zhuang(History), Ksenia Vistovskaya (Photography), Keshia Pereira (Technology),
Vincent Key (Statistics and Modelling), Katie van Rijn (Statistics and Modelling), Ginal Laxmidas (Physics)
Middle row:
Melanie Slessor (Media Studies), Katherine Browne (Accounting), Vinayak Dev (Biology), David Brown (English),
Aghilan Newman (Chemistry), Samantha Young (Physics, Statistics and Modelling)
Front row:
Callum Freeman (Classical Studies), Wendy He – Year 12 (Mathematics with Calculus),
Vaspan Raimalwala (Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics with Calculus - Scholarship Award),
Penelope Walbran-Oakley (Statistics and Modelling, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics with Calculus - Outstanding Scholar Award), Nalin Choudhary – Year 12 (Mathematics with Calculus), Aime Mellor (Physical Education),
Andrija Horvat (Biology)
Absent: 
Boxuan Fan (Physics, Statistics and Modelling, Mathematics with Calculus – Scholarship Award),
Devyani Vadke (Physics, Classical Studies), Richa Patel (Accounting), Bradley Moorfield (Physics),
Nikita Kabra (Physics), Judy Gao (Statistics and Modelling), Malika Hariharan (Statistics and Modelling),
Abigail Birken-Hall (Physics), Hannan Kashkari – Year 12 (Mathematics with Calculus), Jia Fu (Biology),
Mohammed Khan (Accounting), Jianming Kuang (Mathematics with Calculus)

 

New Buildings project Underway

Our current building project is well underway with the construction company taking advantage of the long holidays to complete demolition work and the underground services, and begin the re-building process.

 

One of the original two-storey teaching blocks will be extended to provide four new Science labs, a Maths Faculty office, and a Science Faculty office. The original gymnasium (affectionately referred to as the "Old Gym" since our new, much larger facility was built) has been stripped back to its steel framework and will be completely refurbished to include an additional Weights Room, Sports Office and three Health Education teaching rooms.

 

Work is progressing well but is not expected to be completed until the start of November.

 
 

Great Barrier Camp for BOT Student Rep
 

Kia Ora, my name is James Olsen, and I’m the Student Trustee on the Lynfield College Board of Trustees. I was elected to this position in September last year and my role is to bring a student perspective to the Board table.   To understand my role, the legal requirements and ethical responsibilities, the Board paid for me to attend a five day governance challenge at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre on Great Barrier Island, with forty other student trustees.   The aim of the course was for us to challenge ourselves both physically and mentally so that we can better understand the way we work, thus allowing us to fully understand the students so that we can properly represent their views at the Board level

This was then supplemented by governance sessions in the evening to ensure in depth understanding of the issues pertinent to running secondary schools.   The Outdoor Pursuits Centre Governance Challenge was a valuable and much appreciated investment by the Board, which will allow me to fully participate effectively at Board of Trustee meetings. I look forward to working with Board members and students throughout the year through the Student Council.

Leadership Camp 2012
 

Lynfield College has run an annual Senior Leadership and Team Building camp for Year 12 and 13 students since 1992. The aim of the camp is to enhance leadership skills and help develop team spirit.

 

For 2012 a two day camp based at the AUT campus launched the Prefects Training Programme (PTP) for our 2012 leadership team. PTP has been running in our school in association with AUT for the last five years. Students and staff stayed over two floors of the AUT student apartments which had been reserved for our students over the two day programme.

 

The agenda consisted of business planning, individual goal setting and tertiary transition planning as well as developing leadership concepts to assist the students in achieving their and the College's goals across the year.
 

	Some of the student leaders:  James Olsen (BOT student representative), Maddie Hughes (Head Girl), Kendra Wright (Social Committee), Jasmine Low (Asst Arts and Culture Captain), Jonathan Feki (Head Boy), James Johansson (Asst Arts and Culture Captain), Jason Qu (Social Committee).   The images below show the leaders in two teams which competed to complete a road race, riddle and produce a video.
The image opposite shows (facing camera) Nishita D'Silva (Deputy Head Girl), Shantrelle Prendigrast (Arts and Culture Captain), and Nalin Choudhary (Academic Captain).

Welcome to our Year 9 Students
 

3 February 2012

Year 9 Dean Mr Denis Van Dijk has 380 students to get to know as they begin their secondary schooling at Lynfield College. Having farewelled his former cohort as they ended Year 13 in December Mr Van Dijk is delighted to find his new group are equally as enthusiastic about achieving highly and getting involved in all the activities on offer.

 

 

The timetable has been operating for just over a day and Year 9 students were this morning being introduced to their courses of study in Technology and Art. The images below were captured around several of these classrooms.

Excellent 2011 NCEA Results

 

1 February 2012

Last year’s NCEA results have brought smiles to the faces of students and teachers alike at Lynfield College. Student achievement data shows improvements at all levels, with Lynfield College results exceeding the Ministry of Education’s guidelines, the national data and the Decile 7 data in almost all respects.
 

At Level 1 92% of Lynfield students met  the Literacy requirements and 91% the Numeracy. The pass rate for the NCEA Level 1 certificate was 80.2%.
 

86.9% of our Year 12 students were successful at Level 2 (NZ average 81.4%; Decile 7 schools 84.9%).
 

At Level 3 71% of our Year 13 students gained their Certificate while 64.3% also gained University Entrance.

Congratulations to all students and best wishes for your 2012 studies.