October 2015

Invited to Join Sir Peter Blake Youth Expedition
 

Very exciting news has been received by the school from the Sir Peter Blake Trust..
 

Students and Chefs Join Forces for Special Day

 

The International Day of the Chef was celebrated at Lynfield by having our Year 10 Food Technology students join forces with Glenavon Primary Year 8 students and  work with 10 visiting chefs  to prepare, make and eat a healthy lunch. The made banana muffins, chicken wraps and smoothies. The NZ Herald article recording the event follows.. School books and pencils were replaced with mixing bowls and wooden spoons as youngsters took part in this year's International World Chefs Day. Students from schools in Auckland, Wellington, Otago, Napier, Taranaki, Christchurch and Southland were treated to a day in the kitchen with a Kiwi chef from the New Zealand Chefs Association yesterday. The initiative was part of a worldwide event that encourages students to cook and learn about the benefits of healthy eating. In Auckland, chef Robert McDonald was giving tips to students from Glenavon School and Lynfield College. Among the younger pupils were Joana Panahon, 13, and Victoria Hendry, 12, who looked the part in their aprons and chef's hats.(image above with chef Robert McDonald Food brand Nestle New Zealand was also involved with this year's cause as part of its Healthy Kids Programme. - NZ Herald

Festival Awards Evening Celebrates our Students' Achievements

The annual celebration of Lynfield College's extra-curricular life was once again outstanding in highlighting the breadth and depth of talent, ability, and leadership amongst our senior students.

Music ensembles, cultural groups, student leaders and sporting stars came together in an occasion which will be memorable in the students' lives. Arts and Culture Captain Oksana Zhang has written this account of her special time at Festival Awards Evening..

An instrument is nothing without its musician and a sport field is nothing without its sports players. Held cordially at Eden Park the Festival Awards made the perfect denouement for a victorious year of arts, music and sporting achievements of Lynfield College.
 
The ceremony kick-started with a powerful haka performed by a mix of the Kapa Haka group and the Student Executive. After Mrs Walbran, the Director of Sport and Mrs Wagner, the Arts and Cultural Coordinator acknowledged the award-recipients, they shone the spotlight on to the Captains. Arts and Cultural Captains Oksana Zhang and Jairah Perida and Sports Captains Adeleena Lee-Hussien and Cree Braithwaite who spoke about their experience of representing the school, and the Awards ceremony smoothly led on from there.
 
The arts, music and cultural groups saw an overwhelmingly successful year, including the huge hit musical production “Popstars” making it in to the Herald, Big Band and Jazz Bands rounding up all the top awards in music festivals, and our very own “The Flock” band making finals in the “Stand Up Stand Out” music competition. To prove the outstanding musical talent we have here at Lynfield, our young yet professional musicians Jake Krishnamurti, Sarai McKay and Dylan Goodisson performed ‘Special’ by Six60.
 
My Bovaird then highlighted the importance of giving everything a go because you will never discover your true potential unless you try. Special acknowledgements were also dedicated to Mr Chris Wadsworth and Mr Aiden Halligan, both of whom devote utmost passion and time to the Human and Environmental Rights Committee.
 
The second half of the ceremony began with an upbeat and dynamic montage that displayed our defining arts, musical and sporting moments, and boy was there a lot!
 
This year our guest speaker was one of our own. Involved in more activities that can be counted on fingers, it was fitting that she was one of the runners up Dux Artrium of the year. A natural public speaker and debater, Gauri Prabhakar delivered an empowering and evoking speech and proved that the impossible is indeed possible. Winning the Race Unity Speech competition and being selected as one of the 22 student delegates to represent New Zealand at the United Nations in The Hague, she spoke from experience about how to overcome obstacles that we may face in our high school journey.
 
The ceremony ended with the presentations of awards to those who displayed exceptional contribution and success.. Lynfield’s Jazz Combo directed by the legendary Mr Norman led them to victory and earned the well-deserved “Group Achievement Award”. The Robotics Team took out the title of the “Team of the Year (non-sports)”, out-competing over 600 teams over 38 countries for the third year in a row, with the average age of only 16! Sports “Team of the Year” went to the 1^st XI Hockey Boys team, who were coached by Dux Ludorum 2013, Akshay Chauhan and led them to consistent wins.
 
Dux Ludorum went to Sports Captain Cree Braithwaite and Assistant Sports Captain Akanesi Fakafanua. Phenomenal trumpeter, trombonist, euphoniumist and flugelhorn player Jake Krishnamurti was titled as Dux Artium, while the Arts and Cultural Scholarship went to Arts and Cultural Captain, Oksana Zhang, as well as the “Service to the Performing Arts” trophy.
 
While Festival Awards may be the closing ceremony for this year of arts, music and sports, it is only just the beginning of many more successes that Lynfield has yet to achieve.
 

Major award winners :

Akanesi Fakafanua - Girls' Dux Ludorum Akanesi has represented the school in the top basketball, volleyball, and tag teams as well as Premier and UNISS Netball teams – this is typical of her sporting involvement since Year 9!  She was a member of our very successful Senior Girls Volleyball team which won the Division 1, Central Auckland competition and finished 12th in Greater Auckland.  She is the assistant female Sports Captain this year. Cree Braithwaite -  Boys Dux Ludorum A talented all round athlete whose love of sport has been obvious since Y9, Cree is a natural leader who has always chosen to lead by example.  He is a member of the 1st XV rugby team, a representative Tag player, and captain of our Premier League team. He has organised House Competitions and assisted with the running of Athletics Day and the Road Race.
Jake Krishnamurti _ Dux Artium Jake is a talented and outstanding musician who excels on trumpet, trombone and euphonium in both jazz and classical genres. He is a member of the Concert Band, Big Band, Jazz Combo, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Soul Jam and Production Band. This year Jake was selected to play lead trumpet with the NZ Youth Jazz Orchestra (U20 years of age).  At the NZ Youth Jazz Festival he was part of the group that won Best Jazz Combo and he also won the award for Best Original Composition. At the Auckland Jazz Band competition, Jake was a member of the winning jazz combo and also won the only individual award for best jazz soloist.  Jake plays lead trombone in the Lynfield Big Band which won Most Outstanding Jazz Band at the KBB Music Festival this year. Outside of school he plays with Queen City Big Band, and has already played a number of professional gigs on both trumpet and trombone. Jake is pictured with the Dux Artium Runners-Up Sarai McKay, Gauri Prabhakar and Dylan Goodison Sarai McKay - Runner Up Dux Artium A talented performer, Sarai was the Vocalist in two very successful bands this year: Big Band and The Flock. The Flock was Rock Quest's Auckland Central Finalists, Stand Up Stand Out finalists, and NZ Songwriting competition finalists- and Sarai wrote the lyrics for their original songs. Sarai represents the Kapahaka group at Polyfest with tremendous pride. She has been an inspiring leader of the Maori group, including organizing the Haka  performed by our school leaders at festival AwardsEvening.
Dylan Goodison - Runner Up Dux Artium A talented trumpet and piano player, Dylan was a member of Big Band, who were the Auckland Jazz Band Festival winners, and also took out the top honors in their category at the KBB Music Festival. He was also a member of the Concert Band, Jazz Combo, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Soul Jam, Production Band and The Flock. He was the Winner of Most Outstanding Trumpet Player at the NZ youth Jazz Festival.	Gauri Prabhakar - Runner Up Dux Artium Gauri  has been a committed member of Senior Debating and the Human and Environmental Rights and UN Groups here at Lynfield. You will often find her in the weekend leading a cleanup of some stream in our community, and she helped lead the sustainability initiative for Cultural Day this year. Outside of Lynfield, she has done 'hands-on' development work in India. She was an MC for Green Jam sustainability workshops, and was selected by the Ministry of Youth and Development for the 2015 Youth Week 'Changemaker' award. She was the Auckland Region winner for the Race Unity Speech Award, and has been selected for the New Zealand delegation to the Hague to represent United Nations Youth.
Maddison Wesche - Outstanding Sporting Achievenent Maddi is an extremely committed and talented, yet humble, athlete who has chosen to focus specifically on one event – Shot Put.  After taking up this discipline 2 years ago, she has excelled at all levels.   In the past 12 months Maddi has become the “Golden Girl” in NZ Youth Shot Put circles.  Her results are truly outstanding: Won the Western Zone Intermediate Girls Shot Put setting a new AUCKLAND Secondary Schools record At the Greater Auckland Athletics Intermediate Girls Shot Put she broke her own record 3 times before winning the event with a record throw of 15.38m which was better than the winning senior! Won gold in Intermediate Girls Shot Put at the North Island Secondary Schools Champs setting a new record (15.35m) which broke Valerie Adams’ long standing record for this event.  Again, her throw was better than the winning senior! Is the NZ Secondary Schools Junior Girls Shot Put champion Won Gold in the Auckland Athletics Champs, again setting a new record, and again beating the seniors! Won Gold in the U18 and Gold in the U20 Women’s Shot Put at NZ National Athletics Champs Won Gold in the U16 Shot Put at the Australian Athletics Champs. Was 1 of only 6 athletes selected to represent NZ in the World Youth (U18) Athletics Championships in Colombia in July.  She finished 17th in a field of 35.   Maddi epitomises the well balanced high achiever and is an excellent role model in all she undertakes.  We wish Maddi well when represents Lynfield College in the NZ Secondary Schools athletics championships early in December.
Holly Harrison - Year 12 Sportswoman of the Year   Holly has used her athletic talents in a number of teams this year.  She was a member of the Senior Girls Touch team and receives Colours for Touch and was the Most Valuable Team Player in this team. She is an excellent sprinter and is the Senior Girls Athletics champion (for which she receives the McMahon Cup) and she competed in the Central Zone Athletics champs. Holly is also a member of the 1st XI Girls Hockey team, Senior Blue Netball team and the Senior Girls Tag team.  She has managed this alongside being an enthusiastic House Captain for Zorocich.	Kiriffi Leilua - Year 12 Sportsman of the Year Kiriffi is a gifted athlete who has natural skills in a wide variety of sports.  He was a member of the 1st XIII Rugby League team and named Most Valuable Team Player for this team. In the summer, Kiriffi played Touch, Volleyball and Tag and Senior Boys tennis team. He was named Most Valuable Player of the Senior Boys Touch team (receiving the Boys Touch Rugby Cup) and the Senior Boys Volleyball team (receiving the Boys Volleyball MVP Cup).  Kiriffi also receives Colours for Touch and Colours for Volleyball. In between trainings and games, he has been an enthusiastic House Captain for Fatialofa and is now helping coach the junior boys volleyball team, for which he receives a Service to Sport award.
Year 11 Musician of the Year - Andrew Isdale Andrew Isdale has enjoyed success in a number of areas.  He is the runner-up Year 11 Boys Tennis Champion and runner-up Year 11 Boys Tennis Doubles Champion.  He receives Colours for being part of the Robotics team that won the World Championship. But it is in Music where he particularly shines.  A talented saxophone, guitar and piano player in both jazz and rock genres, Andrew was a member of the Concert Band, Big Band, Jazz Combo, Chamber Orchestra, Production Band, Soul Jam and The Flock (many of these groups enjoyed success in either a Regional or National level.) He receives Colours for The Big Band and Jazz Combo and he is the Year 11 Musician of the Year.	Year 12 Musician of the Year - Ryu Kodoma  Ryu is a talented clarinet, drum and violin player who confidently performs across jazz, rock and classical styles. He was a member of 9 musical groups including the Clarinet Trio, Production Band and Soul Jam.  Ryu receives Colours for the Chamber Orchestra, String Octet, Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra. He receives Colours with Hounors for Big Band and Jazz Combo, as well as Most Valuable Contributer to Big Band. Some of these groups have won Auckland and/or NZ finals for two years running, and Ryu won Most Outstanding Drummer at the NZ Youth Jazz Festival. We are proud to announce that Ryu is our Year 12 Musician of the Year.
Team of the Year - Boys First X1 Hockey	Team of the Year - World Champion Robotics Team
Group of the Year - Jazz Big Band
Nathan Maisey - Year 11 Sportsman of the Year Nathan is a committed and dedicated athlete who has been involved in 3 sports this year.  He was Vice-Captain of our 1st XI Boys Football team and receives Colours for football.  He receives the Peter Clark Cup as he was named Most Valuable Team Player of this team.   Nathan is the Y11 Athletics Champion (receiving the Intermediate Boys Athletics Cup) and represented our school in the Western Zone Athletics championships. He was also a member of our Senior Boys Tag team.	Maddison Wesche - Year 11 Sportswoman of the Year  Maddison is our Y11 Girls Athletics champion and receives the Y11 Girls Athletics Champion Cup.  She has represented our school at Western Zone, Greater Auckland and North Island level where she had success in the Shot Put.  For this she is awarded Colours for Athletics. Maddi was the Most Valuable Player in the Senior White Netball team and was also a member of our UNISS netball team. She receives a Service award for managing both our 2 U19 Boys Basketball teams.

 

Danger Beach

In a 2010 TV series, Muriwai was called ‘Danger Beach’.  A site of challenging surf and rescues of swimmers and fishermen, the waves are notoriously powerful.  Level 3 Geographers study this coastline for two assessments, and visited the area in August to collect information on the processes that make Muriwai a beach with a reputation.

While some equipment was traditional, students also learned to improvise, with aluminium foil, oranges and petroleum jelly used in experiments. Little went according to plan! However, this is part of the learning process, and in their assessment students suggested alternative methods for conducting the research.
 

 

Lynfield Voices Head to Final

Auckland Secondary Schools’ Poetry Slam run by Action Education Inc and SAPC. Teen voices not all angst and gloom - Real life stories of light and hope are shared. To anyone interested in student voice and poetry it is strongly recommended you go along to the grand slam final which will be held in the NZI room at the Aotea Centre on Saturday 24th October at 7pm. Details in the poster (right) Semi-final news. On Saturday September 26 the first of two semi-finals for WTFL was held in the Herald Theatre at the Aotea Centre. Six Auckland secondary schools were competing for the chance to go through to the grand final. Lynfield College students Naomi Moraes, Sachi Rathod, Bridget Logan-Haley, Jia Dua, Aleece Monkman and Melissa Paet, pitted their spoken-word poetry skills against students from the five other schools including; Green Bay High, Selwyn College, Alfriston College, Westlake Boys and Glenfield College. The teams were required to present poetry in each of three rounds. Teams could consist of between four and six performers. The rules require that all team members must have performed at least once by the end of the third round. This structure allows for single, duo and whole group performances. Each performance is judged by a panel of four judges who are award-winning performance poets themselves. The judges score the performances based on writing ability, performance capability and impact on the audience. The latter is measured by audience appreciation expressed by means of laughter, gasping, clapping and the universal poetry slam response of finger clicking.

Finalists are: Lynfield College,  McAuley High School, Mt Albert Grammar, Papatoetoe High School, Glenfield College and Selwyn College

Although WTFL is a competition, it is also stressed that, “The point is not the points. The point is the poetry.” It is well to keep this in mind if you find yourself in the audience of a poetry slam. Judging the style and content of authentic personal stories and perspectives is an incredibly difficult task. Each performance is given a score out of 10 by each of the judges (40 points in total per team per round), with the final score for each of the teams (at the end of all three rounds) amounting to a score out of 120.

Naomi and Sachi

Bridget and Aleece

Jia and Melissa

The Lynfield team chose to cover the event through three duo performances. Naomi and Sachi kicked off Lynfield’s first round with a presentation entitled Ahmed. They decided to use the story of the recent clock-boy incident in the US to highlight their own positive attitude towards education as well as their personal experiences of discrimination based on ethnicity and religion.

The second round saw Bridget and Aleece present a poem with a lighter theme; discrimination based on height. Under the Bar, was delivered with the passion of personal experience and the humorous touches were well received by the audience. (The high heels were a nice touch.)

For the final round, Jia and Melissa returned to serious matters that related to social and political divisions created by religious intolerance and extremism. They too connected to the audience through their own personal expressions of identity through spirituality.
Poetry from the other teams was varied in content, highly engaging in delivery, and always firmly grounded in the personal experiences of the individual or group.

 

And the great news for Lynfield is that the judges recognised the talent displayed, and our team is going through to the semi-final along with Glenfield College and Selwyn. Well done teams.
 
The second semi-final held on October 3^rd was an equally thrilling event with a difficult task for the judges. The top three scoring schools were announced, these included McAuley High, Mt Albert Grammar and Papatoetoe High. McAuley students will be battling fiercely to defend their title as champions in 2014.

I know where I will be Sat 24^th. See you there!

 

Valuable Waitangi Experience

 

Year 9-12 tauira taking Te Reo Maori ventured to Waitangi on Thursday 24 September. The group, accompanied by Whaea Maihi and Whaea Leauga experienced a Powhiri by the tangata whenua and responded with our Lynfield School haka!

After visiting the Treaty grounds, all got on to the ferry to head to Kororareka (Russell)  A fantastic day learning about the Treaty, Maori culture and Maori and Pakeha race relations.

 

Year 10 Digital Citizens Spread the Word

 

While most students were enjoying the recent school holidays, Harry Ashley and Ankush Patel of 10WN gave a presentation on their Digital Citizenship project to a group of educators at U-Learn, the largest education conference that is held in New Zealand.

One of the teachers from Hobsonville Point Secondary School was so impressed with the boys' presentation that she invited them to speak to her whole school.

So on Tuesday October 13th Harry and Ankush went to Hobsonville Point, where they shared their thoughts on Lynfield College’s Digital Citizenship programme with the students there. See image right. They also had an opportunity to show the students the LynC Safe app, video clips and the website they created as part of their project. After their presentation Harry and Ankush were asked many questions by the students.  The students at Hobsonville Point are going to be working on their own Digital Citizenship projects this term which hopefully they will share with Harry and Ankush. The LynC Safe app includes a range of work from other Year 10 students that participated in the Digital Citizenship inquiry project as well. It can be downloaded from here

 

Festival Awards Evening
 

Thursday 15 October has been eagerly awaited by staff and students as in the evening the extracurricular life of the college will be celebrated.

An annual prizegiving event, the evening  provides opportunity for the college to also reflect on past students who have gained honours in their chosen field (art, cultural or sporting) and to show appreciation to the many people whose energy and commitment have supported the students to participate in so many sporting codes, artistic and performance activities and cultural festivities. However the focus of the evening will be on the many awards that recognise the leadership and achievements of the senior students.

Lynfield College Festival Awards Evening...

Thursday 15 October
Eden Park (Walters Rd entrance
6pm - 9pm.

 

New Zealand ShakeOut... .

Lynfield College has signed up to participate in the ‘New Zealand Shake Out’ that is to take place on Thursday 15 October at 9.15am. At the given signal, everyone in the school needs to ‘drop, cover and hold’.  

Iit is worth remembering that although Auckland is a low risk earthquake zone, not all of our students will spend the rest of their life in Auckland and so they need to be prepared.ts

The organisers have prepared and distributed a number of resources that can be used as preparation and follow up for teachers and students.