Student Success at SAS College Rugby League Awards 2018
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Two Lynfield students won awards at the SAS rugby league awards breakfast held in Auckland on Tuesday 28 August. John Lotoa’atu was the highest points scorer with 11 goals, and Tyler Loomes was the top tryscorer with 6 tries in the Senior A competition. Both boys contributions helped the Lynfield League team to finish fifth in their competition.
Congratulations From left to right: Senior A Top Try-Scorer Tyler Loomes, |
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Semifinal Debates
Two more Semifinal Debates were held this week, which wraps up most of the Grade work for our teams. Unfortunately, no Grand finals this year. But there will be a playoff for third in the Junior Open on Monday 10th September.
The Advanced Open team (Santiago Blanco (13), Nicole Johnson Y(13), Sarah Young (Y12) and Joseph Hisayasu (Year 12)) lost their Semi to Westlake Girls on the moot: This house regrets the Regional Fuel tax. Lynfield affirmed.
The Premier Junior team (Isha Ramanlal, Sanat Singh, Tanvi Kher and Roshni Bhatti (all Year 10s) narrowly lost (2/1 split) their Semifinal to Dio (an all Year 11 team) on the moot: This house would introduce a 100% inheritance tax. Lynfield affirmed. Really impressed with this team for getting so far in this Premier grade! Isha and Sanat, in particular, are stand out debaters. Still to go are the Junior Championship Tournament in September. Hopefully this team will do well.
Huge thanks to Aidan Halligan for adjudicating very high quality debates all year long and to Chris Bangs and Catherine Barker for all they do to help debaters get ready for these final rounds.
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Shave for a Cure
On Tuesday 27 August, eight Year 13 students took part in Shave For A Cure at lunch time in the school hall by shaving their heads or cutting their hair to fundraise for cancer research. Each student did this for their own reason, but all were fundraising for the same cause - to help raise awareness and funds for research into treatments and cures for cancer. Students raised a total of $2,810.60 on the Lynfield team Shave For A Cure facebook page. This was achieved thanks to the enormous amount of support we received from other students, family members, staff, and friends.
The experience of shaving was pretty terrifying, suddenly losing all your hair is a big deal. This is what made the experience so real for me personally, I got to make the choice to shave my head for the cause. I chose to put myself in this position, but others don’t have that choice. We did this to show our support for the people who lose their hair as a part of their treatment and for all those who are being or have ever been directly or indirectly affected by the diagnosis of cancer.
Amy Bernstone
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| From left to right: Jamie Fowler, Melina Samuels, Rowena Brunt, Amy Bernstone, Kieren Chhiba and Sam Fletcher. |
University of Auckland Celebration Dinner
On Friday 24 August Māori and Pasifika students from Lynfield College along with Whanau Ms Wolf and Māori representative from our Board Hinekura Samuels-Laveaina attended a special event hosted by MATA and the University of Auckland.
The purpose for the evening was to create a space for sharing stories from our Pacific Island and Māori guest speakers, connecting akonga with their cultural identities and inspiring youth to persevere through adversity and promote tertiary education.
Guest speakers shared their experiences as past university students along with, their personal obstacles, and where they are now after overcoming these hardships, through their visions for success. Live entertainment by the University students and a sit down dinner concluded the evening.
Special mention to our whanau, akonga and kaiako for their organisation.
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| Jonni Ryan Gordon and Aaron Tahu pictured with guest Speaker Dan Walker (Commercial Account Executive Dell, EMC and Deputy chair of the Maori Tourism Board) | From left to right: Regan Ryan-Gordon, Aaron Tahu and Jonni Ryan-Gordon in the foyer. | Left to Right: Melina Samuels (Deputy Head Girl), Loleina Polaulu, Valo Mao, Maria Mounga, Judge Ida Malosi (First female Pacific Island Judge) Aaron Tahu, Jonni Ryan Gordon and Regan Ryan-Gordon. |
Lynfield Debating Update
It's been a very busy time for the five Lynfield debating teams who qualified for the final rounds of the Auckland Schools' Debating competition. Here is an update on their progress to date. Teams in this colour are still in the competition.
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The Premier Advanced (Year 12-13)
Lynfield has only one Premier Advanced team in this 1st Division grade of the very best 30 teams in Auckland.
LYNFIELD: Coached by Aidan Halligan
Harry Ashley, Raymond Feng (Y12), Kyus Rodger (Y12) and Michael Howell(Y12) reached the Quarterfinals but lost to Westlake Boys. It was the last High School debate for Year 13 debater Harry Ashley, who has been a top-performing debater since Year 10. He will be greatly missed next year!
The Advanced Open (Year 12-13)
Two Lynfield teams competed in this 2nd Division Grade of 60 teams
LYNFIELD 1: Coached by Aidan Halligan
Joseph Hisayasu (Y12), Santiago Blanco (Y13), Sarah Young (Y12) and Nicole Johnson (Y13), won their Octofinal and Quarterfinal, and will compete in the Semifinal next week. We will keep you posted on this team who stand a very good chance of making a Grand Final!
LYNFIELD 2: Coached by Chris Bangs
Marnsi Sharma, Mahima Sharma, Nicole D’Souza and Eve Gabor and Shreya Singaru reached the Octofinals, but lost to St Cuthbert's. All Year 13 students, these girls won the Senior Open Grade last year (a first for Lynfield) and will be greatly missed next year!
The Premier Junior (Year 9-11)
Lynfield has two teams in this 3rd Division Grade of about 40 of Auckland's top Junior (up to Year 11) teams.
LYNFIELD 1: Coaches Sherry Wagner, Raymond Feng and Catherine Barker
Isha Ramanlal, Tanvi Kher, Sanat Singh and Roshni Bhatti (all Year 10s, which is very impressive) won their Quarterfinal last week against and will compete in the Semifinal next week against . We will keep you posted on their progress!
5th Division: Junior Open
Lynfield had five teams entered in this 5th Division Grade, and out of a total of 120 teams in the Grade this year.
LYNFIELD 1: Coaches Sherry Wagner and Catherine Barker
Aashish Ramanlal, Jasmine Pickston and Eliana Competente (all Year 10s) won their Octofinal and Quarterfinal. They performed very well in their semifinal debate that took place at Lynfield College this Monday and narrowly lost to St. Cuthbert's College. (see photo). They will compete for 3rd/4th place in a few weeks.
The Impromptu Cup
Well done to the five Lynfield teams who competed last weekend in the Auckland School's Debating Impromptu Cup Tournament. Harry Ashley, Kyus Rodger, Santiago Blanco, Joseph Hisayasu, Raymond Feng, Michael Howell, Isha Ramanlal, Sanat Singh, Dev Dixit, Tanvi Kher and Harshil Jogia.
Lynfield College won this tournament last year by ex-Lynfield Premier Advanced debaters Karan Kalsi and Jia Dua. Karan, who is now studying Law at Auckland University, and is a premier debater with the Auckland University Debating Society, convened this year's tournament.
Congratulations to Raymond Feng and Michael Howell for reaching the Quarterfinals in this very challenging, limited-preparation format.
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| Impromptu Cup | Premier Advanced Quaterfinalists |
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| Premier Advanced | Junior Open Semifinalists | Premier Junior Quarterfinal |
Great Support for Fair Trade Day Students
Thanks to everyone for supporting the students of 10WG and 10ST with the actions they needed to take for their Social Studies Internal Assessment. So far they have raised a total of $884.40 which will be donated to Oxfam, along with a few more donations still to come.
It was great to see a festive atmosphere yesterday at lunchtime for the Fair Trade Day activities held on Monday 20 August. Congratulations to Mr Paine who won one of the raffles. The rest of the raffles were won by students. All results are on Schoology. For those of you wanting to know, there were 318 Malteser’s in the jar.
The World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO), was established to unite fair traders around the world to support Fair Trade and trade justice issues, along with sustainable economy, empowerment of economically marginalised producers, and the fight against poverty and climate change. World Fair Trade Day is all about sharing and celebrating this mission throughout our community.
Thanks to Yvonne and the hospitality students who made many delicious fair trade coffees and hot chocolates yesterday and to Kay for being there to help the students with their stalls.
Thank you Vini for the great photographs.
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Music Success for Lynfield College
It has been very busy and highly successful week for the Music Department with six different ensembles competing at two different competitions: Auckland Jazz Band Competition and the KBB Music Festival.
At the conclusion of the Auckland Jazz Band Finals, Lynfield College came away with five awards including two Golds and Best Big Band. The Big Band have now won this competition six times in seven years. The Stage Band, LC Jazz Project and Jazz Combo also performed well and received awards.
The Big Band was also selected to perform in the KBB Music Festival Gala for the 9th consecutive year, this places them in the top four out of over 40 bands in their category. At the conclusion of the Gala they were awarded a Gold Award and Best Performance of a Swing Chart. The Concert Band and Chamber Orchestra also produced fantastic performances and received awards.
Auckland Jazz Band Competition Results
Stage Band: Bronze Award
LC Jazz Project: Silver Award
Jazz Combo: Gold Award
Big Band: Finalists, Gold Award and Best Big Band
KBB Music Festival Results
Chamber Orchestra: Commended Award and Nomination for the Chairman’s Command Performance
Concert Band: Silver Award
Big Band: Gala Selection, Gold Award and Best Performance of a Swing Chart
Click HERE to see the Award being announced.
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| Big Band with their Best Performance Award | Chamber Orchestra, Big Band and Concert Band |
Lynfield Students Excel at the NZ Hospitality Competition
Eight hospitality students competed in the NZ Hospitality Championships on 14 August 2018. This was once again an amazing opportunity for our students to step up, showcasing what they love doing in the food industry. Congratulations to all the students for achieving at such a high level and representing Lynfield College in a professional way.
DECORATED CAKE: GOLD MEDAL
Ritisha Khatri impressed with her Chocolate and Caramel Buttercream cake, winning a gold medal. In fact, Ritisha impressed the judges so much that she has been invited to continue her patisserie passion at the prestigious AUT patisserie course next year!
PASTA: GOLD MEDAL (TOP OF CLASS)
Dylan Fernandez won Top of the Class for the pasta entry, presenting a mushroom and ricotta cheese tortellini with a creamy mushroom sauce.
BURGER: (TOP OF CLASS)
This is the second year that Lynfield College has won Top of Class for the burger competition, ‘What’s your flavour’. Well done to Gabby Kita-Painter and Anna Ross who won the burger competition with their Santorini Burger.
OMELETTE: GOLD MEDAL
Saahil Bali was awarded a gold medal in first place for his splendid caramelised onion omelette.
| BRONZE MEDALS Jeffrey Ocampo: Spiced onion and cheese omelette Jeffrey Ocampo: Barista Ruth Tekeste: Barista |
SILVER MEDALS Loleina Polaulu: Strawberry and cream Smoothie Saahil Bali: Spiced caramelised apple smoothie Anna Ross: Spiced raspberry biscuits |
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Halsey Drive School and Lynfield College Perform Together
On Monday 14 August Mrs Varney invited our roopu Kapa haka to perform at their special Kapa Haka concert. A group of our seniors as part of their assessment for Maori Performing Arts presented a set which consisted of Mau Rakau, Waiata a Ringa, Haka and Himene.
Ka nui te mihi to all of our akonga, Mrs Varney and her team for this opportunity to connect our rangatahi displaying the tuakana teina model in our Kahui ako and the Principal and staff from Halsey Drive for making us feel so welcome.
He mihi mahana ki a Whaea Tebay mo tana tautoko hoki.
Mā te tuakana e tōtika te teina, mā te teina e tōtika te tuakana
Seek guidance from both young and old, the two will balance each other out.
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A Special Tradition: Mt Maunganui Exchange
A big thanks to everyone for making the Mt Maunganui Exchange held on Thursday 9 August such a success. This is the oldest continuous tradition at Lynfield College and it is far more than a sports exchange. It is also a chance for some of our top winter sports codes to play another school from a region whose style of play is inevitably different from the competition our teams come up against in their weekly games, but the benefits are so much wider than that.
It is an opportunity for real leadership for all those students involved – to be welcoming and friendly hosts to people they’ve never met before, each doing their part to make sure the day runs smoothly and directing their friends as to where to go and what the expectations for the day are. And they did it with real pride in our school.
It is a chance for 150 of our students to have so much fun showing their friends and teachers another part of themselves besides the classroom side. They enjoyed the camaraderie with Mt Manganui … wandering around supporting each other, chatting and laughing.
It couldn’t have happened without the absolutely amazing goodwill of our coaches. These people either took leave without pay, annual leave, lost income because they are self-employed or started work at 4.30 am so they could have some time off in the middle of the day. They are truly dedicated to developing our students. We are so lucky to have their support and expertise.
It's also a chance for the whole school to pull together and make a big event happen so THANK YOU to all staff for your help in making this event a success.
Felicity Walbran, Sports Director
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Penny Howard, Artist
As part of Visual Arts Week, artist Penny Howard visited to speak to our senior visual art students on Tuesday 7 August to speak about her work, how she generates ideas and what her influences are.
Penny’s practice is often concerned with the meeting of cultures and some of the shared superstitions and religious overlaps between Maori, Samoan, Irish, Scottish, and English. Her works are an expression of the artist finding and exploring her own cultural identity.
Penny Howard graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1995, she has work in the permanent collections of the Wallace Arts Trust, Waitakere City Council, Foundation North, Auckland Events Centre and Auckland University - installed in the Business School, Dept. Critical Studies in Education, at the Auckland Family Court and in other private collections in China, the United Kingdom and Australia.
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Lynfield joins Rockerz Bollywood High School Dance Competition
For the first time ever our students joined twelve other Auckland schools at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre on Saturday 4 August to participate in this annual dance competition. Schools dazzled with their performances in front of a 500+ audience and three expert judges.
Our twelve Year 12 dancers were thrilled to be exposed to such a large-scale event and were delighted to receive the Most Creative Award through their voting box. Their teacher in charge and Dean Mrs Raneeta Prasad commented, “It has been wonderful working alongside such dedicated and committed students. A big thank you to all parents and student supporters who also attended the event.”Congratulations go to Shivani Kumar, Sheenal Singh, Alisha Bhana, Pritika Patel, Kounain Ahmed, Reet Banga, Vishesh Azad, Vedant Kaduskar, Joshua D’Souza, John Tallent, Hyrum Chandra and Sarish Kumar.
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Bollywood is the name given to the Mumbai film industry in India. The term Bollywood was created from the name Bombay (the city now known as Mumbai). Bollywood Dance is a commercial name for modern Indian Dancing. It is a combination of classical Indian dance (which is the base), folk dance such as bhangra and sometimes Arabic influence. It’s fun and very expressive and the meaning behind the music is expressed through the graceful movements of the body.
New Zealand's Next Top Engineering Scientist 2018
The 2018 competition was held on Saturday 4 August. The question was posted online at 10.00am and students had to compile a comprehensive report and email it to the organisers by the 6.00pm deadline. Now in its tenth year, this annual competition is a problem solving event for teams of three to four secondary students, organised by the Department of Engineering Science at University of Auckland.
2018 QUESTION: How many tonnes of CO2 emissions could be avoided in your lifetime if New Zealand transitions to a completely electric vehicle fleet?
This year, we had 5 teams in total, consisting of year 11, 12 and 13 students. The judges (comprised of Phd students and lecturers) at the university are now going through hundreds of reports and the results of the competition would be released next term.
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Auckland Cluster Visit Rangiriri Paa
On Thursday 2 August students from Lynfield College, Waitakere College, Massey High School and Henderson High, as part of the Auckland Cluster traveled to Rangiriri Paa to learn more about this important historical site.
Rangiriri Paa is located off State Highway One, just south of Te Kauwhata. The Pa and associated fortifications, is the site of a famous battle that occurred during the land wars. A greatly outnumbered Māori force was attacked by 1500 British troops in one of the crucial battles of the Waikato campaign on 20 November 1863, with both sides suffering heavy casualties.
Part of the central redoubt has been preserved and the grassed over ditches and banks give an impression of the formidable defences. A Tohu Maumahara (symbol of remembrance) stands at Rangiriri to commemorate those who fought in the Battle of Rangiriri.
It was a momentous occasion for those who attended. Mihi atu ki nga kaiwhakahaere, nga kaiako, akonga me nga whanau katoa mo te tautoko.
The Rangiriri Haka was recited and performed by akonga at the historical pa site.
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