Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

Thank you to the team from the  Ara Level 3 Hospitality course who provided a celebratory morning tea for the staff today. It was gratefully received. It is wonderful to see our students developing the practical skills needed for the industry in a real life setting.

As we finish a jam packed term of tremendous learning experiences, I would also like to publicly thank our staff and parent community for your commitment and dedication to both classroom delivery and extra-curricular opportunities. Your hard work models our values and Special Character to our students.

Over the holidays the College will be furiously preparing for the 90th Anniversary at Labour Weekend. Please spread the word within your network as we are still accepting late registrations.

Finally I would like to wish everyone a relaxing and refreshing spring holiday. May the weather be kind and your travels safe. 

May God bless you
Paul Olsen, Principal

Winter Warmer Food Drive

The Winter Warmer food donations were presented to Mrs Houlihan and Mrs Marsh from the St Vincent de Paul Food Bank.  The JAG initiative had been running throughout the term and as well as the generosity of our College families we extend our thanks to New World for donating the reusable grocery bags.

Thank you to Carol Edwards for sharing these photos with us.

Student Representative BOT Results

There was a good voting turnout for the Student Representative on the Board of Trustees for 2018. on Friday 22 September. Over half of the College voted.  Each candidate brought their unique style and personality to the campaign. Well done to all the candidates that participated.

The Board of Trustee Student Rep Election Results are as follows:-

St Kevin’s College
Board of Trustees Election
Declaration of Student Election Results

Votes:
Eli Winders 141
Georgia Oakes 72
Piper Beach 11
Invalid Votes: 9

I hereby declare duly elected: Eli Winders

Signed


Sue McErlane
Returning Officer

Longest Drive

While our Senior students are busy with exams there was some fun Interhouse competition among the Junior school today with a 'Longest Drive' competition.   What great weather for golf!

Boys - 1st Treacy, 2nd Clancy, 3rd Magee and 4th Whyte
Girls - 1st Whyte, 2nd Magee, 3rd Clancy and 4th Treacy

Celebration Of Sport 2017

 All that was excellent about sport at SKC was celebrated on Friday evening at the 2017 Celebration of Sport Awards. Congratulations to all of our awards winners and a big thank you to Bronson Ross who was our guest speaker for the evening.

Sporting Blues
Jack Andrew - Basketball
Amber Cunningham - Cricket
Alex Gonzales - Basketball
Polly Harper - Equestrian
Iessha Mansfield - Swimming
Ben McCarthy - Rugby
Brylee More - Touch
Max Yanzick - Athletics

All Round Sporting Prizes
Junior Sportswoman (Camellia Cup) - Penny Keeling
Junior Sportsman (Boyle Cup) - Max Yanzick
Senior Sportswoman (Margaret Breen Cup) - Laura Preston
Senior Sportsman (Donovan Cup) - Adam Sew Hoy

Outstanding Premier Awards
Outstanding Student Contribution - Georgia Vickers
Outstanding Sportswoman (Kearney Family Cup) - Polly Harper
Outstanding Sportsman (Carrickmore Cup) - Max Yanzick

CLICK HERE to view a full list of prize winners

Thank you to Josh Cunningham for capturing the evening.  CLICK HERE to view more images.

Regular Class Attendance

Simba decided pop down from the Hostel in order to assist Mr Thompson's te reo Maori class yesterday!  Simba is a regular attendee of classes at the College, as well as a participant in Senior Drama Productions and end of year Graduations!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Girls just wanna have fun and the girls from the hostel certainly did!  A trip to Dunedin at the weekend saw the girls take in Laser Strike before heading to town for a bit of shopping and lunch.  Those with energy to burn then headed off to Leap World to finish off the day.

Teen Ag Triumph

Congratulations to the Teen Ag club who came away from an enjoyable evening in Timaru with a swag of Leadership certificates. Pictured are Briar Swanson, Harriet Hanning, Amy Hunter and James Caldwell. James was also awarded Aorangi Region Teen Ag Member of the Year.

Y11 Ag Farm Bike Skills

Year 11 students had a fun day on Friday at a farm bike training day. Pictured are Bridget Hunter riding a two wheel motorbike for the first time and Brody Mathias enjoying his turn on a quadbike.

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

This Wednesday we held our final assembly for the term. Our theme was one of celebration which was an opportunity for us to award certificates and acknowledge contribution. In the spirit of celebrating excellence, I have included some of the assembly slides so that we can publicly recognise and reward these achievements.

   

Congratulation to our Netball Club on their successful fundraising venture, stocktaking at The Warehouse. This is a superb example of a successful community partnership. We thank The Warehouse and our helpers from the wider community for their support with this project.

To end your week on a positive note, can I recommend you view this little video used as part of this weeks liturgy.

May God bless you
Paul Olsen, Principal

Hostel Happenings

Boys trip to Dunedin
Last Sunday a large group of boys went to Dunedin for the day. A great day was had by all with a visit to Leap World and Laser Strike. A big thank you to Stefan , Joe and Jordie for taking the boys down.  The girls are heading down this weekend for their trip.

Sporting Success
Congratulations to Jack Andrew of Year 11 for being selected to attend a NZ Basketball Under 17
training camp in October. A great effort and all here at the hostel wish you all the best.

Hostel Amalgamation
This week a large group of girls were taken on a tour of the boys hostel and Redcastle to get their opinions and thoughts on amalgamating the girls hostel onto the boys hostel site. There was a great deal of positive feedback given by the girls. This feedback will be integrated into the plan that is being developed to share with our parent community.

Girls Hostel Got Talent
Last night the girls and staff put on a talent show at the girl hostel and this was a great occasion and everybody had a great time.

Senior Exams
These are are on all week next week. Students will be required to attend tutorials at school when they do not have an exam. These mock exams are very important for students as they prepare for exams at the end of the year.

Woolf Fisher Scholarship

The College extends its congratulations to Old Boy Oliver Hailes (Head Boy in 2010) who has been awarded a Woolf Fisher Scholarship, valued at $300,000 over three years, to study at Cambridge University.  Having completed an Otago law and arts degree, he currently works as a judges clerk at the Court of Appeal in Wellington, and next year will work at the corporate law firm Chapman Tripp.  Oliver will then head to the UK where he will study towards a master of law degree and then a PhD.  Oliver has a keen interest in economic, social and environmental issues faced by governing institutions and this will be one of the areas on which he will focus during his study.   It is fantastic to see our past pupils doing amazing things!!

Sir Woolf Fisher (1912-1975), co-founder of Fisher and Paykel, established a trust in 1960 to recognise and reward excellence in education.

Commedia Dell'Arte

The Y11 Drama assessment Commedia dell'Arte had an air of authenticity about it as they performed in the historic precinct at the rear entrance to the Criterion Hotel this morning.  Tourists wandered past, stopping on occasion to watch, and the students' performance provided an entertaining entrance to the artisan street.

Thank you to Sue Cameron Duncan and the Criterion for letting us use this great performing space!

Hostel's Got Talent

The Girls Hostel took a break from study last night for a bit of fun with Girls' Hostel Got Talent.   Under the scrutiny of the Y13 judges even the staff got into the spirit of things!  Well done team!!

Events Quiz Fun

The SKC Social Studies team traveled to Timaru for the Central South Island Current Events Quiz yesterday afternoon.  While we didn't bring home the trophy it was an intense and competitive competition enjoyed by all.  A pit stop at McDonalds was an idea shared by a few schools from the competition! Congratulations to the winners, Mt Hutt College.

National Talent Development Camps

Jack Andrew and Duran Cooper have been 'spotted' and invited to attend the U17 and U15 (respectively) Boys South National Talent Development Camps.  The focus of the development programme at all levels is to introduce participants to the preparation, performance and evaluation required at a national level, offering them a stepping stone towards a chance to compete at pinnacle events.  This is an awesome achievement boys!!!  Congratulations!

Primary ITO Trades Academy Success

As a Primary ITO Trades Academy School our students are offered the very best in practical agricultural and horticultural training thanks to a unique partnership with members of our rural community.   This week our students congratulated Briar Swanson who is one of only three recipients of a very sought after farming Cadetship at Coleridge Downs Station for 2018.  She will live and work at the station for two years and receive ongoing training about all aspects of farm management.  Fantastic news Briar!

Taking On Dunedin

The hostel boys took a trip to Dunedin during the weekend.  Laser Strike took up the morning and they spent the afternoon wearing off some energy at Leap World.  Thank you to Steffan Souness for the photos (although he was too busy having fun at Laser Strike to capture that part of the day!!)

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THEIR DAY

Aoraki Downhill Mountain Biking

Alex Milne in action

The Aoraki Secondary Schools Downhill Mountain Biking event was held recently with Finn Sillibourne, Tony McCone, Nathan Cundall, Josh Bryant and Alex Mine competing across the different age groups.  They had a very successful day with a number of top ten finishes.  Well done in particular to Finn who placed 1st in the U17 Boys, with Tony 3rd.

Our Winning Horse

Congratulations to Charlotte Ramsey who entered her first equestrian show and came away with a very successful weekend and a swag of ribbons on our College horse, Tui.  Well done Charlotte!

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori - Māori Language Week- was celebrated within classes and at our assemblies this week. The strong message was two fold - being proud of our Maori culture as it is unique to New Zealand and being genuinely prepared to work effectively with the Maori language as a tool for use in our careers. As Principal it is critical that I model the use of the Maori language, but it is even more important that students take ownership for their personal learning. To support this, the Prefects organised an inter-house quiz focusing on the meaning of a range of Maori works. Thank you to the Prefect Leaders who helped create this activity.

Congratulations to our Polyfest group for an awesome performance at assembly followed up by an equally inspiring effort on the stage at the formal event in Dunedin last evening. 

As we approach the end of term examinations for seniors, it is important that we understand their importance. These "Mock Exams" are the only way that a student who is sick or injured on the day of the actual examination can receive a derived grade.  Every year we find students who find their circumstances require them to fall back on the Mock Exam results. Sadly, many do not have the grades they would like because they did not prepare adequately. I would ask Caregivers to talk about this with students and not accept the argument that it "will not happen to me". Thanks for your support with this.

May God bless you

Paul Olsen, Principal

Hostel Happenings

Getting Arty at the Thursday Tutorial

Art Tutorials
Senior students that study Art have the ability to attend a tutorial every Thursday evening in the Art room to work on their portfolio's.

St Thomas' exchange
A large number of hostel boys attended the sports exchange with St Thomas of Canterbury College on Tuesday. Under 14 rugby, 1st XV rugby and junior basketball all competed. The under 14s went down after conceding a try in the last play of the game, the 1st XV lost 38-12 and the junior basket ball team also went down.

Our hostel boys at the St Thomas' exchange this week

Dunedin Trip
On Sunday the majority of boys are heading to Dunedin for a day of fun activities and the girls are heading down on the 24th.

Girls Hostel
The Hostel Trust are continuing to work on a plan on moving the girls hostel to the school site. This has been a complicated and long process which has been very frustrating. The Trust is committed to finalising a plan so we can move forward.

God bless
Justin Fowler, Director of Boarding

TopV Seek Another National Title

Thanks Timothy and Ariana Photography for this photo

The Men's TopV traveled to Blenheim during Tournament Week to compete in the A' South Island Premierships, where teams were contesting the five national Schick Championship's qualification places for the zone. The boys faced Hillmorton High School (overall winners) in the semi-final and had to settle for 3rd place following their first loss in the competition. This has, however, secured them a place at nationals in Palmerston North, where they will be defending their national title!

Putting Forward A Good Arguement

The SKC Junior Debating team of Rhea Rathali, Bethan Ardouin and Joel Kunnethedan competed against St Thomas' in Christchurch during Tuesday's exchange. The team put forward a very strong argument during a 'limited preparation debate' negating the moot that local radio stations should be required to broadcast 20% local music. It was a very close result with only 15 points separating the teams. It came down to St Thomas' getting the final say, handing the win to them 240-225. SKC debated and fought brilliantly during a very entertaining and tense contest. Despite the loss, Joel was awarded best speaker!

Also taking part in the exchange were our U14 and 1st XV Rugby teams and our Junior Boys Basketball.  It was St Thomas' day but our teams put up a valiant effort in some fierce competition.

Tournament Week In Pictures

With sports teams competing in Invercargill all the way up to Blenheim, the Kevinian spirit was spread far and wide last week.  Well done to all of the students who represented the College!

TOURNAMENT WEEK IN PICTURES!

Polyfest Preview

Our Pasifika Group head off to Polyfest tomorrow but gave us a preview of their performance at assembly today.   Polyfest Otago undertake this two day festival each year and our students have spent many hours practicing and fundraising to be able to participate.  We wish them all the best and thank them for sharing with us today.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT