Retreat Week

This week we are pleased to welcome back the Catholic Youth Ministry Team from Christchurch.  They are leading the Year Level Retreats, which are on this week.   It kicked off with our Year 10 students on Monday and Jacob Taukamo has shared some photos from the day.

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

I am very pleased to be able to share the news that Pope Francis has appointed Fr Michael Dooley as the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Dunedin. Bishop-elect Michael will succeed Bishop Colin Campbell who has held office for 14 years.

At our assemblies this week we continued our Lenten theme.  The coin trail for the victims of Cyclone Gita was very successful and the money was presented to Caritas at our Friday Liturgy.  On Wednesday I challenged students to support our community in a practical way by helping with the 2018 Census. We have 450 computer literate young people who can help whanau and neighbours to complete the online census. It is important that we ensure our wider community are actively involved to ensure that the "people count" is accurate so that we get the correct level of government funding. In the last census, the Waitaki District was a trial for the online approach and there is community concern that significant numbers were not able to access the process. We are hopeful that with community outreach, this issue can be addressed.  If anyone needs to access a computer to complete the census, ring the school office to book a time to use the machines in our library. The screenshot below gives some information to get started.

Finally, this Saturday we will have a College stall at the North Otago A&P Show. I look forward to catching us with you if you are attending.

May God bless you all
Paul Olsen, Principal

Hostel Happenings

Lakes Trip
Last Sunday the Hostel enjoyed a great day at Loch Laird, boating and swimming. A massive thank you to all of the families that joined us up at the lake and for taking the kids out on the boats. This day is always a real highlight for the year and once again it was a fantastic day.

Senior Health and Wellbeing Talk
This week we invited Tony Woodbridge and Carrie Hamilton from the Police to come in and speak to our Year 12 and 13 students about the consumption of alcohol and the law, the dangers of drink driving and how to keep themselves and each other safe if drinking. This was a very interesting and informative presentation that both staff and students found compelling. A big thank you to Tony and Carrie for giving up their time and coming in to see us.

Overnight Leave
A reminder please that when approving overnight leave for your child that you are required to check with the host about arrangements for the leave and that you should only authorise the leave if you are happy with these arrangements.

Have a great weekend

Hostel Loch Laird Trip

After a couple of false starts the Hostel tripped up to Loch Laird for their annual day out last weekend, and with the stunning weather it was well worth the wait!  Thank you to all of the parents who joined us for the day, and to Mr Olsen and Marie-Claire Kay for taking some great photos of fun in the sun.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM MR OLSEN AND MARIE-CLAIRE 

Chinese New Year

It was a big weekend in Oamaru with the Chinese New Year Celebrations being held at the beautiful Oamaru Gardens.  Following the community festivities our junior Mandarin classes were visited on Monday by Kung Fu Master Hiabing Jiang and Chinese dancer Yujia Song.   Ms Xu also guided them through the art of dumpling making - Yum!!  Thank you Mr Lee for sharing your photos.

Athletic Sports Day 2018 Part Two

What a change in the weather today from the glorious conditions for the Athletic Sports on Friday!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ANNA AND ISAAC'S PHOTOS FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Champion Swimmers for 2018

Following the Championship Swimming last Thursday we can finally announce our Swimming Champions for 2018, and it was as close as it gets in the House competition with just ONE POINT separating first and second!!!  It shows how important your House point for participating in an event can be.
Congratulations to our Champions:
U14 Girls - Imogen Keeling
U14 Boys - Corbin Fraser
U15 Girls - Iessha Mansfield
U15 Boys - Charlie Gilbert
U16 Girls - Penny Keeling
U16 Boys - Flynn Mankelow
Senior Girls - Tiana Mansfield
Senior Boys - Daryl Wong
Champion House - Treacy

Dominican Excellence Assembly Part Two

It's been a big couple of weeks for our photography team!  Here are the rest of our photos from the Dominian Excellence Awards - thank you Mrs Buckham!
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PART TWO OF THE PHOTO ALBUM

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

Congratulations to the long list of students who gained an endorsement for their NCEA Award. The Level 1 and 2 recipients assembled on the Chapel steps after I presented the Merit Badges and Excellent Blues at the Ash Wednesday Liturgy on Wednesday. I was pleased to also acknowledge the many Level 3 recipients who are heading off to tertiary study, well prepared for their next academic steps.

Thank you to Father Wayne for his blessing as we marked the season of Lent by the anointing with ashes. In our Catholic tradition, Lent is a time of reflection, stocktaking and support for those less fortunate. With this in mind, Fr Wayne challenged the College to give generously to the Pacific Cyclone relief fund through CARITAS (the Catholic aid agency). He will match our contribution dollar for dollar. The contributions will be collected at whānau times next week as an initial response to this natural disaster.

It was pleasing to see so many students participating in the Athletic Sports Day and the array of House colours across the grounds.  Thank you to Mr Smith and his team for organising today's event, and to staff for manning the different track and field stations. 

May God bless you all
Paul Olsen, Principal

Athletic Sports Day 2018

It's been a great day at the College for the 2018 Athletic Sports Day!  With the track and field events full of House colours, the inter-House spirit of competition was certainly evident.  Well done to all of the students who took part and gathered up those precious House points.  Stayed tuned next week for the announcement of our Athletic Champions, but in the meantime CLICK HERE to enjoy some fantastic images from the day, taken by student photographers Anna Taylor and Isaac Steel.

Dominican Excellence Award Recipients - Part One

Congratulations to all of our Dominican Excellence Award recipients - CLICK HERE to view part one of the album of photos captured by Mrs Buckham.

Championship Swimming

The College's best swimmers were in action after school yesterday for the Championship Swimming races.  Keep an eye out next week for the final results and the announcement of our Champion Swimmers for 2018.

Thank you to Anna Taylor and Tannah Rintoul for capturing some amazing photos of our swimmers in action!
CHECK OUT ANNA AND TANNAH'S PHOTOS HERE

Win For Girls' Cricket

Congratulations to the SKC Girls' Cricket team who beat Waitaki Girls High School yesterday in the first round of the Bates Cup.  The girls managed to restrict WGHS to 62 in 20 overs.  Amber Cunningham and Annie Metcalfe picked up 2 wickets each, and Year 9 student Katelyn Walton had the impressive figures of 1 for 5 off 4 overs.  SKC passed the total 2 down, with Amber Cunningham holding the innings together with 37 not out.

Dominican Excellence Awards

Yesterday staff and students gathered in the College Chapel for our Ash Wednesday Mass to mark the beginning of the Lenten season. We also celebrated ongoing academic excellence at the College with the Dominican Excellence Awards where, once again, we acknowledged the students who had gained Merit or Excellence Endorsements in their 2017 studies.  Thank you Mrs Buckham for this lovely photo of Mr Olsen and our Excellence and Merit students.

Academic Blues were awarded to the following Excellence students:
Sarah Dodd, Anna Craig, Laura Preston, Rebecca Whittet, Tandia Gooch, Connie Metcalfe, Georgia Oakes, Samantha Jorgensen, Gemma Dowling, Levi Sherman, Eli Winders, Cara Anderson, Tessa Blakely, Socrates Catapang, Amy Coutts, Hannah Cunningham, Joshua Gibson, Kayleigh Gill, Lily Hill, Bridget Hunter, Faraz Hussain, Breidy Johnston, Caleb Jopson, Alyx McDougall, Rata McMullan, Brylee More, Serena O’Brien, Benjamin Sew Hoy, Duncan Watt.

2017 Graduates Amy Hunter, Imogen Brew, Ami Wallis, Diane Vidallon, Lily Graham, Jayde Pickworth, Holly Malcolm, Georgia Dyson, Adam Sew Hoy and Brinkley Botting were also acknowledged for their Level 3 Excellence Endorsements.

Aoraki Tennis

Congratulations to our Senior Tennis team that were placed 2nd equal at the Aoraki Secondary Schools mixed team event in Timaru on Tuesday. Very well done to Eli Winders, Sarah Dodd, Rebecca Dodd and Duran Cooper.  St Kevin's College also has five tennis players representing North Otago this weekend in Dunedin at the Southern Quadrangular Teams Event, good luck guys!

3000m Stunner

Bright blue skies were the order of the day for the running of the 3000m races, which were held yesterday after school. The official results are:
Under 14 Boys - Liam Prouting-Gardner
Under 14 Girls - River Cunningham
Under 15 Boys - Joel Kunnethedan
Under 15 Girls - Penny Keeling
Under 16 Boys - Max Yanzick
Under 16 Girls - Amy Coutts
Senior Boys - Jack Souness
Senior Girls - Laura Preston

A big thank you to student photographers Anna Taylor and Tannah Rintoul for taking some great photos
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ANNA AND TANNAH'S PHOTOS

National Gold

A big thumbs up and congratulations to Brylee More and her Otago U18 Girls Touch team mates following their fantastic win at the 2018 Junior National Tournament which was held in Auckland over the weekend.  The girls were unbeaten in the lead up to the final against Waikato and after a very wet tournament the game was called off when officials decided the grounds were too unsafe for play.  Otago had beaten Waikato in round 7 so both sides were happy with the result which gave Otago the Gold.  

Friday Fun By The Pool - Swimming Sports Part II

Magee are holding the lead!   At the end of a great day of Swimming Sports at the pool Magee House are in front heading into the Championship Swimming on Thursday.  A big congratulations to everyone who took part in what was a most excellent day!!  And thank you to Isaac and Ellie for the rest of the great photos.

CHECK OUT MORE OF THE FUN FROM FRIDAY'S SWIMMING SPORTS

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

Last evening it was a pleasure for staff to be able to engage with the caregivers of students new to the College. A packed library was alive with conversation, questions, updates and explanations. Effective caregiver communication is always a challenge in a secondary school environment and I was pleased to see people putting faces to names and getting to know each other as we commence the partnership that is the key to effective education. Thank you to Mr Ryan and our staff for organising this event.

Congratulations also to the Prefects for their contributions to assemblies and House activities this week. The "Three Legged Race" held at lunchtime was a great way to start the House competition and build relationships across the College.

Today the Houses line up to continue the challenge in the Swimming Sports. The weather has held and the pool is a tremendous venue for the competition. We are looking forward to high participation, as well as some records being broken.

Finally, we celebrated mass with Bishop Colin Campbell this morning and kept Sister Madeleine in our prayers as she recovers in Dunedin from her car accident. Sr Madeleine is one of the local Dominicans and was a past teacher and Board of Trustees member. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

May God bless you all
Paul Olsen, Principal

Swimming Sports Make A Splash

A little bit of cloud cover doesn't deter a Kevinian from getting in the pool!  After a quick briefing and roll check it was all on with with core business of the day .... inter-House competition!!!  Well done to all of the students who took part, got in the pool, and earned valuable House points.  The Championship Swimming is scheduled for next Thursday after school so stay tuned for more photos and the announcement of our 2018 Swimming Champions!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW GREAT IMAGES FROM ISAAC STEEL AND ELLIE GRAHAM

Commissioning Mass 2018

The Chapel was awash with House colours this morning as students dressed in red, green, yellow or blue, ready for the annual Swimming Sports.  Bishop Colin joined us to commission our new teachers as part of a special Mass, before the festivities of inter-House competition began.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE REST OF ELLIE'S PHOTOS

Hostel Happenings

It has been a busy start to the year as students have been involved in a number of activities as well as the academic year getting under way.

Waitangi Day
A big thank you to the Year 13 students who organised games for the hostel to play on Waitangi Day as well as accompanying the junior students to the Waitaki Aquatic Centre in the afternoon.

School Pool
This has been very popular, especially during the first week when we had some very high temperatures and a large number of students have enjoyed swims in the pool.

Loch Laird - Otemetata
This Sunday the hostel is off to the Loch to enjoy the day on the water. This trip is always a real highlight of the year and we look forward to a number of our hostel families joining us as well.

Three Legged Inter-House Competition

There was all kinds of crazy happening on the track today as our 2018 inter-House competition kicked off with three legged racing. With ties and shirt tails flying, staff and students were out in support of the 'athletes'. What a great way to make the most of the sunshine.  Thanks to Ellie Graham for capturing all the fun.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ELLIE GRAHAM'S PHOTOS

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

Welcome back to the 2018 College year and the first of my weekly Principal's Comments.

We aim to keep you up to date with the latest news and developments at St Kevin's with short but regular posts both in this blog and on Facebook. We encourage you to like us on Facebook so you are always in the loop. If you have images from sporting teams or cultural activities involving our community, please share them with Cathy Keep so we can all enjoy your shots and celebrate achievements.

As we complete the first week of classes for the 2018 year, in exceptionally warm conditions, I am pleased to report that the College is fully staffed. Our initial roll has slightly increased on last year as we have welcomed 88 year 9 students as well as a number of students at other year levels.

Thank you to our time table team, especially Ryan Gower, for the time and dedication they have put in to getting classes sorted and numbers within the classes balanced.

In our lead up to the College opening, the student prefects gathered for a leadership day. Thank you to Mr Nyika, Mr Ryan and Father Wayne for their support during this induction and development day. I am confident that our student leaders are well prepared to lead the many interhouse challenges as well as being outstanding role models in our community. Thanks to the student leaders who have gone the extra mile this week to support staff and especially the new students, putting your training into action to make the College an inclusive community.

May God bless you all as you enjoy the Waitangi Day holiday.
Paul Olsen, Principal

Investiture Mass Images

Thank you to Mrs Buckham for capturing these wonderful moments from Mass on Friday!

CLICK HERE TO ENJOY ALL OF THE IMAGES FROM THE INVESTITURE MASS ON FRIDAY

Investiture Mass 2018

It was an exceptionally proud day for the friends and families of our student leaders for 2018, as the Top 6 and Prefects were presented with their badges at the Investiture Mass in the College Chapel today.   As role models of our school they pledged their commitment to the responsibilities they have accepted and promised to continue to uphold the Special Character values of the College.

Congratulations to our student leaders and thank you to Mrs Buckham for capturing images of this special occasion.

Head Boy - Joel Pickles
Head Girl - Rebecca Whittet
Deputy Head Boy - Logan Docherty
Deputy Head Girl - Georgia Oakes
Deputy Head Boy Special Character - Eli Winders
Deputy Head Girl Special Character - Molly Kay

Hostel Head Boy - Quinn Hargreaves
Hostel Head Girl - Molly Kay
Hostel Deputy Head Boy - Tama Wooldridge
Hostel Deputy Head Girl - Sarah Dodd

Clancy House Captains
Gemma Dowling, Ramesh Khatri, Shea Direen, Hamish McAtamney

Magee House Captains
Anna Craig, Ben McCarthy, Connie Metcalfe, Jordan Kennedy

Treacy House Captains
Laura Preston, Sarah Dodd, Caitlin Middlemiss, Quinn Hargreaves

Whyte House Captains
Levi Sherman, Georgia Vickers, Piper Beach, Tama Wooldridge