Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

This afternoon it was my pleasure to take some time out from preparations for the Ball and Waitaki Sports week to visit Mrs Gwen Dodds and present her with a College crest in appreciation for the many years of work she has given to St Kevin's and the College Foundation.

I was accompanied by long-serving members of the Foundation, Mr Baxter Smith and Mr David Findlay. Gwen was instrumental in the development of the first Girls' Hostel and was one of the establishing members of the Foundation. We wish Gwen every blessing as she retires from the Foundation Board of Management.

I am looking forward to meeting many of our parent community this Saturday evening at the ball parade. We wish the seniors all the best for a great and safe evening and look forward to viewing the photographs.

May God bless you all
Paul Olsen, Principal

Waka Ama on the Water

On Monday, Mr Haig took the Waka Ama group down to Karitane for a practical session on the water. Although the temperature was cold, students were fully engaged with the programme and had a tremendously inspiring afternoon.

Thank you to Suzi Flack and her team for the great work they are doing with our students.

NZQA announcement

New enrolment-based measure of NCEA attainment

NZQA and the Ministry of Education have announced some changes to the way NCEA and University Entrance attainment is reported. 

The changes provide a more precise picture of how attainment is reported. It will count all domestic students in years 11 to 13 aged less than 19 on 1 January, rather than taking a snapshot of students as at 1 July. It will also count up to three ethnicities students identify with, rather than limiting this to just one. 

As a result, NZQA is expecting most schools will see a change in their attainment rates. It is a statistical adjustment that doesn’t reflect school performance, teaching practice or an individual student’s results. 

“The key thing to remember is that whilst percentages for NCEA and University Entrance percentages may change, the amount of improvement in student attainment is similar and positive.” 

NZQA is consulting with schools in June and July on the way attainment is reported at a school level and will report back in September. The new measure will be used for reporting 2018 NCEA and University Entrance attainment statistics in January 2019. 

Waitaki Week coming up!

We are gearing up for a thrilling Waitaki Week, beginning with a SKC Staff vs Oamaru Police volleyball game in the gym on Sunday and culminating with the annual SKV vs WBHS first XV match on Friday, July 6.

See here for more information about the weeks' sporting events.

Fire Brick lauch

The SKC Young Enterprise team officially launched their fire bricks today for staff.

The team, which consists of Year 13 boys Daniel Ruddle, Broady Taylor, Cameron Dodd and Liam Elliott, spoke to an enthusiastic staffroom about their business, vision and how the bricks were made, and were applauded for their fantastic efforts.

The bricks have been created from recycled paper from the school, which is then crushed and, along with two fire starters, molded into bricks. The bricks take about 30 minutes to burn and help log burners to heat homes for longer, cheaper and more efficiently.

Earlier this month, the boys took their business idea to "The Pitch" in Timaru, a Dragon's Den-type competition for secondary school Young Enterprise teams, where they competed against six other teams from Roncalli College and Mountainview High School. They took out first place, winning $200 towards their business.

The boys have designed the business to be sustainable so when they leave at the end of the year, the next Young Enterprise team will be able to take over and use the fire bricks as a fundraiser for their own project.

The bricks can be purchased/ordered from the School office for $5 for a set of 6.

More photos of the launch can be found here.

Ball Parade Live Streamed

The St Kevin's College Ball Parade will be live streamed on Saturday for those who are unable to attend. It will be streamed via the Saint Kevin's College, Oamaru YouTube page.
The page also gives an option to set a
remainder and will notify you before the event begins.

Click here to go to the live stream

Welcoming the new Bishop

Students and staff welcomed the newly-appointed Bishop of Dunedin, Michael Dooley, to the College on Friday. The visit took place during Mass, where Bishop Dooley concelebrated with Father Wayne. 

His first visit to the school, Bishop Dooley took the opportunity during his homily to thank the school for the welcome he received, and was presented with a momento by Assistant Principal Jo Walshe. Following Mass, Bishop Dooley was given a tour of the school and he remarked how impressed he was with the school and its facilities.

Principals Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

The Mercy Cup and St Bede's Interschool Tournaments have been and gone for another year. Congratulations to all our sporting teams who participated. Our teams always play with excellence, honesty and integrity, whether they are victorious or not.

We were honoured to have the newly-appointed Bishop of the Dunedin Diocese, Michael Dooley, join us at Mass on Friday.  The visit was a first for Bishop Dooley and he was most impressed by the school, the facilities and the warm welcome he was given by the students and staff.

May God bless you all

Paul Olsen, Principal

National ShakeOut Earthquake Drill

St Kevin's College will be joining schools and businesses across the country for the New Zealand Shake Out. The Shake Out, which is held on October 18 at 9:30am, is a Civil Defense event which aims to remind people how to act in the event of an earthquake or tsunami.
In an earthquake, the appropriate action is to Drop, Cover & Hold, while evacuation is required in a tsunami.

Click here for more details about the event and check out the videos below featuring Sir Peter Jackson & Sir Richard Taylor and Taika Waititi.

Weekend Rugby Round Up

Student photographer, Tai Williams, was out and about over the weekend with his camera. Here a collection of shots from the Under 16s game against WBHS on Saturday, 16 June.

Health & Safety message from Principal

We recently had cause to review our policy around parents/caregivers on 

site at SKC and I feel it is timely to remind our community of the process around being here at school. We need to be clear, we welcome parents and caregivers into our school community, but at the same time we do need to be mindful of relevant Health and Safety concerns, protection for our professional teachers, and our students and parents under the Vulnerable Children’s Act of 2014.

Day to day interactions where parents need to come to the school are to be done through either the school office or the hostel offices. This involves the parent / caregiver reporting to the relevant office and waiting there until the student is able to see them. This is usually the case with students needing to be picked up, delivered lunch or lost bags etc.

If a parent or caregiver wishes to observe a student in a class, or the curriculum being delivered, they need to make an appointment in writing with the relevant teacher and Head of Faculty. They will then discuss the circumstances of what is being delivered in the curriculum, the aims and objectives of the class and what behaviours they are wanting to observe. The parent or caregiver will then be accompanied by a senior manager to observe the class, and a follow up meeting will be scheduled to discuss the results. In this way the teacher is not placed in the position of having to challenge adults who come into their class, or having to decide whether to place the school in lockdown. The students are protected because they know when to expect their parents to come into the class and the visiting adults are protected from claims of impropriety or breaching restraining orders etc.

In a secondary environment where we are dealing with large numbers of adolescent students, our duty of care obligates us to wrap process around the movement of adults on and off the campus. While we are blessed with open spaces and a positive community, we cannot be naive around the possibilities for issues to occur. We welcome parents and caregivers to be part of our community but we need to do this in a sensible manner. 

Paul Olsen, Principal

The Mercy Cup and St Bede's Interschool Tournaments

On Tuesday, our Basketball, Hockey, Rugby, Football and Netball teams represented SKC at The Mercy Cup Tournament and The St Bede's Interschool Tournament.

Check out some of the days photos here.

Training with the best

Congratulations to Ben McCarthy and Tupou Fifita who have been selected to take part in the Highlanders Schools Training Camp. Ben will be attending the Under 18s camp, while Tupou will attend the Under 17s. The week-long training camp is held in Dunedin in the first week of the school holidays, and attendees will receive coaching from specialist coaches and play modified games. Such an awesome opportunity!

Goodbye, Mr Lee!

This week we farewell our Mandarin teacher, Mr Leon Lee. Mr Lee is off to Singapore where he will be studying a Masters degree in Supply Chain & Logistics at Nanyang Technological University. A gifted cellist, Mr Lee recently treated us to a beautiful rendition of You Raise Me Up at Mass. We wish him all the best for his studies!

Dunedin Intercollegiate Championships

The trap shooting team have had a great start to their season at the Dunedin Intercollegiate Championships on June 17. The team, Corbyn Hocken, Ryan Kennedy, Joel Klenner, Clark Ewing, Jack Murphy and first-time shooter Hunter Reading, won the all-round teams event for the day, scoring 279 points out of a possible 300.

Corbyn Hocken placed 3rd in the Senior Skeet. Joel Klenner took out first for the Seniors in Single Rise, while Clark Ewing came in 2nd of the Juniors. The Points Score went to Corbyn Hocken for the Seniors and to Clark Ewing, who came 2nd for the Juniors. Corbyn also placed 3rd for the Senior Single Barrel. Well done team!

Hostel Happenings

Redevelopment of the Hostel
There have been a number of delays with the redevelopment of the Girls hostel onto the school site. This process has taken some time and we have now been provided with a timeline for developments. We plan to call for tenders early next month and then get the necessary consents into the council. Further information on progress will be publicised when they occur.

Junior Boys Paintball trip

Last Sunday the Year 10 boys enjoyed a trip to Christchurch where they went paint balling. A huge thank you to Julie Dyson for organising the trip and taking the boys up there. All of the boys really enjoyed it.

Badminton
Last Sunday some of the girls participated in some badminton games in the gym before lunch.

SKC speechmakers a roaring success

Four SKC students competed in The Lions Club New Zealand Young Speechmaker Contest on Sunday at Fenwick School. Everyone performed exceptionally. Rhea Ratgali took out first place in the Year 9 & 10 category for her speech about Variety NZ, while Joel Kunnethedan took out second in the Year 11 & 12 with a speech about Words of Power. Good work team!

 

Ella Cochrane, Rhea Ratgali, Vince Vidallon & Joel Kunnethedan received their awards at The Lions Club Young Speechmakers Contest 

Zonta Young Women in Public Affairs Award

Applications for The Zonta International Young Women in Public Affairs scholarship are now open. The award recognises young women aged 16 to 19, who display superior leadership skills through their commitment to public service and civic causes. Ten International scholarships of US$4000 are awarded each year, along with district/region scholarships of US$1000 and the Zonta Club of Oamaru scholarship of NZ$1000. Applications must be received by the Zonta Club of Oamaru by 31, August, 2018.

Click here for more information or to apply

Senior Art Trip

On Friday, the Senior Art students spent the day in Dunedin being inspired.

Photography students visited the Dunedin School of Art with Mrs Plunkett and Ms Keep. They spent an hour or so in a studio experimenting with different lighting with technician Thomas Lord before going up to the dark room to create different photograms with Rachel Allan, and learning developing techniques and how the whole process happens.

PICTURED: Socrates Catapang discusses photography with Photography tutor
Rachel Allan at Otago Polytech School of Art.

Painting and Sculpture students spent the day at the Dunedin Art Gallery with Mr and Mrs Dixon under the care of Gallery educator John Neumegen. They toured in the morning before a session in the Gallery classroom in the afternoon. They finished the day by joining the photography students at Art School for a whistle stop tour of the facilities.

PICTURED: Year 12 and 13 Painting and Sculpture students on a guided tour of the
Dunedin Public Art Gallery with John Neumegen.

PICTURED: Year 12 and 13 Painting and Sculpture students after a painting session with
John Neumegen from the  Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Art work by Noah Martin

Art work by Samantha Jorgenson

Thanks to Marion Wassenaar (Art School) and John (Gallery) for facilitating the visit.

Click the links below for to check out more of the students art work.

http://education.dunedin.art.museum/subcategories/art-history/cubism
http://education.dunedin.art.museum/main-categories/still-lifes
http://education.dunedin.art.museum/workshops/portraits/emotional-portraits

Aoraki Cross Country

The Aoraki Cross Country went ahead on Friday, June 8 in Timaru - despite being postponed the day before due to the weather! It was a glorious day, with SKC students placing well across the board. Hamish Coutts and Liam Prouting-Gardener placed 3rd & 6th respectively for the Junior Boys, while River Cunningham placed 4th and Christiane McLeod placed 13th for the Junior Girls. Duran Cooper placed 8th for the Intermediate Boys and Penny Keeling placed 6th for the Intermediate Girls. For the Senior Boys, Timothy Jorgenson placed 6th, and Amy Coutts came in 3rd for the Senior Girls. Well done to all!

Paper Bricks a Hit.

Daniel Ruddle and Broady Taylor with the recycled waste paper bricks.

The SKC Young Enterprise team has returned from a Dragon's Den-type competition victorious.
The team of Year 13 boys, Daniel Ruddle, Broady Taylor, Cameron Dodd and Liam Elliott, travelled with Mr Tim Hitchcock to Timaru on Thursday to pitch their business idea to a panel of investors.
Earlier in the year, the boys came up with an idea to make fire bricks out of recycled waste from the College. The waste is crushed and, along with two fire starters, molded into bricks. An eco-bundle made from cabbage tree leaves was also constructed.
The team presented the idea to the panel in Timaru, competing against six other teams from Roncalli College and Mountainview High School, and took out first place - a $200 investment towards their business.
A teacher from an opposing team was so keen on the product, he purchased one himself.
The team plan to offer the bricks for sale within school grounds from June 14.
Well done!

Hostel Happenings

Last night, the girls put on some Skits for departing staff member Leis Wouters. Leis has been at the hostel for the last three years as a Supervisor and Assistant Dean of the hostel. Leis has done a fantastic job at the hostel and she will be sorely missed by all the girls and staff.

We wish Leis all the best in her future endeavours and we thank her for all the great work she has done for the Hostel.








Year Level Dinners

So far this year we have had two year level dinners for Years 9 & 10 and their parents' and families at the Castle. These have been great nights and have provided an opportunity for parents and families to get together with each other.

The Year 11 dinner is next Saturday, with the dinners for the Year 12's and 13's are still to come.

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College

On Thursday, we farewelled Ms Cathy Keep after 9 years' of service to the school. She was honoured with a full-school haka, acknowledging her hard work, commitment and joyful attitude. We wish you all the best for your exciting new position.

PICTURED: The school perform a haka for Ms Cathy Keep

Mrs Nicola Simpson will be taking on her role until a permanent position can be found. Mrs Simpson has a background in Journalism and the Creative & Performing Arts, and we are excited to have her on board. She can be contacted at nsimpson@stkevins.school.

Our Mandarin teacher, Mr Leon Lee, treated us to a magical cello performance at Mass on Friday. Mr Lee played You Raise Me Up, accompanied by Mrs Trudy Foster on the piano. It was a truly gifted performance.

Finally, congratulations to the SKC Young Enterprise team, whose recycled paper fire brick won "The Pitch" in Timaru on Thursday. The event is a Dragon's Den-like competition where Young Enterprise teams in Timaru and Oamaru pitch their business ideas to a group of investors. The team, Year 13 students Broady Taylor, Liam Elliot, Daniel Ruddle and Cameron Dodd, competed against 6 other secondary school teams and took out the top prize of $200. Well done boys!

May God bless you all
Paul Olsen, Principal

SKC Students go Mamma Mia

Russell Dixon, Musical Theatre Oamaru's Mumma Mia director, dropped by today to say hello to his SKC cast, crew and orchestra members. Several students, and a staff member, will be treading the Oamaru Opera House boards from July 13-21. He is pictured here with Mr Farrell (Harry), Tarras Weir (Ensemble), Bailey Collins (Backing Vocals), Bethan Ardouin (Lisa), Isaac Steel (Technician), Ursula Scott (Orchestra/Band) and Charlotte Ramsey (Ali).

Tickets for the show can be purchased at The Oamaru Opera House, or at the link below.

http://www.ticketdirect.co.nz/event/details/180115/mamma-mia 

Love Me Not 2018

 











This year, all Year 12 students will take part in the one day Loves-Me-Not workshop. The programme, run by the New Zealand Police in conjunction with schools, aims to raise awareness about healthy and unhealthy relationships and will run on Tuesday June, 26 from 9am to 3pm.

The school sees the programme is as an essential piece of equipment in a young persons tool kit for life. Any queries relating to the workshop can be forwarded to Margaret Burton at  mburton@stkevins.school.nz.

Click here to view Nigel Latta's Intro to Love Me Not 

Obirin Visit 2018

Memories from 2017

A group of students will be visiting the College from Obirin High School in Tokyo in Term 3. We require Homestays for the students while they are with us. This is a great opportunity to learn about a new culture, and make new friends! 
Leanne Wolfe will be contacting all parents about this. However, if you are interested or would like some more information, please contact Leanne on 03 437 1665  or at lwolfe@stkevins.school.nz