Principal's Message

Kia Ora Parents and Friends of St Kevin's College

This week, Maori Language Week was celebrated in the College. It was the first opportunity for the combined St Josephs and St Kevin's Multi-Cultural Group to perform in front of the College Assembly. Thank you to Mrs Plunket who helped coordinate the groups from the St Kevin's end and Mrs Cant from St Josephs. Thank you also to the many parents and supporters who have helped with transport, music and support at the performances. The group also performed at the Waitaki District Library earlier in the week showcasing the two schools.


Our first Fortnightly Indicators for the term were shared with caregivers on Wednesday evening in preparation for the Parent Teacher Interviews on Thursday and Friday. A number of these emails bounced back to us and needed to be resent due to email in-boxes being full. The automated process takes several hours to run and so please expect a significant delay between brothers and sisters receiving their indicators.


The dining room has been transformed into an enchanted wonderland by students and parent volunteers in preparation for the College Ball this Saturday. Mrs Forgie and her team can be very proud of the superb venue they have created. There is a air of excitement around the campus as we build towards the evening with last minute touches to dresses being made in the fabric technology room and the gentlemen finally managing to tame their dancing feet. We are looking forward to gala evening and acknowledge the tremendous effort of the Home and School team.

Please encourage past students of the College to add their names to the Past Student Register on our website. The Links tab has the AlumniConnect address. 

We ask you to continue to keep Mr Ryan in you prayers as he recuperates back in Oamaru. 

Mā te Atua koe e tiaki
Paul Olsen, Tumuaki

London Olympics

Snapshots of Courtney's international kayaking career

Ex-pupil and international freestyle kayaker Courtney Kerin is hitting the white water at the London Olympic Games in order to sell her sport as a future Olympic fixture.  She was selected as the Oceania representative and will join other paddlers at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.  This is yet another accolade for Courtney who continues to make her presence felt on the international kayaking stage.

Birthday Surprise

Members of the College 1st XV paid a surprise birthday visit to Year 12 student Andrew Easton recently.  Andrew is an avid Highlanders fan and a fierce supporter of our 1st XV rugby team.  As you can see Andrew was delighted with the visit and is continuing to make progress with his recovery.

Multi Cultural Group Performance

In celebration of Maori Language Week the College was treated to a performance from the St Joseph's and St Kevin's Multicultural Group at Assembly this week.  Students have spent many hours practicing since the beginning of the year and their efforts were obvious in a resoundingly successful performance.  

Zonta Ball Scholarship

Photo supplied

Congratulations to Yr13 student Georgia Tangney who was the recipient of this years 2012 SKC Ball Scholarship Award.  Georgia was presented with the award by Oamaru Zonta Club representative Hilary Bishop.  Well done.

Senior Quadrangular Tournament

Next week our Senior Winter Sports Teams will travel to Invercargill to compete in the Senior Quadrangular Tournament.  Now in it's second year we wish all of our teams the best of luck as they represent the College on the sporting field.

CLICK HERE to view full details of all the competition games scheduled.

Boys Hockey in action during the 2011 Tournament

Principal's Message

Dear Parents and Friends of St Kevin's College

The first Assembly of the Term Three focused students on our core business - teaching and learning. With the many diverse, challenging and thoroughly worthwhile co-curricular opportunities provided at the College, it is easy to relegate our academic studies to a low priority.  With reports issued over the holidays and Parent/Teacher interviews next week, now is the ideal time to revisit goals and honestly evaluate them.  Are they still relevant? Are they being met? Are they realistic?  Are they receiving the time and energy they need to move from dream to reality.  It is important to note that there are only fourteen weeks of teaching time left before NCEA examinations. With this in mind,  I encourage you to bring your son or daughter along to the interviews. Staff, students and parents will have a shared understanding of issues and can make a plan to address them together.

I would like to extend my thanks to all those people within the North Otago Community who helped with the Waitaki Inter-school on the last day of Term Two. Your help and support ensured that this first fixture was successful and well run. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and we will refine the programme for next year. One suggestion that seems to be gaining momentum is a Thursday evening Basketball Competition which would free up the people who play multiple sports.  I would welcome community feedback on any aspect of the day so that we can continue to improve this occasion. 

Preparations for the College Ball next week are well underway and it is great to see students taking the opportunity to develop their ballroom dancing skills at lunch time lessons. Thank you to Mike and Madeline, our dancing instructors, for sorting out even the most "co-ordination challenged" partners.  We look forward to next week's developments.

If you visit our website, you will see a number of links have been added in the last tab. We are currently developing the MUSAC Administration Portal for staff to login away from school. Later in the term this will have a Parent Login added so that the Fortnightly Indicators and other student information can be shared with caregivers.

The College Foundation have also added a Past Student Register to the link through AlumniConnect. Can I encourage you to register if you are a past pupil and share the link with any other past students you have contact with. 

Please continue to keep Mr Ryan in you prayers as he recuperates back in Oamaru. 

God Bless You All
Paul Olsen, Principal

College Ball and Ball Parade

On Saturday 28 July the St Kevin's College Ball will be held in the Dining Room and the Ball Committee have been hard at work to ensure that the visual transformation to "One Enchanted Evening" will be seamless!  

The tradition of the Ball Parade is always eagerly awaited and this year a limited number of tickets will be available for sale at the School Office from Wednesday 25 July (please note that the tickets will be sold on a first come first served basis).  The Parade will be held in the College Auditorium and begin at 6.30pm.

Girls Rugby Festival

For the St Kevin's Girls' rugby team, the July holidays started with the annual Girls' Rugby Festival, which was held on site here at St Kevin's College from 2-4 July.  Ably coached by Mark Robins and Karolyn O'Connor, and bolstered by some new team-mates from Waitaki Girls, Craighead and Ashburton College, the large St Kevin's squad took on teams from throughout the South Island and as far north as Fielding during the 3-day tournament.  Unfortunately, the squad was hit hard by injury and illness over the first two days, finishing unplaced in the fifteens competition.  


However, this year the competition's third day took the form of a sevens tournament, and it was here that St Kevin's showed their true strength, going on to win the Section B (half-field) final.  Well done girls - we look forward to seeing your skills on show again at the Silver Fern Farms tournament in a few weeks!

International Cycling

Yr11 student Holly Edmondston is a dominating force in the world of road cycling.  Recently Holly competed in the South Island Secondary School Championships and despite being the only cyclist from St Kevin's her amazing results placed the College 10th out of 51 schools.  During the 2 days of racing she set a new record in the Individual Time Trial and won her Scratch Race with a sprint finish.  These outstanding results meant that Holly was selected to travel to Canberra as part of the New Zealand U17 Road Race Team.  Congratulations!

New Netball and Rugby Website Pages

Along with recent updates to our College Website we have included a new page for the St Kevin's College Rugby Club and St Kevin's College Netball Club, providing information about these sporting codes.  

Go to www.stkevins.school.nz
- Extra Curricular
- Sport

or 

CLICK HERE

Burns Memorial Exhibition

The Burns Memorial Exhibition will be on at the Forrester Gallery from 13 July right through until 9 September and once again St Kevin's College is well represented with nearly 30 students having their work exhibited.  Submissions from the College include art work from across all year levels and feature paintings, woodblock prints and dry-point etchings.

Look out for the following young artists! 

Francziska Yanzick, Sean O'Brien, Callie Mills, Daryl Siggleko, Glyn Siggleko, Karan Ratgali, Rebekah Brocas, Siu Halaholo, Danielle Trewavas, Sari Robins-Laughton, Michaela Bryant, Rebecca Lockley, Maegan Spargo, Olivia Campbell, Evie Sefton, Georgia Haggerty, Georgia-Kate Blair, Brady Kingan, Alexandra Heaphy, Kerra Fissenden, Lily Webster, Quin Paterson, Tyler Hunter, Bryony Brown, Mai Suwanjirawat, Zain Pennycook, Elliot McCleery, Loren Haggerty and Bethany Robertson 

Highlanders Rugby

Congratulations to Tim O'Malley and Ashley Miller who were selected to attend the Highlanders U18 Training Camp held in Dunedin during the school holidays.  This is an exciting opportunity for both of these players to develop their rugby careers.

Tim was also selected for the North Otago Development Team who played against the touring U23 team from Kent, England at the Whitestone Contracting Stadium this week.  While the scoreline did not go in favour of the local team it was an exciting game and enjoyed by the local community.

Pictured:  Tim in action against the international visitors.

Waitaki Interschool

On Friday 29 June, St Kevin's joined forces with both Waitaki Girls' and Waitaki Boys' High Schools for the inaugural North Otago Secondary School Sports Day. Building on the traditional 1st XV rugby and Snr A netball games, this year's new interschool format included boys' and girls' football, hockey, debating, and junior and senior basketball. The number of rugby games also grew, with the girls, U15 and U16 boys' teams all competing. Similarly, the netball competition was extended to include the junior and intermediate A and B teams and Senior B and C teams. There were 'taster' sports on offer for those not playing competitive sports - the options were badminton, volleyball, geocache, rock climbing and table tennis. Despite the busy nature of the day, clever timetabling meant that everyone was finished in time to support the 1st XV at Centennial Park at 1.30pm.

Outstanding results included a 4-2 win to our Boys' Football team and a 31-10 win to our Girls' Rugby team. Tight contests in the girls' football, girls' hockey and Snr A netball all resulted in draws. It was fantastic to see students in all sports competing fiercely, proudly and fairly. Huge thanks need to go to all match officials, coaches, managers, parents and supporters, and also to Pearson's Transport who provided buses to transport students during the morning. We look forward to another great day next year!