Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College, 

Once again this week we have been reminded of the wonderful young people we have in our Oamaru community. Monday night saw the last competitions from Waitaki Week between our Trap Shooting, Netball and Hockey girls against WGHS teams. All games were well contested and although we ended up on the wrong end of some of the results, I was mightily impressed by the clean play and comradeship expressed between players and between sides. While competition can be fierce between schools and teams in North Otago, we are all part of the same local community and our marriages, friendships and families make us extremely interconnected. 

This week I spoke in assembly about students being "Agentic" learners. This means students taking responsibility and control of their own learning so that they are able to make the most of their gifts, talents, interests and ideas. It also means the ability for students to make decisions which give them the greatest number of choices in their world post formal education. We also spoke about 'Capabilities", the ability to make meaning, undertake critical inquiry, look at alternative perspectives and take action. Good education means providing our students with the ability to experience and value all of these things.

While watching the Covid 19 death count creep up in countries where there is neither a sense of community or a respect for education, I am reminded daily about the importance of both of these things, not only to students themselves, but to all of us.

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi Nui 

Paul Olsen

Year 10 Māori

Students in Year 10 Māori had a visit from the museum educator from Timaru on Monday. They had the opportunity to do hands on tasks using tools.

They also saw some artifacts such as toki (adze) and bone fish hooks as well as eggs of Moa and Kiwi.

A very interesting day! Thanks to all those who made it happen.

SKC Debating

Here is our Debating team who came up against Waitaki Boys High School in the last week of Term 2. The team are now also resuming debating for the rest of the year.

Results were:

Senior Debate: St Kevin's College
Junior Debate: Waitaki Boys' High

Best speakers were:
Bethan Ardouin and Lena Dupu both from SKC.

Redcastle Sports Roundup

Here are the latest sports results from the week of 20th July:

HOCKEY

Boys

SKC 1st XI vs Mackenzie 2 - 0

Girls

SKC 1st XI vs Pirata White 3 - 3

Tainui/SKC Dev vs WGHS 1st XI 6 - 1

BASKETBALL

Boys Top 5 vs Kavanagh 82 - 74
Junior Boys vs Kavanagh 75 - 28

Girls Top 5 vs Taieri 80 - 49

FOOTBALL

Boys 1st XI vs Masters Nill all

NETBALL

SKC Snr A vs Valley Karaka 32 - 34
SKC Snr B vs SKC White 15 - 23
SKC White vs Vally Rimu 13 - 24
SKC Blue vs Valley Rata 24 - 22
SKC Gold vs Twizel Colts 10 - 15
SKC Red vs Atheltic Copper 16 - 13
SKC Gold vs Papakaio 12 - 17

RUGBY

SKC 1st XV vs South Otago 1st XV 59 - 29
SKC U16.5 vs Roncalli loss
SKC U14.5 vs TBHS Jaguars 7 - 48

SKC vs WGHS Sports Results

And the results are in!

Well done to all the girls that competed in their games today. There were some epic encounters!

A big thank you to all the coaches, managers and umpires for making the day a success.

Hockey:
SKC won 3 - nil

Netball:
Junior A: Waitaki won 35 - 18
Intermediate A: 25 - 25 draw
Senior A: Waitaki won 29 - 28

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Welcome back to what we all hope will be a much more normal looking Term 3 at the College. There are many exciting things on this term including our postponed school ball, sporting tournaments and our upcoming singing festival. While all of these things are flagship events for our school and our students do a lot of growing and learning in the preparation of them, they can also take a toll on our student leadership.

Our philosophy of service means that our students are called upon to organize, lead, create and support many events throughout the year. The fact that they work well as a team does help them in these endeavors and their ability to regularly meet with Senior Management means that we try our best to monitor students for burn out, but in this year, where things have been very disrupted through Covid 19, it is even more important that we as a team, along with whanau and friends, keep an eye on our school student leaders and support them in their endeavors.

Students sitting NCEA exams may also feel the stress of internals this term and despite the postponing of official examinations for two weeks, they could easily feel overwhelmed.

If you are worried about your student, please do not hesitate to contact the Deans or our Pastoral team. There are many occasions where students place unnecessary pressure on themselves and we would be failing in our duty to look after student mental health if we were not able to accommodate solutions.

I wish you all a successful, healthy and positive Term 3.

May God bless you.


Ngā mihi Nui
Paul Olsen       

Holly Edmonston Returns!

Towards the end of last term we had past pupil Holly Edmonston visit our High Performance classes.

Holly spoke about her experiences at school, where she grew up, and how she got into cycling. She shared with the students the places she has travelled and what it takes to be in a High-Performance environment.

It was evident Holly is very driven, as she explained the sacrifices she has made and that since leaving school, all she has wanted to do was represent NZ at the Olympics.

Such a fantastic role model, and an awesome opportunity for our students.

Thank you Holly!

All the World's a Stage

Last term our Year 10's undertook a "All the World's a Stage" course, which integrates Performing Arts with the Technology curriculum.

Students worked in groups to create their own original performances which were centered around the concept of "important social issues that New Zealand faces".

The successful outcomes were a testament to the resilience and motivation of our students, managing to pull off their productions despite lockdown/Covid restrictions!

School Holiday Netball Tournament

SKC Netball hosted the Year 9 and 10 Verdon and Cromwell teams over the last 3 days. Our Year 9 and 10 teams played both of these teams twice. It was a great few days with a lot of learning on and off the court.

On Tuesday night they had a combined potluck dinner at the old girls hostel where each team performed a skit. As you can imagine, there was lots of fun and laughter! It's fantastic we have this facility as a place to host teams or groups who come to stay in Oamaru!

Thanks to the coaches, managers and the girls for participating. Enjoy your season.

Latest Edition of Redcastle News Available

The new issue of Redcastle News is out for you to enjoy.

View the Redcastle News here:

https://williamfrogley.wixsite.com/redcastlenews

Year 10 Andrew Sinclair Features on Good Sorts

Tune into tonight's episode of Good Sorts where they interview Year 10 student Andrew Sinclair and dip into the world of darts to explore an unlikely friendship a generation apart.

You can see the story on 1 NEWS at 6:55pm tonight!

Waitaki Week- First XV Rugby Result

Wow what a game! Well done to our boys for their 56-15 win today over WBHS in the annual interschool game.

An amazing atmosphere and a great display of support from both schools and the community for their teams.

Photos of the game to follow.

📷: Sports Images NZ

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Well what a brilliant end to the week! Congratulations to our First 15 Boys on a sterling game! Congratulations too to both teams for their sportsmanship on the field, great job. Well done to all of the teams who have played their hearts out over Waitaki Week. It has been a great re-introduction to sport after the lockdown and I am sure that everyone is now ready for the holidays, including the coaches and staff.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers who put time and energy into supporting our students in their extra curricular activities. Thank you to the teachers who coach and support students, thank you to the parents and volunteers who turn up every week to lend their support, coaching skills and advice. Thank you to the team managers and the sponsors from our community who support students both financially and physically. Thank you also to the community organisations who maintain and provide the facilities we have here in this wonderful town. Finally thank you to the grounds staff at SKC led by Mr Alan Grant who do such a great job of keeping fields and playing surfaces looking good.

This term has felt like quite a long one and I am sure everyone is looking forward to not getting out of bed in the cold for a couple of weeks. Relax, rest up and enjoy your break. Well done everyone, I am extremely proud of the staff and students of St Kevin's College.

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi Nui
Paul Olsen     

Waitaki Week Blessing

At assembly on Wednesday the captains of our sports teams carried out the pounamu blessing, to bless all of our teams who have competed, or are yet to compete in Waitaki Week.

May the fluidity of the water that has shaped this stone over the years be an inspiration for positive encounters in the spirit of fair play.

May the physical weight of this stone inspire you to have the strength to engage with both passion and pride.

All the very best to our 1st XV in their match today at 1.30pm.

Waitaki Week- Trapshooting Results

It was Sub Zero temperatures yesterday for the Trapshooters.

Congratulations to WBHS taking the win over SKC 258 - 251.

Caritas Committee 2020

Our Caritas Committee 2020 received their badges from Father Wayne at a recent Mass. Our Student Committee is made up of Year 12 students Harriet Heaphy, River Cunningham, Elizabeth Plieger, Rhea Ratgali, and Committee leader Michael Misiloi.

The Caritas Committee meets once a fortnight. A supportive Caritas Crew is also in formation (a student initiative). New members are very welcome- please see Michael Misiloi for more info.

Two Caritas leaders from 2019, Scarlett Smith and Lena Black, also met with this year's team to help them organise 2020's first school-wide activity; a well-supported mufti day where we raised $595. The money was raised for Caritas' global Covid-19 Pandemic Appeal.

📷: Michelle Buckham and Isaac Steel.

Waitaki Week- Hockey and Ten Pin Bowling Results

There have been some awesome close games so far this Waitaki Week!

Well done to our Hockey boys yesterday for a great game, and congratulations to WBHS on the 2 - 1 win.

Also yesterday was the Ten Pin Bowling which was enjoyed by everyone that participated.

Make sure you head over to the St Kevin's Sports to see more photos.