Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

On Friday, the staff enjoyed a trip down to East Otago High School in Palmerston to share a training day with our colleagues there. There were two aspects we were working on, the first being the changes to NCEA which are coming into effect over the next few years and the second, a look at the latest thinking around Restorative Practice. We were thrilled to have Richard Matla from Restorative Schools there to facilitate the day and it was great to be able to share thoughts and experiences around the implementation of both systems with staff from another school. We are looking forward to working with East Otago more in the future as there is a good fit with us both being coeducational schools in a rural setting. I would like to thank the staff there for making us feel very welcome.

This weekend we are hosting the Bishops' Shield competition here in Oamaru. This competition attracts the best speakers, performers, debaters and theologians from the other schools in our Diocese and we are thrilled to be able to host them this year after the cancellation of the competition through Covid in 2020. We are still short of billets for the weekend so I urge you to contact Jo Walshe jwalshe@stkevins.school.nz if you are able to take students. These are fine young people who will be very easy to host and I would appreciate the support.

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi Nui

Paul Olsen

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Term three has started in an extremely positive manner with our being able to begin using our new classrooms and food technology area. While we will miss the Gilchrist Building Services staff who have done such a fantastic job on our new classrooms, we will not miss the inconvenience of not being able to cook food in the food technology room or use our own offices.

Staff and students have been equally impressed with the new facilities and all that is left is for us to officially open them on August 13th. That date also signals the beginning of the Bishop's Shield weekend which is being held here at Saint Kevin's College. Thank you to all those involved, including volunteers from our community who are judging. I would like to especially single out Jennifer Herbst for thanks for her organisation of this which is a big ask at any stage, let alone when you have just taken on the organisation of the Religious Studies faculty. I would like to remind whanau that everyone is welcome at the Bishop's Shield event.

Have a happy weekend

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi Nui

Paul Olsen

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Ms Walshe told me today I need to find a new word rather than 'magnificent' as I've somewhat over used it this week, but that is how I feel about the display of sportsmanship, camaraderie and passion that I have seen across the codes in the last few days. The competition this year was always going to hold an extra element of meaning for us as we have held Watesoni in our hearts throughout our games. The sense of community we have felt as a school this week has certainly reinforced our identity as 'family' and, I hope, has reinforced for our students the importance of being together as a school, 'supporting each other in love'.

My heartfelt congratulations to all of the teams who have participated over the course of the week. We have had some stunning (another of my favourite words) wins and some gracious losses and we have all enjoyed being part of the SKC team. As one of our Old Boys so eloquently put it in our assembly today, TEAM means 'Together Everyone Achieves More'.

Well done everyone.

Have a well deserved break

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi Nui

Paul Olsen

Principal's Comment

Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

As we approach the end of the term I must admit to looking forward to moving past important calendar dates where a potential Covid 19 disruption could throw a spanner in the works. Two major dates coming up for the students are the Ball on the 3rd July and the Waitaki Week sports exchanges held during the last week of school. Based on the positive news we have had out of Wellington so far of no community spread, I believe we should be excited about both of these events going ahead, but I also want to reassure the community that we have alternative plans in place if there were a Covid related lockdown of any sort. That is an important message to reiterate too around the rest of our core business. We are prepared for lockdowns if they are ever deemed necessary and we are confident we have good plans in place for looking after our students.

 

I would like to congratulate the Arts Faculty for a great night last night where students were able to showcase their various talents. Visual Art, Costume Design, Photography, Music, Drama and Dance were all featured and having the various strands collected together into a showcase certainly reinforced the wide variety and depth of talent we have here at the college.

I pray that the weather is kind to those of you planting trees on Service Hill on Sunday morning and encourage anyone who wants to be part of this historical event to bring a shovel and lend a hand. This is our opportunity to truly live our value of respect for our planet.

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi nui
Paul Olsen

Introducing Coach Ella Brown!

Next up for our 'Coach Highlights', we have Ella Brown!

Ella coaches our Senior B Netball and Junior Cricket teams. 

⭐How did you get involved in coaching at SKC?

I moved to Oamaru at the beginning of Summer to work for North Otago Cricket and part of this role involved coaching at SKC. I coached the Junior Cricket team, High Performance Netball and Cricket.

⭐What sports do/have you played?

I am currently club netball in Oamaru for Maheno. While at school I used to play cricket, basketball, tennis and squash. I took this summer of cricket to train and complete a half ironman.

⭐Have you played any sport at a representative level?

I have played for the Netball South Beko team for a couple of years. I also played for the Otago Sparks Women’s Cricket Team for a few seasons and captained the Otago Under 21 Cricket team when I was younger.

⭐What is your favourite part about coaching?

I thoroughly enjoy working with players and building relationships to get to know them better. I love being in a position where I can give back to the sport and pass on my knowledge. Seeing a team achieve success is one of the most rewarding things of coaching.

⭐What is your personal coaching philosophy?

I believe that playing a team sport enables you to develop life long skills. The people you meet and friendships you make through sport can last a life time. Coaching has enabled me to pass on knowledge that my own coaches have taught me and develop our next up and coming players.

⭐Advice to young sportspeople?

Make the most of every opportunity you are given. You never know what might be around the corner. Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for help, someone is always more than willing to offer support.

⭐Favourite Quote?

“Better than before”

So great to have you on board Ella!

Tree Planting- Sunday 27th June

A final reminder of the tree planting that is happening this Sunday 27th June, starting 9.30am and meeting at the Redcastle. 

Jimmy will kindly have all the trees at the top of the hill to make it much easier for the planters, so you won't have to carry them up! This will make it a lot quicker and we anticipate to be finished at lunchtime. 

Let's hope we get a day like this! Please spread the word!

Please email jmcgeown@stkevins.school.nz if you would like to put your name down, or have any questions about the morning.

Scripture Reading Results

Congratulations to all our finalists who took part in the recent Scripture Reading competition. 

Special mention to the following who placed in the top 3 in their year levels:

Year 9 

1st - Alex Scadden
2nd - Kezia Pestell
3rd - Janelle Casitas

Year 10

1st - Cooper Jones
2nd - Cheska Tion
3rd - Shanvi Mani

Year 11 

1st - Samuel Plieger
2nd - Anika Winders
3rd - Olivia Mavor

Year 12 

1st - Vince Vidallion
2nd - Cushla Bridges
3rd - Lance Calbone

Year 13 

1st - Joseph Spillane
2nd - Rhea Ratgali
3rd - Tristan Serrano

A big thank you to our awesome judge, Michele Fatafehi from GIANT LEAPS Speech Co.

Pictured: Senior winners (Vince Vidallion Year 12, Joseph Spillane Year 13 and Samuel Plieger Year 11)

PE Leadership Class

This year as one of our Friday options our PE Leadership class has been attending Weston School and running Physical Education activities for the students. 

A big thank you to Pearson’s who have provided us with vans for transport.  

Thank you Weston School for having us!

Feedback on Proposed Changes to NCEA Subjects

As part of the NCEA Change Programme the Ministry of Education is proposing changes to the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa subjects available in schools and kura.

The Ministry are seeking your views on the suggested changes discussed below with your feedback enabling them to make better decisions. Please be assured that any feedback you provide will be confidential to those involved in analysing the consultation data. They will not identify any individuals in the final analysis and report writing unless you give permission for this.

Proposed subject lists:

The New Zealand Curriculum

Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

You can either complete the survey in English or complete the survey in te reo Māori.

The subject changes are not final, and you can provide feedback on all of these proposed changes, or only on those of interest to you. 

The survey will close on 11 August 2021.

For more information please visit:

https://ncea.education.govt.nz/have-your-say 

Senior Art Trip 2021

 Dunedin turned it on for the SKC Senior Art Trip to Dunedin last month! Weatherwise it was a T-shirt and jandals day. Artwise it was a colourful, visual, creative and informative experience for the senior photographers, painters and sculptures.   

The Dunedin experience opened up the world of art to our students and how you apply art to career paths.

Our Itinerary included:

- Tour of small Art Galleries in Dunedin Central 

- Gallery De Novo - Works by Phillip James 

- Olga - Guest artist Phillip Madill 

- Blue Oyster Galleries  - Guest artists - Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux

- Moray Gallery - Works by Liz Abbot

- At Olga and Blue Oyster Galleries -Students were able to listen to the guest artists and ask questions about their artworks.

- Dunedin City Art Gallery in the Octagon - Learning session with John Neumegen (Art Gallery Educator) in the Gallery, tour of the Exhibits including Guy Ngan, Scott Eady and Octavia Cook.

- And finished off the Art Trip with a guided tour of the Dunedin Art School.

Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

There is has been much going on in the College this week and there will be many coaches and teachers embracing a weekend off after a very busy start to the week with both the Otago Secondary Schools Netball Tournament and the Mercy Cup having been played last weekend through to Tuesday. I would like to thank those community volunteers and staff who drove teams from Dunedin to Christchurch to ensure that we had teams represented across all disciplines. I spoke to our students at assembly this week about taking the time to thank coaches. Otago has one of the highest rates of staff involvement with school sport in the country which means that in many other places, students are simply missing out. Unless we all continue to step up, the options for students around sport will inevitably disappear. It will be hard for us as a society to complain about our students' screen time if we are not offering alternatives, so to those who are, I am eternally grateful.

A big thank you to Jennifer Herbst for running an excellent Scripture Reading competition this week. Proclaiming the word of God is, in my opinion, the second most important thing for a young Catholic to be able to do, behind of course modelling the compassion of Christ. It is wonderful to see how many of our young people are keen to give this a go. 

Finally, best of luck to Mr Carter and the Drama students for their performance on Thursday night. I have reliable information that there will be ice creams for sale from Te Ngakau Nui. See you there!

May God bless you.

Ngā mihi nui
Paul Olsen

Rhea Ratgali Wins Lions Young Speech Maker

Congratulations to Rhea Ratgali for winning the Lions Young Speech Maker held on Sunday. 

Rhea delivered an inspiring speech about racial equality and refugees. The standard of all the contestants was very high and the judges found it very hard to decide. Their comment was that Rhea's speech was one of the highest standard of speeches that they had ever heard.

Well done to Jocelyn Fellowes who also took part. The competition also involved an impromptu speech with the theme 'what does the world currently need right now?'

Rhea will travel to Wellington for the finals on 14th August. 

Well done!