Home & School Raffle Results

Home and School Raffle Results

A very special thank you to our raffle sponsors:

Gregory-Hunt family

McAtamney family

Wylie family (Spiderman)

Tohill family

Dupu family

A thank you to the wonderful ladies in the office for taking in all the sold raffle tickets and money!

Results as follows : 

1st (1/2 cattle beast) - Kate Sheehan

2nd (1/4 cattle beast) - L Whyte

3rd (1/4 cattle beast) - Di Keach

4th ($200 voucher) - Janjira Dogterom

5th (1/2 mutton) - Chris Gorton

6th (1/2 mutton) - B Smith

7th (trailor firewood) - Trish Davis

8th (meat pack) - Cathie Sim

9th (meat pack) - A Fauth

10th (fish pack) - Gary

 

Football Quartet Of South Canterbury Representatives

Congratulations to Jai Narayan, Michael Stevens, Maddy Poole and Rosie Pope who have all been selected for South Canterbury representative football teams following trials at the end of last term.  Jai and Michael are both playing in the 16th Grade Boys, Maddy the 17th Grade Girls and Rosie won selection for the 14th Grade Girls.  Weekly training sessions in Timaru will make for a busy term for this dedicated quartet! 

Obirin High School Visit For 2013

St Kevin’s College is pleased to welcome 20 students from Obirin High School in Japan, along with their Principal Mr Okoshi, Deputy Principal Mrs Sugimoto and teacher Miss Tateyama.  Beginning in 2010, this is the third visit from Obirin students to the College and the Waitaki District.  

The students are staying with local families from the College Community and we are grateful to them for opening the homes to our overseas visitors.  During their stay the students will study English language with Mrs Trudy Foster, join their St Kevin’s “buddies” in particular classes and enjoy excursions to educational points of interest.

Obirin High School is located in Machida City, Tokyo, Japan and includes students at Junior High, Senior High and Junior College levels.  Including the University area, up to seven thousand students study at the school.  It derives its name from “beautiful cherry orchard”. 

The Future Of SKC Rowing

Action from the 2012/2013 season

HOT ON THE HEELS OF JOHANNAH KEARNEY'S INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS .... COMING SOON!!

St Kevin’s College Rowing has started winter training on Wednesdays 4-5.30pm and Sundays 10-11.30am.  This is being facilitated by Coach Owen Gould in conjunction with the Oamaru Rowing Club.  This weekend was the first day out on the Harbour and it is hoped (weather permitting) to be able to hit the water on Sundays with the Wednesday focus being general fitness and core stability.  As part of the pre-season build-up there will be a Road-show coming to the school to promote the sport in the next two weeks ... make sure you keep an eye out for the Boat Trailer and pop over to find out how you can be involved in one of the most successful sports at our College.  If you would like any further information please contact:
Kate Mihaere (SKC Rowing Co-Ordinator) 434 9939 or 027 434 9939 or kate.oamaru@ljh.co.nz .

World Championship Bronze Medal

Past pupil Johannah Kearney has been in Linz-Ottensheim in Austria competing at the World Rowing U23 Championships.  As a member of the Womens Four Johannah raced in the “A” final at 4am Sunday morning our time, the regatta being delayed due to the extreme heat with temperatures around 38 degrees.  It was a tight race with Australia leading the full distance and placings constantly changing throughout the 2000 metres.  NZ as a ranked outsider were not expected to finish in the medals with the expected medal contenders being Australia, Ireland (who had beaten NZ in their heat), Russia and the Netherlands.  NZ fought to stay in the pack and finished with the Bronze medal, only .05 of a second behind Russia (taking the silver) with a comfortable 4.5 seconds over Ireland in fourth place.  Kevin, Clare, Patrick & Chris Kearney were able to share this amazing performance with Johannah from the banks of the Danube River and have sent us the photo’s, one of Johannah as she stepped out of the boat and celebrated with her crew just moments after securing the bronze medal and after the podium presentation.  Congratulations Johannah!  What an inspiring young Kevinian!

"It was particularly hard to race in this heat, but the rowing conditions were good. To cool down afterwards, we plan to jump in the water." - Johannah Kearney

Principal's Comments

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters

As the term draws rapidly to an end, the theme of the final week has been one of all round "celebration". Firstly the initial feedback from the Education  Review Office team has been very positive. It reflects and rewards the huge amount of effort that has gone into College wide professional learning and development and the Hostel redevelopment. I am pleased to see that this has been recognised and that our own self-review processes have already identified our challenges and next steps.

The second celebration has been the awarding of the Hillary and Sheppard certificates at Assembly. These acknowledge consistent  improvement in progress and engagement in the Fortnightly Indicators. Congratulations to the winners of these two $5 and one $10 awards. Please note that students who are high performing and consistent achievers will be awarded their Dominican Academic awards early in term three at the St Dominic's Feast Day Mass.

Sporting celebration has been the third area of celebration with Tall Black's star, Dillon Boucher, captivating a large and appreciative audience at the College on Monday evening. His message of dogged perseverance was well received as he shared his life journey and personal philosophy with us. This was the perfect primer for the North Otago Secondary Schools Interchange on Friday. At assembly on Wednesday we played a pre-recorded message from the legendary Br Don Murray wishing the College all the best for the Friday event. A blessing reflecting the qualities of the Pounamu's, strength and grace is pictured below. 

Finally, this is my last blog for a term as I embark on three months of sabbatical leave. This will see my wife Sandra and I circumnavigate the globe looking at improving student engagement and innovative practice. In my absence, Mr Ryan will be the acting Principal, Mr Fowler the Deputy and Mrs Austin continuing in the Assistant Principal role. The senior leadership team will be further strengthened by the appointment of Ms Walsh as our second Assistant Principal.

May God bless you all.
Paul Olsen, Principal.

Images From Today's Boys 1st XV Win

What a way to end Term Two!  Congratulations to all of the students who competed today.

Images From Today's Interschool

With the exception of some very frosty ground for the early morning girls' football match, the weather has certainly come to the party today for our annual interschool with Waitaki Boys' and Waitaki Girls' High Schools.  The 1st XV game is still being played at this very moment and is a real nail biter!!
1ST XV RUGBY UPDATE:  ST KEVIN'S COLLEGE WIN OVER WAITAKI BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL 26:8

Second Assistant Principal Appointed

Beginning next term, we are pleased to welcome Ms Jo Walsh to the College.  Ms Walsh has been appointed to our Senior Management Team as our second Assistant Principal and will also teach English classes.  She may be familiar to some of our families having taught at the College before taking up a position as HOD English at Waimate High School in 2009.  She brings a high level of experience in quality education for students and will further strengthen the Senior Management Team at the College.

Westgate To Wellington

The boys of the College gathered in the office quad yesterday to farewell Mr Westgate who begins a position at Wellington College next term.  As well as educating students on the finer points of English, Mr Westgate also worked in the Hostel, coached mens basketball and introduced students into the world of kick box training.  We wish him all the best in windy Wellington.

Parent Teacher Interviews - On Line Booking Information

Thursday 8th May 6 - 8p.m, 
Friday 9th May 3 - 5 p.m.

The following is the link for online booking:

http://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz/

the event code is  YRPP9

And All That Jazz

Four Year 10 students performed at Waitaki Boys' High School last Tuesday with the Combined School Concert Band. Glyn, Carena, Emma and Mark have been practicing and rehearsing with their band mates at Waitaki Boys, and all their hard work paid off with a very successful performance at the school's Mid Winter Concert.  Congratulations!

Shooting Hoops With Dillon Boucher

Last night the College hosted Tall Blacks and NZ Breakers star Dillon Boucher as part of "Waitaki Week - The Build Up Show".  A very excited crowd joined us for this fantastic evening where we celebrated the sporting achievements at the College to date before hearing the inspiring story of Dillon's journey through the ranks of basketball in New Zealand.  Gray Doppenberg and Kieran Ryan were excellent hosts and entertained the audience with their humerous banter.  There was time at the end of the evening for autographs and photos to be taken before heading to the College Gymnasium to shoot hoops.  A big thank you to Mr Ryburn for co-ordinating the evening .... certainly something to inspire our teams ahead of the big interschool of Friday!!

Novice Canoe Polo Success

Some more great action from the tournament on this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/kayakotago/9226890358/

Mr Haig and a team of 6 travelled to the Southern Novice Canoe Polo Tournament during the weekend.  The team was made up of Lauren Godsall, Justine Middlemass, Maddy Poole, Bryony Brown, Pani Papaioannau and Henry Wallace.  The tournament was a way of introducing schools to the world of competitive canoe polo and the St Kevin's College team took great advantage of Mr Haig's experience with only one loss against Southland Boys High School, giving them third place in the competition!!

Game results were:

St Hilda's Collegiate School: 2-1 win

Otago Girls High School (2 teams): 6-3 win and 4-4 draw

Southland Boys High School: 7-0 loss

The team is fired up to enter the South Island Championships which will be held in Oamaru in August!

NOSSSD Draw And Parent Information

Please CLICK HERE for parent and caregiver information about the inter-school this Friday.

Principal's Comment

Kia ora Kevinians and Supporters

This week the correct pronunciation of place names was a classroom focus during the annual Maori language week. At assembly the issue of how to say Oamaru  or Te Oha-a-Maru (the place of Maru) correctly, was addressed.
Also this week the College has hosted representatives from the Education Review office. The three person team, led by Chris Featonby,  were welcomed with a powhiri on Monday. They have taken the opportunity to view classes and speak to the Board of Trustees, staff  and most importantly students. Their focus was student engagement, progress and achievement. The initial findings will be reported to the Board on Tuesday.
On Thursday a very successful NCEA Whanau Information evening was held in the College staffroom. Thank you to Sara Plunkett for organising this presentation from Angelina Kiore from the Ministry of Education.

During my classroom visits on Friday I captured some video footage of budding rocket scientists in year 9. I have included the link as I am keen to share the launch by these engaged students who are clearly enjoying their learning.
Finally, next week we look forward to the Waitaki Interschool Day. St Kevin's is the host this year and the our warm up to the day starts with Tall Black's star, Dillon Boucher, speaking at the College on Monday evening.

May God bless you all.

Paul Olsen, Principal.

Youth Spirit Award Winner

Head Boy Jibi Kunnethedam has taken the Oamaru Youth Spirit Award at the 2013 Turstpower Waitaki District Community Awards which were held at the Opera House this week.  Jibi is well known in the community for his success in the area of public speaking and debating but is also an avid sportsman in the fields of cricket and football.  

He is a member of the College LEO Club, President of the Waitaki Youth Multicultural Council, Waitaki delegate for the National Youth Mulicultural conference and is currently working towards his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award.  This on top of his service at the College and academic achievements make him well deserving of this accolade.  

Congratulations Jibi!!

Careers Evening A Success

Thank you to all those parents and students who attended the Tertiary Information Evening at the Opera House.  It was a very successful event and will hopefully become an annual event.  Thank you to Mandy Farrell and the Home & School team for helping with the catering.

Following on from that there is an opportunity to experience Aoraki Polytechnic as a "student for a day", next week 8-12 July.  If you are interested please see Mrs Manson for details.

Finally, congratulations to Year 12 student Taylor Oakes who has been accepted for the Defence Careers Experience based in Ohakea for the first week of the school holidays.  The last Defence Careers Experience for 2013 will be held from 30 Sept to 4 Oct.  Please contact Mrs Manson if you are in Year 12 or 13 and are interested in applying for this experience.

Haka Evolution

Junior Students from the Kapa haka group perform at the Oamaru Public Library in celebration  of Maori Language Week.  

Our thanks to their mentor, Mrs Eva Gregory-Hunt, and Mrs Sara Plunkett.

2013 marks the 30 year anniversary of girls at St Kevin’s College when at the end of 1982 St Thomas’ closed its doors for the last time and their students ventured into the College grounds.

In consultation with whanau and Papatipu Runaka ki Moeraki students and staff at the College have been working towards supporting the girls in learning the female part of the St Kevin’s College Haka.  Girls being part of the haka is not new to the College but a tradition that was lost for a time, although past pupils recall their experience at St Kevin’s and performing the haka with the boys.

Contrary to popular belief the South Island Ngai Tahu have a strong tradition of female involvement in Kapahaka.  Their women have traditionally performed haka alongside the men, and are often seen performing at many cultural gatherings and sporting events.  Men and women give an impressive sense of whanau and community when they perform together, adding to the richness of the occasion.

The College continues to evolve as the needs of our whanau and community change and the inclusion of girls supporting their male counterparts is a reflection of the co-educational aspect of life at St Kevin’s.

St Kevin’s College is extremely grateful to Patrick and Nola Tipa, Justin Tipa and David Higgins from Papatipu Runaka ki Moeraki for their valued expertise in helping us to refine our haka and their ongoing support of the College.

CLICK HERE  to watch a clip from New Zealand v England – Women’s International

Clean Sweep At Lions Speech Competition

Kaleisha, Isobel and Georgia-Kate

St Kevin's College took at clean sweep at the Lions Clubs of North Otago annual speech contest which was held on Sunday.  Students were required to present a 3-5 minute speech on a subject of their own choice.

Students at the College are actively encouraged in the area of public speaking throughout their time at St Kevin's and their success is a credit to themselves and the staff who offer their expertise and support.   

Congratulations to the following students:
YEAR 11/12
1st - Isobel Ryan

Scott and Jino (absent: Ceilidh)

2nd - Kaleisha Jones
3rd - Georgia-Kate Blair

YEAR 9/10
1st - Scott Ruddle
2nd - Jino Kunnethedam
3rd - Ceilidh Brookes

Dillon Boucher At SKC - Door Sales Available

All Blacks Don't Cry

Mrs Jackson and Year 10 Cambridge English students look through the pages of "All Blacks Don't Cry" by Sir John Kirwin.  The College is the only CIE accredited school in North Otago and offers Cambridge English and Maths classes to junior students at the College.

Pictured with Mrs Jackson: Seated - Pierce McLeod, Moriah Tyrrell, Scott Ruddle, Max Stewart, Georgia Sillibourne, Monique Sage.  Standing - Emma Middlemiss, Casey Gordon

St Kevin's College has been very grateful to receive 35 copies of Sir John Kirwan's "All Blacks Don't Cry" as part of an initiative aimed at educating young people in the area of mental illness.  The quote "It's okay to ask for help" is key to Sir John Kirwan's message in his acclaimed book and it is hoped the book will be a way of breaking down the stigma of mental health in our community.  

The number of books equates to a class set and it becomes a resource that can be utlised in more than one area of the College.  Yet another way of ensuring our students are well equipped to venture into the world.

North Otago Secondary School Sports Day Helpers

SKC on attack during last year's Girls Rugby game

It's just about time for the annual interschool with Waitaki Boys's and Waitaki Girls (North Otago Secondary Schools Sports Day) and we are looking for some help with aspects of the day.  If you are able to offer some time our Sports Co-ordinator Nigel Ryburn would love to hear from you - you can contact him at the College or by email nryburn@stkevins.school.nz 

FOOTBALL - 1 helper (scoring)
HOCKEY - 2 helpers (score board)
BASKETBALL - 4 helpers (bench, 1 per game)
NETBALL - 2 helpers (scoring)
RUGBY - 10 helpers (5 gate keepers and 5 ticket takers)
RUGBY - helpers for clean up (grandstand and change rooms)

Special Character - Confirmation 2013

The Signs of the Cross in a dozen languages, a display of our cultural diversity

Confirmation is going to be late in Term 3.  If you wish for your child to be confirmed please contact Mrs Karen Austin.  Students will be prepared for Confirmation during the school day.  The sacrament of Baptism is a pre requisite for Confirmation.  Again, if you wish to enquire about having your child baptised please contact Mrs Karen Austin.  Our Religious Studies classes continue to present inspiring Assembly liturgies.  For many of our students this is their first "cameo" performance on stage.

SKC Netball Meeting

SKC Netball Meeting

Monday 1 July at 7.30pm
NOW IN THE COLLEGE INTERVIEW ROOM

Everyone is welcome!