Staffing 

This year we welcomed Jacinta McKenzie to our Japanese Department, David Hayes to our French Department, and Mirta Salina to our Spanish Department. They have all been a great addition to our Languages Faculty.

Many thanks to Victoria Lozano who relieved in our faculty this year.

We also welcomed Sarah McDonald as our French assistant for two terms. Unfortunately, she had to return to France at the end of Term 2. In her place we were fortunate to bring on board Sylvie Chappuis, from Thonon near the French Alps, who now lives in New Zealand with her family. She worked two days per week with students, supporting their spoken French and getting them involved in a variety of cultural activities.

Prefects 2022

A huge thanks to the Year 13 students who have been working as prefects this year.

Many thanks also to our Spanish Deputy Prefects, Sam Collier and Maximilian Cowie, for their contribution and support to the Spanish Department.

Languages Week 2022

Learning another language not only increases cultural awareness but is also fun!

To celebrate "Languages Week" at Cashmere High School, there were a variety of activities, including a Language Challenge, competitions to design posters and stickers highlighting the importance of learning another language, and the opportunity to create a short lip sync video. There were taster sessions in French, Japanese, Te Reo Māori and Spanish, and students also had the opportunity to watch movies in another language.

Education Perfect World Championships 2022

We had another successful Education Perfect World Championships this year, coming first in New Zealand out of 741 schools in the one-week competition, and third overall globally out of 2824 schools. We were 1st in French, 1st Japanese and 2nd in Spanish in New Zealand. We were also 1st overall in Te Reo Māori out of 962 schools.

We had 8 Elite winners and retained the Education Perfect NZALT Trophy for the 7th year in a row! Congratulations to everyone involved!

Language Immersion NCEA Days at the University of Canterbury June 2022

All Year 11, 12 and 13 French, Japanese and Spanish students participated in respective Immersion Days at UC. They attended workshops with students from other schools in Canterbury to develop their different language skills and work on their NCEA Achievement Standards. The day finished with everyone participating in a mass choreography to either a French, Japanese or Spanish song.

Experiencing French Food

Many of our French classes have made crêpes (French pancakes) in class - topped with lemon and sugar, jam or Nutella! Year 9 also enjoyed a French breakfast of croissants, pains au chocolat and hot chocolate. Year 10 are booked for a three course French meal at Sign of the Kiwi and Year 11 and 12 are planning a shared lunch with French food. Year 13 French visited a local café to replicate French café culture and practise their conversational French.

French Language Assistants

Students from Years 9 - 13 have all benefited enormously from regular small group work with Sarah and Sylvie, our French language assistants. Speaking activities like this boost students’ confidence and fluency in the French language.

Year 9 Japanese Trivia Evening 17 June

Cashmere High School hosted the National Junior Japanese Trivia Evening Canterbury Regional Competition on 17 June. There were four Year 9 Cashmere teams defending the cup for the third consecutive year. Congratulations to our winning team of Ben Coghlan, Fergus McMillan, Johnny Moone, Zac Raynolds and Jack Wooster.

Chita City Student Visit 

In August twelve students and two teachers from five middle schools in Chita City, Japan, visited Christchurch for the first time since 2019. Students in the junior Japanese classes hosted them during their five day stay. Two of our Year 9 classes enjoyed conversations together and tried a traditional Japanese dance with them.

Sister School online exchange with Sister School Kurashiki Minami High School

We have had several online conversation sessions with the students at our sister school, Kurashiki Minami High School this year. All of our Year 10, 11 and 12 Japanese classes enjoyed these close interactions with them in Google Meet breakout rooms.

Spanish Club 

We have had a “Spanish Club” running every Tuesday at lunch time. It is kindly organised by a group of native speakers from different Spanish speaking countries. Everybody is welcome to take part to either practise their Spanish, learn more about the Spanish culture or just make new friends. Our sincere thanks to these students for this initiative.

Chile/New Zealand Scholarship 2023

Covid 19 has had an impact on our exchanges to South America, however, we are happy to have restarted our Scholarship exchange. We will begin with a 3-month exchange to Saint Mary Joseph, our sister school in Santiago, Chile. Congratulations to Dimana Trendafilova who has been selected as the Scholarship Recipient for 2023.

Ben Crisp - Top Scholar for Spanish 2021 

We were very proud to hear that Ben Crisp, one of our Year 13 students last year, was awarded the Spanish Top Scholar of New Zealand in 2021.