Ko taku reo taku ohooho, ko taku reo taku mapihi mauria

My language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul

Welcome back to the academic year from the English Faculty! Congratulations to all of our students on their stunning results awarded over the past summer (and Winter, Autumn and Spring-like) holidays. Huge acknowledgement to our four English and Media Studies Scholarship recipients: Jack Gormley (Year 11 in 2020!), Galen Sato for English, and Ella Patterson for Media Studies. Sophie Stalker gained both Media, Health AND English Scholarships too, which is an outstanding achievement! We bask in the reflected glory their achievements bring.

We welcome two new staff to our hard-working team: Sara Kupa and Hayleigh Clarkson. We are thrilled to welcome them on-board the Lymphad-waka.

In 2021, the faculty will continue to develop students as they quest for a rich, varied vocabulary, precise writing skills and a love of literature from around the globe. Now, more than ever, it seems the world needs to use language and literature to help students empathise with people from diverse backgrounds. At Cashmere High School, students learn to safely debate, to examine their beliefs and to communicate with confidence both in and outside of the classroom environment.

iScribe

This year’s iScribe writing competition will be launched as three separate events! Keep an eye out on the notices for further information closer to the times.

Term 1: Poetry and Flash Fiction competitions - entries due March 30
Term 2: Essay and Parable competitions - entries due June 15
Term 3: Short story competition - entries due September 14

Winning participants put themselves in contention for accolades in end-of-year prizegiving celebrations. In 2020, these prizes were awarded to:

The Richard James Junior Writer’s Prize: Mya Bennett

Yr 11 Dimmock Cup: Rosie Cruickshank

Yr 12 Malcolm Anderson Cup: Amelia Kirkness

Year 13 Kahukura Cup: Emily Blennerhassett

Mark Wilson Parable Cup: Emily Blennerhassett

The Writers' Group

The writers’ group will be up-and-running on Tuesday lunchtimes in R7. All interested students are encouraged to attend the meetings being offered in the student notices. In the past students have been lucky enough to have been visited by the likes of Daisy Lavea-Timo, James Norcliffe, Ben Brown, Frankie McMillan, Heather McQuillan, Gail Ingram, Jane Hole, Kerrin Sharpe, Joe Bennett, Bernadine Hall and Apirana Taylor.

Dates for author visits for 2021 have been pencilled in as...

Term 1: Thursday 25 March, 12.30-2.30: Ray Shipley (local poet and comedian)
Term 2: Thursday 20 May: Tusiata Avia (poet and playwright)
Term 3: Thursday 5 August: and Thursday 23 September: To be confirmed!

Other visiting experts

On Thursday 1 JulyProfessor Rawinia Higgins (Ngāti Tūhoe) will grace our kura: Professor Higgins graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a Diploma in Māoritanga / Tohu Māoritanga and a Bachelor of Arts and has a PhD from the University of Otago. She also holds an RSA/Cambridge CELTA qualification. Her research expertise is Māori language revitalisation and, more specifically, language planning and policy. She will speak to our ENL301 English classes. Other students who are interested in attending her presentation should see either Mrs Paulussen or Mrs McDonald to register their interest.

iSay

The English Faculty’s iSay speech competition will be held on Tuesday 3rd August at 4.30pm. Short-listed Junior students will be using their Term 2 speeches as the basis for their entries, whilst seniors will be given a one-hour ‘limited-prep’ planning time before speaking ‘TedTalk’ style to the assembled audience. All students are welcomed, too, to deliver a performance poem to contend the Spoken Word section of the iSay competition. The 2020 winners were extraordinarily talented and each category was hotly-contested. Our winners for 2020 were:

Carville Cup for Senior Public Speaking to: Paris Tod

Denise Winskill Spoken Word Trophy: Clara Dujakovic

Junior Oratory: Lucy Hudson Vink

M.N. Broome Debating Cup: Amelia Kirkness

iCandy

iCandy, the Media Department’s film competition will run on Thursday 28 October this year. Participants will be given information closer to the time, but can, in the meantime, see Mr McKersey for further details.

Media Studies 2 day workshops hosted by Yoobee

Term 1

MED301 Premiere Pro Yoobee course: 14-15 April (week 10)

Term 2

MED201 Adobe Indesign Yoobee course: 20-21 May (week 2)

Students in Year 12 Media who love to create and innovate will be considered for the Alexander Prize for Media, which was awarded to the multi-talented Eva Howe in 2020.

NZQA end-of-year examinations

The planned NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship examinations for English and Media Studies 2021 are:

MED201 Level 2 Media Studies examination: 2pm Monday 8 November

ENG201 and ENL201 Level 2 English examination: 9.30 Wednesday 17 November

Scholarship English examination: 9.30 Thursday 18 November

ENG101 and ENL101 Level 1 English examination: 9.30 Thursday 18 November

MED301 Level 3 Media Studies examination: 2pm Friday 19 November

ENG301 and ENL301 Level 3 English examination: 9.30 Wednesday 24 November

Scholarship Media Studies examination: 2pm Wednesday 24 November

Please check and consult the NZQA official timetable which is subject to change.

Whāia te mātauranga hei oranga mō koutou

Seek after learning for the sake of your wellbeing

I’ve asked for access to the following photos too...

Photo of the winner of the Carville Cup: Paris Tod (13TTT) and Runner-up Scott Hall (13MMM)

Photo of the winner of the Denise Winskill Spoken Word Trophy: Clara Dujakovic (10SSJ) (Left) and Runner-up Rosie Cruickshank (11WJJ)

Winner of The Junior Oracy Trophy, Lucy Hudson Vink (9MAR) (centre) and Runners up, Chris Watson (9MON) (left) and Rowan Matthew (10SSJ).

Welcome to Term 1 2021