Republish: On Wednesday 1 November, we held our Senior Prize Giving for 2023.

On Wednesday 1 November, we held our Senior Prize Giving for 2023. It was a wonderful celebration of everything that our senior students have achieved this year in their academic, cultural, sporting and performing arts pursuits. Our students have once again done Central Southland College proud and set a fabulous example for our junior and future students.

We love connecting with our community, and were once again pleased with the level of support shown to our students and the school. The gym was at capacity, while those unable to make it in person were able to keep up with the action via the livestream. A slight technical issue affected sound for the first few sections of the livestream, this has now been fixed and the video now has full audio. You can watch it using the attached link. Filming, editing and livestreaming at CSC is all done by the AV Crew which is made up of students with some guidance from Mrs Jenkins. These students love to work independently, consequently, they take on a lot of responsibility. Once again, they showed their professionalism as they filmed the ceremony while fixing the issue.

It was wonderful to share the achievements of so many at both a regional and national level in numerous sporting and performance events, including: Hannah West, our NZ Trapshooting Champion, Brooke Anderson for making the NZ Tri Series Swim Team and Ollie Davis who is ranked number one in long jump and number two in triple jump in his age group at National level for athletics. Also to our Senior Boys Basketball Team who are the South Island Champions, our Senior Triathlon team who came first at the New Zealand Secondary Schools competition and the U16 Girls 7’s for winning the South Island championship.

In our junior school Jakob Anderson is the NZ Trampolining champion while Lily Keast and Benson Boys are NZ and South Island track Cycling Champions. Also, our U15 Boys Rugby are South Island Div 2 Champions. Dougal Fairbairn gained a gold medal at the National Trapshooting Championships, while our Junior Triathlon team came first at the NZSS.

Moving on to performing arts, our Chamber music group played extremely well at the regional competition and were awarded Highly commended. In Rockquest we gained a 2nd in the band section, first in Pacifica Beats and a first in the Solo Section with Faith Dick making it through to the top ten in the national solo finals. Faith, Deacon Kynan-Wilde and Sophia Watson were selected to the NZ Junior Theatre Festival in Auckland, where they rehearse and perform two brand new musicals. Deacon was also made one of the Kiwi All-stars team and led the group in the closing ceremony. Deacon has also recently received news that he has been selected to represent New Zealand as part of a team to compete in the World Junior Musical Theatre Competition in the United States of America in January of 2025.

We also acknowledged Peter Turnbull as he heads to a new and exciting chapter of his life. Peter started teaching at Central Southland College in 1987, dedicating 36 years to this school. He has held many roles during his time at Central Southland College, including Teacher of Economics and Accounting, Head of Department of Economics and Accounting and HoD of Social Sciences. Peter has held the role of Assistant Principal since 2000 and has been a mainstay of the Senior Leadership Team, providing exceptional leadership and support.

Finally, we acknowledged the outstanding academic achievement of so many of our students. Their dedication and commitment to learning throughout the year has been exceptional. A complete prize list is attached, but we would like to make special mention of our Proxime Accessit (runner up to Dux), Ruby Anderson and our 2023 Dux, Maleesha Gamage. These awards are the pinnacle academic awards for CSC and are a reflection of incredible focus and determination. The students acknowledged this success with an emotional haka before Year 13s left for the final time.

We wish all our senior students the very best for their NCEA results and their Summer Break ahead, with a special thanks to our Year 13 Class of 2023 for their contribution and leadership at CSC over the last five years. We wish them all the very best for their adventures ahead.

Below is a selection of photos from the ceremony, all photos can be viewed here