Please read the following newsletter for all news pertaining to Senior School students.

NCEA Fees

The government has announced that NCEA will be free for New Zealand students. If you have already paid your fees, this will be refunded to you in due course. International students will still be required to pay NCEA fees. If you have any questions please contact the Principal’s Nominee, Carolyn Coles: 

carolyn.coles@kingsway.school.nz.

World Vision

Each year, we intentionally support World Vision through a range of events. At assembly this week, we kicked this off with a guest speaker, Cam Maccarthy, an intern from World Vision. He shared how he had seen first-hand in Uganda the massive difference that World Vision is making in the lives of refugees on the ground. Cam encouraged our Senior Students to take a stand and commit to the 40-hour famine by considering different ways they could fundraise (he spent 40 hours in a shipping container with three friends).

Events:

Form classes have learnt that there will be prizes for the class that raises the most money this year. Other additional events are outlined below:

• The annual World Vision Quiz Night:
  Friday, 7 June at 7.30pm. We are looking for teams of approximately 8 people and parent participation is very much a key part of this event. There will also be a silent auction and opportunities to purchase gifts. All proceeds from the evening will be going towards our 2019 World Vision fundraising effort.
• The World Vision Walk for Year 12 and Year 13 students will be held on Saturday, 8 June at 2pm. This is a 20km walk (twice around the Orewa estuary loop + some). Students and teachers can choose to do 10km, or 20km.
• Normal Famine Fundraising: This year we are strongly encouraging Senior School students to participate ONLINE. They can sign up to be a part of the Kingsway page here: https://my.worldvision.org.nz/ss/4V7MCD/kingsway-school

Talent Quest

It has been tremendous to see student representatives from the Arts Council run the student talent quest, including holding sessions at the Primary School throughout the competition. Well done to the Year 13 student leaders on the Arts Council, including James, Chanique, Lachlan, Elliette, Saskia and Jess for leading the competition. Many other students have also been actively involved. It is fantastic to see these leaders take an active role in something school-wide that encourages and inspires other students to stand up and share their talents with others.

Student Achievement

James Donovan

James Donovan represented Coast Swim Club in the New Zealand Age Group Championship in Wellington at the end of April and produced some amazing results over five days. He qualified for five finals with the following results in the 14-year-old boy's event.

• 400 Free – SILVER – 2nd in NZ
• 800 Free – GOLD – National Title
• 200 Free – BRONZE – 3rd in NZ
• 1500 Free – GOLD – National Title
• 100 Free – 4th in NZ

Finally, he also broke the Coast Swim club age group record for the 1500 freestyle event. These results are especially impressive considering James was recovering from an injury. Well done James!

Jason Jiang

Congratulations to Jason Jian who was a finalist at Sing China. Please CLICK HERE for the full article. 

Sarah Thompson

Sarah’s team had great success at the International Vex Robotics competition, winning 8 out of their 11 qualification matches. With these great placings, they made it into the semi-final competition. Potentially, the team could have gone even further but unfortunately an alliance partner drove into them accidentally at the start of a match damaging our robot. This unexpected loss dropped them from number 3 to number 10. The team has a lot to be proud of and this result now ranks them as one of the top 48 teams in the world. By all accounts, Sarah played a key leadership role in the whole process and was instrumental in their success.

Upcoming Events

This Friday all Year 12’s are involved in an Employability Skills workshops with Skills Org. This will take place at School for the full school day. Workshops will run according to the normal school timetable, and students are expected to attend school in full school uniform, and bring lunch/ morning tea as usual. The day will begin at 8:45am in the Wharenui.

Level 2 and Level 3 Media Studies students will be attending the Docs4Schools Film Festival in Auckland on Wednesday, 5 June 2019. It is the day after Teacher Only Day and so students will need to be organised and meet at the back bus bay by 8.45am on Wednesday morning. We will return in time for the end of the school day. This trip is linked with the students’ study of different film genres and film design and production.

The annual World Vision Quiz Night will be happening on Friday the 7th of June at 7.30pm. (Details above under World Vision).  

Key Dates

• 22 – 24 May L2 OED Surf Camp
• 24 May Y12 Careers Expo
• 28 May L3 YES Business Pitch
• 29 May L3 PFT Showcase
• 30 May L3 DRA Showcase
• 31 May 2pm Finish
• Y10 Global Leadership Day
• 4 June Teacher Only Day
• 5 June L2/3 MST Trip
• Open Day (Both Campuses)
• Yr 11-13 Spanish Immersion Day
• 6 June L2/3 MST Trip
• 13 June L1 GEO Trip