Wishing all our senior students the very best as they head into their mock exams next week.

Maths Week

The second week of August is traditionally Maths Week.

The Academic Council ran a successful Maths question of the day for junior and senior students, which were rewarded with daily prizes. Thank you to Leah and her team for doing a great job.

The annual Waimaths Quiz competition is also held in Maths Week. It was great to compete against the Waikato schools, with larger numbers of teams entered than last year.

This year WDSG entered three teams. The competition was fast and furious. We were pleased when the results were announced to find:

Our Year 9 team of Shanaz Chen, Frances Gregory and Cate Young placed 6th.

Our Year 10 team of Jacqueline Li, Joy Liao and Neha Kurien placed 6th equal.

Our Year 11 team of Joie Lin, Diny Zhou and Emilee Mehrtens placed 2nd.

This was an awesome effort with some dedicated study going in after school. Well done to all those who trained for the teams. We have a cunning plan in place for next year already to improve our results! Stay tuned!

The 2022 Year 10 Enterprise

By Matilda Millar and Georgia Roberts - Year 10 Enterprise Student Event Managers

Over ten weeks, our Year 10 students worked extremely hard toward the annual Year 10 Enterprise event. Thankfully there were no COVID restrictions this year which meant we were able to host our lovely Dio community on the night of Tuesday, 23rd August and then sell to the students and teachers at lunchtime on Wednesday, the 24th.

This year the theme of Enterprise was Daffodil Day. We enjoyed dressing up in yellow and putting up lots of yellow decorations. We also had a ‘Guess the Number of Lollies in the Jar’ to raise money for the New Zealand Cancer Society, Te Kāhui Matepukupuku o Aotearoa. The Tuesday of Enterprise saw students setting up their stalls in the Hall and the Piki Mahuta foyer. They decorated these beautifully, ready for the judges to make their decisions in the afternoon. They also spent some time in the gym doing a series of fun and challenging activities led by Miss Ratima and Mr Watson.

Overall, Enterprise turned out well, and we hope the Year 10s feel the same. The students persevered through the challenges of deciding on and creating a product, learning to budget and working successfully in a group showing the true Dio spirit. The Year 10s created a range of beautiful and useful products and should be proud of their achievements. The evening sale went well, and it was great to host this again after two years because of restrictions. The lunchtime market was super busy, and their products sold well.

The Year 10 students would like to thank the Social Studies teachers, Mr Duvenhage, Mrs Coates, Mr North, Mrs Bramley and Mrs Brown, for all their help and support. We were lucky to have Dio’s head students, Liv Bayne and Cooper Jones, as the judges this year. Congratulations to all the award winners.

All groups must give the school 10% of their profit as “tax money.” This money will be split between the following charities: New Zealand Cancer Society and Habitat for Humanity.

 Year 10 Enterprise Winners

Best Display

Me, My Shelf and I

10i Jessica Steele + Sophie Hansen + Ruby Wilson + Zoe ter Beek

Most Sustainable

Jack Jack Pyjama Pants

10R Adison Lewell + Chilli Wheeler + Jana Hendrikse + Kayleigh Neville

Most Innovative

Mirror on the Wall

10i Cayla Engelbrecht + Amy Donkin + Bonnie Feng

Marketing/Best Business Knowledge

Chopping & Co

10D Olivia Burton + Olivia Mackay + Niamh Ainsley

Best Quality Product

Soap Bros

10i Alexis Fink + Haneul Choi + Chloe Housley

And

The Hanging Gardens

10T Laura Smith + Libby Finlay + Grace Farrelly + Nina Thomson

Best Overall Group

Wax Worx

10T Emmah Dempsey + Asha Spencer + Jayne McPhillips + Brooke McKay 

NIWA Science Fair

Some of our talented Science students went to the Waikato Science Fair, and we had some fantastic results. We had 13 entries across all classes, investigation boards, Scientific Wall Charts, Scientific Drawings, Scientific Photography and Scientific Videos.

Congratulations to:

Years 9-10 Sciences Joy Liao came second, and Olivia Wang came third. Joy also came 2nd across the whole Fair in this category!

Scientific Wall Charts: Diny Zhou was Highly Commended

Senior Observational Drawings: Joie Lin came first, and Bonnie Feng came second. Joie and Bonnie also came 1st and 2nd, respectively, across the whole Fair for Scientific Displays (out of photos, drawings and wall charts). An outstanding achievement!