Congratulations to Cole Berman (year 9) and Tyler Greer (year 13) who were finalists in the 2017 Showdown Awards which took place at Sky City Theatre last night. Cole was nominated for Best Male in a Minor Role (musical) and Tylerfor Best Female in a Minor Role (musical), both nominations recognising their performances in our college musical earlier this year, The Wizard of Oz.
Some of our students spent two days during the October holidays preparing for their learner’s license and to be better drivers. Year 11 student Grace Christy relates her experience:
“On the 10th and 11th of October I attended a learner drivers’ workshop at school which was put on by Auckland Transport and the New Zealand Police.
“They came to talk to us about how to get our learners licence and how to get by in real life situations.”
Students were given a better understanding of the rules of driving by unpacking the road code. “It was made fun by the use of games and the sharing of stories… As well as Mrs Llewellyn pitching in every now and then.”
Parents and students were really appreciative of the experience and the workshops finished with a group of students being driven to Takanini by Sergeant Andy to sit their learner’s licence test – and all passed, including Grace.
“It was a great experience and by the end of the holidays I had successfully passed my learners licence. Thank you to Mrs Llewellyn for taking time out of her holidays to arrange this for us.”
The computer club has a great sense of a small community who come together every Wednesday afternoon from 3:20-4:20pm. Mr Reid, the teacher that runs this creates challenging tasks that encourage the club to learn and experiment with different types of tasks. These include using Python, VB and Linux.
This club is perfect for students with an interest in computers or programming to hang out and share ideas with others. There is opportunity to group work and individual work, generally it is self-directed but help is always available when needed.
“It’s good to start easy and progress onto harder code, a great way to make new friends” – Denis Morsin, Year 9
“It’s a nice place for people to socialise and meet others who are interested in computers” – Mr Reid, head of computer club
The Model United Nations (MUN) Committee aims to promote MUN at Strathallan by running the annual MUN Conference as well as encouraging students to participate in external MUN Conferences organised by the UN Youth New Zealand organisation.
Basically, Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the real United Nations and it provides a great opportunity for you to engage with others who are passionate about world issues. However, you don’t need to be an expert to attend a conference as you will learn and pick up things along the way. If you are interested in organising the annual Strathallan conference or attending a conference school you can contact the teacher in charge, Mr Scott.
It was an emotional last day of school for our Year 13 students as the whole school came out to farewell them. Primary, pre-school and college students created a guard of honour as our 2017 leavers made their way around the campus ending up in the quad where they were addressed by Mr O’Connor. It was certainly a farewell marked by loud cheers and many tears but a fitting tribute to a group of fine young people.
See more pictures of our Year 13 guard of honour.
Our school has a variety of clubs, ranging from the regulars to more interesting groups, full of people sharing their talents together and having fun with each other. Clubs meet once a week, and one, in particular, meets every Tuesday lunchtime: the Magic Club.
I went there along with two of my friends this lunchtime to see what they did and meet all the fascinating people who’ve decided to share their love of magic. Our ICT teacher, Mr Reid, runs it and immediately wowed us with an impressive card trick of his. His students clearly follow in his footsteps and showed us some of their favourite card tricks, mesmerizing us as they got the trick right every single time.
They all seemed to thoroughly enjoy seeing the reactions they provoked in us and laughed amongst each other, all knowing the secret to the trick. Several of the kids told us their reasons for being drawn towards magic and it was incredibly touching knowing that some were carrying on a family tradition or truly just adored it and dreamed of pursuing it. Every week they get together and plan and discuss tricks, sharing with each other new discoveries and exciting tools that they’ve brought to aid their tricks. It’s a fun place to be, and even more fascinating to be an onlooker, seeing the real magic they can create and the sparkle in their eyes.
