40 Mahurangi Matters August 5, 2015 localmatters.co.nz

Achiever of the Month: Ashleigh Dick

Congratulations to our Year 10 Mathex teamon winning the Northland Mathex competition.The team of Sabrina Yarndley, Christian Polandand Tomoya Kinukawa were one member downon the night but still finished two points clear ofthe field. Our other teams also did well, withthe Year 7 team of Zac Farmiloe, Taj Oliver, ZaliTaylor and Halle Gravatt coming second.There were two overseas trips during the Julyschool holidays which were both a worthwhileand enjoyable experience for all involved. Thestudents all worked hard to raise the funds andit was well worth it in the end with memoriesthat will last a lifetime.Special thanks to Mrs Cath Johnston fororganising and leading the History trip for 18students to Vietnam and Cambodia, and to MrHamish Cooper for leading the Rugby trip for 44

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NEWSLETTER

Proudly Supporting Mahurangi CollegeWARKWORTH Corner Woodcocks Road & Mansel Drive, Phone 425 8119

• Deputy Head Girl• Red House Leader

• Red House Peer Support Leader• Academic Blue for Achieving Excellence in Level 2

• Member of the Performing Arts Academy

from thePrincipal

David Macleod

Presented by Jeanie Sutherland - Retail Manager at Mega Mitre 10 Warkworth

ISSUE 05: August 2015

MAHURANGI COLLEGE

Dear Parents and GuardiansTena Koutou KatoaThe third term is now upon us and we lookforward to a very busy and productive 10weeks. Senior students have many internalassessments due this term and their schoolexams in weeks 9 and 10.The Careers evening will take place onThursday 13th August at 7pm in the newgymnasium, with representatives from awide range of careers and tertiary providers,including a number of past students from ourschool.Our Technology Expo will be on Wednesday26th August at 7pm in the hall and the Year11-13 parent interviews will be on Thursday 3September.

boys to the Gold Coast tournament in Australia.At our recent Board of Trustees meeting theBoard decided it will now be expected that fromthe start of 2016 all students in Year 7-9 willbring their own device to school, and that BYODwill still be highly recommended at all otherlevels. Any device is acceptable provided ithas a minimum screen size of 20cm (7.9 inches,as in an iPad mini), although in some seniorclasses a laptop is needed. Local suppliersare offering good prices and good rent to ownoptions. There will be a limited number ofschool devices for families to lease, preferencegiven to those having hardship (contact exec@mahurangi.school.nz). We would also bepleased to accept for this purpose donations ofany suitable portable devices less than 3 yearsold.The Board of Trustees’ bi-annual school surveyis being under-taken online this year and hasbeen distributed via email. For any parentswho do not have email, a hard copy of thesurvey can be collected from the main office.We encourage all parents to take part in thisas it contributes to our future planning for theschool.

David Macleod, Principal

The Year 10 Northland Champs Mathex Team

Our College Rugby boys in action on the Gold Coast

41localmatters.co.nz August 5, 2015 Mahurangi Matters

NEWSLETTERMahu’s Monthly Feature....

Mahurangimatters |

Christina Merrick ~ Deputy PrincipalWe are thrilled to welcome our new AssistantPrincipal, Miss ChristinaMerrick, who joined theMahurangi College Senior Management Teamat the start of this year. Christina comes to usfrom Takapuna Normal Intermediate School onthe North Shore where she held the position ofDeputy Principal.

Christina has over sixteen years of classroompractice across all year levels from the PrimarySchool sector, during which she has gainedstrengths in positive behaviour management,inquiry teaching, literacy, learning languages,health and e-learning. She has a passionfor education and a strong belief in providinga caring, safe and creative environment forstudents to learn and succeed.

“Over the years I have developed a goodunderstanding about what makes 11 to 14 yearolds tick. Most students are naturally curiousabout the world around them and I believe it isabout hooking into that curiosity and developinglearning habits that students can utilise for life.”

Christina is passionate about teaching andlearning. With a strong background in inquirylearning she has spent ten years leadinginquiry learning processes. She has recentlyundertaken research into educational leadershipand how best to support teachers to make key

changes in teaching practice. We are excitedabout the changes that Christina is leadingus in already, such as conceptual learning forYear 7 and 8 students and Teaching as Inquirypractices throughout the school.

She has experience in catering for studentswith various learning and behaviour needsat a class and school-wide level, along withexperience in building effective relationshipswith parents/caregivers and the wider schoolcommunity. With her enthusiasm for education,Christina has made efforts to keep her ownstudies current. In 2010, she was awarded aMinistry of Education Language ImmersionAward where she spent one month living andteaching in Argentina.

Christina’s extra-curricular involvementsinclude being the Head Teacher and Facilitatorof Enviro Schools. This led her previous schoolto earn a Silver Enviro Schools Award. Shehas led staff, students and the Community incarrying out sustainable practices. She enjoysbeing involved in sports and leading EOTC(Education Outside the Classroom) camps andwill be leading our Year 9 Camp this year to itsnew site. She has been actively involved ingirls’ rugby which she coached for four years.She has always enjoyed being part of school-

wide extra-curricular events including theatresports and drama productions.

Welcome Christina, we feel Mahurangi Collegeand our Community are privileged to have youon board.

Eighteen months of planning and fundraisingfinally came to fruition when 18 studentsdeparted for a trip of a lifetime to Vietnam andCambodia. During their 19 days away they

journeyed from Hong Kong to Hanoi to Ha LongBay, by overnight train to theVinhMoc tunnels ofthe demilitarised zone in the centre and then onto Hue and the Buddhist orphanage where gifts

were distributedto the youngchildren. Thiswas followed bya longer relaxingstay in Hoi Anto enable theirball dresses andsuits to be tailor-made, and thenon to Ho ChiMinh City and ahomestay in theMekong Delta.

Cambodia wasnext with twodays spentclamberingaround themany temples

History Trip to Vietnam and Cambodiaof Angkor in Siem Reap, a visit to the floatingvillage on the great lake of Tonle Sap and an‘interesting’ bus ride to Phnom Penh. Thehistorical highlights were seeing the body of HoChi Minh lying in state in the huge Mausoleum;the sobering visit to My Lai where Americansoldiers massacred over 500 innocent villagers;the Chu Chi tunnel network of Ho Chi Minh city;and the remnants of the Pol Pot regime - theTuol Sleng Museum (Prison 21 where the NewZealander, Kerry Hamill was one of over 15,000prisoners tortured and killed) and Cheung Ek(the Killing Fields).

Our thanks to Mrs Johnston for her wonderfulorganisation of this trip, which gave us all theopportunity to see and experience living intwo less developed countries and to connectwith some of the recent historical events ofthese countries, which connects with our ownhistory through New Zealand’s involvement inthe Vietnam war and all the events surroundingthat.