WELCOME BACK TO TERM 4!
Welcome back to all of our students, staff, and families for another exciting term!
National Champions! NX Chess Team Takes 1st Place
Over the school break, our Northcross Intermediate Chess Team delivered an extraordinary performance at the NZ Chess Federation Nationals, taking out 1st place to claim the national title! Throughout the competition, our team demonstrated outstanding skill, strategic discipline, and exceptional composure under pressure. A massive congratulations to our champion team members: Alex Korolev (Room 20), Charlie Yang (Room 55), Zion Han (Room 46), and Dillon Sina’au (Room 24).
In addition to the overall team championship, two of our players earned individual national honors by winning their respective board categories across the entire tournament. Dillon Sina’au was named the Board #2 Champion, and Zion Han was named the Board #4 Champion. A huge thank you to Rose Golds and Anna Lewthwaite for their dedicated coaching and support in training and overseeing the team throughout the term. We are immensely proud of everyone involved!
Celebrating Our New Classrooms
Last Tuesday marked a special milestone for Northcross as we officially opened our brand-new 8 classroom block. The opening was attended by the Minister of Education, Ministry Officials and key excecutives from Niche Constuction. We extend a heartfelt thank you to our Kapa Haka group and Mark Jensen for leading a beautiful mihi whakatau and blessing to open the space. It is fantastic to see our students settled in and already making great use of these wonderful new facilities.
Northcross Enviro Group in Action
Our EnviroGroup continues to drive the restoration and regeneration of the Northcross Reserve in partnership with Restore Hibiscus and Bays and Auckland Council. During the current planting season, students have already planted around 200 native trees, with another 400 scheduled in the coming weeks. On top of this, the group recently planted a further 200 trees in the reserve area right next to our new classroom block, which is a truly huge effort.
Every Friday during Blocks 3 and 4, over 50 Year 7 and 8 students participate in essential conservation work, including planting native trees and shrubs, controlling weeds, trapping and monitoring predators, and carrying out general reserve maintenance. These hands-on activities help our students build practical conservation skills, teamwork, and environmental stewardship while delivering lasting benefits to our local ecosystem. We are extremely proud of their enthusiasm and commitment to caring for our environment. A huge thank you to Kel Hartell for contining to promote and drive this very valuble partnership with our students and Council.
TERM 4, Project Based Learning (PBL): May The Force Be With You!
This term, our Year 7 and 8 students are stepping into the shoes of project designers and engineers for our exciting Term 4 Project-Based Learning unit, May the Force Be With You. Throughout the term, students are exploring the physical world by integrating hands-on science, technology, mathematics, and literacy. Guided by our central driving question, How can I, as a project designer/engineer, demonstrate my knowledge of physics?, learners are investigating fundamental concepts including forces, motion, gravity, friction, and simple machines.
To start off the unit, students participated in a Launch Event filled with interactive mini physics experiments. Over the coming weeks, they will explore famous inventions, master the engineering design process, and apply their understanding by creating a working physical or digital prototype. Students are choosing to specialise in one of seven creative project tracks: Playgrounds, Marble Runs, Arcade Games, Theme Parks, Powered Vehicles, Siege Machines, or Flight Physics.
The unit will culminate in Weeks 8 and 9 with a school-wide Showcase Event, where students will display their working models, present their design thinking, and share their learning with peers, families, and community experts. We look forward to seeing our young engineers bring physics to life. A huge thank you to Associate Principal, Louise McMenamin who oversaw the writing of the term 4 unit.
Nga mihi nui
Jonathon Tredray
Principal
