Kia ora Parents and Whanau
Term 3 has certainly allowed our students to learn within the principles and practices of the Intermediate schooling curriculum. Students have demonstrated they are confident and positive in their own identity, motivated, reliable and resilient. They have demonstrated that they are connected with themselves, with their peer group and both the local and wider global community. They are actively involved in their own learning as involved participants in a range of life experiences.
They have demonstrated they are critical and creative thinkers – problem solvers engaged in inquiry and real life scenarios and informed decision makers, able to to actively participate in the wider society. Outstanding examples of this are; Gemma Uenuku, Joanna Kim, Seth Robson, and Josh Gough who were concerned about poverty and whether members of our community were being fed. They decided that a proactive approach was to have a can drive to assist food banks. Their can drive over 3 weeks collected 2322 cans for the Goodworks Trust Foodbank. Members of the Trust who came to collect the cans were visibly moved by the sheer amount of the cans and hugely appreciative. We would also like to acknowledge Mrs Lynne Potts for her support with this drive.
Another great example of connected and pro-active learners comes in the form of Holly Mayne, Teigan Moore and Bianca Drever. These young ladies raised almost $1000 for the Cancer Society through a bake sale and selling daffodils. The girls have all had family members affected by cancer and were determined to make a personal difference.
This week, Northcross hosted the North Harbour NIWA Science and Technology Fair. 24 students were selected to enter the North Harbour Fair with an outstanding 16 Northcross scientists winning awards at the prize giving. The overall winner of the NH NIWA Science and Technology Fair was Christopher Rawles. Christopher won the NIWA Premier Award, along with being a Category Winner and winning a Gold award in Material World for his project ‘The effects of sugar and carbonated water on teeth’. Second place overall, winning the Massey University Award was Olivia Rose. She was also the Category Winner in Environmental Technology for her project on ‘Stream shower’. Please see the North Harbour NIWA Science and Technology Fair article for a full list of our award winners – congratulations to all students on these amazing achievements. This is a true reflection of the effort and resilience they showed during over 10 weeks of learning.
Northcross did exceedingly well at the recent 2022 AIMS Games event in Tauranga. I would like to acknowledge all our students who took part in this NZ wide competition and the maturity, collaboration and sportsmanship displayed on and off their respective sporting arenas. We are very fortunate to have so many talented and hard working athletes. Northcross finished in the top 10 across 14 sporting codes which included 7 Gold medals and 7 Silver medals, a very impressive haul. A full list of all our amazing results can be found in the AIMS 2o22 post in this newsletter. Congratulations to those who gained podium places and all participants for demonstrating excellence and resilience under pressure. Once again our NX AIMS sporting event was aptly led by Shannon Hale who works tirelessly to ensure all our athletes get to have an incredible experience. Thank you Shannon for your time, effort and dedication!
We wish the Northcross Chess team of Ryan Hwang, Nathan Blunden, Alan Li and Vincent Xu good luck. This weekend, they travel to Christchurch to compete in the NZ Chess Federation National Chess Interschools Finals tournament. We know they will represent Northcross with pride.
A warm welcome to our 2022-2025 Northcross Intermediate Board of Trustees who are such an integral and important part of our school . A special welcome to James de Villiers who joins the team. An acknowledgement and huge thank you to Jared Cuff, Dave Oakley, Tania Wansink, Stephen Murray and Marc Rollinson who all agreed to re-stand. Their ongoing support and commitment to the Northcross Learning Community is greatly appreciated. Thank you also to Gavin Brunton and Annamaria Maclean who decided not to be re-elected for another term, your contribution and support of the Board and school during your tenure has been valued immensely. All the best with any new ventures you may be pursuing.
Thank you to our school community for their support throughout the term, especially if they have been coaching or managing one of the many sports teams that have enjoyed a full terms competition. As previously mentioned we could not offer the range of activities if we didn’t have our parents and whanau behind us.
An acknowledgment of staff for their efforts in ensuring our students have the best learning experiences possible and ensuring our students achieve their own personal milestones.
Nga mihi nui,
Jonathon Tredray
Principal
