English News - Western Springs College

Western Springs College
Nga Puna O Waiorea
Newsletter No 2 – 5 March 2012
Message from the Principal:
Springs Calendar
TERM ONE
2012
Week Six
March 5 – March 9
March 5
PAG Fundraiser – Movie
‘Headhunters’ at the Bridgeway
7.45pm.
Week Seven
March 12 – March 16
March 12 to March 16
Year 11 PE Camp.
March 16
Ministry of Education Teacher
Only Day #1. Students stay
home.
Week Eight
March 19 – March 23
March 19 to March 22
Yr 12 Geo Tongariro Crossing
Trip.
March 19 to March 23
Yr 13 Drama Class Production.
Week Nine
March 26 – March 30
March 26
Board of Trustees Meeting 6pm.
March 30
Yr 12 PE – 3 classes will be doing
their Ultimate Frisbee NCEA
assessment task during period 5
today.
Teacher-Only-Day, Friday, 16 March
The Minister of Education has set aside time this year for teachers’ planning and
preparation of the new curriculum-aligned NCEA achievement standards for Levels 2
& 3. Further to the term calendar information included in the January newsletter, the
first of the two Ministry of Education-mandated teacher-only-days has been
scheduled for the Friday of week 7, March 16. Accordingly, there will be no school for
students on Friday week.
School / Home Partnership
Each of the successful parent / student / teacher gatherings we have hosted during the
last three weeks – the New Families BBQ organised by the Parent Action Group in
week 3; the Pacific families barbeque during the week before last; and the shared meal
for mainstream Maori families and teachers last week - has underlined WSC’s
commitment to the building of close and effective school-home partnerships.
These meetings are very much about establishing communication lines with the key
teachers assigned to provide learning support for particular groups of students across
all levels.
Year 9 & 10 Parent / Teacher Interviews, Week 10, Monday, 2 April
The upcoming parent /teacher interviews provide another opportunity for parents and
students to meet subject teachers, form class teachers, and deans to discuss academic
goals, expectations for this year and beyond, and progress to date.
Junior reports will be sent home in week 9. Parents new to the school should look out
in the mail-out for directions on how to use the on-line booking system to make
appointment times for the teacher interviews.
Scholarship Results
For the second consecutive year the Top Scholar in NZ Award for
Visual Arts – Photography has gone to a WSC student: in 2011, Tim
Webby
There were four Outstanding Scholarship awards:
Asher James: English
Tim Webby: Media Studies and Photography
Hugo Christian-Slane: Art Design
Art Design gained most (4) Scholarships followed by Biology with 3.
Road Safety
We have welcomed news of Auckland Transport’s plans to establish traffic lights and a
pedestrian crossing at the corner of Great North and Motions Roads. The WSC Travel
Wise group of students, teachers and parents is currently liaising with A.T. in response
to their community consultation exercise. See Mary-Carol Holdaway’s report below.
PolyFest, 14-17 March
Visitors to the school this term will have observed Nga Puna O Waiorea’s two
kapahaka groups covering the campus during their practices with nearly 100 students
selected to perform in the Auckland Secondary Schools Cultural Festival next week.
The newly established Division 3 group have been impressing their tutors and
observers with the high standard of their choreography; they will be performing at
9.30am on Thursday, 16 March, out at the Manukau Sports Bowl.
Nga Puna O Waiorea’s Division 1 group are scheduled to perform at 2.00pm on
Saturday, 17 March. They have a proud record during recent years and are
determined to add to the trophy table once again this year.

Leaders’ Voice
Swimming Sports a great success
By the Sports Leaders
On Thursday the sixteenth, a large group of Western Springs students headed out to West Wave
Aquatic Center to compete in the annual school swimming sports. It was a day filled with excitement,
nerves and competition as the races passed by. We saw each house grow together whilst supporting
their swimmers and learned of the swimming talent we have at Western Springs College. Atea took
out the house relay and watching the year 13’s defeat the teachers and sports academy in their relay
was also good fun. Good luck to Lewis Booth, Reuben Curtin Symes, Max Dicken, Georgia Edwards,
Isabella Iremia, Shaan Mistry, Daniel Molina, Madeleine Nalder, Holly Parker, Gabrielle Patelesio,
Georgia Rudd and Noah Rudd who will be representing our school at the zone day on Thursday.
Students shave their locks for a cure
By Hannah Clarke
Rumour has it that these 3 girls may be losing their locks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shave for a Cure 2012 is coming up later this term and some of our brave student leaders will get the
shave! Springs has participated in the past and our leaders are very excited to help raise money for
this great cause once again!
So we’ve joined Leukaemia & Blood Cancer New Zealand (LBC) in their effort to get 10,000 people
shaving in a mass expression of solidarity. That’s one shavee for each one of the estimated 10,000
New Zealanders living with a blood cancer or a condition like leukaemia.
Some of our 2012 Student Leaders are going to shave their heads in front of the whole school. Most of
them want to try and raise $1000 individually, but as a whole, we would love to raise over $10,000 and
donate it to the LBC with a GIANT cheque!
Shave for a Cure is the LBC’s signature fundraising event. The LBC receives no government funding.
Donating is simple, fast and totally secure. Just click on the link below and find out which leaders will
brave the shave: http://www.shaveforacure.co.nz/view_group_event_profile/975
Whip out your credit card, and the LBC will email you a receipt directly. Or you could make a gold coin
donation on the day and watch the leaders get their heads shaved live!
Many thanks for your support.

Kapura – Nuff Said
By Samantha Casey, Mitchell Cosgrave and Claris Jacobs
As the winners of the 2011 House Cup, Kapura has begun the year with flare. Taking over the role as
House Leaders we’re looking forward to a successful year full of excitement and strong house sprit.
Our first event of the year, peer support, involving year 13 and year 9 students working alongside
each other was a great success. Through activities in the ICT room, tours of the school and different
games, we connected and built significant relationships with our groups enabling the year 9’s to
develop a sense of belonging. One of our team building games saw us all try and fit on a large bit of
paper over and over as it got smaller through each subsequent fold in half; while another involved us
having a well-known name on our backs (eg: Simon Cowell, Beyonce, Lady Gaga etc) and through
questions and answers we tried to guess who we were.
The success of peer support was mirrored through our success at Swimming Sports on February the
16th. After arriving at West Wave Aquatic Center the participants were enthusiastic and excited to
compete for our house. The highlight of the day was our junior fun relay team who were victorious as
they beat the other house teams with considerable support from the rest of Kapura in the stands. We
have no doubt this success and enthusiasm will continue on to athletics day as we once again compete
for the House Cup, have fun and develop as a team.
Leaders on Camp
By Hannah Clarke and Georgia Rudd
The grounds were weirdly deserted, the school was eerily quiet, “What are we all doing here in the
school holidays” This was the question playing on the minds of the group of new WSC leaders in
January. The answers became clear soon enough!
Leadership Camp for 2012 was an awesome experience. The student leaders spent 2 nights and 3
days, pushing our boundaries, finding out peoples’ strengths and weaknesses and getting to know the
Springs 2012 Leadership team. We will be working together for a year, and the success of our team
will be defined not by the individual, but by our strength as a cohort.

The camp was a great foundation for our year ahead. The main feeling within the group was that we
wanted change. We want students and teachers alike to look back on the 2012 Leadership Team and
associate us with positive change within the school. We want to be a team of action, not talk.
We arrived in the afternoon, and had no idea what was planned for the days ahead. This made us
somewhat nervous. So to calm our nerves, Ms Kilian reserved a special activity for just before bed time
that night. “Separate into four groups, you have to decide which one of you will be going over the side
of the boat (in other words, a game of sacrifice). If you can’t agree on one person then you all go
over!” None of us wanted to go overboard. We all got a minute to make up a profile of who we
wanted to be in the game and to state our case to say why we were important enough to survive. It
was very comforting seeing everybody’s primitive instinct kicking in just before we all went off to sleep
in the same room. In the end, those who were unfortunate enough to not score a seat on the life raft
were: Moe Szyslak, Grandpa Simpson, Barack Obama, and a New Zealand Politician. This shows how
many of us watch the Simpsons but also our well thought out sense of logic, reason and creativity. We
believe these are the skills necessary to lead such a fantastic school into a fantastic year.
We couldn’t bond any more than when we all slept on the school Marae for two nights. There were
many laughs, and little sleep. A main highlight, though, was the high ropes course. We spent the day at
Unitec and had an awesome time supporting each other while challenging ourselves. It was the first
year Ms Kilian was put out of a job. In the past she would always have to give a pep talk to those who
were afraid of heights, but to her surprise our team had it sorted. Leadership camp was a great way to
start the year. We would like to take the time to say thanks to all the teachers and staff involved for
making it possible and, of course, Ms Kilian for putting up with us for 3 days. It was a great way to start
our last year at school, and we hope you will hear much of us throughout 2012.

Cultural News
By Rubie Sipley
The Pacifica barbeque was held on the 22 nd of February and had a great turn out. It was a fantastic
way to introduce the new PI students and parents to the staff and the Pacifica community at Western
Springs College. The event also established the key roles that teachers and staff have and provided an
opportunity for us to explain what these teachers have to offer our new students starting. Current
Pacifica students at Western Springs spoke about their experiences of school so far.
The PI homework Centre has yet again been a great success, filling the library with Pacifica students
every Monday afternoon till 4:30pm. Teachers help students to manage their school work and also
allows us access to library computers and resources. It is a great way to start the week.
Travel Wise
By MC Holdaway
The Western Springs Travel Wise campaign went off with a bang, starting the school year with the first
of several planned vehicle free days for students on Friday 17 th of February. It was incredibly well
received by everyone who participated enthusiastically and as such provided us with our first
opportunity to gain positive publicity for the new WSC travel goals for the 2012 school year.
The Travel Wise team is currently in the process of discussing council plans for the installation of a new
pedestrian crossing and light facility at the intersection of Motions Rd and Great North Rd. The new
traffic light controlled intersection would make student access to the bus stops at this intersection
before and after school much easier and safer for all. Combined in this plan are measures to reduce
the traffic flow around the entrance to the school making the school environment safer for students.
This is a huge achievement for all involved in this area of the school as it has taken many hours of
persistent discussion with the Auckland Council to get the planning for this underway.
Lastly, the new Travel Wise panel and the very supportive team in the wider Western Springs
community are looking forward to seeing what we can achieve this year and appreciate all the support
from friends and families of the school in achieving change toward safe and sustainable transport in
and around the Western Springs College school environment.
English News
Year Nine
Hopefully your son or daughter has shared his or her asTTle Individual Learning Pathway with you. If
not, please feel free to request a copy from me (email fergusons@wsc.school.nz). Please ensure you
include your child’s core class: 9AA, 9AE (and so on).
Year Ten
We have finalised a trip for the entire Year Ten cohort to the film version of The Hunger Games on
Friday 23 March. Your son or daughter should have brought home a letter and permission slip by now.
Please ensure s/he makes prompt payment at the office and returns the slip to his or her English
teacher. The deadline for payment (barring exceptional circumstances) is Monday 12 March.
Race Unity Speech Awards
The Race Unity Speech Awards will get underway in late March. This competition is open to students
in Years 11, 12 and 13. First prize is sharing $1500 between the student and the

school. Candidates will speak for 7-8 minutes on the topic “A Fair Go for All: Rite Tahi Tatou Katoa”.
Speeches can be delivered in either English or Maori.
We have already had a number of students express interest. If your son or daughter is a confident
speaker or debater, please encourage him or her to participate. The deadline for registering is Monday
12 March.
Upcoming NCEA Assessments
We are moving into assessment season at Levels One, Two and Three in English. Year 11 will have a
reading log and a speech to prepare (the latter delivered in the final week of term). Year 12 have two
logs to submit by term’s end. They will also be completing their first piece for their writing portfolio –
but, as mentioned in the previous newsletter, this can only be done at school. The 13EGL classes will
be working on the research standard between now and the beginning of next term.
The lion’s share of all these assessments –the writing piece aside- must be done at home: rest assured
that your son or daughter has homework in senior English.
Simon Ferguson
The Auckland Secondary Schools Debating competition gets underway this week. We are delighted to
have had so much interest in debating this year, with five teams entering the competition compared
to last year's three.
We have two teams in the Western Zone Junior Open competition (where we welcome many year 9s
who are new to debating), a Premier Junior team (made up of students in year 10 and year 11), a
Western Zone Senior Open team and our successful Advanced Open team from last year (who are
now in year 13). The Premier Junior and Advanced Open teams compete with schools from across
Auckland throughout the competition, while the Western Zone debaters compete to make it through
to Auckland-wide finals.
We hope to improve on our success of last year, where two of our teams reached the highly
competitive final rounds. We look forward to reporting on our progress in the newsletter throughout
the year.
Mathematics News
Belinda Develter
Homework Centre Mondays - 3:20pm till 4:20pm
Maths Homework Centre is on Mondays every week after school. Students who want some extra help
with any topic at any level just need to come along and ask about the topic. There will always be at
least one Maths teacher there to help out. The Homework Centre will be in B8 computer rooms so
student can also choose to work on “Mathsbuddy” during this time.
Students wanting to improve their mathematics achievement should be encouraged to start attending
these sessions as soon as possible rather than waiting till the more hectic periods of the year.
Calculators
We’d like to remind parents that all mathematics students should be bringing a calculator to every
Maths lesson. In the junior school, and some senior classes, students are expected to have a scientific
calculator (such as the Casio fx82 series). These can be purchased at the school office or any stationery
store.

Students in the advanced senior classes are expected to have a Graphic Calculator (the recommended
model is the Casio FX9750 series). These are not stocked at the school office but can be found at many
stationery and electronic stores (retailing for around $130). These calculators can be a great help
improving achievement. They also offer a useful means for investigation concepts in class that might
otherwise be extremely time consuming.
NZQA states that students are not able to use cell phones or similar devices because of their ability to
communicate and store information.
Numeracy
Just to clarify the Numeracy requirements for NCEA. To pass NCEA level 1 (and all subsequent levels)
students must achieve 10 or more numeracy credits. All Mathematics standards are numeracy
standards, so we in the department aim to ensure all students get 10 mathematics credits during the
year. There are some standards in other subject areas which will also count towards numeracy. These
will be indicated on their course outlines.
Jared Hockly Head of Department
Message from the Library
NEW BOOKS
We are eager for students to view our first display for 2012. Our latest collection of new books
includes:
Sons of Destiny – the last in a series……………………………Darren Shan
Blackest Night - the Green Lantern series………………….for the graphic novel fans
Quality of Mercy- Booker prize-winning author………….Barry Unsworth
Linger – the third in a series for you vampire fans……….Maggie Stiefvater
OVERDUE BOOKS
There are many students who have books which were not returned last year. I urgently request
parents and caregivers to assist with the return of these books. An overdue notice was issued this
week and there has been a reminder in the daily notices. Unless returned, students with overdue
books will not be eligible to borrow further books. If you have lost the book please come and talk to a
librarian.
LIBRARY MONITORS
The following students have volunteered to be a Library Monitor this year. The position has proved so
popular that for the first time we have had to place students on a waiting list. We have a great team
and so far most students have been punctual and have been eager to perform their duties. They learn
basic library skills, including issues, returns, shelf checking and assist students with their queries about
library use.
Year 13
Sophia Fairbairn John FAukafa Adele Fruean
Leah Harwood Heather Kelly Amina Mohamed
George Peirce Tara Ranchhod Lily Redgrave
Stephen Robinson Lucy Vete William Wang Ma
Nic Watson
Ella Wheeler
Year 12
Ben Andersen
Caitlin Pearson
Michalea Belesarius Laura Hangartner
Year 11
Joseph Monk Tyler Preece Sam Scott
Reuben Simeon
Rawiri Witehera
Sharda Patel

To All Pacific Families
A big thank you for the wonderful turn out at the PI BBQ! Some amazing students and highly
supportive families –FA’AFETAI LAVA.
A large number of WSC Staff were at this gathering and we are lucky and blessed to have such
supportive and caring staff members: your children are in good hands!
Thank you to Ken Havill and the team.
A reminder of the Pacific Parents meeting in Week 8, Wed, 21 st March, 6-8 at Waiora.
We would really like you all to make the effort to attend these meetings to update you all on what is
happening to your child’s education here at Springs. There are a number of support systems you may
wish your child to connect with in order to enhance their learning.
PI HOMEWORK CENTRE – We had 34 students this week and 28 last week. The homework centre is
off to a fantastic start. Please encourage your child to attend this very important session every
Monday at 3.30 - 4.30 in the Library. There are other homework centres operating during the week so
send your children our way.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me or the other Pacific staff if you have any concerns or queries.
FAAFETAI LAVA,
TUPE TAI tait@wsc.school.nz
Year 12 Learning Community
Last week I visited classes and spoke to students about attendance, developing resilience and the need
to think about the next step in their academic/career planning.
1. Attendance
There is a direct correlation between good attendance and achievement.
2. Developing Resilience
Just missing an excellence grade, failing an exam or experiencing family/relationship or health
problems, include a variable scale of misfortunes from disappointment to loss.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from these set backs. Resilience is about feeling stronger,
having a sense of personal identity and feeling that you can transform, improve or cope with events
which are having a negative effect on your life.
How can we improve our resilience
Ever been told to toughen up What does that mean Here are some ways....
a. By finding more about their culture and heritage students can develop a more enduring
sense of self.
b. Gaining qualifications adds to resilience and career capability. For example, most
students will feel more empowered and capable after achieving level 2 NCEA with
Excellence or Merit. Likewise, the accomplishment of earning a diploma or degree, like
cultural identity, cannot be taken away from a person. Even the ability to improve a ‘not
yet achieved’ grade by resubmission or reassessment can give a student self belief to
overcome future academic hurdles too.
c. Experience and involvement in extracurricular activities also help students find their

unique preferences. Work experience, including responsibilities around the house, help
develop career capabilities and resilience.
3. NCEA Course Endorsement
Course endorsement with Merit or Excellence recognises a student’s exceptional performance in
individual courses. Students who may not be able to achieve Level 2 NCEA with Merit or Excellence
(for the whole certificate) can aim for course endorsement in one or more subjects. Course
endorsement can motivate students to achieve their potential.
Students will gain an endorsement for a course where they achieve:
a. 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence.
b. At least 3 credits from externally assessed standards and 3 credits from internally assessed
standards
c. Sufficient credits in one single school year. Unlike NCEA credits, course endorsement credits
must be gained in one year.
Note:
Physical Education and level 3 Visual Arts will be exempt from (2) above.
**Students will soon be able to login to the NZQA website (www.nzqa.govt.nz) to monitor their
eligibility and progress towards course endorsement in subjects. A logged in student can soon find a 5
minute video about a student called “Andrea” to see how this works. (will be available soon... NZQA
has informed us). Check out http://goo.gl/d5ms5
Kay Wallace
Year 12 Academic Director and Careers Teacher
Career Happenings
17-18 th March Military Weekend at Motat
Navy Adventure Challenge
Year 13 Careers Interviews
It is helpful for students to have completed the Career Quest on the Careers website
www.careers.govt.nz. Go to Interactive tools and you can see the Career Quest survey which makes
suggestions based on personal likes and dislikes. It offers job suggestions which can be clicked on,
investigated and considered as well as personal values and family circumstances. If students have
registered and saved the results of the survey, this can be a good starting point. We endeavour to
interview every Year 13 student.
Year 12 Work Choice Day Tuesday 15 th May
Workchoice Day is held annually and on a national basis, offering a link between New Zealand's future
workforce and employers enabling students to gather knowledge first hand and share experiences of
people employed in their field of interest.
Workchoice Day is an opportunity to show our youth that New Zealand has a lot to offer and that this
is where we want them to be educated and to stay and help create longer betterment of the country
as a whole. We believe that it takes a village to educate a child and with a little help from your
company a student can go a long way.

Sports - Rugby
With the first round of the rugby season due to commence in ten weeks, enthusiasm levels
are very high with over 75 students already registering their intent to play rugby for the college.
Over the coming weeks we have a rugby muster – Wednesday, March 21 at 3.30pm.
There will be an official weigh-in of all rugby players during week 6 & 7 – lunchtimes from March 8
until March 13.
There will be a rugby coaches and managers meeting at 7pm on Tuesday, March 13 inside the
Sports Centre. We are possibly in need of one or two assistant coaches and managers. If interested,
please contact me on mobile – (027) 4861681 or e-mail sports@wsc.school.nz . Our winter
programme will be discussed and finalised.
Meanwhile, all students should be in pre-season training mode. The College 1 st XV coach, Semisi
Tuigamala, is training all students interested in getting fit and wishing to play rugby for the college,
6pm each Sunday night at Coxs Bay Reserve. Peter McIntyre will also arrange a fitness schedule
at 6pm each Sunday night at Coxs Bay Reserve. Peter McIntyre will also arrange a fitness schedule
once he is back from Australia next week.
Art Department News
It was a sad beginning to the year without our dedicated colleague and friend Nici Green. Nici revived
Art History in 2010 with a fully subscribed Level 3 class and followed this up in 2011 with a new Level 2
intake. This was a first for WSC. Under Nici Art History was on the move again. We loved her presence
in the Dept. The contribution she made to expanding the study of Art for our students was immense.
At our first Dept meeting of the year, Lily, Tori, Kirsty and myself reflected on her expertise,
knowledge, strength and the amazing capacity she had to switch students on to learning. Like us, they
had great respect, admiration and love for her. We miss her dearly.
Once again the Dept had some wonderful results in NCEA last year.
Highlights included:
Level 2 Design, Painting and Photography: 57% of students who submitted for the 12 credit externally
assessed folio gained Excellence grades with 85% being awarded either Merit or Excellence.
Level 3 Design, Painting and Photography: 40% of students who submitted folios for the 14 credit
externally marked folio gained Excellence against the decile 8 average of 21%.
Tim Webby was awarded Top Scholar in NZ for Scholarship Photography. This is the second year in a
row that Photography has been awarded this prestigious prize; an amazing achievement and certainly
a first for the Dept. Congratulations to Tim for producing such a sophisticated, intelligently conceived
and sensitively constructed submission.

Tim Webby’s Submission
4 Scholarships were awarded in Design with Hugo Christian-Slane gaining an Outstanding award
and ranked 4 th in NZ. Hugo’s achievement was all the more meritorious as he did this as a year 12
student. Others to gain scholarships were Sally Bollinger, Tom Shore and Hiroto Takaoka. All four
students produced original and beautifully executed illustration-based submissions covering a range of
genres.
Hugo Christian-Slane’s Design Folio
Dyslexia Parents’ Support Group
The first meeting of the Dyslexia Parent Support Group for 2012 is on Monday 5 March 2012, 7:30
pm, at 25 Jesmond Tce, Mt Albert.
We hope you are able to come along and contribute to discussions, especially about the start of the new
school year.

Mad Inventors Club
Anyone interested in joining this club should go to F4 at lunchtime on Tuesday 13 th March for a meeting.
PAG
Don't forget, our first fundraiser movie for 2012 - the thriller Headhunters - is this Monday (March 5 at the
Bridgeway). And there are still tickets left. Support the school (we raise more than $1000 from each movie
night) - and have a great evening as you do it, starting with a glass of free wine or juice at 7.45pm, then the
movie at 8pm. Get your tickets from Wendy - wendyrhodes@clear.net.nz - mobile 021 478 331, or just reply to
this email.
Important Notice
Child HOP Card Holders must renew the concession on their HOP card by 31 st March 2012.
Note: If your HOP card is not renewed by 31 st March 2012 the card will automatically revert to an adult
fare.
Renew your concession on line at www.MYHOP.CO.NZ
See www.MYHOP.CO.NZ for more details.
Western Springs College
MOTIONS RD • WESTERN SPRINGS • AUCKLAND PHONE (09) 815 6730 • FAX (09) 815 6740
email: admin@westernsprings.school.nz