Letter from the Principal Upcoming Events Friends of Parnell College

28 th January 2011 • Issue 1
Letter from the Principal
Assembly on Tutor Day 2011
A Very Happy New Year to all the families involved with
the College and we look forward to an interesting and
lively year. We welcome a few new teachers to the
campus and give details of these staff members in this
newsletter. I hope students and their families in Years
0 to 10 will join us for the Annual Picnic on the Domain
on 1 st February (details attached). This event is a great
start to the year giving parents, students and staff
members a chance to meet on an informal basis.
I would like to congratulate all our students who took the
CIE external examinations last year. Overall their exam
results have been outstanding, with our students
achieving A* in 23% of IGCSE papers sat and a further
20% achieving an A Grade, 29% achieved an A grade
at AS level and 8% of A2 papers sat achieved A* with a
further 15% achieving an A Grade. Special
congratulations go to Wyoming Paul awarded Top of the
World in IGCSE History, Wei Wu Top of the World in
IGCSE Mathematics (having taken the exam in Year
10), Oliver Brown Top in NZ in AS Physical Education,
David Lawson Top in NZ in AS Computing and
Sharanya Sankaran Top in NZ for AS Economics. In
addition, Oliver Brown has been given a special award
for achieving the second best marks across four AS
levels. I thank the staff at the College for their
dedication and hard work with their students for
achieving these great results.
With best wishes for an excellent Term ahead,
Upcoming Events
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1 st February (rain date 3 rd February)
Picnic on the Domain
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23 rd February
Information Evening for Senior Students
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5 th March
Open Day 10.30am to 2.30pm
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7 th March
Athletics Day
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17 th and 22 nd March
Parent/Teacher Interviews
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1 st April
Social Years 7 to 10
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7 th April
Mufti Day
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12 th , 13 th and 14 th April 7.00pm
“Seussical”
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15 th April
End of Term 1
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2 nd May
Term II begins
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Friends of Parnell College
‘Friends’ is a voluntary group of parents/guardians of
students at the College. Information about the group is
attached to this newsletter.
All parents are encouraged to join the Friends group
and participate in the meetings each term. To add your
name to the list of supporters, please contact the
Friends’ co-ordinator, Mrs Yvonne McLean, at
acgpcfriends@hotmail.co.nz.
In 2011 the meetings will be held at 6.30pm in the
Student Information Centre at 2 Titoki Street on 15 th
February, 10 th May, 9 th August and 1 st November.
Larne Edmeades
Principal

Future Events
Family Picnic
Students in Years 1 to 10 and their families are invited
to join us for the Annual Picnic on the Auckland Domain
(beside the Band Rotunda) on Tuesday 1 st February at
6.00pm. Should it be wet, it will take place on Thursday
3 rd February.
School Show 2011: “Seussical the Musical”
An enjoyable feature of term 1 is our annual musical
show. After reviewing various scripts over the holidays
it has been decided to perform ‘Seussical the Musical’
at the end of the term. Jason Te Mete will direct the
show again this year and all students in Years 7 to 13
are welcome to audition. Those of you involved in ‘The
Little Shop of Horrors’ last year will remember Jason’s
infectious enthusiasm, engaging creativity and, above
all, his ability to ensure everyone has a lot of fun! The
show is always a great opportunity for students to get to
know each other and work together to great effect.
Auditions will be held at the College on 6 th February –
full details will be out shortly.
Student Achievements
Mak Playing Baseball for NZ
Many congratulations to Mak Rolfe (11MAS) selected to
play for New Zealand in the Under 16 AA National
Baseball Team against Australia and Guam this week.
Faolan Skiing for NZ in Andorra, Spain
And further congratulations to Faolan Gavigan (9ELL)
who is representing his age group for NZ in the
international event in Andorra.
Jamie Webb-Speight in Costa Rica
Jamie (12ALL) has spent the summer on an AFS
exchange to Costa Rica. She lived with a couple in a
small town outside San José and just loved every
moment. She made the most of the experience and has
come home fluent in Spanish. AFS provided an
intensive language course for three weeks when she
first arrived. She spent the rest of the time with her
hosts who hardly spoke any English at all, nor did the
local people. Having learnt Spanish here since Year 7,
she says the Spanish she had learnt suddenly fell into
place when she was amongst native speakers and
made communication all the easier.
General Information
Staff 2011
A full staff list is included in the Handbook for Parents
and Students handed out on achievement conference
day. The following staff members are new to the
College this year:
‘Seussical’ opened on Broadway in November 2000.
Since then it has received a number of top awards and
has entertained audiences of all ages. Jason is looking
forward to transforming our ‘theatre’ (aka the
gymnasium) into Dr Seuss’s fantasy land. He is
confident our students, of so many talents, will portray
the characters with their boundless energy and there is
plenty of scope to stage the show with our own fresh
creativity.
Don’t forget to come and audition on 6 th February and
be part of the team! See/email Mrs Andreassen for
more details (susan.andreassen@acgedu.com).
Kelly Bain BA, BTchg
Taught Drama and English at Bethlehem College in
Tauranga before moving to England in 2006. Taught
Drama at Downe House, an independent school in
Berkshire, until 2009. Returned to NZ and taught
Drama at Mahurangi College, Warkworth, in 2010. As
well as performing in drama productions, she is a keen
snowboarder and photographer.
Brooke Bowden BEd
She has just completed her BEd at Auckland last year.
During practicums, she has taught at Marina View
Primary, Massey Primary and Glenfield Intermediate.
Lancy Chua BA, Dip. Tchg
Since 1997 she has taught ESOL at Sacred Heart and
ESOL and English at One Tree Hill College. Her
interests include Music, Dancing, Swimming and
Tennis.

Adelaida Dimitrova MSc, Dip. Tchg
She has lectured at universities in Bulgaria and
Mozambique, and taught in Mozambique until 1998,
including helping to set up a private school in Maputo.
She has taught Maths at Avondale College since 2003.
Nathan Garton BA, Dip. Tchg
Work experience includes tutoring English at Straight
A’s Ltd and Whakapiki Ake Assistant Project Manager
at Auckland University.
Prefects 2011
We are pleased to announce this year’s team of
prefects:
Beatrice Leathem
Marija Salic
Head Prefects
Deputy Head Prefects
Oliver Brown
Andrew Thushyanthan
Lyn Henderson BA, Dip. Tchg
She has taught Maths at Avondale College since 1998
where she has been a Senior Manager since 2001; she
was awarded a travel scholarship, and she has coached
soccer and softball.
Daniel Lees MCom, Dip. Tchg
He has been a researcher at Maxim Institute since
2006. He has lectured at colleges in Auckland. He
enjoys marathon and trail running, ocean swimming,
hockey and soccer.
Keith Masemann BSc, Dip. Tchg
He has worked in Brunei as Education Officer with
Ministry of Education there. He taught at Onewhero
Area School and was acting Assistant Principal.
Interests include astronomy, gardening, guitar and ICT.
Emily Bolam
Louisa Beatty
Anisa Liang
Gabriella Ivanov
Catherine Hulst
Sivani Surendran
Rosie Harris
Nastassia Subritsky
Molly Clark
Katherine Chung
Gabriella Templer
Danielle Rana
Megan Graddon
Kate Farmer
Kate van der Zeyden
Jemima Kean
Prefects
David Lawson
Ayush Srinet
Robert Veale
Shubham Garg
Hayden Razzell
Joshua Chevin
Connor Jones
James Cronin
Perry Wilton
Dino Bohinc
Ben Roe
Ana Pascual BA, Dip. Tchg
Recently arrived from London, she has 15 years’
teaching experience. A graduate from University of
Salamanca, Spain, she has taught Spanish in London
schools since 1995.
Gillian Williams, BA (Hons), PGCE
Also recently arrived from England, she has taught Art
since 2006. Her interests include painting, glass
making, swimming and cooking.
Support Staff
For those of you new to the College this year, the
following people are members of the support staff:
Sports Information
If any parents/ caregivers / students would like to help
with sports teams, either as managers or as coaches,
please contact Mrs Gillian Magerkorth (308 1654,
Gillian.magerkorth@acgedu.com).
The following teams need to be entered: Cricket,
Tennis, Table Tennis, Yr 9 – 13 Water Polo, Yr 11 – 13
Touch Rugby and Yr 11 – 13 Volleyball, so please sign
up for these sports on the Sports Notice board as soon
as possible, or contact Mrs Magerkorth.
Sports results from the end of 2010:
Years 7 to 8 Water Polo team came 1 st in their division
at the North Island Water polo Tournament, and the
Year 9 and 10 Water Polo team won their division in the
Auckland Secondary School competitions.
Many congratulations to these teams, and very well
done to their coaches, senior students Charlotte Jones,
Connor Jones and Jessie McNoe
From the left: Mrs Robyn Wood, Mrs Helen Johansen,
Mrs Flora Hsu who are in the office at reception, Mrs
Catherine Hitchcock who is in the Student Information
Centre and Mrs Sue Andreassen who is on level 1 next
to Mr Edmeade’s office.