8/20/2021 Glendowie College Mail - Glendowie College Alumni Newsletter - July 2021
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Glendowie College Alumni Newsletter - July 2021 1 message
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JULY 2021
The Principal's Desk
Kia ora tātou
Term 2 has quickly flown by and winter sport is underway with 48 teams across 30 different codes. It is great to watch the students participate in and enjoy the competition.
A highlight this term was the school production Bye, Bye, Birdie. This was a fabulous show, full of energy and fun. The students did themselves proud. Bye Bye Birdie was a great showcase for our talented Glendowie College students. They collaborated well and built their communication skills, confidence and self esteem. It is something those involved will remember way beyond school.
After an absence of probably close to 20 years, we had a Cultural Celebration Night, with performances from a range of Pasifika, Asian and European cultures. It made me reminisce of the huge cultural evenings organised by Miss Bell (Jeanette) in the 1990s. Thank you to the wider school community who provided support for rehearsals, costumes and on the night.
The new Science Block (Dykes Building) was officially opened by Education Minister Chris Hipkins on 28 May. Among the special guests were Richard Dykes, the former principal whom the building is named after, and his mother Joan Dykes. Some of you may remember Joan as head of music and then a senior leader in the college in the 1980s and 1990s. It was good to catch up with Joan again at the opening. We are planning to hold the college's 60th reunion in the Dykes Building early next year so you will get the opportunity to see how much building design for teaching and learning has advanced since you were at school. The building is special for another reason. After many years of anticipation, Sommerville students are now part of the college. Glendowie College is very much a community school and for years youngsters from this community weren't able to attend the local college because the specialist resources were not available. Sommerville School, being in the heart of the campus, has widened the experiences and understanding of students from both schools. We are delighted with the involvement taking place between the students of both schools and enjoy Sommerville students attending Glendowie classes to expand their learning experiences. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=b0fcead2ef&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1708574448320333474%7Cmsg-f%3A17085744483… 1/7 8/20/2021 Glendowie College Mail - Glendowie College Alumni Newsletter - July 2021 There has been some discussion of changing out- of-zone priorities for students. This may impact you and your families if you live out of zone and want your children to come to Glendowie College. The current order of priority for out-of-zone students is:
1. Students accepted into a special programme (not applicable to Glendowie College) 2. Siblings of current students 3. Siblings of former students 4. Children of former students 5. Children of board employees and board members 6. All other students
A Taskforce review in 2019 found the current priority group order heavily influenced the chances of an out-of- zone student being offered a place at a school. For some students there were barriers for accessing education. The categories should be “transparent, fair and equitable.” As such the Ministry is seeking feedback on three options for prioritising out-of-zone students. The first option is to retain the status quo. The second option is to increase the priority of children of board employees and board members to priority three, lower the priority of siblings of former students, and remove the children of former students as a priority group. The third option is to retain current priority groups one and two, increase the priority of children of board members and employees to priority three, and hold an open ballot for all other applicants. This means that if the second and third options become the requirements, any children of out-of-zone Alumni would not be a priority group and would be considered with all other out-of-zone applicants with no connection to the college. This obviously decreases the chance of those students being able to come to the college. Schools such as Auckland Grammar School are strongly advocating against such a change.
I trust you are all well and happy and look forward to catching up in the future.
Ngā mihi nui Gordon Robertson
EVENTS COMING UP...
March 19-20, 2022, Glendowie College 60th Anniversary for ALL alumni
Alumni News
60th Anniversary tickets on sale for 2022. Bookings now open: See more detail and buy tickets here
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GDC Alumna named in 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours Big congratulations to one of our earliest students, Mrs Beverley Celia Watson (nee Bev Milne), who was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to race relations and youth, in the Queen's Birthday Honours list announced recently. Bev has made a significant contribution to promoting positive race relations in New Zealand since the 1990s and extended that to the youth of New Zealand through her work designing, implementing and sustaining a national annual speech competition on the importance of race unity. She has been director of Race Unity Speech Awards and Hui since 2001 and the competition now extends to hundreds of secondary schools nationally. Bev was a member of the executive of the National Council of Women from 1997 to 2015 and was a member of the national executive during the same period for the United Nations Association New Zealand. She was instrumental in establishing the Human Rights Network and was its co- founder and first secretary in the late 1990s. As a member of this network she became involved in a range of human rights issues and, through action with partners in the network, has been able to raise awareness of a broad range of issues, including the religious persecution the Baha’i community. Bev has advocated for families of Iranian diaspora and members of the Baha’i minority religion in Iran, leading delegations to ministers and liaising with the NGO sector. She also helped draft the first National Statement on Religious Diversity in 2007.
Science Block Opening A small cohort of Alumni from a range of eras accepted an invitation to attend the opening of the new science block and Sommerville school (Dykes Building, named after former principal Richard Dykes). It was great to https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=b0fcead2ef&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1708574448320333474%7Cmsg-f%3A17085744483… 3/7 8/20/2021 Glendowie College Mail - Glendowie College Alumni Newsletter - July 2021 have them there for this momentous occasion. The building is designed by award-winning architects Jasmax, and is the most significant building project at the school in more than a decade. The large, modern classrooms allow for more collaborative learning and the central atrium creates an uplifting and flexible environment. From left: Cherry Yang, Jennifer Roshan (nee Chou), Rob Matthews, Diane Wilson (nee Howlett) and Lorna English (nee White, with husband Brian English)
New Release From Gary Daverne Former GDC teacher and world reknowned musician, conductor and composer Gary Daverne has just released a new album of original brass band compositions, performed by Woolston Brass, called The Silver Fern. Gary who taught at Glendowie in the 60s and 70s has had a long career in music across a range of genres. He is also an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music. Growing up in the rock n roll era, he began with playing the euphonium, but picked up a number of instruments including the clarinet. He has played in bands, written rock operas as well as composed a lot of music for schools. Gary is the recipient of a Benny Award, was previously an Auckland Symphony Orchestra musical director, and has been invited to conduct many international orchestras. The new album can be found here.
Crossing The Stage Congratulations to all GDC Alumni who graduated from one of New Zealand's tertiary institutes recently. We commend you on all your hard work and persistence in completing your qualification in a time of uncertainty, and wish you all the very best for your future career. Victoria University of Wellington has sent through its list of graduates from the May ceremonies, which included Clark Samuel (Law and Arts), class of 2015, and Sophia Reid (Masters of Teaching & Learning, Primary), class of 2016, pictured right. You can see the full list of 2021 Victoria graduates here (scroll to the end of the page).
A Sad Farewell Alumni mourned the passing of Warren Riwai in recent months, a much-loved teacher from the college's early days. Many attended his funeral in Taupo and many more sent messages of consolences to his wife Meg. Meg has been in touch with the school and asked that her thanks be passed on to any former students and staff who got in touch - she was very comforted by the kind words of compassion and support. Warren's death notice can be viewed here. It is still possible to leave a message of condolence or a memory on the page.
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Term 2 School Highlights
ARTS An impressive array of performing arts talent was on show at the college recently, featuring in both the school musical production Bye Bye Birdie and Cultural Celebration Night. Both traditions returned after prolonged absences; it was the first school musical since 2017 after Hairspray had to be cancelled due to lockdowns last year; and it was the first cultural night for almost 20 years. Both were met with huge enthusiasm and sell-out audiences. Everyone is looking forward to next year's productions! Pictorial, an exhibition of junior art, design, painting and photography, filled the hall on Monday and Tuesday in the last week of term.
ACADEMICS The school's two top 2020 national scholars received their prestigious awards at Parliament recently accompanied by teacher Dr Thais Nafissi. Irene Xue collected her premiere award ( she was one of the top 10 Year 13 scholars in New Zealand for 2020) and May Gan received her award for being the top biology scholar
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1?ik=b0fcead2ef&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1708574448320333474%7Cmsg-f%3A17085744483… 5/7 8/20/2021 Glendowie College Mail - Glendowie College Alumni Newsletter - July 2021 in New Zealand last year. The girls, who were last year's joint Dux, were presented their awards by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
SPORTS Water sports featured large in the college highlights this term. The GDC Sailing team competed in the Secondary School's 420 Team Sailing Nationals at Algies Bay and came 5th out of 25 teams in the Gold Fleet. The team then competed in the Harken Secondary Schools Fleet Racing Nationals in Elliot 7 Keel boats and surprised themselves by coming third out of 18, again in the Gold Fleet! At the regional junior and senior underwater hockey tournament both boys' teams gained a silver medal, while both the girls' team placed fourth. All teams have qualified for nationals in Wellington later this year. And, finally, year 9 student Sophie Barry excelled at the Auckland Individual Swimming Championships, winning gold medals in both the 100m and 200m butterfly finals.
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