CONFORTARE July 2013 www.sacredheart.school.nz Cathedral Mass – Br Leonard House – Star Gala Dinner – a spectacular event Heart of the College a stellar evening Confortare July 2013 | 1 Greetings to Marist Contents Brothers, parents, students, Academic News 3 Old Boys and friends of Special Character 4 the College. SHC Community 5 College Sport 6 e have experienced a very busy, event-filled and successful first half Performing Arts 9 of the 2013 academic year. Just International News 10 recently, students and staff have beenW involved in the various aspects of our mid-year In Profile 11 examinations. Staff members have marked papers, Development Foundation 12 written reports and the Deans and I have been In Memoriam 14 carefully checking the academic performances and Old Boys News 15 progress of all our scholars in Years 7 to 13. I am delighted to report that the performance of the vast majority of students is strong. One of the most improved aspects I have personally noted is the significant improvement in attendance at school each and every day. There is a positive direct correlation between attendance and academic success. I now ask you to carefully check your son’s report and to ensure that all is in order for further progress this year and in the academic years which lie ahead. There has been a rich variety of successful events, this year; however, none would have eclipsed our whole-school Mass in late May at St Patrick’s Cathedral. What a special day! Such rare occasions of having the entire school together are simply memorable. Bringing together all of the Sacred Heart College community and family witnessed by our resident Marist Brothers and Old Boy Priests was a magical occasion. Our new state-of-the-art Auditorium is nearing completion. The formal opening is scheduled On the cover for September. What an impressive building it is but, more than mere bricks and mortar, the Auditorium will unite the school from the youngest boy to our Seniors. We will be able Mass celebrated at St Patrick’s to celebrate the talents and successes of all our students as one school. The influence and Cathedral on 31 May. example of the Seniors on our younger students cannot be overstated. These are exciting times at our College and we are not yet finished in our quest for excellence in our young Marist men. Onwards and Upwards Thank you to our advertisers. Please support: ■ Mr JA Dale, Principal APS Ltd Fuji Xerox Initial Hygiene Jasmax Pompallier Shield Robert Burnes & Associates Auckland Diocese, from De la Salle Spacific College and McAuley High School Editorial and advertising enquiries in South Auckland to Pompallier Angela Little College in Whangarei. The sections 027 487 5048 include Senior Oratory and Junior [email protected] Oratory, which both required Database changes participants to deliver speeches on Lyn Luxton Pope Francis’ message of humble [email protected] service, and Senior and Junior 09 529 3743 Daniel Mahoney, Hayden Rayen, George Witana Scripture reading which required and Ben Gatting participants to read one of four pre- Designer prepared readings followed by an Spacific n Thursday 30 May, Ben unseen reading; they were given one minute Published by Gatting, Hayden Rayen, George to look over these readings. All the students Sacred Heart College Witana and I competed represented the College with pride, resulting 250 West Tamaki Road in the Auckland Catholic in two first-place positions and one second- OSchools Public Speaking Competition, for place position. The combined effort proved Glendowie, Auckland 1071 Ph 09 529 3660 the coveted Pompallier Shield. The Shield is enough to secure Sacred Heart College the Fax 09 529 3661 contested over four sections between the shield for the fifth straight year. www.sacredheart.school.nz 16 Colleges which span the length of the ■ Daniel Mahoney, 13NF 2 | Confortare July 2013 ■ AcademicNEWS New language at Sacred Heart Teaching of the Chinese language was introduced for the first time at Sacred Heart College in 2012 for students in Year 8 and 9. Since 2012, the subject has grown steadily and there will be a number of students starting the Chinese NCEA Level 1 course in 2014. Students enjoying a Chinese meal or many, learning about the Chinese culture and language is It is exciting for the students to be able to utilise the language an eye-opening experience. They learn to appreciate other they have learnt in class and use it in context. In Term 2, the Year cultures and, by learning about other cultures, they have a 10 Chinese class had the opportunity of going to a local Chinese Fdeeper understanding of their own. restaurant to experience ordering food and saying grace in Chinese. Chinese is spoken by over 1 billion people around the world: about Some Year 9 and 10 boys completed a worldwide language one-fifth of the global population. Many boys choose Chinese as one competition called Language Perfect. Sacred Heart boys achieved of their subjects because they see value in learning this fast-growing outstanding results, with, Heinrich Metzler, Ric Jacobe and Liam Smyth language. They find speaking Chinese to be a real advantage as they receiving Credit awards. will be able to benefit from new opportunities linked to the growing 2014 will be an exciting year, with many innovative teaching ideas trade in many Asian countries. Some students in Year 10 have already and resources being implemented within the course to make it even expressed an interest in going overseas to Chinese-speaking countries more engaging for boys. after they graduate, so they understand the importance of being able ■ Miss Leah Lee, Teacher-in-Charge to communicate in Chinese. Mathematics Staffed by 10 teachers and located in Kalaugher Block, the Mathematics department of 2013 caters for 980 students from Years 9 to 13 and two classes from Year 7 and 8. t the beginning of the year, we welcomed two new Our Junior programmes include the use of Mathletics, an online staff members: Miss Rachel Vaughan, a New Zealander learning programme, and we continue to review resources and returning from her OE, and Mr Allan Johnston, from the look at ways to incorporate new technology which will enhance the UK, both of whom are experienced senior Mathematics teaching and learning of Mathematics. We are currently developing Ateachers. In Term 2, Rachel was appointed to the position of Assistant and investigating resources which make use of technology in Head of Department Mathematics and Allan to a lead-teacher role Mathematics so that we can successfully integrate them into our in Technology and Senior Mathematics and we look forward to their teaching programmes at Year 9 in 2014. contributions to the leadership of the department. We are looking forward to Maths Week which begins on 12 August. Expectations in Senior classrooms are high and assessment results Our annual Inter-house Mathex competition will take place, selected reflect this. External examination results from 2012 were very Junior students will sit the ICAS competition and the Problem Solving pleasing with students in all courses performing at least as well Challenge, and students at all levels will be invited to answer daily as those of other Decile 8 to 10 boys’ schools and, in most cases, questions for prizes. The following week, two teams from each of significantly better. Maˉori and Pasifika students also tend to perform Years 7 to 10 will take part in the Auckland Mathex competition. In far better than those in other similar schools. The department makes 2012, Lenihan and Basil were victorious in the Inter-house quiz and every effort to cater to all abilities, offering a clinic once a week will defend their titles on Monday 12 August. for extra assistance as well as lunchtime and after-school extension ■ Mrs Mary Graham, Joint Head of Department classes. Confortare July 2013 | 3 ■ SpecialCHARACTER Cathedral Mass Following the readings by George Witana and Daniel Mahoney, the Gospel was enthroned accompanied by Francis Selui who sang Virgin Tutto Amor. The gospel was then read by Fr Ivan Lunjevich. Celebrating also the feast day of St Marcellin Champagnat, Monsignor Kiely reminded us that not only was our founder here in spirit but a small fragment of his bone and one of St Peter Chanel were housed within the altar. We were indeed standing on holy ground. The prayers of the community were spoken in the native tongues of eight different students across all year levels representing the ever- Monsignor Kevin Hackett and Father Tony Dunn giving Communion present multicultural facet of the College. The preparation of the gifts asked us to remember those in n 31 May, the whole of Sacred Heart College was need of our prayers in the Sacred Heart community at this time. transported to St Patrick’s Cathedral. Visiting the Mother Church of our Diocese has become a spectacular Following Communion, bookmarks acknowledging our Pillars for the biannual event with 2013 celebrating both the feast of year, ‘Loyalty and Pride’ and ‘Family Spirit’, were blessed by Monsignor Othe visitation and the upcoming feast day of our founder St Marcellin Kiely. After an address by Principal Jim Dale, students in Year 7 and 8 Champagnat on 6 June. The Mass was celebrated wonderfully by gave gifts to the clergy to acknowledge how much we valued their Monsignor Bernard KIELY (’78). Also in attendance were 12 other presence. priests concelebrating as Old Boys of the College along with others It was a memorable event in the year’s calendar, one which all present who have close ties to the school and its Marist tradition, and invited will remember for a very long time.