text:
September 2014
Russell McVeagh received nearly 300 applications from around the country and awarded 11 School Leavers Scholarships this year with two of them going to Otago students (both with Columba connections Ashleigh Neill has attended Columba College for all of her education to date and Tom Sycamore, John McGlashan College, received his primary school education in our Junior School).
PricewaterhouseCoopers received a record 240 applications from 100 schools and awarded 23 Scholarships with Jamie Wood being the only Otago recipient.
Warmest congratulations to Ashleigh and Jamie on winning these two very prestigious Scholarships.
The Columba College Robotics Club had a very successful year, with a final highlight being the 2014 National RoboCup Competition held on the 13th September in Dunedin. The girls worked hard to prepare for the Nationals, perfecting their robots after the Otago regional competition. Columba College had five teams entered into the RoboCup Nationals and earned three national places, which was the best performance by the School at the national level.
In the Senior Search and Rescue category, Ketaki Bagal and Corrie Anderson earned Silver with an amazing round on the challenging grid lock tile, which is normally reserved for the Premier Rescue category. In the Senior Theatre category, Kazuki Shitara, Teigan Tarapi and Ellen Waite earned Bronze for their excellent Wizard of Oz performance. Finally, Ryely Burtenshaw-Day, Ailsa Carroll and Annabelle Ritchie earned Bronze in the Senior Soccer category after some exciting matches.
Maia Robertson, a Year 6 Columba College pupil, also earned a Bronze placing at the Nationals in the Junior Soccer category. Maia is part of the University of Otago Robotics Club.
On behalf of all the pupils who participated in the Robotics Club this year, I would like to thank Sandy Garner in particular. Sandy works tirelessly for robotics, in addition to teaching Computer Science at the University of Otago. Sandy has been in charge of the both the Otago Regional and National RoboCup Competitions this year. She has run the University of Otago Robotics Club and has helped every Wednesday with the Columba College after school club. There are many students across New Zealand whom Sandy has helped inspire to go further with Robotics and Computer Science.
Julie McMahon (Mrs)
HOD Digital Technology
2nd Senior Search and Rescue
Corrie Anderson
Ketaki Bagal
3rd Senior Theatre
Kazuki Shitara
Teigan Tarapi
Ellen Waite
3rd equal Senior Soccer
Ryely Burtenshaw-Day
Ailsa Carroll
Annabelle Ritchie
Director: Gladys Hope
Musical Director: Richard Madden
The Wizard of Oz was chosen to be our biennial school musical and was performed on three nights at the Mayfair Theatre.
The lead rôles were played with great success by Serena Waterworth, Hannah Pearson, Sophie Graham, Callum Fisher, Scott Bezett, Cole Thompson, Matariki Pakaua and Vivian Griffiths with a large number of Columba students (Junior School through to Year 13) involved in either the cast, chorus, orchestra, lighting, backstage or front of house.
It was another outstanding Columba College musical and a tremendous credit to everyone involved from our very talented students to the many people who helped to make the musical such a polished and professional success.
Special thanks to Gladys Hope whom we were so fortunate to have as Director, Richard Madden (Musical Director), Anna Nees (Choreographer), Mike Harris (Set), Teresa Andrew (Props), Amanda Floyd (Wardrobe), Jan Paterson (Production Manager), Tom Ross (Lighting), Ellen Waite (Poster, Ticket and Programme Design), and to the many other helpers named in the programme.
See more photos in the latest newsletter.
Last term students in Year 12 Physical Education were investigating the significance of drug use at the Olympic Games as part of a Sociology unit.
We were very fortunate to have Caroline Meyer (née Evers-Swindell) come to talk to the class about her experiences at the Olympic Games. Caroline is a double-Olympic Gold Medallist and triple World Champion in the double sculls. She was able to talk about the drug testing régime in New Zealand, and how confident she is that New Zealand Rowing is a clean sport.
Caroline spoke about how she never allowed herself to be suspicious of other athletes, as this would have distracted her from the task at hand. She was confident that any cheats would be caught, but could only recall two instances in rowing where this had happened. There were always rumours, but International Rowing itself has a proud reputation as a clean sport.
She talked about the testing process, and strongly disagreed with some commentators who have discussed allowing all athletes to dope with controls.
The class had some excellent questions for Caroline and we appreciated her taking the time to come to Columba to speak to the girls.
Alena Wafer (Mrs)
Teacher of Year 12 Physical Education
A fantastic result from our Columba team in the Under 20 time trial with an outstanding time of 26:13, defeating previous champions, St. Kentigern Girls, who had a time of 26:18.
It is the first time that a South Island school has won this title at the premier schools national cycling event.
Warmest congratulations to the winning team of: Bailey Saville (Captain), Ella Harris, Ruby Knight and Phoebe Swale.
Bailey followed up the team win with a Silver Medal (very close race too) in the individual points race! She is the first individual National Cycling medallist for Columba College.
The First X1 Hockey Team won the Audrey Timlin NZ Hockey Tournament in Timaru bringing home the Gold Medal and Memorial Cup. Six wins from six games. In pool play the team had big wins, 5-0 over Northcote College, Auckland 11-0 over Lincoln and 9-0 over Timaru Girls. The quarter final was a 3-2 win against Trident High School, Whakatane. The semi-final was a 2-0 victory against Macleans College from Auckland. The final was a close fought match against St. Andrew's College from Christchurch. Down 2-0 at half time, the team fought back strongly to win 3-2. Phoebe Steele showed her class in scoring all three goals in the final and was also the top goal scorer in the whole tournament with 15 goals. Phoebe was also selected as Columba's Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. Ellie Duncan was fourth highest goal scorer in the tournament on 7. Columba's success was credited to a strong all-round team effort. It was unfortunate that Vice-Captain, Alex Menzies, broke her collar bone in the semi-final and was unable to play her last game for Columba in the final.
This win qualifies the First XI Team to compete in the top national tournament (Federation Cup) in 2015.
Thank you to Assistant Coach, Jason Dungey, for his outstanding contribution to the team, Mrs Gill Newman for her superb management, Mrs Duncan, Mrs Becker and Mrs Cassie for their tireless work. To Miss Wilson, thank you for supporting us in the final, this was most appreciated it was nice we could show you what a fantastic team we are. To the many parents who travelled during the week to support the team and who have supported us all year, we have greatly appreciated this.
As the First XI coach I was immensely proud of you all in the final, especially the way you fought back. You have trained so hard, had great team spirit and played with class. Your successful season has been a result of the work you have put in.
Shona Harvey (Mrs)
The above students are members of the Columba College Reine Productions Young Enterprise team, and their book highlights 50 Dunedin businesses employing local people to produce local goods.
The books, on sale for $10.00 each, offer discount vouchers for many of the goods and $2.00 from each book sale goes to the Malcam Charitable Trust.
Mayfair Theatre
11th, 12th and 13th September
at 7.00 p.m.
A show case of Columbas talent
a very enjoyable evenings entertainment
Tickets on sale in the School Office.
$12.00 Adults
$8.00 Students and Unwaged
Tonight we are privileged to once again begin our meeting by acknowledging the sporting success of three of our élite athletes who have gained selection to represent New Zealand. I am extremely proud and privileged to be able to perform this task, as the success that these young ladies achieve affirms all that we as a collective stand for; namely the pursuit of excellence. When I speak of we, I am not speaking only of the Sports Council and sport; but rather I am talking about Columba College as a whole and sport as being one important aspect (the physical component) of the well-rounded person.
Vince Lombardi wrote, The quality of a persons life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen field.
Lombardi is often spoken of as the best sports coach of all time. So highly is he thought of that the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl Trophy is named after him. He was, however, more than a sports coach, he was a sports philosopher, someone who is still widely quoted.
To achieve success in any field takes focus, dedication, determination, persistence, planning, self-belief and vision. To achieve national representative level success obviously means that the aforementioned traits were accomplished at the very highest level.
To perform to the standard that gains you national selection in any sport at any age is a great feat, something to be very proud of, but to achieve this level of accomplishment while still at school with all of the possible distractions speaks volumes of the high level of maturity and focus that you possess.
I think it is also important that we acknowledge the support given to you by your parents. Financially, emotionally and physically they are a huge component of your support team.
I would like to offer one final thought of Vince Lombardis before we have our presentations, The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand and the determination that whether we win or lose we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.
I would now like to personally acknowledge the following National Sporting representatives from Columba College and ask them to come up to receive a small token to support their continued endeavours in their chosen sports.
Charlotte Cahill Cross Country
Hanna English Cross Country
Georgia Hamilton - Water-Skiing
Mike Brosnahan
Chair, Columba College Sports Council
Medals for Columba College at the South Island Secondary Schools Championships
Over the course of the weekend of the 5th and 6th of July, 14 Columba girls participated in the South Island Secondary Schools Cycling Championships in Christchurch. This was a new experience for our Junior Cyclists, as they were competing against a high calibre group of girls in their age group. The weekend was a huge success with many podium finishes, PBs and great memories.
The first day began with a 3.4km Individual Time Trial, the girls gave it their all and overall made the School proud. Bailey Saville got Gold in the U20 age group, Ella Harris got Silver, Ruby Knight Bronze and Phoebe Swale was 5th in the U17 category. Mila Rollo, U13 was 5th, Thirza Smith was 6th and Sophie Nelson 9th in U14. Megan Foley was 10th in the U16 girls and Hannah Rodgers was 10th in U15. We are extremely proud of all the girls who competed.
The second event required a great amount of trust and team work. The girls were split into teams of three or four for a Team Time Trial, according to their specific age groups. Each team went out there and gave it their all and this was proven when one of our junior teams competing in the U16 age group consisting of Holly Cameron, Hannah Rogers, Thirza Smith and Madeleine Cooper-Forster, finished 2nd. In the same category the other junior team of Georgia OHalloran, Sophie Nelson and Mila Rollo placed 4th.
Our junior teams represented the School well with many of them competing in an age group where most of the girls are older than them. Our youngest competitor was Mila Rollo who is only 11 years old. One of our senior teams also placed 2nd in the Open Womens category. This team consisted of Ella Harris, Ruby Knight, Bailey Saville and Phoebe Swale.
The next day the girls competed in the Road Race, an event which required lots of concentration and tactics. Mila Rollo placed 5th in U13, Thirza Smith placed 6th and Sophie Nelson 9th in U14. Madeleine Cooper-Forster placed 9th and Hannah Rogers was 10th in their respective categories. Megan Foley placed 9th in the U16 category. Phoebe Swale 5th, Ruby Knight 8th in the U17 and Bailey Saville was 2nd in the U20 category.
Overall the weekend was a huge success and we would especially like to thank our coach Chris Henderson, our supportive manager Olivia Kennedy, our photographer Isla Anderson who was recently injured so could not compete. Also a huge vote of thanks to the parent supporters. We couldn't have done it without all your help.
Bailey Saville
Cycling Captain
On Monday, 25th August Columbas First XI was in the Otago Secondary Schools Premier final against Otago Girls High School. It had been a hard road to the final, however, the journey had made us stronger as a team and we were ready to take on Otago Girls in the final. They were a very talented team and we knew it would be a hard fight in order to win but we were capable.
In the beginning five minutes, both teams were finding their feet and overcoming nerves, however, Ellie Duncan, our youngest member in the team, stepped up and scored the first goal in order to put Columba in front early. It was only a few minutes afterwards that again Ellie Duncan scored another one - after some magnificent individual brilliance to put the ball in the goal. Otago Girls did not give up fighting though and were quick to get a goal back to bring the score to 2-1. This gave them hope and they were continually putting us under the pump, however, we were fortunate enough to have our goal-keeper, Mia Nevill, back from concussion who made some excellent saves in order to keep us in the lead. Not long before half time, Phoebe Steele scored a goal off a P.C. to take the score to 3-1 going into half time.
We knew that Otago Girls would come out firing in the second half as they believed this was their chance to win the school grade and beat Columba, and we were not wrong. We were able to withstand their attack and eventually put the ball down our attacking end. It was from here that Ellie Duncan completed her hat trick by scoring a third goal and this gave Columba some room to breathe. Columbas fitness began to show over Otago Girls who were continually having to defend our waves of attack. Phoebe Steele then scored another goal which meant Columba lead by three heading into the final 10 minutes. Otago Girls showed heart and did not give up, however, it was Tahlia Green who got the final goal off a brilliant pass by Ellie Duncan to create the final score of 6-2.
Although we won by four goals, the game was very intense and tested everyones fitness as we were continually having to defend Otago Girls bursts of attack. It was an honour to win the Trophy in 2014 for the third time in a row and to become the only team that has won it four times. Thank you to Mrs Harvey and Jason, our coaches, for all the hard work and dedication they have put into helping us improve as a team and as individuals. Thank you also to our manager, Gill Newman, for her organisation and constant support and on behalf of the Columba First XI I would like to thank everyone who came and supported our game on Monday. We really appreciated your support and encouragement and you were instrumental in our win.
Phoebe Steele
Hockey Captain
July 2014
Well done to Ryely Burtenshaw-Day, Gaby Magnuson and Aïcha Wijland of Year 13 on winning the overall prize at the 2014 Information Science Technology Challenge a competition for Years 12 and 13 students which attracted nine teams from various schools.
Years 12 and 13 students from across Otago were introduced to the latest technological gadgets by University of Otago Information Science staff before teams of students were challenged to develop an innovative business idea using one or more of the technologies.
The day culminated in the school teams presenting their ideas to a panel of judges from industry and academic circles.
The Columba College trio focused on the 3-D printer, which could turn recycled and biodegradable plastic into three-dimensional objects.
Their business plan titled Need a Hand? proposed using the printer to build prosthetic limbs such as hands, out of plastic at first, but eventually as technology allowed, out of flesh and bone.
Congratulations to Ryely, Gaby and Aïcha on a great result.
Warm congratulations to Jacinda Kumar, Year 13 who was a member of the winning group in the Dunedin district section of the New Zealand Community Trust Chamber Music Contest at Marama Hall. The two-day contest featured more than 150 Dunedin musicians from 12 high schools competing in 49 ensembles. The adjudicator of the Dunedin contest was pianist Richard Mapp.
Jacinda has already received another distinction this year as she (along with a small group of players from around NZ) was given a special award at the NZSSO course in the first term holidays this year (New Zealand Secondary Schools Orchestra) a four year service award, as she has regularly auditioned and been accepted in that group since Year 9 (one year the course was not held due to the earthquake in Christchurch).
Other Columba students featured in the top eight groups as the following results indicate.
Winning Group
Zero to Hero - Mvts 1 and 2 of Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano by Aram Khachaturian
Elliot Tay, clarinet, Bayfield High School,
Jacinda Kumar, violin, Columba College, Paddy Ou, piano, John McGlashan College.
Besides the group above, the following two groups also made it to the top eight groups for the recall session:
Nebula Trio Trio in E flat major by Jan Vanhal
Luke Nie, violin, John McGlashan College, Natalie Paterson, clarinet, Columba College, and Boen Deng, piano, John McGlashan College.
Keithin It Fresh PENGUIN Harmony - Flora/Lansdown Gardens Keith Statham
Anna Takahashi, violin, OGHS, Aina Pardas Antona, clarinet, LPHS and Jenni Mi, piano, Columba College.
Adjudicator's Award(can be awarded outside top eight groups)
Serendipity - Serena Waterworth, voice, Ella Barclay, flute and Polo Nguyen, piano (all Columba College).
We have been fortunate to establish a sister school relationship with St. Margarets British School for Girls in Concon, about one and a half hours from Santiago, the capital of Chile. It is a private school for girls from Kindergarten to Senior Secondary, established in 1941, and in a beautiful location overlooking the Pacific.
During the last week of term we hosted five students from St. Margarets (Mikele Bloise, Francisca Csori, Rocio Garcia, Javiera Gomez and Sofia Schiappacasse) and their accompanying teacher, Mrs Veronica Leon. In all, twelve students and two teachers from St. Margarets had travelled to New Zealand, first spending time together in Wellington where they were hosted by Queen Margaret College before splitting and travelling on to Christchurch (where they were hosted by St. Margarets College) and to Dunedin.
It was a busy week for the girls as we tried to fit in visits to as many of the main tourist attractions as possible. They also enjoyed two very special programmes on New Zealand Art and Literature run by Ms Willow Sainsbury and Mrs Kate Lindsay. On the first Saturday of the holidays they travelled through to Queenstown where they were joined by the Christchurch group for four days, then flying to Auckland for two days of sightseeing before flying back to Chile.
It is the first time we have hosted students from South America, and I hope it will be the first of many visits Columba receives from students of St. Margarets British School for Girls and that future Columba girls will also enjoy the opportunity to attend St. Margarets and experience Chilean culture.
We were lucky to be selected to go on a two-week camp to China in the April holidays, with a group of students from around the South Island. We spent a week on the Huazhong University of Science and Technology campus in Wuhan, a week in Beijing, and a day in Shanghai. We visited tourist locations and schools; were immersed in Chinese culture; had language classes with practical exercises in local markets and restaurants; and made several new friends. Places we visited included: The Great Wall, the Olympic park, the Summer Palace, the Shanghai waterfront, the Yellow Crane Tower, and the Forbidden City.
We both particularly enjoyed the Wuhan section of the trip. Because we were staying on campus, we were given a reasonable amount of independence during our free time. We really enjoyed this because many of the best insights we gained into Chinese culture came from the simple moments we had while exploring on our own. Everything from watching another three people cram into our tiny bus (which already held about 12 people and looked like it should only hold eight), to watching the streets flood with people whenever a class ended, to choosing a wide variety of unusual (but delicious) foods in the canteens, to having strangers ask to take pictures with us on the street. It was a very empowering way to start the trip and gave us plenty of opportunities to bond with our new friends and practise speaking Mandarin.
Another reason we particularly enjoyed Wuhan was that most of the activities and visits we did there were unusual, rather than to famous tourist destinations. Our favourite visit of the entire trip was to Xianning High School, two hours away from Wuhan. The school had never had foreigners visit, so they treated us like celebrities, asking to take thousands of photos with us. In pairs (we were together) we presented to individual classes (of seventy students!) about New Zealand. It was incredibly fun because they were so excited to have us there; and they were very engaged in our presentation. We learned heaps about China from them, too. When we told them our school day was from 8.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m., they replied along the lines of, Thats nothing! So do you have a lot of homework instead? When we told them we usually had about two hours of homework the whole classs jaws dropped as they exclaimed, Wow, youre lucky!
By the end of the trip we felt inspired, empowered, and thoroughly delighted with the experience. We had also come to realize that fundamentally Chinese people are not at all different from New Zealanders. Ultimately, we had a new perception of not only China but the whole world. Unfortunately, this trip is only available to the students who take Chinese but we highly recommend applying for it if you get the chance. Languages take you places!
Semolina Schillberg and Ellena Khoo, Year 10
Hanna English victorious in New Zealand Secondary Schools' Cross Country Championships
At the New Zealand Championships in Palmerston North on the 21st June Hanna English took the Gold Medal in the Senior Girls 4000m event.
Hanna ran near the front of the senior girls field with a small group before stamping her authority on the race and edging ahead to win in 16:06 by five seconds from Audrey Gregan (St. Cuthbert's College, Auckland) and Isabella Richards (St. Kentigern College, Auckland).
Charlotte Cahill was 8th in the same event which is a meritorious effort in a field of over 100 runners.
The Championships attracted 950 entrants from 125 secondary schools throughout the country. Congratulations to Hanna on her Gold Medal and also to Charlotte on an excellent result.
Hanna and Charlotte have been selected for the 2014 New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country team to compete in Perth on the 20th August. They follow in the footsteps of Sian English and Laura Carruthers who have previously been selected. Of the twelve athletes selected for the 2014 team, two are from Columba.
Well done to both girls.
May 2014
It was great news to hear of the outstanding success of Ailish Wallace-Buckland and Emily Willis, both Year 13 students, in the 2014 International Jeunes Auteurs (Young Authors) French writing competition. They gained 1st place with their 2000- word French short story which follows the lives of a young married French couple during World War I. It is made up of letters sent from the husband on the battlefront and the wife in a French village. Each letter shows a different time period from the war.
As a prize, they will receive a collection of French books and an invitation to France to receive their award. Warm congratulations to both girls.
Caitlin Addison is to be commended on her initiatives to raise awareness of the plight of the abducted Nigerian school girls. Caitlin established a Facebook group called Campaign to Free the Girls of Nigeria, and the numbers joining it continue to grow. She has also contacted friends at other schools to join the campaign, and the Green and White Ribbon Day organised by Caitlin with the help of other Year 13 students was very well supported by Columba students, and by a number of other schools in New Zealand.
Caitlin was quoted in The ODT as saying, Were asking the students to wear either green or white ribbons in their hair to support the girls of Nigeria, to try to raise awareness. The aim of the Ribbon Day is to show the Nigerian Government that the whole world is watching and following the story of the Nigerian schoolgirls, and that we want action to be taken, and that we want these girls to be able to return to their families and to their education.
A great result from our teams with 1st places in both the senior and junior sections, and another junior team taking 3rd place. Well done, girls!
The team of Hanna English, Ella Harris, Holly Barclay and Charlotte Cahill won the Senior Girls event in 26min 27sec.
Hanna English and Charlotte Cahill shared fastest time with 6min 9sec.
Columba Success at the Barfoot and Thompson International Triathlon in Auckland
This was an international event held in Auckland on Saturday, 6th April with many élite athletes attending. It served as the Nationals for Standard distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run) and the qualifying race for selection for the Triathlon World Championships in Edmonton, Canada in August.
It was a very hot day with water temperatures of 21 degrees and an air temperature of 31 degrees. It was a deep-water start and we were started in waves based on our age groups. My wave, which included females in the age groups from 16 up to 35, was the second wave to start. It was very nerve-racking lining up and getting ourselves ready to go but once the start horn sounded we were all ready for it. We swam around the harbour in a clockwise direction and then hopped out of the water and ran along the blue-carpeted mat into transition. Here we ripped off our wetsuits as quickly as possible and jumped onto our bikes for the three-lap 40km bike course. It was quite a hard course with big hill climbs at the end of each lap and smaller hills scattered throughout. After having conquered the hill for the third time, I jumped off my bike and ran into transition to put on my sneakers and start running. I ran around the viaduct twice to complete the 10km run and then ran down the finishing shoot. As I crossed the line, the commentator announced that I was the first 16-19 female. It was a great way to finish!
After my race, there was the womens élite race that I could watch. It was great to see such high profile athletes and watch them race and see their techniques. I learnt a lot from them like how important it is to take risks, but also how important it is to save yourself for the run because it can be a game changer. Nicky Samuels went from being in the top three to sixteenth all due to the run. It was great to receive a national title for the standard distance triathlon. I managed to take three minutes off my personal best and I have qualified for the World Triathlon Championships in Edmonton, Canada in late August. All in all, it was a very challenging course but a great learning experience and a very exciting event to be a part of.
Holly Barclay
Multisport Captain
Congratulations to Holly Barclay who has been selected for the New Zealand Triathlon Team. The team is the New Zealand Triathlon World Championships Team for the Standard Distance Triathlon Championships to be held in Edmonton, Canada as part of the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final from the 26th August to the 2nd of September.
April 2014
Columba College was the host school for the 2014 South Island Chinese Bridge Speech Competition held on Saturday, 29th March with students from Christchurch schools travelling south to compete. The Otago competition has held in the morning with the full South Island competition in the afternoon.
Well done to our four students who qualified from the South Island Competition to attend the National Chinese Bridge competition to be held in Wellington on the 17th May at Victoria University.
They are:
Senior Competition
Holly Hanson
Hannah Pearson
Jamie Wood
Junior Competition
Ellena Khoo
A number of dignitaries attended parts of the Competition, most notably Madam Chu Yanli, Deputy Consul General of the Peoples Republic of China and Mr Li Yucai, Education Consul of the Peoples Republic of China, both based at the Chinese Consulate in Christchurch. Dr Adam Lam, Director and Professor Hong Hu, Deputy Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury, and Dr Licheng Li, Language Instructor of the CIUC (Chair) were present for the day and were very involved in its organisation.
Appreciation is also extended to Mrs J. Hill (HOD Languages), Ms I. Ding (Chinese teacher) and Ms C. Yang (MLA at Columba) for their contributions to the success of the day and for the lead-up preparations.
The Sub-Regional Otago results
Senior Category
1st Holly Hanson
2nd Hannah Pearson
3rd Jamie Wood
4th Anastasia Varlamova
5th Brianna Clulee
6th Rachael Jannink (video)
Junior Secondary Category
3rd Ellena Khoo
4th Megan Guest
5th Hannah Prout (video)
International/Chinese Category
1st Ophelia Yeung
2nd Albertina Tay
3rd Patricia Goh
4th Apollonia Tay
5th Heidi Chin
On the weekend of the 22nd February six girls travelled to Alexandra for the annual Otago/Southland TeenAg competition. All three teams competed in the first part of the competition consisting of seven modules testing physical ability and general agricultural knowledge. Each team was given five minutes to complete each module where they were scored on teamwork and quality of completing the task. These modules included putting together a fuel pump, completing a farm budget, assembling a chainsaw along with other difficult tasks. From here the top seven scoring teams advanced through to a race-off where teams raced against one another, completing fun activities in order to get more points depending on where they were placed in the race-off. Grace Cassie and Kelsey Shaw were placed 5th after the modules, which advanced them through to the race-off. After being placed 2nd in the race-off Grace and Kelsey came away with an overall 4th place. Paige Morton and Hannah Wilson were placed 8th and Grace Wilson and Laura Becker were placed 12th overall. Overall, it was an awesome and fun weekend and we would like to especially thank Mrs Robyn Shaw for driving the mini-bus and looking after the girls and the Becker family for hosting us for the night.
Kelsey Shaw and Grace Cassie
Co-Chairpersons of the Columba TeenAg Club
March 2014
Directly after school on Wednesday we all piled into a van, all very excited for the time ahead on our field-trip to Christchurch. Being the nerds that we are we are unable to connect anyones iPod to the speaker system, so over the next five hours we become emotionally connected to certain pop songs having had them repeated, solely for our enjoyment, on the radio. Arriving in Christchurch, Penny and Olivia got to test out their navigation skills to find our accommodation, something that would become very useful later on!
Early Thursday morning we made our through city traffic to meet the development teams at Orion Health. Over the course of the day we learnt about different types of development methodology. The first, the waterfall, we had inadvertently put into practice during Year 12 whilst developing websites. This method was quickly renamed as the waterfall of tears method of development as it was able to produce effectively in this sector! The second method, the agile methodology technique, is something we are looking forward to implementing this year with our individual technology projects and is the one that Orion itself uses.
Throughout our time at Orion we were shown a world of technology not often seen. Bright, open offices, standing desks, a Ping-Pong table and many open meeting-rooms available to the teams to use have all changed the way Orion works and streamlined their development process. No longer, in the technology sectors, are businesses sticking to stereotypical segregation of employees, Business Analysts sit alongside testers, programmers, web designers and the entire office is incredibly productive. Teamwork is particularly highlighted and all the projects are effectively split up into manageable chunks to complete over two week sprints. Talking to the developers, using their method ourselves and giving a presentation to the staff at the completion of the day was exhausting, exciting and most of all, educational. I can certainly ensure this year that no waterfall of tears will be witnessed by the Digital Technology Department!
I must admit that having been at Columba since Year 9 I had not yet experienced the spoken-about lack of girls in coding and technology, until that evening, whereupon the girls and I attended the Code Club held at Orions offices. This club welcomes school students of all types to use programming with a physical outcome, in their case the control of a simple robot that could be developed later. However, when about 30 boys filed into the room accompanied by two girls it became evident that Columba has a good environment to introduce girls to technology without any of the social stigma that often causes girls to pass up technology as a boy thing. Nevertheless we quite enjoyed the code club, getting our hands into a new programming language (C#) and looking at ways to extend to our current school robotics club. After this very long day we were all very grateful to return to our accommodation.
On Friday our day was just as packed with activities, however, this time we were visiting several different places. First up was Jade, a company that specialises in technology solutions. An example they showed us of their product was a mobile banking site. Jade was similar to Orion in the way they managed projects, however, we found that their design process was more intensive and had special resonance with members of our group who are looking at more design based projects this year. However, many similarities stood, they had open plan offices, bright areas and were very team orientated. Jade certainly stood out as company unafraid of innovation and a few new companies have been fostered on from completed projects. I know that our entire class thoroughly enjoyed our time in their offices and appreciated those that spoke to us from the different areas of their development process.
Following Jade we hurried off to Airways, which is an air navigation service provider. Here we found a very different, yet interesting, way of developing software as the programme they use has been developing over a very long period of time so it was more guru orientated. Personally my favourite part was being shown a live feed of air traffic control where we looked at the different ways that potential issues are managed and found that as more technology is being added to the control sectors their roles have changed from risk management to risk avoidance.
One of the most exciting things about Christchurch right now is the evident signs of the rebuild and the way that the community is stepping up, creating new and innovative areas. One of these is EPIC, a shed housing many technological companies. The shared office quarters has produced new ideas, cross-field collaborations and a bright, fun place to work. Whilst there we were lucky enough to speak to three companies, Cerebral Fix, a game development studio, was an awesome (to put it lightly) place, that does a lot of supreme quality work and also used agile methodology in their development process. We were also lucky enough to be able learn about Telogis, a route and fleet management technology company, from whom we learnt a lot about complexity and how, on occasion, the waterfall method of development can be used effectively. Over morning-tea we were able to talk to staff from SLI Systems who then showed their product use to us. Essentially they specialise in searching, whether it is websites or product lists they allow their customers clients the easiest way to find what they want, and perhaps what they didnt know they wanted until it came up! Whilst at the EPIC centre we asked a lot of questions about how individuals had found themselves here, why IT? A common answer was that they liked the flexibility, with an IT career, they said, you can take your skills and apply them to anything.
By this time we were ready for lunch, so headed off to the University of Canterbury to dine at one of their onsite cafés. Following this we walked to HIT Lab NZ (Human Interface Technology Laboratory), this was a very special experience and we spoke about computer vision, robot interactions and finally Google Glass. The topic of Computer vision is very interesting and to look at an application of it we looked at ColAR, a program that allows you to create a 3-D image from a 2-D one by looking at your colouring in picture through a tablet or similar device. We also looked at a project called City View, which focuses on the changes made to Christchurch. It provides a location-based rebuild of the original city by overlaying what was there onto what now is through a screen that then can be moved around to see how it looked. The robot we looked at was one that they use to test interactions with humans at it is humanoid in shape an able to recognise voices and speak. We must admit that we, perhaps, had a looked a little too forward to the possibility of using the Google Glass, however they didnt disappoint. It will certainly be an exciting future for development as more of this wearable technology is developed! Whilst we were using the Glass the boundary of technology was brought up, is it too far to have it be part of our vision? What about the possibility of permanent add-ons? These questions and more are ones we will have to consider throughout our lifetime and it was good to look at them during our time in Christchurch. Whilst on campus we also spoke to Mr Bell, a computer science lecturer and began to understand the different ways, which you can add IT to any degree for our advantage. This was a good two-hour talk that allowed us to pick apart IT as a career and Canterbury University options.
That evening we went out to dinner as a form of debrief. We were certainly all very excited to return to Dunedin to implement all we had learnt! Saturday came around all too soon and our final meeting was with Caitlin Duncan over breakfast, she is a PhD student and the President of the UC Computer chicks. She spoke about the lack of girls in IT and having been around many companies, especially having attended Code Club we began to understand why there is such a lack, and more importantly there are no reasons why it should not be an equal field. Bidding farewell to Caitlin we headed back to the van to return to Dunedin, full of thoughts and ideas about our projects and IT in general.
Retrospectively this field-trip to Christchurch opened our mind to the way that the IT industry is an exciting and innovative one. The majority of Year 13 Digital Technology students are now seriously considering IT. Personally, I look forward to seeing them become amazing contributors in their own fields, as no matter if it is applied math, gaming or beautiful design, its evident that IT has a place for us all. On behalf of our class I would like to thank Miss Wilson, Mrs McMahon, all the other teachers kind enough to allow us leave, and all the companies and individuals who welcomed us in Christchurch, for an amazing experience and opportunity.
Ailsa Carroll
Technology Prefect 2014
The New Zealand U17 Womens World Cup Football Team at the FIFA U17 Womens World Cup Group C match between Japan and New Zealand at Estadio Nacional on the 23rd March in San Jose, Costa Rica.
A contingent of 17 girls competed at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championships in Twizel recently, along with coaches Natalie Matheson and Matthew Adam. The regatta attracted over 2,000 competitors during the week-long competition. The team had a very successful regatta, with all students qualifying for quarter finals, then semi-finals and then finals. Finals ranged from A-F and all Columba girls made it to A and B finals.
The Novice Womens 8 had a strong race to come second in the Under 18 race to St Peters of Cambridge. They had a fast start and went out with St Peters. Columba and St Peters pulled away from the rest of the field at the 500m mark and by the 1,000m mark it was obvious that these two crews were going to be the crews to beat. St Peters pulled clear of Columba after this point and the girls fought to stay with them and ahead of the other crews. Columba came in at second much to their delight and to the delight of the rest of the Columba rowers and supporters. This is the first time in around 14 years that Columba has won a medal at this regatta. It was a wonderful sight to see them on the dias and looking so proud of themselves and of their medals. Girls in the crew were: Ryelee Breen, Simone Reid, Sasha Holland, Sandy Reid, Brittany Spark, Genevieve Walker-Radich, Courtney Shaw, Alice Young and Toni Mulholland (cox). Emma Winders was the other person to represent Columba in the A finals, when she competed in the Under 18 single scull. Emma, the current South Island Champion, had a fast start and there wasnt anything in the race after the first 500m. Emma raced her heart out to come in seventh. A very admirable achievement by Emma.
Crews to make B finals were the Under 16 8+, Under 16 4+ and the Under 17 double. The Under 16 8+ of Sara Griffin, Olivia Anderson, Ryelee Breen, Shannon Harrison, Simone Reid, Kate Campbell, Heidi Wright, Alice Young, Toni Mulholland (cox) narrowly missed out on the A final, by less than a second, and ended up placing 2nd in the B final another excellent achievement.
The Under 16 4+ of Shannon Harrison, Olivia Anderson, Sara Griffin, Heidi Wright, Toni Mulholland (cox) placed 3rd in the B final and the Under 17 Double of Hannah Wilson and Olivia Anderson placed 6th in the B final.
I am very proud of all of the rowing girls who competed at this regatta and would like to thank all of the wonderful parents who helped with van driving, food, being a house Mum, fundraising, etc., as without you this week would not have run as smoothly as it did. It would also be appropriate here to acknowledge the support of Mrs R. Manson (Director of Boarding). Mrs Manson has been a great strength for the rowing girls and they and I appreciate all of her help and guidance.
The rowing girls are having a well-deserved break currently and will be back into training in the near future. We welcome new members and look forward to an exciting year ahead.
Mrs C. Sinclair
Teacher in charge of Rowing
One of the parents away with the girls for the week wrote the following:
I have just come back from Twizel having spent the whole of Maadi Cup week with the girls as a house parent/van driver. They have done fabulously well and achieved such fantastic results. A lot of time, hard work, dedication and determination from all the girls has paid off and it was a real pleasure being with them. They are a great bunch of extremely polite, well-mannered and well-behaved young ladies who represented Columba College with pride. It was such fun spending time with them all, we had many laughs and I think the parents will be looking forward to rowing again next season.
Parents of prospective boarding students for 2015 or beyond are warmly invited to attend one of the following country visits to meet Miss Elizabeth Wilson, Principal of the College, and Mrs Richelle Manson, Director of Boarding, at one of the following venues:
Daughters are welcome to accompany their parents to the presentations, and present and past parents are also warmly invited to attend. Please contact one of the relevant hosts if you would like to attend.
Applications for boarding places in 2015 close on the 20th June, 2014. There will be an Open Day for prospective boarding parents and boarding students on Wednesday, 4th June from 10.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. with opportunities to tour the School as well as the Boarding Residences.
Please telephone 03 467 5188 or email firstname.lastname@example.com for a prospectus.
It was wonderful news to hear that Katie Mulholland, our 2013 Dux, was one of 60 recipients nationally of an Outstanding Scholar Award. Katie received three Outstanding grades (Chemistry, English and Statistics) and two Scholarship grades (Biology and Physics). Recipients of Outstanding Scholar Awards receive $5,000.00 for three years of their University study.
Katie is studying Health Sciences at Otago this year.
Columba Athletes Excel
The Secondary Schools Athletics season began for 2014 with the Otago Athletics Championships on Friday evening, 7th March and all day Saturday, 8th March. We had an extremely strong team representing the College. The girls looked fantastic in the new singlets, designed by Tamsin Cooper.
Outstanding performances came from Lydia Shirley who gained three titles in the Under 16 throwing events (shot put, discus and hammer) and from Charlotte Cahill with two titles in the senior 1500m and 3000m. Lily Cunningham won the Under 16 400m in a smart time that was a personal best. In the Under 14 grade Ellie Duncan won both the 100m and 200m and ran strongly in the anchor leg of the relay to push the winning margin of the Under 14 team to 15 metres. In the same grade Isabelle Becconsall-Ryan was a convincing winner in both the 1500m and 3000m. Chenoa Metua ran strongly to claim the Under 14 400m title. Ella Harris and Caitlin Deans both won their 3000m races in the Under 16 and 15 grades.
In the 4x100 m relays, Columba won the Under 14 grade and was 2nd in both Under 15 and senior grades.
There was a large number of parents and family members supporting the athletes. The tent had a very inspiring, friendly atmosphere. Captains, Charlotte Cahill and Laura Saville, were great leaders of our large team. Many athletes did personal bests and ALL athletes qualified for the Otago/Southland Championships the following week.
Thank you to Mrs Saville for all her work in helping cater for the team at the tent.
Congratulations to all athletes and I look forward to Inspiring Excelling Together in Invercargill at the Otago/Southland Championships.
Mrs S. Harvey
Director of Sport
The Columba College Rowing Squad competed recently at the South Island Secondary Schools Rowing Championships in Twizel. The Squad has been training intensely since the middle of last year and this regatta was the final big regatta for some of the girls. With glassy, flat water and a beautiful blue sky the stage was set for a good weekend of rowing. The Novice Eight was the first to feature in the A Finals Saturday at 5.00 p.m. The crew had raced earlier in the day and they went into the final as the favourite. After a steady start, Columba pushed out to a lead over St. Margarets College and Rangi Ruru. By the half way mark the crew had established a good lead over these two crews and a significant lead over the rest of the crews in the race. Columba extended the lead to win by over three lengths. A mixture of relief and sheer joy for the girls as they crossed the finish line. This was the first time a Columba Rowing Eight had won at the SISS Championships in over 10 years!!! Proud parents, coaches, girls and teachers greeted the girls as they carried their boat up from the water and were presented with their medals.
This race was followed up by the Columba Under 16 Eight racing on Sunday morning. The girls got away to a steady start, with St Margarets and Rangi Ruru in front of them. The Columba Eight placed 3rd at half way; by the time the crew passed the vocal Columba supporters, with 250m to go, the Columba Eight picked up the pace even more and the distance between 1st and 3rd was just half a boat length. Columba went on to claim the Bronze Medal in this event a fantastic effort! The third crew to medal was Emma Winders in the Under 18 single scull. Emma led from the beginning in this race and went on to win Gold in the race by a clear two lengths. Aside from the medal winners, all girls made it to finals and performed in the Top 10 for at least one of their races which is a wonderful achievement.
These results are the best results that Columba College Rowing has had for a number of years and with the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Championships coming up at the end of the month, the girls should feel quietly confident that they will be competitive in each of their races. A big thank you to all of the parents who attended the regatta, and who helped with our big contingent feeding, accommodating, putting up and taking down the tent, massaging, etc., all very valuable contributions. I wish to extend my best wishes to the girls and the coaching team for a successful and enjoyable regatta at the end of the month.
Mrs C. Sinclair
Teacher in charge of Rowing
December 2013
Modi Deng, Year 12 won the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst Scholarship and Ella Barclay, also in Year 12 won the New Zealand-German Student Exchange Scholarship both awarded by the Goethe Institute on the recommendation of the German National Adviser following the final round of interviews in Wellington.
Modi will spend four weeks in Germany in July next year on an all-expenses-paid trip, visiting several German cities where she will attend school and get to know the communities she is staying in.
Ella will spend between two and three months living and studying in Germany, starting this month. She too will be immersed in the German language and culture, staying with German families and studying at German schools.
This years exciting/amazing/awesome/fantastic Year 7 Camp to Queenstown focused on strengthening the five Key Competencies of the curriculum. The programme specifically included activities, games, duties, and challenges designed to help develop these skills further.
We went to Queenstown to learn, and after listening to Amy and Wendy telling us about the history of Arrowtown, the Chinese miners and the gold mining era, we experienced a little gold fever of our own. Most girls found some specks in their pans (and some found mini-mini-nuggets!). Much of what we learnt related very practically to three topics we have covered in Social Studies this year.
We went to Queenstown to get to know one another better. This certainly happened with the girls in different cabin groups, activity groups and also duty groups. On Thursday, we played the Queenstown version of The Amazing Race with some adrenalin rushes caused by racing against other teams to complete challenges, both mental and physical. With tasks such as The Wombat Slalom Course, The Chocolate Marshmallow Snowball Challenge, The Balloon Dog Challenge and The Catch a Falling Ball Challenge, the teams (and their mascots) who worked well together enjoyed the most success. Leg 2 of the race incorporated a photo/clue-solving scavenger hunt around Queenstown and Leg 3 some Frisbee Golf. Great teamwork was essential!
We went to Queenstown to be personally challenged and many girls overcame some of their fears, both large and small. The climbing wall was demanding, the moths in our cabins annoying, the chairlift up to the luge terrifying, performing in front of our peers was nerve-wracking, and being away from home and family, testing for some. (The teachers were very proud of the way the girls tackled their own personal challenges!)
Finally, we went to Queenstown to have fun! We certainly did this by riding the gondola, walking up to the clock at Alexandra, playing lots of table tennis at the camp, eating fantastic food prepared by our very helpful parents each day, having a drenching water fight on the camp lawn in 25 degrees, and by enjoying the wonderful Columbas Got Talent shows over two evenings, with our famous judges and some exceptionally talented girls.
Once back at school, we invited our parents to a Year 7 Showcase evening in Constance Hall on Tuesday, 12th November . Everyone enjoyed a picnic/take-away tea together in the hall and then the girls spoke of their experiences of camp and a camp video was shown. Much of their impressive schoolwork from the year was also displayed for parents to see. It seemed a very successful evening.
My sincere thanks to the parents who came with us to camp Im sure you didnt realise you were signing up for some of the things you had to do!! Your support, your enthusiasm and your cooking/medical/driving abilities were all very much appreciated and ensured a very successful and happy camp for the girls.
Mrs C. Cheyne
Year 7 Dean
Congratulations to Charlotte Calder, Year 10 student at Columba College who won the Girlfriend Magazine People's Choice Award in the 2013 Creatif Young Designer Awards (Wearable Art Section).
The theme for this year's awards was 'identity', and Charlotte's entry The Native Sheep was inspired by the Central Otago landscape of her home in St Bathan's, as well as Pakeha and Maori cultures. Other than papier-mache and cardboard, her well-constructed mask was made from rams horns, twine, wire, treated sheepskin, sheep eyeclips, and wool all materials that are a part of her rural upbringing.
On behalf of Charlotte, the Faculty of Technology and Columba College, we would like to extend our thanks to everyone who voted for Charlottes entry. It was wonderful to see her creativity, skills and hard work recognised and supported by so many. Charlotte won a great prize of a new printer, and a six-month Girlfriend Magazine subscription.
Ms I. Boek
Technology Teacher
Caitlin Deans, Year 9 was a member of the South Island Junior 15 years and under team The Southern Makos - in the inaugural Swimming New Zealand Zonal Championships in Wellington the day following the New Zealand Short Course Competition.
The team won the competition against the other three North Island teams.
Caitlin won Gold in the 800m Freestyle, Bronze in the 400m Freestyle, Bronze in the 200m Freestyle Relay and Gold in the 20 x 50m Free Flying Squadron Relay where the 20 members of each team swam against one another.
Results for Caitlin Deans
Day 1 Silver Medal 13 years 400 IM and Otago record 12 & 13 year IM in a time of 5.10.06
Day 2 Gold Medal 13 years 800 Free and a New Zealand 13 year Age record in a new time of 9.04.52 (this was also an Otago Age 12-13 year record)
Day 3 Bronze Medal 200 IM
Day 4 Gold Medal 13 years 400 Free and a New Zealand 13 year Age record in a new time of 4.23.40 (this was also an Otago Age 12-13 year record in the morning heats 4.4641 and again in evening 4.23.40)
Day 5 Silver Medal 13 years 200 Free and Otago record 12 & 13 year 200 Free in the morning 2.06.88 and again in the evening 2.06.81
Two New Zealand Age Records and six Otago Records are held by Caitlin an outstanding achievement.
October 2013
Dinah Reddihough is a paediatrician involved in the clinical care of children with disabilities, particularly cerebral palsy. As part of her commitment to improve knowledge and promote best practice, she has developed a multidisciplinary research programme. This is focused on gaining an improved understanding of both the causes of childhood disabilities and the optimal interventions for them.
Her ultimate goal is to improve outcomes and quality of life for children with disabilities and their families. She has 108 peer-reviewed publications (97 articles in refereed journals, 11 book chapters) and has won 77 research grants. She is actively involved in teaching and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students, and contributes to a number of community organisations that assist individuals with disabilities.
Research Focus and Interest:
Dinah Reddihough's main research interest is in the area of childhood disability, particularly cerebral palsy. The approaches used include collection of epidemiological data, conduct of randomized trials and development of measurement tools. The ultimate aim of the research programme is to learn more about risk factors and causes with the hope of developing preventive strategies, and to evaluate the commonly used interventions to determine which treatments lead to optimal outcomes for children and their families. Dinah established the Victorian Cerebral Palsy Register which has grown to be one of the largest cerebral palsy databases both nationally and internationally, and is the basis for many of the studies that are undertaken. The Register has generated 41 publications over the past 20 years.
Many of the studies have resulted in changes in clinical practice, for example, the finding that children with severe cerebral palsy require regular hip Xrays to monitor hip displacement in contrast to those with mild cerebral palsy, has enabled establishment of guidelines for frequency of hip Xray examination. Randomised trials have demonstrated the efficacy of treatments such as home-based intervention for young children with developmental delay, and the benefits of botulinum toxin for saliva control.
An NHMRC multicentre randomized trial controlled trial of Fluoxetine versus placebo for the treatment of restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviours in children and adolescents with autism is in progress. The measurement tools, now used both nationally and internationally, include the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function, the Cerebral Palsy Quality of Life Questionnaire for Children and the Drooling Impact Scale, were developed in collaboration with a number of groups. Over the next five years, new technologies will be used to assist in the achievement of aims, and collaborations with teams both on the campus and external to it, will continue to grow.
Congratulations to Ella Barclay in Year 12 who was top in New Zealand and Australia in the 2013 inaugural Education Perfect Competition. This is an online competition which encouraged students to answer as many questions as possible about English, Science, History, Geography, Religious Education and Accounting. Around 14,000 students from both countries participated in the competition. Ella was also top in English and Literature and Science, receiving three iTunes prize vouchers, and an iPod shuffle in a draw involving ten students with 20+ points.
Top New Zealand students in the World Language Perfect Championships. Ella was runner-up in the German competition (only three points behind the world winner) and Holly was sixth in the world in French. Ella and Holly were among more than 225,000 students from 12 countries in the competition.
Hanna English in Year 11 has been selected in the New Zealand Under 17 Football team for the 2014 Junior World Cup in Costa Rica, one of only three South Island players selected. She was part of the National Schools Team in 2012, and has also been selected in national teams for Athletics and Cross Country. It is an outstanding achievement to be a triple New Zealand representative. Warmest congratulations, Hanna!
Hanna English - Off To Costa Rica
By Ellen Gipp, Year 13, Columba College, Dunedin
The fact that Hanna English is good at football and athletics is no secret. However, her latest success in football is truly the icing on the cake for the 16-year-old Columba College pupil, who was recently selected for the Under-17 Young Football Ferns to compete in the World Cup in Costa Rica next year.
There can be no doubt Hanna has earned this achievement. Since taking it up at the age of eight she has shown impressive prowess in football and also running. Her running achievements include being selected for the New Zealand athletics team to compete in Tahiti in the 1500m and 3000m events earlier this year, after being the top-ranked athlete for these events in both 2012 and 2013, and being selected for the New Zealand cross-country team after coming fourth in the national championships.
Hanna then switched to football, winning the Fiji Cup in 2012 with the New Zealand secondary schools team. "I have been an Otago representative in football since I was 11 and also participate in the Academy Accelerator Programme for New Zealand high-performance athletes," Hanna said.
Getting into the World Cup Young Football Ferns team has been challenging. She was selected from about 60 girls during two annual boot camps to form a 29-member squad, from which they selected the final travelling team.
"I can't rest on my laurels. I am expected to maintain my skill levels just to keep my place in the team and it has meant I am going to have to move to Auckland," she said.
There Hanna will attend a local school and play in the National Women's League for the Young Football Ferns Team, as part of her training.
"There are sacrifices I make for it," she said, "I do school work at lunch-times so I have to have good time management. It means I have to miss out on social opportunities sometimes, but I always try to make sure I get time to relax." Hanna trains every day after school and at the weekends, as well as playing competition games in the weekend. All this on top of her running representing Ariki alongside her sister Sian, herself an elite athlete.
"Football has to be the priority now," she explains, "but running is really good to support my fitness for that."
While the World Cup is the pinnacle of Hanna's football career so far, her ultimate goal is to play for the Football Ferns.
The New Zealand Secondary Schools Girls Football Lotto Sportswear Tournament kicked off at the Logan Park grounds on the 2nd September to sunshine and blue skies. Columba College enjoyed a high scoring start to the tournament, playing efficient and quick passing football to put 11 goals past Hornby High School. Queens High School put up a fight in the afternoon, asking a lot of defenders such as Sandy Reid, who did well to quickly close down the talented Queens strikers and allow play-maker Hanna English, inventive Kate Guildford and a battling captain, Tara Bennett, to guide the team to a 10-2 win.
The fine weather persisted on Tuesday, as did the pleasing score lines. Columba College completed the group stages with a solid 7-0 win against a physical Buller. Special mention must be made of Kelsey Shaw who dealt bravely with a serious injury incurred while contending intensely with the Buller defence.
As Columba entered the knock-out phase of the tournament, the weather took a turn for the worst, with howling southerlies and rain making playing conditions difficult. Columba fought their way through their quarterfinal against Riccarton High School with a 6-0 win. Ruby Coers once again exhibited strong defensive midfield play. After a short lunch break at the boarding-house, the girls had to re-focus their attention on their semi-final with Craighead Diocesan. Team Manager, Angela Wiley, was always at hand to ensure the girls were well prepared for each game. A calm defensive display mixed with creative individual and team brilliance, saw Columba turn a halftime score line of 1-0 into a final score of 4-0. Player of the match and Year 9 student, Lily Robin, provided a dangerous attacking threat as well as offering defensive coverage.
The girls had worked incredibly hard, and had earned the opportunity to have a shot at achieving what no Columba Football team had ever done. The final was played at the Caledonian Ground, with tournament players and highly valued Columba supporters quickly filling the stand and providing vocal support for a team full of belief and desire to win the tournament. Avonside Girls High School were a fast and skilful team, proving to be a handful for the Columba defence. At the break, the score line was still level at 0-0. The deadlock was finally broken by Tania Savery, who weaved her way through the Avonside defence and coolly passed into the back of the net. Avonside responded well and piled on offensive pressure. The last ten minutes consisted of a great deal of nail-biting action as Columba clung on to their narrow lead. As the final whistle blew, the palpable relief turned into exuberance as the girls won the trophy they had fought so hard for.
Columba College would like to thank coach, Steve Brook, for his commitment to the development of both Columba football teams. Thanks to assistant coach, Rupert Ray, and Adrian Cartwright for logistics and photography. Thank you to the boarding-house for providing lunches and to Angela Wiley for being the best possible Team Manager. Thanks to all supporters that loyally attended games and to the girls themselves for demonstrating courage and commitment to the sport and to one another.
Rupert Ray, Assistant Coach
Phoebe Steele has recently represented New Zealand in Touch, competing in the Touch Football Australia 2013 National Youth Championships in Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast Australia. Phoebe was a member of the New Zealand Under 17 Girls' Touch Team. The Tournament was held from 7th to 16th September.
Phoebe Steele was awarded The Most Valuable Player in the New Zealand Under 17 Touch Team at the conclusion of the recent Tournament in Australia. This is fantastic news and congratulations to Phoebe on this outstanding award.
9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. (Visits to classes and the Boarding Residences)
1.00 p.m. (Principals address)
1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. (Visits to the Boarding Residences)
We extend a warm invitation to visit the College on our Open Day.
All tours will start at the School Office on the corner of Highgate and Oban Street where student guides will be available to take parents and prospective students on the tours.
A Columba College Open Day is a normal school day with the usual timetable operating. Visitors are, however, most welcome to enter classrooms and observe classes in progress. We hope by running an Open Day in this way that visitors are able to gain an insight into how the School operates on a typical day.
Morning-tea: A continuous morning-tea will be served in the dining-room of Bishopscourt from 9.00 a.m. until noon. All visitors are welcome to call in for morning-tea during the course of their visit to the College.
School: The School (Years 0 to 13) will be open for tours from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Boarding Residences: These will be available to visit from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. and again from 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Prospective boarding students and their parents are welcome to attend a buffet lunch in the dining-room from 12.00 p.m. to 12.45 p.m. Mrs Richelle Manson, Director of Boarding, will also attend the lunch along with members of the House Committee.
Principals address: This will be at 1.00 p.m. in the Recreation Room of Katharine Buchan House. The address will cover key aspects of the College, its aims and objectives, strengths and special features, co-curricular programme and key points of entry such as Year 7 and Year 9. It will also be an opportunity to ask questions, if so wished.
We look forward to showing you around the College on Open Day and thank you in anticipation of your interest and visit.
Elizabeth Wilson
A map of the campus is available here showing the following key locations:
July 2013
The Parents Association very generously donated $3,000.00 from this years Fair proceeds to establish an Artist in Residence Programme at the College with a further $6,000.00 committed to ensure the Programme continues into 2014 and 2015.
Our inaugural Writer in Residence is Diane Brown who will be working with our students in Term Three.
In the 2013 New Years Honours List, Diane Brown was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services as a writer and educator. Diane is a poet, novelist and memoirist who lives with her husband, Philip Temple, in Dunedin. Diane has taught writing at Aoraki Polytechnic and the University of Otago. In 2012 Diane started Creative Writing Otago where she runs classes and mentors many successful writers.
Diane Brown is joining our English Department this coming term. She will be involved in all classes from Years 9 to 13 where she will share her professional expertise with girls, using her specialist skills to help raise achievement. Diane will work in classes with English teachers to spark ideas by sharing tips and techniques with classes as well as working with individual girls, giving critique and constructive editorial criticism. This will assist Junior girls with their writing and Senior girls who will be polishing their folios of writing for Internally Assessed NCEA Achievement Standards.
Alongside her work with Years 9 to 13 students Diane will teach a nine-week Creative Writing Course to girls in the Intermediate Department. Diane knows that different kinds of writing are different art forms and therefore require different skills and will work with this group on poetry and creative non-fiction.
We are very much looking forward to welcoming our first Artist in Residence.
Congratulations to Modi Deng in Year 12 who, with her Christchurch group, has qualified for the national semi-finals be held in Wellington on Friday, 2nd August.
The groups that compete in the semi-finals are of an exceptionally high standard, and from the twelve semi-finalists this year, only six groups will be selected for the finals on the Saturday night.
Modis group Cl Amour is playing Trio Op.8 by Brahms. In the group are: Diane Huh, Violin, Christchurch Girls High and Hyein Kim, Cello, Middleton Grange School with Modi, Piano.
Modi is the only student south of Christchurch competing in the semi-finals. Our good wishes, Modi, for the 2nd August.
Well done to Megan Summers in Year 13 who, along with Warren Van Staden of Kings High School, is one of the 33 students from across New Zealand selected to represent their community and region at the SADD National Leadership Programme being held in Christchurch these holidays.
Megan will work alongside the other 32 selected student leaders, as well as members of the SADD National team, to:
- support the development of initiatives to tackle the drink driving issue amongst youth;
- provide youth voice on issues affecting our vision and mission;
- and to benefit from training and development opportunities to support their ongoing work as a leader for SADD students in their region.
Megan was chosen for this special role because she demonstrated a sound knowledge and commitment to the SADD programme and vision; promise in a number of areas such as communication and entrepreneurship; possessed qualities that would enhance the role, and showed a desire to provide leadership and support to fellow SADD students across their community and region. These attributes, combined with a passion to bring positive change to the culture around drink driving, is why we identified Megan as an ideal candidate for the SADD NLP. Sophie Wickens, SADD Regional Co-ordinator
The SADD Quiz evening held at Columba College on Tuesday, 2nd July is worthy of mention. It was great to see well over a hundred students from a number of Dunedin secondary schools involved, all enjoying themselves, and promoting such an excellent cause. The evening was student-led and student-organised, and was a very successful occasion. Well done to our Year 13 SADD members.
This year the Columba College Young Enterprise Team, Otepoti Products, is selling two organic gardening products, Organimax and Organimax Plus.
The product
Organimax is a seaweed-based plant tonic. It contains naturally occurring growth stimulants which promote stronger, healthier root growth which encourages tougher and healthier plants with increased resistance to disease.
Organimax Plus is a highly efficient liquid fertilizer made up of organically based fish extract. It promotes vigorous growth and stimulates flowering and fruiting.
These two products are highly versatile and can be used on all areas of the gardens including fruit and vegetables, flowers, lawns and even trees and shrubs. The products can be used on their own or mixed and applied together. A simplistic way of looking at the two products is that Organimax Plus is the meat and the Organimax is like the fruit and vegetables, therefore they provide everything a plant needs for strong, healthy growth.
We have partnered with the Orokonui Ecosanctuary and are donating a percentage of our profits to the Ecosanctuary. This donation will go towards the care of the native Takahe birds that were relocated to the Ecosanctuary at the beginning of this year.
Success so far
Otepoti Products was awarded the Best Business Plan and was runner-up in the oral presentations in the Otago Region Young Enterprise Competition held on the 26th June. This was a wonderful achievement for the Group and a result of the hard work that all team members have put into the business.
How to get this product
The two products will be sold in 500ml and 1L quantities priced at:
$10.00 - 500mL
The link to the order form on our website is below we would be grateful if you could please support our team.
Sian English
Managing Director
June 2013
The Columba College Senior Girls three-person Cross Country Team consisting of Charlotte Cahill, Hanna English and Sian English all ran superbly to win the Gold Medal in the three-person team event at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships held in Christchurch recently. It was Columbas first ever medal at National Cross Country level. The girls train so hard and are very deserving New Zealand champions. Congratulations must also go to Mike Weddell who coaches all three girls.
The six-person team included Holly Barclay, Phoebe Steele and Emma Winders who all ran hard to finish 5th nationally. The Year 9 team of Isabelle Becconsall-Ryan, Jade MacMillan and Indiana Williams gained valuable experience at their first national event, finishing 11th.
On Wednesday, 5th June, the Junior School children put on their annual musical production of The First Kids in Space.
The musical this year was about a class of Space Cadets going on their first mission to Moonbase X to repair Androids who have caught a computer virus and are totally out of control. The Cadets must adjust to extreme lunar conditions, eat strange space food and moon-hop around, but will they be able to deal with the rioting androids, and if so, how will they get home?
It was a fun space adventure musical full of information about technology, the solar system and space travel with lots of opportunities for dance and actions.
The children are to be congratulated on the superb way they sang, danced and performed. It was a magnificent effort and enjoyed by all during our three days of performances the main performance on Wednesday evening, the dress rehearsal for residents of local rest homes and local primary schools and lastly, at assembly for Years 7 to 13 students and staff.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the following parents and pupils who gave of their time to help and support us: Mrs Clair Robertson and Heather Robertson for assisting with the lighting, Mrs Liana Johnston and Mrs Bronwyn Fletcher for the costumes, Ms Mary-Ann McKibben and Mrs Kelly Kirkwood for the Space ship and Heather Robertson, Jade Buck and Ella Mercer-Black (Year 8) who assisted with the programmes at the door.
Our sincere thanks must also go to Mr Richard Warnock for his superb piano accompaniment, Miss Alison Bowcott, our Director of the Junior School Orchestra, Miss Olivia Kennedy for the choreography and of course to our wonderful musical Director, Mrs Judith Borick, who puts so much time and effort into ensuring that each year our musical is a success.
Once again a BIG thank you to everyone who assisted us with this years musical. Your help is always very much appreciated.
Marion Hogg
Dean of the Junior School
Photos are available in the June Newsletter.
May 2013
For most of her life, Ailsa Carroll has dreamed of one day becoming an astrophysicist or an astronaut.
That dream has become significantly more tangible since the 16-year-old Columba College pupil found out she is one of two New Zealand senior secondary school pupils selected by the Royal Society of New Zealand to attend the International Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, in July.
Its been a very real dream for me to be an astrophysicist or an astronaut, and this will make it an achievable dream.
Ailsa will be immersed in a programme designed to promote space science and exploration.
Space seems to be the edge of what humans are capable of. I want to be a part of the front edge of technological development.
Space camp activities will include astronaut training, as well as learning about the mental, emotional and physical demands astronauts must face.
She will also receive leadership training, experience four Gs of lift-off force and weightlessness in the space simulator.
Ailsa said she was most looking forward to taking the controls in the space shuttle flight simulator.
Ive had a smile on my face since I found out.
Its going to be awesome. Im so excited.
Ailsa was selected ahead of thousands of other pupils around the world because of her excellent academic results and her involvement in aeronautics (flying aircraft on computer flight simulators), robotics and computer programming.
During her time at the International Space Camp, she will be joined by more than 150 like-minded pupils from 23 different countries including Burnside High School pupil Thomas Marsh (17), of Christchurch.
About 80% of her costs will be covered by the Talented School Students Travel Award, which is funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand.
- Article by John Lewis, ODT
For all 25 of us, it was our first visit to Vanuatu and what an eye-opening and rewarding experience it was. We learnt so much not just about Vanuatu but about ourselves and how to cope with living conditions that were very challenging for us especially on Paama Island where our mission trip was focussed.
Most days in Vanuatu the temperature was in the high 20s and sometimes 30 degrees or more, and we all felt the humidity.
We learnt that Vanuatu is an archipelago consisting of 83 beautiful islands, with the main islands being Efate, Espiritu Santo, Malekula and Tanna. The capital, Port Vila, is on the island of Efate. Vanuatu is a land of diversity boasting coral seas, tropical islands, abundant marine life, volcanoes and rainforests. Snorkelling, scuba diving, game fishing and eco adventures are among the activities to enjoy in a country with a colourful history, and rich, living culture. Tourism is Vanuatus main industry.
Vanuatu has the worlds most accessible active volcano on the island of Tanna and one of the worlds most renowned wreck sites, The President Coolidge, off the island of Espiritu Santo, popular with divers.
It is the only country in the South Pacific with two official languages, English and French. There is also Bislama, the national language, which is used as a common language among Vanuatus many peoples.
History The first European explorers arrived in 1606 as part of a Spanish expedition. British explorer James Cook, who drew the regions first charts, arrived in the islands on 16th July 1774, christening them the New Hebrides. In 1848 a Presbyterian mission was established. The people were devastated by European diseases, leading to a huge population decline. Although Protestant missionaries put a stop to traditional practices such as cannibalism todays traditional cultural life remains strong throughout the islands of Vanuatu. In 1906, the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides was created, giving France and Britain dual administrative powers. US forces arrived in Vanuatu in 1952 to counter Japans rapid advance through the Pacific. Some 500,000 troops were stationed at Espiritu Santo over the course of the war, making it the largest US base in the Pacific outside of Hawaii. Vanuatu achieved independence under its present name in July 1980, and has a democratic government.
Village life Some 80% of people live in rural areas, mostly in small clan-based villages of less than 50 people and headed by a chief. The chief speaks on behalf of his village and his word is accepted as law. Most villages have a traditional nakamal (village clubhouse or clan hut) where men meet to talk, manage village affairs and drink kava. Visitors should always be respectful of places that are tabu (sacred, holy or forbidden). A tabu should be approached with the utmost respect.
When we arrived in Port Vila, we were told that you dont get to know the real Vanuatu until you have experienced village life, and we found that to be true. Paama Island is not a tourist destination. We were the only visitors on Paama with the exception of two Peace Corps workers.
We spent eight nights on Paama Island which has no roads and no jetty. We had to fly in by charter plane, landing on a grass airstrip, and then travelled to the school, partly by small motorboat and partly by walking on the beach.
There are 104 pupils at Vaum Junior High School in Liro on Paama Island four classes, Years 7 to 10. Its a co-educational school, with a small co-educational primary school just behind that it is run separately.
Our 20 girls slept in the dormitory with the Vaum girl students and used the same washing and toilet facilities. It was a steep learning curve especially when we discovered the first night that there were rats in the dormitory. All the water for drinking and washing was pulled up in a bucket from the well in the centre of the school-yard, and the girls quickly became adept at this.
Prior to the trip, over $6,000 was raised by the girls individually and through group fundraising efforts and with that money we took with us for the school Science equipment, educational resources, music instruments and sports equipment as well as donated clothing all gratefully received by the Principal and teachers.
The girls taught lessons, helped in classes, played sport and socialised with the Paama Island students. They also helped to re-organise the library and repair library books. They ate the local food (which we all enjoyed), went to a local Church service in another village and had an outdoor lunch afterwards with the locals, swam, sang in a village concert, and coped magnificently with very difficult circumstances. All the girls were positive, cheerful and pleasant throughout, and I felt very proud of them.
We had four full days in Port Vila at the end to relax and enjoyed day trips to Hideaway Island, Mele Waterfall, exploring the capital and just relaxing by the pool.
I extend warm thanks to The Rev. G. Skilton, Mrs E. Caradus, Dr A. Tangney and Dr P. Tompkins who accompanied us on the trip and, like the girls, contributed greatly to its success.
We would all say that the Vanuatu people are open, friendly and hospitable, and would also agree that there are many ways in which we can continue to help them. The needs are great, and we came home feeling how privileged we are.
The twenty girls on the trip were:
Tegan Anderson, Monica Bae, Emma Bishop, Rebecca Brenssell, Charlotte Cahill, Alexandra Carroll, Kacee Grant, Miu Iida, Reiko Ishihara, Alexandra Menzies, Caroline Moratti, Ashleigh Neill, Eleanor ONeill, Olivia Perry, Bailey Saville, Bridget Tompkins, Emma Turner, Genevieve Walker-Radich, Genevieve Ward and Reika Watanabe.
Photos are available in the May Newsletter.
Held at the end of last term, the Festival featured teacher-directed (15 minutes) and student-directed (5 minutes) entries. It was a very successful Festival for Columba drama with 1st place in both categories going to Columba entries. In all there were four student-directed entries from Columba with Hannah Pearson and Anna Lee/Kelly Kim each directing one, and Elizabeth Wells directing two.
Richard III, Act I, Scene 2 directed by Mrs Erina Caradus won the teacher-directed category.
Richard - Angela Jenks
Lady Anne - Adelaide Dunn
Henry VI corpse - Sophie Ray
Singers/Pallbearers - Hannah Pearson, Isabella Crawford, Sarah Woodfield, Katie Swire, Kaitlin Chamberlain, Ruby Whitaker, Annabelle Ritchie, Camelia Harrison
A Midsummer Nights Dream, Act I, Scene I, Act III, Scene 2 directed by Elizabeth Wells in Year 13 won the student-directed category.
Hermia - Isabella Crawford
Helena - Emily Williams
Mean Hermia - Sophie Ray
Mean Helena - Katie Swire
Lysander - Fiona Cannon
Demetrius - Bridget Tompkins
Extras - Ellinor Lee (Anna Lee, Kelly Kim and Caroline Moratti are also going to Wellington and performing in the student-directed entry, as are Angela Jenks, Hannah Pearson and Adelaide Dunn)
Elizabeth Wells is also acting in Richard III.
Special congratulations to Adelaide Dunn, Year 13 on the success of her vocal composition for Richard III. Adelaide has been named a finalist in the Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ Composition Competition.
Some of the adjudicators comments follow:
Perhaps the greatest strength in this production was the unity you achieved. It held together so well, and showed great co-ordination, artistry, as well as true creativity.
The opening of this scene was dramatic and arresting with its formal arrangement and the sombre use of black. The visual impact of this opening was impressive, and music and singing re-enforced the effect so well.
Music did so much to enhance the mood of this scene, and the whole performance was clearly thought through and executed, to give a really effective and very original presentation, where tableau, movement, sound, speech and use of stage, props and costume all played a significant part.
Congratulations to the director, cast and everyone who was involved in this presentation. It obviously began with an imaginative and original idea of how the scene could reflect the mood of the play as a whole, an idea that was embraced by you all. It was a great example of what can be achieved when director, cast and all involved come to share an idea and work co-operatively to bring it to life.
There was a lot of energy and sense of fun created in this performance. It was great to see a large cast used effectively, the chorus was entertaining and gave a great sense of voyeuristic pleasure, enjoying the unfolding of the fight between Hermia and Helena. This idea of the girls fighting in front of a crowd raised the tension and the strong desire to win.
Obviously you had a great time creating this piece and the audience was engaged throughout well done.
It was cleverly confusing and intelligent.
All the girls involved in Stage Challenge and Columbas entry, Alice finding Alice, are to be commended on an outstanding effort and great performance. I think we all felt very proud as we watched the girls perform at the Edgar Centre they could not have done it better.
Columbas entry received all ten Awards for Excellence:
Costuming Character
Performance Skill School Initiative
Set, Design and Function
Sound Track
Stage Use
Visual Enhancement
Comments from the judges include:
Very clever use of set pieces to portray theme simple but very effective.
Varied costumes depicting different characters well chosen.
Make-up and masks and wigs outstanding made for a visual feast.
Very strong choreography!! Choreography clearly conveyed theme, characterisation. Good use of different dance styles very strong aspect of your performance.
Narration took us back to our childhood, we could identify with it. Great contrast in the hearts scene, which was strong. Excellent conflict portrayed.
A fluent soundtrack with good contrast. Good editing, as it gave all students a chance to shine in each piece.
Great use of specialist dancers.
Libby Brown in Year 13 deserves a special mention as she very unfortunately fractured her elbow at the dress rehearsal and showed grace and dignity over the disappointment of not being Alice on the actual night and continued to support and encourage everyone else. Jessica Elsom stepped up beautifully to play the rôle for her friend. I also commend all the Year 13 girls involved on the leadership they demonstrated throughout.
Cast and Crew: Madeleine Adolph, Amira Alloo, Olivia Anderson, Te Anihana Anderson, Tegan Anderson, Annabel Angland, Lily Baldwin, Ella Barclay, Holly Barclay, Kimberley Barker, Kara Bethune, Emma Bishop, Kaia Bishop, Laura Bridger, Libby Brown, Margot Brown, Fiona Cannon, Amy Carruthers, Fenella Christensen, Kendra Crawford, Olive Dippie, Sarah Dippie, Olivia Dodds, Ban Dohan, Sarah Doré, Bethan Dunstone-Leitch, Rachel Eccles, Ruby Edwards, Jessica Elsom, Grace Finnerty, Nicola Firth, Zoey Flockton, Natalie Fong, Kate Fowler, Pene Gair, Amelia Gatward-Ferguson, Sophie Graham, Renee Grant, Ella Haig, Georgia Hall, Sophie Hamer, Olivia Hatton, Penni Huddleston, Nisa Jaafar Amsak, Angela Jenks, Alice Jones, Farah Kadada, Simran Kaur, Ellena Khoo, Shirley Kim, Alexandra Krause, Clara Kwon, Lily Le Brun, Youri Lee, Ella MacDiarmid, Rebecca MacDonell, Sawarin Maneerit , Sirintra Maneerit, St. Claire Marshall, Kirsty Maw, Sarah McCaughan, Georgia McLellan, Taylar McNeilly, Alexandra Menzies, Toni Mulholland, Olivia Nuttall, Ciara O'Donnell Jackways, Ngawai Oliver, Charlotte Paddon, Annabelle Payne, Phoebe Pegg, Ella Porter, Tania Savery, Elysia Shettler, Kenzie-May Smith, Catherine Steiner, Olivia Stevens, Megan Summers, Mifu Suzuki, Olivia Sycamore, Dayna Tan, Caitlin Taylor, Christina Taylor, Sarah Thomas, Katerina Thompson, Abigail Tillotson, Alice Toomer, Mikaela Tyrrell, Lily Van Buskirk, Anastasia Varlamova, Genevieve Walker-Radich, Genevieve Ward, Serena Waterworth, Anna-Sophia Weidling, Penny Wennekes, Hannah White, Charlotte Williams, Emily Williams, Indiana Williams, Olivia Wilson, Jamie Wood, Sarah Wood and Claire Yang.
Both Sian and Hanna have been selected for the Athletics New Zealands Oceania Team for the Oceania Area Championships in Tahiti in June. They were both chosen in the 1500m and 3000m after very strong performances at the South Island Secondary Schools Championships and for their national ranking.
Sian and Hanna are now double New Zealand representatives as Sian was selected for Cross Country and Hanna for Football in 2012. Well done, girls a great achievement. Congratulations also to Hanna on her inclusion in the two year HPSNZ Academy Otago Accelerator Programme for Football.
Columba College fielded a strong team of 25 competitors in the Otago Secondary Schools Duathlon Championships held in North Taieri on the 22nd May. Despite the cold and wet conditions, the girls performed very well and displayed their talent in both cycling and running. The strength and depth of our senior cyclists and runners was evident as Columba was placed 1st (Sian English/Laura Bridger), 2nd (Hanna English/Bailey Saville) and 3rd (Charlotte Cahill/Georgie Wood) in the senior teams division.
In the Intermediate teams section, Columba was placed 1st (Isabelle Becconsall-Ryan/Ruby Knight) and 2nd (Caitlin Deans/Anna Macdonald). Indiana Williams, who is a strong runner and a member of the Columba College Cycling Team, competed in her first individual duathlon event and was placed 2nd in the Year 9 category.
Julie McMahon
Teacher in charge of Multisport and Cycling
April 2013
The NCEA Level 3 Drama production of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde has been a highlight of the latter part of this term. Directed by Mrs Erina Caradus who teaches Levels 2 and 3 Drama at the College, the play was a fitting showcase for the talent of students studying Drama who clearly enjoyed the wit and style of Oscar Wildes characters, as did the audience!
Cast members were:
Algernon Moncrieff: Elizabeth Wells
John Worthing: Elizabeth Yarnall
Lady Bracknell: Katie Swire
Gwendolen Fairfax: Jessica Elsom
Miss Prism: Libby Brown
Cecily Cardew: Isabella Crawford
Rev. Dr. Chasuble: Penelope Couper (Old Girl)
Lane & Merriman: Caitlyn McMillan (Year 10)
Stage Crew:
Director: Erina Caradus
Margot Darling
Rachel Eccles
Georgette Watkins
Christine Wierda
Backdrop artists:
Julie Choi
Piraya Kijsupanont
Se Yoon Kim
Sawarin Maneerit
Sirintra Maneerit
Khattiya Thammongkolchai
Amelia Gatward-Ferguson, Year 13 became New Zealand Gold-Panning Champion with joint fastest time, panning for all the hidden gold dust in only 59 seconds, when the Championship was held on Butlers Green, Arrowtown as part of the Arrowtown Autumn Festival.
For the second time, Amelia won $1,200.00 towards representing New Zealand at the Australasian Championships.
Amelia was the youngest person to win the national title three years ago and said she was feeling generally positive about a return to the trans-Tasman stage.
I think I have a good shot, but its a lot different there.
We warmly congratulate Amanda Ellis on her appointment as New Zealands Ambassador to Switzerland. Amanda takes up her position in May of this year.
Amanda has been based in Wellington as the head of the New Zealand Aid Programme, leading 220 staff in New Zealand and offshore who manage over half a billion dollars of official development assistance annually. Amanda is the only woman who holds the title of Deputy Secretary in New Zealands foreign service and the first woman to head New Zealands Aid Programme.
In 2011, Amanda received the International Alliance for Womens (TIAW) World of Difference Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual Global Forum. TIAWs award acknowledged Amandas consistent commitment to promoting womens economic empowerment in developing countries and reducing gender disparities in the areas of business, finance and management. In 2012, she was awarded the East West Center Distinguished Alumni Award.
Amanda sits on the Advisory Boards of NZ Global Women, the Global Banking Alliance for Women, the UN Womens Empowerment Principles and is a member of Rotary International.
The Competition was held at the University of Canterbury under the auspices of the Confucius Institute on Saturday, 6th April.
Excellent results were gained by our students.
Holly Hanson, Year 12 was placed 1st in the South Island in the Senior Secondary Students category with Tayla Ashworth gaining a 2nd Prize and Jamie Wood a 3rd Prize. Both Tayla and Jamie are in Year 12.
In the Intermediate Secondary category Alice Jones, Year 10 was awarded a 2nd Prize with Rose Finnie and Brianna Clulee, Year 10 each gaining a 3rd Prize.
In the International/Chinese Native Students category Sayuri Naito and Mifu Suzuki, Year 13 gained a 3rd Prize and in the Tertiary Students category Tineke Jannink, Old Girl, was also awarded a 3rd Prize.
Girls involved in cycling have had a very busy and successful term. Besides the success at the Otago/Southland Secondary Schools Cycling Championships (which were highlighted in the previous newsletter), there have been several other excellent cycling achievements earned in both road cycling and mountain biking by members of the Columba College Cycling Team.
At the Otago Championships, Bailey Saville earned the title of U17 Female Otago Champion after her win in Palmerston on the 16th March. Indiana Williams was the U15 Female Otago Champion and Megan Foley won the Junior Time Trial title.
On 6th April, Mrs McMahon, Olivia Kennedy (Old Girl and team manager), Jodie Llewellyn and Tara Bennett competed in the Grape Ride, which is a 101km race through Blenheim and the Marlborough Sounds. With 2,500 participants, it is the largest cycling race in the South Island. Tara Bennett was the 3rd U19 female in this event, with Bailey Saville placing 4th and Jodie Llewellyn placing 6th. In the 42km course, Ella Bennett was the 5th placed U19 female.
Megan Foley also won the Cycling Otago Cup for the first Junior Cyclist at the Cycling Otago Palmerston 30km race on the 13th April. In the 60km course at this event, Bailey Saville was the 1st U19 female, followed closely by Ruby Knight in 2nd place. As the race was handicapped, Laura Bridger was the 3rd U19 female across the line, however, she recorded the fastest event U19 female time.
In mountain biking, Laura Bridger won the U19 Female title at the South Island Secondary Schools Mountain Biking Championships, held in Dunedin on the 30th March. Ruby Knight was the first Junior Female in the Tour de Wakatipu mountain biking race held over the Easter weekend in Queenstown.
The team has been training hard for the New Zealand Club Nationals to be held in Queenstown, 18th 20th April. On behalf of the School, I would like to wish the following girls success as they represent Cycling Otago nationally, on the challenging Queenstown course: (U19) Laura Bridger, Tara Bennett, Georgie Wood; (U17) Bailey Saville, Kaitlynn Wheeler, Jodie Llewellyn, Phoebe Swale, Ruby Knight, Olivia Jones; (U15) Megan Foley and Indiana Williams.
On behalf of the girls, I would also like to thank our new coach, Chris Henderson, for his outstanding commitment to the team.
Julie McMahon
TIC Cycling
An impressive team of 31 girls from Years 7 to 13 represented Columba College at the New Zealand National Secondary Schools Triathlon and Open Water Swimming Championships, held at Pegasus on the 21st and 22nd March. The team represented Columba College splendidly, earning several NZ medals and top 8 placings.
NZ Bronze Medal - U19 Female Triathlon Team
Olivia Stevens (Swim), Laura Bridger (Cycle), Sian Engish (Run)
NZ Bronze Medal U16 Female Triathlon Team
Caitlin Deans (Swim), Bailey Saville (Cycle), Hanna English (Run)
NZ Silver Medal Year 7 Female Open Water Swim
Meg Sycamore
NZ Gold Medal U14 Female Open Water Swim
Caitlin Deans
NZ Bronze Medal U19 Female Open Water Swim
Olivia Stevens
On behalf of the School, I would like to congratulate the team on an outstanding season at Otago, South Island and National levels. I would also like to thank all the parents for their support at the events. Successful teams are always supported by coaches and families.
Julie McMahon
TIC Triathlon and Multi-Sport
March 2013
National selection and six national medals
Columba College athletes produced their best national results ever at the national athletics championships held in Dunedin on December 7th, 8th and 9th 2012. The championship boasted 1,400 competitors from 243 schools and was a showcase of New Zealands up-and-coming talent.
Sian English ran an extremely strong race all the way to gain a silver medal in the senior girls 4km Road Race which had 36 of New Zealands best distance runners. This is the first road race medal for Columba. Sian was rewarded with selection in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Road Race Team. Her time was a very smart 14:13.43.
Maddy Spence showed her class and superb hurdling style in gaining a bronze medal in the Junior 80m Hurdles; only hundreds of seconds separated the top athletes. Maddys performance was incredible considering she was on crutches weeks prior to this with a bad knee injury at winter tournament week.
The senior 4x100m Relay team, consisting of first runner Analise Cowie, Laura Saville in 2nd position, Zoey Flockton in 3rd and Maddy Spence in 4th exceeded all expectations by gaining a silver medal in the senior event. The team had two junior runners and no Year 13 athletes, thus competing against teams that comprised older and more experienced runners. This was an absolute amazing run from all members and bettered the time the senior team posted in 2011 to win the gold medal, 49.61 seconds. Your commitment to training, the desire to succeed, the team belief and your focus in the final made you deserved medalists. Well done, girls. Sophie Napper and I share in your success and are immensely proud of this achievement.
All Columba athletes competed with distinction with many personal bests achieved along with gaining valuable experience at national level. As a group you had great team spirit, encouraged one another and gave of your best. Well done to you all. May you build on the past and look to be inspired in 2013 and keep improving to reach your potential.
Thank you to Sophie Napper, a Columba Old Girl and top athlete herself, for giving of her time to coach and manage the team. Your help and mentoring was fantastic and valuable to the girls and myself.
Special thanks to Mrs Saville for all the support she gave to the team in so many ways.
Lastly to Miss Wilson, staff ,families and students who came to watch (also the bus of boarders) - your support, and cheering, helped foster a sense of pride in competing for Columba on our home track and inspired us all to do the best we could.
March 2013
Click here for the 2012 Columba College NCEA Results.
Nicole Samuel in Year 8 has
won a NZ Blue Light Youth
Scholarship of Excellence to
attend the Australian
Blue Light
Leadership Camp
for Years 7
and 8 students
in Canberra
and Brisbane.
Two Scholarships were
awarded nationally
one to
Nicole, the other
to a boy in the
North Island. The
Scholarships are worth $2,500.
Nicole is off to Australia
to 12th April.
won the
Scholarship for
her academic achievement,
which includes
receiving High
Distinctions in the
Maths competition and the
University of New South Wales
Science examination, finishing
in the Otago Maths
and winning a
Columba College Academic
has also received High
Honours in Grade Four
Piano and Grade Six Jazz D
ance, won the
principal role of Little Cosette in the Taieri Musical Societys 2013 production of
Les Misérables
was a member of
the Columba
Year 7 Basketball team which won the Dunedin Basketball
December 2012
At the 2012 Otago Primary Athletics Championships the Columba College U12 Relay Team broke a 39 year-old record with its time of 28.13 sec.
The old record was set by the Vincent team in 1973. Well done, girls!
The 2012 Business Hall of Fame was the first COGA function that this years Year 13 students were invited to. The Old Girls Committee was keen to get the Year 13 girls involved in the organisation so that they would want to be involved in the centennial events in 2015.
Two new laureates were inducted, taking the number of laureates to 13. The Business Hall of Fame Committee consists of five Old Girls, two members of the Commerce Department, and the Patron Mrs Natalie Ellis-Wilson. This committee met many times over the year to consider possible laureates. Columba students have done very well in the business world.
The inauguration evening began with the laureates being piped on to the stage by the school piper, Frea Anderson in Year 12.
Before the laureates were announced the Head Prefect, Holly Cadzow, spoke of some of her experiences as a commerce student at Columba.
Mrs Natalie Ellis- Wilson read the citations for both laureates and the reasons why they were chosen to be the laureates for 2012.
The two new laureates inducted were Susan Berry and Sarah Ottrey.
Susan Berry was a student at Columba College from 1955-60. She was formerly a physiotherapist who worked in New Zealand and overseas. When she returned to New Zealand with her husband, Robert Berry, they went dairy farming near Oamaru. In the economic downturn in the late 1980s, she and Robert made the decision to diversify and co- founded Whitestone Cheese. They began their business in a converted garage but, as the business grew, they moved to a purpose-built factory ten times larger than the original garage and they now employ 60 staff. The complex includes the factory, delicatessen and now a café.
Mrs Berry said one of the key successes of Whitestone had been the development of its regional cheese. Its flagship, Windsor Blue, has won ten trophies, including New Zealands supreme champion in 2006.
Sarah Ottrey was a student at Columba College from 1981-3. She is now a professional company director. She had a twelve-year career with Unilever and DB Breweries, working in both New Zealand and Asia, culminating in being the head of marketing for DB Breweries.
She said a belief in the primary effect of marketing on personal shareholder value led to a personal focus on company governance. Sarah started Sarah Ottrey Marketing Limited, specialising in consumer advocacy and brand building advice to the chief executive and boards.
Her marketing goals led her to appointments to the Public Trust Modernisation Board, EBOS Group, Smiths City Group and Blue Sky Meats.
Both laureates spoke to the school assembly the next day and gave the students clear messages.
Susan talked of her career and it was very clear to the students that while you prepare for one career, it might be something quite different that you end up doing.
Sarahs message was that the girls must have courage above all else to reach their goals as even though it was getting easier for women in business, there were still barriers to overcome.
These two women will provide two more wonderful rôle models from our Old Girl numbers.
Mrs Suzanne Bishop
HOD Commerce
On Wednesday, 28th November 28 Year 6 girls crossed over to the Bishopscourt campus to spend the lunch-hour with Year 7 buddies. They were watched and clapped by all the Junior School pupils and teachers, the Years 7 and 8 girls and several Years 6 parents as they crossed over Oban Street to experience a taste of the next stage in their education.
Guest Speaker Fiona Paterson, 2012 Olympic Rower. Old Girl of the College.
The Rowing season is well underway and Columba rowing is in very good heart this year with 11 novice rowers and the other girls returning for another season. The Head Coach of Columba rowing this year is Mr Will Hyndman. Will is an accomplished rower and the girls have found his technical expertise to be invaluable. Mr Matthew Adam will also be assisting the novice rowers. Elysia Shettler is the Rowing Captain this year and she has been a wonderful asset to the team. She organises the novice rowers, helps to coach and motivate them and she liaises frequently with myself, the girls and the coaches. We are much further ahead because of her. We have also been receiving a lot of help from the Otago University Rowing Club, in particular from Glen Sinclair. Without his input and the use of the OURC facilities, we would be very stuck indeed.
The Term Four Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta was held recently on the Otago Harbour. Unfortunately, not all of the girls managed to get out racing, as the weather got the better of the water and the regatta was called off. However, it was good to see that Emma Winders was placed 1st and Annabel Angland, 3rd in the Under 17 girls single sculls. The following weekend, the Dunedin Regatta Club and North End Regatta were held out at Waihola. In the Novice Under 15 Double, Sara Griffin and Olivia Anderson were placed 1st and 2nd (respectively at each of the regattas); Emma Winders and Annabel Angland were placed 2nd in the Under 17 Double and 1st in the Club Double. It was pleasing to see the Novice girls race their 8. Despite being the only crew in the race the girls still raced hard and enjoyed themselves (we think they scared off the opposition). The Under 15 Quad was also placed 3rd at the North End Regatta an excellent result given that the Columba girls who raced are all novices. So now, we look forward to the Dunstan Arm Regatta in Clyde on the 2nd December, followed by the Otago Championships in Twizel on 15th and 16th December. The girls are training on the water five or six times per week and they are also training once or twice per week off the water. So you can see they are all working hard and they should see the benefits in the New Year.
On a different note, the Rowing Club has just purchased a safety/coaching speedboat and a new pair/double for the girls to race in. This amounts to $27,000 worth of equipment that has just been purchased. Many thanks to all those who have put in countless hours of fundraising and to The Lion Foundation and The Otago Community Trust for their generous donations. This is the beginning of the turnover of Columba equipment. Much of the equipment the girls use is being held together by a lot of glue and bog, and we need to replace the majority of the gear we currently have. So, thank you once again to all of those who have helped and continue to help Columba rowing to get back up to the levels where it used to be.
Mrs Christie Sinclair
Teacher in charge of Rowing
November 2012
The above is a new initiative on the part of Otago Polytechnic to recognise students in Otago secondary schools who have Pasifika ancestry. Each school was invited to nominate two students at junior and senior secondary levels who have distinguished themselves through their achievements, service and/or leadership.
We were pleased to nominate Natasha Kumar and Rileigh Fields as our inaugural recipients.
The University of Otago, Otago Polytechnic and Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu combine to host the annual awards ceremony, held this year on the 26th October.
Our 2012 recipients were:
Emma Griffin, Year 13
and Gabriella Perry, Year 10
We were very pleased to have Mr Li Yucai, Education Consul of the Consulate General of the Peoples Republic of China in Christchurch come especially to Dunedin on the 25th October to present prizes to three of our Year 11 students who had done very well in the above competition.
Julia Isoyama and Kim Schultz received prizes and Excellence Writing Awards, and Holly Hanson who also received prizes was awarded Most Promising Writing.
October 2012
Our biennial school musical, "Oklahoma!" by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was one of the highlights of the past term. We were treated to three outstanding performances at the Mayfair Theatre the standard and the quality of the production was a credit to all the students involved, whether they were singing, acting or dancing on stage, playing in the orchestra or helping backstage with lighting, sound, props, make-up or front of house.
Such an ambitious project does not succeed without the help of a hard-working and dedicated Production Team and sincere thanks go to:
Mr David Corballis - Director
Ms Anna Nees - Choreography
Mr Richard Madden - Musical Director
Ms Pauline McNeill - Wardrobe
Ms Teresa Andrew - Set, Costumes and Props
Mrs Jan Paterson - Production Manager
The boys from Otago Boys High School were a pleasure to have involved and the standard of their singing was commented upon by many. Nick Tipa (Curly), Sam Madden (Will Parker), Zac Seales (Jud Fry), Marco Taiaroa (Andrew Carnes) and Zac Nicholls (Ali Hakim) all made a significant contribution to the success of "Oklahoma!"
Laura Bridger (Laurey Williams), Adelaide Dunn (Aunt Eller) and Elizabeth Wells (Ado Annie) played the lead female roles with equal assurance and skill.
The singing and orchestral accompaniment throughout the whole musical were of a very high standard, and the dancers, especially in the dream scene, added another memorable and enjoyable dimension.
The whole cast is recorded at the end of the newsletter. Well done and thank you to everyone involved for a splendid musical.
Warmest congratulations to Holly Cadzow, our Head Prefect, on being selected as one of the six 2012 Scholarship winners. Holly is the first Columba College student to win an Arrow Foundation Leadership Scholarship we are very proud of Holly and this well-deserved recognition of her outstanding leadership ability.
The letter we received from Arrow International includes this sentence: What stood out for the judges was Hollys initiative in setting up the Vertical Grouping System programme and her commitment to her sports teams whilst recovering from a serious sporting injury.
Four of the six Scholarship winners are from the North Island, and two from the South Island (Greymouth and Dunedin).
Laura Barton, Year 13 is a member of the 2012 New Zealand Youth Orchestra (violin). Laura has made a valued and generous contribution to school music during the past five years through the school orchestra, chamber groups and musicals, and we congratulate her warmly on her selection for the New Zealand Youth Orchestra.
Laura has reached Trinity Grade 5 level in Singing, Piano, Theory of Music and Viola. It is, however, the Violin which has become her instrument of choice. She has participated in the Queenstown Violin Summer School for four years and, more recently, has been travelling once a month to Wellington for Violin Tuition with Emma Barron, First Violinist with the NZSO. In addition to her membership of the National Youth Orchestra and the Dunedin Youth Orchestra, she also plays from time to time with the Southern Sinfonia. Her Trio was placed First in the 2012 Otago Chamber Music Competition and she is also a member of our Madrigal Choir and Columbas Music Prefect for 2012.
Member, National Youth Orchestra 2012
Member, Southern Sinfonia 2011
Chamber Music Contest Regional winner 2012
Chamber Music Contest Regional Highly Commended 2009, 2011
Dunedin Youth Orchestra Section Principal 2010 2011
Violin Tuition with Emma Barron, 1st Violinist, NZSO
Columba College Music Prefect 2012
Trinity College London Grade 5 Singing, Viola, Piano, Theory of Music
Queenstown Violin Summer School 2007 2010
Morrison Music Trust Award for Best Use of Music at the National Finals of the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival 2011
Columba College dominated the teams section of the Otago Secondary Schools Duathlon Championships for the second consecutive year. The dedicated training put in by our cyclists and runners was evident as the girls stood out amongst the field of competitors. Columba also had four students competing in the individual section (Anna Macdonald, Jodie Llewellyn and Olivia Jones who are part of the Otago Junior Triathlon Development Squad and Tara Bennett who is part of Columbas Senior Cycling team and just recently completed the Dunedin half-marathon). All four performed well, showing their athleticism and endurance.
The Duathlon served as a perfect lead-up event for the Columba College Senior Cycling Team that is competing at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Road Cycling Championships in Feilding and Levin from the 29th September to the 1st October. The team of Laura Carruthers, Laura Bridger, Tara Bennett, Georgie Wood, Bailey Saville and Kaitlynn Wheeler have been training hard and honing their racing skills at the Cycling Otago events during the winter season and are on top form leading into this event. The girls are the only representatives from Otago at the event and are the first team from Columba to compete at national level in road cycling. The team would like to acknowledge the support of Chris Drake and Suzy Pryde as their cycling mentors and also thank Olivia Kennedy, Columba College Old Girl, for her help as an assistant manager and mentor.
Senior Girls Team
1st Sian English (run), Laura Bridger (cycle)
2nd Charlotte Cahill (run), Georgie Wood (cycle)
3rd Emma Lloyd (run), Laura Carruthers (cycle)
Senior Girls Individual
4th Tara Bennett
Intermediate Girls Team
1st Hanna English (run), Bailey Saville (cycle)
3rd Mary-Jane Wennekes (run), Kaitlynn Wheeler (cycle)
Intermediate Girls Individual
3rd Jodie Llewellyn
Junior Girls Team
1st Charlotte Calder (run), Phoebe Swale (cycle)
2nd Margot Brown (run), Ruby Knight (cycle)
3rd Olivia Anderson (run), Megan Foley (cycle)
Junior Girls Individual
2nd Anna Macdonald
5th Olivia Anderson
Julie McMahon
Teacher in charge of Duathlon and Cycling
September 2012
A great result from Columbas team in the Premier Search and Rescue event with its second place nationally. Warm congratulations to the students involved: Ailsa Carroll, Ryely Burtenshaw-Day, Holly Hanson, Year 11 and Annabelle Ritchie, Year 9.
There were also two Columba students in the Independent team that was placed 2nd nationally in Senior Dance: Annabelle Ritchie and Caroline Moratti in Year 9. Well done to this team as well.
Alice German, Year 8 also did very well to gain a 4th place nationally in Junior Search and Rescue.
The first Confucius Classroom in the South Island of New Zealand has been established at Columba College. The Confucius Classroom Opening Ceremony was held at the College on Friday, 29th June.
China, through the Confucius Institute, has established non-profit public institutions which aim to promote Chinese language and culture in foreign countries such as New Zealand. Three hundred and sixty-nine Confucius Classrooms across ninety-six countries have been opened since 2004.
The Confucius Classrooms not only provide a place to teach Chinese language and culture but they have also become a platform for cultural exchanges between China and other countries as well as a means of encouraging friendship and co-operation between China and the rest of the world.
Dunedin City Councillor Mr Andrew Noone, on behalf of the Dunedin Mayor and Mr Xie Baoming, on behalf of the Consul General of the P.R. China officially opened the classroom together. It was good to welcome other distinguished guests to Columba College such as Professor Hong Hu and Dr Adam Lam, Directors of the Confucius Institute at the University of Canterbury and Ms Susan Bouterey, Member of the Advisory Board of the Confucius Institute Canterbury, Mr Malcolm Wong, Chairman of the Dunedin Shanghai Association, Mr Steven Spelman, President of Dunedin Branch of NZ China Friendship Society, Dr Paola Voci, Senior Lecturer in Chinese at the University of Otago, Ms Stephanie Evans, Division of Humanities at the University of Otago, and Dr Margot Skinner, Chairman of the Columba College Board of Trustees.
Columba students and their teachers, Ms Ivy Ding and Miss Pan Chen, sang Welcome to Columba in Chinese, to start the opening ceremony programme. After enjoying the students speeches, a flute performance, singing and dancing programmes and a slide show of the recent school trip to China, the Columba College Confucius Classroom was officially opened. Then the guests visited the new Chinese Confucius classroom and saw a Chinese class in action.
Julia Anstey
HOD Languages and Classics
This year's Year 9 Ski Camp was held a little earlier than usual, which is just as well as, until this week's late fall, the snow was thinning fast and we had Spring conditions for most of the week, meaning reasonably firm in the morning and pumpkin-soupish by the afternoon. With 83 students, six teachers and seven parents, it was one of our biggest groups to date. We set off on Monday, 20th August, and managed to get to Coronet Peak in time to get everyone fitted and issued with their skis or snowboards and boots, before settling into the Otago, Vincent and Southland Ski Club Lodges, which were to be our home for the week. Lessons began at 9.00 a.m. each morning and lasted for 1 and half hours and it was great to see the progress that the girls made over the week, with all able to use the chairlifts and ski down various slopes by the end of the four days. Fortunately we didnt have too many trips to the medical centre and only needed to travel down the mountain twice to have students x-rayed at the Lakes District Hospital, with one broken arm needing to be set and plastered. The weather was kind to us and we managed to ski right through until 3.00 p.m. on Friday, 24th September. After a quick stop for fish and chips in the park in Alexandra, we arrived back at school very close to the scheduled 8.30 p.m. with a tired but happy group of girls.
This was the second year that we had two Year 9 students from Turakina Maori Girls' College in Marton join our Ski Camp. We were very happy to have Kohu Thomas and Sativa Mataia with us for the week. They fitted in beautifully with our girls who, in turn, learnt a lot about their school in the lower North Island.
I would especially like to thank the parents who gave up their time to help with the camp: Mrs Anne Parker, Mr Callum Reid, Mr Craig Foley, Mr Graeme Thompson, Mr Edward Fields, Prof. Anthony Ritchie and Mr Evan Baddock, who has helped with many school camps and also made a DVD of each for the girls to keep as a memento. Also, many thanks to the teachers who helped and who also skied or snowboarded with the girls Mrs Anstey, Ms Boek, Miss Wright, Mrs Skerten, Mr Stevenson and Mr Williams. I would also like to add that this was a particularly pleasant group of girls to take away and it was lovely to see them all supporting and encouraging one another, both on the slopes and back in the huts.
Ill finish with the words of Emily Ward: "My friendships grew a long way throughout this camp, and I cannot thank Columba enough for having such an awesome camp! I wish I could go back ."
Jenness Riethmaier
Year 9 Dean and Teacher in charge of Ski Camp
The First Xl Hockey Team has had a very impressive season in 2012. It claimed the Dunedin Secondary Schools` Premier title beating Otago Girls` First Xl 9- 1 in the final, Columba last held the trophy in 2007. The team won fifteen games in a fifteen week season, scoring 109 goals which is the highest on record.
This provided an excellent platform for tournament week, where the team competed in the Jenny McDonald South Island Tournament in Invercargill.
At this tournament the team was able to step up to a higher level and remain unbeaten in the seven games, scoring 53 goals, and winning the gold medal and bringing home the Jenny McDonald cup, beating Southland Girls 6-2, in a fantastic final.
The power of teamwork, goal setting, excellent preparation, quality leadership (by Samara Dalziel and Jessie Chapman) and tremendous parental support provided the pathway to success. This group of committed girls have had extra practices and have succeeded in achieving their seasons goals.
Parental support has been amazing on a weekly basis and for the duration of tournament. To the marvellous parents, you have helped the team reach its potential and assisted your daughters and myself extremely well. Thank you all.
Scores from the tournament were:
V Southland Girls 6-6
V St. Peters College 4-1
V St. Margarets College 5-0
V James Hargest High 8-0
V South Otago High 17-0
V Waitaki Girls 7-0
Final v Southland Girls 6-2
Samara Dalziel was the Most Valuable Player of the tournament for Columba College. Phoebe Steele will join Samara at a high performance ISAP camp in Auckland during the September holidays.
As the team coach I am so very proud of what the girls have achieved this season. Individually and as a team their improvement has been amazing. Well done to each and every player for a most memorable season.
First Xl Team members: Samara Dalziel (Captain), Jessie Chapman (VC), Laura Becker, Grace Brosnahan, Mackenzie Cassie, Sian English, Tyler Jeffries, Rose Johnston, Lily Le Brun, Anna McFarlane, Alexandra Menzies, Toni Mulholland, Phoebe Steele, Emma Stackhouse and Tyla Toheriri-ONeill.
Shona Harvey
First Xl Team Coach
Another successful netball season has come to an end. Columba had fifteen teams in the Secondary School competition four senior competitive teams, three senior social teams, three Year Ten teams and five Year Nine teams. The Columba Senior A netball team competed in the top club grade in Dunedin. The Senior B netball team won the top Secondary school grade, beating off a spirited St Hildas 10A team in the final. The team was coached by Mrs Lauren Piebenga and led very capably by Jessie Chapman. Most of the team will return for 2013.
The Columba 9A netball team won the Premier B grade (second top Secondary school grade), beating OGHS Year 10A team in the final. The 9A netball team put in a very gutsy performance given that they had been away at the Year 9 Ski Camp all week in the lead-up to the final. The 9A team also received the trophy for the top Year 9 netball team in Dunedin.
Other notable performances for the netball season include: Columba Senior Blue winning the Senior Two grade, Columba Senior Green placed 3rd in the Senior Four grade, Columba 10B placed 3rd in the Intermediate Two grade, Columba 9B placed 3rd in the Junior One grade, Columba White and Columba 9D placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Junior Four grade.
Columba College netball is in a very strong position with 14 girls (Years 9 to 13) being named in Dunedin Netball Centre representative teams, the Senior A netball team winning the Senior Section of the Otago Secondary Schools Netball Championships, 10A coming third and 9A being placed 2nd.
The 9A and 10A netball teams competed at the South Island Secondary School Development Netball Tournament in the July school holidays. Both teams learnt a huge amount from the tournament and came away from the games, much better teams as a result. Congratulations to Maddy Spence who was named one of the ten Year 10 girls in the South Island identified as Talented Players.
Well done also to Bridget Thayer, Year 13 who was named in the Tournament Team at the recent South Island Secondary Schools Netball Championships held last week in Dunedin.
We have had very good coaching for each of our netball teams this year and this has paid off with the girls improving their strategies and overall technique. I look forward to another rewarding and successful netball season next year. Thank you to the parents, families, friends and supporters who have all helped the netball teams to enjoy the season and be successful this year.
Christie Sinclair
Teacher in charge of Netball
August 2012
Claire McCorkindale in Year 13 is one of the 21 New Zealand secondary school students selected to
attend the 4,000 strong Hague International Model United Nations in January, 2013.
The 21 students were selected after a five-day simulation of the United Nations at the Otago/
Southland Model United Nations Assembly competition in Dunedin in May and at the national contest
in Wellington which followed.
The aims of The Hague International Model United Nations are to seek through discussion,
negotiation and debate solutions to the various problems of the world, such as questions of human
rights, protection of the environment, economic development, disarmament, the problems of youth and
refugees, and the more critical issues of war and peace.
We congratulate Claire warmly on her selection.
This year the Junior School children put on the musical, The Emerald Crown.
The musical portrayed the story of how the tranquillity of the Amazon rain forest is shattered with the
arrival of a twentieth-century Highwayman, who instructs his gang of Slashers and Burners to destroy
large areas of the forest for profit. After witnessing the devastation that follows, the Toucan decides
that it is time to teach these people a lesson. He promises to lead them to the Jungle Queen and show
them treasures greater that they ever imagined. The Slashers and Burners agree to go along with the
Toucan but secretly plan to steal the riches. They begin their long journey through the forest, meeting
all sorts of amazing creatures on the way. At last the Jungle Queen emerges. Little do they know, they
are in for a big surprise when they realise that once removed, rain forest treasure becomes worthless.
This is our sixth Musical Production and it was evident the excitement had not waned. Once again Mrs
Borick and the children are to be congratulated on such a superb effort.
As usual with a production there are always behind the scene activities which must take place to
ensure its success. Many thanks go to Mrs Clair Robertson, Claire Anglin and Dylan Shield for
assisting with the lighting, Mr Tony Borick,Mr Bruce Blucher and Mrs Mandy Joseph for the props, Mrs
Debbie Ericson and Mrs Jo Westgate for the beautiful bird costumes and Abbey Hamilton, Heather
Robertson and Jade Buck who assisted at the door.
Our sincere thanks must also go to Mr Richard Warnock for his superb piano accompaniment, Miss
Alison Bowcott who so ably teaches and conducts the Junior School Orchestra, Mrs Glenda Simpson
for the choreography and of course to our wonderful Musical Director, Mrs Judith Borick, who put so
many hours into perfecting and bringing The Emerald Crown to life.
Finally a big thank you must go to all the Junior School children. They managed to showcase their
superb talents in a most successful 2012 Musical Production.
Marion Hogg
Dean of the Junior School
We were delighted to hear that Hanna English in Year 10 has
been selected for the NZ Secondary School Girls' U16 Football
Team. The letter we received with this news reads: "This
selection confirms that your student has been recognised by
NZ Secondary School Head Coach, Paul Temple, and leading
coaches in her Federation as a player with the potential to
aspire to high levels in football."
The team will participate in an international age group
tournament in Fiji from the 9th to 15th December. Eighteen girls
were selected for the team with four of them from the South
We congratulate Hanna warmly on her selection for a national
The annual Winter Quadrangular Tournament was recently hosted by Columba College. It was
fantastic to utilise our wonderful Marsh Sports Centre. Activities contested included 1st X1 Hockey,
Senior A Netball, Senior A Badminton and Debating. The tournament provided excellent competition
with several outstanding and talented individuals and teams on show including New Zealand,
Canterbury, South Canterbury and Otago representatives.
All teams were able to benefit from the Tournament spirit of goodwill, friendship and fair play.
Congratulations to St. Margaret's College (Christchurch) on winning the Tournament. Columba
College shared second place with St. Hilda's Collegiate and Craighead Diocesan (Timaru) was 4th.
A special thank you to Columba families who hosted seventy girls from the visiting schools. Your
generosity was very much appreciated.
Columba's creditable performance was the result of determination, commitment and application by
players, coaches and staff members. A fantastic tournament atmosphere prevailed and was enjoyed
by all. Each team had momentous moments they will treasure.
"The ultimate goal should be doing your best and enjoying it".
Mrs S. Harvey
Director of Sport
June 2012
Ellen Gipp in Year 12 was awarded 1st place internationally in the age category of Year 12 students for her story in French. It is a wonderful result to gain the top award in a European short story-writing competition (Jeunes Auteurs pour lEurope) contested by secondary school pupils from New Zealand, Australia and Europe.
Ellen spent eight weeks of Term I writing a short story as part of Columba Colleges Gifted and Talented Education programme. Ellen wrote her story of over one thousand words in French about a young woman who hit her head, and the ensuing memory loss and confusion.
A student from Onslow College won the top prize at Year 13 level.
The competition is organised by the School for Young Writers in Christchurch and this is the fifth year that New Zealand schools have entered. Columba students have won prizes in the last three years.
Excellent results were gained by our students in RoboCup 2012.
Premier Search and Rescue
1st RoboAngels
Ryely Burtenshaw-Day, Ailsa Carroll,Holly Hanson and Annabelle Ritchie
Junior Search and Rescue
1st Alice
Alice German
Senior Theatre
2nd Chipettes
Olivia Anderson, Sacha Holland, Olivia Jones and Courtney Shaw
3rd Once Upon a Time
Rachel Eccles and Christine Wierda
Senior Search and Rescue
2nd CC Senior Reserve 2
Kara Bethune, Heidi Chin and Josephine Williamson
3rd CC Senior Rescue 1
Chloe Lai, Jenny Mi and Anastasia Varlamova
Senior Soccer
2nd Potato Pi (Independent)
Annabelle Ritchie team member
Best Programming Prize
2nd Potato Pi (3.4) (Independent)
Annabelle Ritchie team member
The South Island Competition was held in Dunedin on the 27th June with six Year 11 students representing Columba College:
Ella Barclay, Holly Barclay, Ryley Burtenshaw-Day, Ailsa Carroll, Aïcha Wijland and Emily Willis.
There were around 100 students competing individually in approximately 18 teams. The Columba team made it to the team final of seven teams but was unplaced.
Ella Barclay, Holly Barclay and Ailsa Carroll made it to the individuals semi-final of 30, with 11 of these students chosen for the final (Ella and Holly were among the final 11).
Warm congratulations to Ella Barclay on attaining 3rd place in the South Island. Ella won a plaque, a $50.00 book voucher, a $50.00 iTunes voucher and a place at the Hands on Science camp at Otago University next January.
Columba students were again to the fore in Stage Challenge 2012, earning 3rd place in Otago and five Awards for Excellence (Concept, Drama, Enviromental and Social Awareness, Initiative and Stage Use). 1st place went to Otago Girls High School and 2nd place to Logan Park High School.
All the girls enjoyed the experience of working and performing together, and can be proud of their entry which highlighted the issue of child soldiers and their result. The Year 13 girls who organised and led the Columba entry (Sara Colombo, Vienna Sutherland, Sacha Coghill, Tatiana Biggerman, Sarah Storm, Grace Swain and Mackenzie Whitaker) are especially to be commended on their responsible leadership throughout.
Cast and Crew: Amira Alloo, Jessica Alsop, Ella Barclay, Holly Barclay, Ruby Beck, Tatiana Biggemann, Kaia Bishop, Charlotte Boyce, Jamie Boyce, Victoria Brown, Margot Brown, Libby Brown, Sera Cadigan, Holly Cadzow, Charlotte Cahill, Amy Carruthers, Grace Cassie, Lydia Christensen, Fenella Christensen, Libby Cochrane, Sacha Coghill, Sara Colombo, Alexandra Coombes, Alannah Corson-Keogh, Georgia Cotton, Genevieve Crawford, Gabrielle Crawford, Sarah Dippie, Olive Dippie, Olivia Dodds, Rebecca Doré, Jessica Elsom, Ciara Fitzsimons, Kate Fowler, Fern Grant, Emma Griffin, Ella Haig, Emily Huddleston,Penni Huddleston, Madison Hughes, Bella Hurley-Skegg, Julia Isoyama, Alice Jones, Olivia Jones, Lydia Joseph, Boome Kim, Keely Littlejohn, Connie Lloyd, Ella MacDiarmid, Charlotte McAdams, Sarah McCaughan, Sarah McDonald, Alexandra McKenzie, Georgia McLellan, Alexandra Menzies, Toni Mulholland, Georgia Nichol, Natalie Paterson, Abby Pegg, Heather Robertson, Alana Samuel, Kenzie-May Smith, Catherine Steiner, Sarah Storm, Vienna Sutherland, Grace Swain, Emily Thomas, Rachel Thompson, Abby Tillotson, Alice Toomer, Millie Townsend, Kate Turnbull, Lily Van Buskirk, Anastasia Varlamova, Emily Ward, Anna-Sophia Weidling, Annabel Wennekes, Penny Wennekes, Mackenzie Whitaker, Emily Williams, Indiana Williams and Jamie Wood.
Held on the 10th and 11th June at the Edgar Centre, the Tournament was a very successful one again for Columba College netball. Our teams gained a place in each of the three divisions a huge credit to the players, their coaches and managers.
Senior Competition - 1st (for the fourth consecutive year which is the first time this has happened at senior level).
Intermediate Competition - 3rd
Junior Competition - 2nd
Team members are:
Senior A: Hannah Cowie (Netball Captain), Annabel Angland, Grace Carruthers, Analise Cowie, Zoey Flockton, Holly Hoogvliet, Bridget Thayer, Heather Thompson, Olivia Wilson, Sarah Wood.
Intermediate A: Olivia Adam, Kaia Bishop, Sarah Dippie, Hannah McConnachie, Cherish-Peace Nielsen, Sandy Reid, Bailey Saville, Maddy Spence, Emma Turner, Kaitlynn Wheeler.
Junior A: Olivia Anderson, Jenna Chisholm, Briar Crosbie, Lily Cunningham, Olivia Jones, Anna Macdonald, Tania Savery, Phoebe Swale, Ella Wood.
Friday, 20th July from 9.00 a.m.
March 2012
% of students achieving NCEA at Columba College
Level 1 (Year 11)
Level 2 (Year 12)
Level 3 (Year 13)
2011 (Provisional)
2007 % of Overall Excellence and Merit Endorsements
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
2008 % of Overall Excellence and Merit Endorsements
2009 % of Overall Excellence and Merit Endorsements
2010 % of Overall Excellence and Merit Endorsements
2011 % of Overall Excellence and Merit Endorsements (Provisional)
Students Achieving NCEA Level 1 Literacy (%)
Students Achieving NCEA Level 1 Numeracy (%)
Students achieving University Entrance
Scholarship Grades
* Highest number of Scholarship Grades in Otago and Southland. In 2009 and 2010, second highest. In 2011 equal highest.
o In 2010 there were 53 girls in Year 13 (a smaller number than usual). Proportionally, the percentage of Scholarship grades on a head-count basis for 2010 was very pleasing.
Art History
Classical Studies
Mathematics with Calculus
Media Studies
Physical Education
Statistics and Modelling
Visual Arts (Design, Painting, Photography)
10 *
20 *
17 *
25 *
21 *
No. of girls gaining 2 or more
No. of girls gaining 3 or more
* Highest number of Scholarship Grades in Otago and Southland. In 2009 and 2010, second highest. In 2011 equal highest.
Congratulations to the Annabel Drummond, Year 12 in 2011 who
gained top place in New Zealand in Cambridge A Level Music.
Annabel is pictured performing at the Cambridge
Awards Ceremony at Auckland Grammar School
in February. Annabel is now studying at the School
of Music, Victoria University.
December 2011
The 2011 netball season was a busy and successful time for Columba College netball teams. Columba had 16 teams competing in the Years 9-13 Saturday competition. Of these teams, four were senior competitive teams, five were senior social teams, four were Year 10 teams and three were Year 9 teams. Of the 11 teams eligible for finals, eight of the teams made it through to the final day of competition. This year the grades were reformatted. There were three premier grades, where schools were to enter their three strongest teams, followed by senior, intermediate and junior grades. The Senior B netball team competed in the top secondary school grade Premier 1 and they were the winners of the final in round 2. The team, coached by Miss Louise Thayer, had a wealth of experienced girls in it, including Jessie Chapman, Libby Cochrane, Lauren Elsom, Kimberley Martyn, Shannon Morton, Heather Thompson and Lauren Williams. Annabel Angland and Jessica Elsom were the new members of this team. The team can be very proud of its wonderful performance this year.
The Columba Year 10 A team competed in Premier 2. They were the winners of the first round and placed third overall. The team was very ably coached by Miss Pip Allan and Miss Lucy Carpenter. Girls in the team this year were Tayla Ashworth, Alice Hoogvliet, Emily Huddleston, Kay Martin, Georgia Nichol, Laura Saville, Millie Townsend, Georgie Wood and Jamie Wood. This team overcame numerous injuries to girls to complete a successful season.
Columba 9A competed in the Premier 3 grade and gained a creditable 2nd place at the end of the second round. The girls were coached by Mr William and Mrs Hinerangi Nielsen and assisted by Mr Glen Wheeler. Girls in the team were: Analise Cowie, Sarah Dippie, Faaoosala Lale, Hannah McConnachie, Cherish-Peace Nielsen, Maddy Spence, Bailey Saville, Emma Turner and Kaitlynn Wheeler. The team can be proud of its achievements this year and we look forward to even more success next year.
One of the highlights for me personally this year was watching the performance of the Columba Senior D netball team. The ability of this team was evident to those watching and they overcame Senior A and B netball teams from other schools. Mrs Sandy Ehlers coached the team again this year. Her enthusiasm, support, understanding and knowledge of the game meant that the girls were well prepared for each of their games. She has been a real asset to the School and her contribution to Columba netball will be missed. The team was comprised of: Melissa-Jane Austen, Sophie Borland, Samantha Carswell, Sophie Ehlers, Lucy Hunter, Catherine Steiner, Victoria Steiner, Sarah Thomas and Kate Waterman.
There were many other highlights throughout the netball competition too numerous to list here. Thank you to all of you who have coached, managed, assisted and supported Columba netball. Thank you also to the girls who played netball this year. You are wonderful representatives of the School. We look forward to another successful and enjoyable season in 2012.
Christie Sinclair
- Teacher-in-charge of Netball
An Otago/Southland Secondary Schools Inter-School One-Day event was held in Invercargill on Sunday, 27th November. The event involved dressage, show jumping and cross-country.
It was great news to hear that the Columba Equestrian Team won 1st place at the One-Day Event. The six students in our team were: Michaela Little, Hannah Johnston, Anya Johnston, Ellie Nesbit, Tyla Toheriri-ONeill and Stephanie Jasperse. Southland Girls took 2nd place and James Hargest 3rd place.
Well done to everyone in the team, and thank you to the parents who supported their daughters and transported ponies.
Mrs Shona Harvey was one of six New Zealand School Sports Directors (out of over 100 applicants) to be selected to attend a fully funded Sport and Academic Study Trip to Melbourne from the 21st November to the 26th November, 2011.
Mr Des Smith, the Otago Secondary Schools Sports Director, attended assembly on the 3rd November to announce this well-deserved award for Mrs Harvey.
Speech by Mr Des Smith at Assembly
In addition to my rôle as Otago Regional Sports Director, I am also a member of the NZSSSC, a body that oversees secondary school sport throughout the country. The Board consists of 13 Principals as well as two representatives from Sparc and myself as an RSD.
Earlier this year, the Board made the decision to offer six Sports Study Awards to people in schools who demonstrate outstanding leadership in sport, not only in their own school but also in their province. To apply for this award applicants needed to be experienced Sports Leaders, to be Sports Co-ordinators or Sports Directors who have demonstrated proven ability to deliver quality sporting opportunities for their students, and above all to have shown the ability to influence the sporting agenda in their school.
The successful applicants will visit schools in Victoria, Australia, including the Maribynong Sports College, the only government-funded specialist Sports College in Australia, as well as observing an innovative sport in education project in central Melbourne schools.
Columba College, along with its high academic standards, is fast becoming one of NZs leading sporting schools. Not only does the school have a high participation rate of 91%, but it is also competing successfully at the top level in a number of sports.
The close links with Physical Education and Sport, the wonderful support from the Principal, staff and school community, and the student desire to be involved in sport, are all key factors in having a strong sporting culture at Columba College.
The person who has led this development over a number of years, deserves recognition for her fine efforts. Her outstanding organisation, her desire to ensure that all students are given the opportunity to participate regardless of their ability, and her commitment to help make Columba College reach its sporting potential, should be applauded.
As outlined earlier, the NZSSSC Sports and Travel award will involve visiting a number of schools in Melbourne in late November this year.
It is with a great deal of pleasure that I now announce that one of the six NZSSSC Sports and Travel Awards for 2011 is made to Mrs Harvey.
We acknowledge with sincere appreciation the kind donation of 51 dining-chairs for the Bishopscourt dining-room. People visiting the dining-room have commented very favourably on the chairs, their comfort and the way they have enhanced the look of the dining-room.
We record with appreciation the parents and individuals who have donated chairs with plaques designated as follows:
Kimberley Barker
Tara Bennett
Tatiana Biggeman
Emma Booth
Holly and Zoe Cadzow (2 chairs)
Libby and Rebecca Cochrane (2 chairs)
Georgia and Emma Cotton (2 chairs)
Margot Darling
Charlotte Foster
Zoe Lenagh-Glue
Charlotte Hall
Shannon Harrison
Rose Johnston
Jodie Tsukasa Llewellyn
Mrs Magda Marx
Amelia McGeorge
Alexandra Menzies
Paige and Shannon Morton (2 chairs)
Ailsa Ottrey (Wilson), Ruth Ottrey (Craigie), Jane Ottrey, Sarah Ottrey and Kate Menzies (Ottrey)
The Parents Association (8 chairs)
Kylie Pennycook
Sandy Reid
Harriet and Maddie Reith (2 chairs)
Bridget and Sasha Roulston (2 chairs)
Laura and Bailey Saville
Kelsey Shaw
Sim Family, Garston
Brittany Spark
Emma Stackhouse
Grace Swain
Heather Thompson
Gina Watts
Miss Elizabeth Wilson
Anna, Rachel and Olivia Wilson
Grace Wilson
Georgia Wood
Sarah Wood
Emma Wylie
Illumination join us in taking up The Torchlight List
Over his University teaching career, Professor Jim Flynn, author of The Torchlight List, around the world in 200 books (published by Awa Press, available UBS and elsewhere) noticed that fewer students were reading the great works of literature. This trend is clear at school too. We support our students in Wide Reading programmes and discuss popular reading, but although our most academic girls read and talk about reading with their parents and like-minded students, Facebook and downloaded films more often claim most girls' attention.
Professor Flynn's book is far more than a standard list, though that does occupy the last 40 pages. The body of The Torchlight List is a discussion of each book selected, presented with insight accumulated through years of academic and personal experience, written by one born into the magic realm. He includes sections such as Latin America, A Few Books on Africa, The Human Condition, Science and Early Civilisation.
My first copy of Professor Flynn's book was stolen back to London by my visiting daughter. She challenged me to a competition which of us had read more titles from the list. I was very relieved that I scored more than she did, my reputation just surviving annihilation. I suspect she'll challenge me again in five years. Professor Flynn's books offer food for the soul and guidance for us all when, in this time-poor lifestyle, we want to make our reading time count.
We have trained our students to be goal-centred, to expect more than the intrinsic value of our wise words, and so a certificate system was born. I am very pleased that Imogen Davis, Ghazaleh Dousti and Shalini Ramarao earned the first Torchlight Certificates in New Zealand. Other schools are making enquiries about following our lead. Completing the Certificate supports the other reading programmes in the school and offers a deeper reading experience. I hope many more of our students will take up the opportunity in 2012, which is why we allowed our Years 11 and 12 students to borrow a copy over the holidays. I hope families make use of them too.
Chris Carrell - HOD English
Sophie and Sasha were two of the four South Island recipients of a PwC Scholarship. In total, PwC awarded 21 Scholarships to New Zealand Year 13 students this year. Recipients each receive $7,000.00 towards the cost of their University education, mentoring support, and a summer internship in their final year of study at one of the seven PwC offices nationally. The three Dunedin winners have also been offered the opportunity to work part-time while completing their degree at the University of Otago.
Good wishes and congratulations to Tatiana Biggeman who has won a two-week trip to New Caledonia to stay with a French-speaking family in a competition run by the Alliance Française de Dunedin.
Up to 90 Years 9 to 13 students enter the New Caledonia Air-sponsored competition every year. Well done, Tatiana!
Congratulations go to all the members of Ms Riethmaiers Year 9 German class who have recently learned that their entry in the 2011 German Short Film Contest has won First Prize in the Years 7 10 category. This is the second win for Columba in the past three years in the competition that is run each year for students of German by the National German Adviser together with the Goethe Institut and the German Embassy. Each year a topic is set and this years was ABCde, to reflect an exhibition that toured capital cities of the world on aspects of life in Germany represented by each letter of the alphabet. Students write and act their own script and, after much discussion, Nicky Ker came up with the idea of a TV show to find Germanys next top letter, run along the lines of Germanys Next Top Model. The girls used several class periods to write and rehearse the script and Mr Evan Baddock came in for the filming which was completed in just two periods. We featured the letters of Germany and New Zealand (Deutschland and Neuseeland), using four students from the Junior School, Oscar Sycamore, Aiden Hung, Poppy Jennings and Charlotte de Lautour to help supply the extra letters of Neuseeland. The three girls playing the letters which did not feature in both countries (C, H and T) were eliminated from that round. These film contests are an excellent way for students to use their language creatively and to have fun at the same time. Each girl is to be commended on her pronunciation which was outstandingly clear. We were very fortunate that Mr Baddock was willing to film our efforts with the added bonus that he was also able to incorporate some ski camp footage into the photo shoot scene. The Film Contest is run at three levels: Years 7 10, 11 13 and Tertiary, and the winning entries will be shown at the Prize-Giving Ceremony to be held at the National Film Archive Centre in Wellington. Three of the students, Amy Logie, Claire Anglin and Tyla Toheriri-ONeill, accompanied Ms Riethmaier to collect their $500.00 prize on Friday, 2nd December. We will be holding a celebratory pizza lunch for the girls of both German classes who entered the competition and the remainder of the prize money will go towards resources for German.
Amy Logie, Alice Toomer - Presenters
Helen Gregory Hostess
Sarah Dippie, Nicky Ker, Genevieve Ward - Judges
Letters: Claire Anglin (D), Emma Turner (E), Isobel Pearson (U), Hanna English (T), Shannon McKee (S), Kaia Bishop (C), Tyla Toheriri-ONeill (L), Alyssa Williams (A) Alyssa was ill on the filming day and her place was admirably filled at the last moment by Olivia Adam Mary-Jane Wennekes (N)
Charlotte de Lautour, Poppy Jennings, Aiden Hung, Oscar Sycamore Little Letters
Rest Home Inhabitants: Mrs West, Ms Riethmaier
Stop Press!! Further congratulations to all the participants our entry, Deutschlands Nächster TopBuchstabe, won not only the Years 7 10 category but also the trophy for Bester Film, beating the Years 11 to 13 and University films, a commendable achievement for Year 9 students!!
Jenness Riethmaier - Teacher of the Year 9 German Class
Well done to Flavia Wilson in Year 13 on her success in the 2011 New Zealand Secondary Schools Film Competition run by the National Association of Media Educators (N.A.M.E.). Flavia who has been studying NCEA Level 3 Media Studies through DunedinNet this year was awarded 1st place in the Best Documentary section with her film, Decoding Downloading.
Judging criteria included:
Flavias film was also entered by her Media Studies teacher in the Otago Secondary Schools Film Festival where she won 2nd place (across all genres and entries).
Inspiration for her documentary came from the Governments Copyright Amendment Act 2011, which came into effect on 1st September this year.
Under the Act, copyright owners can tell fixed-line internet service providers (ISP) that they believe an internet subscriber is infringing their copy-right through peer-to-peer file sharing.
The ISPs in turn send warning notices to the relevant subscribers and, after three warnings, the copyright owner may take their case to the Copyright Tribunal, which can impose a penalty of up to $15,000 on the internet subscriber.
Flavia said her documentary was in response to the new legislation, and showed there were more positive effects to downloading than the Government cared to admit.
I outlined the benefits of downloading to New Zealand industry.
I believe artists and film-makers should definitely be paid for their work. But copyright law is irrelevant to digital media.
Well done to both Stephanie and Melanie on being awarded a University of Otago Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship.
The University of Otago Selection Committee considers the following factors in recommending the award of a Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship:
Recipients receive $5,000.00 against their fees for the first year of study at the University of Otago.
The Programming Challenge 4 Girls is a competition held around New Zealand and parts of Australia during November for teams of Year 10 girls. The philosophy of the challenge is to introduce girls to the concept of programming via Alice and to boost their interest in the field of Computer Science. The day consists of a period of tuition and practice in Alice for the girls, which is then followed by a two and a half hour programming challenge. The team programs are marked by a panel of judges and Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are awarded based on the quality of the program developed by the team.
Eight Year 10 Columba College pupils attended the Otago Challenge and all were successful in receiving medal placings, which is a fantastic result and a credit to the Year
10 Digital Technology course taught by Mr Luke Smith. The Gold medal winning of team
of Holly Hanson and Nanako Shitara were the top Otago students and thus have been selected to attend a computer science summer camp in
Sydney in January 2012 which has been funded by Google.
Programming Challenge 4 Girls Winners:
Gold - Holly Hanson and Nanako Shitara
Silver (2nd Equal) Holly Barclay and Julia Isoyama
Silver (2nd Equal) Ailsa Carroll and Aïcha Wijland
Bronze Amy Carruthers and Ryley Burtenshaw-Day
July 2011
Second Place in Otago with nine Awards for Excellence
Award of Excellence for Environmental and Social Awareness
Award of Excellence for Drama
Award of Excellence for Choreography
Award of Excellence for Concept
Award of Excellence for Performance Skill
Award of Excellence for Stage Use
Award of Excellence for Soundtrack
Award of Excellence for Visual Enhancement
Award of Excellence for Costume Character
Columba students made a very successful entry in the Otago/Southland One Act Play Festival held in Invercargill. Penelope Couper, Imogen Davis and Dannielle Hall performed "The Rosenberg Sisters" by Michelanne Forster, directed by Mrs Erina Caradus.
The girls won the prize for Best Production overall at the Festival; also the prize for Best Youth Production; and Penelope one of the three awards for Outstanding Performances.
The South Island Festival, held in Te Anau soon afterwards on the 15th and 16th July, was also an excellent experience for the girls who received the award for Best Technical Production. Peneleope was also awarded Best Female Actor. Well done!
Mrs Caradus wrote after the South Island Festival:
"Those who had seen our play before said it was even better than in Invercargill and it certainly felt that way to me as well. We had an enormous amount of feedback from audience members seeking us out after the play to talk about it. Whether we make it through or not, to the National finals in the North Island I am exceedingly proud of the girls' performance and attitude throughout the time I have been working with them. They are a real credit to the school and they have certainly earned the respect and support of the wider dramatic community".
We were delighted to hear that the Mousikos Trio was selected as one of twelve regional winners to perform at the National Chamber Music Semi-Finals in Hamilton at the end of term. This is the second successive year that the Trio of Annabel Drummond, Modi Deng and Hannah Kim has won the Otago regional finals and been selected to compete in the national semi-finals. From the national semi-finals, six groups are selected to perform at the finals.
It is a great achievement musically to be selected as one of the twelve top performing groups from the regional competitions to compete in the national semi-finals. Well done to our two students, Annabel and Modi.
When Helen Kent, Jessica Barton and Melanie Redding decided to enter the "Jeunes Auteurs pour L'Europe" writing competition, they did so for a bit of fun and as a way to extend themselves in French. The trio spent five weeks writing a short story in French about a family living in Soviet times who boarded a ship in Russia and emigrated to Nice.
Entering students into this international competition forms part of the Gifted and Talented Education programme (GATE) of the College. GATE funding meant that the girls could work closely with French native speaker, François Buffet on drafting and redrafting their work. The competition is open to schools from all over Europe and the USA.
New Zealand co-ordinator for the competition, Glyn Strange of The School for Young Writers in Christchurch said that Columba College students had fashioned an enviable record of taking out top placings every year. However this is the first year that a group has taken out the First Prize in the Senior Category, effectively the top prize in the whole competition.
The students' work will feature on the website of the Academie Orléans-Tours in September. They will be awarded with various works of French literature.
Elaine Kelly, Teacher of French.
(Photo courtesy of The Otago Daily Times, June 27th 2011)
Read the girls' winning story here : http://www.schoolforyoungwriters.org/frenchCompetition/entries.php
Friday, 5th August
9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. (Visits to classes and the Boarding Residences)
1.00 p.m. (Principal's address)
1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. (Visits to the Boarding Residences)
School: The School (Years 1 to 13) will be open for tours from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m.
Boarding Residences: These will be available to visit from 9.00 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. and again from 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Prospective boarding students and their parents are welcome to attend a buffet lunch in the dining-room from 12.15 p.m. to 12.45 p.m. Mrs Richelle Manson, Director of Boarding, will also attend the lunch along with members of the House Committee.
Principal's address: This will be at 1.00 p.m. in the Recreation Room of Katharine Buchan House. The address will cover key aspects of the College, its aims and objectives, strengths and special features, co-curricular programme and key points of entry such as Year 7 and Year 9. It will also be an opportunity to ask questions, if so wished.
We look forward to showing you around the College on Open Day and thank you in anticipation of your interest.
Elizabeth Wilson
3rd June, 2011
Click here for a campus map showing the following key locations:
Service of Introduction for the College's two Chaplains, First Church of Otago.
Left to Right: The Rev. Barry Kelk (Chaplain), The Right Rev. Peter Cheyne (Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand), The Very Rev. Dr. Graham Redding (Past Moderator), The Rev. Tokerau Joseph (Minister of First Church), Miss Elizabeth Wilson (Principal of Columba College), The Rev. Geoffrey Skilton (Chaplain).
March 2011
Valerie Adams as guest speaker delivered a very inspirational message - to achieve one must put in hours of practice, have a balanced life and focus mentally.
April 2011
Warm congratulations to Laura Bridger in Year 11 on winning her first New Zealand Under 17 Cross Country Mountain Biking Title at the New Zealand Mountain Bike Championships held at Forrester Park last month.
Laura has been involved in the sport of Mountain Biking since a young age and has the ambition to become a professional rider and represent New Zealand at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Laura shows great commitment by training four days a week and enjoys her coaching sessions with NZ 24-hour champion, Erin Green.
The top eight qualifiers from the Otago Athletics meet competed with Southland's Top 5 competitors in the Annual Otago/Southland Athletics meeting held in Dunedin on 11th and 12th March. Here athletes were vying to make the Top 5 to gain entry into the South Island event in Timaru in two weeks. Columba had a record 25 athletes competing.
On Friday night the team got off to a great start with an excellent run by Laura Carruthers who won the 2000m Open Steeplechase in a very smart time of 7m:43.18.
The Saturday saw Columba athletes perform with distinction. Individual titles went to Laura Saville, Bailey Saville, Hanna English, Renaye Flockton, Charlotte Cahill, Laura Carruthers, the 4 x 100 Senior Relay team and the 4 x 100m U16 Relay team. Many girls recorded personal bests and achieved individual goals they had set themselves for the meeting.
A record 21 athletes qualified in the Top 5 for the South Island Athletics Meeting in Timaru.
Well done to all team members on outstanding results and sportsmanship, and on representing the School with style. Timaru awaits in the first week in April for the South Island Championships.
Thank you to the great group of parents and supporters. For the second week in a row team spirit was high and the encouragement of all families and supporters was appreciated.
Shona Harvey
Director of Sport
It was a great day at the Columba Fair! We would like to thank the
following businesses for their support of Columba College and ask you to
help support them with your business.
Click here for the list of Auction items for the Columba College Fair.
Columba College is excited to announce their upcoming Fair, to be held on
Saturday, April 2nd at the campus on Highgate. A pipe band will start the
festivities at 11:30 a.m.
The school will host many family-oriented activities -LOTS of games with
great prizes, TWO bouncy castles and an inflatable climbing wall, music,
a magician and much more!
The International Foods stall, the Easter Stall and the meat sale are
always a highlight as are the variety of delicious cakes and sweets
available-stock up now for the Easter break. And don't miss The Gourmet
Market-filled with delicious foods, fruits, chutneys and breads. Call
into the "Columba Tea Room" for your choice of a "Kiwi", "English" or
French tea and a "cuppa" to rest during your whirlwind of excitement and
Items have been pouring in for the "Elegant Junk"stall and gently used
clothing/ toys booths. Boxes of books and magazines will fill an entire
room! There are many wonderful prizes and surprises at the Tombola, Dutch
Auction and Raffle tables.
Columba College looks forward to fun-filled morning on the 2ND and hopes
to see you there!
January 2011
November 2010
Winner of the 2010 Otago Young Enterprise Scheme and an Excellence Award at the National Finals.
Biddy Skerten, Managing Director, and Sarah Robertson, Production Director, attended the National Finals in Wellington with Mrs S. Bishop, HOD Commerce, and Mr Craig Smith, mentor. Biddy and Sarah made an excellent presentation to the judges, and their product (the bio-degradable pen) attracted a lot of interest at the trade show.
It was announced at the dinner that Re-Think Green had won The Movac Award for High Growth Potential.
The criterion for the Movac Award is: The company with the best fast growth idea with the potential to yield $5 million annual revenue within five to seven years. The prize was a $1,000 cheque for the company directors and a trophy.
We warmly congratulate all the girls in Re-Think Green on their success at national level: Samantha Allen, Michelle Bridson, Gemma Cowie, Caroline Crowley, Ashleigh Keen, Gemma Laws, Gabrielle McFarlane, Amanda Navaratne, Jennifer Noone, Lydie Schmidt, Sarah Robertson, Biddy Skerten and Kirsten Williams.