In today’s newsletter we have the following:
Senior Leadership Team
Principal News
Dear parents and whānau
He waka eke noa
What an absolutely busy and exciting time of the year. We are about to send over 100 students and 17 staff to Tauranga and Mount Maunganui for the annual AIMs games. The excitement and positivity is absolutely palpable with much talk about the people they will meet and the challenges they will face. As an educational leader, I can’t think of a better way to teach our students about challenge and connection.
I hate saying good luck when it comes to sport because I believe you make your own luck by being organised, determined and connected so instead I will say: keep your eyes open, enjoy the experience and remember the little things.
Our PTA is in the midst of organising our ANI quiz night for Friday 18 October. I encourage you to come along, catch up with other people from the community and have some fun trying to answer some questions. I promise the questions will not be overly hard and will give everyone a chance.
Another positive opportunity for our community to engage was with our termly Hui/Fono meeting. On this night we celebrated some cultural arts with the video of our kapa kahui and dance pieces from our Cook Islands and Tongan group. It was fantastic to have whānau share their thoughts to help support our students at ANI.
The whakatauki above does seem to celebrate the things that are happening. I love that it talks about us all being on the waka, heading in the same direction. My challenge is to make sure we can be clear about the direction and mobilise all of the community to paddle in the same direction. So please contact me if you see or hear things that do not support us moving in this direction.
I also want to signal that in Week 1 next term (October 14-18) our IT providers are having to upgrade our internet connections to help make sure we have a robust connection for the future so we will not have wifi over this week. We have done lots of work to make sure that we can safely do all the things we did previously and will be embracing the opportunity to have no devices for the week. We are calling the week “return to the 90s”. We are excited for the students to be off the devices completely for the week and the different approach our teachers will be taking. Please support the week and if you have any issues. Please feel free to contact me.
Lastly for those that have walked through our school lately, you will have seen some changes to the grass outside the 10TS. This is the evolution of our Garden to Table program and so far we have a number of vegetable gardens planted with a kumara patch going in next. We have a working worm farm and will be looking for community support to help us with some of the technical growing aspects. If that sounds like you, please let me know.
Kia haumaru te noho
Jason Pocock
Tumuaki (Principal)
Deputy Principal’s News
Kia ora, e te whānau,
I can hardly believe that we are ending Week 7 already. As teams and individuals ready themselves for the AIMS games next week, teachers have been extremely busy planning an exciting time for those who remain. An elective programme will be offered to all students who will attend these during the middle block each day. There are a raft of different experiences that students have had the opportunity to choose from for the week, and a very special thank you to all staff members who have spent hours getting this ready.
During the last couple of weeks, we have been hit hard by staff sickness and as a result, we have to employ relievers to cover classes. This has proven to be extremely difficult in filling some of these positions. It is the same for schools across the country, but even harder for Auckland to resource due to the greater numbers of schools.
While the preferred option is to have a reliever cover every class, this is sometimes not a reality. In the event of not being able to employ a reliever, that room is split across a team of classes where they are supervised by other teacher/s. The absent class teacher will set work for the day, and this usually consists of current tasks and activities they would be working on normally, or something very similar.
This may be in a digital format, (work assigned on Google Classroom or Education Perfect), printed worksheets, reading activities etc or a combination of various tasks. Sometimes they will also join in what that current class is doing, (it may be PE, languages, depending on the timetable for that day).
I wish you all a safe and happy weekend, good luck to all of our competing teams and individuals next week. I am assisting Bruce Ng with the basketball team and look forward to cheering on ANI in their efforts and games down in Tauranga. Kia kaha ANI!!
Kia haumaru te noho
Scott Boniface
Deputy Principal
Auckland Grammar School: pre-enrolment testing
DATE: 28 November (Thursday)
ARRIVAL TIME: 9:00am (meet at gate 4, where a staff member will escort the students to the old gym)
TESTING STARTS: 9:30am
TESTING CONCLUDES: 10:45 (students to be collected at gate 3 at 10:50am).
Please ensure all students bring a pen and a pencil to the testing.
MAGS Academic Testing: In-Zone students only
All Year 9 2025 in-zone students will be involved in MAGS academic testing at MAGS as follows:
Remember, this information is for In-Zone students only.
Students should assemble outside the Main Hall before 8.30am
Sports Academy Trials: 12.30pm-2.30pm approx
Separate Girls/Boys Sports Academy trials, for those students who wish to be considered, will be held as per the table above. Following the academic testing, students interested in academy trials will report to the Grandstand and have a brief lunch break before participating in their chosen Sports Academy. Please bring lunch and a drink, sunhat/sunblock and appropriate sports attire.
IMPORTANT – PLEASE NOTE: Hockey and Football Trials
Most Academy trials will take place on Thursday 31 October for girls and Friday 1 November for boys. The exception to this is Hockey, as due to safety, the courts will only be used for one sport at a time so the trials for both girls and boys Hockey trials:
- Hockey trials will be on Friday 1 November at 12.30pm (for both girls and boys)
Football Trials will also be held at an earlier date due to staff being on leave later in the term.
- Football trials for Boys Wednesday 23 October at 3.30pm on site at MAGS
- Football trials for Girls Thursday 24 October at 3.30pm on site at MAGS
Please ensure the student reports to the Grandstand at that time in appropriate sports attire.
Shirley Shirreffs | Enrolment Officer
Printing Student Reports:
To print student reports you must have the Hero app.
(For clear instructions on how to download the app please click here.)
When printing your child’s report this is best done on a laptop or PC and if you have an Apple device then please login to Hero via a browser, not the app.
Once you have logged in and can see your child’s details and the 2024 Report underneath, the printer icon appears.
Please click on this and then save as a pdf. There is likely to be approximately 7-9 pages.
Student Achievement
Principal Awards
Eli H - Representing NZ!
ANI’s very own Eli H will be representing NZ for the ITTF-Oceania Table Tennis Youth Championships and Hopes Challenge 2024.
He has been selected by TTNZ (Table Tennis New Zealand) in the New Zealand Team to attend the ITTF-Oceania Table Tennis Youth Championships and Hopes Challenge 2024, 6th to 14th September, Melbourne, Australia.
This is very exciting news and we want to wish Eli every success at the ITTF Championships!
Daffodil Day
Thank you so much for all your support with our fundraising effort. We raised $1000 for the Cancer Society which is awesome.
Class prizes are awarded to:
Most yellow class: Room 28
Most money raised: Room 23/24C
Congrats Mr Wilson and Miss Bello & your classes.
Pictured below are the student leaders with the money raised.
Tournament of Minds
Kia ora e te whānau
We took 14 students to Tournament of Minds and they were AMAZING!
The two teams had to present a challenge they had been working on for the past six weeks and were also presented with a spontaneous challenge on the spot. They showed their creativity, teamwork and perseverance and made us proud.
Team ANI TOMatoes came 2nd in their discipline “language and literature” and although they had hoped for first place, we are incredibly proud of them!
There were long waiting periods as well and the students were amazing, keeping themselves busy with games, riddles, singing and even maths!
Stuart had the tough job of acting as a judge and helped TOM run smoothly, even after a fire alarm messed with the tight timetable.
Stuart Nicol and Selina Striebich
ILE 9/10 Dreamteam and Teachers in Charge of TOM
NIWA Science Fair
I wanted to share some fantastic news from the NIWA Auckland Science Fair that took place over Friday and Saturday. Our students were absolutely amazing and represented ANI exceptionally well.
The overall standard at the fair was incredibly impressive, making it a tough competition for everyone involved. Our students faced rigorous judging, with some being questioned by up to 8 judges at one time – a challenging experience that they all handled extremely well.
I’m excited to announce that Leo S (Room 28) took 2nd place in the Year 7/8 Physical World category for his project Debunking The Internet on Aerofoil Lift, and Zoe Z (Room 28) received a highly commended in the Year 7/8 Living World category for her project Green Transmitter.
Both Leo and Zoe will be receiving prizes at the official NIWA Science Fair prize giving on Monday 9th at Michael Park School.
Huge congrats to Leo, Zoe, and all our students who took part – they did us proud! Nicole Rowland Science Teacher
Nicole Rowland
Science Teacher
Goethe Society Competition
2024 IWS NZ International Watercolour Competition – Angela V
Big congratulations to Angela V who was awarded Excellence for 2024 IWS NZ International Watercolour Competition.
The artwork will be exhibited at Auckland CBD from Oct – Nov 2024.
Please see the link here for more information:
ANI Riti-a-thon!
Each week at our Monday assembly, one ILE/HUB is crowned the Reading Champs of the week.
Students are encouraged to read every day for their homework to contribute to their ILE/HUB total hours for the week.
Our reading record is an average of 179 hours for the ILE/HUB. This is on average, 25 minutes per student per night across the week! So far our winners have come from Year 8. Year 7 has some catching up to do!
Week 4 Winner: Room 4/5
Week 5 Winner: Room 15/16
Week 6 Winner: Room 6/7
Ka pai! Keep reading!!
Farrah Dillon
Teacher in Charge of Riti-a-thon
ANI’s Mud Throne
We’ve got some very creative minds at ANI! Bruce our Property Manager was walking around doing his inspection of the grounds and stumbled upon what appeared to be a little mud throne.
Bruce took a photo of it to share with SLT! However, the entertainment came the next day when he walked by it again only to find that it had been added to!
It put a smile on all of our faces here in SLT and in the office, and we decided we had to hunt down the artists of this cool little creation.
So on behalf of SLT and admin, thank you to Charlie C, Aeon L, Cyan L, Leo M and Eriko W for your amazing little mud castle!
Caitlin Normanton
Office Admin Support
ARTS
Kids Sing
Monday, the 2nd of September saw the culmination of months of work in a singing fiesta. The dedicated choir members participated in Kids Sing, a choir festival open to primary and intermediate choirs across Auckland.
The students performed two pieces, Titanium and Te Rahu tapu a Tāne for Judge Andrew Withington and an audience of other choirs during the day.
Then they returned in the evening for the gala performance. Here they performed for a packed audience in Holy Trinity Cathedral.
The evening concluded with all twelve choirs singing Oh Rushing Wind together. It was truly triumphant to hear 340 voices raised in song and to hear the students’ excitement and plans to challenge themselves to even greater heights next year.
Lee Smith and Emma Purchase
Teachers in Charge of Kids Sing
SPORTS
Netball
After several wet and cold Monday evenings, the netball season has come to an end.
Thank you to all the coaches and managers for their efforts and support throughout the season, we could truly not do this without you. To all the players, well done. You have trained and competed representing ANI with pride.
Information from Auckland Netball
Prizegiving for Year 7 & 8 teams – Saturday 21st September time TBC (usually 10am). Winners and runners-up from each section will be notified. All are welcome.
Summer League:
Wednesday 23rd October – 11th December at Windmill Park
Thursday 24th October St Johns – 12th December at St Johns
Junior and Senior grades (including new grades – Year 1&2, Walking Netball, and note that the previous ‘Mixed’ Senior grades are now Open grades with no gender restrictions).
Team and Individual Registrations are available.
More information available at Auckland Netball Centre – SUMMER LEAGUE – Terms 1 & 4
Central Zones Cross Country
Kia ora e te whānau,
On Thursday 29 August we took 30 budding runners to Waiatarua Reserve to compete in the central zone cross country competition. They all absolutely ran their hearts out in tough conditions, against strong competition.
Special mentions to Elliot C and Eden B who came from behind to finish strong in 1st and 2nd place respectively. Luca C just missed out on a podium finish coming in 4th, Gemma K ran a superb race finishing 5th and Imogen W, a distance squad stalwart this year placed 8th. All of them have qualified for the Auckland Champs that was held in Muriwai on Tuesday 03 September.
Special mention also goes to the Year 7 boys whose team won overall 2nd and the Year 8 boys team won overall 3rd.
Tihei mauri ora!
ANI PTA
Quiz-Tacular Night!
Ngā mihi nui,
Upcoming Events for Week 8, Term 3, 2024
Auckland Schools Mountain Biking:
A message from Jon Hasler, Auckland Grammar School.
Please find information on this race here:
Event Manual: linked here
Race Course Vs Hazards Vs Marshal positions: linked here
Registration (entry): linked here
Please note that the rider name may appear in the pre-registration section as they have raced before, that does NOT mean they are registered to do Race 3. You must still register them, and of course pay, to be registered to race.
If you have raced before, enter first name of rider, then (parent) email (email used last time / for invoices)
NOTE: You are now able to volunteer for multiple events – so if you have helped in then past, and want to again, please do!
Jon Hasler
Auckland Schools Mountain Biking / Auckland Mountain Bike Club.
P +64 9 623 5400 http://www.ags.school.nz
Notices from our community partners
Jazz School: School Holiday Big Band Workshop
This will be an exciting three day school holiday workshop where year 6, 7 and 8 students will learn to play in a Jazz Big Band and then perform a concert for family and friends on the final afternoon. The Big Band is for Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone and Clarinet players plus Electric Guitar, Piano, Bass and Drums. The music we play will range from jazz standards to modern pop classics with an emphasis on having fun while producing music at a high standard. This workshop will be run by Drew Hutchinson. Students must be playing at grade 2 level or higher, or have had two years of lessons. The workshop is on October 9, 10 and 11 from 9am – 3pm at Parnell District School 48 St Stephens Ave, Parnell.
To register for the workshop please visit jazzschool.co.nz or email jnrjazzschool@gmail.com for more information.
Feedback from previous workshops:
“I cannot tell how much we enjoyed your workshop on so many levels; watching our child’s confidence grow, making new friends, the location and of course the music was fantastic”.
Please visit jazzschool.co.nz or email jnrjazzschool@gmail.com for more information.
