26 June 2015 issue 18

Issue 18
26 June 2015
Tēnā Koutou Katoa
I have been really impressed in the manner in which our students have maintained their effort throughout the
last few weeks. Whilst the weather outside has been bitterly cold, our classrooms have remained lovely and
warm. As I pointed out to our Year 9 and 10 students at assembly on Tuesday, ‘these are ideal learning
conditions!’! What better place to be than a nice warm classroom.
Our Year 7-10 students will have received their reports last Friday and I trust they have provided parents and
caregivers with an accurate reflection on where they are at with their learning thus far. Year 7 and 8
teachers held their Student Led Conferences on Thursday and it was really pleasing to see such a
widespread attendance. Thank you. The opportunity to discuss the Year 9-13 student reports, (and any other
issue you may have), with teachers is on Monday evening. I look forward to seeing a similar turn out. I
believe it is really important that parents and caregivers maintain a keen interest in their child's education
throughout these important years.
I would like to thank our college community for once again supporting our annual Work Day. It is a
significant fund raising opportunity that allows our Student Council to make decisions on how we can
possibly further resource our school. The success of the Work Day relies on both the cooperation of local
businesses and employers, as well as the willingness of our students to work. There is no substitute for a good
work ethic and I hope plenty of students rolled their sleeves up and really earned their money.
As we brace ourselves for another cold week, spare a
thought for our World Challenge participants who are about
to depart for a trip of a lifetime to Kenya and Tanzania. I wish
both groups all the very best. I am sure they will make the
most of this incredible opportunity and I look forward to
hearing about their experiences upon their return. Safe
travels.
Regards
Dave Hunter
Building Progress
Key Dates
26 June
28 June
29 June
30 June
1 July
2 July
3 July
Senior Reports Issued
World Challenge Group 1 leaves for Africa
Parent Interviews Night
World Challenge Group 2 leave for Africa
L1 SCP University Visit
L1 PAH Tramp
Learning Readiness Issued
End of Term 2
20 July
21 July
Start of Term 3
Friends of Taieri College Meeting 7pm. Meeting
room beside reception.
Year 6 Tournament
Year 12/13 Drama Trip Toitu
Year 7/8 Football vs Balmacewen
Taieri College Open Day
23 July
24 July
26 July
Kitchen Gardens Working Well
Over the last 18 months we have established three raised boxes to grow vegetables and herbs for the
Food Technology rooms. Both the teachers and students are enjoying being able to go and collect food
from just out the door.
Last year, with the help of interested people and grants from the DCC Enviroschools funds we were able to
purchase a worm farm. Now, thanks to help from the Friends of the Taieri, and from the School Student
Council, we have been able to purchase a composting bin so our circle is now complete.
We can grow vegetables and then recycle plants that are finished so students are learning a lot about
where their food comes from and how we can recycle and reuse, not waste food – the concept of
sustainability is being introduced here. Even our new seedlings are being grown on-site thanks to Mr
Whaley and his students. Thank you very much to all those involved in this very successful venture.
Cell Phones/Electronic Devices
A reminder to parents about our procedures should your son or daughter have their mobile device
removed by a teacher for inappropriate or unwanted use in class. The mobile device is placed in a
locked cupboard in the office and is returned to a parent or caregiver (not the student) after they
have spoken to the Deputy Principal.
NZQA Fees
Year 11-13 Students
This fee of $76.70 is due to be paid to College Office by 28 August 2015.
If you receive a Work and Income or Study Link benefit, or have (or are entitled to) a Community Services
Card, you can apply for financial assistance on a form available from the College Office. The NZQA fee
would then reduce to $20.00. Students who applied last year will already have received a form. These
should be returned to the College Office, as soon as possible, so we can apply the correct amount to your
College account.
Year 7 GATE Trip to the Ecosanctuary
The Orokonui Ecosanctuary is located on Blueskin Road, Dunedin
where it is a safe place for some of New Zealand’s native animals to
live. When we went to Orokonui we investigated many small
animals in the stream. Tahu (from the Ecosanctuary) gave us all
charts with aquatic animals to identify. The chart also told us how
clean the water had to be for them to survive. Then we went to the
stream with the nets and scooped up some creatures and identified
them. We discovered that the water level was 7/ 10 for cleanliness.
Overall we think we saw about 13 different types of animals
including eels, gecko, takahe, frogs, skinks and many more
fascinating creatures. The animals at the Ecosanctuary are all native
to New Zealand so that makes the sanctuary a great place to visit if
you are interested in learning about New Zealand’s beautiful native
animals.
By Laura Gale 7CY
CAREERS INFORMATION
Careers Advisor – Sue Craigie: (03) 489 3823 ext 139
careers@taieri.school.nz
School of Physical Education,
Sport and Exercise Sciences – look inside!
Friday evening 10 July 6 – 8pm and Saturday afternoon 11 July 1 – 4pm
Friday evening:
Come and find out more about the research done in the school: There will be short talks by research
students and their supervisors.
• Ken Hodge and Adam Miles (psychology of sport)
• Doug Booth and Lisa Bavington (politics of sex testing)
• Lynn Jones and Zara Taylor (Expinkt programme)
followed by supper and conversations based around the talks.
Saturday afternoon:
Come and find out about the teaching done in the School:
 Dance and activity workshops
 a guided tour of the research and teaching labs
 followed by Q & A about the programme, admission and enrolment.
Check the website for more details: physed.otago.ac.nz
To let us know you are coming or to find out more, please email physical-education@otago.ac.nz
Study at Victoria Open Day
Victoria University’s main open day for prospective students is on Friday 28 August 2015. Year 12 and 13
students, as well as their parents, caregivers and whānau are invited to this important event.
Study at Victoria Open Day is an informative and fun day for any student who is considering attending
Victoria University of Wellington. The programme includes:
·
·
·
·
·
over sixty 40 minute subject information sessions
expo displays from our faculties, schools and student services
tours of our campuses and halls of residence
opportunities to talk with current students and staff
special information sessions for parents
If you are interested in attending, please pick up a registration form from the Careers Office. You need to
register by 24 July.
News From The Commerce Department
Year 11 Economics students made a fieldtrip to Cadbury
World recently to observe the way natural resources
(milk, cocoa, and sugar) are transformed in the factory’s
production process into a finished good, such as a
marshmallow Easter egg, ready for the retail market. But
it’s not all chocolate showers, free samples and the
chance to buy up large in the gift shop at the end of the
tour. The students were in fact gathering research data
for two of their internally assessed Achievement
Standards, worth a total of 8 NCEA credits. The bad
news that our guides told us was that Cadbury World is
shortly going to stop doing the factory tours (the
Dunedin site is the last Cadbury factory in the world still
open to the public). If any readers know of another
factory in Mosgiel or the city which would be prepared
to host a group of Year 11 Economics students in future years so that they can observe its production
process, please let the Commerce Department staff know.
The Commerce Department would also like to hear from any Mosgiel wholesale or retail business which
would be willing to show its Inventory recording system to a small group of Year 12 Accounting students.
This would let the students supplement their text and workbook study of Inventory accounting sub-systems
in preparation for an internally assessed NCEA Achievement Standard.
Another very popular Commerce Department activity is the annual blind taste-testing sessions conducted
with Year 10 Economists. This is one of several ways in which research methods are introduced to the
students. This year the two classes produced different results. Tasting blind, the biggest cluster in Mr
McDonald’s class preferred the taste of Schweppes while the majority of Mr Baines’ group liked Sprite. Both
classes said that if they were shopping they would buy Sprite then Schweppes with a home brand as the
least preferred option. However, when asked to identify what they had been drinking the great majority of
Mr McDonald’s class could not correctly distinguish the Schweppes sample from the Sprite one. This was
not the case with Mr Baines’ class, almost half of whom could distinguish the tastes correctly. In both cases,
the majority of students could correctly identify which sample was the home brand. Turning to potato
crisps, in both classes the students were fairly evenly split in their blind preference for the taste of Bluebird or
Eta crisps. Both groups reported that the home brand crisps were too salty. If shopping both classes would
have bought Bluebird before Eta and then the home brand. The majority of Mr McDonald’s class could
match the taste to the brand correctly but most of Mr Baines’ class had the taste of Bluebird and Eta
reversed. Most in both classes could correctly tell the taste of the home brand. So the value for money,
wise buying lesson for a Year 10 student holding a party? In the case of lemonade for Mr McDonald’s
group and chips for Mr Baines’ group, buy whichever name brand is on special and tell your friends it’s the
one they like, safe in the knowledge that most of them won’t be able to tell the difference!
Commerce Department staff were delighted recently with a visit to the school by two former students, Mel
Warhust and Julia Gorinski, who were here as Tertiary Ambassadors for the University of Otago, where Mel is
majoring in Marketing and Management and Julia in Accounting and Finance. They spoke with our Year
13 students looking to commence Commerce studies at the University next year. One clear message they
had for the students was the advantage that taking Economics, Accounting and Maths in Year 13 gives
students in their first year of tertiary Commerce studies. They also brought news of other former students of
the Taieri College Commerce Department. Since the school was established at least six accountants have
graduated and gone into private practice in Dunedin and elsewhere in the country and the world. An
Economics graduate is now a Senior Policy Analyst at the Reserve Bank. There are at least two lawyers and
one of the city’s top commercial real estate agents. Others have entered professions as diverse as
computing, aviation psychology and dentistry. Among the entrepreneurial students who did not go on to
university are the co-founder of one of the city’s most successful recent coffee bar start-ups and another
who has recently added a second store to her coffee bar franchise. Mr McDonald, Mr Campbell and Mr
Baines are always interested in learning of the successful post-school exploits of their former students and
look forward to meeting many of them again at the school’s upcoming 150 th anniversary celebrations.
Taieri College
It has been two years in the preparation but the Taieri
College World Challenge trips to Africa are about to depart.
21 students and their awesome parents have spent many
long hours running firewood raffles and sausage sizzles as
well as organising kitchen tours, quiz nights and car washes
to raise the $9600 each student required. The practice walks,
multi day tramps and training camps are over. The
vaccinations are done and the visas are sorted. This Sunday,
28th June, the first team of 10 students and 2 teachers depart, followed by a second team of 11 students
and another two teachers on Tuesday. Our destinations are Kenya and Tanzania.
What are we doing there? Hopefully enjoying some warmer weather!! The first week we will tramp on two
shorter tramps to acclimatise before embarking on our five day trek. One group will trek through the famous
Masi Mara Reserve while the other team will trek to a height of 4000m to take in views of the Kenyan Rift
Valley from the Abadere Mountains.
The next week will be spent working on our projects. Both groups are excited about doing voluntary work
and helping at different Kenyan schools. We will visit the ‘Njoro Salvation Army Special School’ for Disabled
Children and the ‘Manga Ensoko Academy’. We will be building classrooms, painting, plastering and
repairing run down older classrooms and organising activities for the children at each school.
The final part of our month long journey is some R & R. We get to choose what we do in this part of our trip
and both groups have voted to go on an overnight safari in Ngorongoro, Tanzania. The last few days will be
spent on Zanzibar, The Spice Island. Snorkelling and relaxing will be the plan before the long flight back
home to Mosgiel.
We would like to thank everyone who has supported our fundraising ventures, it is hugely appreciated by
all of us.
Team A’s Facebook Page can be found at - https://www.facebook.com/TCWC2015A
Sport Happenings
This will be the last entry for the term. Remember that final order for the year for hoodies and basketball
tops closes on Wednesday next week. Blow your own trumpet students!! While we in the sport office know
most things that happen in the sport world we certainly do not know everything! So if you have made a
representative team; travelling to a tournament over the holidays or have done anything you are proud of
to do with sport, come and tell us about it. We want to share your news. Good luck for the final games of
sport leading up to the holidays especially our netball teams who are travelling to Christchurch to defend
the title they won last year. We are all cheering for you as well as our miniball team, who are going to a
tournament in Oamaru for the first time. Just remember while it is good to have a rest over the holidays, it is
important to not let your personal fitness drop as it is hard to pick it up again next term, so do a little running,
go to the gym as well as hanging out by the fire. Your body with thank you for it.
This week our students from Year 9 and 10 have been going back to their previous primary schools and
coaching for the up and coming Year 6 tournament next term. (Photographs below).
Important Date for next term
15 August is the Sport Council Social. Details will follow next term, but in order for us to give all the money
we do give to support our teams, we need you to come along have a good time and support us as we
raise money. It is a Pre Rugby World Cup Social so dress up as your favourite team, watch the game on the
big screen then dance the night away. We have it all covered. So get a group organised and watch this
space.
Year 6 Coaching
We have
8 left…
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