May 15, 2023 | College News
In English, our Year 8 students have been studying the genre of Gothic Horror. This involves examining the features, characters, and settings of gothic horror, researching the life and times of Mary Shelley, and studying the play ‘Frankenstein’, adapted by Philip Pullman from the original Mary Shelley novel. Students considered production techniques of drama, including costume and set design. To finish the topic, students were tasked with creating a model of the stage set. There were some amazing creations, with students really having fun with their designs. Our students voted, and congratulations to Ayla, Ava, Queenie, Daisy and Emma for their winning projects.
May 9, 2023 | College News
Wentworth College and Primary School had to close early today due to flooding.
Wentworth Primary School closed until further notice – During today’s weather event, the main Primary School building suffered flood damage. This has also impacted on our power and internet services for the Primary School. Unfortunately the Primary School is going to have to close until further notice.
Wentworth College Open – Fortunately for the College, we have had groundwater flooding in only two classrooms and our grounds have been a lake but that is beginning to disperse. Our College Premises will be open tomorrow.
The schools will update parents and families tomorrow after we have had time to assess the damage.
We wish to reassure all parents that during today’s events your child’s safety was paramount.
Open Day Postponed – We have taken the decision to postpone tomorrow’s Open Day (Wednesday 10th May). We will let all families who have registered for the Open Day know the new date once we have assessed the school and the weather has improved.
Mar 24, 2023 | College News
Our Year 8 students have been learning about the various ways Water Matters both here in NZ and overseas. As part of this unit of learning the students complete Waicare water quality tests for the stream across the field from the school.
In a hands-on-way we assessed the health of this stream and learnt about choices and actions we can take to improve the water quality of a stream. Waicare require that we complete four sets of tests, one each term.
Julie Clavel, from Restore Hibiscus and Bays facilitates the Waicare programme for us and sets up various stations that the students move through testing different aspects of water quality. Students record information on water and air temperature, water pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrate levels, phosphorous levels and make visual stream observations. They also look at macros and use the clarity tube.
Year 13 Environmental Prefect, Henry Ma, assisted the Junior students with their work.
Feb 14, 2023 | College News
Wentworth College, Wentworth Primary and Wentworth Computer Science School will be open for onsite learning tomorrow, Wednesday 15th February. The Wentworth School bus services will be running as normal.
We have reviewed the weather reports, and are confident that the worst of the storm is now behind us.
We recommend students come with raincoats and rain jackets as they normally would do on a bad weather day.
I appreciate the efforts of all our staff and students who have adapted to online learning over the last couple of days. We know it has been really difficult for some with power outages.
We hope you are all safe and well, and look forward to seeing our students in the morning.
Kind regards
Mr Bruce Tong
Executive Principal
Feb 13, 2023 | College News
Due to the ongoing disruptive weather conditions and continued red alert status, the Board and Senior Management team has decided that Wentworth College and Primary School will remain closed for onsite learning on Tuesday 14 February.
The health and safety of our students, staff and bus drivers was paramount in our considerations.
We will continue with Online learning in the College. Tomorrow is Day 7.
The Primary teaching staff will be sending work home for all students. Your child’s teacher will contact you directly with this.
We are extremely frustrated that we have had this disrupted start to the year, and are confident we will be able to return to normal onsite learning on Wednesday.
Feb 12, 2023 | College News
Wentworth College, Wentworth Primary School and Wentworth Computer Science School will close on Monday 13th February 2023 due to the significant weather event we are experiencing. The decision regarding Tuesday will be reviewed and communicated to the Wentworth community tomorrow afternoon.
Parents will have received email communication with regards to how we reached this decision, and details of online learning for students where possible.
This is not where we wished to find ourselves for the second time this term, and hope that things will return to normal later in the week.
Take care, stay safe and thank you for your understanding as we navigate the next 24 hours.
Mr Bruce Tong
Executive Principal
Jan 30, 2023 | College News
Late this afternoon we received this instruction:
“With the possibility of further weather damage leading to more disruption, the Secretary for Education has directed that schools, kura, early learning services and Tertiary institutions in the Auckland region (Wellsford to Pukekohe) must close for physical attendance and instruction until 7 February.”
This means that Wentworth College & Primary School are not able to operate classes on site this week.
Wentworth College
The College will commence online classes that we will start on Wednesday 01 February. Information will be sent to the students tomorrow informing them of how to access these classes. If there are any problems, please contact the school.
Wentworth Primary School
We have taken the decision to move the start of the year completely to the 7th of February rather than trying to pursue the online learning option that we successfully managed in lockdown. This means that all our students are given the best opportunity to form relationships with their new teacher and get the best educational start in class.
This is not our preferred way to start the year but the College began lessons last week so most students have already met with their teachers and have a course outline. The College has successfully managed online teaching over the last few years and we will make this work again.
For the Primary, this wasn’t the start of the year we had hoped for, and are deeply disappointed that we are unable to start school tomorrow, but look forward to seeing you all next week.
Feb 14, 2022 | College News
The annual Rowing Head of Harbour Regatta took place on Saturday 12 February at Lake Pupuke, Takapuna. It was a great start to the school rowing year, with our senior rowing squad competing under the watchful eye of Mr Tong.
Congratulations to all, especially as the event was held in very challenging weather conditions. With rapidly changing wind directions and ever increasing waves our crews were very happy to not go for an unscheduled swim! A tricky schedule meant some crews competed in races above their age group, all with commendable outcomes.
Feb 8, 2022 | College News
Despite all the difficulties of learning through lockdowns, our students excelled in their Cambridge examinations at the end of last year. We congratulate all our students on their success.
Of our 35 Year 13 leavers, 97% gained New Zealand University Entrance. This is an outstanding achievement.
Of our 42 Year 12 students, 82% have already gained University Entrance from the 2021 examination series, but all are continuing their students in to Year 13.
Overall, 41% of our IGCSE candidates scored an A or A* (80% and above), 35% of our AS candidates scored an A (80% and above), and 33% of our A Level candidates scored an A or A*.
There were several exceptional students to be commended for their results:
Angelina Gosse 3 A* and 1 A at A Level and 1 A at AS Level
Peter Berns 4 A grades at A Level
Daisy Wang gained 5 A grades at AS Level
A further 5 students gained at least 3 A grades at AS Level, with over 11 students achieving at least 2 A grades at AS Level
Last year, more than 2 million students sat Cambridge examinations in more than 10,000 schools worldwide. The outstanding achievements of the New Zealand Cambridge learners are normally recognised at an Awards ceremony and formal dinner hosted by Cambridge, but with our current “red” settings mean that the students will be attending an online ceremony and we are delighted to recognise their success:
Brendon Macloud achieved Top in New Zealand for AS Marine Science.
Nina Fuller achieved a High Achievement* award (highest in Country) for A2 Marine Science.
Alexandra Dobson achieved a High Achievement award (highest in Country) for AS English Language and Literature.
Daisy Wang achieved a High Achievement award (highest in Country) in AS Chinese Language.
Kirstin Drower achieved a High Achievement award (highest in Country) in AS German.
Angelina Gosse achieved a High Achievement award (highest in Country) in A2 French.
Top Students Angelina and Paul were recognised for their outstanding academic success at the 2021 Prize Giving Awards
Nov 22, 2021 | College News
Each year, Global Perspective students in Year 8 and Year 9 transform the school playground in to a market place, just in time for the Christmas season. Having learned about the 4 Ps of marketing, product, price, promotion and place, our students were briefed to create products to sell to make a profit. We are unable to run the market place event in the school this year, so the students created an online Christmas Catalogue to sell their wares. All orders must be placed by Friday 26 November 2021, and details of how to order are in the catalogue.
Y8 Market Day Catalogue
Y9 Market Day Catalogue
May 31, 2021 | College News
Six senior students from the Model United Nations Club attended MUNA (the Model UN Assembly) 2021 last Friday and Saturday at Auckland Girls Grammar. This conference saw approximately 200 students from over 40 Auckland schools organised into teams as representatives of United Nations member countries where they then engaged in debates on five different topics, ranging from the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, to fund to end the use of landmines.
Our Year 12 team representing Slovakia spoke wonderfully on 2 remits: 1. Enforcing the protection of women’s rights in member nations, and 2. Enforcing regulations on countries who do not act to reduce their carbon emissions.
Our Year 13 team representing Jordan spoke on women’s rights and about increasing aid to the UN’s food distribution programme.
Congratulations to Christina, Ella, Brendan, Joy, Shiv and Harry who made up our Model UN teams for 2021. Both teams spoke incredibly well and represented the school excellently. It was a fantastic event that was equal parts immense fun and a great learning opportunity. Kudos to these students who worked so hard over two long days of debate and competition, especially coming straight from an intense week of examinations.
It is good to see our students engaging with international issues and honing their public speaking skills and we look forward to taking more teams to MUNA next year!
Apr 23, 2021 | College News
Wentworth College student, Matthew Rist, is a talented teenager who has that wonderful balance that New Zealanders aspire to, of being a fantastic sportsman yet also very humble and down-to-earth.
He is quick to smile and laugh, is never riled, and is known by teachers and his peers to be a thoroughly “decent bloke”.
The high-achieving 16-year-old enjoys remarkable success in both his academic studies, and on the water, with an exceptional talent in sailing. Matthew not only received Top of the World honours in the 2020 Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards Ceremony in recognition of his extremely impressive results in his I.G.C.S.E. Physical Education examination, but he also gained A*s in all 7 of his I.G.C.S.E subjects; a fantastic achievement.
When asked what is the main thing that allows him to achieve so highly in both sailing and his exams, Matthew knows that hard work, and a passion for what you do is the key.
“I believe my work ethic and the enjoyment I get from sailing and learning has been crucial and a massive help to managing my time between sport and academics. I pride myself on being able to learn as much as possible in class so my study is only reviewing what has been taught rather than trying to teach myself new concepts at home. Having a passion for what I am doing is the reason behind my success because it allows me to be excited to do it rather than treating it like a chore.”
Matthew makes an effort to balance schoolwork with his sailing and other sports. “I feel through working well in class, it decreases the time needed to study at home. Also by knowing that I only have a limited time to get my school work completed makes me more productive whilst working than I otherwise would be”
When he is not studying or sailing, Matthew really enjoys cycling and basketball. “Cycling is great for my fitness and I get real buzz from being out on the road. Basketball, being a team sport, offers the team environment of sport more so than sailing and cycling which is great for creating bonds and learning to work in a team.”
Wentworth College has always been extremely supportive of Matthew’s involvement in activities outside the school. Matthew credits his teachers with the support he gets, and the chance to work on his fitness.
“Mr Hicks runs Friday morning fitness sessions which are always tough but rewarding. He has also been great to talk to about my sailing and goals which I’ve really appreciated. The sailing programme that the school offers has also shown me a different side of sailing which has benefitted my personal sailing.”
Now a Year 12 student, Matthew is studying Cambridge A.S English Literature, Physics, Mathematics and History. He does not yet know what he would like to study at university saying “I honestly have no clue, apart from it being something that I love.”
He has definitely set himself a target for sailing. “I am aiming to qualify into the Aon FastTrack programme which is a stepping stone towards becoming a part of the NZL Sailing team and going to the Olympics. I’d love to make a profession out of sailing and I am lucky that the sport has so many options where you can be professional.”
