Jun 29, 2020 | College News
Last week, 40 Year 8 students planted over 500 native trees on property owned by Gulf Harbour Country Club, behind Regency Lake.
Despite an unusually long, hot, dry summer, COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and an Auckland Council directive to turn off the shadehouse irrigation recently, due to water shortages the majority of harakeke (flax), manuka (teatree) and karamu (Coprosma robusta) the students potted in October grew into healthy plants.
Trees for Survival (TfS) Field Officer, Gail Allende briefed the students on health and safety and the correct way to plant a tree. She explained how the planting of native trees increased biodiversity, food sources for native birds, created habitat for insects key to pollinating plants that provide our food, and improved water quality due to more controlled runoff.
Ryan Taylor, Course Superintendent of the Gulf Harbour Country Club and some of his staff assisted the students with their planting. As a way of showing their appreciation they provided a BBQ lunch for the students.
The planting site is visible from Regency Park Drive making it possible to watch the trees grow over the years.
Mar 3, 2020 | College News
Congratulations to all of our College and Primary Year 5 & 6 competitors who entered our annual Swimming Sports event on Wednesday, February 26th at Northern Arena. Our annual Swimming Sports is a busy and exciting day, and it was very pleasing to see lots of enthusiastic students and lots of supportive spectators. Everyone gave it their very best and cheered each other on fantastically well. The amount of participants in each race was an absolute joy to witness. Thank you to those who came along to support us.
Jan 28, 2020 | College News
100% of Wentworth College domestic Year 13 students gained University Entrance this year, an outstanding achievement. We are very pleased with how well our students performed in their Cambridge papers at the end of last year. 66% of the Year 12 students gained University Entrance from their grades, and 100% of the domestic Year 13 students gained UE. We had very pleasing results in the AS and A2 papers, and outstanding results in IGCSE, including one student who achieved top of New Zealand in IGCSE Physical Education. Cambridge Assessment International Education continues to open doors to the world’s best universities and Wentworth is proud to be delivering a curriculum that challenges our students to think, be creative, and really develop confidence, knowledge and understanding that will benefit them at university and beyond.
Oct 29, 2019 | College News
Congratulations to Wentworth College student, Sophie Ogden, for being selected to represent New Zealand as a member of the International Geography Olympiad team at the 2020 International Geography Olympiad (iGeo) in Istanbul, Turkey next year.
Sophie, a Year 12 Geographer, traveled to Wellington Girls College to compete with eight other students over the weekend. After a day of geography-related tasks and fieldwork, Sophie won her place in a team of four senior geography students through her outstanding performance. This is a fantastic result and a wonderful opportunity to enhance the skills and aptitude needed in the Social Sciences. She will travel to Istanbul, Turkey with the team next July to compete against 40 other countries.
Every two years gifted and talented young geographers in New Zealand have the chance to participate in the International Geography Olympiad (iGeo). The event is a highly contested one-week international challenge, with students competing from all over the world. It is not only the opportunity to travel abroad and challenge themselves that students appreciate, but also the experience of meeting and making friends with students from around the globe.
Sophie is delighted to be representing New Zealand and we are very proud of her accomplishment.
Oct 25, 2019 | College News
On Wednesday and Thursday our Years 7 and 8 students potted up approximately 800 native tree seedlings under the guidance of Gail, the Trees for Survival field officer. They are now housed in the two shadehouses and we will be keeping a close eye on them to ensure they thrive and are ready to plant out next year.
This has been an exciting project for our students. It started in March when students sold spring bulbs to raise money to cover the start up costs of buying the shadehouses. There is an irrigation system that waters the seedlings daily to ensure they survive and thrive.
Trees for Survival (TfS) is a hands-on environmental education programme. Students grow and nurture native seedlings to sapling stage and then take an annual field trip to plant the trees. Through the programme, students help landowners to revegetate erosion prone land, improve stream flow and water quality, increase native biodiversity and offset carbon emissions. Each year TfS plants 70,000+ trees throughout New Zealand with the assistance of over 5,000 school students.
What our students said:
Aria – I learned how much trees matter to New Zealand and other countries. The lady said we need to keep planting trees to keep things going.
Emily – Really satisfying when putting dirt in to the bags that you are bringing trees and life into the world.
Harry – Cool to know we were planting a forest, and the fact that in 10 years time there will be tall trees.
Tyler – An amazing opportunity and shows that everyone can make a difference.
Caitlin – Interesting to learn how to plant seedlings.
Nathan – Cool knowing every seedling you planted will go to making a better environment for the world.
Oct 21, 2019 | College News
Wentworth College achieved 3rd place for Spanish in New Zealand in their category (out of 27 schools) and we have now received the certificates.
Congratulations to:
Jack, for his Gold award for answering 6,414 questions and placing in the top 2% of 150,000 competitors from around the world.
Harry, for his Bronze award for answering 1,346 questions and placing in the top 10% of 150,000 competitors.
Iris, for her Credit award, placing in the top 20% of 150,000 competitors.
Muy bien!
Sep 20, 2019 | College News, College Sport News, Golf, Netball, Sailing, Swimming
Congratulations to all the Wentworth students who participated with passion and sportsmanship at the AIMS Games in Tauranga last week. This year, 11,555 students aged 11, 12 and 13 traveled to Tauranga from all across the country to participate across 23 different sporting activities.
Wentworth Students – Photo courtesy of Anchor NZ, sponsor of AIMS Games
Congratulations to Sam Wild and especially to Jack Hollands who finished in 3rd place in the O’pen Skiff yachting event. The fleet of 35 boats braved the cold conditions over three days, with a closely fought battle for second and third places being decided in the last leg of the last race. Jack won a Bronze medal.
The Year 8 Netball Team had a great experience at the AIMS Games, being placed in ‘C’ grade after a number of grading games. Whilst they did not gain a medal placing in their grade, this was a fantastic opportunity for our players to play against teams from all over New Zealand. Phoebe Andrew had a successful week as umpire and passed both her theory and practical assessments. Our special thanks to Chrissy Smith for coaching the team for the week, as well as Sue Andrew for all her help looking after the girls during the week. Well done to all our netballers on their efforts!
Congratulations to Mia Stanley-Hunt who competed in swimming events at the recent AIMs Games, achieving personal best times and placing amongst the top 15 competitors in all of her events.
Congratulations to Tina Lee who placed second in the 18 holes Under 13 Years Golf competition.
Sep 15, 2019 | College News
Last week, in memory of the firefighters who lost their lives in the September 11 bombing of the Twin Towers in New York, and also in memory of the 59 New Zealand firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty, over 200 New Zealand firefighters (including Wentworth’s own caretaker and volunteer fireman, Nick Pelikani) climbed the Auckland Sky Tower. Fully kitted out in 25kg worth of gear (including oxygen cylinders), the firefighters climbed 1,103 stairs with Mr Pelikani achieving this feat in just 18 minutes. Mr Pelikani has expressed his thanks to all the Wentworth students for the fantastic fund-raising event organised by McDonald House last week in support of this challenging climb. Our students raised money through bake sales, the Sky Tower Coin Trail Challenge and mufti day.
Aug 28, 2019 | College News, College Sport News, Hockey
Congratulations to both the Boys and Girls Hockey First XI teams. The girls finished their season on a high, with a 4 – 0 victory against Massey First XI to place them 3rd in the 2nd Division. This is an exceptional achievement given they commenced the season in the 3rd division. Well done to all the girls for their commitment and sportsmanship throughout the season.
On Wednesday evening, the Wentworth Senior Boys XI Team faced Orewa College 2nd XI Team in the finals for first place in Grade 3a. It was a tense and close match against a young and skillful Orewa team but Wentworth had the edge on them by going ahead 2-1. At a crucial stage in the game, the lights went out and it took some time before they came back on and subsequently the momentum of the game changed and Orewa equalised. This resulted in the final going to a penalty shoot out and the Orewa goalie was successful in blocking three of the Wentworth penalties to win the game. The boys should feel proud of how they played on the day despite the challenging circumstances, so well done to them all!
Thank you to all the supportive parents & students who cheered on both teams at every game!
Jul 25, 2019 | College Arts News, College News, Music
Wentworth’s very talented Year 7 cellist, Caitlin Chen performed in the South Auckland Performing Arts Competition over the last weekend of the school holidays. Caitlin was awarded 1st place in the Junior String Solo – Baroque, Classical/Romantic 11 & 12 year old competition. She also came first in the Junior String Solo Own Selection 11 & 12 years old competition, and Second Place in the Intermediate Restricted Solo Instrumental: Own Choice 11, 12 & 13 years old. Congratulations Caitlin, we always enjoy listening to you play the cello in our music festivals and assemblies.
Jul 25, 2019 | College News
Congratulations to our Year 13 student and Prefect Anya who was in the New Zealand Youth Parliament over the school holidays from 15th-17th July. Anya was serving on the Justice Committee and representing local Labour MP Marja Lubeck. Philip Lee, Head of College said “Congratulations to Anya. Anya conducted herself well and I am impressed with the speech she made”
Listen to Anya deliver her Legislative Debate speech here: https://youtu.be/OSvkh_n-PYs
Jul 24, 2019 | College News, College Sport News, Sailing
Congratulations to Wentworth Year 9 student Mattias Coutts who achieved a 10th placing out of 100 boats in the Waszp Europeans competition on Lake Garda in Italy in July. Over 100 boats competed from 18 nations. Fantastic result.
In a slightly less sunny setting, a group of Wentworth College students also competed over the holidays in the Manly Mid-Winter Championships in several sailing classes. The students performed well. Congratulations to these students who achieved the following results:
• O’pen Skiff – Jack Hollands 9th
• O’pen Skiff – Phoebe Andrew 15th
• O’pen Skiff – Imogen Herbert 19th
• 29er – Mattias Coutts & Cailen Rochford 1st
• 29er – Maddie Rist 5th
• RS Feva – Sam Wild 2nd
• RS Feva – Bridie Smith 11th
• Laser Radial – Matthew Rist 7th
