Academic achievementand development lies atthe heart of WentworthCollege, as it should in alllearning environments.We u n a s h a m e d l yconcentrate predominantly

on the “traditional” academic subjects; entryinto Universities is based on these subjects. Recent Government funding changes toUniversities has resulted in more coursesbecoming restricted in their entryrequirements. Year 13 “alternative subjects”that many school offers, do not count forentry into these restricted programmes.Wentworth College offers course planningand guidance through the Year levels to givestudents the best possible opportunity toachieve academic success and readiness fortertiary study after they leave Wentworth.

Success relies heavily on establishing soundreading and writing skills along withconfidence and ability in mathematics.Academic confidence and achievement inrelation to an individual’s potential can thenbe realised. Specialist teaching in Years 7and 8 has certainly helped achieve this andwe are now observing the flow-through tothe senior school of depth of knowledgeand understanding.

The opening of Wentworth Primary willonly further assist in this development ofour students and ensure a seamless transitionfrom the primary to secondary school withbase skills and competencies in place.

During the last week of term I walkedthrough a Year 7 Science class. The studentswere busily dissecting a flower, carefullyexploring and identifying its structure. Theywere happily discussing the pollination andfertilisation process and their terminologyand depth of analysis was impressive. Thiswork is normally covered in the Year 10and 11 syllabuses in most schools!

The establishment of students studying theInternational Cambridge curriculum will

B U L L E T I NW E N T W O R T H C O L L E G E

Wentworth College, 65 Gulf Harbour Drive, Gulf Harbour, Whangaparaoa

ISSUE 9 May 2008

Tel: 09 424 3273 Email: enquiries@wentworthcollege.school.nz Website: www.wentworthcollege.school.nz

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From the Principal complement this excellent work beingachieved throughout the school. In 2009 allYear 11 students will sit Cambridgeexaminations on the IGCSE (InternationalCertificate of General Education) course.

P repa ra t i on fo r t he succes s fu limplementation of the Cambridgeprogramme will continue next term withteachers attending an in-service teacher-only-day on Friday the 13th of June.Teachers will be visiting schools throughoutAuckland that teach Cambridge.

A “Cambridge” information evening forparents will be held for Year 9 and 10 parentsduring Term 2 to give an update on progressand to communicate details and plans for2009.

T h e s u p p o r t a n d i n d i v i d u a lacknowledgement of students throughouttheir schooling at Wentworth combined withthe cultural, sporting and outdoor educationopportunities helps to creates happy,confident and mature young adults. Recentlythe University Studylinks liaison officersvisited Wentworth to talk to our Year 13students about scholarships, allowances andstudents loans. After the meeting the officerscommented in an email….“It was inspirational to have people openand receptive to messages about budgeting,and planning ahead. Your staff may be usedto working with these students; howevertheir participation and contribution wasnoticeably mature compared to manyinteractions we have at other educationproviders, including Tertiary.Congratulations.”

My congratulations to students and teachersfor a very positive and productive first term.

B.P. TongPrincipal

The Mayor of Rodney PennyWebster o ff ic ia l ly openedWentworth Primary School onMonday April 14. Parents, teachersand students celebrated withspeeches, songs and a morning tea.The mayor presented the studentswith foundation badges andcommented in her speech howfortunate Rodney was for parentsto have the choice of an independentschool of this quality.Congratulations to the Head ofPrimary Lynda Knight de-Blois andher team of teachers for a wonderfulfirst term.

PrimarySchool Opens

maryol Openpens

2

Drama

PrefectsTim Wackrow Head BoyBridget Busfield Head GirlCorinne AshBen ErrenFreya FortzerRyan GarnettSam HornerFelix MannJun Yoo

Debating

School Leaders 2008Student ExecutiveStephanie BedfordFrazer BondMorgan BrowneBrendan GinneverKane HurleyJesse KayLevi Patel

The Year 10 drama students have beenbusy with their study of the Italiantheatre form: Commedia del’Arte. Aspart of this study they researched thecharacters and then selected one to useas the basis for an original story. SinceCommedia is mostly mimed there wasno dialogue to write but the task wasstill challenging. The students had touse the traditional posture andmovements used by theircharacters and create asequence that enabled them tointeract in a comedy routine thatwas entertaining to watch. Theyalso had to design and make theirmasks. The performance was assessedwithout an audience, however, thereis a chance they may perform theirroutine next term on the sameevening as the senior dramaclass performs their play:Camelot School.

The Sheila Winn rehearsals havetaken up most lunchtimes andintervals over the past six weeks.One of the tasks to be organisedwas the design of the tattoos to

be worn by the two opposing gangs.This was done in Drama class and thefavoured designs were tried out onsome of the actors in the performance.Jono Robinson, Danny Goodwin, JakeLaws and Jak Charles were the modelschosen to display the ideas.

Emily TicehurstSamuel TongChris WattsKatherine Wyllie

3

Year 12 Geography

Cambridge SuccessCongratulations to our TopCambridge Mathematicians.Felix Mann 96% AS LevelAlexander Garvey 92% AS LevelKatherine Fraser 88% IGCSEChris Watts 88% IGCSE

On March 29 the Year 12 Geographystudents travelled to Tongariro NationalPark to do the Tongariro Crossing andthe Geo assessment that followed.Our foggy, rainy hike over the 18 kmcrossing resulted in saturated clothing,soggy food and soaked workbooks, butit was an amazing (and challenging)experience. We felt proud of ouraccomplishment even though our muscleswere aching. The walk the next day toTaranaki Falls proved to be even wetterand some crazy students actually decidedto swim under the freezing cold waterfall.The following day’s white water raftingwas definitely a highlight despiteCourtney’s screams and Jono’s neardunking.A huge thank you goes to Mr Cowie forproviding us with the opportunity toexperience these challenges and to studyin such beautiful scenery.

World Mathematics Day

Year 7&8 Picnic Day atShakespear Park

Everyone braved the breeze at the beach and took to the water with greatenthusiasm and abandonment. Clumps of seaweed made classy wigs,foam bats proved perfect for a battle of the harmless kind and a soft,grass filled drain was an ideal meeting place for friends and classmatesto relax and gossip.Many thanks go to our extraordinary EOTC coordinator Mrs CathyWorthy for organising this fun day.

Mrs Banyard’s Year 11 are to becongratulated on an outstandingperformance in World Maths Day.Their score was such that theyreceived a prize of a year’ssubscription to Mathletics, a completeonline learning programme.

The Junior school enjoyed a great day at our local regional park earlyin the first term. It proved an excellent opportunity to get to know newstudents, welcome our international students from Korea and takeadvantage of a beautiful setting in glorious weather.

o the water with greaed made classy wigs

mless kind and a softiends and classmate

h greaty wigs,a soft,smates

4

Pentathletes from Wentworth Collegewere put on track to future glory whenthey meet a former Olympicsportsman. Pete Little, a Pentathletein the 1960 Olympic Games, sharedhis stories and expertise with the youngWentworth athletes.Wentworth students Gideon van Zyl,Taylor Rhind, Jak and Harry Charles,Lizzie Morse, Jazmin Hopper andLouisa and Felix Mann and Auckland

Past meets Present in Pentathlon WorldUniversity student Amanda van Zyl,make up the North Harbour Pentathlonteam. They heard how Mr Littlemoved to the UK to join the RAF butwas enlisted into the Pentathlon teamwhen he was spotted training at thecamp pool. Mr Little showed themmemorabilia from his sporting days,including his 1960s OlympicCompetitors manual, ID card,photographs, medals and cups.

Team member Lizzie Morse said: “Itwas really interesting and very helpful.It has inspired us to work hard andcontinue to improve.” The sessionscame after a chance meeting at acompletely different sporting event.Mr Little’s son John spotted postersfor the team who were fundraising atthe Stock Car Derby.

Con

grat

ulat

ions

Congratulations toMatt Hughes who sailedhis Optimist number4224 (nearest thecamera) in the Nationalson the Lyttelton Harbourover the Easter Break.There were 178 boats inthe fleet with Mattcoming 76th overall.

For a month in Term 1 Year 11 PE students participatedin a series of windsurfing lessons as part of our Level 1assessment. We had 5 sessions in total and by the lastlesson we were all turning, tricking and surfing the windand waves… unlike our first session!Everyone improved so much throughout the five hours,and learnt so many new things thanks to our instructors,Paul and Mario. The weather was a huge factorthroughout the lessons. On one of the days it was so windythat only Taylor could stay upright! Overall though, itwas great fun and definitely worth doing again in thefuture.Thank you Mr Harris for arranging this, it was great!Katie Hay

Year 11 Windsurfing

latio

ns

5

Following her success in the NewZealand Swimming Age GroupChampionship we await theresults of Bianca Rowley’s effortsin the Australian Age GroupChampionships recently held inBrisbane.

SwimmingAchievement

6

Congratulations to our Orienteering Team for winning the Junior title. The New Zealand Herald described it as the “biggestsurprise” but we know it should not have been.

Year 12 Biologists were treated to afantastic day for their recent Sea-shore field trip. We arrived on asunny morning with a gentle seabreeze, ideal conditions for a day atthe beach counting and observingsea-shore organisms. We were wellarmed with all the tools needed forthe study and a great lunch to enjoy

Orienteering

Year 12 Biology Field Trips

once finished. A rope was used as atransect line and this was markedout at two metre intervals.

In March Year 12 Biologists weretreated to a field trip where theylearnt about the Dorper embryotransplant transfer programme.Colin Van Zyl explained that this is

carried out by Premier Genetics.Dorper ewes are given a hormoneto increase the number of eggsproduced. After four days theseeggs are removed and implantedinto Romney surrogate ewes. Thestudents observed and assisted inboth processes.

7

The Young New Zealanders’ Challenge aimsto get young people between the ages of 14and 25 to participate in an exiting, flexibleand individually tailored programme to buildskills, identity and self-esteem. The Challengeprovides a framework for personal discoveryand growth through service, skills, physicalactivity and adventurous expeditions;developing perseverance self-reliance andresponsibility to themselves and service tothe community.

It is a very prestigious award, recognisedthroughout the world and is increasinglyrecognised by employers and interviewers asan indicator of responsibility and achievement. The award is offered in more than 106countries. It started in New Zealand in 1963and there are now more than 30 000participants throughout schools and otheryouth institutions in our country.

The award comprises cultural, practical andadventurous activities, covering four sections: Service, Expeditions, Skills and PhysicalRecreation. The award has three levels:Bronze, Silver and Gold – each demanding adifferent level of commitment and effort.With the assistance of adult co-ordinators,participants choose programmes that meet therequirements for each section and areencouraged to pursue these activities in theirown time and at their own pace. The minimumstarting age is 14 and participants have untiltheir 25th birthday to finish the three levelsof the award. Many students choose to finishthe gold level before they leave school.

At Wentworth College we are proud to have46 students registered at different levels ofthe award. This is a very high percentage ofthe school roll of eligible students and itreflects the calibre of students that WentworthCollege attracts. A few weeks ago the firstthree silver certificates and badges wereawarded to Gideon van Zyl, Shauni Furnissand Jak Charles. These students have sinceregistered for the gold level of the award.

WhangaparaoaRotary Soap BoxDerbyThis year Wentworth entered atrolley in the Rotary Soap BoxDerby. Thanks to Mr Stephensonwe built this in-house and thenhad it painted. A great time washad practising and then racing onthe day. Our thanks go to Mrs Carrfor her help with the project.

The Carpe Diem Club had agreat day climbing earlier in theterm. This followed an earlierexpedition to the skating rinkin East Auckland. The climbingday was a chance for teachersand students to pit their skillsagainst a variety of challenging“rock” walls.

Carpe Diem

During the December break, the silverparticipants went on an adventurous expeditionto the Coromandel. To arrange this expedition,the students had to undergo some class roomtraining in aspects of the outdoor, such ascamp craft, cooking in the outdoors, fist aidwell as kayak training to mention only a few.A great amount of effort from teachers as wellas parents was needed to make this expeditionsuch a success. Helen Taylor made her houseavailable for the numerous planning sessions,Ray Ginnever had a contact in the Coromandelwho allowed our students to use a tracknormally not open to the public, John Charlesleft wife and son behind to drive the group totheir destination and checked on the groupregularly during the expedition to make surethat they were safe and sound and Amanda,Gideon’s older sister and holder of the goldaward, assessed the group during theexpedition. They tramped a gruelling 40 kmover hills and mountains in very wet andslippery conditions. To top it off they wentout onto the ocean in kayaks during the lastday of the expedition to experience theoutdoors in yet another and very enjoyableway. Four very tired, but fulfilled studentsreturned home the day before Christmas.

Anyone interested in registering for this awardcan contact the Teacher in Charge, Mrs L vanZyl, to obtain an information pack withregistration form. There is a fee of $20 forthe record book that has to be ordered fromthe office in Wellington. Students can joinany time of the year as soon as they turn 14years of age.

8

Phone: (09) 424 3273Website www.wentworthcollege.school.nz

WENTWORTHCOLLEGE

Masterprint

Staf

f Gol

f

MusicLast Valediction Band

Parents and Friends BBQ Evening

8

Phone: (09) 424 3273Website www.wentworthcollege.school.nz

WENTWORTHCOLLEGE

Masterprint

Staf

f Gol

f

MusicLast Valediction Band

Parents and Friends BBQ Evening

2

Drama

PrefectsTim Wackrow Head BoyBridget Busfield Head GirlCorinne AshBen ErrenFreya FortzerRyan GarnettSam HornerFelix MannJun Yoo

Debating

School Leaders 2008Student ExecutiveStephanie BedfordFrazer BondMorgan BrowneBrendan GinneverKane HurleyJesse KayLevi Patel

The Year 10 drama students have beenbusy with their study of the Italiantheatre form: Commedia del’Arte. Aspart of this study they researched thecharacters and then selected one to useas the basis for an original story. SinceCommedia is mostly mimed there wasno dialogue to write but the task wasstill challenging. The students had touse the traditional posture andmovements used by theircharacters and create asequence that enabled them tointeract in a comedy routine thatwas entertaining to watch. Theyalso had to design and make theirmasks. The performance was assessedwithout an audience, however, thereis a chance they may perform theirroutine next term on the sameevening as the senior dramaclass performs their play:Camelot School.

The Sheila Winn rehearsals havetaken up most lunchtimes andintervals over the past six weeks.One of the tasks to be organisedwas the design of the tattoos to

be worn by the two opposing gangs.This was done in Drama class and thefavoured designs were tried out onsome of the actors in the performance.Jono Robinson, Danny Goodwin, JakeLaws and Jak Charles were the modelschosen to display the ideas.

Emily TicehurstSamuel TongChris WattsKatherine Wyllie

6

Congratulations to our Orienteering Team for winning the Junior title. The New Zealand Herald described it as the “biggestsurprise” but we know it should not have been.

Year 12 Biologists were treated to afantastic day for their recent Sea-shore field trip. We arrived on asunny morning with a gentle seabreeze, ideal conditions for a day atthe beach counting and observingsea-shore organisms. We were wellarmed with all the tools needed forthe study and a great lunch to enjoy

Orienteering

Year 12 Biology Field Trips

once finished. A rope was used as atransect line and this was markedout at two metre intervals.

In March Year 12 Biologists weretreated to a field trip where theylearnt about the Dorper embryotransplant transfer programme.Colin Van Zyl explained that this is

carried out by Premier Genetics.Dorper ewes are given a hormoneto increase the number of eggsproduced. After four days theseeggs are removed and implantedinto Romney surrogate ewes. Thestudents observed and assisted inboth processes.

4

Pentathletes from Wentworth Collegewere put on track to future glory whenthey meet a former Olympicsportsman. Pete Little, a Pentathletein the 1960 Olympic Games, sharedhis stories and expertise with the youngWentworth athletes.Wentworth students Gideon van Zyl,Taylor Rhind, Jak and Harry Charles,Lizzie Morse, Jazmin Hopper andLouisa and Felix Mann and Auckland

Past meets Present in Pentathlon WorldUniversity student Amanda van Zyl,make up the North Harbour Pentathlonteam. They heard how Mr Littlemoved to the UK to join the RAF butwas enlisted into the Pentathlon teamwhen he was spotted training at thecamp pool. Mr Little showed themmemorabilia from his sporting days,including his 1960s OlympicCompetitors manual, ID card,photographs, medals and cups.

Team member Lizzie Morse said: “Itwas really interesting and very helpful.It has inspired us to work hard andcontinue to improve.” The sessionscame after a chance meeting at acompletely different sporting event.Mr Little’s son John spotted postersfor the team who were fundraising atthe Stock Car Derby.