Latest News
| College Communicator Full of events, important dates, and interesting happenings ... |
August has been a busy month for the geographers with field trips at all three senior year levels.... |
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The 2010 School Ball took place on Saturday 26th June at Alexandra Park.... |
NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 Excellence Endorsements 2009 Students are to be congratulated for achieving excellent overall results... |
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The Concert Band competed in the New Zealand Concert Bands Association North Island Festival... |
Year 9 Science Trip to Stardome Observatory |
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On Friday 25 June the college hosted the New Zealand Blood Service... |
Manukau Institute of Technology "Hands On" Experience |
OTIC 2010 |
April 30th saw our Annual Cross Country being held up at Churchill Park... |
The Ugly Shakespeare Company Visit A group of three professional actors is currently on a five month tour of New Zealand schools... |
The opening of the new gymnasium was held on the 23 April 2010... |
Sports Draws |
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Latest College Communicator
Full of events, important dates, key messages and interesting happenings around the school and wider community, the latest College Communicator is a great way to keep up to date. The latest edition has been sent to you at home - if you haven't got yours, you can view or download it here.
Geography Field Trips
August has been a busy month for the Geographers with field trips at all three senior year levels. All three trips were part of the Geography internal assessment programme.
The Year 11 classes were yet again hosted by Val and Don Nicholls at their dairy farm in Helensville. The students were informed of and shown many aspects of dairy farming including milking, the calf shed, and the feeding out of silage. The Geography staff and students thank the Nicholls for their hospitality and time over the past five years.
Year 12 Geography made their annual trip to the CDB to count pedestrians, measure building height and analyse land use as part of their urban research assessment activity.
The Year 13 students went on a trip to Rotorua. Tourism development in Rotorua was the focus of this trip. As well as surveying tourists and collecting data for their assessment, the group visited many tourist attractions and participated in many activities such as Agroventures and the luge. Hiighlights included the Tamaki Tours evening where the boys were asked to perform an impromptu haka for the rest of the tourists and using the duck quackers on the Rotorua Duck Tour.
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School Ball 2010
The 2010 Glendowie College school ball took place on Saturday 26th June at Alexandra Park in the Tasman Room. The theme of the ball was circus. Entertainment was provided by Mitchell Pitch a former pupil of the college. In the beautifully decorated ball room he and his circus troupe entertained everyone with jugglers, unicyclists, acrobats, magicians, belly dancing and a fantastic outdoor fire show complete with fire poi. The music supplied by DJ Dave Kinmond was especially popular, as was the little black photo booth. Formal photos were again supplied by Ms Bell. Mr Gowers would like to thank the ball committee for all their hard work organising this event.
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Concert Band Achievements
On August 6th, 7th and 8th the Concert Band travelled to Hastings to perform in the New Zealand Concert Bands Association North Island Festival. Over 32 bands competed in the competition, not only school bands but also community bands. The members of our Concert Band played very well and gained themselves a Silver Award!
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The Concert Band on stage at Lindesfarne College at the N Z C B A Festival in Hastings |
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| A formal photo of the Concert Band at the N Z C B A Festival |
NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 Excellence Endorsements 2009
These students are to be congratulated for achieving excellent overall results. The criteria for
excellence endorsements are :
Level 1
50 or more credits gained via excellence grades at Level 1 or higher
Level 2
50 or more credits gained via excellence grades at Level 2 or higher
Level 3
50 or more credits gained via excellence grades at Level 3
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NZ Blood Service Drive
On Friday 25 June the college hosted the New Zealand Blood Service who came to collect blood from our students. A team of 10 workers from the Blood Donation Services set up their equipment in the hall and were busy all day. The response was excellent with a total of 95 students and staff donating blood. (This would have had nothing to do with having time out of class and being given chocolate biscuits after donating!) It was pleasing to see students who donated last year returning to donate again this year, as well as other students being prepared to give for the first time. To be permitted to donate blood students had to be 16 or older and weigh over 50 kg. There were chocolate biscuits and drinks for everyone who donated blood to help replenish their energy levels before they went back to class.
Giving blood is a simple, positive way our students can be of service to the community. One donation has the potential to save three lives, so we want our students to get into the habit of donating whenever the opportunity arises in the future. The blood will be processed and then used in hospitals throughout Auckland and Northland. This is one of the ways we support our community.
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Stardome Trip
On Thursday 24th June, all the Year 9 Science classes went on a trip to the Stardome Observatory as part of their Astronomy topic. They enjoyed watching a movie on 'Wonders of the Universe' and had the opportunity to explore the facility and its many interesting displays. Students found the video about "Eating and drinking on the space station" particularly interesting, as did the teachers.
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OTIC 2010
The Otago Technology Innovation Challenge for Year 13 students is a one day event aimed at exposing students to the latest research being undertaken in the Department of Information Science at Otago University. Teams were randomly assigned to one of three technologies on the day of the event. Staff worked with teams to help them understand the technologies they were dealing with and help start the creative and innovative ideas flowing.
Students were presented with a new technology, and with the help of staff and senior students, were challenged to think of an innovative use for this technology. The day culminated with students giving a three minute presentation of their innovative technology application to a panel of judges – with prizes up for grabs!
According to the judging panel, the standard of the ideas was extremely high. All of the ideas were very innovative and very well represented. Judging was tough, however there could only be one winner in each of the groups.
The winners of each of the technologies are:
Location Based Mobile Augmented Reality: Glendowie College
Telerobotics: Muscle + Posture Problems: Mount Roskill Grammar School
Social Media: Baradene College
In addition to the group winners, ONE team was judged to have produced the overall best innovative concept of the day. This title went to our own Glendowie College team: Sam Page, Patrick Baird and Jacobus Estebeth.
Well done, gentlemen!
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M. I. T. "Hands On " Experience Day
A group of Year 11, 12 and 13 Electronics and Programming students attended a variety of 'hands on' workshops at the Manukau Institute of Technology School of Engineering. Students were given the opportunity to choose 2 workshops ranging from electronic engineering, computer engineering, mechatronics, network engineering and robotics. It was a fun day filled with new experiences.
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The Ugly Shakespeare Company Visit - 17 June
‘The Ugly Shakespeare Company,’ a group of three professional actors, Grae Burton, Luke Wilson and Tom Wardle is currently on a five month tour of New Zealand schools. The group will perform 160 shows of their distinct and entertaining version of Shakespeare’s plays and hold workshops with students. Last week they spent three hours at Glendowie College.
William Shakespeare has had a significant impact on the English language and his legacy is apparent in our teaching today. While many students struggle to see beyond the complex language, to the timeless themes, stories and humour- the Ugly Shakespeare Company ensures that our students are exposed to his work.
Nearly 600 Glendowie students enjoyed a taste of ‘The Scottish Play (Macbeth)’ or ‘Othello’ with a unique twist on the old tales. This fast paced, slightly crazy and irreverent production, had students shrieking with laughter.
Three young actors overcame the limitations of numbers with a variety of visual gags, puppet characters and gimmicks to keep the audience entertained throughout the 50 minute productions. They even called Mr Spillane on stage to play the part of Desdemonia in her dying scene!
A bonus for Senior Drama students was the workshop provided after the two shows, with a sharing of production experiences. Glendowie students certainly appreciated the Ugly Shakespeare Company and we asked them what they thought of us? “The students were great and we enjoyed performing in the Glendowie College hall!”
Mrs Wood
HOD English
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Cross Country 2010
April 30th saw our Annual Cross Country being held at Churchill Park. The weather was perfect for running and after a short stroll up to the park, the junior girls got proceedings underway. Students made a concentrated effort this year to run or jog the course, rather than having large numbers walking and this proved to be a success. We had some fantastic performances and results with some students relishing the chance to show off the benefits of regular aerobic training. Races were all finished efficiently, the litter was kept to a minimum and the Year 13 PE students were marvellous in assisting PE staff in the set up and packing away of all equipment. Overall, it was a hugely successful experience with healthy exercise and enjoyment for the winners of the day. Below is a list of the results.
Mr Wayne Lupton, Faculty Leader, Health & Physical Education
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For results and more photos click here
The New Gymnasium Opening
Friday 23 April was a day of celebration at Glendowie College with the opening of a new gymnasium. The day began with a dawn blessing ceremony led by Kaumatua Hemi Pene from the Ruapotaka Marae, Glen Innes and concluded with an opening ceremony attended by all the students of the college, staff and invited guests.
The college would like to acknowledge the families, past students and businesses who have supported the building project through their donations and support of the many fundraising events.
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For more information and photos click here
Sports Draws
Would you like a copy of a sports draw? Just send an email and request one from Ms Melody McGuinn, Sports Coordinator. Email address: mmcguinn@glendowie-college.school.nz