Newsletter Term 3 Week 10
Menzies College 1st October 2021
From the Principal’s desk
Kia ora katoa
Welcome to the ‘new look’ newsletter. Better quality photographs is one of the big advantages of producing the newsletter this way. Adrienne Dale (one of our talented and friendly office administrators) has done a superb job of switching formats.
Last week we said farewell to Kailey Yeoman. Kailey has been working as a Teacher Aide for the last 18 months. She has done a superb job supporting students with their learning. We wish her well for her move to Fonterra but hope that she will one day return to teaching. We also farewell Lisa Cameron and Amy Alksne from the canteen at the end of term. They have worked really hard in a constantly changing environment. We are very grateful to both of them for helping to get the school lunch service up and running.
Senior practice examinations have gone smoothly. Thank you to staff who have been busy marking to get feedback to their students before the holidays. It is important that senior students continue to work on revision over the break. Study timetables are an ideal organisational tool and summarising notes an ideal starting point for revision. Senior students will have an opportunity to get help with this during the first week of next term.
Thank you for your feedback regarding the provision of school lunches. There were 57 surveys returned from parents, 108 returned from students and 27 returned from staff. As a whole, the feedback is very good. Some of the positive aspects of the change are:
- A growing connection in Whanau time due to sharing a meal.
- Students willing to try different food.
- Parents appreciating the quality and variety of food as well as the saving on time, money and stress with not having to prepare lunches in the morning.
- The feeling among staff that students are more settled after lunch (95.8% said students are as settled or more settled than before the change).
Congratulations to the following:
- Menzies Hockey team on their impressive 5-2 win over Southland Girls High School in their hockey final. Thank you to Dean Ritani and Hayley Adam for coaching and managing this team.
- The Girls 1st XI football who finished as Runners Up in the Girls Premier Competition. This team is coached by Carl Lambert and always performs consistently well.
- Lisa Yorke has gained a place in the Rotary Nation Science and Technology Forum in Auckland for 14 days in January 2022.
- Logan Andrews has gained a place in the Science Academy 2022 programme. Logan will attend two residential science camps on the University of Otago campus, a summer science camp in January and a winter science camp in July.
- Fourteen students from Year 12 and 13 who have recently left school or plan to leave at the beginning of Term 4 to enter the workforce. In most cases this is because they have achieved their goal of NCEA Level 2 or 3 and have found work in the industry of their choice.
The annual 1stXV Rugby verses Senior A Netball game was played on Thursday in good spirits. It is always competitive but the netball girls came up with a win. All allegations of umpire bias are unfounded.
Good luck to the Clay Bird Shooting team competing in the North Island and National Championships over the weekend via a postal shoot. Thank you to Sally Robertson and Warren Ayers for their work with this team.
I wish everyone a restful break and look forward to seeing you all next term, ready to finish the year well.
Nga mihi nui
Kath Luoni
Principal
Absent: Toni Moir
Menzies 50th Reunion
Menzies College is having its 50th Reunion from the 4th-6th February, 2022. We would like to invite any former students, staff and friends of the school to return to Southland and see how much their school has grown over the past 50 years. You can email your interest to menzreunion22@gmail.com or click on the link below.
Achievement Slip Draw
Congratulations to the following students and staff members:
Week ending 24 September:
Seniors: Brad Hedges, George Healey, Briley Yeoman, Caleb Gibbs and Mr Mark Bennett
Week ending 1 October:
Juniors: Josh Landreth, Kem Wanyo, Isla Maxwell, Jessica Alksne and Mrs Wendy Ritson
Your canteen vouchers can be collected from the office.
Menzies College Board of Trustees Student Election Results
At the close of nominations, as there was only one valid nomination received, I hereby declare the following duly elected:
Jake Kiernan
Signed: Judy Gould, Returning Officer
Situations Vacant - Two cleaners required
Menzies College has vacancies for two cleaners. Three hours daily after school, plus some holiday work. Please apply via email, with work experience and referees to judy.gould@menzies.school.nz or phone the school on 2064979.
Important Dates
- 1 October - Last day of Term 3
- 18 October - First day of Term 4
- 25 October - Labour Day (school closed)
- 27 October - Board of Trustees - Student Representative election
- 28 October - Option choice evening
- 28 October - Year 9-13 Whanau conferences
- 2 November - Pet Day
- 10 November - Junior Sports Forum
- 19 November - Last day for senior students
- 22 November-10 December - NZQA Exams
- 23-24 November - Year 7 & 8 Conferences
- 26 November - New Entrants Day
- 29 November-2 December - Year 10 Mavora Camp
- 6-7 December - MAD Days
- 10 December - Last day of school
- 10 December - Whole school Prize Giving - Wyndham Memorial Hall 7pm
Sports/Cultural Photos
Sports Department
Hockey
The Menzies hockey team for 2021 consisted of Abby van der Straaten, Logan van der Straaten, Lucas van der Straaten, Ivy Ritani, Ruby Ritani, Stanley Crump, Emily Crump, Tyler Olive, Zach Ashman, Fletcher McKinnel, Zyon Gaffey-Mansfield, Darian Skilling, Josh Hamiltom, Paige Richards and Aaliyah McDowell-Peek.
Playing hockey this year has been a pleasure for all of us, the games have been challenging and interesting. Sometimes we would even fall over or hurt ourselves, but we kept going and at the end of the day we walked home with a win. Winning the season is so amazing considering we have just started Menzies hockey this year. It shows just how resilient and hardworking Menzies students really are.
On behalf of the team we would like to say thank you to Mr Ritani and Mrs Adam for being the best hockey coaches this season and we hope you have a great rest of the year. We would also like to thank all the parents for coming out to support us during the season. Thanks to Abby van der Straaten for being a great captain and supporting us all the way through to the end - and obviously we won it all!
Ivy Ritani & Lucas van der Straaten
Year 7
Front Row L to R : Zac Ashman, Lucas van der Straaten, Ivy Ritani, Fletcher McKinnel, Emily Crump, Joshua Hamilton
Absent: Paige Richards, Zyon Gaffey-Mansfield
This year we were very lucky to enter five teams into the Eastern Southland Basketball Association competition in Gore ranging through every age grade. The teams this year all did really well, improving throughout the season and playing some exceptional basketball.
- The Secondary A Grade mens teams finished in final positions of 2nd (Red) and 3rd (Green)
- The Secondary A Grade womens team finished in 3rd position
- The Secondary B Grade mens team finished in 5th position
- The Intermediate Boys team finished in 4th position
A big congratulations to Jack Ramage who was awarded Most Improved Senior Men's player for Eastern 2021 and to Olivia Milne who was awarded Most Improved Secondary School A grade Girls player for Eastern 2021.
I would also like to thank all parents/caregivers, students and community members who went over and above to support these teams throughout the year as coaches, managers, referees and by completing scoring duty. These volunteer roles do not go unnoticed and we appreciate you giving up your time to help these students achieve.
This year the Menzies College Football Girls 1st XI team played an impressive season coming away with four wins, one draw and one loss prior to lockdown. Due to lockdown, unfortunately the team was unable to play a final for the grade. They have been placed Runner Up for the season and this is the 6th season running that this team has been placed in the top two positions for the grade. This is an exceptional feat and well deserved for all the hard work that goes into each game.
A huge thank you to Mr Carl Lambert the coach and to all parents/caregivers and community members who have supported the team throughout the season.
This year we were lucky to be able to enter two teams in the annual adventure multiport competition 'Get2Go' in Queenstown. One team was Year 10 which included two students from Southland Girls High School while the other was Year 9, all of which were new to the event. During this event the Year 9 and 10 mixed teams of eight students compete in mountain biking, orienteering and kayaking. Although missing out on the top placings on the day both teams did very well. We were very fortunate to have had a great group of parents/caregivers who were able to support the students at the event and I wish to thank each of them for a great job helping these teams.
Mrs Hayley Adam
Sports Co-ordinator
Tessa Wishart
Front Row L to R: Sam Rabbidge, Evana Bradfield, Daisy Stewart, Anna McMullen,
Amy van der Straaten
Menzies College Clay Target Shooting Team
The team of Ryan Crump, Jack Robertson, Tom Ayers, Brenton Maxwell, Alex Smith and Ben McLellan are attending the National Clay Target Shooting competition this weekend in Invercargill. They have been preparing and shooting well and we wish them all the best for the weekend.
The team would like to sincerely thank the sponsors for helping them purchase new shooting vests and bags for competitions along with associated costs of attending this competition. They would also like to thank Warren Ayers for the time he has given to them in preparation for the Nationals and competitions leading up to the Nationals.
The sponsors are shown on the bags and vests in the photos below.
Mrs Sally Robertson
Teacher in Charge
Science Department
Congratulations
Lisa Yorke has gained a place at The Rotary National Science & Technology Forum in Auckland for 14 days in January 2022. This opportunity will give Lisa an insight into the broad range of science and technology courses available for study, the requirements for application and an insight into future career opportunities.
Mrs Margaret Dale
Chemistry Teacher
Year 7 & 8 Creating Cartoons
Sitting L to R: Sophie Gifkins, Jack Medley, Fletcher McKinnel, Floyd Paterson,
Jack Alabaster, Rocco Roberts
Extra Outdoor Activities
Skiing at The Remarkables
The second weekend in September a group of students travelled to Arrowtown and had two fabulous days at The Remarkables. Good snow and weather, grateful and happy kids and most importantly no injuries made it a wonderful trip! Huge thanks to the Active Southland Tu Manawa Fund for supporting us. Special thanks to the parents/caregivers who supported this trip.
Mrs Margaret Dale
Organiser
Mountain Biking
Mrs Margaret Dale
Organiser
Year 10 Camp
Coming to the Mavora Lakes soon - Year 10 camp
The Year 10 camp this year, will once again be held at the Mavora Lakes from 29 November to 2 December. There will be kayaking, mountain biking, rafting and lots of other fun outdoor activities. The cost will be confirmed early next term but we envisage it will be approximately $170. We have included the link to the permission form. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the school and talk with either Matt Cook or Bianca Gibbs, Year 9 and 10 Deans or flick us an email mcook@menzies.school.nz or bianca.gibbs@menzies.school.nz
Mr Matt Cook & Mrs Bianca Gibbs
Year 9 & 10 Deans
Fun times
It was all on in the gym on Thursday when the inaugural game for the 'Up and in Girls' shield took place with the 1st XV taking on the Netball A team. The girls shot out to an early lead which they never relinquished with the boys eventually coming second. The final score was 26-19. Well done ladies!
Front Row L to R: Ryan Crump, Connor Poyntz-Roberts, Josie McLellan, Sophie Ferguson, Brianna Ferguson, Courtney Gaven, Keegan Knapp
Community Notices
Sponsored by Vetco
Supported by Farm Source, Farmlands, Wyndham Freight Services, FMG, Wyndham Four Square & ANZ
The Vetco Wyndham & Districts Pet Day Committee held their AGM on Thursday, 23rd
September and the elected Committee members remain the same as last year with the addition of a second Secretary, Julia Muir being elected. A General meeting was also held. Thank you to those who attended the meeting to show your support and help get this year’s Pet Day under way. It was really great to see a couple of new faces too.
This year’s Pet Show will be held on Tuesday, 2nd November at the Wyndham A & P Showground and the theme for 2021 is “Sheep”.
Now is a good time to start thinking about entries and further information will go out in the first week of Term 4. There are the usual categories including: Animals (NB: Dogs Yrs 3-8 only); there will be cattle and calf entries this year. Fancy fruit/vegetable; Sand Saucer (preschool & yr 1-2 only); Floral Art; Needlework; Science invention/model; Baking – No-cook baking, muffins (all age groups), Large Cakes & Biscuits (Yrs 3-8 only). Please note that only one entry is compulsory and a second is optional.
We hope to make Pet Day a fun, family day so bring on the great weather! Pet Day will carry on as usual if we get back to Level one but if we stay at Level two then individual schools may choose to do something on their own; Pet Day cannot be held at Level two. We will keep you informed if anything changes.
If you are able to help judge at Pet Day, we would love to hear from you. Any inquiries please contact Bathan Muir (President) on 206 6334.
Wyndham Community Pool Open Day
Sunday 17th October, 1 to 3 pm - at Alert Level 1 or below
Come along for a free swim - Keys available for purchase
Pool opens to key holders on Monday 18th October
Keys available from Lee’s Dairy and Menzies College Office
Season Key $80 (plus $15 bond for new keysThe following will apply throughout the season at the different COVID Alert Levels:
Alert Level 1: Open to key holders, schools and lessons. Normal hours.
Alert Level 2: Open to schools and lessons only. Monday to Friday. Closed to key holders.
Alert Level 3 and 4: Pool closed to everyone.
Contact Us
Email: admin@menzies.school.nz
Website: https://www.menzies.school.nz
Location: Alma Street, Wyndham 9831, Southland, New Zealand
Phone: 03 206 4979