18th February 2010
The new Year 9 students have hit the ground running with a busy start. First there was the welcome and powhiri on the first day at the Taupo-nui-a-Tia college marae.
Then we were all busy receiving timetables and student diaries, and of course finding out what tutor and house we would be in. Taupo-nui-a-Tia college has four houses: Tongariro (Yellow), Ngarauhoe (Blue), Tauhara (Red) and Ruapehu (Green). A house and deputy house leader is elected for each, and we had our first house meetings last week to organize for colours day.
On Friday 12th February we had athletics day. This was amazing as all the houses got together in their colours with a house theme. There were the smurfs, the hulks, the dragons and the transformers. The parade was amazing with banners and house chants and everyone got involved – even the teachers!
We have a great group of year 9’s this year. They seem already excited about what they can do at the college. Harry Fletcher-Jones loves the canteen and says that college heaps of fun. His friend Matt Brazier says “it’s exciting being here – there is a good atmosphere – everyone is positive”. Josh Clarke said it was abit scary coming to college at first because it was so big. “But everyone is happy and there is a good school spirit, which makes you feel safe if you are new like us”. He plans to join the band playing saxophone this year, and would like to be in the school musical. He says he’s not an actor, but that doesn’t matter because there are so many other things to be involved in. Anna Irvine already loves college. “It’s like a huge family”, she says. “I was so proud to be able to say I was going to Taupo-nui-a-tia college”. She is looking forward to being in the next school musical “Footloose” which is already in production.
The year 9 students will have their own student council this year which means they can come up with ideas for what they would like to see around the school, and those ideas will be passed on to staff. Things like inter-house sport, cultural or academic competitions.
The elections for the head students were held last week and everyone was so excited.. There was a stage full of nominated students who spoke at assembly on Thursday about why they would like to represent the college. Then on the Friday the election was held. Everyone in years 10 – 13 voted, as well as the staff. We found out on Monday that Alex Nixon was head boy, Sarah Forrest was head girl, Cruz Karauti-Fox was deputy head boy and Libby Owen was deputy head girl. They were popular choices, and they all got a huge round of applause!
So it has been a busy start to the year – we still have lots to do for the rest of this term.
9th November, 2009 (last college corner for 2009)
Bridie Witton
As the year draws to an end it is time to say goodbye to not only our Year 13’s but our exchange students also, who are heading back to their native countries. They made their final address to the whole school at last Thursday’s assembly, saying good bye to Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and all the experiences they have had here. At this final full school assembly we announced the winning house for 2009 – Ruapehu House. This house has won the cup for the past eight years against some very stiff competition! Time for all the other houses to step up and take the challenge for 2010!
As all our senior students leave to study for their external examinations, we wish them luck. We have a large number of year 13 students sitting scholarship papers in various subjects and we recognize the huge commitment from them and their teachers in getting them ready for this level of academic achievement.
While the start of the summer usually signifies the end of school, it is only the start for the summer sports season. We have touch rugby, cricket and tennis teams well underway, with teams already travelling away to compete against other schools and in local competitions.
In the first week of December, 120 Year 10 students will be going on the annual “Year 10 Expeditions”. The students select which expedition they want to go on and their options are: a trip to the “Queen Charlotte Sound” where the students mountain bike and tramp the trails, a “White Water Rafting” experience down the Motu river, a “Mountain to Surf” camp at the Coromandel peninsula where the students watch the sun rise from pinnacle hut and then camp and surf at Whangamata, an “Around the Mountain” 4 day tramp around Mt Ruapehu, a “Blue, Mountain Adventure” at Raurimu where they abseil, raft and rock climb, and finally a “Waikaremoana Tramp” that includes kayaking. They are all busy training for these camps as they need to build the appropriate levels of fitness and knowledge needed to complete these camps. Students also use these experiences for their Young New Zealanders award – of which we recently celebrated ex-student Sam Hutchings receiving his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award from HRH Prince Edward in Wellington last week. Joanne Boocock has also just completed her gold, as are students Bethany Gould, Sarah and Hailey Forrest.
The schools prize giving was held at 7pm in the school hall Tuesday 9th November – where we celebrated the success of all our senior students. Among many musical items - Theresa Parker and Cruz Karauti-Fox sang for us and it was a spell binding moment – thanks guys for making this evening even more special for us all. Signing off for the last time for 2009 – Bridie Witton.
21 Aug 2009
Bridie Witton
By Bridie Witton
For the first time in eight years our First 1V played Tauhara last Saturday. The Haka was amazing from both colleges and the game was exciting. Congratulations to our First 1V, winning with a 14 man team 22-12.
Three TNT students won dinner with three members of the Black Sticks (New Zealand’s male hockey team) through an essay competition where they wrote about who was their favourite Black Stick and why. These students were Hannah Brake, Liam Brake and Ellie Heenan. Four of our students also got to participate in the Black Sticks versus Malaysia game at the Great Lake Hockey Centre last Sunday as ball boys. Our first eleven hockey team catered at the game, fundraising for the National Secondary Schools Tournament Week. Seven Taupo-nui-a-Tia teams are going to the a range of tournaments. These are two hockey teams, two football teams, two basketball teams and one netball team. These athletes have been training hard in preparation for this week of sport.
The Taupo-nui-a-Tia 2010 prospectus has been delivered to year 8 students in the district. Local schools have been getting “taster lessons” at the school, where they see our students in action and get a “feel” of what life will be like when they are at college. Kaleidosonic have been playing live to the year 8 students to show them how supportive and how well our music programs are operating. The band will find out next week whether or not they have been accepted into the New Zealand Smokefree Rockquest National Finals. There is an open evening this Wednesday night where parents and students will get a presentation on life at TNT.
Last week Taupo-nui-a-Tia College hosted the Science Road Show for the Taupo district. Schools from all around the area came for some hands-on experiences. Some year 9 and 10 students were trained as demonstrators and were given the opportunity to teach the younger students how to do the experiments. Year nine students got to help set up the show and the year ten students broke it down. The Science Road Show had real life applications, illustrating how science is relevant everywhere.
The year nine and ten speech competitions were held this week, where the best public speakers within the junior school were unveiled with Paige Nairn winning the year nine competition and Dyalla Swain winning the year ten competition.
After a beautiful Sunday on Mount Ruapehu our ski and snowboard team squad has been finalized. Their first competition will be the Bay of Plenty Ski Champs. We have won this event for the last 9 out of 10 years. We wish the students in our new team good luck!
Finally our senior students have been working hard in preparation for their formal school exams. Students in years 11 to 13 will get next week until the following Monday off school to study for and sit these exams. This is great preparation for their external examinations in November.
4 Aug, 2009
By Bridie Witton
During the last holidays, Year 13 student Ruchi Sharma and Year 12 students Courtney Haywood, Phoebe Currie and Courtney Watkins represented TNT at the 2009 Youth Jam – an environmental forum for youths whose main focus was on environmental sustainability and how we can lessen our own environmental impacts. All four girls are in TNTs Environmental group the “Eco-Rangers”. Ruchi said the 3 day forum was “great - really fun” and all four of our students have all returned more inspired and more aware of the challenges that are facing our country in the near future. Secondary School Students from all over the North Island attended the forum.
Then this past Sunday, our Year 13 Physical Education class, which has 26 students in it, all ran the Mizuno Half Marathon. The run was the final part of an assessment and was successfully completed by the whole class. Two students got a main placing - John Glanville was the first Taupo Male and Shea Reardon was the first Taupo Female. (You guys are amazing!) Giovanna Haines said “it was the single hardest things I have ever done”. TNT turned out lots of support and the class all had matching singlets with their last names on their backs and there were signs posted all along the track to encourage each other along. The class celebrated by having a barbeque at Bex Bradley’s house. A big thanks to Mrs. Simmonds, Miss Bruce and Mrs. Parks for their amazing support and making the day possible. Cheers for the medals!
Cruz Karauti-Fox placed second in the Manu Korero regional speech competition which was held in Rotorua last weekend. Cruz is a very talented speaker whose fluency and delivery earned him an article in the Dominion Post last year.
Next Tuesday at 4pm the Bay Trust Health Centre will be officially opened. Its toilet, storage and health facilities have been used by students since it unofficially opened in Term 2. It is great to have such a wonderful facility to store our bags and extra gear. Not to mention the very spacious clean toilets and nursing care on site.
Year nine and ten English classes have found their best speakers who will be competing this Wednesday in the year 9 and Year 10 speech competitions. We wish them luck.
And lastly we had our annual exchange with Taradale High School from Napier on Tuesday. Eleven teams competed against each other – with Taradale taking the cup with a 6-5 win. Congratulations to you all.
21st July, 2009
Taupo-nui-a-Tia College Corner
Bridie Witton
It great to be back. Back to school for the winter term. We are excited about all the snow on the mountain and our ski and snowboard teams are starting their trials and skill building days with the enthusiastic Mrs Forrest, Miss Bruce and Mr Thompson. We also welcome Hannah Orchard back from Italy – a much missed and vital member of our girls snowboard team. Our boy’s snowboard team were the North Island Secondary Schools champions last year – big shoes to fill for this year’s team! Still more about sport – our Boys XI Hockey team (who are in the A Grade) played Whakatane High on Tuesday night – a hard fought game with a 3-2 loss. James Allen deserves special mention for an amazing goal.
On a much more serious note, this term is all about hard academic work. We have our exams in week 6 and apart from tournament week, all students will be at school studying hard for not only their exams but for their futures (quote from Mr Moyle). Year 13 students no longer have supervised study and are using these opportunities to self manage their work load and become independent learners. Which ties into our cornerstone value this term – RESPECT! A great value to get us through this very intense term.
Junior students will receive their mid-year reports next Friday with a parent teacher evening following the week after that. (Good time to get your parents involved, it really is a good idea if they talk to your teachers).
Just to lighten us up though - great news for Tongariro house – their lypsync from Spirit Week was the winner on the last day of Term 2 - with a really well performed Michael Jackson tribute – all five Michaels did a very realistic job especially Dyalla! It was a great way to finish off spirit week. All the money raised during this week goes to Canteen – the organisation that supports teenage cancer.
On an administration matter our new PTA are now meeting regularly and making a much appreciated contribution to helping out and being part of the strong community-college link. A big thank you to all involved.
8th June, 2009
Disco Inferno – Friday night already sold out!
By Bridie Witton
Its show time! Practise, practise, practise and more practise, as Ms Gowdy, Mrs Gould and Mrs Wensley work us into shape for the opening of our annual major school production – Disco Inferno. This is now the sole focus (apologies to all our teachers) for the 80 or so students involved in preparing for the show. Over the past weeks we have been putting our hearts and souls into rehearsals so that we can put on our best and most brilliant performance for the community. The show begins next week with a dress rehearsal matinee for the Year 8 students on Monday the 8th, then the opening performance in the evening at 7pm. The show then runs each night at 7pm, then on Friday (which is already sold out) the show starts at 7.30pm. If you are a student at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College then you can attend on Tuesday for a special one off price of $5. All tickets are available at our college office.
Now for the Story… Disco Inferno is set in the seventies and is the tale of Jack (Ryland Martin), a 23 year old cleaner with dreams to be the next pop sensation. He sells his soul to the devil for fame, and then compromises everything that he loves, including his long time girlfriend Jane (Bethany Gould) and best friend Tom (Mason Whitehouse). But are his dreams just that, a fantasy? And can he win back Jane before it’s too late? With devils minions, the prince of darkness himself and even a cameo appearance from Abba and much, much more, TNT’s Disco Inferno is set to blow minds. Get set to boogie to some famous pieces, such as “Crocodile Rock” “Kissing in the Back Row” “Some Girls” “If you leave me now” “Boogie Nights” “Disco Inferno” and many, many more. All played by our dedicated and talented music students - Dyalla Swain, Matthew Paull, Denholm Orr and Theresa Parker. These students are accompanied by Mrs Wensley, the well known Marshall brothers – Pete and Chris and Mrs Gould – our rehearsal pianist and remarkable vocal coach.
And then to top off this very busy, fun and entertaining week – our senior students will, (sort of like Cinderella) change from their platform shoes and flared trousers into formal suits, ties and ball gowns to attend the School Ball held at the GLC on Saturday night. We wish them an enjoyable evening.
22nd May, 2009
By Bridie Witton
Year 13 students and teachers have been running around, looking suspicious and wary because of the game Assassins. Everyone is given an “alias” and a person to find. You “assassinate” your person by putting a red sticker on their top-half and saying “bang, you’re dead (insert alias here)”. It is providing much hilarity and excitement as the game enters into its second day. The ultimate winner becomes the “Supreme Being” (a title much sought after…)
On the music scene the annual event Rockquest was held in Rotorua last weekend. Our band Kaleidosonic came first and Our Salvation (which has one Tauhara student in it) made it through to the regional finals – to be held in Rotorua on the fifth of June. Any one can go, so everyone should go and vote for the Peoples Choice band. We all know how good they are because at our recent student assembly the bands played to a very enthusiastic audience!
The ball is back! Ball tickets are on sale now for year 12 and 13 students from the college office, and the tickets will be issued the week of the ball. The theme is “Midnight Garden” and we have some fabulous entertainment lined up for you all.
TNTs show “Disco Inferno” is coming along nicely and tickets for the show are already on sale. Friday night is nearly sold out and students at Taupo-nui-a-Tia are offered a special deal of $5 tickets for Tuesday night. So come along and support our production.
We have our AAA day this Term (22nd June) which stands for “attendance, achievements and attitude” so any students who have work to catch up with, have to go to school while everyone else gets a day off. This is a good (no, great!) incentive for doing your homework! Check out the website to see how hard work can make YOU a successful student.
And so with the rugby, volleyball, netball, hockey and football seasons; the show and ball preparations all well underway - everything is happening at TNT.
9th May, 2009
Taupo-nui-a-Tia College Corner
By Bridie Witton
Tickets to TNTs production Disco Inferno are on sale now. The musical is set in the 70’s Disco Scene and follows Jack’s rise to fame as a disco singer who has sold his soul to the devil. The show performs from the 8th - 12th of June and then that weekend it is the ball!
TNT students are taking advantage of the new winter additions to the uniform. The new scarves are selling as are the new long sleeved polo shirts. The year 9 students look really smart in their new P.E. uniforms too.
Lots to report from the holidays….. we now boast a new television in our school foyer and we have a new lighting and sound box in the hall to support our productions. First up – Disco Inferno!
On top of that we have a new but officially unopened Health Centre. The Bay Trust Centre will have a full time nurse, a visiting doctor, areas to store student gear and a Superloo! This is a privilege not many schools provide for their students and yr13 student Morgan Burrows said “I’m so excited for the opening! I can’t sleep at night”.
On the sporting front - the annual school cross country was run on Tuesday and despite the cold wind the whole school turned out with most students running and some opting to walk the course. A big thank you to Mrs McKay for all her efforts.
Our school overseas trip this year is for the Kapa Haka group. The group (whose average age is about 14) will be traveling to Rarotonga for the Te Maeva Nui. This is a constitution celebration of the Cook Islands. Groups from Australia, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, other South Pacific Islands, North American Indian groups and groups from all the way to Canada will be attending this Kapa Haka competition. This competition holds special significance as Taupo has a Whakapapa connection with Rarotonga. Ngati Roirangi had Rarotongan parentage; they came from the Itutaki Island. We wish them luck with their fundraising efforts!
23rd March, 2009
Taupo-nui-a-Tia College Corner for Friday 27th March 2009
Unbelievably the term has slipped past, leaving in its wake a multitude of activity and excitement. Our school production Disco Inferno is now well underway with dancing, singing and drama rehearsals. Dancers are now progressing into their high heels with much hilarity and scrunched toes that will hopefully last until the 8th to the 12 of June when the show is being performed at the college.
Sports enrolment day produced a packed hall as students signed up for sports ranging from snowboarding to water polo. Most of the winter team sports are already trialling or practising for winter competition and to “kick the season off” we have a visiting School from South Africa with two rugby teams arriving on the 30th! A great start to our sporting season.
The annual Geo/Bio trip for Year 12 students took their 3 day research camp to the foothills of Mt Ruapehu, where they camped, tramped and gathered information to complete their assessment. Whilst these students were busy absorbing our local flora and fauna, the Year 13 P.E students were also off on their now famous camp with Mrs Parks at the lakes in Rotorua. Horse riding, white water rafting, mountain biking and kayaking were some of the many activities they were involved in.
Our four head students spent the first few days of this week in Wellington at a Young Leaders Day. They spent their time mixing with students from all around the region and listening to guest speakers at the Michael Fowler centre. A chance to bond as a group and experience the fine cuisine and culture that our capital has to offer. The chance to lunch with John Key recently in Taupo is obviously proving inspirational!
Hoe waka competed at Ngaruawahia last Saturday with great results – the Boys Senior Team winning gold and the Girls Senior Team winning Silver (more results to come). The yachting team headed off to Tauranga on Monday to compete in the BOP sailing and our girl’s cricket team competed against Tauranga Girls on Tuesday. We have our first AAA evening this Thursday and two of our students won gold at the Waikato Athletics last Saturday. Busy. Tired. Happy.
1st November, 2008
Patrick Bevin
Wow, the past three weeks have been filled with excitement and pride as we have begun to celebrate the success of our student’s efforts throughout the year. It began with 75 Year 9 – Year 13 students being nominated by the college for the Taupo Times District Youth Awards. Our very own Jed Armstrong won the overall prize (shared) and the Academic (shared). In the junior academic section Anna-Rose Davies (highly commended), Awhimai Fraser (Runner Up) and Hakaran Aujla Junior Winner. In the leadership section, Ella Hutchings won (shared). In the arts section Matthew Paull won the Junior (shared), Bethany Gould runner-up with Theresa Parker Senior winner. For sports we had Cameron Todd winner of the Juniors and Shea Reardon winner of the senior sport. Congratulations to you all, our school is really lucky to have such talented, creative and dedicated students. Following on to that, we had a visit from Helen Clarke to look at our Technology and Gym upgrade (she really does care!). Our seniors have been out at study camp all last week – putting in the hard yards as they prepare themselves for their external examinations. Great to see Mrs Simmons can still do a great impersonation of Tyra Banks in the chemistry nominations! Meanwhile back at the college our art and technology students were busy preparing themselves for a night of fine dining, displays and even a fashion show. All their hard work for the year was on display for parents to come and see and enjoy. A big thanks for the support from the parents and teachers at the college and also for Mark Burton’s appearance and interest in the evening. Pictures of the evening can be found on our website: www.taupocollege.ac.nz/imagegallery. There really is an air of excitement at the college. Students are studying hard, teachers are running extra study sessions and of course the long summer break is just around the corner.
8th August, 2008
Nicky Bryan and Kristyn Aldridge
We’re now fresh into Term Three, and counting down to crunch time in all aspects of college life. Study programmes are being drawn up for mock exams - fast approaching in week five. Tutorials and extra help are available for all subjects, and all senior students are advised to take advantage of these. As for our juniors, the upcoming report evening on Thursday 6th, provides a great opportunity to see how their academic year is progressing. In preparation for both the juniors and seniors, next week’s math’s competition is sure to get everyone’s brains into action. Still, the sporting aspect of college life is in full swing with the various winter teams succeeding in their leagues. McDonald’s Taupo have generously sponsored our 1st XV rugby team for the 2008 season, with funding used to purchase new training jerseys and bags. Much appreciation is felt by the team who will continue to put immense effort into their game. On Sunday our hockey girls were up against the competitive English team, Oundle. Unfortunately the game ended in their favour, yet it was great to see so much support up there! The winter weather has also brought around the ski and snowboard trials, and as long as the weather plays it’s part, the trials are to take place this Sunday. We encourage all snow bunnies to give it a go and would love to see you up there! Taupo-nui-a-Tia College has a long history of high performance in both skiing and snowboarding. Being frequent winners of the BOP Ski Champs and the NISSSC Snowboarding and Freestyle ski. Many of our skiers and snowboarders are involved in programs at Whakapapa and we wish them luck. In keeping with sport, Tournament week is a time we all look forward to and it’s just around the corner with the Hockey, Soccer, Netball and Basketball teams away.
The South American Trip is also getting closer, with the quiz night last Thursday adding that little bit more to the money pot. It was a fun night, with plenty of competition. They also fundraised at last weekend’s Half Marathon; within which our Year 13 PE students put to play all their hard training in that cold winter weather. Congratulations to everyone who took part!
Lately, we have been lucky enough to be entertained by many musicians in assemblies. We’ve heard some very talented; and some very unusual; masterpieces, it’ll be interesting to hear what comes up next! And to encourage more of this, vocal coaching is offered on Friday afternoons by our devoted Mrs Gould, Mrs Wensley and the new tutor Michael. The wind band and new string group have also been collaborating and we look forward to hearing what their hard rehearsing creates. Remember to study hard and look forward to the busy weeks ahead.
1st July 2008
College Corner – By Joel Woods, Sam Laity and Isaac Rasmussen
It seems term two at Taupo-nui has lived up to much expectation from students and staff alike, with more excitement still anticipated. Kindness was shared throughout the school last week between fellow students and teachers with the always successful ‘Kindness Week’ invading the school. Secret admirers, kindness walls, lunchtime movies and hug cards proved a huge success with distributing kindness to every corner of the school with thanks to the hardworking cultural committee lead by Sinead Vincent and Hayley Burrows.
The much awaited ‘Senior School Ball’ also proved to be an enormous success; enormous being the key word with just under 320 students attending the function - making it one of the largest balls in Taupo-nui history. Feedback from students and staff indicates an excellent night was had by all, none of which would have been possible without the amazing ball committee and the guidance of Mrs. Grant.
Another highly anticipated school calendar event is the infamous ‘Spirit Week’, which for the past 10 years has, in tradition, been held during the last week of term two. This year it sees students and staff dressing up in house colours, anything beginning with the letter ‘D’ (think doctor, diver, dog) and anyone from a different culture (think kimono, head scarves, body paint). Tradition is deemed important when organising Spirit Week activities – 2008 being no exception with the legendary ‘Boy-O-Boy’, ‘Lip Sync’ and ‘egg throw’ competitions returning for another year. Spirit Week 2008 also sees the addition of many new and outrageous activities including ‘chocolate forehead’ and the ‘sit and skate competition’, which adds to the already highly anticipated week.
The careers office is busier than ever with the Gateway programme this year helping a huge 84 students get a taste of their career options with job placements throughout the community. Also, our Year 13’s are involved with the always difficult university course and career selections which keeps the careers advisor Mrs. Grant always busy.
The ‘High School Musical’ cast, although relieved with a rest, was thrilled with the overall stage performance and public turn-out. The positive feedback from students, staff and public alike made the hard work and rehearsal time all the more worthwhile – thanks to all those involved.
Anticipation is also felt in the sporting front at Taupo-nui. Although most winter teams are well underway (with special mention to the unbeaten girls 1st XI hockey team), the ski and snowboard teams are awaiting training and trials – and with the snow falling, that seems very soon! Our Year 13 P.E class is again endeavouring in the challenge of completing the ‘Mizuno Half Marathon’ on August 3rd leaving only 5 weeks remaining for Mrs. Craggs to whip them into shape – we anticipate their arrival at the finish line!
We hope both students and staff enjoy their well deserved holiday and until next time, bye from Taupo-nui!
College Corner 17th June, 2008
Patrick Bevin
So the time is upon us… you, the faithful reader of Taupo-nui-a-Tia College Corner have only heard it one way or another every installment of this bi-weekly column; ‘High School Musical’ ironically our own high school musical for the year opens this week. The highly professional finished product is on show every night and you wouldn’t believe that it is the same cast that started out from scratch months ago. It stars Ryland Martin as Troy Bolton and Awhimai Fraser as Gabriella Montez along with a large number of the school making up the rest of the cast. It is certainly worth going to watch, the show is a real highlight for many students
 as it is one of very few opportunities actors from our school get to put there talent on show this year. Following on from the week long production
 is the school ball; A Hot Night in Rio de Janeiro is on Saturday night. Expect
 plenty of flamboyant color, a South American setting and dancing to match a great night is expected by all. It is another event that has had an incredible amount of student work go into it and stretches our students further. It is not been all culture this term, the school sports certainly haven’t slowed. The netball is just a hive of activity on a Saturday morning with plenty of Nui students taking part. The 1st XI Footballers and 1st XV rugby are both mixing it up at the top of there respective leagues with the Rugby boys taking another win last Friday against Mount College (17-7) on school grounds. These games are always good for the boys as it always sparks a bit more of a local turn out. On a representative level John Koko has been picked to represent the NZ under 18 Maori League team and Mitchell Wood picked for the NZ athletics team to compete at the ‘Down Under Challenge’ in Brisbane. This takes the number of nationals representatives named from our school alone to 5 (in 5 different sports) in just the past month! A phenomenal statistic for any school, any where in New Zealand! Congratulations to our golf team for taking out the prestigious Manihera Trophy! By reading the first part of this you would think that the academic school had actually stopped, it hasn’t and the academic work is slowly picking up! For the first time ever the English department held mid year exams, which was a real treat for anyone doing English and reports are issued next Friday just to make sure everyone is on the straight and narrow.
It feels as if this has been written in one breath but with so much going on and such a buzz around school I don’t think it should be written any other way! I suspect the next college corner will be a little more sedate with everyone having to take a deep breath and a bit of R and R to recover from the highly paced middle of Term 2 as well as catch up with the academic work we are here for after all.
hasta la vez próxima
College Corner 20th May, 2008
Patrick Bevin and Nicky Bryan
Welcome back to Term Two. It has been great to see an enthusiastic and eventful start to the term. The opening of the Erupt festival saw some amazing talent from our very own students, both on this opening night and within various performances throughout the week. This included the Kapa Haka and Pacific Island groups at the big bang opening. The festival has been a very successful week showcasing both local and international talent. We were lucky enough to have some groups from school invited to the Great Lake Centre to watch some of these cultural performances. Last week we held our first social where 300 keen students showed up ‘tight and bright’. Prizes were awarded to the most outrageously dressed and the most enthusiastic dancers. Its fair to say, a fun night was had by all! Massive participation in last week’s cross country was great to see, and we look forward to hearing of success when our top runners head off to compete in the BOP champs. During the holidays we were well represented by our head students at the Anzac Parade. Ella and Richard laid the wreath on behalf of the school and Jed Armstrong gave an amazing speech in support of the Anzac Soldiers. Winter sports have started their various leagues with lots of traveling involved. Thanks to the coaches and parents who have continued to volunteer their time and skill to help our athletes over the season. Student groups have been exploring the wilderness of Japan and the Whirinaki’s – more details to come. The High School Musical cast is currently working extremely hard in rehearsals to make this production even better than the last. Keep an eye out for ticket sales from the 23rd of May at our college office. The social highlight of the year is approaching with a much anticipated school ball – A Hot Night in Rio de Janeiro. Hard work is well underway for the preparation of this event to be held on the 14th of June at Wairakei resort. Dancing with the Staff ceroc lessons will begin this week taught by our very own Stefano Ross and Temepara Simmons! Hasta la vez próxima, adios!
College Corner 8th April
The Prime Minister, the Easter bunny(s) and South African sports teams
Michelle Hancock and Patrick Bevin
The title basically sums it up; the college has been a hive of activity over the last few weeks. There has been people and teams coming and going on an almost daily basis and the College shows little signs of slowing down as the term finishes up.
First on the list of visitors to our school was a visit plus a whirlwind tour from our Prime Minister Helen Clarke. She came; she saw the school and had an open question and answer session with the school 7th form. It was amazing to listen to and it is quite different to how she comes across on TV. At the rate (and length she was answer questions) she could have easily filled up much longer than the 30 minutes she had with us.
We were lucky to have to visiting colleges this term from South Africa. The first exchange was Wykham College. They played both our premier netball and girls hockey teams. Our netballers had an awesome game handing out a 40 – 8 beating, our hockey players didn’t quite match that losing out 8 – 0. Early in the season for both teams and it is good to have these pre season games. A week later Kearnsey college 1st xv rugby team visited and the game couldn’t have been closer! A 21-20 cliff hanger falling in favor of the visiting side, disappointing to lose one so close but an awesome game to watch. A big thank you to all the people who billeted out the visiting students! It is always great to have visiting colleges to our school, it creates a real buzz to have the teams come here and play on our school grounds and is something we will definitely see more of as the year goes on. Some more sport from within the college, our Hoe Waka team has been out doing us proud, putting on dominant displays each time they hit the water and the college athletics team winning medals at both North Islands and National competitions.
Coming up in the next two weeks before the end of term, the Japanese students who have long been awaiting this are finally departing to Japan this weekend Triathlon Nationals at Karapiro and Mountain Biking champs in Levin are this weekend and we send our best athletes there knowing they will do Taupo proud. Inter-tutor netball has already hit the 7th formers, the first of many competitions to come with our winter line up. The winter sports are beginning and we encourage as many students as possible to get in there and represent our college. It is always a pleasure to see our school colours roaming throughout the netball courts, rugby fields, hockey turfs and football pitches. Parents and supporters out there, we thank you for your continuing support and hope to see you this year without fail.
Until next time.
College Corner 11th March, 2008
By Kristyn Aldridge and Nicky Bryan
We’re officially half way through term one, and hitting the six week mark there has been plenty of hype within the school. Our year nines can now safely say they have become part of the big family of Taupo-nui with the parent/teacher BBQ which brought everyone together on Thursday 28th February. During this time we can only imagine what nerves were forming within our PE teacher, Ms Craggs, who in only a few days was to be competing in her first Taupo Ironman. With plenty of school support and spirit behind her, we watched her run down the chute with nothing but a smile. Congratulations also to all the helpers who fundraised at the Ironman – it makes the Amazon trip overseas that little bit more realistic! As well as the trip to South America, we are also slowly approaching the year eleven trip to Japan.
On the sporting side of school life, our top athletes headed off to Mid Islands in Rotorua last week where the weather proved to be just as fierce as the competition! We still left with some amazing results, particularly in the jumps, sprints and javelin and had an overall great day. Mr Ball is currently organizing the team to represent us at the upcoming Waikato Athletics Champs to be held in Hamilton this weekend.
Recently our Equestrian Team also picked up some wins at the ODE in Te Teko, coming first overall out of the 17 schools from all over the BOP.
The Hoe Waka team’s early starts are noticeably paying off as they’ve oared their way to success at recent competitions. Earlier in the month, at both Auckland and Whakatane regattas, both senior boys and girls elite teams finished with podium finishes including three wins overall. We look forward to hearing of their successes in the upcoming nationals on 15th March in Ngaruawahia.
As summer is coming to an end, our winter sports are approaching with netball, hockey and rugby trials having begun in the past week. It’s not just these sports our school offers – with a huge variety bound to suit everyone – please get involved and enjoy the school spirit! Parents and caregivers your help and support will be much appreciated in these up and coming winter months.
Its not just on the sporting side of the college where practice is coming into play as our upcoming production of High School Musical is well on its way with both weekend and weekday rehearsals.
In the academic aspect, the ASB Career Bus parked up on our grounds last week to offer our senior students some career advice for their up and coming years in the real world. We hope everyone took advantage of this and benefited from their service. Many thanks on behalf of all the senior students.
As you can see, school has definitely settled in with AAA reports underway and soon to be posted home at the end of next week. Students are already working hard at their assessments, though last year’s results will prove to be a challenge to beat due to our outstanding end of year successes.
With all this hard work we are definitely looking forward to the long weekend of the Easter break. We wish everyone a safe and happy Easter!
College Corner - 21st February, 2008
2008 is well and truly under way. A warm welcome to the 203 new year 9’s, and an even warmer welcome to the 743 students who have come back to Taupo-nui-a-Tia College ready for another year. As at the start of any school year, the year 13’s stood forward to welcome the new students, parents and staff to school with a Powhiri- and what a promising bunch they look! This was also Mr Peter Moyle’s first Powhiri as principle and after a magnificent speech in Te Reo, he sent the year 13’s packing for leadership camp. Leadership camp consisted of 3 days at the glorious Motutere with many team building exercises, melodramatic crumping and exotic food. Now the years 13’s are back - ready to lead the school into a fantastic year. The first week has also seen the election of head students and house leaders.
Briefly the house leaders are
Ruapehu – Sam Laity, Patrick Bevin, Emma Bevin and Megan Fraser
Tongariro – Isaia Alofa, Ethan Salmon, Grace Whitehouse and Zoe Lind
Ngaruhoe – Brad Setters, Sebastian Bucher, Teina Gibbs and Hayley Dingle
Tauhara – Tyler Beamont-Orr, Lennon Witlshire, Keriana Clarke and Sarrah Hill
Head Students of the college for 2008 are Jed Armstrong and Ella Hutchings. Deputy Students are Richard Malcolm and Kate Bevin. A huge congratulations to all those in leadership positions,
First on the school spirit agenda was house colours day/athletics prelims day! This saw an overwhelming sea of Technicolor descend upon the field for house chants before the athletics began. Honors in the chant/banner/theme competition were spread evenly over the houses. Athletics prelims day means going round all the different field events aiming for 2 standards, either ‘standard’ or ‘qualify’ - the later for double points and a chance to compete on finals day. An event like this just doesn’t work without participation and this year saw phenomenal spirit and participation, as not only did the school get 98% attendance for the day, just about everyone got involved! It was an awesome sight. The day finished with relays, where once again every house had a couple of wins but all was minor compared with the day’s premier race; the house leader’s v teachers relay. The atmosphere was tense, the racing was close, but there could only be one winner. Tongariro house leaders took it out in a tight finish with Ruapehu House leaders and Ruapehu teachers. Next year is another year though….
Now we look forward to what is coming up:
Athletics finals day is next Tuesday afternoon. It would be great to see lots of parents there to watch, it is always a great afternoon of athletics and despite what your children say any support there is always most certainly welcome.
Auditions for our high school musical ‘High School Musical’ begin for the (always wonderful) stage show that takes place in the middle of term 2.
Nui will be entering some teams/individuals into the Across the Lake Swim this Sunday so look out for our up and coming swimmers.
Volunteers including students, parents and teachers are fundraising for our school at Ironman 2008 on March1st – so please come and support us, and buy our sausages!
Nicky Bryan, Patrick Bevin and Michelle Hancock
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