Each year, Global Perspective students in Year 8 and Year 9 transform the school playground in to a market place, just in time for the Christmas season. Having learned about the 4 Ps of marketing, product, price, promotion and place, our students were briefed to create products to sell to make a profit. We are unable to run the market place event in the school this year, so the students created an online Christmas Catalogue to sell their wares. All orders must be placed by Friday 26 November 2021, and details of how to order are in the catalogue.
Six senior students from the Model United Nations Club attended MUNA (the Model UN Assembly) 2021 last Friday and Saturday at Auckland Girls Grammar. This conference saw approximately 200 students from over 40 Auckland schools organised into teams as representatives of United Nations member countries where they then engaged in debates on five different topics, ranging from the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, to fund to end the use of landmines.
Our Year 12 team representing Slovakia spoke wonderfully on 2 remits: 1. Enforcing the protection of women’s rights in member nations, and 2. Enforcing regulations on countries who do not act to reduce their carbon emissions.
Our Year 13 team representing Jordan spoke on women’s rights and about increasing aid to the UN’s food distribution programme.
Congratulations to Christina, Ella, Brendan, Joy, Shiv and Harry who made up our Model UN teams for 2021. Both teams spoke incredibly well and represented the school excellently. It was a fantastic event that was equal parts immense fun and a great learning opportunity. Kudos to these students who worked so hard over two long days of debate and competition, especially coming straight from an intense week of examinations.
It is good to see our students engaging with international issues and honing their public speaking skills and we look forward to taking more teams to MUNA next year!
Wentworth College student, Matthew Rist, is a talented teenager who has that wonderful balance that New Zealanders aspire to, of being a fantastic sportsman yet also very humble and down-to-earth.
He is quick to smile and laugh, is never riled, and is known by teachers and his peers to be a thoroughly “decent bloke”.
The high-achieving 16-year-old enjoys remarkable success in both his academic studies, and on the water, with an exceptional talent in sailing. Matthew not only received Top of the World honours in the 2020 Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards Ceremony in recognition of his extremely impressive results in his I.G.C.S.E. Physical Education examination, but he also gained A*s in all 7 of his I.G.C.S.E subjects; a fantastic achievement.
When asked what is the main thing that allows him to achieve so highly in both sailing and his exams, Matthew knows that hard work, and a passion for what you do is the key.
“I believe my work ethic and the enjoyment I get from sailing and learning has been crucial and a massive help to managing my time between sport and academics. I pride myself on being able to learn as much as possible in class so my study is only reviewing what has been taught rather than trying to teach myself new concepts at home. Having a passion for what I am doing is the reason behind my success because it allows me to be excited to do it rather than treating it like a chore.”
Matthew makes an effort to balance schoolwork with his sailing and other sports. “I feel through working well in class, it decreases the time needed to study at home. Also by knowing that I only have a limited time to get my school work completed makes me more productive whilst working than I otherwise would be”
When he is not studying or sailing, Matthew really enjoys cycling and basketball. “Cycling is great for my fitness and I get real buzz from being out on the road. Basketball, being a team sport, offers the team environment of sport more so than sailing and cycling which is great for creating bonds and learning to work in a team.”
Wentworth College has always been extremely supportive of Matthew’s involvement in activities outside the school. Matthew credits his teachers with the support he gets, and the chance to work on his fitness.
“Mr Hicks runs Friday morning fitness sessions which are always tough but rewarding. He has also been great to talk to about my sailing and goals which I’ve really appreciated. The sailing programme that the school offers has also shown me a different side of sailing which has benefitted my personal sailing.”
Now a Year 12 student, Matthew is studying Cambridge A.S English Literature, Physics, Mathematics and History. He does not yet know what he would like to study at university saying “I honestly have no clue, apart from it being something that I love.”
He has definitely set himself a target for sailing. “I am aiming to qualify into the Aon FastTrack programme which is a stepping stone towards becoming a part of the NZL Sailing team and going to the Olympics. I’d love to make a profession out of sailing and I am lucky that the sport has so many options where you can be professional.”
When it comes to exceptional students, Wentworth College’s Deputy Head Girl, Angelina Gosse, has had an exciting journey to get to where she is today.
The high achieving 17-year-old was originally born in Canada, before moving to Switzerland and then to France. At the age of 10, she left France with her parents to sail around the world for 18 months on their 80 foot racing sailing yacht, which she still lives on today. She spent 6 months in the Mediterranean, 6 months in the West Indies, and 6 months around Tahiti.
Angelina arrived at Wentworth after that voyage as a quiet Year 7 student, not speaking a word of English. She credits Wentworth’s strong ESOL programme with helping her quickly to pick up the basics to be able to understand classes, but also to understand what people around her were saying. “A special thanks to English teacher Mrs Jordan for that. I am now fluent in English and hold basics in Spanish too.”
Today, Angelina can call herself a true linguist, achieving “Top of the World” in A.S. French Language, in the 2020 Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards, as well as 96% in A.S. English Literature. This examination mark would be exceptional for a first language speaker of English, but to get such impressive marks when it is your second language shows Angelina’s phenomenal academic talent.
The key to Angelina’s remarkable success are her teachers, and also being very organised.
In order to achieve outstanding results at this level, Angelina was quick to point out, “I really make a commitment to be organised. I plan everything – so that I can do all the work needed as soon as it is given to me, which is key to keep up to date but to also plan out some free time. This enables me not to get tired, enjoy life, but also get high results.”
She is also quick to give praise to the teachers at Wentworth “My teachers have always been able to personally ‘coach’ me and answer my questions. It is very beneficial because it enables me to get a deeper understanding of the syllabus and also to push my learning further”
Now a senior Year 13 student at Wentworth, Angelina is studying Cambridge A Levels in Mathematics, Biology, French and Economics, as well as A.S. Physics too. In her spare time, she loves to windsurf, and is a talented pianist. She even has a full sized piano on her boat!
“After Wentworth, I plan to apply to universities throughout England, Switzerland and France. While waiting for my results, I am considering spending some time in a New Zealand university to keep up with the first year of my Bachelor’s Degree majoring in Biology”
“I am passionate about Biology and science as a whole; I am especially interested in bionics but also in medicine-related areas such as embryology. I am therefore thinking of studying a Bachelor of Biology or Biomedical Sciences. I would love to pursue a career related to this field.”
Last week, Wentworth College IGCSE, AS and A Level Geography students travelled to Tongariro and the Taupo area for a three day field excursion. The trip provided opportunities to extend classroom learning through direct observation and experience. Power stations and sections of the Waikato River were visited including the release of the reservoir water at the Aratiatia Dam. The huge geothermal project, Huka Falls and the Taupo caldera were also covered. On the second day, the students headed out onto the volcanic flows and trekked in the rain to Taranaki Falls. Unfortunately, the cloud level turned the mountains into a grey plateau. The gondola at Whakapapa remained closed for our entire visit, so some quick schedule juggling allowed a visit to the spa pools and slides in Taupo on the journey home. An extensive array of subjects were observed and experience gained and despite the weather, students had an educational time away and managed to cover the work they needed to do in the field. It was a very enjoyable experience for all our students.
The 70th Auckland Inter-Schools Regatta was held on Friday at Whakatere Sailing Club from Narrowneck, Devonport.
Our representatives sailors had to endure calm conditions with a significant northerly current which tested their patience. Following glassy conditions in morning the breeze filled in from the East to get the four scheduled races in.
Co-Captain Matthew Rist placed 3rd in a competitive Laser Radial Fleet & Jake Pye (Skipper) with Sam Wild (Crew) dominated the RS Feva fleet with a clean sweep of 4 races in 1st place.
Six Wentworth Students have been invited to the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards Ceremony and formal dinner in Auckland later this month following their exceptional results in the November 2020 examination series. Their success is extremely impressive. Our Wentworth students have demonstrated not only academic flair and subject expertise, but also the hard work invested in their studies in what was a difficult year for so many people.
Last year, more than 2 million students sat Cambridge examinations in over 10000 schools all over the world which makes these results even more notable:
Top of the World – IGCSE Physical Education – Matthew Rist
Top of the World – AS French Language – Angelina Gosse
Top in NZ – AS German Language – Michael Berns
Top in NZ – AS Language and Literature – James Brown
Top in NZ – AS Marine Science – Nina Fuller
Top in NZ – AS Travel and Tourism – Braedyn Faire
These results are the first “Top of the world” awards for Wentworth and we are extremely proud of their achievements.
Top of the World – IGCSE Physical Education – Matthew Rist
The Wentworth Trust Board is very pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Kurt Dorset as the new Head of Wentworth Primary School from the start of the 2021 academic school year. Mr Dorset succeeds Mr Chris Donovan, who was the Head of Primary since 2013 and saw the school grow under his leadership from just 26 students to a current very healthy roll of 107 students. Mr Donovan tendered his resignation to the board last year to return to his former career in the finance sector.
Mr Dorset was selected from an outstanding field of both local and international applicants. With a Bachelor of Education and Diploma in Teaching from Auckland University, he has 16 years’ experience teaching students from Years 3 to 7.
Mr Dorset joins Wentworth following 11 Years at Saint Kentigern Boys’ School , where he held numerous leadership and management roles and was a member of the school’s executive management team. These roles have included those of Director of Curriculum Assessment and Learning (Years 0 to 8), Director of Innovation and Learning, and Head of e-Learning. In addition, Mr Dorset has been a House and Year level Dean, and actively involved in leading school camps and coaching school sports teams. A notable feature of Mr Dorset’s background includes his co-authoring of an educational paper in 2017. The paper was very well received by the educational community and following an invitation to do so, Mr Dorset presented his research at an international education conference in Baltimore, USA.
On a personal level, Mr Dorset and his wife, Brooke, have two young children. Prior to starting their family, Mrs Dorset was a New Entrant teacher at Kristin School and St Cuthbert’s College.
Mr Dorset states “I am excited to accept the position at Wentworth Primary School. The educational philosophy and values that underpin the current success of Wentworth Primary fit well with my own educational philosophy. I also have a strong belief in the Cambridge academic programme followed by Wentworth students. I look forward to getting to know all members of the Wentworth school community.”
We have been very fortunate to be able to secure Mr Dorset’s commencement from the start of the 2021 academic year.
Last term, Cambridge International sent a film crew to Wentworth College to record a short video about our AS Marine Science course. Well done to Miss Fisher and our Marine Science students; they all came across really well and the finished video looks great. We are so lucky to have the Hauraki Gulf on our doorstep to really support the practical learning in this subject.
Cambridge A Level Marine Science provides a coherent and stimulating introduction to the science of the marine environment. The AS part of the course concentrates on the scientific study of the sea; its ecosystems, including marine ecosystems and biodiversity, energetics of marine ecosystems, nutrient cycles, coral reefs and lagoons and tectonic processes. It also looks at natural features and events of the ocean, e.g. earthquakes and tsunamis and physical and chemical oceanography. The A2 part of the course concentrates on human activities that depend on the sea and have an impact on it such as fisheries management, aquaculture and the human impact on marine ecosystems.
Practical activities underpin the teaching of the whole course, taking advantage of the local environment around the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, with fieldwork at Goat Island Marine Reserve, local beaches and a conservation / yachting experience with the Sir Peter Blake Trust. Students will be required to gain at least one qualification beyond the classroom – such as Maritime VHF Radio licences, Powerboat qualifications, Day Skipper, or Diving qualifications.
In Global Perspectives this Term Year 9 are learning about New Zealand’s system of Government. Yesterday, our local MP, Mark Mitchell, visited to answer a wide range of questions put to him by the students, about the life of a politician and a variety of current political issues. Mark thought our Year 9s had some great and informed questions!
After Covid-19 lockdown disrupted the school cross-country twice, Wentworth College decided to offer an alternative solution for our students in which they could participate independently.
The College’s “virtual cross country” commenced during the second level 3 lockdown, and students were asked to run either 3 or 4 km, depending on their age group, and to record their run on an app such as Map My Run or similar. Once the students have completed the run, they then use an on-line form to enter the distance covered and time taken, together with a screenshot of the run from their app. The timeframe for completing the run will extend until the end of this week, so students may take the opportunity to achieve better results by completing multiple runs. Any students unable to take part in this format will be given the opportunity to do a timed 3km or 4km run once they are back at school.
As this is one of the Inter-house events for the year, students are allocated house points for completing the run, and the top runners in each age group (based on their average pace for the run) are awarded additional points. There has been an enthusiastic response from the students with plenty of encouragement from the student house leaders.
Here are some of our students doing their virtual cross country during lockdown!
The Wentworth College Annual Ball took place last Saturday at Markovina Vineyard Estate in Kumeu. In a time when many schools had to cancel their school ball, Wentworth College was very fortunate that this wonderful event was able to take place. The venue this year was exceptional, and the photography provided by Cactus Photography was perfect, and captured the key highlights of the ball. The DJ created an atmosphere that was unforgettable, with music that lasted the entire night.
Our years 11, 12 and 13 students all had an amazing evening, dancing and having fun.
We also wanted to share the lovely feedback we had from the venue – we are very proud of the conduct of all our students.
“We were so impressed with the entire School, a great bunch of young adults, had a lot of fun and without doubt the best School Ball we have hosted at Markovina. You and your school have a lot to be proud of.”Event Manager, Markovina Vineyard Estate, Kumeu
Well done to the Head Boy and Head Girl, and the ball committee for all the hard work they put in to making the ball a huge success.
