Newlands College
| Newlands College | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
68-82 Bracken Road, Newlands, Wellington, New Zealand | |
| Coordinates | 41°13′5.59″S 174°49′25.83″E / 41.2182194°S 174.8238417°E |
| Information | |
| Type | State secondary co-educational Years 9–13 |
| Motto | Me Whakamātau "We Work Hard To Achieve Together" |
| Established | 1970 |
| Ministry of Education Institution no. | 268 |
| Principal | Grant Jones[1] |
| School roll | 1000 (excluding international students) (as of September 25, 2009)[2] |
| Socio-economic decile | 9 |
| Website | www.newlands.school.nz |
Newlands College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Newlands, Wellington, New Zealand, and is adjacent to Newlands Intermediate. It is a uniformed school.[3] The current principal is Grant Jones.[1] The current deputy principals are Deb Mills, David Pegram, and James Rasmussen.[4] John Murdoch, former deputy principal announced his promotion to his new position as principal to Taitā College on June 16, 2009. He was sent to the school in a formal Maori procession, and is now their principal. The school colours are white, red and blue.[5] The school also offers community education for adults.[6] The school offers several art, sport and recreation options, along with each student belonging to a house.
Ethnic composition
Newlands College provided the following statistics for the month April, 2009: European 54%, Asian 21%, Māori 11.2%, Pasifika 5.4%, Other 8.4%.[2] On the International Languages Week of 2009, it was reported that the school was composed of 42 different backgrounds.
Uniform policy
Newlands College is a uniform school. Students are expected to follow the dress standards and to wear their uniform with respect for themselves and pride in their school. Parents are asked to support and uphold the regulations regarding uniform. The school logo, displayed on the school jersey, represents many things. The torch represents striving for excellence, the book represents learning, and the stars represent the crux, or southern cross, as seen on the New Zealand flag.
School executive council
Newlands College has a school executive with several roles for students.[7] The executive consists of Head Boy, Head Girl, four House captains (for each House), International Students' Representative, Komiti Maori Representative, Sports Captain, Arts Captain, Academic Captain and Board of Trustees Representative.
Supporting the Executive is the School Council that has representatives from all year levels. Each form class has two Form representatives, of which two of each year level are elected to be Year level representatives. A form class is similar to a homeroom. These groups meet regularly to facilitate all student related activities from the extensive inter-house arts and sports competitions, school dances, and senior ball through to community based projects.
Houses
The school has four houses, which students are randomly selected for. They are Kowhai, Matai, Rimu, and Totara[8] which are named after native New Zealand trees. Each house can earn points in inter-house events such as the annual Tabloids sports day, and the House that has accumulated the highest number of points is awarded the Inter-house Cup at the end of the year. The house emblems are placed in order from left to right (first to fourth place) in the school hall for the current status of the standings. Each Tabloids sports day is generally on the last Friday of February.
| Name of House |
Colour | Tree |
|---|---|---|
| Kowhai | Yellow | Sophora microphylla |
| Matai | Blue | Prumnopitys taxifolia |
| Rimu | Red | Dacrydium cupressinum |
| Totara | Green | Podocarpus totara |
Arts
The school is heavily involved in the arts, with several opportunities available to students.
Annually hosted is the school Variety Show which consists of a variety of performances (as the name suggests) such as Kapa haka, solo singing and drama performances. The next variety show will be hosted on August 18–19, 2010. Almost every year, the school is involved in a production which students and teachers alike can sign up for. Examples are Guys and Dolls (2007), Les Misérables (2009) and Grease (2010). Along with the school production, the Year 12 and 13 Drama classes must produce a production separately. The latter was performed from May 18–21. The school also partakes in a competition known as the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Competition.
The school has a building specifically for the Visual Arts and languages, the Language and Art Block. This was available at the start of 2006. The school also has a Whare Kura which was named the Te Ao Marama.[9] This was opened on May 10, 2007. At the end of 2008 to the beginning of 2009, the school rebuilt the Learning Support Centre, the A Block toilets and the cafeteria.
Each year, Media Studies classes participate in the production of short films. These short films are edited with Mac OS X's iMovie and/or Final Cut Express and the most appropriate (generally the best, but with exceptions) are submitted for the NOSCARS (the Newlands College Oscars) after being classified by the Office of Film and Literature Classification. The NOSCARS are held annually at the Wellington Paramount Theatre. The last NOSCARS event was on October 29, 2010. Similar to the Oscars, there are awards and prizes.
Sport
Newlands offers a wide range of sporting options to its pupils, 22 in total, with summer, winter and all-year-round sports. Sports that are available include Badminton, Cricket, Soccer, Hockey, Golf, Rugby, Netball, Orienteering, Smallbore rifle shooting, Softball, Squash and Underwater Hockey. The uniform code for sport is also present, with most sports needing standard Newlands College P.E. gear.
Recreation
The school has an annual Peer Support camp[10] at El Rancho (Waikanae Christian holiday park), which was first held in 1975. The camp is for newcomers to the school, along with final year students. For year 9s, the camp is to settle into the school with friends and a good knowledge of who is who, before setting foot into the classroom. For year 13s, the camp is to learn new leadership skills and sociability. Students are involved in a variety of activities including kayaking, rock climbing, go karts, and team initiative activities. Peer support training is held for year 12s after the NCEA examinations, and the actual camp is held in early February, usually near Waitangi Day.
Other camps include the year 12 and 13 Geography trips to the St. Arnaud/Lake Rotoiti region and Tongariro National Park.
Newlands Recreation Centre
The Newlands Recreation Centre[11] started as a joint venture between Newlands College and the Wellington City Council. However, recently, Newlands College has purchased the centre and are now the full owners. The facility contains a gymnasium, one set of male and female changing rooms, a large foyer area, P.E equipment sheds, a reception area, P.E department offices, a kitchen, squash courts and a classroom.
Notable alumni
- Te Amo Amaru-Tibble - New Zealand netball and basketball player
- Jodi Brown - former Silver Fern
- Phillip Burrows - current New Zealand Mens Hockey captain
- Jenny Duck - New Zealand Womens Hockey representative
- Kyle Pontifex - New Zealand Mens Hockey goalie
- Michel Tuffery - mural artist[12]
- Ross Verry - former Wellington cricketer
- Luke Woodcock - New Zealand T20 cricket representative and New Zealand Black Caps
References
- ^ a b Jones, Grant. "Principal's Message". Newlands College. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
- ^ a b "Newsletter No.6, September 2009". Newlands College.
- ^ "About Newlands College". Newlands College.
- ^ "Staff List". Newlands College.
- ^ "bannerpic01.png". Newlands College.
- ^ "Newlands College Community Learning Centre". Newlands College.
- ^ "School Council Executive". Newlands College.
- ^ "House System". Newlands College.
- ^ "Newlands College- Whare Kura". Peryer Construction.
- ^ "Special Programmes". Newlands College.
- ^ "Newlands Recreation Centre". Wellington.govt.nz.
- ^ "Newlands' big-name artist gets to work". Scoop. November 13, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2009.
