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 From the desk of...
Tim Oughton, Executive Principal
When I look back on the past nine weeks of educational activity at Kristin, I have nothing but admiration for the way our students organize their time and pack so much in. We do encourage our young people to explore as many avenues as possible and they respond to that encouragement positively. For our senior students IB and NCEA examinations await in Term 4 and effective preparation will be their priority. To settle nerves and lower anxiety I would like to offer some words of advice to both parents and students.
If you’re anything like me, parents will remember the stress of school exams as one of the least exciting times of their schooldays! Things aren’t much different for many students nowadays - and they might actually be worse. No matter how hard we try to reduce exam pressure, stress has become an inevitable part of school life at this time of the year. Research has identified some of the most common causes of exam stress in students. Ranking highest are low motivation levels, a lack of preparation, too high expectations from others and unhealthy competition from fellow students. Irrespective of the causes of exam stress, there’s no doubt that some students can deal with this type of stress far better than others.
In recent years, experts have identified a wide range of strategies and habits that can have a huge impact in reducing exam stress. It’ll be worth reminding your son or daughter of some of these in the build up to their round of exams or tests in Term 4.
Listening to classical music has been shown to have a positive impact on the brain’s ability to receive and absorb information. Dr Chuck Hillman’s research at the University of Illinois has shown that taking a 3-5 minute walk after every hour of study raises concentration levels. Even light physical activity increases heart rate - this ensures the brain gets more oxygen which reduces tiredness and stress. Research also shows that short 20-30 minute bursts of revision work is best for sustaining focus rather than long stretches at a time. Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the single most important factors in ensuring good brain functioning and memory recall. Many of our Middle School students have experienced the benefits of Mindfulness. By creating a quiet inner-space they can help support the right frame of mind for deep study. Young people sometimes don’t realise the amount of time they waste being distracted by external stumuli, from Facebook and Instagram to noise and other activities, happening around them! And here is an interesting piece of research that may resonate with study time - last year the International Journal of Health Sciences reported that eating dark chocolate with a high cocoa content fights the stress hormone cortisol and releases endorphins which act as a natural stress fighter. I might give that one a go more regularly myself - it certainly reads well!
I wish you all a stress-free happy family time together over the term break - perhaps dark chocolate enriched for our examination students!
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Kristin School Head Prefects
We have great pleasure in announcing the Senior School Head Prefects for 2016-2017:
Rory Sutherland (Head Boy)
Houston Murray (Head Girl)
Adam Sinclair (Deputy Head Boy)
Emily Maclean (Deputy Head Girl).
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Junior School Beijing Tour
Beautiful blue skies and a balmy 26° in Beijing – what a fabulous start to our adventure. Oh, and a bountiful breakfast buffet!
Off we went to the northwest corner of the city for a morning with the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB). We counted almost a dozen different forms of transport from the bus window and marvelled at some of the extraordinary buildings on the way. Clusters of modern 30 storey+ designs, many with 2 or 3-storey built-in LED video panels on the sides. Traffic was heavy across the 6 lane highway, but that didn’t faze these little Aucklanders! Just another morning run to school really.
On arrival, we broke up into small groups and walked down the street to the local markets where we bartered to get the most value for our 15 RMD investment. Our first opportunity to try “tài guìle!” (too expensive!) and secure a better bargain. The watermelon, pears, peaches and nashi apples were popular choices, and many were brave to try something new like persimmons or gooseberries. We returned to WAB to share our purchases before the morning tea break and a fun PE lesson. In true Kiwi spirit, the Kristin kids broke into an impromtu haka before taking on WAB in a game of touch.
Back inside, we shared our cultural items and a polished presentation of the highlights of Exhibition. With the WAB students about to undertake theirs, there was plenty of interest in the process our students described and the tips they shared. It was lovely to hear them reflect so positively and proudly on their Exhibition experience.
After lunch we reapplied sunscreen (that’s right!) and set off to the Chinese Ethnic Cultural Park, passing the Olympic grounds on the way for a tantalising glimpse of the Cube and Bird’s Nest. Set on over 50 hectares, the park is a wonderful display of the 56 distinct regions of China, their traditional homes, gardens and artefacts.
We were lucky to arrive in time for a performance by people from the Yunnan province. Their graceful movements and melodic gourd panpipe resembled that of Thai culture. The culminating display was a highlight as we joined into a re-enactment of their special Water Splashing Festival. This is the most important festival observed by the Dai ethnic people of Xishuangbanna Prefecture, believing that water is a blessing/good fortune that is shared amongst the people. We were certainly happy to receive that blessing on this warm and sunny afternoon.
A big day out, that saw us back to the hotel and in the pool for a refreshing dip before our first real Chinese meal at a local restaurant. Tales of the highlights of the day flew around the table as the ‘lazy susan’ shared new and tasty food choices.
Sleep came quickly for all, with The Great Wall beckoning early in the morning, and the promise of more adventures to come.
Follow the Beijing Blog >>
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Mathex Competition
By Dennis Yang
With 30 seconds left and one more question to go I sprinted back to my table as fast as I could. When I reached the table my team tried to work out the problem as fast as possible. The timer seemed to be moving faster than ever. By the time it had reached 10 we still had not managed to solve the problem. "This will have to do", Christina sighed, scribbling her answer onto the slip of paper. I sprinted it to the marker just as the buzzer sounded. I handed my slip to the marker, awaiting the result. The marker looked up from her sheet and shook her head. I walked back to my table, dejected, but my teammates soon cheered me up - we had done well and gave our best effort.
This year, two Year 9 teams competed at Mathex. Team A consisting of Christina Yang, Kunli Zhang, Sally Tang and myself. Team B consisting of John Yu, Jack Gulliver, Wendy Jiang and Martin Lin. Team A ended with 95 points and Team B 85 - both very commendable achievements. We will continue to work hard towards the 100 points next year.
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Particles Matter
Melting and Freezing is the most exciting inquiry for Year 1 children. It all began with discovering frozen hands dotted around the room, in the sun and shade outside. The children watched with enthusiasm as they melted during the day. Action was taken at home when they showed mum and dad what they had discovered, using water in disposable gloves.
The central idea also proved to be a hit as each word was frozen. When it thawed, the class put the sentence together using the skills they have learnt during literacy. They have enjoyed moving like the particles in a solid, liquid and gas. 1S made a thermometer and it was such fun watching the temperature rise and fall when boiling water or cold water was added. They changed the state of matter when they made jelly. It was definitely a delicious experiment. Making pikelets and chocolate frogs were also exciting lessons, learning that they can turn liquids into solids when baking.
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Snowboard Champions
The North Island Secondary School Snowboard Champs were held at Turoa, Mt Ruapehu this week. In some challenging conditions with moments of rain, snow and no visibility, the Kristin Boys team emerged on top!
The event consists of a Dual Slalom, Slopestyles and Boardercross. After some great racing and competition the consistency of results across the team got them home with the ultimate prize. The team was led by Ollie Whiley (Year 10) who won not only top Junior Boy of the competition but 1st Male overall for the event, a great result.
The team of Ollie Whiley, Matt Kitson, Liam Price, James Thornton and Sam Finnemore all did well in the events that they competed in.
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Authentic Student Learning
Last week brought to a close the 2016 Year 6 PYP Exhibition in the Junior School. The Exhibition requires students to engage in a collaborative inquiry process that involves them identifying, investigating and offering solutions to real-life issues or problems. It provides the platform for students to display the skills, attitudes and behaviours developed throughout their schooling experience in the IB PYP.
The five essential elements of the PYP have certainly been evident:
- Knowledge, Concepts and Skills that the students have explored, developed and applied to gain in-depth understandings
- Attitudes, which contribute to international-mindedness and the wellbeing of all who share the planet
- And Action, which has spread a beautiful warm glow across our Kristin community, and beyond.
This aspect of the inquiry process is especially powerful for young people. When dipping their mind into the big ideas around Sharing the Planet, there are many confronting discoveries made. Being able to take positive action in response to this learning affirms for them that they are not too small to make an impact for good. And many of us will have benefited from this action. Such is the lovely ripple effect paid forward by Exhibition action.
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Advanced Science Trip to Stardome
On Monday the Year 11 Advanced Science classes visited Stardome planetarium to further their understanding of stars and planetary systems as they work towards their external examination.
Vanessa Rancour gave a comprehensive lecture covering all aspects of stellar formation and processes and discussed recent discoveries such as the exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri and breath-taking photos of Pluto from the New Horizons space probe. Meanwhile, the clouds over One Tree Hill cleared and presented an opportunity to use the Zeiss telescope to observe the Sun, our nearest star, which is currently in solar minimum so had no sunspots but did treat us to a small solar prominence to see. Finally, students went to the planetarium to see a couple of shows and have a night sky tour including planets to spot over the next few weeks, finding Matariki, the Southern Cross and other constellations.
Overall, a fun and interesting trip with many astronomically important ideas as these stellar students reach for excellence.
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Teachers v Students Netball Game
On Wednesday at 12noon most of the Junior School came to a standstill as the teachers took to the court to play a game of Netball against Year 6 players.
The atmosphere was electric and our Year 6 girls certainly had a battle on their hands. While slightly disadvantaged by size, the girls were able to capitalise on the Teachers careless handling errors, but it wasn’t enough to beat the shooting accuracy of the Teachers. Final score 12-2 to the Teachers.
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Art Talks
The students in 2T have been enjoying their inquiry focus this term on Art Talks. They have had many enriching opportunities to explore different forms of art such as painting, sculpting, drawing and making collages. They also explored famous works of art and were able to be open-minded when discussing their thoughts on them. They have learnt through this inquiry that art can tell stories without words and that they all have different perspectives on art.
The class delved into cultural designs such as Aboriginal dot paintings and Maori korus. Through understanding their symbolisation they used different techniques to imitate them.
“I loved doing my Aboriginal dot painting.”
- Dora
“My favourite piece of art was my clay owl.”
- Brooke
“I really enjoyed designing and making my Maori koru.” - Joel
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