From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Talent – Issue 18 2010

Sitting in the hall at Wellington East Girls’ College I could hear the heavy rain beating down outside. It was 9.50am, Sunday 6 June and the 600 or so other people I was sharing the auditorium with were restless, noisy and the whole place was becoming just a little bit clammy. We were into Day 2 of the University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival, about half-way through 44 separate performances of three and 15-minute excerpts of the bard’s fi nest. By this stage of the festival the audience were getting pretty selective about what they paid attention to. Many were thinking about their own performances to come and, really, it was becoming quite a tough gig. Potato chip packets were being opened, people were shifting around and as the compeers came on to announce the next group many were barely listening...

“... and now from Kristin School a student-directed piece from ‘Macbeth’ Act IV, scene I. Directors Hamish Mouat and Carla Boniolo”

Polite applause rippled around the hall as the curtain drew back, but as our eyes met the stage the mood started to change. Something in the set was different, more professional, less cluttered, people began to pay attention. Then the music, haunting and clever, drew in our attention as the actors, with perfect timing, emerged from the sides. Slowly, patiently they started their piece. Every movement precise, every look was deliberate.

Not a person in the audience moved, the silence was palpable.

At the end of the short scene people took a few seconds to grasp what they had seen before loud and sustained applause swept through the auditorium. A breathtaking performance, it was a stunning piece of original directorship that was superbly executed. Deservedly, it won a raft of awards later on that evening.

By the time we got to the 44th performance of the weekend, the audience knew what to expect from Kristin. In closing the entire festival with our very own 15-minute scene from Romeo and Juliet, the organisers were making a point that no-one missed. As the curtains drew back a packed hall was overfl owing with anticipation and as a red gentle balloon was kept afloat by an ethereal Juliet, 1200 eyes followed their progress across
the stage. Rapt attention, another unmissable piece of drama, feasted on by a discerning audience whose response was a celebration of what they had witnessed.

Following this I was talking to some of our students, and they were so very excited about what they had achieved. They knew they had been great because of the many awards they had received, but they also felt their success through the way the audience had responded to them. There had been something uplifting, perhaps understood as a wave of good-will, that swept over them, telling them that they had nailed down a superb performance.

To win the most awards of any school at the Shakespeare Festival was an outstanding achievement and cemented our reputation as one of the very best Performing Arts schools in the country. To witness these two acts was very special, to see with my own eyes just how good we were, has left me excited about the many dramatic feasts to come.

The first time I saw ‘Joseph’ was 1976. My father was a teacher at our school and had the annual responsibility of the school concert. ‘Joseph’ was a bit different back then, at Waiheke Area School we had no hall so had to have the performance outside on the asphalt. Craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the psychedelic coat happily put together by a local hippie, I remember very clearly loving the music and being carried away into a different world of Patriarchs and Pharaohs. Years afterwards I would still hum the songs, and when CDs were released it was one of my very first purchases. ‘Joseph’ is one of the iconic shows of the 1970s and has great music, fun acting and a wonderful wit embodied in the score.

The memory of a great performance is something to treasure. Our Year 12 Shakespeare troupe gave a gift to over 600 people a couple of weeks ago and this week many of those same talented students will be on stage again. Joined by fellow thespians from Years 7 to 13 they promise to leave us awestruck and amazed. As audiences, we too have a role to play and our support of those on stage has a great ability to inspire them onto higher levels of performance. Come and see the show, prepare to be wowed by the stage and setting, laugh at the humour in this great work and witness some of the very best young musical performers in our country. I can guarantee you, it will be brilliant.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Judging the Facts – Issue 14 2010

I have always enjoyed facts. In my primary school days, mountains were my fascination and I used to love recalling lists of the the tallest ones in each continent, reading who had climbed them and seeing photos of their majestic beauty. As I had no plans to become a mountain guide however, the information wasn’t particularly relevant from a vocational sense, but I loved the knowing for its own sake and I believe that my life is the richer for this.

Dipping into rich wells of knowledge is one of the great gifts of being human. The ability to learn something new never ceases to amaze me, and the thought that each day may bring a new discovery is greatly exciting.

In 1973 when I wanted to find out something new about a topic I would often start my search on a bookshelf. More specifically, a bookshelf with about twelve or so neatly ordered copies of an encyclopedia. Finding it convenient that knowledge was so alphabetised, I could quickly race to the list of Kings and Queens of England and, provided none had since died, add some more interesting facts to my growing understanding of the world and its history.

Things have moved on a bit since then. With the birth of the personal computer, we quickly changed the way we access this type of knowledge. Firstly, we had the CD Rom. Marvellous resources such as Encarta brought to our fingertips far deeper and richer material than a musty old copy of Britannica. Today, we have Google and other online tools. Thanks to Broadband and ubiquitous access anyone can download unlimited information about pretty-well anything.

In a way then, acquiring knowledge has become easy. What is not so easy however is judging if it’s any good.

When I used to look up my Encyclopedia Britannica I did so with the reassurance that it was actually a pretty reliable source of information. A bit euro-centric perhaps, a bit dated in parts and a pretty broad view of a topic, but generally a resource that could be trusted. Similarly the sheer size of Microsoft’s Encarta project ensured its validity but today, however, we have no such reassurance. Anyone can get their views onto the web and when a Year 5 student Google’s ‘The Kings and Queens of England’ they may get all sorts of answers, many of which, are worthless.

In a way, this massive change to how we access information has taken place without a matching change in our skepticism about where the information has come from. Trusting something published (whether online or in hard copy) is pretty ingrained in our psyche and given that there are so many great sources online, this is not a research tool likely to be discarded.

Today’s students then, need to be smarter. Not just in their ability to access knowledge from a wide range of sources, but in their ability to determine its merit. What they need to develop while still at school, is the sort of critical analysis tools that we didn’t really need until we got to university.

This ability to think critically is at the heart of what it means to be a learner at Kristin. It is taught explicitly through the IB Learner Profile and is embedded in courses from Kindy to Year 13. It is not exclusively the domain of IB subjects, for example all NCEA Year 11 students complete a Critical Thinking course as a compulsory part of their programme.
To be knowledgeable therefore is more than just knowing facts. It is to know about how these facts were gained, what the perspective and motivation was of the fact-gatherer and whether the facts stand up to the rigour of robust analysis. This is so much more than my old encyclopedia could give me and while I mused with these thoughts at the ripe old age of 19 or 20, your son or daughter is encountering them much, much earlier. Anyone can download facts these days, a well-educated student is able to judge their quality.

So when your tweenager, teenager or young adult questions an answer you give them to their homework as mine did recently, be reassured that they are not just being difficult, argumentative or disrespectful. Far from it. What they are actually doing is demonstrating the skills that will enable them to be life-long learners, they are filtering the water in the well of knowledge and protecting themselves from drinking anything harmful. This is a good thing and so necessary in these days of the ‘Information Revolution’. Enjoy sharing this learning journey with them, there are millions of new discoveries waiting to be found.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

ANZAC – Issue 10 2010

“We cared little for what lay beyond the borders of our land. Songs we have that tell of these things, but we are forgetting them, teaching them only to children, as a careless custom. And now the songs have come down among us and walk visible under the sun.”

So said Theoden, the King of Rohan on seeing the legendary 'Ents' of the Two Towers in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The image is a powerful one. The idea of something previously held to be a myth bursting into your reality, making you realise the limitations of your own understanding of the story of your land. Of course, this is a fictional piece of work and the example of large tree-like giants is hardly likely to be something we experience. Nevertheless, I was moved to think about these words as I sat in the Albany Hall on ANZAC Day, reflecting on our own great story, that most iconic of days for New Zealanders.

When I was a child I attended ANZAC days with my father and it always seemed that the veterans outnumbered the spectators. Thirty years after World War Two a soldier who served in that conflict could still be in their late forties and rows and rows of them would proudly march and stand to attention at the last post. Because of this there was never a sense that they needed anyone else to tell their story, we still had them walking among us, and our direct connections to the days of the past were still intact.

As we now attend the same ceremonies, it is noticeable that spectators vastly outnumber veterans. Our last World War One soldier died some time ago and now, sadly, those who served in World War Two are diminishing daily in number. This is inevitable, of course, and as later conflict involved much fewer (but equally brave) men and women it will soon be the case that a veteran attending a ceremony could be an exception, rather than the rule.

The responsibility we now have, and those who follow us, is to not allow the passage of time to diminish this tradition. As direct connections to the past fade from us, we must not let distance dilute the story or create, in the words of Theoden, a “careless custom”.

Christopher Pugsley's now classic book Gallipoli-The New Zealand Story was a brilliant piece of work for its reliance on the “eyes of those who fought in the campaign”. In reading this book (and others like it) we hear the story of those who experienced these things from their own perspective and this, I believe, is the key to preserving our tradition. It is not enough to only remember that these events occurred, we have a responsibility to let the voices of those who served in them still speak to us.

At Monday's Senior School ANZAC Assembly, it was a very moving experience to see the video of our recent European trip's memorial service at Gallipoli. As the names of servicemen with a connection to Kristin families were read out in that place, possibly for the first time since 1915, there was a palpable sense of honoring the past and witnessing a shared commitment to keep that memory alive. Similarly, listening to our Head Girl Lucy Collins giving the address at the Albany ANZAC Day ceremony, I was reassured in the same way. If the sincerity and respect I saw from Lucy and our students on that day reflects the reality of this next generation, then the songs of our past will not be treated carelessly, rather they be etched in stone.

In a sense then it is by reading their words, listening to their experience, and trying to understand what they went through, that we make the songs and stories of the past alive again. We allow the example of those who shaped our New Zealand story to be among us, and to again walk visible under the sun.

We will not, we must not, forget them.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

See Where They Walk - Issue 6 2010

A few years ago I was standing in front of the main block at our school in Brisbane and looked across a thirty metre patch of grass to our two new classrooms. They were side-by-side demountables (we call them prefabs here) and they were needed to cope with a sudden influx of new Middle School students as often happened in those growth corridors of Queensland.

As I stood watching, our groundsman came up to me and we started chatting. He was a straight-talking bloke with a decent beard, and a new Harley-Davidson that he rode to school daily, to the delight of our students. As we then looked across to the forty or so students heading off to their new rooms, I asked him, “where do you think we should put the new path?”

“Mate,” he said “why don’t you wait and see where they walk.”

The thinking, of course, was clear. Why waste a whole lot of time and money putting down a concrete path in a place that no-one was going to use? I could have researched path designs of course and I could have even worked out the shortest route mathematically but what Trevor suggested made real sense; wait and see what track the students made in the grass before building along those lines. My options were then simple; either put in concrete my own views, or partner with our students in a collaborative process.

This analogy holds true for much of what we do here at Kristin. We believe very strongly in creating learning partnerships between students and teachers that are based on genuine dialogue. As one teacher said to me recently “I know my students and I want them to engage in learning that is relevant”. A good example of this is the use of Inquiry that takes place in the Kindy, Year 13 and every stop in between.

Inquiry is an approach to learning that starts with what students already know and aims to develop their curiosity. It then maps out questions and keywords for researching, identifies relevant and suitable information sources, allows students to apply current understandings and then make notes around their new learning. They can then judge the consistency of prior and emerging knowledge and, based on that judgement, modify their knowledge.

Learning like this is active, not passive - it is not simply a transmission of information from one individual to another - and can create greatly improved academic understanding. In addition however, it also creates a greater degree of self-motivation and commitment to learning, higher level thinking skills and an ability, to manage one’s own learning goals. These attributes have a profound influence on a student’s ability to be successful and allows them to acquire a powerful set of learning skills that will be sustained throughout their lives.

Knowing where our students walk has become an essential planning tool for schools that want to be successful in a 21st century learning context. It simply does not suffice any more to assume all students equally engage in an instructional style such as the old ‘lecture room’ of so many Secondary classrooms not that long ago. In these spaces teachers spent many hours casting out pearls of wisdom and gems of knowledge that were, unfortunately, often only picked up by the few comfortable with that particular learning pathway.

In the end, I knew the track the students made wouldn’t be a straight line, a direct route to class may have been asking a bit much! What they did come up with however wasn’t particularly far from what I would have imagined, it was a gentle curve, but it did have one important difference. Rather than curve around the base of a small incline it instead went directly up it. This puzzled me initially, as it involved more effort to go uphill than down, but when I saw the view from the students’ perspective it all became clear. On their way to class students wanted to see what was going on around the school and this small vantage point gave them the perfect opportunity to do so. Being socially inclined they wanted a journey that was connected to their peers and they saw the hill as a chance to gain important information. I was grateful for this insight, it made the path a little more expensive but, as I think Trevor had hoped, it provided some daily joy in the learning journey of our students.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

A Timeless Message - Issue 2 2010

Last year, a small group of Kristin students were selected to participate in the Programme for International Assessment (PISA) literacy study. The testing focuses on literacy in English, Mathematics and Science and compares these against the average performances of other students at a national and international level. No individual data is released, rather it is the performance of the group that is considered.

As a country New Zealand does well in this testing. We are currently ranked 4th in Reading, 9th in Mathematics and 4th in Science in the OECD. As the 2009 test was focusing on English literacy, many of the questions  encountered by our students referred to their interest in reading. For example, we found out that for 45% of our students ‘reading is one of their favourite hobbies’ and that 60% of students ‘enjoy going into a bookstore or  library’. We also discovered that 97% of students possess a ‘book to help you with your school work’, 58% ‘like talking about books with other people’ and 57% ‘feel happy to receive a book as a present’. In all cases these results were significantly higher than the national average.

Reading is one of the great gifts we have been given, it fuels our imagination and inspires our minds. It is a passion of mine and over the summer I had the pleasure of reading two wonderful books. They were both given to me by good friends and while one was a biography and the other a photographic collection they were, among other things, both about flight.

In telling the story of Charles Kingsford Smith, Peter Fitzsimmons brilliantly gets to the heart of one of the great Australian adventurers. Brave, reckless, and a bit of a larrikin, Kingsford-Smith’s story is a fascinating study on the character of an adventurer. Hugely talented, and with a restlessness and confidence that drove him to always attempt “one more great thing”, it seemed to me that a more conventional life was never an option for him. Always  restless and seeking new horizons, he later became sadly disconnected with the realities of a now established aviation industry that had already moved beyond his place in it. Much like the soldier returning from war (which earlier  he had been) it seems that he never came to terms with the ‘time of peace’ and couldn’t transfer his amazing talent for short-term adventure into a long-term professional career.

The other book I read was the equally engaging story of Leo White. A quiet and studious New Zealander, White pioneered aerial photography in this country through the formation of Whites Aviation. Pouring over each page of  this visual history of our land, I spent hours feasting on the detail of these wonderful images. Albany in 1957, Torbay in 1928, Auckland City on the eve of World War II. This wasn’t reading, it was time travel.

Leo White created a company that continues today under a different name. His ability to innovate and change meant that he was always in demand. When old cameras and photographic techniques were no longer giving the  images of suitable quality, he would build his own cameras and pioneer new techniques and technologies to stay at the head of his profession. He was a reflective learner who saw the potential of his work in many fields including journalism, military history, publishing, government planning and advertising.

On page twenty of Whites Aviation these two men come together. In 1934 Charles Kingsford Smith visited New Zealand and it was Leo White who sat in the open cockpit of a bi-plane in the skies above New Plymouth to capture his arrival. Sepia toned, this photo shows a peaceful moment before the bedlam of his landing and the adulation of the crowd. It is a modest photo, taken by a quiet achiever of a gifted man.

Both books were great reads. To trace a story in words was the purpose of one, to trace a story in pictures was the purpose of the other. Their message is timeless and easily accessible for anyone with a few hours to spare and  a comfortable chair.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Field Trips – Issue 36 2009

If you have a child at Kristin it is a fair bet that he or she has been on a field trip. These essential experiences of an education usually take on a largely observational and exploratory form in their early days. Young students may go to see the farm animals or explore the beach, and return with excited stories of new discoveries. As they progress through the school the nature of these trips tend to become more structured and are often linked to assessments. In the Senior School for example, there are specific NCEA standards relating to the completion of fieldwork tasks, and in many IB subjects they are an essential part of internal assessment.

The idea of learning in the field, or as the new jargon goes Educational Learning Outside the Classroom, is actually a tried and trusted concept. Essentially it is about gaining knowledge through observation, a powerful skill that is a fundamental part of being a lifelong learner.

As the season of holidays and excursions is almost upon us, it is worth considering these sojourns for a bit and to think perhaps about how we may do our own field trips and journeys. You see I believe that there is great learning value in every excursion, not just the ones formalised through a permission slip. I would like to share with you then, some of my views on the way to make the most out of opportunities to explore, to create your own learning excursions. Sort of an Educator’s Guide to Family Field Trips that perhaps you may find useful.

The great Berkeley Geographer; Carl Ortwin. Sauer, was a profound thinker and a person who shaped much of our academic understanding about the observational disciplines. I am indebted to his work for many of the ideas that have influenced this editorial.

The first key to an excursion of learning is to, wherever possible, avoid pre-determined organisation of observations. As we walk, talk, see, listen and investigate, leads a plenty will turn up and catch our minds. If we have already determined what we will be looking at then there is little room for exploration of the many gems that may come, quite literally, across our path.

Secondly, locomotion should be slow, the slower the better, and be often interrupted to look at the things that might grab our attention or need further reflection and discussion. Setting a rigid time-line stifles creativity and our natural environment in particular benefits from a leisurely look, a thoughtful observation.

Finally as we travel, we should develop a running dialogue, an open and honest communication with those we share the journey. Questions should be plentiful and prompted by the changing scene in front of us. When we return we can journal these thoughts for further reflection and as topics for future meaningful conversations.

There is no single method to ensure an engaging learning experience when travelling. In essence the best advice is to avoid anything that increases routine and fatigue and decreases alertness. Think about the process, not just the end product of your journey. Explore, question, discuss and aim to develop your impressions into understanding. Give priority to curiosity.

New Zealand, our land, has fabulous places to observe. It may be rock pools and beaches on Pohutukawa laced bays or dense bush-covered ranges. It could involve long journeys on foot over volcanic environments or slow-paced car journeys where we meander down one side of the South Island and up the other. Start by observing what is near and see where that leads. Perhaps as we do this, we might also ask our children about the discoveries of the year they have just had, the future of the place we are driving through and the differences in the communities we are observing. In doing this we also may be establishing strong and powerful memories that will always remind them of the love of learning that we share, and the joy of discovery that can come from the simplest step.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

A Great Contribution - Issue 33 2009

All seven of the Year 13 students in the photo are smiling, grinning really, as they pass by the teacher holding the sign. On the sign is the simple wish, ‘good luck’ and above those two words is a photo of 5V. George Wilks was in 5V in 2001 and Mr van den Bergh was his teacher. On Friday’s graduation walk they met again and George reached across to ‘Mr V’ and shook his hand, gripped it hard as he thanked him for all he did for him when he was 10 years old.

Our guest speaker at prize-giving was Sir Paul Callaghan. A world renowned physicist who has remained in New Zealand to make a contribution of such significance that he has been admitted to the Royal Society, won the Sir Peter Blake medal and been knighted. He is a great New Zealander and we hung on his every word, particularly his message to our graduates about ‘being great here’.

New Zealanders are great travellers. In particular, every year thousands of young Kiwis head off for the great ‘OE’. This is, of course, a good thing and helps young people experience new challenges and cultures. The problem however is that it seems that many do not come back, giving rise to the identification of the ‘Kiwi diaspora’. Australia is, by far, our most popular destination. It has been estimated that 477,000 New Zealand-born people live there, a huge number and we are pleased that Mr Heath has done his bit to redress this balance.

Our second most popular destination is the United Kingdom, where 58,000 New Zealand-born residents have been counted. This is followed by the United States (23,000) and Canada (9,500). An additional 40,500 Kiwis are estimated to live in other countries, a total of some 600,000 people.

While we accept the value of travel we do however want to say to the many young Kiwis heading overseas that there really is no place like home. Our young graduates are fantastically talented and each one of them would bring much to our country if they were to base their professional careers in these fair isles (after a good OE of course).

Our graduation walk on Friday said many things to our departing Year 13 students. One of the main messages we wanted them to understand was that they belong to a family. In walking them past the entire school we were saying that they matter to everyone and that this is a place they can always be a part of, a place they can call home.

In the same way that ‘Mr V’s’ teaching of these students as 10-year-olds set them up for great success in Middle and Senior schooling, I believe that now these 18-year-olds are set up for great success in life beyond Kristin. I also hope that Friday’s farewell experience helped establish in them a sense of belonging and community that will stand them in good stead when they are in a future foreign land, away from all that is familiar to them. If in these times they are feeling a bit lost and without the immediate support of those they love, then I hope that this sense of belonging to a family is reawakened and reminds them of home. I also hope that their experiences here, be they in the fun-filled days of Year 5 or in the near tertiary experience of Year 13, additionally reminds them of all they have been given. Gifted, talented and belonging to our land I hope they come home and make their contribution to our wider family, the community of New Zealand.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Christmas Trees - Issue 29 2009

Time moves fast back at school. Term 4 is now well under way, our Seniors have final exams looming and we are already thinking about the end of the year. As a reminder of rapidly approaching deadlines, I have had over the last few weeks, a Christmas tree outside my office. This has not been to try and out-do our retail giants by advertising Christmas three months early, rather, this tree is a collecting point for the decorated shoe boxes we have all seen over recent weeks. As a whole school initiative the work of ‘Operation Christmas Child’ is another example of the generous nature of the Kristin community and this project has been successfully supporting Pacific communities for a number of years. Students have the chance to help other children and to think carefully about the nature of gift giving. A learning experience for us and a nice gift for others.

Having the tree in the foyer for such a long time has got me thinking again about Christmas trees and a lesson I learned many years ago about the value of craftsmanship
and the importance of journey.

The Christmas tree tradition itself can most accurately be first traced back to 16th century Germany where the Strasbourg Cathedral records show an erected tree in 1539. By 1597 it appears that fir trees decorated with apples, nuts and paper flowers had become relatively common and were already linked to the earlier work of the great reformer Martin Luther. They did however have a bit of a difficult road for the next few centuries,
even being banned by the Puritans at one stage. By the mid 1800s their use was firmly established however, especially among the wealthy and aristocratic families of Europe.

Twenty years ago I had started my teaching career in West Auckland and, newly employed, wanted to find the best Christmas tree I could. We lived in Titirangi and while the roads around us always had a liberal supply of sellers asking $5-10 for a pine branch, this purchase from a trailer on the side of a busy road never quite had the sense of occasion that we were looking for. Additional to that was the fact that these branches were pretty dried out by the time they got to the trailer stage and would typically only last a small period of time. In short they were convenient, cheap and did the job (they could after all stand in a corner) but they were a pretty poor imitation of what we thought a Christmas tree could be.

So after much careful research we decided to get our own trailer and head north to a Christmas tree plantation that we had heard about. Friends thought we were mad. There were many cheap and convenient trees nearby, why travel all that way for something that was available on your doorstep? Ignoring these doubters we would, every year, set off on our Christmas tree journey. To travel to Dairy Flat in 1990 was quite a mission in those days, most people hadn’t heard of the place! We would start out along the base of the mighty Waitakeres, head through the growers of Kumeu, turn into the Coatesville-Riverhead road and past farms that were only slowly giving way to the growth of the urban fringe. Onto the highway and down the winding road, along the flat a bit and then a left turn up the driveway. We had arrived.

Selecting the tree was a careful business. Typically I would try to get one too big of course, but the range we had to choose from were fantastic. The trees were cared for, straighter, stronger. The people who sold it were also the people who had grown it, they had tended the plantation and only grew good trees that would endure the ‘four week test’. It had been trimmed to grow straight, it was disease free, it had been nurtured and grown for a purpose. It was, in short, just a better quality tree, and long after Christmas Day we still had a straight green tree whereas our doubting friends would have long ago discarded their brown branch.

While it was a lot of fun to arrive and receive this great product, I used to also look forward to the journey itself. I guess I could have made it easier by travelling on the motorway and the Harbour Bridge but we used to love the opportunity to ‘pause at questions and stop at exclamation marks’ along the way. The ice-creams at Coatesville Dairy being a good example. There was anticipation, a sense of expectation and the dawning of the realisation that Christmas was on its way. It was great fun.

As I reflect on this I am so very glad that I ignored the temptation to get something easy, convenient and cheap. It was a pleasure to take time over something we valued. It cost a bit more than a $5 branch but when I thought of the value of the outcome it was so easily the best choice to make.

I believe that journeys and outcomes are different here at Kristin. We take great care over every piece of your child’s pathway and want them to not only have a creative and rich experience but a fun one that they will always remember. When they arrive at the end of their time here, as our Year 13s are now experiencing, their education will have been a well-tended, healthy and robust example that will stand up to the test of time. Craftsmanship is like that, not always an easy option but in the end there is simply no comparison.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Sporting Success – Issue 26 2009

As a sports fanatic I am always keen to see a good contest, even though my obsession sometimes has repercussions. Many a night I have stayed up much too late watching the Tyneside darts championships live from Gateshead, or another replay of the Champions League final, when really I should have been engaged in something more productive. The trouble is, sport is such great viewing and if there is sport on then I am inexorably drawn to watch it, like a moth to a lamp or an ant to a picnic. My favourite sport of course, and the one I can never see too much of, is school sport and this year has been a cracker to witness.

As our winter sports seasons have recently concluded, I have enjoyed reflecting on some of the exceptional performances that our students have been involved in this year. From Junior Netball to 1st XV Rugby we have seen Kristin teams compete with true sportsmanship, great energy and unprecedented success.

Weekly, over 1100 students put on their Kristin colours and play for their school. In the Senior School we have participation rates of over 75% and across the school we have 24 Hockey teams, 29 Football teams, 31 Netball teams and over 20 Basketball teams.

But it is not just in participation that Kristin excels. Always strong in certain individual sports, we have in recent years developed great strength in team sports as well, particularly those usually dominated by much larger schools. Because of this growing prowess our results have really begun to take-off and over the last few years we seen levels of achievement much higher than in the past.

A good example of this came last week when our Senior Golf team won the National Secondary Schools’ title. Now national champions, the Kristin team beat the best in the country. The top school in New Zealand, yes it’s official.
Over this same week our Senior Girls’ Hockey team have been competing at the Federation Cup. This tournament is for the top 16 schools in the country and qualification is fiercely difficult to achieve. After a series of brave performances from a young team, Kristin finished a creditable 11th (remember this is a national tournament) and will be there again next year.

Two weeks ago our 1st XI Boys’ Football team won their 14th game in a row, completing their season at the top of the Auckland-wide A2 competition (12 points clear of the next school) and qualifying for the A1 grade for the first time in our history. The top eight schools in Auckland participate in A1, a competition regarded as the best in the country.

On Friday, our Senior A Basketball girls qualified for the national finals for the first time also, having recently won (for the second year in a row) the North Harbour competition. This coming weekend our ski team will defend their North Island crown, the top competition available for schools.

If you consider the average size of many of our opposing schools our team successes are even more outstanding. In the Federation Cup for example our competing schools had an average of 913 girls in Years 9-13 to choose from, we had less than half of that at 430. In the A2 Football competition our opponents had an average of 980 boys in their Secondary ranks and in the A1 grade it is, incredibly, an average of 1446 boys from which they can select their teams. It is an exceptional achievement that from 420 boys in this same age group we can develop a team to compete among the best.

This is a revolution in anyone’s terms. Kristin is becoming a school where sporting success is achieved much more consistently than our size, or history, would suggest was possible. We have become a serious player in team sports now and this complements our traditional strength in individual sports such as Triathlon, Cycling and Athletics.

As we enter the time of summer sports and our Cricketers, Touch and Tennis players, Volleyballers and Athletes gear up for another season, it is worth recognising what has gone into making our sports fields such places of success and enjoyment. The many parent volunteers who assist and coach teams, the regular support on the sidelines, the teacher-coach who has gone the extra mile, the outstanding staff in the Sports Office, the groups and individuals who have supported the development of such outstanding new facilities as the Hockey Turf all contribute to make up a top class sporting environment. Add to this, talented and dedicated students and you have a mix that will be creating ‘firsts’ for some time to come.

Success is no accident, what we have achieved together is well deserved.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Express Yourself – Issue 22 2009

The word ‘photography’ comes from the Greek for light (phos) and drawing (graphê) together meaning ‘drawing with light’ and equally understood as ‘writing with light’.

This is interesting, as often we see photographs as just pictures, images on a screen or paper. If you are like me, then photos are taken to remember a family holiday or a special event, we want to ‘capture the moment’ as the advertisement used to say. Being enthusiastic amateurs, we may also try to make our photos look a bit special by focussing on subjects like a grand mountain and, while this may give us a great memory, it will fail to come alive without the light in the scene being able to tell its story. Those of you lucky enough to be artists will understand this, it is in the light that we see the true expert, and the work of a talented photographer who uses this skillfully, can be breathtaking to behold.

I was reflecting on these things last Wednesday night when I was watching the Dance in the Dove production entitled Into the Light. This wonderful set of performances, by dancers from all three schools, was developed around a theme of light and involved a number of quite stunning lighting experiences. The opening piece involved dramatic and powerful beams of bright yellow light and these drew the audience into the movement in front of us. It was an engrossing performance, quite brilliant in its execution, and conveyed to us the story of the dance.

If photography writes with light, dance writes with movement. The movement of the dancer tells the story, the personality of the one dancing is expressed through the way they show joy, sadness, hope and fear. This happened brilliantly on Wednesday night and the use of stunning rays of light to lift this story even further was a master-stroke.

You see, there is more than one way to express yourself. In a school we mostly write with words and this is generally accepted as our main method for communication. How we help students construct their written arguments, their ideas and views through words is foundational to a great education. For many of us, the written word is our main tool for expression and the craft of a great essay is a joy to behold.

In a school like Kristin however, there is no end to the wonderful stories being told in all sorts of ways. These might be through painting or photography, it may be through the movement of dance and drama or a fantastic essay written by a student after much sweat. It may be a powerful speech, a courageous sporting performance or even a humble act of service.

When our students leave here we don’t forget them. For each graduate we remember what they have left behind, the story they have written. This legacy may be a fantastic dance performance, an exceptional piece of writing, a courageous second-half in the Rugby, a stunning piece of artwork or an act of generosity that means so much to a community. Each student has a story to tell and each has, I believe, the gift with which to tell it. Working with your sons and daughters to help them develop that gift, so that their message can be given its fullest expression, is our great privilege.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

What Makes This School Unique? - Issue 18 2009

When new families come to tour Kristin, they often want to find out about what makes the school unique, what makes it different to other schools. Specifically, they frequently ask about our model of Kindergarten to Year 13 education and how it differs from a schooling experience that otherwise would move from a Primary School to a two-year Intermediate setting before finishing with a usually very large Secondary School.

In answering this there is much I can say. The inspiration that our older students provide to younger ones is a constant source of pride (come and witness the sports committee and Prefects on Junior School sports day), the advantages of having your whole family at the one school is a joy for many families, whole school traditions such as having all students farewell our graduates is a powerful reminder that all belong, that everyone matters.

There are also many educational reasons, the ability to map and plan curriculum from four-year- old Kindergarten students right through to 18-year-old university applicants, gives us a continuity of learning that other schools would love to have.

There is much more; many shared celebrations, some shared sadness, the strong sense of belonging that we all have as members of a family.

So then, while each of Kristin’s three schools does still have its own distinctive elements, there is also great consistency in what we teach. Parents of students coming to Kristin know that while the uniform may change as their child gets taller; the core experience of a Kristin education remains constant and true.

A powerful recent example of this has been the support and encouragement given to the Prefect team in their work on behalf of Wesley School in Owairaka. This altruistic project aims to provide additional reading resources to a school community in which many are economically disadvantaged and without many of the facilities and equipment that we enjoy, here at Kristin.

As their major act of service for 2009, the Prefects have been working very hard to see their vision of partnership and service realised and in the last few weeks have taken the very sensible step of asking the Kristin community for help. The wonderful response evidenced in the AYSTAKS evening and mufti day of last week, showed the wisdom of that decision. The idea of a mufti day in which the usual gold coin donation was replaced by students bringing a book came from one of the Prefects. When meeting in Term 1, they were thinking of a way they could boost Wesley’s library stock and inject some reading material into the school. As an idea it was brilliant, in its execution it relied on the support of all families ‘catching the vision’ and joining in.

In true Kristin spirit you have opened your hearts to our friends at Wesley and given beyond what could ever have been expected. At last count we had received over 4000 books, all of which were carefully selected and generously given. On behalf of the Prefects can I please say thank-you. To stand in a sea of books and watch smiling, joyful students from the youngest to the oldest bringing in their gift, was a great privilege and epitomised so much of what is special about our school.

Altruism is defined as the deliberate pursuit of the interests or welfare of others and is characterised by unselfish concern, brotherly kindness and selflessness. These values are evident daily at Kristin, they are taught right through the school; practised by young children in the playground, developed by Middle School students in their committees and realised by Seniors who see the impact that their actions can have in changing lives for the better. Supported by their families, the generous spirit of our students is a visible demonstration of the power of community and of the love evident in this very special place.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Beauty in Winter – Issue 14 2009

Outside my office is a beautiful Ginkgo Biloba tree. Typical of much of the inspirational landscaping at Kristin, it causes me to think and to reflect on the beauty of nature and its ability to provide a rich and meaningful setting for our shared learning. With the onset of cold weather, this tree has taken on the most stunning autumnal yellow. A rich, deep colour that looks so good I often think it has been painted.

I actually quite like winter. When we lived in Brisbane I soon got tired of endless summer, even though it was interspersed with the odd thunderstorm. In my opinion, and I accept that some may disagree, you can have too much sunshine. In Queensland this was certainly the case; the sun was always shining, the plants were always a washed-out green and it was never too cold, I guess I just found it boring.

It was also vaguely humorous that for the approximately two weeks of cool weather we would get in late July, people would start complaining about the cold, shops would have winter displays and the fashion conscious would emerge with the latest in knitwear. To see people walking along wearing a woollen beanie because the temperature had fallen below 20 degrees, would always bring a smile to my face.

While we may think that continual sunshine would actually be pretty great, the reality for me was that there is much about winter time that I missed. Sometimes I would long for a heavy frost, to see bare trees emerging from a fog and to gaze at snow on distant mountains. As a boy, we lived for a while in the central North Island and on winter mornings I would always enjoy cracking the iced-up puddles as I walked to the bus-stop, my breath thickly condensing in front of me. There is a beauty in winter that hot summers just can’t match.

I also think that one of the strengths of winter is that it forces us to care. We have to look after ourselves when winter coughs and colds abound, we need to dress up warmly and make sure the elements don’t get through. We have to watch where we walk, wearing appropriate shoes of course, so we don’t slip or slide or get our feet muddy and wet. We have to think about how to protect our children from the storms that threaten to drench them.

Winter is the adult season, the time to be grown-up. The carefree days of youth and summer don’t work so well in these months and we need to be care-full rather than care-less. Winter challenges us in a way that easy summer days are unable to. As William Blake said in his Songs of Experience: “It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer’s sun, and in the vintage and to sing on the wagon loaded with corn ... it is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity.”

Winter however, reminds us that there will be times when the sun does not shine. It forces us to confront the fact that seasons end, that stories come to a close, that there will be periods of difficulty in our lives and that simply enduring these days may be for us, a great challenge. Winter then, can be a time when we need to seek shelter.

Whether it be in the the richness of a Ginkgo Biloba tree’s leaves or in the dignity and love shown in a caring community, I believe that there is great comfort and shelter in the beauty of this world. Canadian folk singer Bruce Cockburn puts it like this: “This bluegreen ball in black space, filled with beauty even now, battered and abused ... and lovely. Even in winter, maybe especially so, this is still a beautiful world.”

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Lest We Forget – Issue 10 2009

A taonga is a treasured thing. It can be something physical such as a precious object or it can be something less tangible, a precious memory perhaps. The events of 25 April 2009 will forever be in my mind as a vivid and powerful reminder of taonga, of treasures whose value could never be measured.

Every Anzac day you will find the Senior School in the Albany Hall. Not all of us admittedly, but a number of staff and students who attend this local ceremony. The hall itself is a wonderful venue. Built 100 years ago and beautifully preserved, it transports you back to the days when halls like this were the social centre for small communities, such as Albany was, all those years ago. These reminders of our local history are special and precious, we need to treasure them.

Anzac day itself is a wonderful day to be a New Zealander. Intensely proud of our history, it is my belief that this day is a fundamental part of how we see ourselves; and its values of self-sacrifice are a legacy that we all should treasure. Seeing some World War Two veterans on the day, I was reminded again of the savagery of time and its relentless pursuit of our heroes of the past. They were always precious, perhaps now in their scarcity they are even more so. As we remember those who have gone, we must treasure the few who still remain. They are our living connection to days when, as a country, we were giving at great cost.

It is a nice tradition that our student leaders have a significant role in the Albany Anzac Day Service. Last year Kristin Borley gave the address, and on Saturday Jack Carew read a Bible lesson with great authority while Elizabeth Mittiga laid a wreath from the school. Seeing the Senior students present, I was very proud of them, their sincere interest in the day and their strong engagement in the ceremony. They were outstanding examples of young New Zealanders who have pride in their country, young men and women who hold great respect for those who paid such a price for our freedom. Precious people all, Kristin students are something to treasure.

At 11am, just as the service was about to start, our Anzac reflections were jarred by the sound of many sirens as emergency vehicles flew past the hall on their way to a fatal accident on the Albany Hill. Unknown to us, two of our precious teaching colleagues, accompanied by two family members, were in this accident and had been on their way to this very service. Both John Lane and Philippa Dyer had been seriously injured in the crash, and a member of Philippa’s family sadly died in hospital later that day. John Lane and Philippa Dyer are pure gold. Teachers who don’t know how to stop giving, they are the very epitome of greatness in our profession. We hope that they will both make a full recovery and will one day join us here again to share their gifts with us.

Our prayers of that day were in gratitude for the sacrifices of the past, in hope for the precious people in our care and, later on, in faith for the lives of two colleagues in hospital. They were also given with a mindful reflection on our own taonga. The precious things in life that we must never take for granted.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Reflections on an Adventure - Issue 6 2009

On 13 January 1979, I decided to have an adventure. I was a 12-year-old in London who had just enjoyed a white Christmas for the first time. Being dangerously obsessed with Football (I could name the home grounds of all 92 teams in the English Football League), I was desperate to see some live games of the teams that I’d previously only seen on TV. The rest of my family were not really that interested in Football, they were much more excited about London art galleries and museums.

My favourite team (Man Utd) was not in London that weekend so I had to make do with two of the other top teams of the day. I had done my research and when we were looking at Nelson’s Column, or some other very interesting monument, I saw my chance. “Dad, there’s a game on at Highbury, I can get the Victoria Line to King’s Cross and then the Piccadilly Line to Arsenal, I can be there in time for kick-off if I leave now.”

Now I’m sure my Father thought carefully about it when he said “sure son”, and you may question his judgement to let a young boy not even in his teens head half-way across London to a Football match, but let me assure you his confidence in me was not misplaced. I was, after all, a fairly responsible 12-year-old and I found my way to the tube station, made the necessary switch of lines and shortly after emerged into the wintry sunshine of a North London afternoon. I then strolled towards the ground. It was easy to find, I just followed the queue, waited in line, paid my money and found my seat in the stand. Arsenal were parading their newest signing (Brian Talbot) and in true dour fashion beat the visitors (Nottingham Forest) 2-1. I then worked my way back to the tube station, hopped on the underground and arrived back at our hotel in time for tea.

While my Mum was less than pleased with my Father for allowing me to journey so far, it was a wonderful adventure and I guess 30 years later it is still a special memory. The following week I went to White Heart Lane to watch Tottenham Hotspur and, no doubt at my Mum’s insistence, had to go with an older family friend who we had met up with that week. It wasn’t the same. I don’t really remember the journey to the ground and while Tottenham play much better Football than Arsenal I also don’t remember much of the game. I guess the experience wasn’t mine as the previous week’s had been.
Reflecting on this adventure I am grateful for two things:

Firstly, I am grateful that I lived in a time when this journey was possible. While it probably was a bit of a risky undertaking at the time, it would certainly be impossible today. I would not allow my own children anything like the same freedom, in fact it would probably be illegal, and I guess I would still worry about them even if they did it in their twenties!

Secondly, I am also grateful that my Dad recognised my obsession. He knew that years later I would cherish such an adventure and this is the rub. It was great to be able to accomplish something I really wanted to do. The Italian poet and novelist Cesare Pavese once said that “We don’t remember days; we remember moments”. In a school like Kristin, we are into creating special moments, special memories that will last for a lifetime. These memories may be on the sportsfield, in a dramatic production or in the classroom. In the early days of the year I like to ask our students where they will make their memory for 2009. What is the adventure they will have that is challenging, exciting, fuelling their passion and obviously, clearly, their own.

I will never forget the great sense of achievement I had at accomplishing the journey to Highbury, the satisfaction I felt as I sat down in my seat, and the wonderful moment when I heard the roar of the crowd.

From the Desk of Brendan Kelly, Senior School Principal

Our Hearts go out to Them - Issue 2 2009