Last week was Polyfest week! Over the past eight weeks, our ten groups have worked incredibly hard with their teachers, tutors, student leaders and families to prepare for the Polyfest event. Some of our groups have not performed since 2018 because of the cancellations, firstly for the Christchurch mosque attacks and then last year’s COVID lockdown. We have had a Korean group for three years now and this year they finally got to Polyfest! All of the groups put an incredible amount of effort into their performance pieces, and the teamwork, dedication and drive for excellence has been impressive. Avondale College’s HEART values have been on display every day, and not least during the competition itself. On Saturday afternoon Avondale College was the ‘talk of the town’. First of all it was announced that our Tongan group had won 1st place for both the Lakalaka and the Sōkē that they performed – with their shouts of excitement echoing around the Manukau Sports Bowl. A short time later our Samoan Group won 1st place on the Samoan Stage, successfully defending their 2018 title! I cannot recall a co-ed school simultaneously winning across both the Samoan and Tongan stages, and my sincere congratulations go to the groups for this remarkable achievement. We could not be more proud of you! - Mrs L Watkinson, Principal

Just a reminder that Tuesday 6 April 2021 is a school holiday! Sometimes when Easter falls later in April, this holiday gets wrapped into the term break. But when it isn't, Easter Tuesday is still a day off. For the full list of school holidays and term dates, check out the Ministry of Education's website: https://bit.ly/39nYBOc See you Wednesday, Avcol!

NZMA TRADES WEST TASTER DAY On Wednesday 24 March eight Avcol students had the opportunity to take part in hands-on activities in plumbing and carpentry at the new NZMA trade’s campus in West Auckland. The campus has only been open for two months and is offering courses in Plumbing, Gasfitting and Drainlaying, Carpentry, Painting and Plastering, and in the future will be offering Electrical.

Avcol jazz musicians created a great vibe on the local talent stage at the Titirangi Festival of Music on Saturday afternoon! The crowds enjoyed listening to several hours of Avcol jazz, which featured three of the combos who are competing at the national Youth Jazz Competition in Tauranga this week, and 'Toby and the Rest', made up of current and former students. It was also great to see former student Arjuna Oakes headlining with his band for Hollie Smith on the Friday night line up, and other ex-Avcol students managing the stages!

Watch the upcoming premiere of Heat 5 of the Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland's 48 Hour Film Festival, featuring our very own Avcol short film by Medstud Productions - Spoonraiders! You can watch and chat live with other viewers as this upload is shown for the very first time: Saturday 27 March, 7pm. Don't forget to vote! View here: https://www.youtube.com/watchapp=desktop&v=QGJIKpDUCsY&feature=youtu.be

The 2021 Polyfest is taking place from the 14th - 17th of April. This year Avondale College has 10 groups going to the festival and the practices are well underway! (African, Cook Islands, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Niuean, Samoan, Sri Lankan, Thai and Tongan). Every day after school and on Saturdays, the school is buzzing with the sound of students singing and learning choreography. The commitment that the students, tutors, and teachers show is outstanding and the next few weeks will be very busy and exciting!

Avondale College's highly coveted Excellence and Distinction academic badges were awarded to a record number of students at the Honours Assembly held on Monday. Two hundred and twenty-two students were awarded Excellence badges for NCEA and Distinction badges for CAIE, based on their achievement in their 2020 qualifications. Fifty-six students received NCEA Excellence badges for their Level One endorsements last year, and 58 in Level Two. Sixty-eight students were awarded CAIE Distinction badges based on the average of their top three Cambridge examinations in IGCSE, and 40 in AS. Academic badges recognising Merit endorsement and achievement in NCEA, as well as Credit and achievement grades in Cambridge, will be distributed to students in their home room classes next week. Congratulations to all who have earned endorsements in their chosen qualifications pathway! For a full list of names, Click here

Thursday last week saw a Year 12 Geography class visit the Karamatura stream, near Huia. The students visited to learn about streams and how they change as they flow from the mountains to the sea. During the day, the students made several different measurements of the stream in different spots to make comparisons. In all, it was a great day out as students enjoyed learning about the world around them, a day out of class in nature, and learning with friends. - Mr J Smith, HOD Geography

A crew of 33 students are working hard in the dance studio as they prepare to represent Avondale College at the HHINZ Mega School Dance Competition next month! The group is led by senior dance leader Winifer Peteli, who is herself a national representative for dance. "It is exciting to know we can compete this year!" says Winifer. "Considering we’ve just begun with practices, trainings have been very productive. We have a crew of 33 students who are eager to learn, grow and work hard. We are experiencing a mixture of nerves and excitement as the competition draws near, but are really looking forward to sharing what we’ve been working on with the wider community!" The Mega Schools competition is run by Hip Hop International and occurs annually for secondary schools in New Zealand. This is only the second time that Avondale College has participated. The competition will be held at the Vodafone Event Centre on 18-24 April.

A quirky 'spoon heist', the Russian Mafia, and a mysterious package were some of the elements to make it into the plot-line, as our group of senior Media Studies students rose superbly to the challenge of creating a short film in just 48 hours last weekend! The 48 Hour Film Festival is a nationwide competition where teams of aspiring filmmakers have have just two days/nights to plan, write, shoot, and edit a short film. Each team has to include compulsory elements assigned at the beginning of the competition. This year’s elements - revealed at 7pm on the Friday evening - were a ‘Confidant’ character, a ‘ticking’ sound effect, a ‘package’ object, and the technical element of 'a reflection’. In addition, each team was assigned a different genre or type of movie that they had to create – our team of 13 had ‘The Race Against Time Movie’. “It was an intense two days filled with both stress and fun," said Grace Elijas (Year 13). "We worked together to make Spoonraiders, a short film about a group of thieves trying to find a special spoon. It was an amazing opportunity to learn about all the different jobs and aspects that go into making a film, and it was great to spend time with a group of fun, creative people.” The students stayed at school all weekend, working late into the nights to create their film, under the supervision of Media teachers Mrs Hunt and Miss Ackermann, with the additional help of Mr Hughes, Ms Medland and Mrs Norton's costume cupboard! They managed to get their film written, costumed, filmed, edited, exported and uploaded with just 45 minutes to spare! Hunter Easterbrook (Year 13) was the student director. "It was so much fun!" he said. "In retrospect the moments of stress were so worth it to be able to see our collaborative ideas come together. The chance to be able to direct a film that is essentially the brainchild of 13 students was an incredible learning experience for me personally. After so many in-jokes and spoon puns, I’m left excited for what the future of the 48 Hour Film Festival holds! “LES CUILLERE!”" Students were: Amir Darbad, Eloise Constantine-Powles, Lucy Danko, Hunter Easterbrook, Grace Elijas, Chanul Jayasekera, Kowhai Mokaraka, Alice O'Brien, Jack Patten, Kate Perfect, Ruby Real and Marianna Zvonareva

Monday's assembly honoured our Year 13 students who have been appointed prefects this year. A prefect at Avondale College has to have the ability to lead across all year levels of students, and must also have the capability to relate well to the teachers and other adults who are part of our school community. A prefect at Avondale College must be able to relate to students from the full range of cultural diversity and ethnic background, in a way that is inclusive, non-judgemental and respectful. Prefects at Avondale College embrace our HEART values, and exemplify them by their actions. That includes in the classroom, on the stage, on the sports field and out in our community. Congratulations to those who have been appointed to this significant role this year. Prefects 2021: Aariz Ali, Chanel-Jordann Allen, Jessica Allen-Tun, Victor Bao, Toby Barrett, Hamed Basiri, James Bertulfo, Holly Bliss, Sirivimon Champakvan, Yongli Chansavang, Alice Chen, Athicha Chuajedton, Ellie Crellin, Tyler Diprose, Lourdes Dsouza, Hunter Easterbrook, Nuala Edmundson, Shaylee Edwards, Myah Eketone, Grace Elijas, Mikey Faletua’i, Jayden Fatu Uili, Jeffrey Fu, Brooke Gapes, Keon Hall, Archie Hammond, Izabella Hosie, Tiara ‘Ilolahia, Keegan Jephson, Lucas Kewell, Rinish Kumar, Winnie Leckey, Delores Lesatele, Jan Grace Lopez, Fabian Malungahu, Anna Neumann, Roshni Oberoi, Hayato Ogasawara, Moi Oki, Nimit Parekh, Shivang Patel, Khemin Phokaisopit, Maya Pinto, Joanna Poland, Lex Revell-Lewis, Zubin Roy, Jericho Salcedo, Poppy Samson, Steve Setefano, Hem Shah, Jayden Shen, Ilya Shilov, Abigail Shin-Kelso, Zennah Shin-Kelso, Leo Spykerman, Yash Topiwala, Una Van Dalen, Luke Vopel, Aiden Wachter, Maraea Whiu, Sarah Yu, Oscar Zhang.

The cancellation of two camps due to the recent Alert Level interruptions has been gutting for our keen Taurewa campers - but excitement is building for the re-shuffled Year 13 expedition due to depart at 7am on Monday! Students who were unable to take part in the first two trips have had the opportunity to join Trip 3 next week, or Trip 4 two weeks later, or another trip in Term 2. Director of Outdoor Education, Ms Meg Goldthorpe, says she is delighted that the students will have the chance to head out into the great outdoors. "It has been a pretty stressful time for everyone over the last few weeks," she says. "It's great that our students will be able to experience some natural wonders on camp while socialising with their friends. They'll literally get back to basics - away from technology - and learn to cook for themselves, to clean up after themselves, to sleep under canvas and experience the outdoors and all it has to offer." Fully equipped with all the right gear, including packs, boots, clothing and more, our Year 13 students have an action-packed programme ahead, including rafting, canyoning, tackling a high ropes course, camping out overnight, and enjoying some of New Zealand's best scenery in the World Heritage Site of the Tongariro National Park.