The sun came out on Saturday 14 November, in what was a great day for athletics action at the next round of the Auckland Athletics Secondary Schools Challenge Cup! We had 10 athletes in Avcol singlets competing against their peers in their events. Our sprinters included Texas Beattie, Lex Revell-Lewis, Aryan Walanj, Kadin Taylor and Srija Maddela. Both Lex and Texas were in the Division 1 men's 100m race and it was such a close finish that even the photo finish camera struggled with determining place winners! Of our two boys, Texas won the 100m in the U18 men's category with a time of 11.46s and Lex placed second to him. Lex then went on to place 2nd in the 200m as well, with a time of 22.91s. Kadin and Aryan had quite a battle in the U16 men's group in 100m and 200m. The focus for the boys was improving their times ahead of nationals in three week's time. Srija is a new recruit and did well to compete at her first Athletics Auckland meet and set her times for the season. In the field, we had two high jumpers in action: Tremayne Redman-Gardner and Hayley Greenhalgh. Tremayne placed 2nd in the U18 men's category with a jump of 1.90m and Hayley cleared 1.48m to take 3rd place for the U18 women's category. Running middle distance for Avcol was Ethan Hardy, Kim May and Joanna Poland in the 800m events. Kim placed 2nd with her time of 2:15.71mins and Joanna 4th with a time of 2:22.71min for the U18 women's group. Ethan placed 4th in the 800m with a time of 2:16.74. These are fantastic results for all our team. Avondale College is still at the top of the table for the Secondary Schools Challenge Cup, but some of the other schools have stepped up their game! We look forward to round 3 this weekend!

Students and staff had the opportunity to view the final art boards of our senior Art Painting, Photography and Design students in a special display held in the library last week. The boards represent the culmination of huge amount of work by each student, and the quality and creativity of the work on display was outstanding!

Avondale College was well represented at the Don Oliver Youth Sport Foundation awards evening on 11 November, with four current and two former Avcol students being presented with awards. Congratulations to the following students, whose sporting success and future potential was recognised at this event: Alex Dunkley - Training Grant for Ocean Swimming Tremayne Redman-Gardner - Training Grant for Athletics Lex Revell-Lewis - Training Grant for Athletics Nuala Edmundson - Bronze Award for Archery Also receiving awards were two former Avcol students who continue to perform at the top of their sporting codes: Lucy Makaea - Bronze Award for Surf Lifesaving Kanah Andrews-Nahu - Gold award for Olympic Weightlifting Tremayne Redman-Gardner, Alex Dunkley, Nuala Edmundson and Lex Revell-Lewis

Tuesday evening's Senior Prizegiving celebrated the academic success of our high achievers this year, with over 320 awards presented to students! These included individual subject awards, special awards, service awards, and tertiary scholarships. Of particular note was the very high number of scholarships from a range of awarding bodies, including six different universities. The academic strengths, leadership and co-curricular involvements of so many of our students mean that they are well placed to make strong scholarship applications, and the financial rewards are significant. The scholarships awarded at Senior Prizegiving amounted to over $360,000 for Avondale College students! Avondale College congratulates all our award winners, and especially the recipients of the College's most significant Honours Awards: Head Boy: Dylan Chand Head Girl: Olivia Mallon Proxime Accessit NCEA: Anna Hiew Proxime Accessit CAIE: Hasidu Wanniarachchi Dux NCEA: Heather Wallace Dux CAIE: Arya Bhatt To view a full list of our prize winners, please follow the link below. Top Honours: Proxime Accessit CAIE: Hasidu Wanniarachchi, Proxime Accessit NCEA: Anna Hiew Dux CAIE: Arya Bhatt, Dux NCEA: Heather Wallace

The success of Avondale College's top sportsmen and sportswomen was celebrated at our Sports Awards Ceremony held in the PAC on Friday 31 October. Guest speaker for the event was Olympian and New Zealand canoeist Kayla Imrie, who shared the story of her sporting journey - including the challenges she has faced most recently when faced with the disruption to the Tokyo Olympics. Her words of inspiration will undoubtedly empower our students on their own future sporting journeys. Awards were presented for Most Improved Player, Most Valuable Player and Contribution to Sport across the different sporting codes. Our main awards of the Jason Twigg Memorial trophies for Outstanding Achievement in Sports were presented to Tremayne Redman-Gardner and Shyah Hale. They have both achieved significantly this year in their sporting codes despite this year’s challenges. The evening concluded with speeches from Year 13 students Chelsey Whiu and TJ Mauga, who spoke about their experience of sport at Avondale College over their five years of involvement. Overall, it was a wonderful evening of celebrating students' sporting achievements in such a disjointed year, and we congratulate those who received awards.

Basketball Scholarship Congratulations to Bradley Murray MacGregor who has been selected to receive one of Lincoln University’s Basketball Scholarships for 2021. Bradley will be joining Lincoln University next February, and will be a part of their basketball programme run by Canterbury Basketball. This is very exciting - Bradley has always put in a great amount of personal effort and to be joining one of the best basketball programmes in New Zealand is a great achievement in itself Don Oliver Youth Sporting Scholarships Three Avondale College students have been named as recipients of Don Oliver Youth Sporting Scholarships for 2020! Avondale College congratulates Tremayne Redman-Gardner (Athletics), Lex Revell-Lewis (Athletics) and Nuala Edmunson (Archery) on achieving this success, which recognises not only their sporting achievements to date, but their potential to go on to achieve national and international honours. Tremayne in action at the NZSS Track & Field championships in 2019.

Tasked with designing a new performing arts centre or a multi-purpose gallery space, Year 12 and 13 Design & Visual Communication students have produced some outstanding final outcomes. The students embraced the latest architectural software in bringing their ideas to life, including Revit, Autodesk Inventor, Adobe Illustrator, 3-D printing, and laser cutting technology to produce both digital and physical modelling. The final products were on display in the TVC rooms on Friday and generated much discussion as students and staff considered the creative proposals. Head of Resistant Materials and Design and Visual Communication, Mrs Brooke Nicholson said the event was an exciting opportunity for their TVC students to gain industry experience. "Glen Sayers and I are both so proud to assist the development of such talented future designers, architects, and engineers. For these senior students to present such high-quality outcomes despite enduring a challenging school year is a testament to their character. They should be congratulated for their hard work and dedication. The future of Design and Visual Communication is in safe hands and we all can't wait to see what they come up with next year and beyond."

The Avondale College Sports Academy trial will be held on Friday the 20th of November. Students should meet in the Stadium (Gate 3, Rosebank Rd entrance) at 8.45am. The trial will conclude with students returned to the stadium to depart the school at 3.00pm. Students will perform a series of skill drills followed by small sided games. During these sessions they will be assessed on their ability, attitude and potential. Those deemed appropriate for the respective academies by the coaches in attendance will be selected. A letter will be sent home to advise if they have been accepted into the first Sports Academy intake. Trial sports: Basketball, Cricket, Football, Hockey, Netball and Rugby. Students are to bring: Appropriate sports shoes and clothing, sun hat, sun screen, equipment required for the sport, lunch, snacks and water. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Mr James Went: j.went@avcol.school.nz

An entrepreneurial group of Avondale College Business students have made an impression at the Young Enterprise competition, gaining selection as finalists in the West Auckland region, and winning two awards in the regional finals. CHEA Chocolates is the business of Simran Tak,Tristan Mona, Merlin Babu, Hamish Johnston and David Dudov, who came up with an innovative vegan milk chocolate product to fill a gap they saw in the market which currently only provides dark chocolate for vegan consumers. "Our company was CHEA Chocolates and stands for Conscience, Health, Environment and Animals," says leader Simran Tak. "We are an environmentally sustainable brand that has introduced a vegan milk chocolate to the market while also trying to reduce plastic packaging by creating a seed infused paper sleeve to wrap our chocolates in." The group overcame a number of challenges in refining their product and finding the perfect recipe. "It took almost two months to finalise the formulation so that the chocolate would snap as well as taste great," says Simran. "This was particularly difficult in the lockdown because we couldn't buy ingredients as often to trial every recipe." The team were delighted to be selected for the West Auckland awards night on Friday 21 October, and were also pleased to win two awards: one for Excellence in Sustainability due to the repurposing of their packaging, and the second one for paying it forward to future years, thanks to their donations towards keeping the YES programme running into 2021. "It was also a great feeling to know that our team efforts paid off!" says Simran. "We would like to thank Mr Bramston and Ms Whitcombe for all their support throughout the year for the Young Enterprise Scheme!"

Some of Auckland's very best professional musicians spent time with Avondale College students on Tuesday afternoon as part of the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra's school partnership programme. During the ninety minute after-school session, the Avondale College Symphony Orchestra broke up into their different section groups, with an APO mentor taking the students through pieces they have been rehearsing throughout the year. "It was a great opportunity for our students to receive input from an inspiring group of professionals", says Avondale College's Director of Music, Dr Julie Garner. "The experience we had with the APO mentors was really valuable! It allowed us to learn and become a stronger and more unified section. Our mentor helped us work on parts that we needed to and made us aware of things we hadn't previously noticed while playing, allowing us to improve our ability and the pieces. We received good advice that we'll be able to use for ages to come. Overall it was a really enjoyable and beneficial experience!" - Zennah Shin-Kelso (Trumpet) "We were able to work in sectionals and not only develop our musical skills but expand our knowledge of music. We were provided with an encouraging and motivating environment that enabled us to connect with the musicians. It was a completely unique and memorable experience for all of us!" - Chelsea Hong (Violin & Concertmaster) "Working with the APO mentors was a great opportunity for all of us. The workshops were really helpful in making us a better, more cohesive section and thinking about different ways of approaching the music." - Grace Elijas (Cello) The College would like to thank each mentor for sharing their time and expertise. Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra Mentors Camille Wells - High Wind (flute/oboe) sectional Jessica Goldbaum - Low Woodwind (clarinet/ bassoon) sectional Carl Wells - High Brass Sectional Tim Sutton - Low Brass Sectional Jenny Raven - Percussion Sectional Milena Parobzcy - Violin 1 Sectional Gill Ripley - Violin 2 Sectional Sue Wedde - Viola Sectional David Garner - Cello Sectional Bella Zilber - Double Bass Sectional

Avondale College is celebrating the success of one of our Year 11 students, Jerry Nguyen, who has just learned he has won a bronze medal in the prestigious New Zealand Mathematics Olympiad competition! The award places him in the top 40 of all the New Zealand contestants - including those in Years 12 and 13! It's an outstanding result for the 15 year old, says teacher Mr Paul Boardman. "Jerry getting an invite to take part in the second round of the competition was a great achievement, but for him to receive a bronze medal is fantastic. It puts him among the very top participants in New Zealand. This is a great reflection of Jerry's hard work throughout the year." Jerry says he was thrilled to hear the good news. "I was really happy and amazed when I saw my result. After I did the test, I thought if I could do it well then everyone else must have - so I was really happy when I heard my result!" Perhaps encouragingly for some, Jerry says he wasn't always good at maths. "I was really scared of doing mathematics at first when I was younger so I started doing more maths problems and began enjoying maths," he says. Next year he is looking forward to studying not only Maths but other subjects like Physics and ICT. He has his eye on the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships, and is challenging himself to try and do even better in next year's Olympiad! This is Jerry's first year at Avondale College, having come from Vietnam as an international student at the start of the year. He says although there have been some challenges due to Covid, he has really enjoyed studying here. "I have made many new friends and worked with very helpful and caring teachers. I have learnt many new things from the subjects I take. I want to say thank you to the school for giving me the opportunity to study in such a wonderful college."

Well over one hundred dancers took to the stage last week as part of Avondale College's Dance Showcase, 'Encore'. The two-night programme saw an outstanding array of talent across a variety of dance genres, including contemporary, hip-hop, lyrical, jazz, K-Pop, Pasifika, African and more! The evenings were a vibrant celebration of dance and showcased not just the work that has taken place in the classroom this year, but also 11 co-curricular groups, and items from guest choreographers Christopher Ofanoa, Xavier Breed, Baileigh Greaves, Desney Fritz, Otis Donovan-Herring, Kate Littlejohn and Gemma-Jayde Naidoo, as well as a high-energy performance by the Saintz Dance Academy. "Despite the inconsistent year, Ms Southgate and I were absolutely blessed to share the positive highlights that have brought us joy and a whole lot of laughter!" said Director of Dance, Ms Santana Schmidt. "I will always and forever be that person cheering “ENCORE!” as our Dance students hit the stage!"