Our school library is very lucky to have a great group of dedicated volunteers who help keep our library services functioning. Our student librarians are enthusiastic, energetic, hard working and friendly. They give up their break time at school to work in the libraray. The following students were awarded  badges for three years service (Bronze), four years (Silver) and five years (Gold):

More than a hundred students raced around the school in teams on Friday lunchtime, as they took part in an environmentally-themed Amazing Race. The event was organised by the Environmental Council and activities included solving a word puzzle about kauri dieback disease, sorting out rubbish into categories and brainstor ming creative ways to repurpose waste. “It was fantastic to see lots of engagement and enthusiasm across different year levels, with students actively participating and having fun," said Emily Smith, one of the Council's student leaders. Avcol's Environment Council has over 70 members this year, across all year levels, and is led by Student Leaders: Emily Smith, Malisha Munidasa, Nihar Trivedi and Dylan Chand.

After consultation with our student body and Student Council, Avondale College is pleased to announce the following changes to our uniform rules. Should parents and caregivers wish to clarify any of these changes, please contact one of our Deans. From our Student Council Representatives: Avondale College has been proudly wearing its school uniform since 1945. We have had several uniform changes over the past decades, the most recent being in 2017, effective January of 2018. That review helped improve the durability of some items of uniform as well as providing more uniform options to the students. Recently, Avondale uniform has undergone a non-comprehensive review by the Student Council, the Avondale College Executive Team and the Board of Trustees. This review focused on some rule changes that have been requested by the student body. Class Representatives took suggestions from their classes and passed it along to their Year Level Representatives, who discussed it with the Student Council. These suggestions were then taken to the Executive Team and Board of Trustees. Three significant changes to the Avondale uniform have been approved: BOYS' TROUSERS: Effective 2021, Year 9 and 10 boys can choose to wear the long grey uniform trousers. BOYS' SOCKS: Boys will have the option of wearing our regulation plain black socks, like those the Year 13 students and all girls wear, instead of the long socks that are currently being worn by junior boys. This will be put into effect in Term 3 of this year. SCHOOL JACKETS: Finally, something that has been sought after for quite some time, the school jacket can now be worn inside the classroom, effective immediately. These uniform changes were conceived through the endeavour of the student body. Thanks to the Avondale College Executive Team, Board of Trustees and our fellow student council members for making this possible. - Oscar Shaw and Tia Deb - Student Council members (Year 10)

An “unbeatable” test proved to be no problem for three Avondale College students, who have taken out the top places in the national Microsoft Office National Championships for 2020! Tristan Mona, Simran Tak and Irene Wang, all Year 13 Avondale College prefects, gained the highest scores in the national competition, which tested their knowledge and creative thinking skills in different Microsoft Office applications. As the world’s largest IT competition, each year the Microsoft championships attract more than three quarters of a million contestants of secondary school and university age. The competition moved online this year, but Jonathan Jansen of New Zealand Industry Qualifications says the New Zealand division was as competitive as ever, despite current global affairs. “Moving to an online championship was a difficult decision, but the determination of our contenders shone through with some of the most impressive competition scores we’ve seen to date,” he says. “We designed the championship test to be unbeatable; hundreds of questions with less than an hour to complete them. Our expectation was to simply see how far a competitor could get. Needless to say, we were incredibly impressed when multiple Avondale students completed the tests entirely and with almost perfect accuracy.” Principal Lyndy Watkinson, said she was very proud that Avondale College students had once again dominated the Microsoft championships. “To achieve 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in New Zealand is an exceptional achievement for these students, and is testament to our Innovation Programme,” she said. Avondale College has an impressive track record when it comes to the national and world Microsoft competitions – not only have Avondale students consistently made their mark on the New Zealand competitions, in the past six years they have also won 19 top-ten places in the world championships, including gold, silver and bronze medals. In fact, New Zealand’s champion this year, Tristan Mona, also won the World Champion title in 2018 for PowerPoint. He built up his knowledge and experience of Microsoft applications through his involvement with Avondale College’s Innovation Programme, where students are able to gain professional qualifications in a range of technology applications. “Microsoft applications are among the most used in the world, and being certified in their usage is always a nice thing to have on your CV or resume,” he says. “I’m grateful that my participation over the last few years has offered me a way to differentiate myself from other students and peers too, which helps my confidence in other areas both in and out of school.” Although the world championships won’t be taking place this year, without a doubt, the three New Zealand champions will be taking their unbeatable skills and confidence into the remainder of their final year at Avondale and beyond.

Due to the Covid-19 crisis and subsequent lockdown, students have experienced disruption to teaching, learning and assessments. NZQA and the Ministry of Education have developed a set of changes to NCEA in 2020 to address these impacts. These changes ensure both the integrity of the qualification and equity for students. · NCEA exams have been put back by 10 days, and will now run from 16 November – 9 December. This allows for increased learning time for senior students. · The deadlines for some portfolio based assessments have been delayed. In addition NZQA will implement three key changes to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) requirements for 2020: 1. Students working towards an NCEA can gain additional credits, based on the number of credits they achieve during the 2020 school year. For every 5 credits a student achieves towards their NCEA either through internal or external assessment, they can be awarded an additional 1 credit. Students at NCEA Level 1 are eligible for up to a maximum of 10 additional credits while those at Levels 2 and 3 are eligible for up to a maximum of 8 additional credits. These will be known as Learning Recognition (LR) credits. 2. Students will be awarded a certificate endorsement if they achieve 46 credits at Merit or Excellence level, rather than the usual 50. Students achieving 12 credits at Merit or Excellence level in a course - rather than 14 - will be awarded a course endorsement. 3. Current UE requirements have been reduced from 14 to 12 credits in three UE- approved subjects. Students still need to attain NCEA Level 3 and meet literacy and numeracy requirements to be awarded University Entrance. Useful Links: Updated 2020 NCEA examination timetable NCEA and UE changes for 2020 Changes to end of year NCEA assessments 2020

A special powhiri was held at the start of Term 2 to welcome Mrs Brenda Fa’alogo-McNaughton to Avondale College in her new role as Deputy Principal. Mrs Fa’alogo-McNaughton joins us from Dilworth School where she was Head of the Mathematics Faculty. Prior to this, she was Deputy Principal at Otahuhu College. Mrs Fa’alogo-McNaughton says she is delighted to be joining the strong team of senior leaders and staff at Avondale College. Her passion for students achieving personal excellence aligns well with our school ethos: 'Our aim is excellence'.