Newsletter Term 4 Week 6

Kia ora katoa

Menzies College 50th Reunion

The Reunion Committee met last night and decided the following:

Due to the uncertainty around future protection from the spread of Covid 19 and the opening of our South Island borders to domestic and international travellers prior to Christmas, the Menzies College Reunion committee has made the decision to postpone the upcoming 50th Reunion.

It was moved that a new date of Waitangi Weekend 2026 we will celebrate the 55th anniversary of Menzies College. We thank everyone who has supported the planned weekend. To those already registered refunds will be distributed to bank accounts in due course.

Thank you to the committee for all their work in the lead up to this event. Countless hours have gone into writing a book, preparing photographs, organising registration and planning for the weekend. We will now look forward to celebrating together in four years time.

The end of the year is closing in fast. NCEA examinations are underway and Year 10 students are getting organised for Mavora camp on Monday. This is an extremely busy time of year for staff who, on top of their normal teaching responsibilities, also give up their time to organise and attend education outside the classroom activities such as SIT visits, adventure racing competitions, camps and MAD activities. This helps ensure students experience a rich and varied curriculum.

Yesterday I reminded students of their responsibility to show respect to themselves, others and the environment as we close in on the final days with everyone feeling a bit tired. We are all extremely proud of the students at Menzies College and want everyone to finish the year positively.

The prize giving ceremony on 10 December will not be live streamed as we cannot guarantee the quality. Instead it will be recorded and posted on Facebook and sent via the school app on the evening of 10 December.

Congratulations to the competitors in the Year 9 and 10 speech competitions held last Thursday. Alyssa Ozar and Anna McMullen placed first and second respectively in the Year 9 event. Lewis McKelvie and Gabby Shepherd were first and second respectively in the Year 10 competition.

Nga mihi nui

Kath Luoni

Principal

Congratulations to the following junior students and staff members:

Week ending 19 November

Jessica Alksne, Sophie Gifkins, Ellie McKelvie, Jakeob Palliser & Mrs Margy Dale

Week ending 26 November

Nixie Byrne, Tom Blackmore, Isabell Boogerd, Royston Ramage-Tai and Miss Samantha Johnstone.

Your canteen vouchers can be collected from the office.

Menzies College has a vacancy for a cleaner. Three hours daily after school, plus some holiday work. Please apply via email with work experience and referees to judy.gould@menzies.school.nz or phone the school on 2064979.

• 29 November-2 December - Year 10 Mavora Camp
  

• 6-7 December - MAD Days
• 8 December - Teacher Only Day
• 10 December - Last day of school
• 10 December - Year 7-12 students Prize Giving in school hall (staff & students only)
• 10 December - Year 13 students Prize Giving at Wyndham Memorial Hall 7pm (students, staff & parents/caregivers)
• 15 December - P.T.A. Second hand uniform sale (12pm - 3pm)

2022

• 1 February - Teacher Only Day
• 1 February - P.T.A. Second hand uniform sale (2pm- 7pm)
• 2-3 February - Course Confirmation (seniors)
• 4 February - Year 12 & 13 students only attend
• 8 February - Full school attends
• 14-18 February - Year 12 Hope Arm camp
• 22-25 February - Year 13 Leadership camp
• 23-24 February - Year 7 Camp Columba

Thank you to families who have returned cups and trophies. If you still have some to return please do so as these are urgently required. Thank you.

On Wednesday students were issued with a card of 10 raffle tickets ($2 per ticket or $10 per card). It would be appreciated if these could be sold and ticket butts/money returned to the office by Thursday 9 December. Unsold tickets also need to be returned to school. More tickets are available from the office if required. Families are asked to drop off non perishable items for the hamper to the office. Thank you for your assistance with this fundraiser.

The P.T.A. will hold their annual second hand uniform sale in the school office on Wednesday 15th December from 12pm until 3pm. Also another sale on Tuesday 1st February from 2pm until 7pm. Eftpos available. Any second hand uniform to be sold on behalf or donated is to be handed in to the office prior to the last day of school 10 December.

On Thursday 18 November we held our annual Junior Speech Competition. This year we welcomed Mrs Helen Schmidt to the school as judge. Mrs Schmidt is Head of English at Blue Mountain College. Mrs Schmidt brought with her three Year 10 competitors to be judged by Mrs Knapp. We hope that each year we can rotate between Blue Mountain College and Menzies College, holding a 'speech- off' between the top three or four Year 10 students from each school.

We were really proud of all our speakers, all of whom spoke eloquently and passionately about their topics.

The winners were:

Year Nine - 1st Alyssa Ozar, 2nd Anna McMullen

Year Ten - 1st Lewis McKelvie, 2nd Gabby Shepherd

Congratulations to all those involved. You did a splendid job!

L to R: Anna McMullen, Alyssa Ozar, Mrs Schmidt, Lewis McKelvie, Gabby Shepherd

Mrs Lucy McKelvie

Head of Department - English

On Wednesday 24 November the Year 10 Students travelled into SIT in Invercargill to attend a STAR Taster Day. STAR is a Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource which is used with students to help assist schools to provide students with relevant, coherant learning experiences that fit with the vocational pathways.

Once in at SIT students had five option classes which they attended for the day. These being Beauty, Engineering, Hairdressing, Hospitality, and Sport. The students thoroughly enjoyed their day and I’m sure learnt plenty which will help them in their future career pathway.

Thank you to Mrs Gibbs, Mrs Williams and Mrs McFadzien for helping with supervision on the day.

Lincoln Joyce

Careers Support

Menzies has enjoyed great success this year in the Clay Bird shooting team. It has been many years since Menzies has fielded a team but with the help of coaches Warren Ayers, John Ayers and Doug Smith, Menzies students are out there once again shooting up a storm.

Hot on the heels of the team success at the New Zealand Nationals, Junior Alex Smith has produced a stellar performance. Alex competed at the South Island Championships on 13 November in Dunedin. He produced three second placings in each of the double rise, point score and the single barrel C grade sections, as well as placing third in the Juniors section. He shot extremely well having a score of 25/25 in the target score to get a total score of 70/75 for the day, with only five second barrels used. Well done Alex!

Tim Landreth

Teacher in Charge

This Youth Education Fund has a proud tradition of supporting families in need of financial assistance with the purchasing of a school uniform. Grant application forms from suitable candidates are now available from the school office or can be downloaded by using the link below. Applications are invited from students entering high school, college and intermediate for the first time. The closing date for applications is Friday 10 December 2021.

These grants must be used for the purchase of basic school clothing and footwear only [excluding roadshoes/runners/stationery/school bags]. Applications for uniform for 2022 will not be considered until after 10 December and purchase orders will be posted to successful applicants before Christmas. Parents/caregivers of any unsuccessful applications will also be advised in writing.

Donald Engineering Ltd is a small engineering company based in Edendale. We work on a variety of engineering projects around the South Island. Due to an increasing workload we need a labourer to join our team. You must have:

• Good communication skills
• A strong work ethic
• Be a Team player
• Have a current NZ Drivers licence

Please apply via email with your CV to office@donaldengineering.co.nz

The Wyndham Pool is now open to the public. Keys cost $95 for a season and $80 for renewal. These are available from Lee's Dairy and Menzies College Office. Please scan in and follow COVID guidelines. Any enquiries contact wyndhampool@gmail.com

In January 2022 Invercargill is host to the South Island Colgate Games for Athletics. This is an exciting and fun opportunity for children between 7-14 years of age (age as at 31.12.2021) to compete against athletes from all over New Zealand and even some from Australia. We expect between 800 – 1000 athletes competing in track & field events over the 3 days. This is a great family friendly and fun event for children. Not only do you get the opportunity to try the run, jump and throw events but there is also a fun “chill out” zone, onsite food vendors and a chance to make new friends from around the country. It’s all about having a go and most importantly having fun!

In order for children to enter they need to be registered to a local athletics club. Below is the list of clubs within the Southland region you can register with:

St Pauls Harrier & Athletic Club: https://www.sporty.co.nz/stpaulsathletics/

Athletics Invercargill Club: https://www.sporty.co.nz/invercargillaac/HOME-1

Riverton Athletics Club: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community-Organization/Riverton-Athletics-Club-134720559966916/

Wyndham Athletics Club: https://www.facebook.com/wyndhamathleticclub

Winton Athletics Club: https://www.sporty.co.nz/wintonathleticclub/welcome-to-winton-athletics

Gore Athletics Club: https://www.sporty.co.nz/athleticsgore/

Please get in contact with one of these clubs to register so you can join in the fun!

Next Chapter Parenting is offering individual or group parenting sessions via zoom. Eight one hourly sessions, weekly at a time convenient to you are available evenings.

Topics covered include communication, empathy, setting limits, quality, time, consequences, choices, redirection, pick your battles with your, child, problem behaviour, praise vs acknowledgement, time in vs time out, the pause, Erickson’s stages of growth, personality types and how it affects your children. WINZ funding assistance where eligible.

Website: www.nextchapterparenting.co.nz

Contact: brigid@nextchapterparenting.co.nz

The Wyndham Pioneer Lions collect many things that raise money for the underprivileged and disadvantaged but we can do more with your help.Bread tags raise funds for wheelchairs (if they are colour coded before they handed in that would be great).

• Tear tabs from aluminium cans and wine bottle tops raise funds for ‘Kidney Kids’.
• Glasses (both reading and sunglasses) and hearing aids are distributed in places like the Pacific Islands improve the quality of lives who cannot afford such ‘extravagances’.

• Aluminium cans and cardboard are collected by The Pakeke Lions in Gore.

If you can help it would be appreciated if you could take them to Menzies College or contact

Mrs C Garthwaite on (03) 206 6223.

I'm just promoting our 2nd (final) tour of Southland with the Southland Farmgate tour. We’ll once again have the Mayors travelling to locations all across Southland/Gore Districts, 25 locations this time (one more than last time) with Lumsden and Pukerau new additions. Kingston was removed due to low uptake and an active provider in the area.

I’ve linked the Facebook Event to share to your network: https://fb.me/e/2K4ENjNmH

Here’s the Southern Health page if you or your network don’t have FB: Pop-up COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics | Southern Health | He hauora, he kuru pounamu

Email: admin@menzies.school.nz
Website: https://www.menzies.school.nz
Location: Alma Street, Wyndham 9831, Southland, New Zealand
Phone: 03 206 4979