We extend our best wishes to our MHJC delegation who are travelling back from the 23rd Young Leaders Convention in Singapore today – safe travels.
2017 Careers Expo
Last night careers advisor Mrs Ulika Singh and MHJC students attended the annual ‘Careers Expo’ at Ormiston Senior College. The event was a huge success with many institutions from throughout New Zealand showcasing numerous degree and vocational pathways, scholarship opportunities as well as unique business enterprises.
The key presentations from Auckland University and the Manukau Institute of Technology were particularly useful, as they outlined NCEA subjects and points required for entry into courses offered. It was particularly exciting for MHJC students to interact with OSC students and staff, whom offered advice and support with learning opportunities when they venture into senior college.
Young Leaders Convention, Singapore
Members of MHJC’s Executive Council are truly globally connected learners, having travelled to the Hwa Chong Institution in Singapore to contribute to the 22nd Young Leaders Convention.
Solana Carpenter, Camryn Chetty, Eugene Chua, Chenae Korewha, Duncan Lane and Jamini Patel departed from New Zealand in the early hours of Sunday morning, accompanied by Mr Morrison and Mrs Hewlett. The group have already enjoyed a day at Universal Studios on Sentosa Island and ‘ice-breaker’ challenges with students from a host of other countries. We look forward to sharing additional photos and updates, as they come through…
2017 Festival of Cultural Sharing & Diversity
Year 7 students from Mission Heights Junior College participated in the 2017 ‘3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing’ hosted by the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple on Friday 19th May.
During this visit students were challenged to “do good deeds, think good thoughts and say kind words” to others through a range of activities and interactive presentations. Once back at school, students reflected upon their temple visit and wrote about the application of 3G4G in their own lives.
On Saturday MHJC students Cathy Shipway, Ishaan Shukla and Mehar Kaur were presented with prizes for first, second and third place, respectively. Also, Chrezylhyn Ortega, Jasmine Strong and Abby McGarva received merit prizes. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to MHJC’s organising teacher, Mrs Rajesh Joshi.
2017 Wearable Arts Show
Congratulations to MHJC students who participated in the ‘2017 Winter Wonderland Wearable Arts Show’ that was held at BDSC on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th May. We would like to acknowledge the remarkable efforts of the designers and models who participated in this event. Our sincere thanks to MHJC’s visual arts teacher Liz Hanna-Latham for helping students to realise their creations, from the page to the stage!
Safe Schools Week
‘Safe Schools Week’ is a time of the year that students reflect upon the way they think, speak and act towards other students, to ensure that school is a place where everyone feels valued and protected. On Friday 26th June staff and students celebrated ‘Pink Shirt Day’ activities, to help strengthen MHJC’s culture of tolerance, respect and understanding towards others.
Mrs Gao’s Chinese Teachers Scholarship to Beijing
Mandarin Teacher Mrs Gao has returned from Beijing after her three weeks of study at the Beijing Language and Culture University. Mrs Gao earned the Chinese Teachers Scholarship to Beijing for 2017, during which she gained the opportunity to attend lectures by language experts from the BLCU and observe best practice in teaching Chinese. Mrs Gao has brought back many exciting ideas and resources that she will use in her Mandarin classes at MHJC.
MHJC Netballers Win Gold
MHJC entered the Yr 7 & 8 AIMS development team into an inter-school netball tournament in Papakura today. We are delighted to report that the team had an outstanding day on the court, winning all matches throughout the day and bringing home the gold medal for their ‘mixed’ section.
Team Members were:
Ricky Bassano, Zain Ismail, Sophia Lafaiali’i, Janke Maritz, Kyla Murdoch, Marion Aimee Petelo, Jo’res Taramai-Remo, Brooklyn-Rose Timu, Shalom Toilalo and Cyrus Tuhaka
Yr 10 student, Tiana Herewini provided GREAT leadership to the team throughout the day, supported by staff members Olivia Young and Laetitia Jansen Van Rensburg.
The Junior College Advantage
Students at Mission Heights Junior College enjoy many opportunities and are able to learn in an environment which has been specially designed for students of this cohort or age range.
The four year transition from primary to senior secondary school has distinct advantages:
Instead of a two year, which some refer to as the “revolving door” experience of an intermediate school where it is difficult to establish strong relationships in such a short time, teachers are able to get to know and support our students over four years.
Positive and caring relationships are the key to positive well-being and academic achievement.
The whanau structure of the school or schools within schools model further increases the quality of the relationship as students usually remain in the same whanau the whole time and with the same Learning Advisor and Senior Leaders. Having only 200 students in each whanau led by two experienced senior leaders ensures personalised and individual attention.
The middle college years are important for maturation and the building of a strong personal identity. Being grouped together at a time when they are neither primary nor senior secondary is a distinct advantage at this stage of their personal development. Being shielded for two years from some of the negative influences of senior students to which Year 9 and 10 students at senior colleges are exposed is an obvious benefit to our students at this impressionable age.
Positive friendships are also important factors for wellbeing and achievement. So it would be an advantage for students to transition to a senior college together from a junior college rather than disconnect before the end of Year 10.
Our students are able to grow without the constraints of having older students above them. We see incredible confidence and maturity in our senior students as they are the leaders of the school and occupy leadership positions that would normally be taken by Year 11, 12 or 13 students in a senior college. The image of trees fighting for sunlight in a forest comes to mind – our students can grow taller and stronger without a canopy above them.
Our curriculum has been carefully designed to ensure students receive specialist teaching from Year 7 to 10. Our students, having received excellent general foundations at primary school are ready for the next phase of specialised teaching. They are taught by a range of expert teachers rather than one home room teacher as in an intermediate school who may or may not have the same skills across all learning areas. The integrated curriculum learnt within a context is also enjoyed by students who can see the relevance of their learning in the real world.
Crucially students are able to receive the undivided attention of our teachers who are not distracted by the work-load of NCEA or CIE assessment which starts in Year 11 and continues to Year 13. Many of our teachers comment on how refreshing it is to return to the true meaning of discovery learning rather than “learning for assessment” required by senior courses and our students benefit as a result.
We believe that our students are well prepared for senior college and while gathering credits for NCEA is not our core business we do give our Year 10 students an opportunity to attempt achievement standards in most of their subjects. This gives them a taste of the NCEA process and an opportunity to carry some credits into Year 11.
Cathy’s Art Published in ToiToi Magazine
Year 7 student, Cathy Shipway is now a published artist, with her digital artwork (shown below) being published in the Toitoi magazine recently.
The four illustrations were some of the first “100% digital” art that Cathy created, using a simple drawing tablet that her family had given her for Christmas. This was also the first time that the Toitoi magazine had a contributor submit digitally painted artworks. Cathy used the Firealpaca free drawing software and learned digital drawing techniques by studying videos on Youtube from other Internet artists.
Baverstock Oaks Primary teacher, Mr. Gibbs recognised Cathy’s artistic talents and submitted a selection of her work to learn whether she would be eligible to illustrate one of the stories for the Toitoi magazine. Cathy was thrilled to learn that she had been accepted as an illustrator for the publication.
‘Bent Luck’ is story about a disastrous skiing trip in Queenstown, where a bent ski pole signals the start to a series of challenging experiences on the slopes. This story was a particularly good match for Cathy, as the previous winter her family had visited the ski fields in the story and had taken a ride on the chairlift – so Cathy had already seen and experienced the subject matter herself.
Cathy admits that at first she had intended to use watercolours, however after further consideration she decided to use her digital tablet to produce the four art works. First Cathy sketched the picture concepts, then blocked in the colours on the sketches. Next, she refined the painting and added highlights and details.
Cathy has found this to be a GREAT experience and next time hopes to be a published author-illustrator!
