Northcross Intermediate
Lighting the Path to Success

Congratulations to all seventeen award winners who were recognised at the North Harbour Science and Technology Fair Prize Giving last Thursday. The evening was certainly dominated by Northcross Students who took out nearly every major section including Jasmine Hadfield who won the Supreme Top of Fair Award, and Rosa Katavich who won the Runner-up Award.  These wonderful results are a testament to the strength of Science and Technology here at Northcross.

Mathletics Amazingness!

Congratulations to the students in Room 46 and their teacher, Mrs Hodgins on their fantastic Mathletics accomplishment. Between them, Room 46 students scored over 300 000 points on Maths problem solving questions, maths knowledge and basic facts in one week.  This score meant they were placed first in the World in Mathletics. To put this fabulous result in context, the normal expectation is for students to achieve 1000 points each per week – about 45 minutes work.  In order to reach this amazing score, Room 46 had to score an average of TEN THOUSAND points each.  Special congratulations to Justin S for scoring 40 000 points, and to George B, Maia and Chloe for scoring over 20 000 points each.  Well done to a very determined group of students.

Northcross Intermediate are NZ Aims Boys Football Champions for 2016 after beating Sacred Heart College convincingly in the Football Final in at the AIMS Games in Tauranga. The NZ Aims football title was hotly contested by 62 schools from around New Zealand. Our Northcross boys team did exceptionally well throughout the week with many commenting on how each player played with so much heart and passion, often playing against players twice their size.

The NX team went on to win the final 3 nil with an impressive display of skill, team work and tactics. Coaches, Jack Caunter and Nathan Cranney, along with Manager, Murray Toohill, are extremely proud of the team and their outstanding achievement. Captain, Chase Taylor said each player gave 100% to win the final game, they played for their team mates,  for the school and past players who had missed out on the title in 2014 and 2015 when they came 2^nd and 3^rd.

Thanks to our fantastic and encouraging supporters; to Jack and Nathan who have sacrificed time and effort to help each player achieve the dream; and to our awesome team of young men who enjoy the challenge, play to win and never stop the banter!

Last week 180 NX Students took to Tauranga to compete in the annual NZ AIMS Games, (our biggest Northcross team yet!) with the hope of taking the title of NZ’s top team or individual in their chosen sport. Every student was fully prepared to give it their absolute best effort, commitment and determination as they knew the opposition from around the country would be tougher than last year. It was a great week, with all teams displaying skill, agility, precision, stamina, and true grit in every game or event, right throughout the tournament week. There were many highs, lots of anxious times and a few heart-breaking moments, but through it all, our students showed incredible character and resilience, keeping their heads held high. Each team and individual did NX very, very proud. Congratulations to the individuals and teams who attained top placings this year. 

Recently, two Year 7 and two Year 8 NX teams attended the Auckland Casio Mathex competition.  This Maths problem solving competition is a test of teamwork, quick thinking, mathematical ability and perseverance.  Each Year 7 and 8 team competed against over 120 teams at their year level.

The year 7’s were first up – at the end of the high speed competition lasting 30 minutes, one team (St Cuthberts) came first on 100points.  Northcross and Belmont tied for 2^nd on 95 points. In a tense tie breaker, we claimed third place.  This is an outstanding result – the highest we have ever scored at this top competition level. Congratulations to James and Nadia from Rm 49 and Aiden and Lucy from TC1!

Our second year 7 team came 4^th on 90 points – another outstanding result. 

Both our year 8 teams placed in the top 10.  We are so proud of all competitors!

The AIMS Basketball team went to North Harbour Zone Day on August 22^nd, and had a title to defend! Our first pool play games were good wins versus Wairau, Mahurangi and Kristin. We then had solid wins against Glenfield (Quarter-final) and Northcote (Semi-final). The final for the day was against Murrays Bay, who we lost to at Semester 1 League Final, so we were ready for this re-match! It was a high-paced game, but the boys shifted to another gear and convincingly took away the win, 29-14. North Harbour Champions again! Each player did exceptionally well, and they worked hard together as a team. Now onto the AIMS National Tournament and Auckland Champs in Term 4.

Our NX Girls 1^st 11 Hockey team took on the best girls teams in Auckland on Friday, representing our North Harbour Zone at Auckland Champs. It was a tough round robin draw, meaning the team had to be playing their best hockey right throughout the day – and that they did! Showing lots of resilience, effort and pure determination the team finished the round robin stage on top, with five wins and one draw. They faced a very determined St Cuth’s team in the final, but our girls fought hard and finished with the coveted title of Auckland Champs! A huge achievement – well done girls!  

The NH Cross Country was held at Sanders Reserve this year, in incredibly muddy conditions but that didn’t stop our determined runners. The students who represented Northcross gave their all and an exceptional amount of effort was witnessed throughout the day. A special mention to the following students, who have gained a spot at Auckland Champs: Jasmine Ha took out an impressive 1^st place in the Y8 Girls division and Janet Ha achieved an outstanding 3^rd  place also in the Year 8 Girls division. Toby Lewis finished 3^rd and Sam Paranihi  came 5^th in the very competitive Year 7 Boys division. Well done to all who represented Northcross on the day. 

Wow, what an exciting day!  On Thursday 4^th August, Northcross Intermediate hosted the annual North Shore Mathex problem solving competition for the first time. 

Twelve schools with almost 300 students competed at Northcross in this high speed Maths competition completed in groups of four against a timer.  The challenge is to complete 20 problems correctly in 30 minutes.  This year, Northcross Intermediate won the Year 8 competition, with the team of Taewon Yun, Wen Shan, Jet Shand-Pease and Matthew Armes scoring a perfect score of 100 points.  Our second Northcross team of Jasmine Ha, Scarlet Hur, Saana Ramaekers and Kelly Cha placed second with 95points. 

In the year 7 competition, we also came first, with the team of James Xu, Nadia Evans, Aiden Finn and Lucy Brunton beating out their closest competition by three questions.

Thanks so much to all the parents who managed to come along and cheer on their children.  Special thanks to Paper Plus Browns Bay and Scholastic books for providing prizes including Paperplus vouchers, books and pen sets for our top place getters.

Congratulations to our Y7 Boys and Y8 Girls Netball teams for taking the title of North Harbour Champs at the Netball Zone day on Tuesday. Outstanding netball was on display all day from both of these teams - the boys showed extra determination and control in their final against Orewa and the girls showed excellent precision and timing in their final against Albany. Well done to both teams! Special mention to our two other teams who also played exceptionally well against tough competition on the day - our Y7 Girls team took out 3rd place overall and our Y8 Boys team finished in 5th place. A great day for NX Netball!

Over 100 enthusaistic NX students took to the challenging terrain of Long Bay Regional Park on Monday to compete in our Northcross Cross Country trial. While the weather held off and the sun was out, there was plenty of determination and competitiveness in the air. The course was tough, with lots of sand to push through, steep hills to climb and uneven grass mounds to conquer, but our NX students all gave it 100% and as a result achieved impressive times. The top 10 runners from each age/gender group will advance to the North Harbour Zone day next Tuesday at Sanders Reserve. 

Our top three finishers for each age/gender group are:

Year 7 Girls

1st:      Kristy Fleming (18.13)           

2nd:     Amber McAllister 

3rd:      Leela Lowery 

Year 8 Girls

1st:      Jasmine Ha (16.28)          

2nd:     Janet Ha

3rd:      Mackenzie Harvey 

Year 7 Boys

1st:       Toby Lewis (15.54)

2nd:       Sam Paranihi

3rd:      Tyler Bindon          

Year 8 Boys

1st:      Fletcher Coburn (16.25)

2nd:      Connor Oakley

3rd:      Ben Rhodes

Our very first sporting overseas trip took place in the July holidays with our 8/1 Netball team travelling to Brisbane, Australia to compete in the week long HEY Tournament. It was an incredibly successful week away - the girls all thoroughly made the most of the experience both on and off the court. While the opposition was a little older and taller, our girls held their own against them and played excellent Netball. The team came away with two trophies - the Team Spirit Award which is given to the team that has shown great sportsmanship, attitude, determination, commitment and effort all week. The second trophy was for winning the Cup section of the U14 Division. A special thanks to Coach David Brown for all his organisation, time and effort in putting this amazing experience together.

The Northcross Annual Speech finals were held on Thursday 30 July. This year we had three judges, Mrs Taylor, our Librarian; Mr Jensen, Head of Drama and Mr Wallace, ex-Northcross Head of English, now retired. The judges said that all sixteen finalists were of the highest standard they could remember and all participants were very talented.

Ashley Binns, a year 7 student from room 47 won the competition with her speech entitled 'Anxiety'. Ashley will go on to represent Northcross at the North Auckland Rotary Semi Finals, as will Rosa Katavich, who came second with her speech on rodeos and animal cruelty.

Congratulations to both girls and to all the other participants. We are very proud of you!

Congratulations to the NX Force Cheerleading team who completed at the Eutopia Competition at North Shore Events centre on Sunday - the team achieved an amazing second place in their category! Well done NX Force!

On Wednesday 22^nd June, 332 students braved the stormy night to come and compete in a high speed, high pressure maths problem solving competition.  With only thirty minutes to solve 20 maths word problems, 39 Year Seven teams and  44 Year Eight teams competed to win medals. Extra pressure was added when both teachers and parents entered a team to compete.

YEAR 7: Room 49 and Room 55 had a tie-breaker for first place: Congratulations to Jennifer, Ashton, Robert and Alice of Room 55 coming in first place.  The playoff for third was equally tense with Room 21 narrowly beating a second room 55 team.

YEAR 8: We had an outright winner in year 8 with the room 54 team of Jumana, Josiah, Nathan and Janet placing first.  A play off for second place saw Room 50 beat Room 48 for second.

Congratulations to all participants for persevering with some very tricky questions and a huge thanks to parents and teachers who competed, cheered on their teams and helped with marking.  The fabulous support from our community certainly added to the atmosphere on the night.

Congratulations to Daniel Gorbey of Room 11.

In order to win Top of New Zealand or the World in Mathletics, students must compete against 140,000+ students in NZ alone to score top points within a 24 hour period.  Through perseverance and dedication, Daniel has managed to win this title not once, but four times so far this term - an outstanding achievement!  

On Wednesday 15 June, our NX hockey girls competed at the North Harbour zone day at Harbour Hockey.  After a tough few games in which they kept their cool and didn’t concede any goals, the girls made it through to the semi- final against Murrays Bay. A very tough game resulted in a draw, and went to strokes, which also ended in a draw. Brooke James took the next shot for Northcross and scored, while Murrays Bay were blocked by our goalie, Megan Hennessy. This gave NX the win and the girls went into a very tense final against Albany Junior High School. While the teams were very evenly matched, NX came away with a 1-0 win to become NH Champions.

Congratulations to the girls and their coach, Mr Jensen. We are very proud of you!

The NX Year 7 and Year 8 Boys Football teams recently defended their titles for North Harbour Champions in the regional tournament held at Rosedale Park. Teams from schools all around the North Shore and north of Auckland vying to be the deserving winners. The NX Year 7's played exceptional football making it to the final with no goals conceded. In a tough final against club mates and close rivals Murrays Bay the Northcross team stepped it up another notch playing with vision and passion to seal the win 2-0 and claiming the 2016 North Harbour Champions title.

Our Year 8 team had a similar journey to their final, conceding no goals and dominating the opposition teams. Despite consistent rain in the quarter and semi finals the team showed their skill and resilience to come out on top; making it to the final against Rosmini. It was to prove a tough encounter with Rosmini scoring a goal half way through the first half and despite dominating territory, possession and shots on goal the NX team were denied the equaliser. A good learning experience for players as we prepare for AIMs.