Northcross Intermediate School

Young Author’s Story makes Publication

sallyf — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:06:05 +0000

Congratulations to Chris Jackman whose story has been selected to be included in the 2013 edition of the Barfoot & Thompson Young Author Challenge book.
This is the second year in a row a Northcross Intermediate student has had their story published in this collection. We would also like to acknowledge Georgia Kerr who was a semi-finalist this year. Both students wrote their stories as part of the first Literacy Extension programme. 900 entries were received from 160 schools so Northcross has achieved extremely well.This is the fifth year Barfoot & Thompson has held this competition.
All proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Starship Foundation. So far over $100 000 has been raised. The book will go on sale in bookshops once published. We will advise when they are available on our school website.’
Bill Wallace
HOD Literacy & Library

Rugby Girls “Try & Win” Zone Day

sallyf — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:00:53 +0000

Northcross Girls Rugby showed fine form recently, providing stiff competition in the North Harbour Zone Day.
Our A Team were in sublime form and a combination of skill, speed and ferocious tackling made them very difficult to contain as they bulldozed their way to the final against Orewa.The girls played with tremendous heart and scampered away to a 45-5 victory.Our B Team, largely made up of Y7’s made us exceptionally proud.They made it to the 3rd/4th playoff against Takapuna, and in extra time scored the winning try.It was truly heart-warming to see such passion from a bunch of girls who had just been learning a new game from the start!

NX Authors Semifinalists in Short Story Competition

sallyf — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:34:13 +0000

Congratulation to Chris Jackman and Georgia Kerr who have both had their short stories selected as semi-finalists for the Barfoot & Thompson short story competition. There were 900 entries so it’s an outstanding result. Both of these students were part of the Literacy Extension group that has just finished. We wish them luck and hope to hear that their stories have been selected to be published in this year’s book. A great effort and result Chris and Georgia!

NX Orienteering Champs

sallyf — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:12:31 +0000

During the April school holidays 7 of our dedicated students competed in the North Island Secondary Schools Orienteering Champs. Alex Monckton came 1st in the Sprint Event, Thomas Applegath came 1st and Camryn Stent 3rd in the Individual event. The boys relay team – Alex Monckton, Thomas Applegath and Mack O’Brien came 3rd and ended up finishing 2nd overall for school points.
This is a culmination of consistent effort in various competitions over Term One and Two. Congratulations to the boys and to all the students who have given orienteering a go.
To view the Orienteering Newsletter go to our Sports page link Orienteering

40 Hour Famine

sallyf — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:10:27 +0000

Up to 88 students experienced the 40 Hour Famine Refugee Camp through the weekend. They slept in cardboard boxes, were fed a bowl of rice, were raided and interrogated by armed rebels, hunted down by the militia and experienced a bombing raid that had the school car park looking like a war zone…. AND the students enjoyed it with many asking if they can do it again next weekend. Yeah right! I don’t know if that’s quite what we had it mind but I’m sure many did get some idea of why we make the effort with some great discussion on how we can all make a difference in our community and beyond.
Once again we had a great team who went out of their way to make an event like this possible. A big big thanks to the following staff;Shannon, Scott, Keli, Graham, Kim S, Christina, Vanessa, Kel and Jillian.

30 minutes measures Mathex minds!

sallyf — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:08:46 +0000

Last Wednesday, almost 400 students took part in the Maths problem solving challenge MATHEX. The brief: solve as many maths word problems as you can in 30 minutes. To win: solve more than anybody else! The problems ranged from a Year 7 level of difficulty up to Year 10, involving questions on geometry, measurements, statistics, percentages and so much more. Some problems were so tough they even threatened to trip up the teacher’s team! A huge congratulations to all the competitors, and special acknowledgement to the winners.Year 7, Room 55:Hayden Fisher, Liam Starrs, Tessa Herkt and Miles Timmis and to the Year 8 winners, Room 54: Jafar Maash, Yuri Kim, Marissa Ford and Michael Weatherley.These teams will go on to represent Northcross at the North Shore competition.
Students from Rm 16 give us an insight into the competition.
As we entered the PAC we saw 200 of our competitors screaming and ready to go and win Mathex. As we all nervously waited Mr. Washer calmed our nerves with a few jokes and riddles. Soon after the year 7’s had finished, the 200 year 8’s piled in to gym with the song ‘Eye of the tiger’ playing in the background. Everyone was pumped up and ready to go. The countdown had begun, 3, 2, 1 GO!!! Everyone was ripping open the first envelope left, right and centre. Runners were running for their lives and students were using their brain like crazy. Even the parents and the teacher’s teams were going mad. After half an hour it was all over, it went so fast! In the end it was all for fun and everyone was a winner no matter what the score was.
By Taylor Carroll and Louie Holgate-Simpson
Christina England
Head of mathematics

NX Troublemakers rock NZGT Auditions

sallyf — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 23:33:31 +0000

Our NX Team Troublemakers performed their audition on Saturday for the imminent NZ’s Got Talent Show. The boys performed 2 dances to the producers, some media people, those contestants who were waiting for their own audition, their very excited parents and a very proud (and slightly teary), Mr. Mac. They NAILED both dances perfectly – the crowd cheered them the loudest and even gave them a standing ovation – TWICE!! All in all it was a wonderful day, the boys and Mr Maclennan were so blown away and humbled by the entire experience Such a fun, exciting and life changing experience for them and we are confident this is just the beginning of our NZGT journey!
Mr Mac.
To stay updated on the Troublemakers progress visit our Troublemakers: NZ’s Got Talent page and you can also “like” their facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/TroublemakersDanceCrew

FPS Update

sallyf — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:54:40 +0000

Coach Glenis Martin with the team at Bloomington University,Indiana. In the background is the massive university site, which is like a small town.

Paul, Tom, Cameron and Robyn dressed in costumes for the Dramatic Presentation, which follows the written exam. Costume-making is a skill in itself, with a very short time to complete, and only a specified list of materials, all of which they will have taken with them.

It has been a great trip. The kids did us proud in their exam and dramatic presentation.
The future scene was an interesting one showing a global snapshot of the status of women.It talked about the gender gap, the inequality of education for boys and girls, and discrimination against women and women in government.
The paper gets marked by 3 markers and if they do well they go to second round marking. They were not in the top 10 but I am sure they would have been close. There were 58 teams in their division.
There were 14 countries attending this year with India, China and Jordan being new to the program.
They should be very proud of their efforts as not only producing excellent work but they got top marks for their research, creative and futuristic thinking.
Glenis Martin.

Yr 7 Girls Football Win North Harbour Title

sallyf — Wed, 29 May 2013 22:00:09 +0000

Last week we took our Y7 Girls Football team to the Girls Football Zone day to compete against 12 other schools for the North Harbour title. This team was amazing! They played outstanding football right throughout the day, combining together brilliantly to score 14 goals and only concede 1. The team played Belmont in the final, winning it convincingly by 2-0 and taking out the North Harbour Y7 Girls title. The girls will now go on to play the best teams in Auckland at the InterZone day on the 11 June. Well done Girls!

Mosaic Art Displays NZ themes at Northcross

sallyf — Wed, 29 May 2013 21:45:40 +0000

Four large and gorgeous mosaic planters completed by past and present students are now displayed in our school courtyard. They show NZ themes of the nearby sea, small creatures from our local bush, native birds and our lighthouse ‘Lighting the Path to Success’.