APRIL 2019
Diocesan School for Girls Clyde Street, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand Private Bag 99939, Newmarket 1149 P. 09 520 0221 F. 09 520 6778 E. office@diocesan.school.nz
BOARD CHAIR Mr Andrew Peterson PRINCIPAL
Ms Heather McRae
CHAPLAIN
Reverend Sandy Robertson
ASSISTANT CHAPLAIN
Reverend Bryan Haggitt
HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL
Mrs Margaret van Meeuwen
DEPUTY PRINCIPALS
Mrs Dian Fisher Mr Simon Walker
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
Mrs Kate Burkin
HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL
Mrs Suzanne Brewin
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL JUNIOR SCHOOL
Mrs Amy Thompson
DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS AND PLANNING
Mr Paul McDowell-Hook
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
Mrs Rachel Gardiner
APRIL 2019
DIOCESAN.SCHOOL.NZ
LEADING 02 From the Principal 04 Board report 05 2019 School leaders 09 Heritage Foundation
DIRECTOR OF PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Mrs Jocelyn Anso
ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR
Mrs Kate Jones
HEAD PREFECT
Katie Pearce
“We are all children of God who seek to spread love, peace and hope to the world. May we continue to be open to each other, open to learning about the vast variety of people who live in this beautiful country, open to sharing the common humanity that connects us all to each other.”
DEPUTY HEAD PREFECT
Jemma Couillault
Rev’d Sandy Robertson, Chaplain
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Mrs Angela Coe
DIO TODAY is produced through the Marketing Office of Diocesan School for Girls and is designed by Anna Taylor (annstaylor.nz) and published by Image Centre Group. For information about this publication, contact the Editor, Liz McKay E. lmckay@diocesan.school.nz / Old Girls’ liaison and proofreading, Deirdre Coleman E. d.g@slingshot.co.nz / Commissioned photography by Nicola Topping, Real Image (realimage.co.nz) and Peter Meecham (www.petermeechamvisuals.com).
T R E N Z S E AT E R INTERIOR DESIGN
AUCKLAND - 80 Parnell Rd, 09 303 4151 CHRISTCHURCH - 121 Blenheim Rd, 03 343 0876 QUEENSTOWN - 313 Hawthorne Dr, 03 441 2363 www.trenzseater.com
COVER: Pictured on Grandparents’ Day, Year 5 student Tyler Orrick with her grandfather Harry Orrick. Photo: Peter Meecham.
LEARNING 14
Exam results and Scholars’ Awards
20 Social Sciences Faculty 28 World Challenge India trip 42 Junior School
EDITORIAL In the wake of the terrible events of Friday 15 March in Christchurch, many words have been written – sympathetic, reconciliatory, questioning – trying to make sense of the senseless, to ease the pain. At the memorial service in Hagley Park on Friday 29 March, a woman interviewed afterwards said that her reaction to the tragedy was that now, every day she is going to make a conscious effort to do something to make a difference. A simple, but very do-able aim. Making a difference doesn’t have to be about vast sums of money or grand gestures – it can be as simple as a ready smile, a few words, a kind action.
LIVING 50 Chaplaincy 52 Sport 62 Performing Arts 72 Parents & Friends of Dio
Kate Coughlan of New Zealand Life & Leisure magazine, wrote a sensitive and thought-provoking online editorial after the massacres in which she said: “Start a conversation.”
LIFELONG FRIENDS 74 President’s column 76 Alumnae news 80 Reunions 82 Graduation ball
We’re very good at living compartmentalised lives. Perhaps it’s now time to step out of the box and engage with those around us – in our workplaces, our communities, wherever life takes us, to be bold enough to wear the shoe on the other foot and take a tentative step in the right direction. I am reminded of an encounter a few years ago when my friend Nola and I had been to see a film and were saying our goodbyes on the pavement outside the cinema. As we gave each other a hug, an elderly woman approaching us stopped and said: “I would so love a hug.” Spontaneously, we both hugged her, and she was delighted, saying how happy we looked and how that had tugged at her heartstrings. We had no idea who she was or what her circumstances were, but she walked away with a smile on her face. As Rev’d Sandy says in the quote on these pages, “sharing the common humanity that connects us all to each other.” Liz McKay, Editor
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L E A DIN G FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Challenging times Since writing our article for Dio Today earlier this year, a dreadful tragedy occurred in our country that seemed to make the content of the previous article irrelevant. To express the deep change that occurred for us as a country in the aftermath has been complex and wide ranging. Although some worried through the media that our international reputation might be somewhat tarnished, deeper issues in our society have been revisited and analysed intensely. Whatever the outcome, we believe we are in a different place as we realise a sense of lost innocence that these things would never happen in New Zealand, and a new realisation of how we want to be. It was a very sombre start to the day at Diocesan’s Open Day on Saturday 16 March, the day after we became aware of the magnitude of the terrorist attack and the horror that had unfolded in Christchurch. Staff arrived in tears as we contemplated how we should honour the Muslim families and enable people to express their condolences. Reverend Sandy helped us all with a prayer for the families at the start of each session, and the Chapel of our Glorified Lord had 49 candles (later 50) lit for each life that had been lost. Visitors were invited into the Chapel to offer prayers, and to light a candle for the Muslim community of Christchurch. 2
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On Monday, we offered prayers to start the day and staff members asked girls for a moment’s silence before the school day began. On Tuesday, we held a full school assembly to help girls think about some of the messages that were related to the tragedy. It was important to mention the role of the internet in providing an unmoderated place for violent and immoral thinking to be shared. We encouraged girls to think carefully about their responsibilities in viewing material that can never be unseen and reminded them of recent laws introduced to hold people to account. While the internet has many useful purposes, it has unfortunately become a forum for racism, judgemental criticism and other forms of hatred toward others. Knowledge today is co-constructed in the milieu of technologies and social media, often not face-to-face, and with seemingly no old-fashioned test of morality, resulting in a melting pot of unprecedented diverse, perverse, violent and radical thought. Although pressures are afoot for Facebook and media outlets to manage their ‘anything goes’ approach, decisions are slow as the same diverse views of what is right and what is wrong create a level of paralysis. Free speech, human rights, religious rights, cultural rights, feminist rights – we see our world struggling to deal with the ethics involved.
At Diocesan, we are immensely proud of the programmes we provide, designed expressly to address these emerging issues. Our Centre for Ethics and futurefocused leadership programme explore ideas that we might action by examining the rights and responsibilities we have as communities to protect our planet, learn about the values and ethics of other cultures, and find ways to work together for the common good of all people. Our comprehensive religious studies programme teaches our girls about all religions and the common values of service, love, inclusion, justice and peace. Out of all the hand-wringing debate has come a reinforcing of our compassion – and many other things that we are at this school that enhance and deepen cultural and religious knowledge. The world is an ever-changing place and every one of us is experiencing the challenge this brings. We value the expansive knowledge our girls experience at Diocesan. May we prepare them to thrive in this ever-changing world and to use their knowledge, confidence and values to successfully navigate the complexities of humankind with compassion and understanding. Be strong, be brave, be steadfast – kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui. Heather McRae, Principal
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Photo: Hagen Hopkins / Stringer
LEADING
Board of Governors Over the last few months there have been a number of changes to the Dio Board of Governors.
debate and strategy. The Board wishes them all the best for their next challenges.
At the December meeting, the Board farewelled Angela Anderson and Clare Barrie. Angela had been on the Board for seven and a half years, and during that time was also Chair of the Heritage Foundation. Clare had been on the Board for four and a half years and played an important part in the stewardship of the School’s Special Character and Anglican tradition. At the meeting in February this year, the Board also said farewell to Rose Stanhope who had been on the Board for three years. Angela, Clare and Rose have each made very valuable contributions to the Board. They have been enthusiastic and passionate supporters of the School and have added materially to the discussion,
Laurent Kinet joined the Board in August 2018. Laurent is a partner at McKinsey & Company and has a Master’s degree in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique and a Masters in Finance from Solvay Business School in Brussels. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Laurent and his wife Diane have a daughter at the School.
David Gibson joined the Board in December 2018. Until recently, David led the investment banking team at Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Craigs in New Zealand. David has over 20 years’ investment banking experience. David and his wife Pip Greenwood have two daughters at the School.
Laurent Kinet
Sarah Stevens-Cross
(nee Stevens) joined the Board in February 2019. She is a priest of the Anglican Diocese and Old Girl of the School. Prior to ordination, Sarah studied geography, psychology and journalism. She has worked in boarding schools in the United Kingdom and Waikato and as a community journalist in the Waikato. She was involved in the 2002 review of Chaplaincy and Religious Studies at Diocesan. She lives in Whangaparaoa and serves in various Anglican churches around the Auckland Diocese, while caring for her young daughter. The Board is delighted to welcome Laurent, David and Sarah, each of whom will bring valuable skills and different perspectives to the Board.
David Gibson
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Sarah Stevens-Cross
Andrew Peterson Chair, Board of Governors
HEAD PREFECT (COUNCILS): Katie Pearce COUNCILS
DEPUTY HEAD PREFECT (HOUSES): Jemma Couillault
PREFECT
DEPUTIES
HOUSES
PREFECT
DEPUTIES
ACADEMIC
Anneke Cummack
Doris Dong Jacqueline Li
COCHRANE
Aksheen Dhillon
Jamie Dawson Eleanor Spillane
ARTS
Hannah Barber-Wilson
Olivia Francis Emma Wong-She
COWIE
Jemma Lowe
Sofie Mulligan Hilary Armstrong
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Olivia Luxon
Ananya Ahluwala Taylor Eltringham
ELIZA EDWARDS
Lucia Young
Mackenzie Alderson Alana Sullivan
ENVIRONMENT
Jemima Po
Sophie Stanhope Victoria Short
MARY PULLING
Lilly Girardet
Courtney Elliot Billie Hart
SCHOOL CULTURE
Fanni Meron
Megan Clarke Sadie Sumich
MITCHELSON
Emily Bashford
Nadia Flood Jessica Sewell
BALL
Ella Carter
Charlotte Blakey Emily Hernon
NELIGAN
Victoria Hutt
Molly Crawford Izzy Gill
BIRTHDAY CONCERT
Cindy Bu
Molly Corder Sam Robinson
ROBERTON
Lexi Preen
Olivia Gutteridge Fenella Holden
MEDIA
Dilynne Muller
Charlotte Mottershead Charlotte Clarke
SELWYN
Shivani Patel
Brianna Holmes Sharon Hung
SPORT
Ella Cooper
Georgia Skelton Lauren Dunne
INTERNATIONAL
Shellie Hu
Ariadne Wong
STUDENT SERVICES
Francesca Sansom
Olivia Maxwell Zita Sumich
BOARDING
Jamie Dawson
Sunk Young Park Sandy Yang
SCHOOL EVENTS:
LEADING
2019 Student leaders
Deputy Head Prefect Jemma Couillault, Principal Heather McRae and Head Prefect Katie Pearce
Head Prefect’s message
n Tuesday 29 January at 8.12am, I walked through the Dio gates, past the turf and up to the Comm for my last ever ‘first day of school’. Scary stuff. That morning, and the routine of waking up, gobbling down some cereal and hurrying out the door didn’t feel in any way out of the ordinary. Maybe that was because I had done it 3,192 times before. I’ve been attending Dio for what seems like my whole life. Thirteen years is a long time and thinking back to my first day in 2006, a lot has changed since then. Not only have I grown out of my personalised rashy and no longer have a fringe, but I have grown immensely as a person – through highs and lows, iconic moments and embarrassing stories. My experience at Dio has changed my life, made me the person I am today and I will be forever grateful for the opportunities that have been extended to me, being part of this community. Our theme for this year is all about who we are. You may have seen a symbol around school, a circle with three dots. Ko Tatou. This means ‘we are’. The three circles each represent our three foci for the year: unity, pride and personal best.
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LEADING
The origins of this theme come from the Ubuntu philosophy developed within African tribes. It means “I am who I am … because of who we all are.” As the Dio community in 2019 … Ko Tātou Kotahitanga Ko Tātou Mana Ko Tātou Pukumahi We are … proud We are … unified and We are … striving for personal best. I introduce myself as Katie but many in Year 13 call me KP. Katie Pearce, KP, Kim Possible. Call me whatever you like but also, in danger or trouble, I’m there on the double. You know you can always call *Year 13s KIM POSSIBLE*. In 2019, all the Year 13s and myself are here to lead, but more importantly, we want to be the people you can rely on. Whether it’s a chat in the corridors, answering questions you have about school work, co-curricular activities or you’re looking for some advice. With unity as our Term 1 focus, we want to have this school united and that comes from making meaningful connections with each other. Once we have each other’s backs, we can back our School. School pride is something you often can’t put into words. It’s the cheering at sports games, the applause at the Music Showcase and even the silence as we walk into Chapel with our year levels each week. I believe pride is all about a sense of belonging. And that’s the community feel we want to foster here at Dio, focusing on pride in Term 2. Our School will thrive when we are proud to be here with each other. Playing hockey over the years has taught me one thing in particular – the importance of surrounding yourself with people who lift you higher. In my past two seasons I have come up against girls who are faster than me, stronger than me and even a foot taller than me (that last one comes up often!) Before these big games I could often hear the echoing words of my Dad from our pre-game spiel in the kitchen the night before, the main piece of advice being: “You can’t hide from the crunch”. Thanks Dad! There were two particular players who stood out for me, Maddi Doar and Olivia Shannon. Their combination of speed, determination and skill was the ultimate crunch that I couldn’t hide from. They went on to become the two youngest members of the Black Sticks. Whoa, no surprise there! Personal best for me isn’t about getting the call-up to the Black Sticks, it’s getting through the 60 minutes of hockey and not giving up. When you do the mahi, you don’t always get the treats, but that’s okay. And Term 3 leading into the exams will be focused around reaching your personal best, whatever that may be. Ko Tātou Kotahitanga Ko Tātou Mana Ko Tātou Pukumahi Let’s make 2019 the best one yet! DIO TODAY
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LEADING
H E R I T A G E
She knows the new Board member and Chair of the Heritage Foundation, David Gibson, well and knows he will do a great job. “Diocesan is in great heart. It is an amazing school with incredible teachers and a very supportive community. Now is the right time to pass the reins to David who can bring a new approach to the role.”
Handing over the reins At the end of 2018, Diocesan farewelled Board member and Chair of the Heritage Foundation Angela Anderson and welcomed David Gibson as her successor.
Angela Anderson Angela joined the Board and became Chair of the Heritage Foundation in 2011. As an Old Girl, she saw the role as an opportunity to give back to the School and community from which she had gained so much. Angela started at Diocesan in 1984, in what is today’s Year 7. Initially she found herself at the bottom of the bottom class (yes, classes were streamed back then). However, by the end of the year she was top of her class and by the time she reached Year 13, she was Head Prefect and a top student. She says Diocesan taught her how to work hard, apply herself and achieve her goals. Angela went on to the University of Auckland, where she again graduated top in her year, completing a double degree in law and commerce. She says she never doubted it was achievable, an attitude and belief in her capability that her time at Diocesan had instilled in her. She then went on to work at Credit Suisse before setting up her own investment
management business at the age of 29, managing investments for high wealth families and charitable trusts. Angela says she never hesitated to accept the Diocesan Board position as she felt her expertise in governance and financial management brought another level of professionalism to the management of the Heritage Foundation. None of this would have been possible without the support of Angela’s good friend Angela Coe, Diocesan’s Development Director, who returned to Diocesan to raise the money needed for the Arts Centre. After eight years on the Board and Heritage Foundation, Angela has now stepped down and is focusing on being a parent to her Year 3 daughter, Charlotte, and her son Ben who is in Year 5 at King’s School. She says Diocesan has made great strides forward during her time on the Board and now is the right time for another parent to step up and add their own value to the mix.
The Diocesan School Board and community would like to acknowledge and thank Angela for her valuable contribution to the School and the time and energy she has committed over the past eight years. She has not gone far though, as she remains on the Investment Committee for the Heritage Foundation.
David Gibson With two daughters at Diocesan, David sees his new role on the Board as a way for him to give back to the Diocesan community. His background is mostly in corporate finance and he has over 20 years of investment banking experience, giving him the ideal skill set to take over the oversight and management of the Heritage Foundation. Since leaving banking, David now does a mix of corporate advisory, personal investing in growth companies and governance. David’s governance experience includes a previous role on the Bayfield School Board and current directorships with NZX-listed NZME and Rangatira Limited, a private investment company. He lives in Auckland with wife Pip Greenwood and his two daughters, Kate in Year 9 and Lucy in Year 6. David agrees with Angela, saying that Diocesan is in great heart at the moment. “I love the School and what it offers our girls, and I feel a great sense of support within our community. As a Board member and Chair of the Heritage Foundation, I feel a keen sense of obligation to build on what has been achieved in recent years to make Dio the very best place we can going forward.” DIO TODAY
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FAQ
The Heritage Foundation What is the purpose of the Heritage Foundation? The Heritage Foundation was established in 2001 as a charitable trust to support Diocesan School for Girls by attracting, administering and coordinating donations, endowments and bequests to the School and growing a culture of philanthropy across the community.
What are the funds of the Heritage Foundation? The Foundation enables the School to invest in scholarships, bursaries, prizes and grants for students and staff through donations to the individual funds illustrated below.
How does the Arts Centre fit in? The Arts Centre Grand Circle Campaign sits within a building fund of the Heritage Foundation. Donations are received by the Foundation, held and invested, until passed to the School to support the funding of the Arts Centre. To date $4.5 million has been transferred to the School with a further $3.5 million pledged.
The financial objective of the Heritage Foundation is to protect the capital of each fund while producing income to pay for grants and scholarships. The ability to pay grants and scholarships each year will depend on the investment performance of the funds invested as well as new donations received.
Where is the money invested and how is it managed?
How is the Heritage Foundation governed and managed?
The money is invested in a mix of fixed interest and growth assets by a professional investment fund manager based in Auckland. Our investments are
The Heritage Foundation is governed by the trustees and the day-today operation is managed by the Development Office.
How much is in each fund? Heritage Foundation Funds Summary as at Year End 2018:
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monitored by an investment committee appointed by the Heritage Foundation.
LEADING
Who benefits through the Heritage Foundation? Every year grants are awarded to students and staff to attend national and international opportunities that might otherwise not have been possible without the Foundation’s support, for example: Staff Scholarship Mehernaz Pardiwalla, the leader of the Junior School Performing Arts programme, attended the prestigious Cuskelly College of Music Summer School programme. “Completing the Kodály Level 2 Primary Education course has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life,” she says. “There were about 200 adults on the primary and secondary education courses, mostly from all around Australia but a handful also from Asia and Europe. I was totally inspired by everything that I was taught and am very excited now about putting all my new knowledge into my teaching practice this year at Diocesan.”
Shakespeare drama students
Arts Twenty-nine Diocesan students were supported by Dio Arts to attend the Shakespeare Globe National Festival Student Scholarship The Diocesan Future Problem Solving team are to attend the International Championships in the USA in July 2019.
Mehernaz Pardiwalla
Sport Four Diocesan students were selected to attend the Water Polo Junior World Championships in Serbia last year supported by Dio Sport.
Angie Winstanley-Smith (coach), Shinae Carrington, Morgan McDowall, Charlie Hooke, Claudia Morgan
Centennial/Endowment funds The Honor Jensen Memorial Award is an endowment fund available to Old Girls, staff and students to further their interest in history and the classics. Amongst the past awardees have been former Dio drama teacher Bess Reynolds and Old Girl Talia Pua. Prizes such as the CJ Tunks Award and the Ethel Stanford Bursary are endowments presented at Prize Giving annually.
How do I make a donation to the Heritage Foundation or one of its funds? DONATIONS CAN BE MADE Online via the School website (internet banking/credit card) or by cheque to the Heritage Foundation Private Bag 99939 Newmarket 1149 Email or call Angela Coe acoe@diocesan.school.nz P (09) 520 9378 All donations to the Heritage Foundation attract a 33% tax credit. Our girls today enjoy the huge benefit of donations from our previous families and this culture of giving forward helps us to maintain and provide the very best education for our young women.
How do I apply for a grant or scholarship? The application form is on Dioconnect/ Community/Heritage Foundation. Applications are to be submitted with all accompanying information and approved by the Principal before delivering to the Development Office for consideration by the Heritage Foundation trustees. Questions can be sent to Angela Coe acoe@diocesan.school.nz DIO TODAY
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Diocesan’s Performing Arts Centre The Arts Centre has been a dream since 1995. Together we are making it a reality. The theatre will be a venue the Diocesan and wider Auckland community will enjoy for the next 100 years, showcasing the many genres of the performing arts. It is exciting to see the progress of the auditorium; the façade gives us a real sense of the scale and proportions of the building, outlining the theatre foyer and the internal drum, which houses the backstage spaces and stage.
NOW IS THE TIME TO PLAY YOUR PART Your donation will help us reach the $9 million target for the Grand Circle campaign. You are invited to play your part; each donation of $1000 will be acknowledged with a plaque on a theatre seat bearing a message of your choice. You may wish to honour someone special, leave your mark as an Old Girl, recognise a special event or simply have your own name or family name. All seat donors will be invited to an opening event especially to ‘find your seat’.
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TO MAKE YOUR DONATION go to www.takeyourseat.co.nz or complete the enclosed flyer and return to: Development Office, Private Bag 99939, Newmarket 1149 or email acoe@diocesan.school.nz Remember, all gifts are eligible for a 33% tax credit
Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seat.
The Diocesan Arts Centre has been a dream of the School community since 1995. Together we are making it a reality. Your donation of $1000 will be acknowledged with a plaque on a theatre seat bearing a message of your choice.
Now is the time to play your part takeyourseat.co.nz
Contact: Angela Coe acoe@diocesan.school.nz +64 9 520 9378 DIO TODAY
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LE A R N IN G
EXAMINATION RESULTS 2018 Academic excellence sits at the heart of all we do at Diocesan. We are one of the top achieving schools in New Zealand across any measure and our students continue to perform exceptionally well in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and the International Baccalaureate Diploma.
NCEA We are immensely proud of our NCEA results for 2018. There were a couple of girls at each level who were unable to enter or finish the course through sickness or late arrival to Diocesan in the year. If we remove those girls from the calculations, we have a 100% pass rate at each level. This is quite remarkable that even as the challenge increases for each level, Diocesan girls have maintained their focus and success. However, Diocesan girls don’t just like to pass, they aim to be the best they can be, and it is the rates of endorsements of which we are so proud. Almost all girls across the three levels have their certificate endorsed with merit or excellence – more than 85% at Levels 2 and 3 and 95% at Level 1. These rates are more than double the national levels of endorsement.
Pictured from left to right: Susan Marriott – IB Diploma Coordinator, Flora Fan, Jessica Li, Aadhya Lahoty, Heather McRae – Principal, and Margaret van Meeuwen – Head of Senior School
International Baccalaureate Results in the IB Diploma were again excellent. IB scores are calculated out of 45 and a total of 24 is needed to be awarded the Diploma. In 2018, six girls scored 40 or higher and were acknowledged at the National Awards ceremony. This is an outstanding achievement for these girls. Overall the pass rate was 92%.
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LEARNING
Scholarship Scholarship results saw 34 girls awarded a total of 41 Scholarships. Elma Liao was the top student with four Scholarships in chemistry, physics, statistics and calculus. While there was a spread of Scholarships across all the faculty areas, history again had the most with 13 Scholarships. Graduates from 2018 are now beginning their tertiary studies all around New Zealand and the globe. They have been offered in excess of $1 million in university scholarships. In New Zealand, this includes every New Zealand university and several across the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Congratulations to our senior students of 2018. We are very proud of the results that they have achieved through their hard work and dedication, and we thank the teaching staff for the all the work they do to support and nurture the girls in their learning journeys. Elma Liao pictured at Senior Prize Giving 2018 with Mr Neil Cheetham
Overall pass rate
Merit Endorsed
Excellence Endorsed
Literacy
Numeracy
LEVEL 1
100.0 (85.1)
36.6 (34.6)
57.3 (20.9)
100 (85.7)
100 (83.6)
LEVEL 2
100.0 (88.9)
38.0 (25.6)
47.9 (16.4)
LEVEL 3
100.0 (82.1)
40.0 (27.4)
44.5 (15.1)
UE
96.0 (46.9)
(the bracketed results are the national rates of achievement) DIO TODAY
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SCHOLARS’ AWARDS AND DINNER The annual Scholars’ Dinner was held in the School Hall on Wednesday 3 April. This dinner honours the girls who, in their examination results the year before, have maintained the highest averages across all their subjects, and in the case of the Gold Scholars, have achieved 40+ in the Diploma or three or more Scholarships. Academic Prefect Anneke Cummack welcomed the guests and reminded the girls of the prefects’ focus for the year, Ko Tatou, which means ‘this is us’. This encompasses three branches – unity, pride and personal best, which are as important to academics as any other area in the School. She compared learning to the training you need to do for a top sports team and reminded us that the 1st XI of physics or English are just as deserving of our 16
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respect. She also reminded us that the root of the word ‘excellence’ is ‘excellere’, meaning ‘to surpass’. If you are surpassing your expectations and what you’ve achieved before, then you have found excellence and ought to be celebrating, regardless of the grade you have been awarded. It was a great pleasure to welcome Keshni Rasanayagam back to the School as the guest speaker. Keshni studied towards a Bachelor of Science degree, specialising in biomedical science, and then followed with a Postgraduate Diploma in Forensic Science and a Master of Science in Forensic Science. Since leaving university, she has worked in the Coronial Services Department of the Ministry of Justice and is currently in the forensic biology team at ESR.
Anneke Cummack and Keshni Rasanayagam
Keshni provided some excellent advice for the students, reminding them that it’s not all about what you learn, instead it’s about the skills and igniting the passion to become a lifelong learner (she was a member of the first Diploma cohort at Dio after all). She challenged the girls to be ready to “adapt, adapt, adapt!” In a world that is changing at a phenomenal pace it is important to also evolve or run the risk of being left behind. Keshni credited Dio for laying the foundation of a lot of who she is today – a girl living her CSI dream of being a forensic scientist, but who has taken many a diversion and had to hit back the curved balls to get there. She said: “Do not just let life happen to you. Sometimes you’ll even find that what actually eventuates ends up being so much bigger, so much better and so much more perfect for you than you could have hoped!”
LEARNING
ACADEMIC SCHOLARS’ AWARDS YEAR 11 SILVER SCHOLARS’ AWARD With a grade point average of 90 or more in Level 1 NCEA 2018 Emma Badger Isobelle Brosnahan Anna Casey Amy Choi Grace Cocker Katie Crawford Zoe Dawson Prudence Fowler Teresa Gu Julia Henderson Chloé Hickin Deborah Huang Jessica Hunter Sabreen Islam Lena Jacob Grace Lin Daniela Lin Nicole Lockie Arabella Loveridge Dianne Ma Amali Madawala Kaitlyn Mallon Francesca Masfen Hannah Mercer Zoe Mercer Stella Murray Aarushi Parasrampuria Emma Penney Emma Qiu Ella Russ Tanushree Sharma Gabby Sumner Sarah Tran Brooke Vincent Alice Waldow Jessica Woo Elena Wood Chielin Xu Zoe Zhu
YEAR 12 SILVER SCHOLARS’ AWARD These are for Year 12 students receiving their first Scholars’ Award Hannah Barber-Wilson Charlotte Clarke Tess Cooper Emily Hernon May Jang Anastasia Li Summer Wang Zoe Wilcken Evelyn Xu DIO TODAY
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YEAR 12 GILDED AWARD Year 12 students receiving their second Scholars’ Award – with a grade point average of 90 or more in Level 2 NCEA or Diploma students with Academic Honours or High Distinction in 2018 Ananya Ahluwalia Cindy Bu Jemma Couillault Anneke Cummack Navneet Dhaliwal Aksheen Dhillon Selena Fu Stephanie Hobson Shellie Hu Sharon Hung Amelia Josephson Jacqui Li Olivia Luxon Fanni Meron Sofie Mulligan Katie Pearce Jemima Po Lexi Preen Amy Somerfield Sophie Stanhope Emma Wong-She
GOLD SCHOLARS’ AWARDS Three or more Scholarships, top in country or over 40 points in the IB Diploma Angela Chen Flora Fan Joy Kang Aadhya Lahoty Jessica Li Elma Liao Sacha Sampson
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LEARNING
Aksheen’s family often discussed national politics at the dinner table as she was growing up, so from a young age she was exposed to the different political parties and their ideals. “I can’t pinpoint an exact time the switch flipped and I became interested in politics; it’s always just been a part of who I am and how I grew up,” she says.
A voice for youth Aksheen Dhillon with Simon O’Connor
Aksheen Dhillon is heading to Parliament to be a voice for those without one. The Year 13 student is the Tamaki electorate's Youth MP for 2019. The role only happens once every three years, between elections, and Aksheen’s time will run from 1 March to 31 August this year. Keen to get started, she has already attended several public meetings with sitting Tamaki MP Simon O’Connor.
this programme provides a unique opportunity to understand and be a part of the parliamentary process and connect with their communities.”
As one of 120 Youth MPs, Aksheen will attend a two-day Youth Parliament where she’ll get to sit on select committees, debate legislation and ask questions of Ministers. Mr O’Connor said one of Aksheen’s responsibilities would also be to address high school students about the value and importance of voting.
Aksheen won the Youth MP role by writing an essay about what she thought was the most pressing issue facing youth today. She wrote about communication and argued that: "Ideas for change and improvement come in all shapes and sizes, but it's the communication that will push these changes to happen."
“It will be a significant opportunity for Aksheen to gather the views of her peers and take these to Parliament to discuss with other young people,” Mr O’Connor said. “For any young person with an interest in politics,
She'd also like to see the discussion of mental health become more open and, closer to home, she’s aware that the quality of local beaches and water, and the infrastructure, is an important part of life in the Tamaki region.
He added that Aksheen’s greatest exposure to the work of an MP would happen when she got involved in local engagements such as meeting constituents and attending community events.
“To me, politics is about educating myself on the challenges others face and how the world works so I can then contribute and make a difference in the world. It’s about leadership and understanding the needs of the people, and then creating frameworks for improving the lives of people, in particular, and the country in general.” She says politics challenges and humbles her. This year Aksheen is studying English, mathematics, French, economics, history and biology, and wants to go on to study political science, international relations or business. In 2018 she received Distinction in the New Zealand Economic Competition at the University of Auckland Business School, and was the only Dio girl in her year who managed to attain Distinction. In July, Aksheen attended a three-week Leadership and Global Engagement programme at Brown University, Rhode Island, in the United States. The programme sparked her interest in the human rights side of politics, and in finding ways to bring about social change. The programme at Brown explored international issues such as security and terrorism, global trade, human rights, nuclear proliferation, and environmental challenges. Through role plays, simulations, panel discussions and group projects, Aksheen and her fellow students covered topics such as the nuclear proliferation of North Korea and Iran, global climate change, United Nations interventions, and global responses to terrorism. Aksheen aims to bring fresh eyes to long-standing issues and to be a voice for people who are not easily able to express their views. She says today’s youth should listen to what's happening in Parliament, because "the laws we make now will have an effect on our generation in the future." DIO TODAY
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SOCIAL STUDIES Years 7 – 10 social studies could be considered the heart of the Social Sciences Faculty. It is where Diocesan students develop their first understandings about societies and begin to shape their own views. To help students prepare for the future, social studies uses action learning where students solve real-world problems.
Know the past, understand the present, lead the future The challenges of the 21st century are substantial in scale, scope and pace. Our students face a future in which existing jobs are affected by technology, where climate change will be of critical concern, and social media influences politics and economics as well as the way people interact. The Social Sciences Faculty is creating learning opportunities aimed at giving our students the confidence to rise to these challenges with curiosity and courage. The STEM skills are vital for the increasingly technological world our students will graduate into. It is also important that our students develop the soft skills. In 2013, Google determined that the seven characteristics of their most successful employees are the very skills that include communicating and listening well, understanding different values and perspectives, having empathy, as well as being a critical thinker and problem solver.
In the Year 9 Business World topic, students have an opportunity to develop their financial capabilities by establishing their own business and to design, develop, market and sell their own products at our market day. They also participate in a physical simulation game called ‘Hunter Gatherer’. Students ‘hunt’ one another down while running around the hockey turf and ‘gather’ one another’s resources, challenging them to think about economic differences. Our Year 7 students are challenged to develop sustainability solutions in the Food Challenges topic by monitoring food wasted at home and cooking meals using household food items that were to go in the rubbish. Our families were able to enjoy soups, smoothies and, surprisingly enough, even enjoyed those meals centred around toast! In Term 2 our Year 9 students work in teams to monitor and evaluate waste at Dio and compete to develop a plan on how we can improve our environment by reducing, reusing and recycling.
Learning in the social sciences is about engaging students in the past, present and future to develop what we call ‘the seven Cs’: curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, comprehension, communication, collaboration and caring. The subjects within the faculty – accounting, business studies, classical studies, economics, geography, history, social studies and tourism – draw on a common goal, which is to ensure our students become confident, empathetic and ethical global citizens.
Year 8 social studies students making PlayDoh models representing unique features of the New Zealand environment.
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LEARNING Year 9 Hunter Gatherer simulation.
Our social studies field trips create incredibly memorable learning experiences for our students. Year 9 students explore the bicultural nature of New Zealand society during an overnight trip to the Bay of Islands to visit sites of significance to the signing
Year 7 social studies students participating in a QR code race to learn about the history of Dio.
of the Treaty of Waitangi. Last year’s students commented on how the fun they had helped them to understand this topic better. This term, our Year 8 students visit Tiritiri Matangi to enjoy the native plants and wildlife and learn about the work of the Department of
Conservation to protect this sanctuary. In Term 2, our Year 7s enjoy a day on Auckland’s buses, trains, ferries and cycle ways. They will use this experience as inspiration to design an improved and future-focused transport system for Auckland.
CLASSICAL STUDIES Our classical studies students use the study of the ancient Greeks and Romans as a lens through which they can better understand their own lives. Students make connections between topics such as the emergence of democracy in ancient Athens and the state of democracy today. Teacher in Charge of classical studies Katherine Woods also teaches students to question society just as the ancient Greeks and Romans questioned theirs. As Year 13 student Annelise White prepared for university at the end of 2018, she reflected on the value of the skills she learned during her study of classical studies: “Everything we learn in classics relates back to our lives and to other things we learn. It helped me to build an understanding of maths as maths originated in the classical world. It taught me to question and how to go beyond the surface level.” Annelise also commented on the importance of learning about gender inequality in the classical world as it helped her to understand the position of women in society today. She said that this was of critical importance as girls at
Classics tour group 2018
a single-sex school are not familiar with the gender divide. One of Annelise’s favourite Diocesan experiences was the 2018 classical studies trip to Greece and Italy. The trip
brought more meaning to her learning and fostered a passion for future travel with the exciting prospect of making further connections to things she learnt in the classroom.
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ACCOUNTING The 2018 World Economic Forum recognised the importance of financial capabilities in the future job market. Our students acknowledge this and appreciate accounting as a vital element in a future mapped for themselves that is in some way connected to finance. Many of our accounting students are aiming to follow in the footsteps of their parents and establish their own businesses. Year 12 accounting student Ava Tinkler says: “Accounting has helped me understand the businesses that my parents are involved in, and it has also helped me understand the important role that accountants have in all sorts of enterprises from large companies to small businesses.” Ava also acknowledged the valuable life skills she has learned from accounting: “The real-life application of accounting in not only business but also budgeting decisions in our day-to-day lives has made me realise how important accounting is to everything we do.” Gender pay inequities make it particularly important that our students learn how to be financially independent young women before they go out into the world.
Emma Leaming receiving the KPMG internship at Senior Prize Giving 2018.
Our accounting students are fortunate to benefit from KPMG’s involvement with Dio as both their auditors and advisors. In recognition of this strong relationship, KPMG offers a highachieving Year 13 student a part-time
paid internship position while she completes her accounting studies at an Auckland-based university. In 2018 the internship was awarded to Emma Leaming, taking the number of Dio Old Girls working there as interns or graduates to six.
ECONOMICS The aim of the economics course at Diocesan is to open students’ eyes to the way the wider world operates by studying real-world economies and business environments. Sarah Bekker, Teacher in Charge of economics, says: “Students regularly tell us that economics is important to them because it teaches them about everyday life. They value being able to have in-depth conversations with their parents about current issues and for those students whose parents own businesses, they particularly enjoy
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being able to discuss what is happening on a day-to-day basis.” Students investigate examples and solutions that challenge their existing understandings. Learning to question has a significant impact on students. For example, at the time of a general election, economics students love to go home and challenge the perspectives of their parents around the dinner table. Flora Fan was the winner of the
Treasury Schools’ Challenge 2018 with her video recommending improvements to New Zealand’s tax policies. Flora said that economics was the most important subject she studied at Dio as it helped her to develop her understanding of her place in the world: “Economics allows us to understand current issues, global contexts and to consider our place in the future we are growing into. The study of perspectives and humanity enables us to develop our own values and how we will fit into those of others.”
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BUSINESS STUDIES Our business studies programme creates an experience for students that is both authentic and relevant to the world they live in. Teacher in Charge of business studies David Holmes says: “Students love the practical application of creating their own products, establishing and running their own business – being the problem solvers and the decision makers. It helps students to understand the world they live in, how it operates and why it operates.” Our Year 11 students create products for their own market day, making items such as homemade body butter, marble dishes, designer drink bottles and wall planners. All Year 12 and 13 business studies students have the opportunity to further their experience by entering the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme. In 2018, 31 Diocesan students participated, forming their own businesses and creating their own products or services for the market. Students enjoyed fantastic experiences, including pitching their product to a
Year 11 business studies students’ ordering posters of Māori business concepts to form a display of key ideas.
panel of judges in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ experience and selling their products in a vibrant night market set up in the Diocesan carpark. The products created demonstrated a focus on social awareness and sustainability. Business studies seeks to prepare girls for the changing world of work they will enter when they leave school. In Term 1, business studies hosted the second
‘Women in Business’ event. Students were able to learn from the experiences of Dio Old Girls, including Vittoria Shortt CEO of the ASB; Melissa Jenner, founder of Start Now, a company that helps people to rebuild their careers; Women of Influence Diversity Award winner Sarah Lang from Workplace Diversity, and Paris Mitchell and Georgia Cherrie, founders of fashion label ‘Paris & Georgia’.
Returning to school to speak at the Women in Business event in April, Dio Old Girls (left to right) Melissa Jenner, Vittoria Shortt, Sarah Lang, Georgia Cherrie and Paris Mitchell with Heather McRae and David Holmes.
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GEOGRAPHY Globalisation is bringing the world closer and students need to learn how to be a part of it. Year 13 student Verity Andrews reflected on her time as a geography student at the end of 2018. She said that she valued the increased understanding that geography gave her about what is happening in the real world, saying, “the global studies have fostered in me a sense of care about the world.” Teacher in Charge of geography Jacinda Andrews believes the most important skill students acquire in geography is their ability to understand both their own and differing perspectives. Geography poses key questions, such as why the population is increasing and why some countries are wealthy while others are not. Verity says that geography helped her to develop her own perspectives and ethical beliefs about issues that effect other people’s lives. Annelise White studied both classical studies and geography during her time at Dio. She says that the study of contemporary issues raised her awareness
The Geography tour group in Hawaii at Pearl Harbour, 2017.
of the global issues facing society and helped her understand current events. This allowed her to develop her own political beliefs and has given her the confidence to vote wisely in 2020. What happens outside of the geography classroom is as important as what happens inside. At the time of writing, Jacinda Andrews is preparing 2019’s bi-annual trip to Hawaii. Those students
Year 11 geography students developing their topographical map skills.
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going on the trip will experience the impacts of tourism development on the people and the environment while visiting such iconic sites as Pearl Harbour, Diamond Head and, of course, Waikiki Beach. These experiences develop in students a sense of wonder at the world. Annelise White says that studying geography not only increased her interest in travel, but contributed to her dream of becoming a pilot.
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TOURISM Students taking this Year 12 and 13 course are learning about the impact of tourism on the social, economic and environmental systems of places through simulated experiences in the classroom and also in real-world contexts. The tourism students join the Year 13 geography students on an overnight trip to Rotorua, visiting local tourist destinations as part of their learning about the practical and professional skills needed in the tourism industry. Students also engage with people from the travel industry, enabling them to make connections to the community. Tourism teacher Nicki Anderson says the students taking tourism love the career-focused, handson nature of this course.
Wai-O-Tapu in Rotorua
history helps students to learn how to question and not to take facts at face value.” It is also important that young women understand that the opportunities they have today were not always there and can be easily taken away. Madeleine says one of the most significant lessons she learnt in history was how women fought to get where they are today and the importance of acknowledging that where we are today is due to the work of those women in the past.
HISTORY In a rapidly changing world students need a knowledge of where they are, where they come from and how this impacts on their future. Recent political and social developments also demonstrate how important it is that students not take the liberal democracy they live in for granted. Nina Blumenfeld, Teacher in Charge of history, says: “Students need an awareness of where those institutions came from, the enormous struggles to get them and how they could be eroded.”
Year 13 history students, dressed in theme, working on summary diagrams to demonstrate their understanding of the cycle of life in early Modern England.
Madeleine Law won the Top Scholar in History Award while in Year 12 in 2017. At the end of her final year at school in 2018, Madeleine commented on how history challenged her in other important ways, helping her to understand politics, current issues and society in general. “The social sciences have put things happening now into perspective and have helped me to understand ethical considerations for the future. In a world of ‘fake news’,
Students have the opportunity to engage with their own history. Emily Bashford completed a First World War research assessment on her great grandfather’s experiences. Jack F B Stevenson went to the Battle of Gallipoli and also the Battle of the Somme where he won the Military Cross. Uncovering the evidence of his achievements and putting his story together was a very special experience for Emily and her family. Nina Blumenfeld has engaged and inspired history students at Diocesan for 18 years. In 2018 Nina was awarded a Woolf Fisher Travel Scholarship to recognise her excellence in the teaching of history. During the recent school holidays, Nina used her scholarship to enjoy the historical sites of northern Italy and northern Spain. DIO TODAY
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Discussing ethical issues across the School allows us to challenge mainstream thought and to learn from each other. In this way, we can work towards celebrating a diverse, empathetic and compassionate New Zealand.
ETHICS
Senior School finalists Arielle Friedlander, Shania Kumar, Navneet Dhaliwal and Olivia Pearce
CENTRE for ETHICS
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The Centre for Ethics provides students and staff with a wonderful opportunity to examine a multitude of ethical issues from an empowered and knowledgeable position, which then allows them to make decisions and to take concrete steps to solve problems. The Student Ethics Committee is made up of a group of dedicated students led this year by Year 13 students Lauren Dunne (leader), Navneet Dhaliwal and Madeline Christopher (deputy leaders) who have been active on the Ethics Committee since Year 12. The committee is a very enthusiastic group of Years 12 and 13 girls who wish to continue the strong tradition of sharing different perspectives on issues affecting our school community.
a wider involvement with the Junior School and encourage more student participation. As a result, we hope to broaden students’ minds and provide alternative perspectives.
The promotion of the Ethics Centre this year will be partly through our annual Soapbox Competition, the Eat My Lunch Day on the School’s birthday and the annual Ethics Dinner. This year the Student Ethics Committee aims to have
This year we had over 100 girls from Years 7 to 10 speak up about issues ranging from women in sports to herb production. Choosing the finalists was a hard decision, but in the end, eight students from the Junior High and Senior
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The Soapbox Competition was our first opportunity to put this aim into practice. We chose the theme ‘Break the ice and bring it to the surface’ as the fundamental idea. Soapbox provides a platform for students to express and bring awareness to ethical issues that they feel strongly about. It is a place to welcome controversial and wayward thinking as well as a platform for debate and open-mindedness.
Schools were chosen as finalists. They were Lucia Groser, Violet Tucker, Pascale Vincent and Keltie-Kewan Young - these Junior High School students spoke about why children should be allowed to vote, plastic pollution, the problems with social media, and the over emphasis on appearance in today’s world. KeltieKewan Young from Year 10 was the deserving winner while Pascale Vincent was a dynamic runner-up. In the Senior School, there were four wonderful finalists: Arielle Friedlander, Olivia Pearce, Navneet Dhaliwal and Shania Kumar. Olivia Pearce won overall with a moving and powerful presentation on the value of Te Reo in Aotearoa. The runner-up who spoke very persuasively too was Navneet Dhaliwal. She spoke about what religion should mean to people today, not what is presented to us. Arielle spoke on the sexualizing of young girls and Shania about stereotypes. We were privileged to have Tom McRae, the NewsHub reporter, as our guest. He judged the competition along with Becki Abbott and Ian Thomas. We hope that this inspiring occasion continues its strong tradition at Diocesan. The Centre for Ethics also provides interesting speakers to subject classes or to commemorate key events with groups of students. For example, on International Women’s Day, we invited Leonie Morris, the Centre Manager of the Auckland Women’s Centre, to speak at the School. Ms Morris’ key concerns are to find solutions to violence against women and poverty amongst mothers and children in New Zealand. She spoke to an enthusiastic group of Junior High School students in the library at lunchtime about how the Centre provides information and runs activities
Plans to acknowledge Race Relations Day were put aside in favour of commemorating the terrible killings of Muslim worshippers in Christchurch on 15 March. Diocesan students did so in a number of diverse and thoughtful ways, and while it is clear that sorrow and grieving play an important part in the healing process, we all need to work so much harder to bolster our diverse and multicultural society in the future. As the Ethics Committee, we hope that we can encourage greater dialogue to strengthen the foundations of who we would like to be. In Term 2 we will celebrate the School’s birthday by helping children in need. The annual Eat My Lunch Day is organised in collaboration with the Eat My Lunch charity that aims to feed young Kiwi children through the ‘buy one, give one’ initiative.
LEARNING
dedicated to promoting empowerment and well-being for all women, and its links with other like-minded agencies. She also outlined the difficulties that many women face in New Zealand. Students asked questions to highlight possible solutions to these problems.
Junior High School finalists Keltie-Kewan Young, Pascale Vincent, Violet Tucker and Lucia Groser.
In Term 3 we will hold our Ethics Dinner. This is a night for the school community to come together to listen to special guest speakers addressing topical ethical issues. We are in the throes of organising the dinner, which will be held on Wednesday 28 August in the School Hall. This year our theme will be ‘Ethical Fashion’ and we are
Are YOU smarter than you ever imagined? THE GREAT DIO QUIZ NIGHT Save the date! Saturday 7 September
hoping to have leaders in New Zealand fashion to discuss this topical and vital issue. This promises to be an evening that will appeal to both our students and their parents. Nina Blumenfeld with Lauren Dunne, Navneet Dhaliwal and Madeline Christopher.
Design Build Maintain ph 09 815 4250 humphreyslandscaping.co.nz
WORLD CHALLENGE
INDIA: LAND OF CONTRASTS
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LEARNING
Picture a school trip. What springs to mind? Cultural strolls through the streets of Florence or Tokyo, biological investigations of seashores or New Zealand bush, practising a language in Beijing or Madrid maybe? How about trekking through deep snow with a backdrop of snowy peaks, snuggling up to bed in a narrow bunk on a crowded railway carriage with the aroma of fragrant spices, or struggling up a steep slope in the hot sun carrying bags of soil for a rooftop school garden? These activities all formed part of our World Challenge expedition to northern India during the last Christmas holidays. While most students and their parents were sitting down to a festive lunch or chilling at the beach, 12 senior students and two staff were painting walls, supervising craftsmen and
negotiating bargains in the markets of Udaipur. We had already spent six days gaping in wonder at the mighty Himalayas from snow-covered trails, and we had practised our downward dogs in the ‘Capital of Yoga’, quaint Rishakesh on the banks of the mighty Ganges. We would soon be heading out by train to the tourist hubs of Jaipur and Agra to gaze at the pristine splendour of the Taj Mahal and drink tea on the rooftops of the Pink City. Culture, activity and a large dose of servant leadership were to be the backbone of this trip, and students would develop lifelong skills of selfreliance, co-operation and resilience. Not a standard trip by any account, but possibly more memorable for all of that. Some of our students paint more of a picture in the following pages.
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ANNABELLE IRELAND Though it is hard to choose with so many fond memories of India, I think my favourite memory from the trip would have to be our first night in Nainital. With over a year leading up to the trip, and with all the planning and preparation behind it, I was just so excited to finally be there amongst the people and the community. Having driven from Delhi all the way up through villages and into the mountains, we’d seen a lot through the windows, but
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finally getting out of the bus to be part of the buzzing street life was so exciting. We started by walking along the main road lining the beautiful lake, which looked as though it belonged on the front of a postcard; the water dotted with vibrantly coloured swans and paddle boats, with picturesque views of the mountains layered in the background as far as the eye could see. We made our way into the village to experience our first taste of the local markets, an expected shock, as people came up to us trying to sell anything from hand-knitted slippers to fake Ray Ban sunglasses, and very young children selling balloons. At this stage of the trip, because nothing there was normal for me,
LEARNING
all those little things that were just everyday practice for the locals, were so interesting. For instance, simply seeing the stalls and watching people go about their lives making their handmade goods and selling them on the street was so exciting and I felt so privileged to get to be a part of that culture. Past the markets and further along the lakeside, we went into a temple. Experiencing that part of their culture was special, and to top it off we were each given a traditional bindi and blessings as we left. We finally dipped our toes into real Indian culture and experienced a handful of new things that were such a refreshing change from living in Auckland and not experiencing anything like that.
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EMILY BASHFORD For me, the highlights of the World Challenge trip were a bunch of small moments. The first of these moments was on our long eight-hour bus drive from Delhi airport to our first stop in Nainital. Needless to say, I was still quite nervous – 12 teenage girls dropped in the middle of India with a month ahead of us, not really knowing what to expect. This moment came to me as we drove along the village roads. Most of the girls slept on the journey after our long plane rides, but I could not keep myself from looking. Everything was different, nothing was the same. It felt as though I was in a parallel universe. I remember sitting there smiling at the faces outside, living their normal lives, which did not even begin to compare to anything I had seen before. I learnt a lot in those first few hours from just looking out of the window. There were almost no women out on the streets, just boys. Many would lock eyes with me – whether it was the little boy who waved back at me, the teenager who hollered to his friends to also look or an old man in a chair who would give us a double glance of bewilderment – we were clearly just as much of a sight for them as they were for us; a bus of a dozen foreign girls, including me with my pale skin and bright red hair. I knew that I was going to have the time of my life. I knew it would be hard, I knew there was a lot ahead of me, but I also knew that this place was special. It had a spark of aliveness about it that one can’t really describe. Despite that, these people lived in such harsh conditions and with so little, they were living their lives just as much as we do in our developed environment. This trip quite simply changed my life. I experienced some things one would wish to never see with their own eyes, however I have not one single regret. Every day I now feel overwhelmed with gratitude for my position and my life, especially as a girl. My eyes have been opened to just how much there is to see in this world; a feeling of being so small in a world with so much uniqueness. I would recommend this travel opportunity to any Dio girl – it is something most girls in the world would not even dream of.
NATASHA DINGLEY It is impossible for me to choose one main highlight because the whole trip was absolutely phenomenal! I loved every single moment, even the challenging times – we grew so much from every single experience; the good, the bad and the seriously ugly! Seeing the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, women washing clothes in the Ganges, visiting the elephant sanctuary, working in the youth centre, eating curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner, camping in tents on snow in the middle of the Himalayan mountain range, watching the sunrise from the top of a temple, and seeing Nadia and Saz being bucked by a bull, were all incredible experiences and memories that I will treasure for my lifetime. But I have to say that it is the friendships I made along the way that I will treasure the most. The people of India are incredible. They were so welcoming, kind, generous and happy with the little that they had. Our Himalayan trekking guide, Khundan, was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. This brave soul would try and catch us when we stumbled through the snow, and he had the biggest smile that gave us the strength to keep going. The friends we made while working at the youth centre and the cheeky, playful kids there will always hold a special place in my heart. Communication was challenging, but people patiently helped us and somehow we always managed to find our way. As a group, we created a special, indelible bond on this journey together and I’m certain that as we go forward with our lives, we will reflect on this experience with even more appreciation and respect for what we achieved. I went into this journey knowing that it would be a challenge, but I could never have prepared myself for how difficult it actually was, both physically and mentally. We all had our own personal reasons for embarking on this wild adventure, and the personal journey for each of us enabled us to grow in a way I could never have imagined. The most challenging moments we experienced are actually now some of my favourite memories and I often catch myself laughing out loud when thinking of them. I have come back so appreciative of everything I have in my privileged life; my healthy family, my safe home, this incredible education and a world full of opportunities that await me. I will never again take for granted the beauty of a flushing toilet and a soft pillow. Going forward in life, I feel that I will be able to overcome any challenge I am faced with in the future. India will always be an incredibly special part of me.
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LEARNING DIO TODAY
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W
EARABLE ONDERS
Waste and how we deal with it at Diocesan is a community issue, just as it is for a world that has to be sustainable. The Creative Industries Faculty works to give voice and navigate solutions to important issues such as global sustainability. In the second half of last year, Year 8 girls were tasked with a brief to design a statement piece that showcased the issue of ‘DioWaste’ at a Wearable
Wearable Wonders winners (Photo – Peter Meecham)
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Wonders extravaganza held at the end of November, adapting, reusing and repurposing a specific waste stream and following certain constraints and rules to fulfil the brief. Waste streams that could be used included waste from Information Systems Support, reprographics, the Diosphere café, the Dio cafeteria, the Boarding House, general waste, lost property and offcuts/waste from the various areas of the Creative Industries Faculty.
Themes were drawn from a hat (as opposed to being self-selected); students were required to work with materials from any of the waste streams; construction had to be by approved techniques only and involve no hot glue or paint; and there had to be a deconstruction plan – the outfit had to be deconstructed, recycled and/ or repurposed after the show, with anything that would end up in landfill calculated and justified.
Students were judged based on the following criteria: Materials – what was selected and how it was used Innovation – new, exciting and original ideas and techniques (thinking outside the box) Visual impact – how the item looked on stage Construction and durability – how well the item was made and how it held up on stage
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The World of Wearable Arts certainly provided inspiration for our girls, and from the Wearable Wonders outfits that they created and produced, we can see that they are well equipped to enter into a world where we will need to be much more inventive in terms of how we best utilise the planet’s resources.
THE AWARD WINNERS WERE: Urban Legend: Lucy Xu, Eleanor Christiansen, Stella Brawn Outer Space: Annabelle Baigent, Emma Wilson, Dyna Ye Alternate Reality: Taylor West, Lilly Lang, Juliet Nasrabadi
Message – the meaning behind the design and how well it was communicated.
Feast for the Eyes: Sophie Shuttleworth, Grace Wellington, Margot Sullivan
The themes included Mythical Beasts, Demons of the Dark (things that go bump in the night), Feast for the Eyes, Futuristic Fun times, Outer Space, Urban Legend, Alternate Reality, Beneath the Surface.
Beneath the Surface: Ruby Crawford, Holly Barker, Mia Tinkler Demons of the Dark: Cassie Wood, Alex Wackrow, Pascale Vincent Futuristic Fun times: Mary Stanfield, Emma Hodson, Libby Crawford Mythic Beasts: Olivia Turnbull, Ella Kerr, Victoria Wright
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sewing, fusing, weaving and plaiting, which helped us to see that you can use so much more than just glue. We worked with colour, explored different waste streams and worked with new people. I loved this challenge and I have learned so much from it. Without all the help and planning from the Creative Industries teachers we would not have had such an amazing show, so we are very grateful for the time that they put into this event.” And Matilda Abernethy comments: “For two terms the Year 8 classes worked on extravagant outfits in Creative Industries – all this for the 2018 Wearable Wonders show! My group was given the theme ‘Beneath the Surface’ and we immediately thought about the ocean and the pollution and rubbish humans are causing in it. Our outfit included a skirt, headpiece and cape. We used trial and error and often had to find different ways to create the look we wanted with only limited resources. Our cape was the main part of our costume and it took almost two terms to make! The outside was covered in rubbish and fused plastic (that we learned to make in class) to represent the ugly rubbish floating on top of our ocean. The inside of the cape was covered in different pretty blue fabrics that represented the water beneath the surface of the ocean.
Two students share their reflections on the experience, first Mary Stanfield: “The many Creative Industries lessons that were spent gluing, sewing, planning, re-planning, and so much more, made the lead-up to the Wearable Wonders showcase seem long and tiring. But it turned out to be a very popular and successful event that was practiced well and ran very smoothly on the day. Creating a good-looking, meaningful and successful design was 36
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hard work and, to be honest, I was very surprised that we won our category! We were really pleased that we did because it made all that hard work really feel worth it. Personally, it helped me see design in new ways. Now I see different meanings to designs and how the artists/designers are trying to portray a message, because that was what we were trying to do. Working with different materials and mediums allowed us to experiment and explore. We tried so many construction techniques, like
“I was the model for our group, meaning that I was the one displaying our outfit to the judges, which made me pretty nervous, but the show was really well organised so I ended up feeling reassured and confident. When the time finally came, all the models waited backstage as each category was announced. It felt like there were a billion butterflies in my tummy as I got in line and waited for my turn to strut the runway. The bright lights shone on my face, and it felt like everyone was looking at me. Suddenly it was my turn and I slowly walked down the stage to the music. All my butterflies disappeared as I hit my poses. “Unfortunately, our outfit didn’t win the category, but I felt really proud as it was an experience I will not forget. Of course, all this would not have been possible without our amazing teachers as they organised the whole show and helped us along the way.”
There’s nothing like a deadline or two to get your creative juices flowing. Just ask former Diocesan student Emma Uren, who was still putting the finishing touches to her entry to a prestigious writing award just hours before it was due – and before she was due at the 2018 Diocesan Graduation Ball. She managed to fit her writing in between studying for her final NCEA exams and sent off the finished manuscript – all 17,597 words of it – just in time. Her entry, titled It’s A Small World, went on to win her the Young New Zealand Writers’ Youth Laureate Award for 20182019. Emma’s prize is to be mentored by New Zealand author Lee Murray, to have her novella-length manuscript developed for publication by Phantom Feather Press, and a contract for its publication in e-book and print. The book will be launched on 31 May at the 40th National Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention in Rotorua. The competition strongly prefers speculative fiction, so it’s not surprising Emma drew inspiration from two of her favourite authors, sci-fi and fantasy stars Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. In the story, a boy creates a model of a universe for a school science project, a universe, we discover, that contains a world just like ours. Emma’s inspiration stemmed from her interest in the way we humans try to make sense of our purpose in the world, and Emma says: “what, if anything, might
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A passion for writing be out there. I thought at the time it would be a cool premise for a story, something a little unusual and fresh.” An excellent all-round student, Emma was Proxime Accessit to the Dux in 2018. She has always enjoyed expressing herself through dance, music and the arts, learning ballet, tap, jazz and intercultural dance, and playing cello in the Diocesan Symphony Orchestra, and percussion in the Concert Band. Dance is still a great passion for the University of Auckland student, and she’s also teaching herself to play the piano. Emma clearly loves language. As a Year 10 student she represented Diocesan in the 2015 national spelling bee and has had her prose and poetry published in several secondary school competitions and publications. After graduating from Diocesan, she travelled around China, and has added learning Mandarin to her to-do list. Emma’s former English teacher, Isabel Michel, says at school Emma was a thoughtful, perceptive student and a prolific writer who loved experimenting with different genres. “In her literature essays you could see her working out ideas and coming to great insights through the process of writing. She tried things out and experimented. She has a well-defined voice, is highly imaginative, often quite
whimsical. Emma impressed me with the way she took every opportunity to keep learning and developing her skills.” Emma is now studying a conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Engineering degree at the University of Auckland, majoring in psychology, with some linguistics and languages on the side. She plans to specialise in biomedical engineering and is also considering a teaching diploma or higher education. When it comes to advising current Diocesan students on choosing careers, she’s philosophical about what’s ahead: “As the statistics say, my generation is probably going to have multiple jobs in a lifetime, and the more the better – I can’t wait to explore all life has to offer. From what I’ve experienced so far, it’s best not to plan ahead too much – just relax and look for opportunities as they come.”
The sky’s no longer the limit! In December, 45 Diocesan students in Years 8, 9 and 10 attended the CASE Junior Space School at the Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville Alabama, and at the NASA centre in Houston. Thirteen Dio students in Years 11, 12 and 13 joined other girls from across New Zealand and Australia on the CASE Senior Space School, in Houston, where they got to go behind the scenes at NASA. From dissecting sharks to simulated missions on the International Space Station, our students had the opportunity to discover how STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) combine to enable exploration in space. Through leadership opportunities and challenges, the girls made the most of every moment to experience life as an astronaut, mission controller or engineer. Downtime was rare but they still had time for a bit of shopping therapy and an NBA
game, and returned home excited and enthused about their trip. In an ever-changing world, this experience has given them a glimpse of the future and the possibilities in scientific research and exploration. Where to next? The sky is no longer the limit! The senior students report back: This Senior Space School, run by Actura and including New Zealand students for the first time, had an emphasis on using the incredible progress of science and the space industry to teach us about leadership. Interwoven through many inspirational stories were our 7 Success Principles: curiosity, entrepreneurialism, problem solving, collaboration, agility, communication, and ‘dream big and commit to it’ (which we delighted in changing to ‘dream big and comet to it’). We had an incredible two weeks away, participating in a Space Center University course of rockets, robots, cryogenics and heat shields. An awesome astronomy lesson and space flight simulation awaited us at the George Observatory, and we visited the world’s largest swimming pool at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in which astronauts train preflight. From learning about the physics of the futuristic VASMIR rocket propulsion technology being developed by Ad Astra, to being ‘starstruck’ meeting Franklin Chang Diaz (Ad Astra CEO and astronaut), the chance to interact with those in the space industry was invaluable.
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It was awesome to be ‘immersed in space’, brought together with groups of keen girls from a range of other schools, to absorb the passion radiated by everyone we met in the field. The experience and knowledge gained was incredibly valuable, not only from an academic perspective, but also in the way we were challenged on a personal and interpersonal level, which made it all the more meaningful. We are grateful for all the support and encouragement we had from Dio, and especially to the Science Department for giving us this unique opportunity.
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While it would be great to inspire the next astronaut, more importantly, this is a great opportunity for the girls to realise there are so many different career paths in STEAM internationally, but also in our own creative backyard. In New Zealand, we have Rocket Lab, who have received $140m in funding to develop and launch advanced rocket technology, to provide rapid and repeatable access to orbit for small satellites. Rocket Lab is driven to broaden the horizons of what’s already possible in space and inspired by the possibilities not yet imagined.” Actura Business Development Manager, Tegan Morrell
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ear 12 Diocesan student Anneke Cummack describes herself as a ‘proud nerd with a passion for anything sciencey’. The winner of the Alliance Space School Scholarship, she says she has a never-ending desire to learn about new things and share these with others. And this trip was the perfect opportunity to do that. “From seeing awesome ground-breaking technology, to meeting inspiring astronauts, scientists and engineers, being challenged to problem solve, meeting like-minded girls from other schools, being immersed in amazing learning about such a range of space topics, and actually going to NASA, I was jump-around-the-room excited for every day of this trip!”
n hour bus trip out to Brazos State Bend Park, seemingly the middle of nowhere, took us to the George Observatory. First, we were ushered into a classroom for a captivating astronomy lesson. Our discussion ranged from light pollution to the life cycle of stars, the workings of telescopes, Galileo and other notable early astronomers, and the discovery of other galaxies. We left the room literally starstruck!
ne of the ‘7 principles’ topics was entrepreneurism, and centred around Franklin Chang Diaz, founder and CEO of Ad Astra rocket company. He was the first Costa Rican astronaut in space and shares the record for the most space trips – seven. On our visit to Ad Astra, we were lucky enough to encounter Dr Chang Diaz in person. Our group accosted him with excited requests for photos and signatures on our lanyards, which he politely indulged, much to our delight! We were all so excited we even sang Tutira Mai to him, which he seemed to enjoy (and one of his colleagues recorded behind us).
Next, we headed out to the dome in which the telescope is located. The telescope is absolutely massive, yet balanced so perfectly on its support that the motor used to turn it only needs to be the strength of that in a sewing machine! Another exciting piece of technology is the hydraulic floor, which lifts the viewer up to the telescope, as moving the giant device downwards is not really an option! Since it was the middle of the day and very cloudy, we had no chance of seeing any stars. But that only gives us a good excuse to return one day – right?
he tour finished up with a visit to the Saturn 5 in residence. Thirteen of these gigantic three-stage rockets were made. The colossal beast was lying on its side in a shed, separated out into its three sections so the various engines were visible. Although the whole rocket is about 110m long, the actual capsule (the bit that houses the astronauts and goes into space) is only about 10m in length. We had a fun time trying to get a good photo – it was a massive task to try and get as much of the huge rocket in as possible.
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LEARNING
PURSUING BIG DREAMS On Thursday 14 February, Mr Boasman, Mrs Sampson and Year 10 student Amelia Lockley were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit Rocket Lab. Amelia reports on their visit here. Rocket Lab is an aerospace company that was founded by Peter Beck in 2006 and became a US company in 2013, but most of the people who work there are New Zealanders. Rocket Lab was the first private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space with its Atea 1 suborbital sounding rocket. The rocket was launched from Sir Michael Fay’s private island off the Coromandel coast. Peter Beck grew up in Invercargill and always wanted to build rockets when he grew up. He says his school careers advisors had some concerns about his dreams! Rocket Lab was created to break the barriers of commercial space flight, as it has successfully done with the creation of the Electron, a lightweight, costeffective rocket. The Electron has made it relatively easy and affordable for companies to launch small satellites into orbit. The satellites could be as small as a lunch box or weigh up to 150kg, which is still very small for a satellite. In the past, it was very costly to launch a rocket but with the development of the Electron, it will cost less than $5 million dollars. Further, the lead time for businesses to launch satellites will also be reduced from two years to a matter of weeks. Rocket Lab not only provides commercial benefits for faster access to space, but it will also help to enable more accurate weather
prediction, global high-speed internet access as well as real-time monitoring of the impacts of human development on planet Earth. At the beginning of 2018, Rocket Lab employed a team of 223 staff globally and by the end of 2018, that number had increased to 380. Rocket Lab is still actively recruiting for at least 100 more roles. Last year I had the amazing opportunity to interview the founder, Peter Beck, and Avionics engineer, Naomi Altman, through my role as a kid tuber for the children’s TV programme What Now. The interviews took place at Rocket Lab’s old premises near the airport. Subsequently, I was invited to visit their new premises in Mt Wellington. These premises are four times bigger and will support Rocket Lab’s growth in coming years. Rocket Lab manufactures the Electron rockets and fits all the different components together at the Mt Wellington site. Most of their rockets are launched from their New Zealand Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula, but some are also planned for launch this year from Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia, in the United States. Rocket Lab’s mission is to have one launch per week by the year 2020. It is interesting that Rocket Lab is located not far away from our school but is a big international company bound by US rules and regulations. For example, we needed to clear a security check before getting approval for the visit. They wanted to know our
nationality and if we were New Zealand citizens. Further, we were not allowed to bring any electronic equipment such as cameras or mobile phones inside the Rocket Lab facilities. We toured inside Rocket Lab for about 40 minutes. While being shown around the factory floor, one of the engineers stepped in and showed us some of the equipment used in the process of making the rockets. He explained the machines used to test if the materials are able to withstand the different temperatures (one test lasts up to seven days), the machine that vibrates to test if the parts can withstand being shaken during lift-off and a vacuum machine that tests to see if the parts of the rocket that will be in space can withstand being in a vacuum. I found it extremely interesting to learn how Rocket Lab uses 3D printing to produce their engine, as we also learn this type of technology at school. We were able to get a great view of the whole factory floor from the board room which is located above the factory. It has lots of glass walls, which give amazing views. We saw them doing some tests on the rocket, which was up on the launchpad in Mahia from the big screens in mission control. Rocket Lab is a company with a lot of innovation, creativity and big dreams to pursue. We can all relate to this as our school brand conviction is “be more than you ever imagined”. DIO TODAY
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JUNIOR SCHOOL
PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAMME IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL The Primary Years Programme (PYP) focuses on the holistic development of each child as an inquirer, both in the classroom, her community and the wider world. As a result of a PYP education, “students become active, caring, lifelong learners who demonstrate respect for themselves and others and have the capacity to participate in the world around them. PYP students are not only well prepared for the next stage of education, but also for participation in the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) and subsequently the Diploma Programme (DP).”
Photos taken at the Junior School PYP Exhibition in November 2018.
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The International Baccalaureate recently made some changes to the Primary Years Programme to enhance three areas: • The Learner • Teaching and Learning • Learning Community These three essential areas promote student agency (voice, choice and ownership), exploration of the Learner Profile, inquiry learning, collaboration between learners, parents and communities to enhance learning, and learning about technology, with technology and through technology. The Enhanced PYP also sees the development of ATL (Approaches to Learning) across our programme. ATL are a set of lifelong skills and dispositions our girls need to succeed in a changing, future-focused world. Teachers plan experiences for our girls to explore and integrate a particular skill set within each unit of inquiry.
“Nurturing independent learning skills and encouraging every student to take responsibility for their learning, the PYP develops students’ academic, social and emotional wellbeing, while simultaneously focusing on international mindedness and the development of strong personal values.”
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Our Programme of Inquiry in the Junior School ensures significant, relevant and real-world content is inquired by our girls. Teachers build on prior knowledge and experiences to make connections within each unit of inquiry. Through a conceptually driven framework, powerful ideas that have relevance within the various curriculum subject areas are explored in order to develop a coherent, in-depth understanding for each individual. As a result of each unit of inquiry, girls are encouraged to respond to their new understanding and learning by taking action. This demonstrates a deeper learning through responsible behaviour and attitudes in their community.
• THINKING SKILLS
• • • •
RESEARCH SKILLS
• •
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
SOCIAL SKILLS
• • •
• • • •
SELF MANAGEMENT SKILLS
• •
Critical thinking skills: Analysing and evaluating issues and ideas. Creative thinking skills: Generating novel ideas and considering new perspectives. Transfer skills: Using skills and knowledge in multiple contexts. Reflection skills Information-literacy skills: Formulating and planning, data gathering and recording, synthesising and interpreting, evaluating and communicating. Media literacy skills: Interacting with media to use and create ideas and information. Ethical use of media/information: Understanding and applying social and ethical technology.
Listening, interpreting, speaking. Literacy skills: Reading, writing and using language to gather and communicate information. ICT skills: Using technology to gather, investigate and communicate information.
Developing positive relationships. Collaboration skills Resilience, growth mindset, managing setbacks, supporting peers. Developing social emotional intelligence.
Organisation skills: Managing time and tasks effectively. States of mind: Mindfulness, perseverance, emotional management, self motivation, resilience.
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YEAR 6 WHO WE ARE CENTRAL IDEA Understanding hauora (health and wellbeing) can transform perspectives, leadership and decision making. LINES OF INQUIRY • Actions and decisions influence our hauora • Ethical beliefs and values define a leader • Founding documents impact the rights and responsibilities of people (Treaty of Waitangi) KEY CONCEPTS • Connection - How is it linked to other things? • Perspective - What are the different points of view? • Change - How is it transforming? ATL AND LEARNER PROFILE FOCUS Self-management skills, principled, balanced
Sir Peter Blake Marine Education and Recreation Centre “I really enjoyed camp because I pushed myself on all the activities. No matter how hard it was, such as rock climbing and mountain biking, I conquered my fears and still did the activities. I definitely learnt so much about my hauora and the four different dimensions (physical wellbeing, mental and emotional wellbeing, social wellbeing and spiritual wellbeing). I am grateful for my teachers, classmates, parents and instructors at Camp Merc. I am grateful for every day at camp and I am so proud of myself for pushing beyond my limits to make the camp experience even more fun than I thought it would be. This camp has made me more confident in being myself.” Lauren 6J1 “I really enjoyed camp. It made me focus on my mental and emotional wellbeing because I was away from home and pushed out of my comfort zone on some activities, such as dingy survival skills in the ocean, and abseiling. I was scared and nervous at the beginning but happy and proud of myself once I did them! I also enjoyed camp because it showed me physical and spiritual wellbeing by being with my friends and growing my self confidence.” Mia 6J1 “Year 6 camp helped me seize the moment with new and nerve-racking things. I loved camp! I showed all four dimensions of hauora. For example, I showed physical wellbeing when I tried really hard to get to the top of the climbing wall and did it! I showed spiritual wellbeing when I told myself I could do the abseiling course. I ended up really enjoying it and feel so confident!” 6J1
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LEARNING
YEAR 5 HOW WE EXPRESS OURSELVES CENTRAL IDEA Performances involve a process of artistic techniques, ideas and audience awareness to convey an intended message LINES OF INQUIRY • Our voice is an important form of expression, which is used to communicate • Costumes and props can enhance the effectiveness of a performance • The use of body language and gesture can allow an actor to connect with the audience KEY CONCEPTS • Form – What is it like? • Connection – How is it linked to other things? ATL AND LEARNER PROFILE FOCUS Communication skills, social skills, inquirer, communicator
A visit to the Pop-up Globe “The play was extremely realistic and when Hamlet stabbed Claudius his face turned really red! The sword fighting was quite scary but at the same time exiting. It was really good when Laertes came through the middle of the people standing. The sword dropping down into the stage floor and the dug grave were very interesting – there must have been a passageway underneath. The triple layer stage was very interesting, there must have been a stairway somewhere in the stage.” Sophia 5J3 “The most interesting thing I learnt was that when you were on the stage you had to know where to stand at the start, and where to stand at the end, because if you ended up standing where you weren’t supposed to, the play wouldn’t look right. I thought it was quite interesting when Claudius got stabbed, because I was wondering how they made it look so real. I also liked the sword fight because it was really cool when they hit the sword behind their backs.” Louella 5J3 “My favourite part of the play was when Claudius got stabbed because he deserved it. My thoughts after the Pop-up Globe visit are definitely positive. I loved Hamlet – I think Shakespeare is amazing.” Eden 5J3 DIO TODAY
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YEAR 4 WHO WE ARE
Dissection reflections Year 4 has been learning about body systems, how they function and how they connect. We looked at many different organs that support the systems in our body. We investigated the digestive system, the respiratory system, the nervous system, the skeletal system, the muscular system and the circulatory system. “I didn’t know that there are so many systems in our body.” Elizabeth 4SN “It is amazing to realise that there are over 80 organs in our body.” Adalyn 4SN
CENTRAL IDEA Knowledge of interconnected systems help us to understand the human body LINES OF INQUIRY • Body systems and how they work • Body systems are all connected • Impact of lifestyle choices on the human body systems KEY CONCEPTS • Connection – How it is linked to other things? • Function – How does it work? • Responsibility – What are our obligations? ATL AND LEARNER PROFILE FOCUS Self management skills, research skills, balanced, inquirer
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“I have learnt that there are many steps to digesting food that I didn’t know about, such as food going down your esophagus into your stomach. Then it goes into the small intestine then the large intestine before it turns to waste.” Clemmie 4SN “It is important to eat healthy food and drink lots of water to live a long healthy life.” Isabella 4SN “I didn’t know we have cartilage between our bones and ligaments which hold the bones together.” Alexandra 4SN “I thought the heart was shaped like a love heart before we started this inquiry!” Cecily 4SN Ryann 4SN has realised “there are more bones when you are born than when you grow up.” “We investigated special organs that can be found inside our human body like the heart, liver and kidneys. We made sure that we used the organs from animals. The organs felt squishy to touch and smelt a little like fish. Looking inside each organ we could see tissues, veins and lots of blood. By exploring further into each organ we moved on and learnt about the digestive system. We couldn’t believe our large intestine could grow to be seven metres. We know we can’t live without different body systems and we need to eat and drink lots of water to keep healthy.” 4LO
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Grandparents’ Day On Friday 5 April about 500 guests arrived at Diocesan who were very special to our Junior School and Year 7 girls. Their grandparents or very special friends enjoyed a brilliant day in the sunshine reminiscing about their school days and enjoying a picnic lunch. They went on a tour of the School with their granddaughters and the feedback from those special people in the lives of our girls was great. Photography by Peter Meecham
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At Diocesan, we are excited to celebrate our first ‘transport milestone’, with our #010 school bus completing its first year in service. Since starting in April last year with a single route, one bus and five students on board, we have grown the operation to six school buses, covering 290 kilometres, to bring over 330 students to Diocesan every day. And we aren’t stopping there… With Auckland Transport depleting its school bus services to Epsom schools over the last two years, we have been engaging our community to grow our own bus fleet and bring our students safely from your door to ours.
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We are steadily growing patronage on our established routes, while also investigating new ones. One exciting initiative we hope to develop this year is our ‘late’ buses. We know that many of our students are involved in after-school activities and we are looking to join with other local girls’ schools to offer this valuable safe service. Fitted out with GPS trackers, our buses are user friendly. They allow students and parents to see the bus on its route, as well as being able to receive updates if the buses are delayed. This year we will be switching all the bus services to a ‘swipe as you ride’ system that will use the student ID card as a bus pass and easy billing to a credit card. It is currently operational now on four routes and has proved successful. Coachways NZ has partnered with Diocesan to provide a fleet of buses and has a vested interest in giving exceptional service (the owner’s mother is a Dio Old Girl!). They are providing regular female drivers on all our routes who get to know the girls well and go the extra mile for our students – even buying an iceblock for a student who got on the wrong bus. While our services have been great at getting girls through the traffic to and from school, parents are also using the school buses to get their daughters to a friend’s house, and to after-school activities across Auckland. It is great to be able to facilitate easy movement around the city and help parents avoid the ever-increasing traffic issues facing drivers on the roads. We have received some fantastic feedback from parents with many stating: “It has been quite life-changing this term with our whole family less tired and stressed.” As we continue to work on our transport plans, we will be encouraging our students to consider their carbon footprint. Together with the Enviro Group we will not only be promoting buses, but also walking, scooters and cycling. Building our fleet and providing a comprehensive bus service has been exciting, but our biggest success to date
has been with the girls themselves. They have shown increased responsibility, resilience, independence, honed their social skills, all while learning the benefit of being able to ‘legally’ zoom down the bus lanes around town. This shift toward reducing traffic on the roads, creating a greener outlook also has the added benefit of a less stressed family dynamic on the school run!
So, if you want to take advantage of our Diocesan school buses, please go to our website www.diocesan.school.nz for more information. We would love to welcome your daughter(s) on board.
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LIVIN G CHAPLAINCY
The gift of difference We have been through an extremely difficult time in New Zealand in the past weeks. The events of Friday 15 March have changed our country forever and we have, in some ways, become like any other country in the world where the violence of terrorist attacks has been felt. And yet, there is something about the response that has been seen here in our own country that sets us apart. It has been interesting to watch our Prime Minister and other top-level politicians as they have navigated their way through this extremely delicate and potentially divisive time in a very dignified and deeply caring way. There has been an outpouring of love towards the Muslim communities in this country, and particularly in Christchurch. This is, of
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course, very appropriate and I hope and pray that it is an indicator of some real change that will endure into the future. The attack has given us all a lot to think about in terms of how we each see one another, where our own privilege or disadvantage is, and where our prejudices are evident. On 15 March and in following days, such a wave of love washed over the Muslims who live in New Zealand. This was evidenced by the vast numbers of flowers and other tributes that were left outside the two mosques in Christchurch, and mosques in other cities across the country. I wonder if that sense of love was there on 14 March, or if it actually took such a tragedy for us all to think about how we view and treat
people who are different from ourselves, to realise that at our most basic level, we are all just human beings trying to live meaningful lives, who love and are loved, who contribute to society. It was interesting to see the variety of opinions about the Muslim call to prayer that was broadcast across the country – many seeing it as a sign of respect, but others seeing it as a threat to all that this nation stands for. It was very apparent in some of the opinion pieces written about it that the writers come from very different backgrounds and understandings about God. Some expressing the belief that the God of Islam and the God of Christianity are two very different beings and
So often, for all people, our negative responses towards those who are ‘other’ than us are fuelled by fear. We feel threatened by the difference we see in someone of another culture or religion and we interpret that threat as a threat to our own existence. Almost always, that interpretation of our feeling threatened is incorrect – there is no real threat to our existence at all. Maybe we might have to make some adjustments to our own lives to make space for another, but that does not mean we are diminished. My experience is that, more often than not, engaging with those who are different from me brings rich learning about my own life and a wider perspective on life in general. One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is that no matter what we see as our differences from one another, we are all created in the image of God. Somewhere, in each and every human being, is God’s image. In the creation narrative in the book of Genesis, it says: Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” … so God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26a and 27) Within Christian teaching, this is the basis for the respect and dignity that every person must be afforded. Not because of anything a person has done or will do, not because they display certain characteristics and not others, but simply because every human being bears the image of God, and that makes every human being sacred. No human being is worth more than another, no human being is merely a cog in a machine. Every human being matters to God – they carry God’s image in them! Every person we meet is made in the image of God whether we like them or not, respect them or not, understand them or not.
You might be thinking, as you sit there reading this, of the numerous ways in which the Christian church throughout the centuries has not lived this Christian principle – the Crusades, inquisitions, slavery, oppression of women, sexual abuse, and so many more. The Church’s hypocrisy, however, does nothing to invalidate the Biblical principle that every human being deserves respect and dignity simply because we are all created in the image of God. Talking about being made in the image of God is all very well, but what exactly does it mean? An excellent question and one that Jewish and Christian theologians have been grappling with for millennia. Most theologians are pretty sure that it does not mean God looks like a human being – that interpretation is far too literal and Jewish scriptures were never interpreted literally like that. I have wondered if perhaps the God-ness in each of us is the creative power to impact others and the world with our decisions and our behaviour, just as God was doing in the story of creation.
to others and helped those around him to know that they were significant, that they were seen and that they mattered. He used his creative power to lift others up and to serve them.
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responding to a call to prayer to Allah amounted to blasphemy. Others were definitely of the opinion that there is only one God and all religions are facing in the same direction, so therefore there was no conflict. It is difficult to deny that the God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is the same, one God, as we all share common creation stories.
As human beings, we can be much more inclined to avoid any encounter with the ‘other’ and it is a real challenge for us to respond out of love and generosity of spirit, to afford dignity and respect to the ‘other’. It is a challenge for us to look for the God-image in every person we come across rather than looking at them through the lens of our own narrow perception and judgement. Every person deserves to have their personhood – their innate being as a person – validated. Over past weeks we have seen a majority of people in New Zealand come together to affirm the innate dignity of all Muslims in our country after the tragic events of the mass shooting in Christchurch. Questions have arisen about how a white supremacist ideology was able to go unnoticed. Questions have arisen about the nature of racism here, and whether
One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is that no matter what we see as our differences from one another, we are all created in the image of God. If we look at the life of Jesus, I think we get a real glimpse of what it looks like to not only be made in the image of God but also to live into that God-ness. Jesus is the ultimate image of God. In every part of his life we have knowledge of, Jesus treated every person with whom he came into contact with dignity. He wasn’t always nice and friendly – in fact sometimes he was harsh and the truth he spoke was painful to hear – but he never discounted anyone. Quite the opposite actually, his life was one of service and goodness. Everyone who came to him was given respect and dignity, without question. Each person was truly seen, accepted and loved for who they were. All through the Gospels Jesus did this for people who were marginalised for whatever reason. Jesus offered them all dignity and respect, he acknowledged that all people share a place of equality. In Jesus we have a picture of what it looks like to live into the image of God we all have in us. He lived a life of service
or not it is fair to say that this is a racist country. It is undeniable that New Zealand has been predominately Eurocentric since the early to mid-1800s. Immigration over the past century and more has meant that in 2019, we are now a varied mixture of almost all of the world’s cultures. This is part of what makes New Zealand such a vibrant place in which to live, but we also need to work out who we are as a country and how we live in such a culturally diverse world. We do not need to be afraid of each other or of our cultural diversity. We do not even need to be afraid of our religious diversity. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all come from the same roots. We do not need to feel threatened by each other. We are all children of God who seek to spread love, peace and hope to the world. May we continue to be open to each other, open to learning about the vast variety of people who live in this beautiful country, open to sharing the common humanity that connects us all to each other. Reverend Sandy Robertson, Chaplain DIO TODAY
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SUMMER TOURNAMENT WEEK
Left to Right U15 8+: Lucy Pettit, Natalie Spillane, Phoebe Glynn, Rosa Marshall, Ava Phillimore, Serena Bhindi, Clementine Dryden, Fanni Meron (coxswain), Eva Colyer
MAADI CUP ROWING The 2019 Maadi Cup took place at the home of New Zealand rowing, Lake Karapiro. The early stages of competition provided a tough battle ground for the Dio crews, and the Diocesan squad of 38 performed strongly throughout the week, showing grit and determination as they powered their way to nine A finals, two B finals and three C/D finals. All crews performed superbly in their finals, with special congratulations to the U15 8+ who claimed a silver medal and the U15 4x+ who placed third in the country. It is also worth noting the strong efforts 52
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Left to Right U15 4x+: Courtney McCormick (coach), Serena Bhindi, Jasmine Ireland, Charlie Barclay, Clementine Dryden, Sophie Ryan (coxswain), Maddie Palmer (coach)
of three other crews that placed fourth in the A finals. The 2018/19 season has been another strong one for Diocesan rowing, in its 26th year of existence. Thank you to Josh Wedlake, in his first year at the
helm, and his coaching team for the amazing work they have done with the entire rowing squad of 60 girls throughout the season. Thank you also to the Dio Rowing Committee and to all parents for their amazing support during this season.
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WATER POLO
The North Island Secondary Schools’ Water Polo Championships were held in Auckland. This year Diocesan entered three teams across the two divisions, two in Division 1 and one in Division 2. All teams played extremely well, with our younger players gaining invaluable experience. The premier team came first in their pool after a good win against Baradene and a close 4-4 draw with St Kent’s. Winning both cross-over games against Westlake and Rangitoto meant they then progressed to the semi-finals where they had to play a strong Carmel team. A hard fought 9-4 win meant they then went on to compete in the final against Rangitoto. An outstanding team performance in the final saw the girls come away victorious with a 10-1 win to be crowned the 2019 North Island Champions. Congratulations to Charlie Hooke, who was named Goal Keeper of the Tournament, and Maddie Gault, who was awarded the Most Valuable Player. The Senior A team also had a great tournament, unfortunately getting knocked out of the Top 8 early on but they had some outstanding results and managed to beat the Baradene premier team to finish in ninth place. Senior B achieved sixth place in Division 2, which was a great result for them.
Dio’s winning water polo team.
TRIATHLON New Plymouth held a very competitive New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Triathlon during Summer Tournament Week. Georgia Hair and Kate Shanley (Year 11) and Milla Barclay (Year 8) represented Dio with some strong results. The event was held before the ITU World Cup Triathlon at Ngamotu Beach in New Plymouth, so it was set up with a professional athlete in mind year on a course that truly tested the athletes,
The winning premier team members were: Charlie Hooke, Claudia Avis, Eleanor Spillane, Maddy Gault, Millie Quin, Olivia Clark, Abby Allison, Sophie Shorter-Robinson, Isabelle Jackson, Jessica Shorter-Robinson, Laura Whitley, Zita Sumich and Isabella Broadmore.
Georgia, competing in the U16 age group, placed sixth in the girls’ triathlon, coming home strongly in the run leg, with Kate Shanley not far behind in 23rd place. Milla, in the U13 girls’ age group, placed 12th amongst some tough competition. In the tag team relays, Georgia and Kate made up a mixed team with two boys from Auckland Grammar, and finished in third place. Milla made up a mixed team with St Kent’s, and came third in the U13 tag team relay. Congratulations to all three girls!
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FUTSAL The 2019 New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Futsal Championships were held in Wellington, where Dio was represented by both a senior and a junior (U15) team. Playing over two days, teams were pushed to the limit, and the Dio squads were required to manage injuries, illness and fatigue throughout the tournament. Despite coming up against some tough opposition, the girls played with real pride and determination.
SAILING The Dio sailing team competed at the Auckland Regional Teams’ Racing Regatta, held at the Akarana Yacht Club. On Day 1 Dio had some great races, beating Epsom Girls’ Grammar, King’s and Wentworth. Day 2 provided the team with some different and difficult conditions, which made it tough going. They had a couple of
The senior team had a tough draw and that challenge became even bigger after losing code captain and goalkeeper Ellie Smith to illness shortly after arriving in Wellington. The Junior A girls played extremely well as a team and finished with a placing of fourth overall. Special mention goes to goalkeeper Eliza East, who won the Junior Girls’ Golden Glove Award for the tournament. Futsal has grown rapidly at Dio, and that trend looks set to continue.
CRICKET During Summer Tournament Week, the Dio 1st XI cricket team took part in the Auckland Secondary Schools Girls’ Tournament. Played over the Twenty20 format, it was an intensive week, the competitors sometimes playing two games a day. The team performed well and enjoyed a competitive week of cricket, gaining valuable experience playing against some of the top cricketing schools. Captain Alice McIllroy-Foster led from the front, showing great attitude and sportsmanship throughout the tournament. Dio sailing team.
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losses, but another good win against Waiheke. The regatta was a great experience for the team, and they were crowned first place girls’ school overall, a fantastic achievement. The team was: Mackenzie Alderson, Sophie Cooke, Zoe Dawson, Alice Haslett, Lizzy Shapland, Arabella Tuck, Lucy Tucker and Zara Tucker.
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Ella Cooper
2019 Sports Prefect Since Year 8, Ella Cooper has given almost every sport at Diocesan a go. Whether trying something new, having fun with her friends, or pushing herself to achieve her goals on the netball court, she always turns up with a smile on her face and a positive attitude. Ella achieved her goal of making the premier netball team in Year 10, being the youngest in the team, and since then has continued to grow into one of the leaders of the group. As well as this, she will now have the added responsibility in 2019 of being Sports Prefect and leading the Dio Sports Council. The role of the Sports Prefect is an important one, and we know Ella will do a great job this year. Along with her deputies, Georgia Skelton and Lauren Dunne, Ella will be providing leadership across the School in all things sport, and has a vital role in liaising with the Sports Department staff. What sport/s do you participate in? I have been part of Dio netball since Year 8 and have played for the premier team since Year 10. I have recently re-joined dragon boating, which I started in Year 12. In the past I have also been involved with both rowing and water polo. How did you get into sport? Initially my mum encouraged me to go to my Year 3 netball trials at primary school, as she played netball when she went to school. Both my parents were very active in sport at school and remain so today. As a child they wanted me to have the same experience! I have picked up every sport I could from touch to athletics, swimming, flippa ball, tennis or kicking a soccer ball around at lunchtime. I have, however, grown to love sport for my own reasons now. What (or who) has been your greatest influence? Besides my parents and coaches, who
have dedicated themselves to wanting to see me improve, it would be my older brother who devoted himself to his sport of rowing for four years. It was amazing to see how invested he got, the commitment he portrayed and the opportunities that became available to him through sport at school. It was very inspiring for me to watch how much he believed in himself. Observing this, I felt extremely motivated to try and achieve similar goals. What positives do you get out of participating in sport? There are many positives you gain from playing sports including making lifelong friends and meeting people who have similar aspirations as yourself. When it gets hard with training or games, I have learnt you need to put a great deal of trust in your team mates, relying on them having your back and being supportive. Sport has played a part in shaping me into the person I am today, teaching me resilience in hard times and to always believe in myself. To me, these skills are incredibly invaluable. What is your biggest achievement or proudest moment? I would say that my proudest moment was getting into the Dio premier netball team at such a young age. Being the youngest in the team at the time was a huge deal for me as I had always aspired to be in that team since first coming to Dio. For me, it was incredibly satisfying – I had worked really hard over the summer and to know that the effort I had put in had paid off was really pleasing. It is an amazing feeling to achieve one of your goals and makes all the hard work worthwhile. How do you balance sport with other commitments? This is still currently a work in progress, however I have had some experience now in refining the balance between
sport, school, part-time work and social activities. I think that choosing one sport to focus all my time and effort on was beneficial, even though I still enjoy mixing it up. I find that time management and organisation is key. It is important to know what your schedule is and how to maximise the time you have by working efficiently. Even by doing a little bit per day, stick to your plan because it really can help in avoiding stressful situations. What is your vision for Dio Sport in 2018? My vision is to produce a greater feeling of unity amongst the various sports. We have some amazing sporting talent at Dio and I think that if we all support and get behind our girls, whether they are winning or losing, we can create an even better culture across all codes. I particularly like the quote: “The bigger the dream, the more important the team.” To me, this highlights the fact that with the support of your school, team and peers, you can achieve great personal results. DIO TODAY
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2019 SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
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The 2019 Dio Swimming Championships were held on Friday 8 February, and once again we were treated to an outstanding display of swimming across all age groups. Aimee Crosbie continued her history-making form from 2018, breaking four records on the day in the 100m freestyle, 100m medley, 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly.
first place with Louise Masefield second and Milla Barclay in third place.
For the first time, our Years 7 and 8 swimmers competed in separate age categories – which only made for further fiercely contested moments in the pool. In the inaugural Year 7 category, following in her older sister’s footsteps, Abby Welsh finished in first place with Molly Sherrard second and Lucy Gilleece third. In Year 8, Arabella Duncan, picking up the maximum points of 50, steamed ahead to take
In the hotly contended intermediate age group, leading the way was Year 11 student Aimee Crosbie who also took out the overall Champion of Champions Trophy (the School’s overall swimming champion). Not only taking maximum points in her five selected races, Aimee also broke the already mentioned four records. One of New Zealand’s top swimmers, Alice Waldow secured second place after some tough races
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In amongst the championship events, there were a number of fun house relays and non-championship finals that had everyone up on their feet supporting their peers, showing the house spirit that we often see poolside during this event each year.
and Jesse Welsh came in third. You would struggle to see more competitive age group racing at any championship in New Zealand. Eva Allan led the way in the Junior category after a close battle with Georgia Daly in second place. Year 10 student Trinity Greig completed the Junior podium. In the Senior category it was Swimming Captain Claudia Avis who finished on top – closely followed by Charlie Hooke. The afternoon saw some amazing battles between the two girls. Jess ShorterRobinson showed great consistency across her events to finish in third place. In the House competition, Mary Pulling dominated, with Cochrane and Mitchelson putting in solid performances to finish second and third in both.
LIVING Swimming Sports Years 7 & 8 champions. Left to right: Molly Sherrard, Lucy Gilleece, Abby Welsh, Arabella Duncan, Milla Barclay, Louise Masefield
Overall, it was another remarkable day in the pool for Diocesan swimming. There were some outstanding races and some amazing support from the sidelines. There was plenty of fun and some great house spirit was shown. Thank you to everyone who helped during the day and congratulations to all finalists, winners and record breakers.
Swimming Sports senior champions. Front row: Alice Waldow. Second row, left to right: Jesse Welsh, Claudia Avis, Eva Allan, Trinity Greig. Back row, left to right: Charlie Hooke, Aimee Crosbie, Jess Shorter-Robinson, Georgia Daly
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A GREAT DAY OF FUN AND COMPETITION!
2019 ATHLETICS DAY The annual Diocesan Athletics Day was held on Monday 18 February at Mt Smart Stadium. Although the day started with a bit of rain, Mother Nature turned it around and it ended up a perfect day. When the busloads of students arrived at Mt Smart, a flood of colour and excitement set the tone for a great day of fun and competition. The competition kicked off with the 1500m runners taking to the track. The distance races showed yet again that there is great strength in running here at Dio. This year the numbers of students participating in our non-championship events was huge, and the ‘House Extravaganza’ added to the atmosphere. Houses were given the 100m runway to impress our judges with an entertaining show exhibiting plenty of house spirit. There were some fantastic results throughout the day, both on the track and in the field. A highlight of the day was Suzannah Kennelly breaking the junior shot put and discus records. She broke the discus record by six metres, a record that had stood for 22 years! The senior 100m sprint champion was Lucy Bannatyne. With the house relays concluding the day, the stands erupted noisily
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HOUSE TROPHY
YEAR 7 CHAMPIONS
Mary Pulling – winning house
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
Mary Pulling Eliza Edwards Neligan Cochrane Mitchelson Selwyn Roberton Cowie
in support of the runners and the competition amongst the houses was very evident. At the end of the day it was Mary Pulling who came through as the victorious house, taking away the coveted House Athletics Trophy.
1st 2nd 3rd
Jacqui Nasrabadi Kate Wyber Iris Tooman
Overall, it was a fantastic way to kick-start what promises to be a big sporting year.
YEAR 8 CHAMPIONS
Thank you to everyone who came out and supported the students. Well done to everyone that participated, and special congratulations to the students who were placed as champions.
1st 2nd 3rd
Alexandra Fletcher Chloe Luo Amy Shennan
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JUNIOR CHAMPIONS
1st 2nd 3rd
Suzannah Kennelly Maddie Kelso-Heap Bella-Rose Mountfort and Lucy Shennan
INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONS
1st 2nd 3rd
Arabella White Lola Wood Ella Russ
SENIOR CHAMPIONS
1st 2nd 3rd
Lucy Bannatyne Anna Bannatyne Ella Cooper and Gabriella de Latour
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with the
Sports Council
Kieran O’Connor This year we have seen another two new Sports Managers join the team at Diocesan. Both are international athletes who have represented their country and will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Sports Department. Kieran O’Connor grew up in Auckland, attending Sacred Heart College. He recently completed his degree in Physical Education at Otago University and has returned to Auckland to work in the Diocesan Sports Department as well as continue to pursue his goal of becoming a permanent fixture in the New Zealand men’s Black Sticks team. Hayley Bowden (nee Moorwood) joins us after having some time away from her professional football career and working life as she had two children. Hayley played 92 games for the Football Ferns and attended the 2008 Olympic Games. She spent some of her career as the captain of the Football Ferns and in 2016 was appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to football. We are extremely lucky to have Hayley and Kieran join the department this year. The Sports Council prepared some questions for them. 60
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WHEN YOU WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL, WHO INSPIRED YOU? I’ve been lucky enough to grow up in a large family with a lot of athletes. I have five brothers and we were all very competitive growing up. They have all played an important part in inspiring me, but if I had to pick one, it would be my mum…imagine raising six boys!
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS? Hopefully, I am injury free and still playing! It would be great to be on the field representing New Zealand at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but there is a lot of work to be done before then. Also, finding ways to give back to the community and helping to promote hockey and sport in general is important to me.
WHAT IS YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT SO FAR IN YOUR SPORTING CAREER? So far it would have to be when I made my debut for the New Zealand Men’s Black Sticks team against Japan in July 2018. Putting on that silver fern for the first time and singing the national anthem was a special moment in my life.
HAVE YOU HAD ANY SETBACKS AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME THEM? Every athlete has setbacks, big or small. I’ve had two selection decisions
that didn’t go my way, but they also happened to be major turning points in my career. After the first, I wrote down what team I wanted to make before I stopped playing and held myself accountable to it at every training and game from then on until I achieved my goal.
WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO WORK IN THE DIO SPORTS DEPARTMENT? Dio is a great place for me to start giving back to the community. It is an awesome combination of sport and being able to help individuals develop on and off the field. I am really looking forward to my time here and have already enjoyed being part of the great culture here at Diocesan.
WHEN DID YOU FIRST PLAY HOCKEY/KNOW IT WAS FOR YOU? I started playing when I was eight. I love being part of a team environment and the skill level required to play is extremely difficult. The game is played at such a high speed and I love the challenge as well as doing my job, which is to try and score goals.
OUTSIDE OF HOCKEY WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER HOBBIES? I love all sports so I am constantly outdoors playing tennis, touch, hockey or whatever else is on offer. I also really enjoy photography, reading and music.
LIVING Kieran O’Connor
DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE QUOTE? My favourite quote would have to be: “Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.” This has helped me get out of bed for early morning trainings on a number of occasions.
Hayley Bowden WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE QUOTE THAT HAS HELPED YOU BEFORE A BIG GAME? “The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.” (Anson Dorrance) This was always a quote that stuck with me as it reminded me of all the blood, sweat and tears I endured in those gruelling training sessions – whether it was with my teammates alongside me or out training on my own – but I knew it would all prepare me to be at my best for each game.
WHEN YOU WERE NAMED AS CAPTAIN OF THE FOOTBALL FERNS WHAT WAS YOUR IMMEDIATE REACTION AND EMOTION? It was a very humbling experience to be
Hayley Bowden
named captain, and I felt very honoured and proud to take on the leadership role. I was never the most vocal person, but I always made sure I led by example.
WHAT IS YOUR BEST MEMORY ABOUT PLAYING SCHOOL LEVEL FOOTBALL? I always remember the NZ Secondary Schools’ National Tournament Week to be the most fun and enjoyable time of school football for me. The tournament always provided tough, competitive games, which was great for my football. It was also an opportunity to spend quality time with teammates outside the school environment, which in turn built quality friendships that I still have today, 20 years later.
OUT OF ALL THE PLACES YOU HAVE TRAVELLED FOR FOOTBALL WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE AND WHY? My favourite place to travel for football was always the USA. Women’s football in the USA has an extensive following and is hugely supported by all sports fanatics. Whenever the Football Ferns played the USA, it was always in a sellout stadium with thousands of cheering fans. USA is one of the top teams in the
world, and the football they have on display is great to watch and aspire to.
IF YOU COULD GIVE YOU 16-YEAR-OLD SELF ADVICE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Slow down and take the time to enjoy the moment for what it is – with football, with friends and with family. Have fun and don’t take everything so seriously.
WHO HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER? My family. They were always there whenever I needed them and always stayed positive. My family helped me through the lows of my football career, but I always made sure they were right there with me to celebrate the highs as well.
OUTSIDE OF FOOTBALL WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER PASSIONS/HOBBIES? I now have two small children, Braxton (5) and Devon (2), so they take up a lot of my time, which is great. I love to watch them grow and play in whatever path they take.
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PERFORMING ARTS
New staff on our arts team With innovative and exciting programmes well underway for 2019, it is great to welcome the team who are bringing new energy and enthusiasm to the department, creating and co-ordinating projects and managing events. Olwyn Davidson is our new Performing Arts Administrator. She is on the front desk and creates that vital lifeline between itinerants, parents and students. Olwyn has a Diploma in Drama and a background working in theatre and television as both a director and lighting designer/technician. She is loving working here, getting to know the students, their families and the Diocesan community. Lachlan Craig is Performing Arts Coordinator and has come from St Kentigern College where he was Director of Choirs and Strings. Last year he was awarded an Independent School NZ Honours Award for Service to Music. He has a First Class Master’s Degree, is a highly successful freelance tenor, Freemasons NZ Opera artist and Director of Music for the Auckland Youth Choir. In the short time he has been here, he has updated all our systems and created a new website. He is directing choirs, coordinating across choral and instrumental music, is Musical Director for both the Senior and JHS productions, assists with conducting across all the ensembles, and is teaching singing. Rachael Brand comes with an impressive CV after completing a performance and pedagogical degree 62
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Performing Arts staff, from left to right: Teresa Lauago, Olwyn Davidson, Rachael Brand, Sam Cunningham and Lachlan Craig.
in violin in New Zealand and Germany. She has worked as director in numerous cultural centres in Norway, and on her return to Auckland was Director of Education programmes for the APO, TAPAC and Project Manager at Auckland Museum. Rachael’s role is to manage our internal and external performing arts events, work with the development team on the completion of the new auditorium, oversee marketing and community outreach programmes, produce our shows and coordinate our dance programmes. She has already secured some important collaborative partners and events that will be using our Dio facilities in 2019. Sam Cunningham has recently been appointed as our new Performing Arts Technical Coordinator and manages a wide range of technical requirements within the arts at Dio. He comes from a diverse multi-disciplined background in the creative industries. Through his own business, he has produced shows for Benny Award-winning artist Andy Stankovich, worked closely with promoter Liberty Stage on international touring productions, and is an
experienced recording engineer. Part of Sam’s new role at Dio sees him running regular workshops with students to pass on his technical knowledge and give them an insight into sound and lighting engineering and technology. Teresa Lauago is TIC Dance this year and comes to us with a diverse background in dance and business, having taught both in schools, run her own dance business, and worked in the design and branding industry. Teresa was Curriculum Manager for Dance at Kristin School for five years where she choreographed productions and directed the annual K-13 dance show. Teresa sits on the committee for non-profit arts organisation Northern Dance Network, and is hugely experienced having competed, judged and performed in multiple dance styles over the years. We can confidently say that we have a great team of hugely experienced practitioners heading our programmes for 2019. Everyone is excited to be involved in such a flourishing department, focusing their energies on their new roles.
Once again, the leaders of our 2019 Arts Council bring to the table a multitude of top-end skills across the arts. Traversing disciplines, the standards achieved at Dio never cease to amaze. These girls drive themselves and each other to explore, create and spread their passion and our 2019 team is no exception – they definitely set an example. Hannah Barber-Wilson is principal oboe in both the Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band, principal sax in the Jazz Combo, a member of Senior Choir and leader of Handbells. Hannah possesses a very cool head, has excellent IT skills and has, for the last four years, created and run the PowerPoint presentations at our annual Arts Awards Dinner, never missing a beat!
the past seven years has allowed us to explore ourselves and our relationships with others and make lifelong friends. It allows us to have performance opportunities, extend ourselves and reach a level we would not have thought possible when we first started out. How do you balance your busy schedules? Carefully! The School ensures that we are not too over-committed and staff are always there to help us at
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Arts Council Prefects the pressure times during the year. And it can get pretty crazy around competition time! Our families are also super supportive, and we have learnt to prioritise. What’s your vision for the arts at Dio this year? We want to make sure that the arts at Dio are epic again this year; that everyone and anyone can be involved in the arts and show expression, perseverance, innovation, and creativity!
She is flanked by two deputies who, in their own right, move across disciplines. Olivia Francis is Dio’s top percussionist and drummer, she is a principal in the Jazz Combo, Concert Band, Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, sings in the St Cecilia Singers and Senior Choir and, this year, takes a lead role in the Dio/ Dilworth production of Beauty and the Beast. She is also a keen thespian and last year took the lead role of Julius Caesar at the Shakespeare Festival nationals in Wellington. Olivia is also a very talented art and design student. Emma Wong-She plays violin in the Symphony Orchestra, sings in the St Cecilia Singers and the Senior Choir, leads Senior Handbells and is also an accomplished thespian and dancer. This year she undertakes the role of student choreographer in the Dio/Dilworth production of Beauty and the Beast. This talented bunch will oversee the Arts Council, provide leadership in all things arts and create a vital link with staff. We asked the girls some questions and record their responses here: What positives do you get out of participating? Participating in these arts groups over
Arts Prefects Emma Wong-She, Hannah Barber-Wilson and Olivia Francis.
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Rising international stars There is definitely some cello mania going on at Dio! After the unprecedented acceptance last year of Year 8 cellist Emily Ai into New York’s prestigious Juilliard Music School, we are thrilled that two more cellists are following a similar career path. Eva Wu (Year 9) and Mika Kurosawa (Year 6) were both second place winners in the Young Musicians Category of the 2019 American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition in their respective age categories. Both are following in the footsteps of Emily, who won this competition back in 2017, and both girls have also been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York this coming June. All these girls have been learning with Dr Lisa Chung who will be joining our itinerant team next term. Eva Wu has also been awarded First Prize in the 2019 International Music Competition ‘Paris’ Grand Prize Virtuoso. She has the opportunity to perform at a concert in Paris, along with other virtuoso winners. Eva is auditioning for the Juilliard Summer Programme in New York and we look forward to hearing the outcome of this rigorous audition process. We also have an exceptionally talented flautist in our midst – Ella Zhang (Year 5). Ella entered the 2019 International Talented Young Musician Olympia Competition and has been offered the chance to perform in New York as one of the winners for her age group. Ella will also be heading off to Hong Kong to compete in the first Hong Kong International Flute Competition, again representing New Zealand on the world stage. This is an amazing achievement for such a young flautist, and we are very proud of all these exceptionally talented musicians.
Eva Wu, Ella Zhang and Mika Kurosawa
ATCL Diplomas At the end of 2018 we had four ATCL (Associate of Trinity College, London) Diplomas attained by students at Diocesan: Ella Carter, Olivia Luxon and Lily Hillary in speech and drama, and violinist Sarah Casey in music. Both Ella and Olivia were awarded a Distinction, which is an incredible result for Year 12 students.
Olivia Luxon and Ella Carter
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The girls agree this qualification has built their confidence, improved their public speaking, improvisational and memorisation skills, and overall communication. Ella Carter says: “Although very challenging at times, it has given us all a great sense of
achievement and a qualification that we carry with us for the rest of our lives.” The girls will attend the capping ceremony in June to receive their Diplomas from Trinity College London representatives.
Ella Carter also received the ‘best actor’ award for Blind Date at the NZ Theatre Festival regionals, but this achievement was unfortunately omitted from our November 2018 Dio Today publication.
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National achievements for talented Dio musicians
Chielin Xu, Hazel Francis, Hannah Flacks and Charli Collard
Four of our senior vocalists, Hazel Francis, Chielin Xu, Charli Collard and Hannah Flacks have been successful in their auditions for the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir. In January they attended their first week-long intensive and in the April holidays, will participate in another intensive in Wellington. This national choir is the jewel in the crown for young singers who want to sing in an exclusive 60-voice SATB choir with the best young voices in New Zealand. The audition process is gruelling and hugely competitive, with only 30 girls selected from over 250 singers auditioned nationally. Our new Choral Director, Rachel Sutherland, is assistant director of this wonderful youth choir and says: “This choir not only fosters excellence in choral singing, but provides leadership opportunities, cultural experiences and builds lifelong friendships.” Year 10 flautist Helen Kim has also been successful in her audition for the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Orchestra, comprising the country’s finest young instrumentalists. She is the youngest flute player to be accepted in the 2019 cohort and we are also delighted she has been selected for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s Mentoring Programme – a highly prestigious national programme for talented young musicians. We are very proud the girls will represent Dio in these national secondary schools’ ensembles.
Helen Kim
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Beauty and the Beast cast
Beauty and the Beast Dio/Dilworth Senior Production 66
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The first term got off to a very busy start with rehearsals for Beauty and the Beast, the ever-popular and timeless musical classic. Using the combined skills of students at both Diocesan and Dilworth, this show promises to enchant its audiences across four nights of performances in the Raye Freedman Arts Centre in May. Set in 17th century France, this quintessential fairy tale inspired by the original story by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve and the shortened tale of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, will touch your heart as it reveals all the well-loved characters and music you have come to know.
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Drama initiatives It has been exciting to see the energy with which the 32 girls who make up the cast of The Sad Club (written by Luke Barnes with music by Adam Pleeth) have been working in rehearsals this term. This play is a new piece specially commissioned by the National Theatre London for the Connections Festival. Diocesan is the only school in New Zealand to be allowed to perform this play as part of this prestigious festival. Last year the School produced a great play called When They Go Low by Natalie Mitchell as part of the festival and we were delighted to be invited to be part of the Connections Festival again this year. The cast of The Sad Club will be embarking on a trip in July that includes a host of amazing experiences. We are also thrilled to announce that it has recently been confirmed that the company will be one of only nine performance groups for the International Ayr Youth Theatre Festival, as a result of an intensive application process.
We are very excited to be collaborating with a new director this year, MargaretMary Hollins, who brings a wealth of artistic and musical theatre directorship and experience to our production. Joining her in the production team are Musical Director Lachlan Craig, Producer and Dio Old Girl Rachael Brand, Choreographer Jeremy Hinman, Costume Designer and Dio Old Girl Chantelle Gerrard, hair and makeup by Rachel Holland, prosthetics Ian Thomas, Lighting Designer Tim Williams, Props and Set Designer Tim Booth, Stage Manager from Dilworth Elise Caldwell, and Assistant Stage Manager Katie Peacock.
This incredibly experienced production team is not only enjoying collaborating with the 50-strong cast, but also with the Diocesan students who are assisting and shadowing them in their roles. This group of talented students – Emily Clelland (Assistant Director), Dilynne Muller (Assistant Producer), Courtney Eliott (Head of Backstage) and Emma WongShe (Dance Captain) have been invaluable throughout the creative process, and are gaining experience and expertise from industry professionals – together with a 60-strong backstage crew. This production of a ‘tale as old as time’ is sure to touch your hearts.
We are also writing and directing our own contemporary devised work, Ahakoa he iti he pounamu, which means ‘Although it is small, it is a treasure’, about the challenges and appreciation of being a young person in Aotearoa New Zealand. As a land influenced by a myriad of immigrant cultures, we have a distinctive story to share. Being commissioned to do our own piece is a real honour. The company will be performing The Sad Club and our devised work Ahakoa he iti he pounamu as part of the Diocesan NZ Theatre Federation One Act Play Festival between 27 and 29 June.
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Top dancers achieve national and international status
Sophie van der Meijden
Diocesan has more than its share of top end dancers, from national champions in Irish and ballroom dancing to ballet and contemporary stars. This April, three of our top ballet and contemporary dancers will be representing New Zealand in the USA at the Dance Worlds in Orlando, Florida. Rylie Wilkinson (Year 10) and Olivia Blanchard (Year 11) are both members of the senior jazz troupe from MEBA that are currently the national champions, and Sophie van der Meijden (Year 8) is in the junior troupe. Rylie spent a week in Melbourne in January on a jazz scholarship at Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance. Next term she will enjoy a two-week ballet scholarship at Chilton Ballet Academy in Wellington. Olivia has been awarded two dance scholarships – one to attend the Rambert School’s senior summer intensive in London in July and one for the Central Ballet School in London. And to top it off, both girls have been re-accepted into the New Zealand School of Dance as National Scholars and Junior Associates, the third year they have both participated in this prestigious programme. Sophie is busy preparing for the upcoming Australasian Alana Haines Ballet Competition and will be auditioning for the New Zealand School of Dance Associates programme. Our ballroom star, Ondine Payne (Year 11), had an amazing year in 2018 and by the end of it, she and her dance partner had become National Champions in the Adult Level 2 Ballroom category and won six silver awards at the nationals.
Rylie Wilkinson
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We also have a budding Indian classical dancer in our midst. Year 8 student Bharathi Manikandan is studying both Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music and is one of the star students at the Anuradha’s School of Indian Dance. She started dancing at the age of six and has gone on to perform in major traditional dance productions and displayed her talent at many cultural events. Bharathi’s dream is to graduate in dance (Arangetram) in the next few years.
LIVING Olivia Blanchard
Ondine Payne
Bharathi Manikandan
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ARCHIVES
To
Absent Friends One of the most enjoyable aspects of sole-charge archiving is that no two days tend to be alike, and one never knows who or what is liable to appear. On Tuesday 16 October the Archivist, Evan Lewis and volunteer worker Annette Johnson were just getting to the coffee drinking part of their Tuesday morning when, who should call in, but former physics teacher Cecil Wong.
the 1970s and ‘80s, as well as discussing the various pleasures of life after teaching! Now retired, Cecil has been keeping very active with family duties including grandparenting, and much involvement in the Chinese Community Centre in Mangere where, amongst other contributions, he has even been teaching beginners’ classes in ballroom dancing! It was great to catch up with him.
Cecil, a physics specialist, taught Science at Diocesan from 1976 to 1986, he coached basketball and contributed to school fundraising in various ways. In addition to these activities, Cecil also served as the School’s semiofficial photographer and took many photographs that document the School’s daily routine, its special events, as well as its celebrations during his years of service.
But of course, he was here on official business too. Cecil was on the staff during the 75th Jubilee in 1978 and so brought in three bottles of wine labelled ‘Auckland Diocesan School 75th Jubilee 1903 – 1978’. Cook’s Chasseur no less! ‘A medium white wine to mark the 75th Jubilee’.
He had not, however, been seen at School for some years, and it was great to ply him with coffee and discuss the Dio he and Annette had both known in
I wonder how many of us can still remember stopping off in Te Kauwhata to sample the various offerings at Cook’s. In the case of the Archivist, it was with Mum and Dad, one of the first of a number of regular stops on the way to visit friends and family south of Auckland during various school
PAST AND CURRENT STAFF REUNION 12 noon Saturday 8 June 2019 Join together with friends and colleagues – past and present - over lunch in the School Hall. $50 ticket includes lunch and beverages – and lots of chat!
holidays. Of course our wine culture in New Zealand has come a long way since the 1978 vintage, and as these three bottles have been sitting way up in the back of a cupboard for some 40 years, with drying, porous, potentially perished corks, it is doubtful that the contents would be in any way useful except perhaps as paint stripper! In any event, how and where to house them will now present an interesting challenge to the Archivist who has never had to accommodate alcoholic beverages before. As Cecil himself suggested, the bottles will need to be kept upright and sufficiently contained that any leakage or explosive tendencies will not lead to other of our records being damaged. Another recent visitor to the Archive was Old Girl Meg Bayley (Sayers) who attended school here from 1935 to 1947 and returned to teach biology at Dio from 1969 to 1988 and so worked closely with Cecil when he was on staff. Like Cecil, Meg had not been to see the new Archive facility and it was a pleasure to show both these Dio stalwarts around our new home here beneath the turf. It is hoped that, in the near future, we can record some
We look forward to seeing you! For further information contact Angela Coe acoe@diocesan.school.nz or Kate George kategeorge31@gmail.com
Perhaps too, for the 150th Jubilee in 2053, we can open up one of Cecil’s bottles of Chasseur and toast the many who have taught here at Diocesan and their pupils over the decades. In the meantime, we extend an invitation to any and all our former teachers – please feel warmly welcome to visit the School Archive almost any Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of the year. Coffee is usually Tuesday about 9.30am – all donations will be gratefully received but please remember that, sadly, alcohol may be archived but not consumed on the premises. Cheers! Evan Lewis, Archivist
Proudly supporting DIOCESAN COMMUNITY
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conversation with these and other former Dio staffers of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, and so preserve their experiences of Diocesan for posterity.
PARENTS & FRIENDS
Buddy BBQ
The start of the school year is one of the busiest times for Parents & Friends of Dio. This year was no exception and began by us welcoming a new president, Corrine Wallis. Corrine takes over from Rex Pearce who retired from the committee after eight years of wonderful service to the Dio community. Since joining P&F in 2015, Corrine has led a number of very successful projects, including the creation and rollout of the Diolicious recipe book in 2017. She will also be familiar to much of the Dio community through her role as home owner liaison for the Dio House Tour. Corrine and her husband Roger have one daughter at the School, Victoria who is Year 13 in Selwyn.
Corrine Wallis
We kicked off by hosting the students and families at the Buddy Morning Tea and Picnic. We have been very fortunate with the weather over the last few years and this year was no exception. Over 500 new Dio families, students and Dio staff enjoyed our salad boxes, brownie, sausages and drinks on the School House lawn. We are grateful to Mr Zhenhua Yang of Fruit World Greenlane who, for several years, has donated the delicious and refreshing watermelons for our picnic – especially welcome during the hot dry Auckland summer. Photography by Nicola Topping
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New parents’ cocktails Swiftly following on from this event we hosted the new parents for cocktails in the Chapel Courtyard. It’s hard to believe that the ‘new’ Chapel courtyard area has only been in service for three years. It is very much our ‘go-to’ venue for many kinds of casual events and provides the perfect venue on a summer’s evening for mixing and mingling. These events done, all our efforts are now focused on our annual Father Daughter Breakfast on Monday 20 May, this year with guest speaker Ruud Kleinpaste, renowned entomologist and conservationist. This is a very special event in the P&F calendar and a muchanticipated event for many of the school dads. Not only is it a great opportunity to network with other fathers and listen to an interesting guest speaker, but also a great chance to spend time with their daughter(s). The Father Daughter Breakfast is a longstanding event for P&F that has over the years welcomed a wide variety of speakers, from entertainers such as Mike McRoberts and Candy Lane, (who can forget her turn on the stage with some of the dads?) through to inspirational speakers such as Sir John Kirwan and Sir Ray Avery. We are sure many girls opted to switch to science subjects after hearing about the fascinating career of Michelle Dickinson, aka Nanogirl. Remember, tickets are limited – so please get in quickly to secure yours. Tickets will go on sale early in Term 2 and parents will be notified via Dio Beat and The Messenger. Looking to get involved more with the School? The logistics of the breakfast morning are quite something, with over 500 attendees. We usually begin the setup on the Sunday afternoon and our P&F committee arrive about 5.30am on Monday morning to start service. To help us set up for events like this and the aforementioned Buddy Picnic, we are always looking for volunteer helpers and new committee members. If you think you would like to be a part of Parents & Friends of Dio, please email us at pfa@diocesan.school.nz Photography by Peter Meecham
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LI F E LON G F R IE N DS
DIOCESAN OLD GIRLS’ LEAGUE COMMITTEE CONTACT DETAILS Email oldgirls@diocesan.school.nz for all enquiries. PRESIDENT Jenny Spillane (Orsborn) | P. 09 630 3843 VICE PRESIDENT Melanie Eady (Perkins) | E. melanieeady@me.com TREASURER Felicity Buche (Olson) | P. 09 521 8387
President’s column Our Old Girls’ community swelled on Saturday 1 December 2018 as we welcomed 130 Dio graduates at the annual Graduation Ball. This year was made even more special for the Committee as we watched our immediate past President, Sarah Couillault, together with former Committee member (and former Grad Ball organiser) Anna Wight, celebrate the graduations of their eldest daughters. The pressure was on to put on a special night! Committee Members Emma Cleary and Tania Fairgray produced and directed a truly stellar event and a very special occasion for our graduates and their families. There is always a sharp intake of breath at the cost of the Grad Ball, which is by no means a fundraising event. It is sometimes hard to promote what is provided on the night because it is so much more than the food, drink and music. The Grad Ball is a real celebration for the girls, their families and the School. For the Committee, it is a privilege to be part of it all.
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While the Grad Ball ended our calendar of events for 2018, we are now looking forward to 2019’s events. The month of May looks busy with the Bryan Bartley Golf Day being held on Friday 3 May at the Remuera Golf Club. The following week sees the celebration of our 2019 Alumna Merita. If you are interested in details about the Bryan Bartley Golf Day, which this year will continue the successful ‘co-ed’ format from 2018, please contact Melanie Eady (melanieeady@me.com) or Kirsty Eady (seady@xtra.co.nz). This year the Old Girls’ League is also delighted to be involved in a staff reunion, scheduled for Saturday 8 June. Dio is very lucky to have many staff members who have been incredibly valued teachers, administrators, grounds people and managers at the School for long periods of time, and the Old Girls’ League recognises these special members of staff through its Associate membership. The Staff Reunion in June is an opportunity for the School and the Old Girls to acknowledge these people.
SECRETARY Amber Oram (Railley) | M. 021 757 504 FELLOWSHIP SECRETARY Emma Cleary (Dillon) | P. 09 522 9564 COMMITTEE Sarah Couillault (Willis) | M. 021 489 102 Annabel French (Smaill) | P. 09 575 1175 Penny Tucker (Macdonald) | E. pennydtucker@gmail.com Tania Fairgray (Railley) | P. 09 529 1736 Kimberly Sumner (Wragge) | E. kimberlysumner@happinessblindspot.com Kirsty Eady (McDonald) | P. 09 522 2652 Dio Today Editor, League pages Deirdre Coleman | E. d.g@slingshot.co.nz Diocesan School Old Girls’ League PO Box 28 382, Remuera, Auckland 1541
Before we move to celebrate our 2019 graduates on Saturday 7 December, we have the privilege of acknowledging and celebrating our older Old Girls at the Senior Old Girls’ Morning Tea and Chapel Service on Tuesday 3 September. This is always a popular and happy event. More detail about the Senior Old Girls’ Morning Tea and other events will follow. If you’d like to contact us for any reason please email oldgirls@diocesan.school.nz. Ut serviamus Jenny Spillane
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Another New Year’s Honour for Dio Old Girl
The Dio Old Girls entered another strong team in the relay race against the prefects at the Senior Swimming Sports. The team was made up of Sarah Shorter, Anne-Marie Avis, Isobel Avis, Emma Gibbs, Olivia Coulter, Jenny Spillane (League President) and Hannah Ngare. They swam an 8 x 25m freestyle relay and secured the win for the third year in a row!
Old Girls’ League Bursaries The Old Girls’ League Bursaries are intended to assist families that would otherwise have difficulty financing their daughter’s education at Diocesan.
The bursary pays 50% of each year’s tuition for a maximum period of three years. Bursary recipients must be in Years 9 to 13. Applications are currently invited from daughters or granddaughters of Old Girls who are either current students or who have already accepted a place at Diocesan in 2020. This includes girls entering the School at Years 11, 12 or 13. The primary criterion is hardship. The closing date for applications is Friday 31 May. For an application form, please contact Old Girls’ League President Jenny Spillane, in confidence, via email spillanej01@gmail.com.
Distinguished Professor Margaret Anne Brimble, CNZM, has been made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2019 New Year’s Honours for services to science. Margaret Brimble (Macmillan) has been recognised for the world-class contributions she’s made to research in medicinal chemistry. Margaret is Chair of Organic Chemistry and Director of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Auckland, and has been instrumental in the creation of the drug discovery and development industry in New Zealand. Her pioneering research includes the discovery of a drug that is currently in phase III human clinical trials for the treatment of Rett Syndrome and Fragile X Syndrome. Margaret also established New Zealand’s first Good Manufacturing Practice Peptide Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Manufacturing Facility. It was licensed by Medsafe NZ and produced clinicalgrade antigens for the MELVAC melanoma vaccine trial in 2014. A principal investigator in the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, Margaret has been Chair of the Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Foundation and has supported the L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Programme. Since 2014, she has been Vice-President and President of the Organic and Biomolecular Division International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). Margaret has also been a panel member of the European Research Council Synthetic Chemistry and Materials Science Advanced Grants Scheme since 2015. In the August 2018 issue of Dio Today we shared the exciting news of Margaret’s election as a Fellow to the Royal Society of London. In May 2018, she became the first New Zealand woman to gain entry into what is the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific academy. This is the third New Year’s honour for Margaret, who was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2012. Margaret attended Dio from 1972 to 1978 and was the 2000 Alumna Merita recipient. We are thrilled to celebrate her ongoing success in the scientific world. DIO TODAY
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ALUMNAE NEWS
The
courage to grow In mid February, Dio Old Girl Anna Squelch (2000) returned to school after almost two decades. Anna visited the Diocesan Junior School in a capacity she could never have imagined when she left Dio at the end of Form 6 (Year 12).
er mission was to run a series of workshops with the Year 6 girls, teaching them about emotions, mindfulness, friendships, self love, boundaries and vulnerability. While they’re topics Anna knows well, working with primary school children was a new but entirely uplifting experience for her. “It was an absolute career highlight and I can’t wait to share this with more schools in the future,” she says. “It’s so nice, too, to go full circle and to go back to the place where I started.” An integrative nutrition health coach and mindset and empowerment mentor, Anna launched Conscious World Wellness in 2017. She works predominantly with women in their 20s and 30s, helping them succeed and find alignment in all areas of their lives, from health, wealth and business to relationships, spirituality and mindset. “We are consciously creating everything that is happening in our lives, first in our minds. I only wish I knew that 20 years ago when I was shaping my beliefs about the world. I could have saved myself a whole lot of pain and suffering. But it was necessary for my growth.” From her Auckland base, Anna offers online and face-to-face coaching 76
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programmes. She currently has clients around New Zealand as well as in LA, London and Fiji. She also organises and runs retreats in Bali and Waihi, tailoring the content to suit her clients. Generally, her Bali retreats involve yoga, massage, surfing lessons, and workshops on goalsetting, visioning and holistic health. “Connecting people, helping them fulfill their purpose and live up to their potential – that’s what I love doing,” she says. But getting to this point wasn’t a straight forward path. Anna initially studied hospitality at AUT University, then worked in the hotel industry in Auckland. In 2006, she moved to Sydney and got her first taste of the corporate world working at Blackberry, first as a facilities manager and then on the marketing team running the company’s campaigns for Telstra. “I’d only planned to be in Sydney for a year before heading to London, but I enjoyed working on the events and launch parties, and with US celebrities, so I stayed longer.” But it was also a challenging role. In her mid 20s and with minimal training, Anna was given huge budgets and lots of responsibility – that’s when the self doubt began to creep in.
“I started wondering if I was cut out for that world. I felt massively out of my depth and developed decision fatigue. I was incapable of making decisions. I just didn’t have trust in myself, and that spilled out into my personal life. Do I go to London? Stay in Sydney? Stay with this boyfriend?” With Blackberry’s popularity waning, the fear of being made redundant prompted Anna to bite the bullet. In 2012, she moved to London and searched for a job in the lucrative financial services industry to help fund her European travels. She admits to embellishing her credentials a little to secure work. “I said that I’d been an EA (executive assistant) before. And when I took that leap into the unknown, that set in motion an idea that maybe I am capable of doing this. “I always say to my clients, going outside of your usual environment is the best place to anchor in any kind of transformation. I was on the other side
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of the world without family and friends, and I decided to go for it. I was hired by a property investment management firm and worked there as an EA for 18 months; I just applied the skills I had and used my initiative.”
In 2014, Anna left London and returned to Sydney, working in EA roles at Goodman Property Group and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Two years later, she flew home to Auckland, miserable after the end of a romantic relationship.
As an eight-to-five role, it wasn’t particularly taxing, but the pace, energy and crime in London, and the sheer number of people triggered something dark in Anna.
What might have seemed like an ending was in fact an exciting new beginning. Having moved countries six times in 12 years searching for something that would spark her passion, Anna was finally about to find it back home, thanks to another Dio Old Girl.
“That’s where my anxiety first developed, but I didn’t know I had anxiety. I experienced frequent nausea and could only travel short distances on the tube or bus. I developed emetophobia, which is a fear of vomiting or seeing others vomit, so I’d be scared to go out in public, particularly at night when people were drinking.” Anna has been dealing with anxiety ever since, using nutrition, yoga, meditation, hypnotherapy and other modalities to manage it. At one point she tried to discuss her anxiety with a manager at work but was dismayed at how poorly they initially handled things. It’s something she’s trying to change. Last year, during Mental Health Awareness Week, she was invited to speak to Huffer and FCB Media about managing stress and anxiety in the workplace. Her website also contains some excellent advice for those encountering workplace stress.
“My friend Seon Venville was studying to be a life coach and needed four guinea pigs to work with so I put my hand up,” explains Anna. “In our first session, we talked about what I really wanted to do. What’s my actual purpose? I had the inkling that the corporate world wasn’t it but I didn’t believe I could do anything else. I told her I’d always been interested in health and wellness and there was a course I wanted to do a few years back but couldn’t afford at the time. She said, I think that’s it. You need to explore it.” Anna went on to become a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York. She was also working full time for PHD Media, a communications planning and mediabuying agency founded by Dio Old Girl Nikki Grafton (Donald).
“My very first client was a Dio Old Girl based in Fiji,” says Anna. “Working with her just felt right and that’s when you know something is in alignment. My grandma always wanted me to have a safe and secure job. She paid for my Dio education so I felt like I owed it to her to be doing something behind a desk. We always know what our true passions are – but we have all of these voices and fears and expectations.” Anna has now found the thing she’d wanted to do all along: live and breathe health and wellness. Her goals for the next couple of years include running regular workshops and events, launching her podcast and growing Conscious World Wellness into a thriving international coaching business. In addition to working more in schools, she also wants to expand into the corporate space. “I want to make transformation and personal development available and accessible to everyday people. Emotional health is just as important as physical health. But I also want to explore the physical health side of things too. I love toxin-free products and skincare and I’d love to work with and promote other New Zealand wellness brands.” www.conciousworldwellness.com DIO TODAY
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40 UNDER 40
For the last two years, the University of Auckland has released its annual list of 40 exceptional graduates under the age of 40. The 40 Under 40 recognises University of Auckland alumni who are making huge contributions in various areas before the age of 40. With around 10,000 students a year graduating from the University, making the list is a huge achievement. Amazingly, the 2017 40 Under 40 featured two Dio Old Girls (Mimi Gilmour and Qiujing Wong), as did the 2018 list, with Elizabeth Chan and Pippa Dryland.
Mimi Gilmour is Creative Leader and CEO at Burger Burger Ltd. Part of a family with a string of successful hospitality businesses to their name, Auckland restaurateur and entrepreneur Mimi Gilmour set up her first business at 16, helping to cater people’s dinner parties. In 2003, she studied Fine Arts at Elam and majored in photography. At just 26 Mimi opened her own successful restaurant, District Dining, in Sydney’s Surry Hills, eventually launching a sister restaurant by the same name in Auckland. But she was lured back to New Zealand in 2011 with the opportunity to be creative director for food festival Taste at The Cloud as part of the Rugby World Cup. More restaurant launches followed, including the Mexico Group in 2011, and Burger Burger, which expanded from a small space in Ponsonby Central to a second 140-seat restaurant in Newmarket and a third in Takapuna. Mimi was named Restaurateur of the Year in 2012.
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Qiujing Wong
Elizabeth Chan is an
is co-founder and CE of Borderless Productions, a social change and storytelling agency based in Auckland.
associate at international law firm Three Crowns LLP and has been recognised in the Humanitarians category.
Qiujing credits a Business in Society paper she took during her Bachelor of Commerce degree as the catalyst for creating Borderless. The agency turns a profit, employs a handful of staff, and a pool of freelance film production and creative staff, all while improving the lives of the subjects of its films, campaigns and advertisements.
She holds degrees in law and arts from the University of Auckland, which she completed with a full University of Auckland Scholarship. While at university, she was the editor-in-chief of the Auckland University Law Review, and also attended Yale Law School in the US as a Fulbright Scholar.
Over the last 12 years, Borderless has grappled with complex social issues such as youth unemployment, violence prevention, environmental stewardship, and wellbeing.
At Yale, Elizabeth became involved in human rights law, assisting with cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights and travelling to Nepal to investigate a human rights issue concerning procedural justice. She is also a visiting faculty member at the London School of Economics and a teaching associate at Queen Mary University of London.
In 2006 Qiujing was awarded the Carolyn Stolman Humanitarian Award in California for her work on A Grandmother’s Tribe. This film and campaign provided awareness and support for grandmothers in sub-Saharan Africa who raise the 14-18 million children orphaned after losing their parents to HIV/AIDs. In 2012 Qiujing won a Blake Leader award from the Sir Peter Blake Trust for her work in establishing Borderless Productions and contributing to social change.
“I get involved in both international commercial disputes and also international treaty arbitration. I love the international dimension of the work,” Elizabeth says.
Pippa Dryland is a technical specialist at LabPlus (Auckand DHB) and was recognised for her involvement in a national newborn screening programme. As a toddler Pippa was diagnosed with coeliac disease. She developed a keen interest in science at school, and at university she studied biotechnology, covering a wide range of scientific papers. Pippa went on to complete a PhD investigating nutrition and how it relates to a genetic type. This eventually led to her current role, overseeing the first national newborn screening programme in New Zealand to test for Severe Combined Immune Deficiency. New Zealand is only the third country in the world to offer national screening for this condition. “We test for rare inherited life-threatening disorders that, with early treatment, can save the lives or dramatically improve the quality of life for these babies. We test on average 250 baby samples a day and around 60,000 a year. It’s very rewarding to be able to make a contribution such as this.”
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Working for
women Congratulations to current Dio parent and Old Girl Sarah Lang (Boswell) who has won the 2018 Women of Influence – Diversity Award. The Women of Influence Awards celebrate women who have made a real difference in their communities, locally and nationally, and whose impact extends beyond their formal roles. These women are recognised across 10 categories. The ‘Diversity’ category acknowledges women whose advocacy has helped create a more diverse workforce. “My work is usually under the radar, so it was a huge surprise to be nominated for my contributions, let alone to be recognised as the winner of the Women of Influence – Diversity Award,” says Sarah. “For a long time, I didn’t really understand what the school motto ‘Ut Serviamus’ might mean for me. At Dio we have the privilege of education, networks and resources. More recently, I’ve begun to realise that we can all draw on these privileges to make a positive contribution to the community, in whatever way might resonate with us as individuals.” Sarah attended Dio from 1982 to 1989, and her daughter Lilly is a current pupil. After school, Sarah was selected to go on a Rotary Scholarship to Bremen, Germany, something she describes as a life-changing opportunity. “It exposed me to a different culture and language, and also to life as an ‘other’. It gave me an understanding of what it feels like to be operating on the margins of a culture. That experience had a
fundamental influence on my work in the diversity and inclusion space.” Sarah gained an MA (first class Hons) in geography from the University of Auckland, before joining the Economic Development Department at Manukau City Council. It was a great foundation for understanding New Zealand’s local government and political systems, she says. Following some time in Singapore working as a consultant, Sarah returned home and set up her business, Lang Consulting, in 2002. She’d identified a niche for project consultants who could work across wider policy and strategy settings. Sarah now provides consulting services for local government and other public sector agencies, specialising in developing strategic plans and
policies, economic enhancement strategies, cross-cultural and multilevel stakeholder consultation, and community development initiatives. In 2011, Sarah joined Infrastructure NZ, a think-tank for the infrastructure sector. Her role as a project director sees her establishing strategic partnerships to improve the way infrastructure is delivered. It was while leading a delegation of infrastructure leaders to Canada to look at best-practise infrastructure projects and attend a conference that Sarah got an inkling of how much better things could be back home. “It was obvious that Canada’s infrastructure industry was much more diverse than New Zealand’s, with many more women there heading up
“I’m a firm believer that ‘if you can’t see it, it’s hard to be it’, so the more women we have in leadership roles today, the more we’re likely to have in the future.” DIO TODAY
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large infrastructure organisations and projects,” she says.
REUNIONS
At the conference, Sarah was invited to the WIN (Women’s Infrastructure Network) breakfast, and learnt about the global WIN network operating in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. It was clear she needed to bring the concept back to New Zealand, and in 2016 she founded NZ WIN. “Today we have a network of seven chapters and 1300 members across the country working to increase the visibility of women in the industry, promote more women into leadership roles and support all women working in the infrastructure industry.” The infrastructure industry includes those working in contracting, engineering, banking, insurance, public sector and legal, consulting and financial professions. “It’s a very male dominated industry and there was no one body advocating for women across the sector.”
A reunion with a twist: 60 years since Primer 1 In February 1958, 36 little girls started in the Lower Preparatory or Primer 1, as it was then known at Diocesan. A chance meeting with some of these girls led them to organise a ‘Friends for 60 Years’ lunch at school on Saturday 3 November 2018.
Sarah says establishing the network to give women a voice and some visibility has been a game-changer. Many more women are now on boards, speaking at conferences, and acting as role models for younger women coming through the industry. As if that weren’t enough, Sarah has also championed the establishment of many Māori employment initiatives in Auckland and Northland, including the placement of over 200 Māori employees into jobs across the region. And her advocacy for the rights of the homeless has seen her establish the Regional Homelessness Taskforce. Given all that she has done to help raise others up, it’s not surprising that Sarah was also nominated for 2019 New Zealander of the Year. 80
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Starting with a little black and white class photo, after some serious research, most of these girls were tracked down. Sadly, three of their number are no longer here, and three proved impossible to find, but 16 gathered on the day, and others who couldn’t come sent information of what they are up to now.
For some, the only things recognisable were the Chapel, the Hall and School House itself. The new Performing Arts complex was much admired. The ladies enjoyed a hilarious trip down memory lane over a buffet lunch, champagne and a wonderful 60th birthday cake. Dio memories included Miss Clark, floor mats for the afternoon rest, wet woollen bathing suits, warm milk, and the outdoor toilets! Not to mention those flower pot uniforms, one of which was on display along with a rather worse-for-wear Panama hat. Thank you to all involved and to the School for a magical afternoon.
CHINA REUNIONS AUGUST 2019 These are for Old Girls as well as past and current parents of Diocesan pupils. We plan to host reunions in Shanghai, Chengdu and Hong Kong in the week beginning 18 August 2019.
Details will follow via email. Contact Angela Coe acoe@diocesan.school.nz with any questions.
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A golden celebration: 50-year reunion On Saturday 27 October 2018, 35 Old Girls from the year group of 1967/8 arrived at School House promptly at 11am, just as if the bell had been rung! We had come together to celebrate 50 years since the day we walked out the Dio School gate for the last time in uniform. Some of us, of course, had left school prior to this as, back in the day, most school leavers exited from the 6th form. Our group was made up of girls who had been at Dio from 1955 – 1968, attending one or all of the Junior, Middle or Senior Schools. Of the 35 able to attend, a number had not been back in the school grounds since their last day as pupils. Many of us had not seen each other for 50 years, so there was a lot of catching up to be done! Diocesan Director of Development Angela Coe kindly assisted us with planning our event and worked with Aly Lubecker (Development Coordinator) to arrange a programme for the day. It included a gathering
in the Chapel where the Rev’d Sandy Robertson delivered a very well thought out address, after which we all sang the School Hymn. Prior to this, Angela took us on a tour of the School and we were delighted to see the preservation of the heart of Dio. The Chapel, School House and the School Hall were all just as we remembered them. Elsewhere on the School grounds, the progress and facilities impressed us greatly and it became obvious to us that Dio is at the leading edge of education in New Zealand. Our lunch in School House was a noisy affair, characterised by much chatter
and laughter. A huge thank you to those who were able to be there, including three who travelled from Australia and a good number from various parts of New Zealand. To those not able to join us, hopefully this photo and article will fill the gap. On a closing note, we were delighted to make a donation to the School, which has been put towards the Chapel Fund. A huge thank you to those who helped make this reunion happen, and here’s to a follow-up in 10 years’ time! Pam Donnelly (Corner), Head Prefect
What is happening going forward? This year is the final year of the 10-year reunion programme. If any groups from the classes of 1969, 1979, 1989, 1999 and 2009 would like to host a reunion at the School, they should contact Tania Fairgray (andrew.fairgray@xtra.co.nz) before the end of April. Tania can help organise your reunion. We can assist with the organisation, but please remember that its success relies on your work in re-establishing connections within your year group.
From 2020, the Old Girls and the School will host five-yearly reunion celebration weekends. These will be primarily for the class year groups corresponding to the year of the reunion weekend and the following four years. So, the 2020 reunion celebration weekend will be for the classes of 1970-1974, 1980-1984, 19901994, 2000-2004 and 2010-2014. The 2025 reunion celebration weekend will be for the classes of 1975-1979, 1985-1989, 1995-1999, 2005-2009, and 2015-2019.
The format for the reunion celebration weekend has yet to be decided, however it is likely to be held in conjunction with Founders’ Day 2020 – a very special day for the Old Girls. We are also happy to assist Old Girls wishing to host one-off reunions, say for a classmate visiting from overseas or a year group celebrating a particular milestone. For queries, please contact the Old Girls’ League at oldgirls@diocesan.school.nz.
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Graduation Ball 2018 The 2018 Grad Ball was held on Saturday 1 December at the Pullman Hotel on Princes Street in the CBD. This new venue provided a really sophisticated feel for the Class of 2018’s final school event.
The 130 graduates were joined by family and friends to mark the start of a new chapter in their lives. The Princes Ballroom was elegantly decorated with giant balloons, flowers and seed lights. Parents made the most of a separate lounge area where they could enjoy an after-dinner drink. Entertaining MC Mark Sumich once again expertly guided everyone through the evening’s formalities. After Jenny Spillane, President of the Old Girls’ League, welcomed the girls and their families, the graduates crossed the stage to receive their scrolls. Zorai Dai, the Diocesan Events Prefect arranged a photo compilation of all the girls over their school years that was played on the video screen. The graduates then danced to Billy Joel’s beautiful 1977 song Vienna. The official band, the Velvet Tones, had everyone up and dancing to a very popular playlist. In a surprise performance, three members of Dio band Feijoa Funk (Sarah Casey, Ally Quatermass and Olivia Couillault) also took to the stage for the last time together to play a couple of songs. A huge thanks to Diocesan Old Girls’ League Committee members Emma Cleary and Tania Fairgray who led the Grad Ball organising team and put in hours of work behind the scenes. Thanks also to Gino Demeer from Cactus Photography who again did a wonderful job of capturing special moments from the evening. To view and order photos of the 2018 Graduation Ball, visit www.cactusphotography.co.nz 82
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83 LIFELONG FRIENDS
MILESTONES
Births
Engagements
Achievements
Felicity Carruthers (Mayne, 2006), a daughter on 16 April 2016 and a son on 23 February 2018 Andie (Andrea) Goodman (Rix-Trott, 1999), sons born on 22 January 2017 and 31 October 2018 Madeleine Newman (Everard, 2004), a daughter on 4 December 2018
Bernadette Read (2011) to Matthew Fisk on 14 November 2017
Georgia Fulton (2013) Bachelor of Design (First Class Hons) majoring in Industrial Design, Massey University, Wellington. National runner-up James Dyson Design Awards and Bronze at the NZ Best Design Awards Jamie (Jamie-Lee) Matthews (2007) Bachelor of Viticulture, Eastern Institute of Technology Rachel Moxham (Twyman, 2013) Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours), University of Waikato Jan (Janice) Vinde (Rankin, 1956) is living in Nøtterøy, Norway, and is married to Thor Laurits Vinde
Marriages Lucette Dillon (2003) to Andrew Chu on 10 November 2018 Rachel Twyman (2013) to Samuel Moxham on 29 September 2018
Deaths Margaret Beddek (MacDonald, 1947) on 21 January 2019 Ken (Kenneth) Bray on 18 December 2018 aged 89. Ken was Diocesan Deputy Principal from 1976 to 1978 Elaine Clark (Sutcliffe, 1949) on 24 January 2019 in her 88th year Jenny (Jennifer) Edwards (1987) on 14 June 2015 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland Ellen Eyles (1947) on 2 January 2019 Mary Chisholm Harris (McDowell, 1954) on 13 November 2018.
UPCOMING EVENTS 2019 ALUMNA MERITA ASSEMBLY Thursday 9 May – Dawn Jones Sports Centre DIO STAFF REUNION Saturday 8 June This special reunion will acknowledge the valuable service of past and present Dio teachers, administrators, grounds people and managers. SENIOR OLD GIRLS’ CHAPEL SERVICE AND MORNING TEA Tuesday 3 September – Chapel of Our Glorified Lord and the Diocesan School Hall Senior Old Girls on our database will be contacted and invited to this favourite of events. If you have friends who might not be on our database, or whose contact details may have changed, please encourage them to email oldgirls@diocesan.school.nz to ensure we remain in touch with them. 2019 GRADUATION BALL Saturday 7 December – Pullman Hotel
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STAY CONNECTED through the Auckland Dio Old Girls’ League Facebook page Join us online and be part of a 6000-strong community of former students, staff and parents sharing news, opinions, updates, profiles, photos and Dio memories. OGL Committee member Penny Tucker runs the page and would love to hear your stories and updates.
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