High School Update - Manukau Christian School
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June 2021
High School Update
Dear Parents,
We are now almost halfway through the school year. Students have been sitting their mid-year
examinations, and results should start trickling in on ThinkWave. This time of the year is a great time
for students to take stock of progress and ascertain whether they can meet their learning goals
given their current trajectory. With that in mind, we encourage you to log into ThinkWave with your
parent account and look at your child’s results and the comments on their assessments. Have a
conversation with them about their progress and how they feel about their mid-year results, and
whether they might need to change any behaviours or habits before the end of year examinations.
This will assist you to partner with us in your child’s education. If you have lost your invitation to
ThinkWave or you have forgotten your password, please email the office to let us know and we can
reset your account.
Effective Students
What makes a successful student? Among some people, there is a perception that success is a
result of intelligence. People who score well in exams are just smart. While it is true that God has
gifted us differently, and some people are naturally more intelligent than others, it does not follow
that what we do has no impact on our achievement. At MCS, our first habit of success is “You are
Responsible”. This is an important habit. We do not blame other people for our lack of success.
We do not blame our teacher, our family situation or our cultural background or ethnicity. We
choose not to be victims, instead, we choose to be strong and take responsibility for our learning.
That means what we do makes a difference. So with that in mind, what factors can help students
succeed in school? Here are eight things we think matter to success.
1. Attendance
Students who are punctual to school and attend almost every day are going to have
the edge over students who miss school regularly.
2. Sleep and Exercise
In our last newsletter, we introduced the importance of sleep to a student’s wellbeing and
success. In addition to sufficient sleep, exercise is important to our physical health, but it also
helps us enhance concentration and mental acuity.
3. A Thirst for Knowledge
One of the biggest keys to success is the issue of internal motivation. A student has to have a thirst
p: 269-1050 e: admin@manukauchristian.school.nz
Effective Students continued
for knowledge. They have to want to know more. They have to want to succeed. Teachers at MCS
are of top calibre and do their best to engage and excite students about their subjects, but there
also needs to be an internal motivation from students. A student must desire to know more about
God’s world.
4. Active Learning
As teachers, we find that students who are active in class are more likely to succeed in showing
their knowledge and skills in an assessment. So what does it look like
for a child to be active in their class learning?
• Active learners have a particular posture. They sit up
rather than slouch
• They track the teacher with their eyes and body
• Active learners ask questions when they don’t
understand and keep asking until they understand. They
are not ashamed of not knowing
• They try to give answers to the questions a teacher asks,
and when the teacher asks another student they still try to answer the question in
their heads.
• Active learners listen attentively to what the teacher is talking about
• They evaluate their learning for each lesson noting what they did not understand and
need to review
5. Regular Preparation
Successful students don’t just turn up to class, they anticipate what is coming up by looking at the
plan or the next section of the textbook to ensure they don’t come into a class ‘cold’.
6. Regular Review and Study
Another key to success is regular review and study. Successful students organise their weeks to do
quick daily reviews of the subjects they have covered. They never leave a concept until they
understand it, they do not leave a problem until they have solved it. They take these problems to
other students or the teacher to obtain clarity and understanding. Moreover, successful students
are organised and create study timetables that enable them to do a bit of study each week rather
than cramming a few days before the exams.
7. Talking about Learning
Students who truly excel tend to enjoy talking about what they are learning with others. They like
connecting learning from different subjects, and they also tend to enjoy debating concepts.
8. Organisation and Discipline
Two final traits are important to success: organisation and discipline. Organisation helps students
keep their notes together: filed clearly and logically. It helps students know when assignments and
tests are due and assists them in putting together a step by step approach to getting work
completed. Discipline is also essential. In daily study time, discipline means putting aside
distractions like phones or other devices to spend concentrated time in learning. It is seen in
sticking to study routines and ensuring entertainment in the form of games, sport or hanging out
with friends does not get in the way of study.
An Important Note for Year 10 & 11 Students and their Whānau
Entry into the AS & A Level classes is not guaranteed. Students who
wish to continue in these senior level courses must achieve at least a
C grade in four of their IGCSE externals to be awarded entry.
Furthermore, some AS & A Level courses have specific grade
prerequisites (e.g. a B or higher) designed to ensure that students are
able to meet the challenge of advanced coursework.
In order to safeguard against disappointment, students need to
implement solid study skills early in the year. We recommend that
students establish a programme of study that includes ongoing revision. We also encourage
students to seek clarification, guidance, and feedback from their teachers if they are uncertain
or struggling in any area of study.
Finally, MCS teachers offer free tutorials for certain subjects at various points in the year,
particularly as exams approach. These tutorial sessions serve as a supplement to the material
covered in class and are an invaluable resource. If one is made available in your subject, please
take advantage of it.
Year 9 French Module with Mrs Maree Kennedy
Salutations, bon lecteur! (Greetings, reader!)
As of this term (term two), the year nine class (including myself) has
been taking a module in French. This is every Friday afternoon. It is
taught by Mrs. Kennedy, and we are learning this in Room 209. So
far, we have learnt greetings, (Bonjour, Bonsoir) classroom
instructions, how to introduce your name, (Je suis Elijah) and to say
“how are you?” (Comment ça va?), and farewells (Salut!). My dad
keeps saying random things to me in French, and I have to remind
him that we haven’t got that far yet.
The sheets that Mrs Kennedy uses are made by the same people that Miss Kennedy used to
teach the former year eight’s Japanese. With the sheets, she also has DVDs and recordings
ready. She uses the recordings to help us practice the words we are learning verbally. The
French words always sound peculiar to me.
They also changed the name of their letters, an
example is ‘w’, which is named “double v”.
Furthermore, they have words for different
genders, like the word, “fatigue.” Males would
write it ‘fatiguè’, while women would write it
‘fatiguèe”
Merci pour la lecture et au revoir!
(Thank you for reading and goodbye!)
Elijah Paddison – Year 9
Year 10 Badminton Module with Mr Aloiai
The score is 20-19. We’re about to win! I start the rally with a flawless serve and our opponent
jumps to the side in order to hit the shuttlecock, missing it by only a few centimetres. Tears of
joy begin to flow down the sides of our cheeks, but suddenly stop as we hear a faint whack. The
teammate of our opponent had hit the shuttlecock and it was racing towards us. In panic, we
swing our racquets wildly, foolishly thinking it might do something. It does not. We both miss
and think we have lost our lead. Our classmates roar as Mr. Aloiai adds a point to a tally on a
piece of paper and announces that it had landed outside the cones. We had won.
Whether or not this actually happened
is for you to decide. While most of us
were new to badminton, and did not
have beginner's luck, everyone
enjoyed being able to go outside,
choose some creative team names,
and have some fun.
Jessica Goodwin – Year 10
Senior Food Module with Mrs Prakasa and Mrs Maney
This term, the senior students got to participate in a hybrid food and art module, led by Mrs.
Prakasa and Mrs. Maney, where our goal was to aesthetically plate a variety of dishes. As a team
we worked to decorate many items such as cakes, cupcakes, cake pops, Tres leches cake, puff
pastry etc. It was quite an experience, and we all learned something new, for instance, how to
coat the cake with fondant. It was a chaotic yet extremely enjoyable module. We made a mess
but the result from our effort was satisfying. Pakawat Phoncha – Year 12
Year 11 Geographical Skills Module with Miss Dhinakar
To prepare for our “Alternative to Coursework” geography paper the Year 11’s have had the
opportunity to do a Geographical Skills module with Miss D. Our first trip was to the Puhinui
Stream, where we tested river velocity using oranges. Everyone had a lot of fun, and we are
proud to report that no orange was left behind!
Our other trip was to the Weymouth-Great South Road intersection to observe the traffic.
Although it seemed boring at first, we all found it fascinating to learn that approximately 100
vehicles move in and out of the intersection in just 10 minutes. We enjoyed our break at
McDonald's where we saw Talitha and one of us accidentally ordered 51 packets of ketchup. In
conclusion, the Year 11’s enjoyed this module and it definitely deepened our understanding of
data collection.
Sanya Uppal – Year 11
After-School Boxfit: Some Perspectives
I’ve really enjoyed after-school Boxfit with Mr Aloiai and Tsidkenu. As
the name suggests, it incorporates a mixture of self-defence techniques
and fitness. I, myself, found running the cross-country course as a
warmup was the most enjoyable, although many of my fellow
classmates would thoroughly disagree. We’ve learnt many combos like
2+2 and 1, 2, slip, 2, which include hooks, upcuts, and jabs.
Boxfit has equipped me with necessary boxing skills and has helped me
maintain my fitness.
Thomas Fryer – Year 10
This term the Year 7, 8 and the high school students
have had the opportunity to do Boxfit every
Wednesday afternoon led by one of our student
leaders Tsidkenu and Mr Aloiai. We usually start by
doing some warm ups and running a few laps around
the field. We have learnt many combos consisting of
moves such as jabs, uppercuts, slips, counter attacks
and hooks. We also do some fast-
paced drills to practise the combos
and play games to improve our
reflexes.
Although the sport has left our shoulders sore, it has
taught us some basic self-defense techniques and
allowed us to bond with classmates during this time.
Tanaka Manhondo – Year 13
After-School Netball
After an exceptionally long, long time, we are extremely
fortunate to have after school sports again. One of these
activities is netball, led by Tiaria Wilson and assisted by Mrs.
Schellingerhout as well as other senior students and parents.
In these past weeks, we
have been able to bond with our classmates while doing
some fun drills. We have had lots of fun playing against
each other in the half court at the end. However, running
at the start was not the greatest feeling.
I can’t wait each week for training to come when I can
learn more than I already know.
Tashleen Mann – Year 10
Bake Sale Fundraiser
During Term 2, us senior high school students have been fundraising for
our end of year graduation by putting on bake sales every Wednesday and
Friday lunchtime to high school students, and Wednesdays after school to
junior students. Chocolate brownies, custard puddings and cupcakes are
just a few of the baked goods that we sell. It’s been a great way for the
senior students to work
together as a group while
exercising our organisational,
business and leadership skills.
We are so thankful to
everyone who has bought
from us and are overwhelmed by all the support. We
are continuing with these bake sales until the end of
the term, so feel free to stick around for them!
Tiaria Wilson – Year 13
Book Reviews
Mere Christianity Heart of Darkness
Throughout Term 2, the year 12 &13s have
These past two terms the Year 12s have been
been studying Mere Christianity by C.S.
reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The
Lewis, covering the basis for Christianity.
novella explores the evil of the human heart
Over the weeks, we have learned about
through a frame narrative. It deals with heavy
standards for morals, how there is only one
topics such as slavery, colonialism and evil during
true God, justice and more.
a time where the people of the Congo were
enslaved by European companies under the
Although we haven’t completed the whole
guise of creating an international free trading
book yet, so far, it has been an enjoyable
area that would benefit Congolese people.
experience for us to face together. In the
book, we are confronted with different
The novella’s extremely poetic language and
ideas and questions that challenge us to
dense imagery is a lot to unpack while reading,
think about our faith and grow stronger in
but this emphasises the concealment of truth
it together.
and light in the story. Reading from a Christian
Stephanie Simons – Year 12
perspective meant that we were able to have a
clear view of the truth – God’s Word – despite
Conrad’s purposely ambiguous style of writing
and skeptical, pessimistic view of what truth is.
Heart of Darkness is a difficult book to read, but
it sheds light, albeit in various layers, on how
everyone has the potential to succumb to evil
and a heart of darkness when giving in to their
ambitions or desires.
Samantha Whyte – Year 12
Culture Day After the excitement of Culture Day had ended—after the Queen’s Birthday long weekend had passed and students were firmly entrenched in the rigours of Mid-Year Exams—Mrs Maney asked her students to take a break from exam preparation to reflect on and write about the previous Friday, because, as Sahil put it, “On the best day of the week (Friday), which was even better than usual, there was Culture Day.” The Food On Culture Day, the first two periods of classes gave way to a shared morning tea. Preston’s recollections reflect this juxtaposition of regular school routine and rare celebratory revels. He states, “As we were comparing our English assignments, we were told to ‘shush’ by Miss D because Mr K was praying for the food. Like good Christians we bowed our heads and prayed. Once the prayer was over, we rushed to the food and I took more than was allowed. The food was mouth-watering, and I could not get enough of it.” It wasn’t just the flavour of the food that was acknowledged, the olfactory senses were also recognised. “Delightful mixed smells of amazing cultural food danced in the air,” wrote Samar, “greeting everyone and anyone within 10 metres of it.” Opal was similarly enthusiastic, stating that “the different cuisines and the amazing smells filled me with delight.” Serena got straight to the point, saying, “My favourite part of Culture Day was the food. The tables were piled with plates of new and familiar food.” However, there was also a downside to the Culture Day experience, as Serena further explains, “Mr K went around taking pictures, which was one part that I did not like.”
Culture Day continued The Dress One aspect of Culture Day that always has everyone excited is the chance to break with dress code and put on some cultural regalia. This includes the yearly tradition of choosing a ‘best- dressed’ from every year group. When writing about her experience of the day, Jessica Kaur explained that she “enjoy[s] taking part in Culture Day because we get to dress up, which is different to what we wear every day.” While Armann, remembering what he learnt in English class about employing the senses when describing, wrote, “My eyes could see very good-looking costumes of other nations and I could smell very nice food. My friend Leevy was very loud and all I could hear was his voice.” Leevy himself, at the tag-end of a long list of favourite Culture Day activities, added, “I also liked how I was picked for best outfit in my class!” The Performances For many, both performers and spectators, the supreme moment of the day’s festivities was the assembly, where cultural performances took place. Following the school choir’s beautiful rendition of ‘God Defend New Zealand/Aotearoa’ in both English and Māori, MCS students, staff, friends, and whānau were treated to a display of cultural expression in the form of dance. First, Nataria opened the event with her pepeha. Then, the dancers came on. The students themselves express it best. Here are just a few of the performers’ statements. Nataria: “My personal highlight of the day was being able to perform. If I were able to, I would definitely like to perform the items once more because I found it quite enjoyable.” Bethany: “The Culture Day performance was AMAZING! We spend so much time practicing and drilling the dances to perfection.” Ruth: “My favourite memory from Culture Day was performing my Zimbabwean/African Dance with Tanaka. There was lots of cheering form the parents and lots of smiles from the little kids.”
Culture Day continued Nadassah: “It was nerve-wracking and stressful being the youngest to perform on stage, but it actually turned out to be my favourite part [of the day], standing in front of an enormous crowd with all eyes on [me] was an alright experience.” Caleb Wilson: “My favourite memory from Culture Day was when the Samoan item was performing and everyone was cheering on the dancers.” Samantha Goodwin: “Walking on stage was a delight. I felt alive as the teachers, high school students, Zion, and Naomi were all smiling, making me feel encouraged. [Then we ended] with a beautiful tiktok inspired dance, showing the unification we now have between cultures.” Those watching also took delight in the dances. Mia Wang explained, “My highlight was the culture dance. I remember enjoying the songs and the burst of colours. There were also more dances than we had last year, which was very heartwarming as it showed how many more students have joined the school, showing our diversity.” Why We Celebrate It “Manukau Christian School celebrates Culture Day to honour God and the diversity he has put into the world,” wrote Tsidkenu. Samantha Whyte agreed, explaining that, “Culture Day at MCS celebrates our diversity in culture and our unity in Christ.” Mehekpreet picked up the theme when she proclaimed that we have a Culture Day at school to recognise “God’s love for us, how He delights in our differences.” Of course, it’s not just about God’s love for us, but about our love for each other, as Stephanie acknowledged when she wrote that “[w]e are called to love our neighbours, so by appreciating the different cultures, we are doing a form of loving one another.” Natalia summed up the reason MCS celebrates Culture Day by simply stating, “God made cultures.”
World Religions
Missions Team Review
This year our Year 9-11 students have begun their second year of worldview studies. Last year,
we looked at the rise and triumph of Western Civilisation and studied the ideas that allowed the
West to flourish. This year we are focussing our attention on the major religions of the world and
examining them from a Christian perspective.
Thus far, we have enjoyed looking at Islam, Atheism and Roman Catholicism. This course has
been very helpful for equipping our students with the tools they need to take the message of
Christ into a range of different contexts. It is also helping our students to have greater assurance
of their own faith as we respond to the various challenges levied against Christianity from other
religions. In this course we have a great opportunity to see if the claims of Jesus and the claims of
the Bible really do hold up under scrutiny, and what we are repeatedly finding is that they do!
Some of the areas we have explored include the Muslim claim that Christians are polytheists.
Through wrestling with this charge, we had an awesome opportunity to explore the doctrine of
the Trinity and see that Christians are by no means polytheists. Another interesting topic we
have studied is the reliability of the New Testament. The students were amazed to see that the
New Testament is actually the most well attested and historically reliable document from all
antiquity.
We are praying that as we continue to study the religions of the world, that Christ would be
glorified through the defence of His gospel.
Mr Aloiai
Did You Know?
Many students think cramming late the night before an exam will help them remember more and
assist them in achieving excellence. This is not true. A study conducted on all night cramming
found a 40% deficit in the ability to cram new facts into the brain compared with students who
rested well. Furthermore, research appears to demonstrate that sleeping well the night after
learning something new is essential for retention. Those who do not have a good night’s sleep
after learning something new do not get the chance to consolidate these new memories. In other
words, they are more likely to forget what they have learned compared to a student who has had
a full night’s sleep after learning.
So the lesson for students is this: if you want to retain all that information you get in class each
day, you need to ensure you are getting a full night’s sleep every school night.77 Rogers Road • P O Box 75-623 • Manurewa • p 269-1050 admin@manukauchristian.school.nz • manukauchristian.school.nz
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