Your AJHS newsletter (Week 08) has arrived !

Prize Giving Information 

Maori & Pasifika Celebration Hui – Monday 7^th December, 6.00pm, PAC

Sports Prize Giving – Tuesday 8^th December, 6.30pm, Gym

Year 9 & 10 Prize Giving – Wednesday 9^th December 11.00am – 12.45pm

(No school for Years 7 & 8 and last day for Years 9 & 10)

Year 7 & 8 Prize Giving – Thursday 10^th December 9.00am – 10.15am

followed by a Tabloid Sports event 10.45am – 12.45pm

(Last day for Year 7 & 8 students)  School will finish both days at 1.00pm

Bus Information for Prize Giving Days

Buses below will only have one bus per run and will leave at 1.00 pm.

210 / 016/ 017       060/1601 / 1511 / 1687

061 will run at the normal time of 3.15pm (any change will be advised)

December 2020 Uniform Shop Hours

Please be aware the Uniform Shop will be open:

Monday 7^th December to Wednesday 9^th December 2020

8.00am – 11.15am and 1.15pm – 3.30pm.

Wednesday 9^th December is the last day  to purchase uniform in 2020.

The Uniform Shop will reopen in the PAC from Monday 18^th January 2021

AJHS Office Hours

The School Office will be closing on Thursday 10^th December, 3.30pm

and will reopen on Thursday 28th January 2021, 9.00am

Stationery

Year 7 & 8 Stationery – can be purchased through Qizzle Back to School schoolpacks.co.nz

Year 9 & 10 Stationery – can be purchased through OfficeMax https://www.myschool.co.nz/ ,  

or you can purchase yourself.   Stationery forms are listed on our website Stationery – AJHS

Congratulations to our North Harbour Science Fair Students!

 Many congratulations to all the Year 8 students who represented AJHS at the North Harbour Science Fair on 13th November at Massey University, Albany Campus.

Students worked on individual scientific projects and presented displays of their work at the fair. Our students were highly praised for their individual interviews. The following awards were made at the prize giving evening on 1st December: 

• Bronze Award : Zinan Hassan, Aryan Thakkar
• Gold award: Marina Stowers, Isabel Brockliss
• Special award for outstanding log book: Kate Blackett, Eva Stowers

Epro 8 Success

Last Thursday  Caity Haines, Heather Darley , Kate Blackett and Taylah Keeler traveled across the bridge to compete in the Epro8 grand final at Mt Roskill Intermediate School.

This was the third and final leg of the regional Science and Engineering competition which got off to a tricky start. All teams faced the challenge of a virtual round, due to covid restrictions. However, the girls sailed through this and attended a local semi finals early in November. The Year 8 team finished second place out of 12  local schools, earning them  a spot in the grand Auckland finals. Here, the girls took on a creative engineering challenge titled  “Pimp my Appliance”.  They produced a magnificent mechanical toilet!!!!  As the user sat down, a reading light automatically turned on and then off when the user stood up. From there the toilet lid automatically closed , flushed itself and sprayed the air freshener. Quite a feat!!! 

Fun was had by all despite the competitive tensions and time constraints. Team AJHS should be commended for their amazing team work, quick thinking,  problem solving,  design , building and electronics skills. They really did excel in the challenge and kept the audience AND judges entertained. The fantastic four  finished in first place overall for the Auckland region, 40 points ahead of second place and hold a record for AJHS.

We are super proud of their achievements, well done girls! Watch this space …. I see a great future ahead for these budding Scientists. 

Miss Booth 

Year 9 Geology Trip

Auckland City is built on a Volcanic Field consisting of 52 dormant volcanoes.

This week as  a follow-up to the  Earth Science unit studied during lockdown, 50 Year 9 students travelled to Mangere Mountain to see firsthand the features of one of the largest and least man-altered volcanic cones in the region. The group enthusiastically walked up and around the double craters. They examined different types of igneous rock and discovered rare volcanic features such as the central lava dome (tholoid) inside one of the craters. There was much talk of the Maori history of the Maunga, evidenced by numerous kumara pits, pa sites and garden terraces. The view from the top allowed them to view and identify many other volcanoes in the plateau.

From Mangere they headed to Auckland Domain, stopping to look at the crater wall made of tuff and discussing the different rock types and formations used in building the Museum.

The last stop was Takapuna beach, where many students were astounded by the fresh water springs exiting the rock fissures that began at the Lake Pupuke crater. They were also interested in the rock formations caused by Pupuke’s eruption, as lava covered the coastal forest burning and petrifying its trees.

It was rewarding to overhear students commenting, that they had a new appreciation for the features of Auckland’s landscape, which were previously overlooked.

Sports News

AUckland Athletics Championship 

Held at Mt Smart Stadium competing against the best competitors from around the Auckland Region, AJHS had some outstanding results:

“AJHS has got Talent” 2020

After weeks of planning and advertising, the 2020 Cultural leaders put AJHS has got Talent into action. With many talented auditions coming through, it was hard to pick who would go into the heats. After careful consideration, 29 students went through to the heats. They were held over one week, during lunchtimes in the PAC with many teachers from around the school and a few DP’s judging these acts. 3 performances were picked from each heat to go through to the grand final.  The finals were held on Wednesday 18th November with the whole school gathered to cheer on peers.  They were entertained with solos, duos, bands, dances, and many exciting acts along with it.  We were incredibly lucky to have our amazing 2019 Winner, Brydie Quinn (solo with piano) and runners up Maia Wilkinson and Mackenzie Hill (duet) who came down from Albany Senior High to perform for us as guest artists. 

The wonderful event all came down to an intense wait at the end to find out who our winners and most talented students were.  With each category being judged separately this meant there was one winner per category.  

Congrats to the following:  

• Paris McDonald – Solo winner
• John Lyu  – Variety 
• AMAZE – Band 
• Leigh Edmeades & Grace Allis – Duet 
•  Aryan Thakkar – Instrumental
• Honourable mention – Lyn Lin for Outstanding Dance 

These were all fantastic acts, and again a special thank you to each of our phenomenal performers for contributing and being brave enough to show off your talents to the school.  A special thank you to each and every student who auditioned, took part in the HEATS or performed in our fantastic event.  We are so proud of your efforts and sincerely appreciate and applaud your participation. 

Another special thank you to the sound crew for making this a smooth and easy running show.  A big thank you to the staff and leaders involved with this for it wouldn’t have happened without you.  Last but not least, a major appreciation for Mrs Lumsden for all her hard work and effort in making AJHS has got Talent come to life.

Are you at AJHS next year? Do you have a special talent?  If so, make sure to keep an eye out for AJHS has got Talent next year! Come along and audition with your amazing talents which we would love to see.  Hope to see your amazing talents next year!!

 Xnetha Hatchett, Y10 MakoMako

Arts News

ARTS SHOWCASE 2020 [Tuesday 24 November]

For the first time ever AJHS presented an evening celebrating all of the original works that were created in The Arts Faculty at Albany Junior High School in 2020. Strongly themed around issues of social justice, believing in yourself and looking after your friends, we wanted this message to be shared with our community. There were three events in our showcase – firstly, the Year 7 and Year 8 live performance of Showquest, secondly a display of Visual Art work created by Year 7 – 10 Visual Art students under the guidance of Ms Thomas, Mrs Kirkflexton and Ms Molloy. While whanau and friends checked out the art display they could sample the delicious food prepared by Miss Geach’s Food Technology classes and enjoy the video of performing arts highlights from 2020 compiled by Mr Kim which was on display in the Admin foyer. Finally, the Year 9 Performing Arts Academy class presented their original musical production “Detention… with a twist.” Please find more detailed information about these events below.

Showquest 

Our Year 7 and 8 Showquest group recently won “Most Innovative Use of Lighting” and “Best use of Live Sound” in this nation-wide competition. Although there were online submissions this year instead of the usual live performances at Vector Arena, we have nevertheless seen some outstanding performances in this story of a young girl in a new school, torn between fitting in with the “cool kids” and following her heart to form a genuine friendship. Transformed into a live show, the talented young performers captivated their whanau, friends and teachers in their heartfelt interpretation of this universally appealing story. Featuring original music and spoken word, the entire show was created by students and led by student directors and mentors from Years 8, 9 and 10. A talented and eclectic bunch of Year 8 boys and one girl, their lead singer, wrote the award-winning music. The title song follows the story of a socially isolated young boy whose loneliness pushes him to the edge until a hand of friendship is offered which pulls him back from the brink… heart-wrenching stuff.

“Detention… with a twist”

Our inaugural Year 9 Performing Arts Academy wrote the script, composed original music, directed and staged our original production “Detention… with a twist”. The whole production was student led and follows the story of a bunch of wayward students who find themselves in after school detention, for one reason or another, and then become embroiled in a “murder mystery” scenario. Addressing issues of stereotypes, bullying and social interactions, the sub-plot is a simple guide on how to survive in a high school environment! But should it just be survival? One of our student directors in this group, Grace Allis, has just won a recording session and secured her place on Stand Up Stand Out’s 2020 compilation of original music. Her song, “15,000” speaks of a young girl’s dilemma traversing the spaces between who she thinks she should be and who she truly is. In her lyrics, Grace expresses what so many of our young people struggle to articulate. Our talented lighting designer, Sam Redgrove, also wrote a quirky and compelling original song pleading with her audience to “look after your friends, hug your friends…”. And musical director Leigh Edmeades spoke of her journey towards “Finding You” with the metaphor of “hiding in a rose bush” in her beautiful song which captivated the audience. 

Music Evening [Wednesday 25 November]

A wonderful celebration of talent was on display at our final Music Evening of 2020. Performances included original songs, classical, blues, ballads, rock and contemporary music performed by Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 students. While it was sad to say “Goodbye” to our leavers, some of whom are in the photo below, we know they will continue to share their musical and performance technology talents on stages near and far and we wish them all the very best for their bright futures!

Dance Showcase [Thursday 26 November]

Through a year that has thrown many challenges and curveballs, our Year 9 & 10 Dance students not only managed to put together a full show, but they blew every audience member away with their outstanding talent and showmanship. A range of incredible performances were given, from self choreographed solos, duos and trios, to a fun little Christmas number. We also had the privilege of seeing the incredible work that a small select group of students participated in as part of an Impact project from Albany Senior High School. 

Two of our past students, Tyler Petry and Natasha Cresswell came back to our school to teach these students a dance that embraced women empowerment. With 21 performances, this was our biggest show yet, with plenty of in class rehearsals and a whole day of dress rehearsals our Dance students worked tirelessly to bring to stage a show that will always be remembered. A fantastic way to end the year as Dance students of Albany Junior High School.

High School Musical Jr Auditions 3-5 December 2020

Auditions for our 2021 production of “High School Musical Jr” began yesterday and continue today and tomorrow. New Year 7 students will have the opportunity to audition in week 3 of Term 1 2021 and rehearsals will begin the following week.

The show will be staged at AJHS from 22 – 29 May 2021.

AJHS Uniform Shop

Please be aware the Uniform Shop will be open:

FREE OPEN CLASSES FOR THE FIRST 2 WEEKS OF DECEMBER

December is a great time to trial Pform.nz, bring friends and experience all the different genre of classes that we offer.

From BALLET to DRAMA, DANCE to MUSICAL THEATRE or our popular DANCE SING ACT combo, this is your chance to jump in to have a go. We look forward to welcoming you to as many classes as you can squeeze in!

No booking required – just turn up, join in & you will be warmly welcomed VENUE MAP

PFORM.NZ HOLIDAY DAYS

Join our Pform Holiday Days in December & January – you do not want to miss out!

Drop off at 9am and pick up at 4pm, these days fill fast so you will need to book soon to secure your place CLICK THIS LINK TO BOOK & FOR MORE INFO 

1/4 PIZZA SLICE- Ham & Cheese                                                             $2.50
1/2 SANDWICH- Choose from: Ham, Chicken or Vege 
[with lettuce, mayo,cucumber, carrot and tomato]                                  $4.00
 
CHICKEN BURGER- with mayo, lettuce, tomato and carrot                     $5.00
BEEF BURGER- with mayo, lettuce, tomato and carrot                            $4.50
BLT- with mayo, bacon, lettuce and tomato                                            $4.50
WHOLEMEAL ROLLS  – Choose from: Ham, Chicken or Vege
[with mayo,lettuce,carrot and tomato]                                                    $5.00
 
BACON & EGG ROLLS- with bacon and tomato sauce                           $4.50
WRAPS- Choose from: Ham, Chicken or Vege
[with tomato chutney, lettuce, tomato, cucumber & carrot]                 $5.50
 
NACHOS- with corn chips, minced beef and cheese                             $6.00
CHICKEN NUGGETS                                                                               $5.00

DADS PIES:

• BUTTER CHICKEN                          $4.50
• MINCE AND CHEESE                     $4.00
• STEAK AND CHEESE                      $4.00
• BACON N EGG                               $4.00

FRUIT SALAD                                                                                          $5.00
SUSHI                                                                                                      $6.00
CHICKEN ON RICE                                                                                  $5.00
STEAM BUNS                                                                                          $4.00
CHICKEN CURRY N ROTI                                                                        $6.00
CHICKPEA CURRY N RICE                                                                       $6.00