Vibrant Display of Diversity

A dazzling display of colour and diversity – this was the 2024 Unity Concert held at the Dorothy Winstone Centre last Thursday and Friday.
Director of Arts Co-curricular Ms Cesan said, "Both nights were jam-packed audiences, who were vocal in their appreciation for all the performances.
"Eight cultural groups performed with skill and pride, and it was clear that there had been a lot of planning and practice.
"The representation of cultural movement and song, and the costuming were outstanding. 
"There were so many highlights – the impressive display of movement, drumming and the entry of the Chinese dragon by the 65-strong Chinese group, the discipline and synchronicity of the impressive 80-strong Samoan group, and the vibrancy and colour introduced by the Indian and Cook Island groups.
"As well as the sheer joy and energy of the Fijian and Tongan groups, the polish and passion of the Kapa Haka group, and the energy and rhythm brought to the concert by the Latin group made sure this was a concert to remember."

For more photos from the concert, click here to go to the student blog, The Roar, where editor Lize Deng has created a photo essay. Or go here for the post on the MAGS website.

Focus on Shakespeare

Last Friday, MAGS Drama took over 40 students to compete in the Auckland Central competition for Sheilah Winn Shakespeare.
Six items were prepared – a mix of Level 2 students, student-directed pieces, and one piece directed by HOD Carmela Hughes.
The competition featured over 200 students and 43 items from seven schools. 
MAGS came away with three prizes from the festival. The first was ‘Best Student Director’, which was awarded to Lamiya Sattar (Year 12) and Blu Jackson (Year 13) for their excerpt from Taming of the Shrew. 
The second was ‘Most Promising Young Actor’, awarded to Sophia Armstrong (Year 10) for her performance of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing – directed by Alexandria James (Year 12).
Thirdly, MAGS was awarded the prize of ‘Best Work of an Ensemble’, which went to an excerpt from Hamlet directed by Miss Hughes.
The students who performed in this excerpt were Ariana Kralicek, Alexandria James, Alysha Dodampegamage, Casey Pahulu, Imogen Bowman, Sneha Mandadi, Myra Smith, Lamiya Sattar and Paige Barnes-Kilgour.
On Monday, the Drama Department invited families, friends and MAGS staff and students to come and watch the Shakespeare Showcase, an event which marks the end of summer.
We held performances by Level 2 Elizabethan Theatre students, Level 3 Monologues, and our items from Sheilah Winn.
Students were able to watch each other and give encouragement in what was a very special and successful evening.

Character Design Competition Winners

Congratulations to Finlay Robilliard (Year 12, pictured right), who has won MAGS' Character Design Competition with his amazing entry.
With over 40 entries, from all years across the school, the standard was extremely high.
Design leaders Oli Neary and Milo Henshaw judged the competition and were really impressed with Finlay’s illustration, saying, “It makes you want to know more about the character; what is their story?".
Finlay’s entry showed a high level of digital artistic skill, clear scene and atmosphere building together with intricate details in his original style. Entries were judged on originality, creativity, skill and narrative.
Five runners-up were also chosen: Gemma Wong (Year 9), Fleur Marsh (Year 11), Markus Leinaw (Year 12), Noah Abbott (Year 12) and, Mrs Gauntlett’s favourite, ‘The Vampire Flight Attendant’ by Year 9 Rudy Keane.
The entries are published to view on the Visual Arts Instagram page @mags_visual_art, and will be showcased in the Small Gallery in the Visual Arts Department next term.
Congratulations to all involved – look out for the department's next competition in Term 2.

Debating Exchange a First

For the first time, our MAGS Premier Debating Team competed in the Whangārei Boys High Exchange, which ran last week.
The victorious team consisted of Year 13 students Ryan Antia, Nishka Arora and Arshiya Arora.
In the last three years, the team has achieved numerous victories, triumphing in all their regional debates, and advancing to the quarterfinals and semifinals every year.
For this debate the moot was, ‘This house would allow schools to hire armed guards for security', with the MAGS team on the affirmative side.
Ryan said, "It was a very challenging debate with impressive speakers and detailed arguments brought up on both sides. Though MAGS was on the more difficult side of the moot, we emerged victorious in the very first debating competition the exchange has witnessed."

Get Involved in the War on Moth Plant

Moth plant is an invasive species that is taking over local green spaces and killing native flora and fauna.
This year, the Sandringham Project in Community Empowerment is working with the Mount Albert Grammar School Environmental Committee to encourage community members to take the initiative and eradicate this invasive species.  
Team up, remove moth plant and compete for prizes in three separate categories, each with its own set of prizes: 1^st prize $500, 2^nd prize $300, and a bonus prize for ‘thickest vine’. 
Learn more and register here
Registrations are open now and submissions can be made until May 5.

Legal Mooting Workshop

This week, our MAGS Debating students attended a workshop at Meredith Connell law firm, for the Auckland Schools Legal Mooting competition (ASLM).
The workshop covered the skills required for mooting, covering various aspects of legal cases.
Year 13 Captain Ryan Antia said, “We were very grateful to have been invited to this workshop at one of the top law firms in the country. Most students come across mooting in the first and second years of Law at University, and so I am really proud of our team, which is applying academic theories for a course which is multiple years above us.”
MAGS will be competing for the first time in ASLM at the beginning of next term, when they will be given their first case.

Lumino Dental Back Next Term

The Lumino the Dentists Mobile Unit is scheduled to come to MAGS on Monday, May 8 and will be here until Thursday, June 27.

This is a service hosted by MAGS but entirely run by Lumino Dental, so all enquiries about enrolments, bookings and procedures should be made to Practice Manager Tracey Kirkland, ph 027 700 9972.

The Lumino the Dentists School Smiles Programme is fully funded by the Ministry of Health.
It offers free dental examinations, oral health education, x-rays and a professional dental clean for students in Year 9 to Year 13, up until their 18th birthday.
Treatments including white fillings, sealants and extractions of baby teeth are also provided on the school grounds as required. For other treatment not completed on board the unit, you will be referred to your local practice or orthodontic specialist.
You can enrol your children here and read some FAQs here

Sports Update

Fine and Dry for Cross Country

The school cross country took place on April 8 (Girls – Year 9s, Year 10s and Seniors) and Tuesday (Boys – Year 9s, Year 10s, Seniors and School House).
Conditions on both days were sunny and comfortable.
The students completed the traditional cross-country course of running around our lower fields, onto Alberton Ave, around the school farm and back on the lower fields to finish.
The competitive senior boys did two laps of the course.

Results:
Year 9 Girls (Junior) – 1st Claudia Verkleij, 2nd Summer Bundock, 3rd Stella O’Sullivan.
Year 9 Boys (Junior) – 1st Jy Gonzales, 2nd Jasper Metcalfe, 3rd Lennix Tolcher.
Year 10 Girls (Intermediate) – 1st Hazel Helmore, 2nd Olivia Appleton, 3rd Ellie Kerridge.
Year 10 Boys (Intermediate) – 1st Matias Nunez Gutierrez, 2nd Conrad Priest, 3rd Luca Darling.
Senior Girls – 1st Nina Chalmers, 2nd Anna Batcheler, 3rd Marley Pearce.
Senior Boys – 1st Theo Bray, 2nd Sam Carryer, 3rd Jesse Burge.

Assistant Director of Sport Mr Crossan said, "Highlights over the two days included some close finishes for the podium spots. In the Year 10 Boys race, only three seconds separated first and second place. There was also a close finish in the Year 9 Girls race with 12 seconds separating the top six placings.
"A big thanks to Mr Dempster and Ms Inwood for their organisation for the event. Thanks also goes to all those staff who assisted with marshalling, those staff who ran on the day with the students and all the prefects/senior sports classes that also helped."
You can see more photos from the event here

Long Jump Success at NISS Athletics

Four students represented the Auckland Region at the North Island Secondary Schools meet last weekend in Palmerston North.

Results:
Ty Gonzales: 4th in Intermediate Boys 100m Hurdles and 5th in Intermediate Boys 300m Hurdles.
Jy Gonzales: 4th in Junior Boys 80m Hurdles and 7th in Junior Boys 300m. 
Ryan Shen (pictured above): 3rd in Senior Boys 200m and 1st in Senior Boys Long Jump.
Ella Kerrigan: 3rd in Junior Girls 100m.

Football Girls Win Grammar Cup

The Football Girls 1^st XI showed great pre-season form on Wednesday when they travelled to Takapuna Grammar and won the Grammar Cup. 
They played against three teams: Epsom Girls, Takapuna Grammar and an U13 Takapuna boys team.
Coach Ms Inwood said, "The girls showed skill, professionalism and dominance throughout the tournament and won all three matches, winning the tournament. It is a great start for the girls and we are all looking forward to the start of the season."
For a photo essay from the day, click here

Fencers on Point at Regionals

As part of attempting to qualify for Commonwealth U17 Championship selection, a group of three students competed in Christchurch against some strong opposition in the Southern Regional U17 Championship.
Shubhi Roy, above right, fought tactically in a very close final in the Girls U17 event. She held her nerve against the local favourite to win in extra time by a single hit.
Elijah Yarr, above centre, followed that up by reaching the final in the Boys U17 event.
The local favourite was too strong on the day, and Elijah came away with a credible sliver.
Nico Meyer, above left, started the day fencing really well, coming out of the initial pool rounds seeded 2nd, but went down by one point in a close match to finish 5th.

Year 10s Shine at Lawn Bowls

After being rained off earlier in the term, Monday saw Mt Eden Bowls Club host the Auckland Schools Lawn Bowls Pairs Championship, in what was the biggest of these events to date.
A strong MAGS contingent ranged from some seasoned players to a few beginners, and everyone benefited from the advice from the club reps who were on hand to help.
Honours for the highest-ranked MAGS team go to Year 10s Finley Prebble and Toby Newcombe, who were one of only a handful of unbeaten teams. Unfortunately, some close games meant they didn’t quite have a good enough points differential to make the podium, but finished a credible sixth.
Congratulations, too, to Year 10s Mackenzi Goff and Olivia Hart, who were named the best novice team by the coaches after winning their first three games, and then narrowly missed out on beating Finley and Toby in the last game.

Orienteering Update

Auckland Sprint Finals
Twenty eight MAGS students attended the Auckland Sprint Zones last Sunday after qualifying through the Western Zone events.
Despite a number of students feeling the effects of running marathons the day before at Relay for Life, some superb results were achieved. There were two events during the day, with overall placings being determined by an accumulation of the two times. 
Senior Boys: 2^nd Sam Carryer, 3^rd Matthew Greenwood, 4^th James Milne
Senior Girls: 5^th Anna Batchelor
Intermediate Boys: 1^st Tahi Harris, 3^rd William Wood

MAGS'  New Zealand Representatives
Over the Easter break, 11 MAGS students attended the National Orienteering Championships in Rotorua and Taupo, held on the notoriously difficult Carter Block map. 
The event doubled as the trials for Junior World and European Youth Championships. As a result of their performances, three MAGS students were selected to represent NZ:
Junior World Championships – Czech Republic – Sam Carryer
European Youth Championships – Poland – Ami McGowan, Matthew Greenwood, Sam Carryer

Rock Climbing Up and Away

Last Sunday saw the first round of the ACCS schools climbing competition – a top rope event at Extreme Edge Panmure.
In the junior section, our returning climbers both set new personal bests with Thomas Roberts placing 18^th and breaking a 100 score for the first time, and Ronin Ng being unlucky to just miss out on a place in the finals, finishing 10^th.
Our novice climber, Brennan Scouller, also gave a great performance in his first competition.
Over in the senior section, Anna Swan continued her good form from last year, finishing 15^th in the very competitive girls division, while Riley Hobbs was one handhold away on his last climb from a place in the top 25 in his first season as a senior boy.
The squad are looking forward to the next round next term.

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