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THE NEWS FOR ST. JOHNS’ 1 May, 2012

THE SAINT

School Production Smashing Success Audiences left the College’s showing of For Today laughing, singing and waxing lyrically

about the unbelievably entertaining show. For Today is a tribute to New Zealand music

and the cast and crew from Sacred Heart and St John’s did not disappoint the crowd or

themselves with a strong and humorous performance.

Classic songs were given a new breathe of life with renditions of the Datsun’s Harmonic

Generator, Bursting Through by Bic Runga, Sun Go Down by Nesian Mystix and of course

For Today by the Netherworld Dancing Toys. The Sacred Heart girls really stood up and

showed their singing talent with lead Noelle Faka’osi particularly impressive.

However, when it came to the acting it was the SJC boys who came to the fore with lead

Taylor Diamond-Lord putting in a fine performance in his first show ….. why did you

wait so long?! Joseph Penitito and Samson Ramsey were a hilarious combination that

had the audience screaming with laughter at every turn, whilst Cody Houlahan played

the straight guy with real ability. Ryan Meachen was loud, brilliant and more than a little

bit scary. Reuben McDonald stood out as a true performer with his portrayal of the love-

able Mr Miller and Cameron Ferrick was a very believable Mr Wolf. Year 11 Sacred

Heart student Evvie McCullough was also very expressive and will be one to watch out

for in the future. Head girl Hinemaria Onesi was poised, funny and sang beautifully. To-

gether with the remaining cast they created an energy and vibe on the stage that had

parents and students in the audience enjoying every minute.

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The musicians in the band played each tune with real skill and punch, and the technical

ability of the back stage crew made the show run seamlessly.

The directors Mrs McFarland, Ms Andersen and Mrs Ngui must be very proud of the com-mitment of the students and the final product. Together they gave us a night to remem-ber.

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St John’s Chemistry Quiz Team Gains Second Place

Last year a group of SJC Year 12 students performed particularly well in the Hawke’s

Bay Science Quiz. The team was eventually placed second in the 20 team competition, by

a single point, behind Lindisfarne.

So with plenty of confidence the St John’s Senior Chemistry team travelled to the Central

North Island Chemistry Quiz in Palmerston North last week as the only Hawke’s Bay

team. After a fun and exciting day St John’s again finished second - a very creditable per-

formance. Palmerston North BHS won the quiz. With Wanganui Collegiate third. Mem-

bers of the team were Dylan Campbell, Cole Simons, Sheldon Levet and Jerryn Matthews.

St John’s NCEA Results – an honest look To better inform our community on our student performance in NCEA, we will run a

series of articles reviewing how we did in the 2011 External examinations. These exams

are the same for all students, are sat at the end of the year and are supervised and

marked by people outside of schools.

In this issue we will start with Year 12 and 13 results in Mathematics and the Sciences.

It is not our style or intention to belittle the efforts of other schools – which we believe

are all doing a fine job. However, we need a point of comparison so we have compared

our grades against National decile 5 boys’ schools (which is our decile rating) and the

three other boys’ schools in Hastings and Napier.

It is very important to realise that a school’s performance when given as a percent-

age can be hugely influenced by how many students it ‘withdraws’ from the exams.

Firstly 6 Scholarships were gained by our students in these subject areas. This puts these

grades in the top 2% of the nation and we believe the second best Scholarship Maths and

Science results of all schools in Hawkes Bay (first was HNHS).

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20

40

60

80

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L2 Maths L3 Statistics L3 Calculus

% External Passrate in Senior Mathematics St John’s

Dec 5 Boys’

Boys'School A

Boys'School B

Boys'School C

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[Next issue: English, Geography, History]

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10

20

30

40

L2 Maths L3 Statistics L3 Calculus

% Merit/Excellence Passrate in Senior Mathematics

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40

60

80

L2 Chemistry L3 Chemistry L2 Physics L3 Physics

% External Merit/Excellence in Senior Sciences

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20

40

60

80

100

L2 Chemistry L3 Chemistry L2 Physics L3 Physics

% External Passrates in Senior Science

St.

John’s

Dec 5

Boys’

Boys’

School

1

Boys’

School

2

Boys’

School

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Scoreboard

1st XV Rugby The 1st XV has made a good start to what will be a very exciting year. Not only will the team

play local Hawkes Bay games but it will also be involved in the Hibernian Society Cup and the

inaugural Central North Island 1st XV Competition. The team has entertained the crowds with

a running brand of 15 man rugby with all players contributing to some fine tries.

v Te Aute Won 59 – 12

v Bishop Viard (Porirua) Won 28 – 27

v Havelock North HS Won 27 – 12

v St John’s Hamilton Lost 28 – 85

v Dannevirke HS Won 68 – 17

v Wairoa College Won 55 - 5

Upcoming Fixtures

Central North Island 1st XV Competition matches:

12th May v St Paul’s Hamilton at Ellwood Park at 1:15pm

19th May v Rathkeale (away)

26th May v Wanganui Collegiate at Tremain Field (tbc)

16th June v Feilding HS (away)

26th July v Francis Douglas MC at SJC

Hibernian Society Cup: matches: 13th June v Hato Paora (away)

20th June v St Pat’s Town at SJC

27th June v St Bernard’s (away)

26th July v Francis Douglas MC at SJC

Senior A Basketball As usual the A Basketball team has trained very hard throughout Term One. The team recently

played in a tough tournament held at SJC. The young team performed well in several games

against some of the best teams in the region and took away much from the tournament.

v St Pat’s Town Lost 70 - 45

v St Pat’s Silverstream Won 62 - 50

v Wellington College Lost 50 - 32

v Palmerston North BHS Won 62 - 43

v Hastings BHS Lost 58 - 57

1st XI Football The 1st XI competition does not start for a couple of weeks. The team has played one warm up

game to date against Lindisfarne College winning 4—2. St John’s football is celebrating 40

years over Queen’s Birthday weekend. Alan Dick (reunion@visionhomes.co.nz) is the contact

for information.

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1st XI Cricket The season ended very positively with a second placing in the Hawke’s Bay Twenty/20 Senior com-

petition and a late string of wins in the local competition. A number of players stood out at different

times but Liam Dudding taking his100th wicket for SJC was a highlight. The team is due to tour

Australia in October and now with the side starting to mature will be looking forward to that tour

and the start of next season.

Athletics Team Results: ECNI (East Coast North Island) – Hastings

Damien Scott - 1st in 100m and 300m Intermediate Hurdles

- 2nd Intermediate 400m

Joseph Penitito - 2nd Senior Shot Put

Jonah Lowe - 2nd in Intermediate 200m and 3rd in 100m

Thomas McArdle - 2nd Immediate Triple Jump

Phillip Smith - 3rd 300m Senior Hurdles

Anthony Wilson -3rd Intermediate Triple Jump

North Island Championships – Tauranga

Damien Scott - 5th in 100m and 300m Hurdles Intermediate

Thomas McArdle - 5th in Senior 400m

New Zealand Open Olympic Swimming Trials Jonathan Burfield-Mills - 6th in 50m Mens

Good Man of the Week

A St John’s man endeavours to keep his good works hidden and unseen, but we would like to shed a

bit of light on to one or more of our lads who deserve some recognition.

Leighton Williams, Cody Chrystall, Jason Brown and Broughton Johnston

This group of SJC lads were strolling home from school when they came across a car accident on St

Aubyns Road. Not content to just walk on by or stand by the lads took it upon themselves to turn

the engines off in both vehicles, comfort the injured, including a baby, and usher traffic around the

accident while emergency services were called. Well done lads.

Jerome Groot

Jerome is a star batsman for the 1st XI and a more than capable member of the 1st XI football team. In

fact his football skills are so great that he trains with the Hawke’s Bay United squad. A month ago he

was offered a position in the Hawke’s Bay team for a match down in Christchurch against Canter-

bury United, but decided to turn down the honour as he had previous commitments with the SJC 1st

XI cricket team – an unselfish act of note.

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St John’s Basketball Soars to Nationals

In the last 3 years the Senior A Basketball team has risen from a normal regional team to one that

has taken on and beaten many of the very best teams in the country while producing seven New

Zealand reps.

In 2010 the team finished 5th in New Zealand

and last year the team won the Lower North

Island Regional Tournament before finishing

9th at the Nationals. These incredible results

have been built on the back of some very

good players like Alonzo Burton, Luke Cork-

ery, Hale Nepia Su’A , Sheldon McGuire,

Jacob Walsh and Kane Hodges. All the above

named have made New Zealand squads with

Luke gaining basketball scholarships to an

American colleges and Alonzo and Jacob

playing with the Hawks.

However, the players themselves will be the

first to admit that the real secret behind the

success of the team is Coach Damien Whit-

ten. Coach D began 4 years ago with a team

of mostly Year 11 students which, barring

Alonzo, only had a little bit of ability but a ton

of potential. He started three two hour train-

ings sessions a week which he then extended

to year long trainings. The gym became home

to the lads who also practised their shooting

at lunchtimes by themselves. Some fell by the

way but what grew was a fit, skilled team that had the resilience to beat the likes Hastings BHS,

Palmerston North BHS, Otago BHS, Westlake BHS, Wellington College, Nelson College, St Pat’s Town

and St Bede’s whilst taking teams like Auckland Grammar right to the final whistle.

If you attend a team training though you will not find any great speeches from Coach D. They are

left in Hollywood movies. Instead what you will find is nothing new and nothing surprising. There

is simply a will and an expectation among his players to work hard on their skills with snippets of

information and corrections constantly coming from Coach Whitten. Coach ties this in with a com-

mitment from his players to behave in class and complete their studies. If a team member gets a

Dean’s Detention the team runs for half an hour. If a ‘star’ is out of line he is benched.

In 2012 the team again is nearly all fresh faced. Not much talent? Should be easy beats? “Possibly”

says the humble Whitten with a slight smile in the corner of his mouth, but the team has already

beaten St Pat’s Silverstream and Palmerston North BHS. Watch this space. Good luck lads.