'CATCH A RISING STAR' - CONCERT IN THE CATHEDRAL

Over 400 boys, from Years 5 - 8, played to a packed Holy Trinity Cathedral on Tuesday night at what has become one of the highlights of the school calendar - The Concert in the Cathedral. The evening began with a rousing performance by the Kapa Haka and ended with the much-loved rendition of "Tequila" by the Jazz Band. All the different bands played with enthusiasm and a high-level of skill, and the evening was a huge success.

DESKS BOUND FOR SAMOAN SCHOOLS

On Tuesday 10th November, over 500 King’s boys loaded their classroom desks and chairs onto two containers on their journey to two schools, Falese’ela and Safato’a, on the south west coast of Samoa. These schools serve 6 local villages with a desperate need for support following the recent tsunami. The children in these schools have very little equipment at all and currently do their lessons sitting on the floor. Each King's boy attached a personal letter of friendship and encouragement to his desk, and generous parents also contributed tee shirts, books and stationery to be sent with the furniture.

All classrooms at King's now have the new Furnware desks and chairs, to complement those in the LightHouse. The new furniture has been designed specifically to meet the needs of each individual student. Each desk and chair is tailored to the correct height of each child ensuring better posture and comfort.

ST CUTHBERT'S COMES TO VISIT

Year 1 St Cuthbert's girls spent the day at King's with our Transition and Year 1 boys while the Year 2 boys went off to St Cuthbert's for the day. Many new friendships were forged over storytelling and play time!

NATIONAL SEIDO KARATE CHAMPION!

Finn Matheson, 2CO won National Champion in the under 10 division at the National Seido Karate Tournament despite being only 7 years old. He also achieved the extremely rare feat of scoring a perfect 10/10 from all five judges. No-one present had ever seen a perfect score at any previous Tournament at any grade level
Finn was presented with his gold medal and certificate by Hanshi Charles Martin of New York honbu (honbu=headquarters - 'hanshi' is the rank of 8th dan black belt, is second highest in the world and only three people have ever attained that rank).

NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL TENNIS CHAMPION

Arash Hafezi, 7Mc, has won the Junior Tennis Masters at just 12 years old. This gives him the ranking of the Number 1 twelve year in New Zealand. Arash started playing tennis three years ago and practises at least four times a week.

Congratulations Arash! A fantastic achievement.

'LIFT THE LID' ART EXHIBITION IN THE LIGHTHOUSE

On October 29th the Lighthouse was packed with hundreds of people admiring all the amazing pieces of art produced by every boy in the school and exhibited in the first major Art Exhibition of its kind to be held at King’s School. For most boys this was their first ever exhibition and a chance to share their work with their families.

King’s Old Boy and celebrated artist, Sir Don Binney officially opened this amazing exhibition.

Every spare wall in the Lighthouse was filled with a huge variety of different artwork from all year groups, using different medias, topics and colours. Families mingled and admired the art, stopping to discuss the various pieces as they caught their eye. It was a fantastic evening for the whole school community.

JAZZ ENSEMBLE WINS GOLD FOR KING'S!

On Saturday August 29th the King's School Jazz Ensemble won a Gold Medal at the Auckland Junior Music Contest held in the Performing Arts Centre. This annual contest, run by Lewis Eady, attracts schools from all over Auckland. It is the first year that King's School has entered in the group category and the judges were wowed by their performance. "The group played with precision and accuracy, were musically well-prepared, confident and had a strong sense of rhythm and ensemble. Overall excellent" theycommented, before rewarding them with the coveted Gold Award.

CROSS COUNTRY SUCCESS

This year has proved very successful for our runners of the cross country competition. King's School Yr 6 team came 1st in the Remuera Zone competition, and the Yr 5 team came 2nd overall. In the Eastern Zone cross country championships, our Yr 7 came 2nd overall.

Congratulations boys!

KING'S SCHOOL WINS EASTERN ZONE SPEECH FINAL

Year 8 student, Harry Wilton, won first place at the Eastern Zone Speech Finals Competition on Thursday 20th August. Nine schools from the region competed in this highly competitive annual event, held this year at Kohimarama School. Harry's winning speech was entitled ‘Big is Good’. He will now go on to represent the school at the 'Champion of Champions' in September.

Good luck Harry!

GIRDLERS' SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT RETURNS TO SCHOOL

Former King's School student, Tom Elton (graduated 2003), was guest of honour at full School Assembly on Friday. He spoke to all the students about his award and of his fond memories of his time at King's School. Tom was recently awarded the Girdlers' Scholarship to study economics at Cambridge University. Awarded to one New Zealander a year for their exceptional all-round ability, Tom is the 4th King's School Old Boy to receive this recognition. At Assembly he credited his time at King's as being a major influence in his success, and particularly paid tribute to Mr Maurice Lees who taught him in Year 8 and continues to teach at the school.

To mark the occasion Tom was presented with a special Achievers' Tie by Headmaster, Tony Sissons.

POSTER DESIGN SUCCESS!

Sung-Woo Baek, 7Bo has won a Commended placement in the “11 - 14” age group of the 2009 Kidsline Poster Competition. This is a significant achievement as they received thousands of entries from around the country with only 25 children in each age category receiving commended awards. As a result of his achievement Sung-Woo is invited to a prize giving on August 11th when he will receive a prize pack including an iPod Shuffle, a Nestlé pack and a certificate of congratulation.

VISIT FROM SYDNEY BOYS' GRAMMAR

This week King's School families are hosting 70 boys from Sydney Boys' Grammar Prep School who are here to work with our music department and join with our boys in performances with orchestras, bands and choir. The exchange culminates tonight in a major concert in the Cathedral with the combined musicians from Sydney Grammar, King’s School, St Kents, Dio, St Cuthberts, Corran, and Dilworth. Our Honours Band, Orchestra and Choir are performing combined items and our Jazz Band are performing solo numbers.

FOUNDERS DAY

On Friday 5th June the school celebrated its 87th birthday with a special School Assembly attended by Chairman of the Board, Simon Moore SC, the Court of Members and other distinguished guests. The traditional birthday cake was cut by the youngest boy at school, Tom Lindberg, and boys from Transition and Year 1 classes were lucky enough to taste it!

GRANDPARENTS DAY

On Thursday and Friday of last week we welcomed all grandparents to King's to see the work of their grandsons and to see their school in action. They were also treated to performances by the Junior School, the Chapel Choir and the Jazz Band before walking around the school with their hosts.

DINOSAUR WEEK IN THE PREP SCHOOL

Last week in the Prep School was a very special one - Dinosaur Week! The boys in Year 2 spent their days learning about all facets of dinosaur life. They made dinosaurs of their own, dressed up as dinosaurs, dug for dinosaurs inside giant eggs and were even treated to storytime with that most famous anthropomorphic dinosaur of all - Barney! (aka Headmaster)

A DAY WITH THE PRIME MINISTER

On Thursday 21st May two of our reporters from Kingsway magazine, Matthew Nugent and Max Robinson, spent the day with the Prime Minister and got an exclusive interview with him! (Interview can be read in the latest edition of Kingsway).

The boys travelled with John Key and his motorcade visiting the Royal Foundation for the Blind, and attending a Tourism Conference at Skycity where the Prime Minister gave a speech on the future of tourism. They then formed part of the media pack as they put their questions on behalf of King's School.

MAX GIMBLETT RETURNS TO HIS SCHOOL

Last week at a special Foundation evening, King's was delighted to welcome back former pupil and internationally-acclaimed artist, Max Gimblett. Max currently resides in New York, and his work is featured in an exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum. Max was here in Auckland to donate a major piece of art especially painted for King's, and to unveil it to the whole school. Entitled, Victory, the work has been painted in Gimblett's signature style of fluid brushwork, using the school's colours of maroon and black. It hangs in the hub of the school in the Lighthouse Atrium as a means of inspiration to the boys.

On Friday Max spent the morning in the art rooms with the Year 8 boys, and the Headmaster, in a workshop exploring his unique style of painting and artistic creativity.

ANZAC DAY SERVICE

Term 2 commenced in the Memorial Hall with a moving full school service for Anzac day taken by Headmaster and Father John. Prayers were said as we particularly remembered boys from this school who lost their lives during World War II.

END OF TERM SERVICE FOR THE BOYS

A thought-provoking Chapel service was held today for the boys to reflect on what Good Friday means in the christian calendar. A Reading was read by visiting priest, Father David Guthrie, on the crucifixion and then the Altar was dramatically "stripped" and put into darkness as the boys reflected. A collection was also made for the Anglican Hospital in Gaza, which was damaged in the recent conflict.

ATHLETICS DAY SUCCESS

King's had two wonderful days at Mt Smart last week at both the Senior and Middle School Athletics Day and, for the first time, the Junior School Athletics, out at Mt Smart under glorious sunny skies. All the boys competed well for their Houses and some fantastic results were achieved in a number of events. Special congratulations to Francesco Hazelwood who broke the school record in High Jump, and to Finn Perkinson for breaking the record in the cricket ball throw.

BUDDING TRIATHLETES AT KING'S!

3 Year 7 boys achieved great results at the Auckland Secondary School Triathlon Champs at St Kent’s College on Monday. They all finished very comfortably racing in an Under 14 category despite their young age and it being their first big race.

(From left to right) Thomas Wilkie, Chas Wakefield, Daniel Edwards

CONTINUED SUCCESS FOR OUR SWIMMERS!

Four Year 6 boys continued their success story this week at the Zone Swimming Championships bringing home the Field Cup for the Primary School Relay. A Cup not won by King's since 1998. These boys also recently competed in the 2009 NZ Junior National Swimming Championships resulting in a huge haul of medals.

Fraser Brodie — 3 gold medals, 3 silver medals, 1 bronze medal and a 5th placing.

Joshua Foulkes - 1 silver medal and 8th,15th,28th,39th placings.

Max Kennedy-Till - 5th,10th,20th,57th placings.

Fin Perkinson — 10th,16th,20th,23rd placings.

This was a great achievement by all the boys in an event that included all NZ competitors in this age group.

KING'S BOYS ON TV3 SUNRISE SHOW!

Team members racing in New Zealand's inaugural school Soapbox derby today appeared on TV3's Sunrise programme whilst honing their racing skills for the upcoming Eastern zone race on Sunday.

FAMILY DAY BBQ

On Sunday the Friends' Association organized a very successful informal family day at King's. Large numbers of the school community came and enjoyed some late summer sunshine with a picnic and sausage sizzle. Children played on some fabulous rides, enjoyed the Aquadome and slurped slushies, while parents had time to enjoy a relaxed catch up with friends on the Top Lawn.

OLD BOY, WILL MARTIN, SINGS FOR THE SCHOOL

Former King's School boy, Will Martin, wowed some 400 parents and staff of the school with his amazing voice at the recent Friends' Cocktail Party held on the Top Lawn. Will sang two of his favourite songs and spoke to the crowd about his time at school and how he discovered his passion for singing while here at King's.

FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP AWARD

Year 5 teacher Julia Lee was recently presented the 2009 King’s School Foundation Fellowship Award from Foundation President, Ranjit Sinnaduray. With this fellowship opportunity Julia hopes to explore sustainability within King's School and the greater community. Focuses will include researching our carbon footprint, energy consumption, possibilities for recycling and how we can realistically promote sustainability in King's School in future.

NEW CHAPLAIN FOR KING'S

A special commissioning service was held for the new chaplain, John Goodwin, yesterday in the Chapel with Staff and senior boys. Bishop John Paterson, the Bishop of Auckland, welcomed Father John (as he is known to the boys) as the new chaplain of King's School.

SCHOOL STARTS FOR 2009!

New boys and staff were welcomed to King's School by all with a powhiri and full school assembly. The new chaplain, Father John, blessed the start of the year, the Kapa Haka performed a rousing welcome and the Headmaster gave a positive message of how to make the most of the coming year.