Our students performed on Monday and Tuesday nights this week.  These two nights were expertly run and organised by Kirsten Bell and her team from Cockle Bay School.  

This year the festival had a theme of "TV", with each group having to perform a dance to the theme music from a TV show.  Our students performed in two groups. Firstly a group run and choreographed by Mrs Anderson to song Red Right Hand from the TV show Peaky Blinders.  The students had amazing costumes and their performance was original and dynamic, with all dancers looking polished and confident.  The second dance was organised by Mrs Ready who had choreographic assistance from Alex Ready and Lilly Grieg. They used the theme from the TV show Mission Impossible and the dancers succeeded in using both dance, gymnastic, and acting skills to weave a story of criminals and secret agents on stage.

Well done to all our amazing dancers on another fantastic year at the Howick and Pakuranga Dance Festival.

The boys started strong and won their first game against Pukekohe 1-0. They carried on their winning streak and won the following two pool games. Papatoetoe 3-1 and against Remuera 2-1. 

The boys did really well and came first in their pool. 

The boys then played off for 1st-4th place. Unfortunately, the boys got tired and after a close game, lost to North Cross 1-0. Straight after this game, without a break, they played Pukekohe again for third and fourth place. Tired legs got the best of us and it came down to a 0-0 draw. This led us to shoot outs, which we unfortunately lost. 

The team showed great sportsmanship and done really well to come 4th overall across Auckland! 

Congratulations to all students who entered a project this year. It is a lot of hard work and takes considerable time and effort, and you have all done yourselves proud!

The standard of projects this year has once again been very high and we would like to thank all students for producing such amazing projects. Well done!  69 projects were entered and of those, 20 have been judged the best of the fair.

Special congratulations to the students listed below and a special thanks to the parents and teachers who supported them along the way.

Innovations and Inventions

Lydia Anderson - Chalk it Up

Camerone Chin and Joe Thistlethwaite - Corner Laptop Protectors

Hemadri Dutta - The W.E.L.J

Brooke Game and James Ling - Canine Kai Feeder

Kieran Gawn - Six Months in a Leaky Boat

Kishan Harry - How Loud Is It?

Kayan Lawyer - Blind Corner Warning Sign

Reuben Martin - Give Me a Brake, Car!

Benjamin Merchant - Bikers' Indication Vest

Annabelle Olsen - Freedom from Nagging

Consumer Science

Holly Borthwick - Are You Bready For Some Gluten?

Aleisha Coleman - What's with all the Gluten-Free Waffle?

Living World

Sam Buckingham - Ready, Steady, Grow

Benjamin Kee - CSI Neurosky

Jack Want - Diabetes in Action

Physical and Material World

Olivia Dixon - Too Loud!

Henry Zheng - Hydraulics Power

Environmental Science

Celia Chan and Leona Zhao - Galvanic Coffee

Sofia Currie - How Clean is My Beach?

Benjamin McLaren - The Worm Hole

We will interview all these students about their projects and then decide which projects will be entered into the NIWA South and East Auckland Science and Technology Fair, to be held at Mission Heights Junior College on 15/16 August. We wish all these students well and all the best for the judging, and their interviews.

Girls
On the last week of Term 2 the Girls Futsal team played at Sancta Maria college in the South Eastern Zone Competition. The girls played really well winning 6 of their 7 games. On the day we scored 26 goals and conceded 11. We came 2nd place based on goal difference. A big thank you to Miss Chong for being our coach and managing us the whole day.

Boys
On the last week of term 2, the boys played in the South Eastern Zone Futsal tournament at Sancta Maria College. We won nine games, drew one, and lost one to Mission Heights Junior College. Overall, we came first by goal difference, as we scored 48 goals and conceded 14, beating Saint Kents College, who placed second overall. It was a good day and we had lots of fun!

A huge thank you to Mr Pillay for coaching us, and thank you to the people who came along and supported us.

Seven schools and over 55 students competed on the day. Our squad of 12 players demonstrated a great deal of skill and determination throughout the tournament.

Congratulations on our top 3 boys winning the tournament.

Leo Mamedov was the champion of the inter-school tournament. He played Henry Han in the final, who placed second on the day. Simon Qian, produced a well deserved 3rd place.

Boys
On Tuesday 18 June, the Somerville boys hockey team travelled to Lloyd Elsmore to participate in the South Eastern Zone boys hockey tournament, 2019. The tournament saw Somerville field a mixed team of Year 7 and Year 8 boys. The team responded to the challenges of playing 6 games in a tournament of 11 a-side games.

Participating in pool play, our first game was against Elim. It took a while for players to settle into their positions but we ended the game successfully, with a 1-0 win to begin the tournament. Our second game was against St Kents and it was a tough and close game, with a final score of 3-0. Our third game was against Pakuranga Intermediate School, with a convincing 5-0 win. Our fourth game was against Farm Cove Intermediate School, with a convincing win, 7-0.

We proceeded to the semi final playing Mission Heights, a tough game with the drama of a final. Eventually after a few nail-biting minutes, extra time, the team won a thrilling game 1-0. Then, it was onto the final against BBI. The team scored an early goal and there was an overturned goal, a late penalty corner and we had won! Our boys held firm and ended the tournament in 1st place! Off to the Interzone competition.

Team Members: Brett Chaimowitz (Captain), Gary Basson (Vice Captain), Kieran Gawn, Phoenix Thong, Japman Sodhi, Ryan Collett, Jacob Lowe, Aarav Aulakh, Archie Musham, Scott Thomas (GK), Henry Calvert, Jake Kirby, Jayden Chhima, Xavier Madden.

Thank you to Mr Chaimowitz who coached the team and to the parents who supported the team on the day.

Girls
On Thursday 20 June, 13 Year 7 and 8 girls competed in the South Eastern Zone Hockey tournament. The girls had a great start to the day, winning against Farm Cove 2-0, Pakuranga Intermediate 4-0 and Elim 5-0.

The girls came first in their pool and headed into the semi finals against St Kents. This was a tough game and the girls played extremely well. The score at full time was 0-0. We went into overtime and, no one scored. This meant the referees had to go off a penalty corner count. This was not in our favour as we had one defensive penalty corner against us, so unfortunately, we lost that game.

This took us into the play offs for 3rd and 4th place. The girls gave it all they had left, however, were extremely tired from the day and lost to Farm Cove 1-0, coming 4th overall. The girls showed great sportsmanship throughout the day!

The year 7 girls were up first, with Mae Reynolds finishing in first place. The year 7 boys had a strong finish by the top ten, with Tyler Gagiano winning the race.

The year 8 girls ran impressive times, with Nadine Wesseling winning. Connor Boulton convincingly won the Year 8 boys' race, with a time of 8min 47 secs.

Congratulations to our top 10 runners for each year level and also all the runners who gave it their all and achieved a 'personal best' time.

Year 7 Girls
1st - Mae Reynolds, Room 31
2nd - Zoe Brazier, Room 5
3rd - Helena Dunn, Room 34
4th - Rochelle Christie, Room 28
5th - Ashley Fillet, Room 28
6th - Monique Pulley, Room 33
7th - Breanah Kirby, Room 31
8th - Cassidy Christianson-Sparks, Room 10
9th - Charlotte Wofinden, Room 35
10th - Addison Doeg, Room 2

Year 7 Boys
1st - Tyler Gagiano
2nd - Alex Scott, Room 34
3rd - Ruben Lee-Robertson, Room 35
4th - Zane Veness, Rm 16
5th - Finn Wessels, Room 15
6th - Christofell Greyling, Room 30
7th - Ashton Phipps, Room 28
8th - Keegan O'Reilly, Room 6
9th - Sam Read, Room 5
10th - Levi Saunders, Room 31

Year 8 Girls
1st - Nadine Wesseling, Room 25
2nd - Sophie White, Room 18
3rd - Lucy Lonie, Room 14
4th - Demi-Lee Morris, Room 26
5th - Rachel Flavell, Room 11
6th - Olivia Taylor, Room 13
7th - Jennifer Wu, Room 22
8th - Avadee Nowell, Room 8
9th - Alex Ready, Room 27
10th - Bella Lonie, Room 13

Year 8 Boys
1st - Connor Boulton, Room 13
2nd - Tyron Newell, Room 7
3rd - Isaac Smith, Room 27
4th - Ryan Burgoyne, Room 11
5th - Nicholas Rooney, Room 27
6th - Zac Dawes, Room 17
7th - Thomas Blakeman, Room 21
8th - Joshua Gagiano, Room 19
9th - Kaiden Warren, Room 18
10th - Rick Liu, Room 17

Winning 4-0 against Glenbrook School in the first round, the boys then played Glen Eden Intermediate in a tough game that ended in a nil all draw. In the third round, we met Auckland Normal Intermediate and won convincingly 6-1.

Our first semi-final was against Pukekohe Intermediate. Again, the team was outstanding and had a hard fought yet decisive win scoring 3 goals to 1.

In the final, we met Glen Eden once again. After 5 minutes, we were awarded a penalty shot at goal. Unfortunately, our striker missed. After many attempts at goal from both sides, the final whistle was blown for full time and the game was to be decided in a penalty shoot-out. Thanks to our outstanding goal-keeper and excellent strikers, we prevailed, and claimed the title of Auckland Champions 2019. In total, we scored 13 goals and had only 2 goals scored against us in the 5 games played.

The entire team played extremely well, showing outstanding defensive and attacking play. We are all very proud of them for achieving the Somerville vision of being “the best you can be”.

Year 7 Girls
When the Year 7 Girls Soccer team arrived at Somerville recently, we were all ready to go to Seddon Fields in Western Springs, to compete in the Auckland Champs Soccer competition. The team played extremely well throughout the day, one energetic game after the other. By the end of the day we were exhausted but very happy having achieved SECOND PLACE!

We lost only one game and drew once. We had three wins and some amazing shots at goal, as well as some incredible saves by our goalkeeper.

Year 8 Boys
On 13 June, the Year 8 boys soccer team participated in the Interzone Soccer tournament at Seddon Fields. 8 teams from the Auckland region played in the tournament.

We won our pool defeating Papatoetoe, Northcross and Waimauku Schools. We met Kowhai Intermediate in the semi finals and won a really close game, in a penalty shootout . In the final we were up against Northcross Intermediate. Unfortunately the fatigue from the last couple of games got the better of us and we lost 2-0. We did, however, show great sportsmanship throughout the day and had lots of fun.

A massive thank you to Mr Pillay for taking us to the tournament and coaching us, as well as Mel Nicol for helping with transport.

This event included primary, intermediate and secondary schools from around Auckland. The students were:

Finn O'Sullivan
Jemma Woodard
Gemma Vincent
Tabitha Boswell
Bree Luca
Alexia Delport
Nathaniel Dalton-Wilson

The theme of the awards this year was 'Friend or Foe' in reference to how our environment is endangered by pests and pollution. All of our students took to the catwalk under effects lights, and with representatives from business and fashion industry looking on.

Much to our delight we took out the second place with Bree Luca's garment titled 'Kea Queen' and Alexia Delport took a merit for her creation of plastic bottles, into a garment representing the danger of plastic to our oceans. Congratulations Bree and Alexia!

All of the students are to be commended for their efforts and participation in this evening.

All gymnasts performed well and made themselves and the school proud on the day.

The girls competed on three apparatus; the beam, floor and vault and the boys competed on the vault, mat and floor. We had a number of gymnasts place on the day which means they will go on to compete at the Auckland Championships next term.

Congratulations to these students who placed:

1st place Y7 girls team 1 - Charlie van Asten, Abigail Persson, Kaitlyn Long, Jasmine Xu
2nd place Y7 girls team 2 - Charlie Lindsay, Micah-Rose Galway, Zoe Brazier, Maddison Richards
1st Y7 girl overall - Micah-Rose Galway,
2nd Y7 girl overall - Abigail Persson
3rd Y7 girl overall - Kaitlyn Long
3rd boy overall (Y7&8) Jordan Wade
1st Junior Comp Individual - Amelie Lianto
3rd Junior Comp Individual - Sophie MacIntyre
3rd Senior Comp Individual - Indie Nichols

A special thank you to Kirsten van Asten who assisted with coaching.

The schools were Maraetai Beach Primary school, Cockle Bay Primary school, Bucklands Beach Intermediate, Howick Intermediate and Elim Middle School. Students lined up in anticipation to put their best foot forward on the catwalk that was adorned with fairy lights and giant banners depicting cultural images from around the globe made by syndicate F students’ and teachers.

Tables were arranged with V.I.P seating where our trained hosts served tea, coffee and treats to guests from our community including local principals, BOTmembersand local teachers.

The quality of the garments were outstanding and the show was a huge success with winners from a range of contributing schools.

Our very own Gemma Vincer won the Year seven and eight Kiwiana category with her outstanding flax and Maori design inspired creation.

Bree Luca won the Pasifika Year seven and eight category with her garment titled ‘Kea Bird”. Bree’s garment was made out of toi toi branches complete with a constructed mask and hand made talons. She looked every inch a professional as she modelled down the catwalk, Pia Groenewegen won the Asian Avante garde Year seven and eight section with her origami inspired creation. Pia’s garment boasted over 1500 handmade origami butterflies which were attached to a dramatic looking kimono and asian styled umbrella.

These garments will be displayed alongside other winning garments from Bucklands Beach Intermediate and Cockle Bay Primary School at the Uxbridge Arts Centre in Howick until July 2 as part of our “People’s Choice Awards” . Please go along and vote for one of our winners and look at the other outstanding garments on display. We would like to thank all of the local businesses involved that made this showcase such a success, as well as the teachers and parents that assisted in the smooth running of this event.

We have decided to enter some of our outstanding Somerville garments into the Manukau Beautification awards that will be held on Thursday 27 June at the Vodafone Events centre. This evening will showcase wearable garments and performance items from Primary, Intermediate and Secondary schools across Auckland and is sure to be an entertaining attraction for our community.

To view more photos, click here.

We had a great turnout and everyone enjoyed performances by our kapa haka, stage ensemble, wearable arts parade, choir, musical theatre dance group and a special sign language performance by Room 35, entitled 'This is Me'. Grandparents were then able to spend time in the classrooms, where they engaged in a lot of fun activities.

Please click here to view photos of the day.

This is always a very special event on the Somerville calendar and we look forward to another successful Grandparents Day next year.