Dear Parents

ACADEMIC OVERVIEW

Scholarship
Scholarship results came out on 15 February and Rosmini gained a total of 30 scholarships.  These are the college’s best ever results, surpassing the previous record of 23 in 2005.  This is a testimony to the hard work put in by the staff, and especially the boys in this challenging national examination for the country’s academic elite.

Scholarships were obtained in English (5), Statistics and Graphics (4 each) Geography, Economics and Technology (3 each), Calculus, Biology and Physics (2 each) and one each in French and Japanese.

There were a number of exceptional individual achievements.

• Most notably, Theodore Carlos gained an outstanding scholarship in Technology and was the National Top Scholar in the subject (1st time ever for Rosmini).  He will receive $2000 per annum towards his university studies.
• Charles Tucker also gained an outstanding scholarship in Technology.
• Foss Shanahan gained a scholarship in Technology.

All three boys were in Year 12!

• Ray Hu, another Year 12 student, gained three scholarships, including an outstanding award in Geography.
• Jonathan Lee topped the total scholarships awarded, with four, including an outstanding in Statistics.

He won an Overall NZQA Scholarship Award which will pay $2000 per annum towards his university fees.

• The other outstanding award was obtained by Jae Uck Yu in Biology, who picked up two scholarships in all.

Other notable achievements were:

• Jasper Lau, who obtained three scholarships.
• Cameron Coulter and Chris Duignan were both awarded two scholarships each.

The other boys who gained a scholarship were:

Please note that all these boys will receive $500 per scholarship subject pass.

NCEA EXAM RESULTS

In my first newsletter of the year I would like to briefly outline our exam results for 2011. It was a very good year and we were particularly delighted with our pass rates. In NCEA Level 1 we achieved a 95% pass rate; Level 2 pass rate was 96% and in Level 3 we gained an 81% pass rate. Doubtless these figures in Levels 1 and 2 compare favourably with any school in the country regardless of gender.

A mention of our top scholars is appropriate.

At levels 1 to 3 it is possible to gain an Excellence or Merit endorsement if the student gets over 50 credits at either Excellence or Merit level, or a combination thereof.  Below is a summary of the percentage of endorsements gained at each level.

Certificate Endorsement %

These were comfortably the best ever certificate endorsement results obtained at Level 1.  Both Levels 2 and 3 were very close to our best ever results also.

I would like to make special mention of our top subjects which were Graphics and Japanese.

The Graphics results reflect the work of two very dedicated teachers, Mr Hughes and Mr Kozuls. I am fairly confident that these results could be the best in the country looking at the Excellence grades.

Ray Hu of Year 12 also deserves special mention as he did a mixed Level 2 and Level 3 course and managed to gain an Excellence endorsement in both levels – an extraordinary achievement.

So, all in all, a great year academically, and what is pleasing from my viewpoint is that our boys are at last beginning to see the value in obtaining Merit and Excellence and not just being content with Achieved. The whole debate about boys falling behind girls is embodied in this change of attitude of boys. Once boys begin to focus on higher grades they will narrow the gap very quickly.

SENIOR LEADERS
The top six leaders for 2012 were appointed at the end of last year and we have now appointed our senior prefects.

It is inevitable that some boys and their parents will be disappointed and unfortunately many top boys miss out.  However we have to have a cut-off point.  The interesting fact is that the students and the teachers’ votes were incredibly close.

On a positive note, we have a Catholic Character Team and a Peer Support Group that enables other boys to take a leadership role in the school.  I have a very good opinion of this year’s Year 13 as a whole, and there is no reason why they won’t be great leaders and role models for the younger students, and set an example for others to aspire to.

STAFF
New teachers

• Patrick Hallissey (RE)
• David Pearce (English and History)
• James Roughan (Maori and PE)
• Tim Rout (Maths)
• John Smith (Physics)
• Colette Joubert (English)

No doubt the team will continue to ensure that we turn out well-rounded young men.

JUBILEE REUNION
This year promises to be a busy one.  Central to our thoughts in our Jubilee Reunion on Queen’s Birthday weekend.  This is a massive milestone in the life of the college, and one of the important aspects is to touch base with our Old Boys, parents and friends of the college.  It is important that those who are intending to come register now and talk your friends into doing the same.  There will be a Rosmini clerical presence as well as some of our past and present teachers.

SPORTS PAVILION
One of the goals of this Board, as a project for the Jubilee, is to build a Sports Pavilion at Rosmini that will be suitable for all sporting events and will be an ideal space for our Old Boys to meet.  I have no definite idea of cost but people tell me that $1 million should cover it.  I personally feel that may be optimistic but I am not an expert.  The good news is that the Diocese has approved the building in principle, subject to location and finance arrangements.  There are other conditions but I am confident that we will meet them.

What is true is that the college does excel in all sports, and very often is more than competitive with schools twice our size.  Last year we were both the Auckland and National Basketball champions; we beat our main rivals twice in rugby and were fourth in Auckland in hockey - the list goes on.  Our Old Boys comprise 10% of the Blues franchise (Gareth Anscombe, Anthony Boric, Rudi Wulf) and we have four Old Boys playing in the Premier English League division (Richard, Nick and Michael Mayhew and James Doyle).  We surely deserve a Sports Pavilion.

SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT
In the holidays Year 13 student and Sports Captain, Nic Southgate, competed in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Pole Vault competition.  Not only did he win this event but he broke one of the longest standing National records by 40cm.  His clearance of 4.90 should stand for at least a year as he is eligible to compete in the same competition next year!!  An outstanding achievement Nic.

IMPORTANT EVENTS

• We celebrated and asked God’s Blessing for 2012 at a Mass last Thursday.  We are fortunate to have our own chaplain, Fr Craig, who serves us magnificently.
• We look forward to a review on Catholic Character from Br Terence after the Jubilee.
• The Prime Minister will visit us on 23 March.  We will make Mr Key very welcome and I am hopeful that he will address our senior boys.  We have already had some leadership sessions with our senior boys and I am very confident that all the Year 13 boys will demonstrate great maturity and leadership.

God Bless.

T J GERRARD
PRINCIPAL