When it comes to exceptional students, Wentworth College’s Deputy Head Girl, Angelina Gosse, has had an exciting journey to get to where she is today.
The high achieving 17-year-old was originally born in Canada, before moving to Switzerland and then to France. At the age of 10, she left France with her parents to sail around the world for 18 months on their 80 foot racing sailing yacht, which she still lives on today. She spent 6 months in the Mediterranean, 6 months in the West Indies, and 6 months around Tahiti.
Angelina arrived at Wentworth after that voyage as a quiet Year 7 student, not speaking a word of English. She credits Wentworth’s strong ESOL programme with helping her quickly to pick up the basics to be able to understand classes, but also to understand what people around her were saying. “A special thanks to English teacher Mrs Jordan for that. I am now fluent in English and hold basics in Spanish too.”
Today, Angelina can call herself a true linguist, achieving “Top of the World” in A.S. French Language, in the 2020 Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards, as well as 96% in A.S. English Literature. This examination mark would be exceptional for a first language speaker of English, but to get such impressive marks when it is your second language shows Angelina’s phenomenal academic talent.
The key to Angelina’s remarkable success are her teachers, and also being very organised.
In order to achieve outstanding results at this level, Angelina was quick to point out, “I really make a commitment to be organised. I plan everything – so that I can do all the work needed as soon as it is given to me, which is key to keep up to date but to also plan out some free time. This enables me not to get tired, enjoy life, but also get high results.”
She is also quick to give praise to the teachers at Wentworth “My teachers have always been able to personally ‘coach’ me and answer my questions. It is very beneficial because it enables me to get a deeper understanding of the syllabus and also to push my learning further”
Now a senior Year 13 student at Wentworth, Angelina is studying Cambridge A Levels in Mathematics, Biology, French and Economics, as well as A.S. Physics too. In her spare time, she loves to windsurf, and is a talented pianist. She even has a full sized piano on her boat!
“After Wentworth, I plan to apply to universities throughout England, Switzerland and France. While waiting for my results, I am considering spending some time in a New Zealand university to keep up with the first year of my Bachelor’s Degree majoring in Biology”
“I am passionate about Biology and science as a whole; I am especially interested in bionics but also in medicine-related areas such as embryology. I am therefore thinking of studying a Bachelor of Biology or Biomedical Sciences. I would love to pursue a career related to this field.”
Last week, Wentworth College IGCSE, AS and A Level Geography students travelled to Tongariro and the Taupo area for a three day field excursion. The trip provided opportunities to extend classroom learning through direct observation and experience. Power stations and sections of the Waikato River were visited including the release of the reservoir water at the Aratiatia Dam. The huge geothermal project, Huka Falls and the Taupo caldera were also covered. On the second day, the students headed out onto the volcanic flows and trekked in the rain to Taranaki Falls. Unfortunately, the cloud level turned the mountains into a grey plateau. The gondola at Whakapapa remained closed for our entire visit, so some quick schedule juggling allowed a visit to the spa pools and slides in Taupo on the journey home. An extensive array of subjects were observed and experience gained and despite the weather, students had an educational time away and managed to cover the work they needed to do in the field. It was a very enjoyable experience for all our students.
The 70th Auckland Inter-Schools Regatta was held on Friday at Whakatere Sailing Club from Narrowneck, Devonport.
Our representatives sailors had to endure calm conditions with a significant northerly current which tested their patience. Following glassy conditions in morning the breeze filled in from the East to get the four scheduled races in.
Co-Captain Matthew Rist placed 3rd in a competitive Laser Radial Fleet & Jake Pye (Skipper) with Sam Wild (Crew) dominated the RS Feva fleet with a clean sweep of 4 races in 1st place.
The government has announced that Auckland will return to Alert Level 3 as of 11.59pm on Sunday 14th February for 3 days.
Wentworth College and Primary will be closed at Alert Level 3 apart from students of essential workers.
The school will be closed on Monday 15th February to allow our teachers to collect resources, and prepare for online delivery. Online lessons will commence from Period 1, Tuesday 16th February.
Students may come in to collect books before noon on Monday, but please observe mask wearing guidelines if you enter the school. We urge you to keep your children at home unless you are an essential worker.
Students of keyworkers may come to school, however, please note, no school buses are operating tomorrow. Please notify Mr Lee, Head of College, or Mr Dorset, Head of Primary, or gclews@wentworth.school.nz if you are a keyworker and intend to send your child to school. Parents will receive an email tomorrow explaining how online lessons will work and how to access them.
We have done this successfully before, and hopefully this will be a short interruption, and we will be back at school later this week.
UPDATED INFORMATION can be found on our website here
Six Wentworth Students have been invited to the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards Ceremony and formal dinner in Auckland later this month following their exceptional results in the November 2020 examination series. Their success is extremely impressive. Our Wentworth students have demonstrated not only academic flair and subject expertise, but also the hard work invested in their studies in what was a difficult year for so many people.
Last year, more than 2 million students sat Cambridge examinations in over 10000 schools all over the world which makes these results even more notable:
Top of the World – IGCSE Physical Education – Matthew Rist
Top of the World – AS French Language – Angelina Gosse
Top in NZ – AS German Language – Michael Berns
Top in NZ – AS Language and Literature – James Brown
Top in NZ – AS Marine Science – Nina Fuller
Top in NZ – AS Travel and Tourism – Braedyn Faire
These results are the first “Top of the world” awards for Wentworth and we are extremely proud of their achievements.
Top of the World – IGCSE Physical Education – Matthew Rist
The Wentworth Trust Board is very pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Kurt Dorset as the new Head of Wentworth Primary School from the start of the 2021 academic school year. Mr Dorset succeeds Mr Chris Donovan, who was the Head of Primary since 2013 and saw the school grow under his leadership from just 26 students to a current very healthy roll of 107 students. Mr Donovan tendered his resignation to the board last year to return to his former career in the finance sector.
Mr Dorset was selected from an outstanding field of both local and international applicants. With a Bachelor of Education and Diploma in Teaching from Auckland University, he has 16 years’ experience teaching students from Years 3 to 7.
Mr Dorset joins Wentworth following 11 Years at Saint Kentigern Boys’ School , where he held numerous leadership and management roles and was a member of the school’s executive management team. These roles have included those of Director of Curriculum Assessment and Learning (Years 0 to 8), Director of Innovation and Learning, and Head of e-Learning. In addition, Mr Dorset has been a House and Year level Dean, and actively involved in leading school camps and coaching school sports teams. A notable feature of Mr Dorset’s background includes his co-authoring of an educational paper in 2017. The paper was very well received by the educational community and following an invitation to do so, Mr Dorset presented his research at an international education conference in Baltimore, USA.
On a personal level, Mr Dorset and his wife, Brooke, have two young children. Prior to starting their family, Mrs Dorset was a New Entrant teacher at Kristin School and St Cuthbert’s College.
Mr Dorset states “I am excited to accept the position at Wentworth Primary School. The educational philosophy and values that underpin the current success of Wentworth Primary fit well with my own educational philosophy. I also have a strong belief in the Cambridge academic programme followed by Wentworth students. I look forward to getting to know all members of the Wentworth school community.”
We have been very fortunate to be able to secure Mr Dorset’s commencement from the start of the 2021 academic year.
Last term, Cambridge International sent a film crew to Wentworth College to record a short video about our AS Marine Science course. Well done to Miss Fisher and our Marine Science students; they all came across really well and the finished video looks great. We are so lucky to have the Hauraki Gulf on our doorstep to really support the practical learning in this subject.
Cambridge A Level Marine Science provides a coherent and stimulating introduction to the science of the marine environment. The AS part of the course concentrates on the scientific study of the sea; its ecosystems, including marine ecosystems and biodiversity, energetics of marine ecosystems, nutrient cycles, coral reefs and lagoons and tectonic processes. It also looks at natural features and events of the ocean, e.g. earthquakes and tsunamis and physical and chemical oceanography. The A2 part of the course concentrates on human activities that depend on the sea and have an impact on it such as fisheries management, aquaculture and the human impact on marine ecosystems.
Practical activities underpin the teaching of the whole course, taking advantage of the local environment around the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, with fieldwork at Goat Island Marine Reserve, local beaches and a conservation / yachting experience with the Sir Peter Blake Trust. Students will be required to gain at least one qualification beyond the classroom – such as Maritime VHF Radio licences, Powerboat qualifications, Day Skipper, or Diving qualifications.
In Global Perspectives this Term Year 9 are learning about New Zealand’s system of Government. Yesterday, our local MP, Mark Mitchell, visited to answer a wide range of questions put to him by the students, about the life of a politician and a variety of current political issues. Mark thought our Year 9s had some great and informed questions!
After Covid-19 lockdown disrupted the school cross-country twice, Wentworth College decided to offer an alternative solution for our students in which they could participate independently.
The College’s “virtual cross country” commenced during the second level 3 lockdown, and students were asked to run either 3 or 4 km, depending on their age group, and to record their run on an app such as Map My Run or similar. Once the students have completed the run, they then use an on-line form to enter the distance covered and time taken, together with a screenshot of the run from their app. The timeframe for completing the run will extend until the end of this week, so students may take the opportunity to achieve better results by completing multiple runs. Any students unable to take part in this format will be given the opportunity to do a timed 3km or 4km run once they are back at school.
As this is one of the Inter-house events for the year, students are allocated house points for completing the run, and the top runners in each age group (based on their average pace for the run) are awarded additional points. There has been an enthusiastic response from the students with plenty of encouragement from the student house leaders.
Here are some of our students doing their virtual cross country during lockdown!
The government has announced that Auckland is back at Alert level 3 lockdown as of midday Wednesday 12 August until midnight Wednesday 26 August. This means that Wentworth College and Primary School is closed to all students from Wednesday 12 August apart from students of essential workers.
UPDATED INFORMATION can be found on our website here
Students may come in to collect books before noon on Wednesday, but please observe mask wearing guidelines if you enter the school. We urge you to keep your children at home unless you are an essential worker or can not arrange for childcare. School will be closed until Monday 17 August to all students except children of essential workers.
Parents need to keep their children home or arrange alternative care until next week. If you are an essential worker and cannot make alternative arrangements please email gclews@wentworth.school.nz to register that your child will need to be in school. Zoom lessons with commence following the normal school timetable on Thursday 13th August and the school will communicate with parents later today.
We need to expect the worst and therefore anticipate that we could be teaching from home for longer. We feel assured that since we did this so well last time, we can rally again. Further information can be found on our website here
The Wentworth College Annual Ball took place last Saturday at Markovina Vineyard Estate in Kumeu. In a time when many schools had to cancel their school ball, Wentworth College was very fortunate that this wonderful event was able to take place. The venue this year was exceptional, and the photography provided by Cactus Photography was perfect, and captured the key highlights of the ball. The DJ created an atmosphere that was unforgettable, with music that lasted the entire night.
Our years 11, 12 and 13 students all had an amazing evening, dancing and having fun.
We also wanted to share the lovely feedback we had from the venue – we are very proud of the conduct of all our students.
“We were so impressed with the entire School, a great bunch of young adults, had a lot of fun and without doubt the best School Ball we have hosted at Markovina. You and your school have a lot to be proud of.”Event Manager, Markovina Vineyard Estate, Kumeu
Well done to the Head Boy and Head Girl, and the ball committee for all the hard work they put in to making the ball a huge success.
On Thursday 6 August, 2 teams of Year 10 students represented Wentworth College at a Regional Qualifier for the E-Pro 8 Engineering competition.
Competitors are required to use a selection of structural, mechanical and electrical items to construct solutions to the challenges posed. Team “Dumb and Dumber”, comprised of Mari, Briar, Rosie and Luca spent most of their time designing a roller-coaster. In doing so, they scored enough points to finish 4th, and will face a wait to see whether they qualify for the Regional Finals. Finishing a whisker behind them were team “Nameless”, comprised of Thomas, Ben, William, and William. These students built a motorised shopping trolley.
The EPro8 Challenge is an engineering and problem solving competition. Every year over 10,000 students from 800 schools from throughout New Zealand take part. Teams compete to build large sized structures and solve practical problems using pulleys, motors, gears, wheels and axles, inventing machines that can complete simple tasks.
