Experience and Success at the Senior Ethics Olympiad!

Last Friday, our school’s sharpest critical thinkers competed in the annual Senior Ethics Olympiad, tackling complex real-world ethical dilemmas. Unlike traditional debating, this competition rewards collaboration, deep listening, and respectful dialogue.

We are incredibly proud to have entered two teams that represented our school with immense maturity – Team Orange and Team Yellow.

Top 10 and an Honourable Mention!

Both teams performed exceptionally well against a tough field, but a massive congratulations goes to Team Orange, who placed in the Top 10 and earned a highly coveted Honourable Mention from the judges!

A huge round of applause to the brilliant minds behind Team Orange: Michelle Warner, Alice Studwick, Olive Lim, Nakisha Wood, Scarlet Lendrum

Thank you to all the participating students for their hard work during preparation. You’ve made the whole school community proud!

Students Shine in ‘Ngā Wairau through my lens’ Competition

‘Ngā Wairau through my lens’ is a photography competition run by Auckland Council, celebrating the creativity and passion of young photographers. Judged by artist Sonja Drake and local art teachers, Madeline Susanto (Year 13) and Isabella Mitchell (Year 8) both won first place in the Secondary and Intermediate school category.

On Sunday, 24th May, they attended the opening exhibition for the Auckland Festival of Photography along with other winners from different categories. Their award-winning photographs were displayed on the gallery walls for exhibition visitors to enjoy.

During the exhibition, Madeline presented a speech about her photograph, The Golden Glow, sharing her thoughts behind her photograph and what she wanted to capture. The event was a wonderful opportunity for students to celebrate their achievements and have their photographs showcased as part of the festival.

The photos will remain on display from 24 May to 11 June at the Lake House Arts Centre.

I found out about the “Through my Lens”  competition through the Carmel Photography Club and decided it would be fun to try. So I went looking for a subject until I found the perfect idea. I was walking around Milford Beach and the park where I found a circular reflective sculpture. I positioned my camera so that it looked and if I had created an illusion with boats in the middle. Since the theme was Wairau Through your Lens I thought that our sailing and fishing community was a big part of Wairau.

When I found out I won I was so happy to have been able to take part in this competition!

– Isabella Mitchell 

Astronomy Club

At our last meeting, we worked together to build a puzzle of space and our solar system. It was really fun and a great way to learn about all the different planets and our solar system. 

The Astronomy club meets every Week A, Monday at lunchtime in MJ2, where we play games, quizzes, and do lots of other fun activities related to space/astronomy. 

The club is open for everyone to join, so if you are interested, please come along and bring some friends!

– Yu Na and Ruda (Club Leaders)

Year 8 Dance Showcase

Last Friday, something big happened for the Year 8 students — our Dance Showcase! For two weeks leading up to the performance, we spent every day practising and preparing dances to perform for family and friends.

We were coached by Manny from Dance Curriculum, who brought lots of energy, humour and encouragement to every lesson. He always reminded us to “just give it a go” and not worry about what other people thought. Every lesson was filled with learning new choreography, building confidence and having fun together. At the end of each session, we played a game called “Crazy Eights”, where students had the chance to show off their dance moves to the class.

Each group (buddy classes) worked together to create their own dance. The songs included Candle Flame by Jungle, Pop by NSYNC, and Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself by Jess Glynne. The whole year level also performed Candy Rain (partner dance) by Soul for Real and Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen.

One of the most special parts of the showcase was the partner dance for Candy Rain, where students created their own moves and handshakes with their partners. Don’t Stop Me Now was another highlight — it was such an energetic dance that we couldn’t perform it without smiling.

By the day of our lessons everyone was exhausted but excited and ready to perform. Students  organised costumes to match their songs, and entered the gym on Friday  15th  May with a a real sense of excitement and anticipation. Every class gave the performance everything they had, and the audience could see how much effort had gone into preparing the dances.

Even Manny performed for the crowd, treating us to some of his own impressive dance moves. By the end of the showcase, all of the Year 8 students felt proud of what they had achieved. Dancing in front of a crowd is not always easy, but the experience brought everyone together and created lots of unforgettable memories.

We couldn’t have done it without Manny, and we hope future Year 8 students get to enjoy the same amazing experience that we had!

– By Georgia, 8GRO

Carmel Students Represent at Model United Nations Assembly

The Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) was an engaging and insightful simulation that gave us a firsthand look at what a real United Nations assembly would be like. This year, 6 students from year 12 and 13 were split into two groups, representing Carmel College and acting as delegates for two countries. Zoya Wamoto, Alisha Gonsalves and Kyra Sacheendran represented Kenya, while Niva Simunac, Areeta Mariam and Bernie Hoyo Gibson represented Brazil.

The Kenya delegates debated on mandatory refugee quotas, and the Brazil delegates debated on freedom of navigation, with both teams also offering two different perspectives on the topic of automatic sanctions.

MUNA was an amazing experience that broadened our understanding of international issues, testing our communication, public speaking and critical thinking skills while also having the opportunity to meet with other students from a range of schools across the North Island. We highly encourage students to take up the opportunity and be a part of this enlightening event to build and acquire skills that will stay with them into the future.

– Written by Alisha and Kyra on behalf of the delegates of Brazil and Kenya

Carmel’s Success with SGCNZ

In March, Carmel College was proud to host the Auckland North Regional Shakespeare Festival. The festival featured both five- and fifteen-minute performances of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, with students competing for the opportunity to progress to the National Festival.

Schools from across the North Shore and wider Auckland region participated, with a total of 40 scenes performed throughout the event, run by the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand (SGCNZ).  Alongside the performances, students also had the opportunity to enter a range of associated competitions, including essay writing, poster design, and costume design.

Carmel celebrated several outstanding successes. Year 12 student Isla McDougall impressed judges with her exceptional performances and was awarded the prestigious Direct Entry to the National Shakespeare Schools Production (NSSP). This highly competitive programme takes place following the National Festival and brings together talented young Shakespeare performers from across New Zealand. Isla will travel to Wellington during the upcoming school holidays to participate, with the exciting possibility of being selected to perform at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. We wish her every success.

Another notable achievement came in the SGCNZ/Ida Gaskin Shakespeare Essay Competition, run in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington. Year 13 student Maya Timlin won the Analytical Category 1 award for her essay exploring the significance of setting in Shakespeare’s Othello. You can read her essay here. Congratulations to Maya on this impressive accomplishment.

Carmel Theatre Wraps Up Drop Dead!

A spectacular season of the year 13 show, Drop Dead!, has come to an end.

After months of preparing with auditions, set building, and what felt like a million and one rehearsals, we finally got to share our “little opus” with the wider school community. Our four nights of performances were filled with shock and laughter, and we are all incredibly proud of the result of our hard work.

Thank you so much to our amazing student director, Gigi Albrecht; our wonderful drama teacher, Mr Middleton; the year 12s who helped out; and Darryn and Kamal for helping build our set.

We can all safely say that our last show at Carmel was an experience we’re so grateful for, and one we will never forget.