Saint Kentigern College Monthly News

Saint Kentigern College has so many interesting and uplifting events to publish on their daily news segment on their website at http://www.saintkentigern.com so it was fascinating to read of the presentation organised by the Jewish Federation recently. This is part of their HOPE Project bringing Holocaust survivors to New Zealand to share their stories with Kiwi schools. As the number of Holocaust survivors diminishes, face to face accounts, such as  the one presented by Mrs Goldstein at the school, will become a rare historical source. The students were privileged to have this opportunity, which supports their learning in Year 10 Social Studies and the senior History syllabus. It certainly left the students with a lot of food for thought.

In rather similar vein, it was with great sadness that the College recorded the passing of

Mrs Elizabeth MacFarlan, aged 89, whose funeral was held recently in the Chapel of Saint Kentigern. Mrs MacFarlan, affectionately known as Betty, has held a special place in the heart of Saint Kentigern College for many years, and is fondly remembered as a gentle, caring woman who played an important part in establishing the sense of family within the Saint Kentigern community. As the wife of the founding Headmaster, Reverend Adam MacFarlan, she witnessed more change on campus over the years than any other person associated with Saint Kentigern.

For a month usually associated with lots of sporting news, our final news item concerns

two of the College choirs who have gained selection for the prestigious Big Sing National Finale.  The College premier choir, Kentoris and their all comers boys’ choir, Menasing have again impressed a panel of judges and made their way into the top tier of choral singing. The Big Sing final will see the top 24 choirs from around the country sing over three days at the end of August.  Saint Kentigern is the only school in New Zealand to have two choirs solely from one school to be selected and more than 70 of their students from Year 7-13 will get the chance to travel to Dunedin and compete at the highest level.  The competition will be live streamed on the web and attracts over 20,000 viewers from all around the world.  Each choir is required to present two recitals that include a wide variety of genres, languages and styles. They will then be presented with a Gold, Silver or Bronze award by an international panel of experienced and distinguished adjudicators.