Jazz Festival

Congratulations to The Verdon Swingers Jazz Band for their highly successful performance in the Jazz Festival last night. The overall second placing was well deserved. (Wakatipu won again -- but this time only by two points!)

Our individual prize winners were:

• Best Compere -- Olivia Canny
• Best Vocalist -- Olivia Canny
• Best Bass -- Matthew Collins
• Best Saxophone -- Ben Cochrane
• Best Brass -- Lauren Irvine

Thanks to all staff and students who came and supported our group.

Marian House Day

Marian held their House Day on Wednesday. The official day is 12 September, and it is a day to celebrate the “Holy name of Mary” our Patron.

Mary always points us to God, reminding us of God's infinite goodness. She helps us to open our hearts to God's ways, wherever those may lead us. Honored under the title “Queen of Peace,” Mary encourages us to cooperate with Jesus in building a peace based on justice, a peace that respects the fundamental human rights (including religious rights) of all peoples.


We have been celebrating our house day by continuing the theme “Marian House Members Care”. The home room teachers purchased a heap of snarlers cheap from Gerry McSoriley the singing butcher. We decided to become “One World Partners” by committing to this Caritas Charity. One of the efforts supported by this charity is Wells for Africa. Senior students, Mr Smith and Mr Buxton promoted our BBQ in assembly and cooked the BBQ besides our banner and tent. Year 8 Marian boys dug a well and struck chocolate brown water at 1.3 metres. Students could barter with the well keepers for water which they could then use to get a cheaper sausage. This was to raise awareness about our adopted charity. We raised $130 this way which will cover six months of sponsorship. The well attracted much attention and the charitable message was well received with a number of students who did not want a sausage donating for the cause.

Danielle Cavey wins National Award

Danielle Cavey, a year 13 student, was short listed in the Pikihuia Awards for Maori Writers—in the ‘Best Short Story (in English or Maori) by a Secondary School Student’ category.

Danielle was awarded 1st place for her short story Lullaby—originally written for a Level 3 creative writing internal assessment.

This is an outstanding achievement considering that this is a national competition and of the 10 finalists Danielle was the only one from the South Island.

You can view photos of the event by clicking on the image to the right.

Careers Expo

Verdon students at the Careers Expo, held at the Southland Stadium.

Patronal Day

Images from this year's Patronal Day.

St Kevin's Interchange

A video montage of this year's annual interchange between Verdon and St Kevin's.

St Peter’s Cultural Interchange

80 instrumental and vocal students from St Peter’s and Verdon Colleges joined forces for a “Cultural Interchange” day at First Church, Invercargill at the end of Term 2. The students took part in choral and orchestral workshops throughout the day and presented a short, informal concert in the early evening.

Music Festival

The 2007 Music Festival involved about 200 students taking part in House Choirs and individual instrumental and vocal solos. This is a competitive event and the students perform to an adjudicator and an enthusiastic audience from our school community. This has become an increasingly popular inter-house event in the school’s calendar.

Journey of the Cross and Icon

As part of the World Youth Day 2008 celebrations we were privileged to have the World Youth Day Cross and Icon of Mary in our school grounds today. World Youth Day is actually a series of events, culminating in a final mass in Sydney on 20 July 2008. The Journey of the Cross and Icon began its New Zealand trip on 10 June, and will make its way northwards over the course of this month. It will leave our shores for Sydney on 30 June.

The cross was gifted to the youth of the world by Pope John Paul II, and has travelled far and wide – it has been throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, South America and The Philippines, to Poland and Prague, to the German Parliament and even to Ground Zero in New York. The Icon of Mary joined with the cross in its travels in 2003.

After the celebration at Verdon College, the Cross and Icon left for Bluff and Stewart Island.

Bishop’s Shield

The Annual Bishop’s Shield competition was held at Verdon College this year. St Kevin’s was the overall winner this year.

J Rock

Year 7 and 8s from Verdon College entered J Rock (Junior Stage Challenge) which was held at the Civic Theatre on Friday 27 April. Each school had to perform a 5-8 minute performance based on an original theme. We chose Sports Day. This involved many practices directed by Mrs Mason. Our dance scene was choreographed by Emily Lough. Emily was helped by Meg Prendergast and Brianna Parkes at practices.

When the performance day came we had to go to school and get on a bus at 9:20am. We had a fun filled morning with music, dancing and fun sports activities. It was then time to put our costumes on and ‘settle down’ ready for our stage performance.

Before we went on stage we had to get our faces painted in our house colour. Then it was our turn. Everyone was so excited and nervous but we did incredibly well and got 6 awards of excellence for performance skill, stage use, choreography, visual enhancement, soundtrack and concept.

Photos of the performance can be found by clicking the picture above.

Lucy Heenan and Greta Melvin

Annie

Annie was this year's school production, and you can see pictures photos from the performance by clicking on the picture to the right.

Catholic Schools’ Day

Verdon College had a mass today to celebrate Catholic Schools’ Day. Invercargill has had Catholic Education since 1867, when the first school opened in Conon Street. In 1882 Dominican Sisters arrived to support the work, and in 1897 Marist Brothers joined them. Verdon College opened its doors in 1982.

Photos of the mass can be found by clicking on the photo above.

Bluff Marae Visit

On Tuesday 20 March, 901 and 902 made a trip to the Bluff Marae. Here are some of 902's thoughts on the overnight stay.

Also check out the photos of their stay!


The trip to the marae was a new experience. I had never been to a marae before, and I must admit I wasn't really looking forward to it at first.I liked all the carvings, they were really well done with bright colours and full of stories that were interesting to hear.

Getting the crabs was fun! I caught two, a big one and a small one. I also got wet feet in the process. It was also funny listening to all the people shriek at the crabs when someone teased them with one.

I liked doing the art that night, and the games were fun as well. The games proved, once again, that girls are better than guys!

The Glory Walk the next day was hard, but fun. My legs were really sore, and we had to wait out in the cold for the bus to come.

It was a really great experience, and it was a lot better than I thought it would be.

Holly Harrex

The marae trip was different to any camp I have ever been on.

The meeting house was amazingly colourful and full of stories. The artwork was amazing, and the people's hospitality was great. It was kind of strange that both classes had to sleep in the same room, but nevertheless it wasn't a bad night's sleep. Well, apart from Hr Hartley continuously snoring!

Becky Leishout

We learned about the carvings in the meeting house, and also the patterns on the wall. In the evening we discussed the symbols and objects hanging from the roof. They were about Maui, the sun, birds, the sea, and other things.

Kadin Boyle

I liked the visit to the freezer and the crab hunting. The artwork in the marae was cool. I didn't get much sleep though, and I'm real tired now.

The marae was much better than I expected. It was a good experience. I wish it could have gone for longer because one night wasn't very long. The food was good as well.

I would love to go again.

Olivia King

Sports Day

Our annual Sports Day was held at Surrey Park again this year. Check out the photos of the event by clicking on the picture to the right.

Marcellin House Picnic

The Marcellin House Picnic was held this year at Daffodil Bay. Click on the picture on the right for photos of the event.