Patronal Day

On Friday the 15th the College travelled by bus to St Theresa’s for the Patronal Day Mass. A special thanks to our celebrant, Fr Martin Flannery, Mr Tait our director of religious studies, Mr Menzies for the music and the senior student helpers. The feast of the Assumption of Mary is also the Marist Brothers feast day, so it was a pleasure to be able to welcome them as one of our founding orders. Thank you also to the many parents and friends of the College who were also able to attend. Students entered into a wide range of house activities during the afternoon. Fine weather helped keep spirits high for the outdoor sports. Thank you to staff, parents and community providers who arranged the afternoon activities. These foster the special character which builds the Verdon Family.

Staff Development

On Tuesday afternoon, the staff were able to undertake professional development with Australian educational consultant Dr Julia Atkin. Julia has been working with a number of staff as part of the Verdon-James Hargest-Southland Boys' High cluster. Linking values and beliefs to our work with teaching and learning was one of the key messages. This is a requirement of the revised national curriculum for all schools but it is especially relevant to Verdon College with our Catholic special character.

Hung up on Physical Education

Mark Scobie's year 12 students Jonathan Ryan and Sam Thurlow get hung and strung by Adventure Southland's Rope and Climbing Guru Jason Holland as they attempt abseilling inside during their PE lesson.

St Kevin's Interschool

Sunday saw frost and sunshine, as our teams lined up at the bus door to travel to Oamaru for our annual St Kevin's College - Verdon College interchange.

Basketball was played on Sunday night in front of a noisy adolescent crowd, results favoured St Kevin’s in a 48-14 loss to the Senior A Boys team and a 55-25 loss to our Senior A girls.

Netball was first up on Monday morning with a great win from our Senior B team, 20-24. The A team defended hard against the gutsy St Kevin's team, falling 29-27. The soccer 1st XI kept St Kevin's in constant defence, resulting in a stunning 1-6 win. After a tremendous haka presentation from both parties and the presence of another good audience, our Rugby 1st XV battled in the afternoon sun, resulting in a 34-13 loss.

After some afternoon tea and best wishes from our past Principal Brent Russell, our crew returned home in good spirits, despite the overall loss of the interchange trophy.

St Peter's Interschool

On Wednesday 6th, Verdon College hosted the annual St Peter's College - Verdon College Junior Interschool. The day started with rain, but ended in sunshine, smiles and a quick afternoon tea.
The results:
Netball 7A - Verdon 19, St Peter's 3
Netball 8A - Verdon 13, St Peter's 39
Netball 9A - Verdon 17, St Peter's 24
Netball 10A - Verdon 26, St Peter's 39
Junior Girls Basketball - Verdon 36, St Peter's 56
Junior Mixed Hockey - Verdon 2, St Peter's 5
U15 Rugby - Verdon 7, St Peter's 24
Yr 7 & 8 Rugby - Verdon 0, St Peter's 104
Junior Soccer - Verdon 13, St Peter's 7

Well done to all those who participated, refereed, umpired, coached, cooked, cleaned, drove and financed this event.

Open Day: Sunday 3rd August

Verdon College Music Festival 2008

Results:
Junior Instrumental - 1st place - Ben Williams
Junior Vocal - 1st place - Patrick Collins
Intermediate Vocal - 1st place - Emily Mason
Senior Vocal - 1st place - Olivia Canny
Senior Instrumental - 1st place - Tim Lindsay
House Choirs:
1st Place - Dominic
2nd Place - Marian
3rd Place - Marcellin
4th Place - Catherine
Best Accompanist (Piano) - Cody Shuttleworth
Best Conductor - Rosamund More