New Zealand Association of Language Teachers Certificates of Excellence Awards for 2018
Each year the New Zealand Association of Language Teachers rewards high-achieving students, who sit NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3 Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish as a second language, with a Certificate of Excellence to recognise their achievements. In each Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 language course, there are five Achievement Standards which involve listening, reading, speaking and writing. To qualify for a Certificate of Excellence, 14 or more credits at Excellence level, including at least 3 from externally assessed Standards and 3 from internally assessed standards, are required. Grades for the 2018 NCEA internal and external assessments resulted in six PNBHS students qualifying for Certificates of Excellence.
Level 1 endorsed with Excellence
French: Fergus Congdon (right)
Level 2 endorsed with Excellence
Chinese: Thomas Sun (left)
Japanese: Samuel Goodman (studying in Japan)
Level 3 endorsed with Excellence
French: Alistair Keay-Graham, Lachlan Walcroft (at university)
Japanese: Eric Kwon (at university)
Management Consulting Club Competition
Congratulations to William Wood and his compatriots who have qualified for the National Finals in Auckland on 24th and 25th May 2019.
For a third year PNBHS has entered the Auckland University Schools Case Competition, in which teams are tasked with preparing a plan into the future for a struggling business. This years team consisting of William Wood, Antariksh Nag, Nikhil Banerjee and John Cole, were one of the 84 teams to take part in the preliminary round.
Preliminary Round
This round focused on building a business plan for the NZ Post to ensure their viability into the future. They were then selected as one of the top 16 teams to compete in the semi-finals in which they faced the momentous task of bringing Toys R Us back from the brink of liquidation. Through their joint plan of franchising and supply chain renovation they were selected as one of the top six to attend the national finals, in an all expenses paid trip to Auckland on the 24th and 25th of May.
Finals
PNBHS was one of six teams to be selected out of the 86 entrants in the case competition to attend the finals event. Being one of three schools not located in the Auckland region to qualify, the pressure was high. The teams were given three hours to prepare a case for OnzO, a growing bike sharing business’s future. The competition was fierce, with the team presenting well in their 10 minute presentation and in the following 10 minute question time. In the end, the team came in third, the first time PNBHS has made a podium finish in the competition. 
Judges feedback afterwards was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the fact that there was next to no difference between the top three teams. One of the four judges even made the comment that he thought PNBHS could have won. Overall, the group were happy with how the competition went. Thanks must go to Mr Kenzie, Mr Turnock and Mr Leighton for enabling the team to compete at such a high level.
Auckland University also facilitated a tour of the campus and accomodation the following day, which provided an interesting insight for the boys into university life.
John Cole has been busy! Congratulations too on being awarded a Royal Society Te Aparangi (Science) travel scholarship. John will be leaving for Bulgaria on 25 July where he will attend a series of workshops and seminars on developing research skills in Mathematics, Informatics and Applied Science at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.