Year 11 students Roza Crawford and Neve Power are busy planning for the experience of a lifetime - preparing for their Rotary Overseas Student Exchange in 2020. Roza is heading to Austria in January, following in the footsteps of her older brother and sister who also went on exchanges while at Trident High School. Roza’s older sister also went to Austria and went through the same interview process with the same people as Roza. Her older siblings were her inspiration for applying for this exchange, upon their return she saw how much it changed them and impacted on their lives in a positive way. Their outlook on life was different and they realised how small New Zealand really is, they also matured a lot during that time. While she has never been to Europe before Roza is not nervous about being in a new continent with a new family, she is just super excited about the prospect of being able to learn a new language and make use of the many mountains where she can hit the slopes as she is a keen skier. Roza has been using an app to begin learning German and is feeling like she is grasping the basics. Thankfully her sister is able to help her out through skype sessions, so she will be well on her way to being able to converse with her host family who she gets to know in September. Flying out of NZ with Roza in January is Neve Power who is heading to Switzerland. Neve says she has always wanted to go on an exchange because she loves to experience other cultures. She loves her own maori culture and looks forward to being able to share that with new friends in Switzerland while learning about their culture. The proximity to ski slopes in Switzerland is something that Neve is excited about - she has never been skiing before but can’t wait to try. Neve has to pass a German language test to get her visa for Switzerland, like Roza she has been using an app but is about to start lessons with a private tutor. She hopes to come back more independent and have furthered her passion for travel. Both Roza and Neve are used to relative independence, both went to Great Barrier Island last year as year 10 students with the GBI class here at Trident. The duo are in the same form class and are good friends so there is a lot of planning going on together. Trips to visit each other in their respective countries are on the cards and they are both looking forward to the two week tour of Europe where they meet up with all the other Rotary exchange students. The girls will leave NZ together, fly to USA first, then to London before departing for their own new home countries to meet their host families and start the school year. We look forward to hearing from them while they are in Europe and wish them all the best for their language acquisition.

Trident is very pleased to have gained Gateway work experience placements for five of our students at the Whakatane Hospital this term. Arwyn Armstrong, Tia Pettifer and Ngarangi Wharepapa-Morehu are on nursing placements for five weeks while Lachie Stokes and Rhianna Hunt are on doctors placements for five weeks. Each week all five students rotate around different wards with different medical staff who they shadow in their day to day practice. Arwyn, who specifically wants to be a nurse once she has finished school, says she is enjoying getting to know how a hospital works. She says that everyone there really works as a team and it is the behind the scenes environment that has been a great experience for her already. The nurses that she has shadowed have been great at explaining their processes and routines and she has even be able to help with a few things. Tia is not set on becoming a nurse but is pleased to have gained the placement as she wants to explore all options in the health services to inform her future studies. Being in the hospital she is exposed to an array of different career options and says there is never a dull moment there. Lachie has followed a doctor in Orthopaedics and the Emergency Department so far. He is interested in exploring options for future studies. He is unsure of what he wants to do when he leaves school but is finding it interesting to explore the medical world as an option. He says he enjoys the behind the scenes part that the public don’t typically get to tsee, and talking to the doctors is great as they explain everything and help him navigate the medical language that is foreign to him. Rhianna is also exploring options within the health services for her future studies. Like Lachie, she has been in Orthopaedics and the Emergency Department where she has been placed with the house officer and two other doctors. She has found a lot of value in having open and honest discussions with the doctors about insight into the job, the pros and cons. She says they have been great in not glossing over the cons and have told her about the long hours they put in with their patients. She has also questioned them around university as she contemplates her studies next year. All students thank Mrs Benge for helping them gain placements at the Whakatane Hospital and look forward to continuing their time there. Well done to our students who are helping themselves to make informed decisions about their future studies and careers. NB- Unfortunately Ngarangi was absent so was not able to attend our meeting/ photo.

Mrs Tania Samal and Mr Alex Wenzel joined Trident this term and we caught up with them to share a little about them with our Trident community. Mr Wenzel comes from Canada and has spent time getting to know New Zealand prior to coming to Trident. He spent time backpacking around New Zealand and becoming familiar with the country he now calls home. Prior to his travels around New Zealand he was exploring other parts of the world - traveling through Europe and Australia. The most memorable teaching moment Mr Wenzel has was when teaching in Australia where he took his students to play Ice Hockey. Skydiving is Mr Wenzel's favourite activity which is followed by scuba diving, ice hockey, and snowboarding. He is lucky that New Zealand offers plenty of opportunities to skydive over beautiful landscape, snowboard some great slopes and both locally and nationally we have plenty of scuba diving opportunities. Thank you to Mr Wenzel for sharing information on himself and Please make Mr Wenzel feel welcome in our school and town! Mrs Tania Samal joined Trident this term after having worked at Whakatane High School for 21 years teaching Digital Technology. Mrs Samal says she is inspired in her teaching practice by student engagement and enjoyment. Her most memorable teaching moments have been with students on overseas trips that she and her students have been lucky enough to go on. We all need support and Mrs Samal credits her mother as her role model with the way she supports her. Some fun facts that you might like to know about Mrs Samal is that her favourite colour is purple and she used to have a pet possum! She also learnt to play the drums but unfortunately gave up when she had her knees replaced. Thank you to Mrs Samal for sharing some information about herself with us and please make Mrs Samal welcome at school and in our Trident community!

Kane Hames has played on many teams : The All Blacks, Maori All Blacks, Highlanders, Chiefs, Tasman, but the ones that he proudly pointed out to our students was his home club during his time in Whakatane - Taneatua and Trident High Schools 1st XV. Naming those two teams gained a solid cheer and round of applause from our Trident students who were suitably impressed to have an ex Trident student with such an admirable resume come back to talk to them. Kane began his day with our Te Ata Motuhake students, talking about his struggles, his goals and how he works hard to achieve these goals. Students spent time asking Kane questions which he answered with what we came to know as his extended answer where he managed to fit another three stories into the topic he was quizzed on and we were able to get a lot more insight into his career, mindset and inspiring notes. Alongside questions on his nutrition, the pitfalls of being a public figure on social media, his role models and his earning potential, he was also quizzed on his Fortnite stats and who would win an arm wrestle between him and his long time friend, Trident teacher Mr Moore. Speaking at our full school Trident assembly Kane pointed out that there were two teachers in the auditorium who he remembered well from his time at Trident - Mr Marrow and Mrs Farrell. In fact, Mr Marrow was his rugby coach during his time at Trident in the 1st XV and he had some fond memories that he shared with us. Kane has had his share of injury set backs but he spoke about resilience and what it takes to overcome hurdles. He shared his motto 'be your own problem, be your own solution' with our students - he reminded our students that no-one else will take the interest and responsibility of getting you where you need to go better than yourself. In searching for inspiration Kane says he has mentors both in person and through literature. Stressing the importance of reading, he said that he has several role models whose influence he gains from reading their books. He applies the mentorship and guidance from his role models into his everyday life, living and breathing who he wants to be and where he wants to go. He says visualising himself achieving his goals is important and informs what he eats, how and when he trains and how he speaks - with confidence and absolute conviction that he WILL achieve his goals. We were absolutely thrilled to be gifted Kane's first Maori All Black jersey and in turn Mr Gurney presented Kane with one of our new supporter-wear hoodies, a leavers jacket and a wooden plaque. After assembly our junior rugby teams had a coaching session with Kane where he ran them through some strategic moves that would directly improve their attack game. With our U15's having a convincing win this past weekend it appears they have taken on Kane's advice. Kane then spent time with our senior rugby boys, giving them specific tip line strategy and running them through drills on this. He spoke to them about how rugby needs to be played in your head, not just with speed and strength. Our boys were focussed and engaged, if not slightly star struck, running through drills with a Chiefs player and ex All Black. We were super grateful to have had Kane spend time with us and our rugby teams and wish him well as he works through his injury in order to get back on the field and into the black jersey he aspires to get back on!

The Te Kani Shield was gifted by Paora Te Kani’s family after he died in battle in Tunisia in 1943. Since then it has been played for between BOP Secondary Schools. It is similar to the Ranfurly Shield, although contested at home and away matches. The challenger must win the match to win the shield. Our journey started on May 26th 2018 when we travelled to Rotorua to play Western Heights High School and won the game 10:7. Unfortunately we failed to defend the shield in our next game when we were defeated at home 17:20 by Te Puke High School. The next time we saw the shield was in our home game against John Paul College in July when we won 8:5. We then successfully defended it away against Rotorua Boys School winning 28:10. This win meant we got to keep the shield and were entitled to have our name engraved onto it. This is the first time in the history of the shield that Trident High School has had their name on it. This year’s journey to defend the shield started on the 11th May, with our first home game against Aquinas College. Trident’s 1st XV played an awesome game and took the win 51:0. The boys and the shield traveled to Rotorua this week to take on John Paul College. The boys anticipated they would be in for a tough game, as they took the shield from JPC last season.  Although JPC had lots of pace and good structure they were not prepared for the speed, set plays and teamwork that THS displayed.  THe game saw JPC score one try as opposed to Trident’s 7.  Rihari Jobe, Daniel Ford and Ethan Wharewera all scored 1 try each.  Dallas Teepa and Kaia Cole scored 2 each and Ethan Wharewera added 5 conversions to the scorecard.  The game ended 45:5, means Trident keep the shield for another week.

50 excited students. Three excited teachers. By 8.30ish on Wednesday morning we were packed in our bus with nary a seat to spare. After a coffee break in Katikati we reached Sylvia Park where shoes seemed to be the hot ticket item. Before long we found ourselves at our accommodation for the night - three smallish lifts for 53 people. You can imagine the chaos. After settling in the students had some time to themselves before meeting back with the staff and traipsing off to a comedy show. A first for many of our students. The four comedians and host had the majority of us in stitches. Jokes that covered things from 90s dance routines to self serve petrol stations. No one was safe - especially the unfortunate couple in the front row... Jeremy Corbett happened to be sitting in the front row and some of our brave students went up to ask for a photo during half time. Thursday morning was an early start for some and a slightly rushed start for others but we were checked out and seated in the stalls at Aotea Centre ready for the first speaker of the day - “The Book Thief” author, Markus Zusak. Zusak began by asking us questions before launching into two stories. It was through telling these stories, one about being robbed and one about pranking his brother, that he subtly taught us how to be better writers. It’s the small details he explained, the background of the characters, and the unexpected. These are some of the things that make stories real. Next was Akala, a Hip Hop Shakespeare enthusiast. The students were quickly drawn in when he asked if we could identify Shakespeare or Hip Hop in a series of lyrics from that he shared. From there in he gave a run down on the reality of Shakespeare’s time and how Hip Hop has been inspired by Shakespeare’s use of rhyme and rhythm. He cited Nas, RZA, and even Jay Z. He showcased his verbal dexterity with a masterfully crafted Comedy, Tragedy, History rap that squeezed 27 of Shakespeare’s plays and then some of the bard’s most famed quotes into a slam dunk of auditory delight. He also reminded us that language is to be heard and invited us to consider where the word “audience” even derives from which is from the word “auditory” (to hear). Ms Bowe was quick to head out with some of the students to meet Markus and Akala during our quick lunch break. We returned to listen to Eileen Merriman, a New Zealand author and doctor, who shared how writing is a cathartic experience. She writes everyday after she finishes her shift as a hematologist. Merriman read passages from her new book before taking questions that revolved around the characters from her earlier books and the art of balancing her job and her passion. Our final session was with Val Emmich - an American singer/songwriter and actor. His vulnerability and honesty onstage was humbling and raw. He spoke openly about his struggles with anxiety and depression which struck a chord with many of the audience. He played a song from his latest album before talking about how he was asked to write the novelisation of the Tony Award winning show Dear Evan Hansen. Emmich gave several poignant pieces of advice: Turn your weaknesses into strengths. The things that hold you back can also push you forward. The thing that you keep to yourself, might be the very thing that helps you connect with others. He left us with some thoughtful points to ponder before heading out for signings. Again Ms Bowe and some students were quick to get in and meet with both Val Emmich and Eileen Merriman. Finally, it was a short walk to the bus and a goodbye to Auckland and the Lime scooters as we made our way home.

Trident’s English Department’s programme is dynamic both in and out of class with scheduled annual class excursions that expose our students to the world of literature beyond the classroom and beyond our small town. Each year a group of students head to the Reader-Writer Festival in Auckland where they attend seminars and workshops with some of the world’s literary best including Man Booker Prize winners, Eleanor Catton and Richard Flannagan; Poet Laureates, Carol Ann Duffy and Selina Tutsitala Marsh; New Zealand writers, Glen Colquhoun and Witi Ihimaera and best selling authors such as Patrick Ness, Anthony Horowitz and Markus Zusak.The Festival brings the very best local and international writers of contemporary fiction and non-fiction, scientists, economists, poets, journalists and public intellectuals together with audiences to explore ideas, share stories and experience brilliant conversations.  The festival celebrates curiosity and a sense of intellectual adventure and the programme is driven by the desire to spark ideas, to get us talking and to give us a time and place to engage with the world. Teachers take a group of lucky students each year to go to see Shakespeare plays at the Pop-up Globe in Auckland where they are treated to the world’s first full-scale temporary working replica of one of the greatest theatres in history, the second Globe.  This season the Globe presents Shakespeare’s ultimate exploration into the abuse of power with romantic comedy The Taming of the Shrew, dark comedy Richard III, a timely production of controversial comedy Measure for Measure and the most famous play in the canon, Hamlet.  “This isn’t dusty Shakespeare. This is bawdy, hilarious, brutal and bloodsoaked. It is the theatre that changed the world.” Trident regularly produces students who qualify for the National Spelling Bee competition which attracts the top performing schools in the country.  Impressively, for the last seven years, Trident students have reached the National Final after qualifying through some tough regional rounds. Making it to The Spelling Bee Final includes some additional benefits such as an all-expenses-paid trip to Wellington and a visit to parliament. While we know travelling away from school is not possible for all students, Trident ensures that our students do not have to leave town to see high quality live theatre performances - we have the Ugly Shakespeare company visit annually.  They have just been here to perform last week and students who chose to watch the show saw Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’. Students and teachers alike thoroughly enjoyed the show and we thank the group for visiting. Taking a group of students weekly to the local Radio Station 1XX to present shows is yet another opportunity our students are afforded at Trident via the English Department.  This group of students enjoy the opportunity to work on their oral language skills in an authentic setting and get great feedback from the community. We congratulate our English Department on how they weave these fabulous learning experiences into their already full programmes and know our students appreciate the time and effort it takes to make this all happen.

Recycling pays! And it pays in trees! Trident is proud to be in partnership with Paper4Trees whose mission is to see recycling bins in all classrooms around the country, and to get as many people as they can involved in waste minimisation and native tree planting! Paper4trees is a waste minimisation and tree planting programme for NZ schools and preschools. They encourage schools to recycle their paper and cardboard by providing 30 litre recycling bins (free of charge) for every room that generates paper and cardboard waste. When these bins are full, the contents are emptied into the schools main kerbside recycling collection bin, or taken to the local recycling centre. As an incentive for diverting as much paper and cardboard from landfill as possible, they reward each school with one native tree/plant for every two cubic metres of paper and cardboard recycled. The native trees are sourced from 30 different native tree nurseries around the country so we can ensure that trees are sourced locally. Trident has been taking part in this fantastic initiative for a decade now and in the last year we have earned 34 native trees which our fabulous gardener has just planted around the school. Julie has collected many trees and thousands of dollars worth over the 10 years which she chooses according to her planting plan from Coastlands Plant Nursery. The trees have created noise reducing buffers for our neighbours and leafy outlooks all around the school. Julie takes pride in our schools gardens and it shows, throughout the entire school we have thoughtful green spaces that provide shade, interest and a beautiful outlook. Julie says trees and plants have to be hardy as they withstand the knocks from sports games that are started around the grounds at lunchtime, she has chosen well as the plantings look great year round. Julie would like to remind students and teachers to keep up the good work with recycling and to appreciate their school surrounds that are tribute to that good work. Thank you to Julie for keeping Trident green and beautiful!

It's nearly the end of the 2019 Orienteering season! Trident has had students travelling to Rotorua after school every week on a Wednesday night during term 1. This year we have limited the club numbers to 2 school vans full. It was first in, first served, more students wanted to join this popular sport, but logistics would only allow us 2 vans per week. Mr Rowland has been running Orienteering since arriving at Trident 10 years ago! Over the decade, that is a lot of students who have been exposed to the sport who have learnt to be better navigators. Orienteering is a growing sport, mainly in Rogaining which is a particular type of Orienteering and is firmly on the map as a popular choice for New Zealanders. (Rogaining is a mix of navigation, adventure, strategy, and fun. It can be done on foot, MTB, kayaks or skis, depending on where the venue is). Luckily for us, we have a brilliant local club in Rotorua OBOP which allows us to enter 20 plus students per night. The maps they provide are excellent, well worth the running and brain power to race them. The club runs a summer series in Feb and March each year using a 1 hour Rogaine style of course, in a mixture of parks, forest and Urban areas around Rotorua. In a rogaine you’ll be given a map with marked checkpoints/controls which are given different scores and your challenge is to get the highest score within a set time by visiting as many controls as possible. But note, you will have points deducted if you are late. Everyone finishes around the same time so the event centre is always a social spot. The shortest rogaine events are one hour, and the national and world Championship events are 24 hours, but any set time limit can be used. Longer events will often have a shorter duration option available.  In the longer events there will also be a dark component to add to the navigation challenge. In a rogaine you are given the map before you start, and everyone has the same amount of planning time – around 5 minutes for a one hour event and 3 hours for a 24 hour event.  This means that you and your teammate need to put your cunning strategies into place as to the most efficient method to collect maximum points versus minimum distance travelled within the competition time. In a rogaine you can return to the event centre any number of times, and can finish whenever you like. Recording your visits to control sites is done with an electronic punch (NAVLIGHT or SPORTident), a clipcard and punch, or by writing down the answer to a question or copying a short code. At the end of the event your score is counted, points deducted if you are late. If there is a draw on points between competitors, the quickest time wins. Mr Rowland says the constant navigation skills needed to succeed during a Rogaine are extremely beneficial to young students development. Often competitors are making 200 carefully thought out decisions (all with consequences) during an hour of running. Thats a great pay back for brain development! As more adventure races are appearing locally like soakedinadventure and the 6 hour series, also nationally like spiritedwomen and Godzone, Rogaining is becoming a first choice sport for New Zealanders. This year we are planning to extend the Trident Orienteering Club into MTBO (Mountain Bike Rogaining). Trident is very lucky to have so many teachers like Mr Rowland who not only dedicate themselves to teaching but also to helping our students be involved in sport, going out of their way year after year to provide opportunity for our students. Mr Rowland is passionate about getting students involved in Orienteering and we thank him for the past decade that he has worked with our students in this sport!

Trident’s English Department finds success year after year.  The department is full of passionate teachers who deliver programmes that not only enable students to find success but where students can explore language in its many different forms.  In any given classroom in the L block you will find students busy working on creating visual/ verbal texts, poems, making and presenting speeches, reading, debating, forming opinion pieces, creative writing …….. In 2018 Trident’s English Department had the most students awarded English Scholarship in the wider Bay of Plenty.  Scholarship is the highest level of academic competition in NZ. It is a competition, not a qualification and it is run across most curriculum areas. The top approximately 3% of those who sit the exams gains Scholarship with the top .5 % gaining Outstanding Scholarship.  Students who are awarded Scholarship in their subject demonstrate high-level critical thinking, abstraction and generalisation, and to integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations. The prestige of gaining Scholarship awards also comes with a monetary prize to help fund tertiary study and it undoubtedly equips students for tertiary education and life beyond school.  To build confidence and develop critical thinking skills for the students Trident runs a cross-curricular programme of workshops where students problem solve and think critically and creatively. These are team-based challenges which develop thinking and learning relationships between the students and also between students and teachers. Tasks might be centred around ethics – first introducing the concept of ethics and then presenting some dilemmas to solve. The benefits of teaching at this level is that that the robust critical thinking generated in Scholarship classes help shape wider school academic and curriculum programmes that benefit all learners. In fact, the Scholarship programme is an open door opportunity for students to enter should they like a challenge. The door is never closed to students who like thinking, and year after year we find that often the ‘wild card thinker’ who is unafraid to take risks, gains Scholarship.  Students enjoy the opportunity to extend and challenge their thinking, Courtney Wilson (Year 13) says "I love my English and Statistics Scholarship classes as they really open your eyes to just how much of the subject lies beyond the classroom”. In English specifically, HOD Ms Bowe runs a Scholarship workshop every Wednesday where students explore how literature positions us to think about our human experience. Students learn to think critically about how texts reflect, reinforce and challenge social, political, psychological, philosophical, cultural and historical ideologies. Additionally, students are encouraged to read texts through an alternate lens such as: postcolonial, feminist, Marxist, structural in order to develop perspectives other than their own. Our aim is to create global citizens who want to be the change. While we realise success at the highest level in Scholarship exams in English, this filters down and Trident celebrates Literacy levels at 98% at Level 1. The scholarship classes also boost the number of excellence and merit subject endorsements that students from the English department gain each year. Outside of NCEA accomplishments, we have also had students represent Trident in the National Spelling Bee seven times in the last seven years.  Last year Ben White placed second equal and this year we will likely have some talented students following his footsteps! Supporting the English programmes in school Miss Coffey is also currently running a writing competition and Mr Williamson is taking confident speakers to 1XX to learn how to present on the radio. How lucky the students at Trident are to have such a high achieving culture in the English department.

Trident’s Peer Support programme is a distinct and special programme which looks at supporting Year 9 students in their transition to high school. The Year 13 Peer Support Leaders spent 2 days in leadership training in order to equip them to facilitate small groups of Year 9 students in co-operative and collaborative activities. At the powhiri at the beginning of the school year, the Year 13 Peer Support Leaders met their Year 9 students with their whanau and together they looked at what supports learning at Trident. These bonds were further developed the next day when the Year 13 Peer Support Leaders met their groups again and began building connections and friendships. The groups have met together once a week for 4 weeks building cohesion and collaboration between senior students and Year 9. Through this mentoring and role modelling Year 9 students come to experience the core values of Trident. In week 5 Year 13 Peer Support Leaders and Year 9’s spent a fun filled and sunny day at Ohope Beach. During the day, students worked together to solve challenges that required co-operation and collaboration. The groups also worked together on a sand castle which represented the theme “TEAMWORK". Last week the programme ended with a shared pizza lunch. Below we hear from some of our students on their experiences of the programme. Year 9 student Dahrius Tahu has enjoyed not only the start of his time at Trident but specifically the Peer Support programme. Dahrius’s main concern when starting at Trident was getting lost at Trident and aside from a bit of confusion where he was on the first day, he has sailed through with the help of his Peer Support Leaders- Tia, William and Rhianna. His peer support leaders showed him and his group around the school and taught them what it means to be a student at Trident. He says there was a focus on teamwork and communication skills in all the activities he did with his group and knows that these skills are important to help with school life. Dahrius says he knows he can go to his Year 13 peer support leaders if he needs advice or help with anything as he has a good relationship them. The Beach Day was the highlight of all the activities he was involved in, with lots of challenging teamwork activities like lifting a bucket of water with pieces of string. When Dahrius is a Year 13 student he wishes to be a Peer Support Leader and help Year 9 students settle into life at Trident as well as he has, feeling like there is nothing to worry about and feeling a whole lot more grown up than when he left Intermediate. Like Dahrius, Year 9 student Jonte Moore thoroughly enjoyed the Peer Support Programme. He says getting to know senior students was really cool and he feels comfortable with them and being in a big group of students now. The fun activities meant Jonte got to know people in his group a lot better even though he had known them previously from Intermediate. He says that his Peer Support Leaders Joel, Taryn and Lachie were super helpful and he felt like they really enjoyed working with the junior students. They are approachable and friendly so Jonte feels like he will happily go talk to them around the school over the year. Jonte enjoyed the Beach Day as it was a chance to put new skills to use in his group and now feels very settled at Trident and knows what it means to be a Trident student. Year 13 student Maia Alexandre is a Peer Support Leader and has had a great time with her group of fellow Year 13 leaders and their Year 9 students. As a Year 9 student, Maia recalled her experience of Peer Support as being super helpful in settling into Trident, especially having come here from Wellington and not knowing anyone. From this experience she knew she wanted to give back to the school by being in the programme that set her up here and is so pleased she has been a part of it. Aside from her focus on giving back, Maia has benefited personally. She says being in a leadership role has helped with her social skills - specifically in how she can relate effectively as a leader to younger students. Maia must have done well with this relationship building as her group went from being shy Year 9’s to outgoing students who wanted to have a go at everything which Maia was so pleased to see at the Beach Day. Maia’s Year 9 students have flourished under her groups leadership and she hopes they will continue their relationship over the year. Trident is grateful and pays thanks to our Year 13 Peer Support Leaders for their awesome mentoring of our Year 9 students.

Our new teachers have now settled into life at Trident so it is time we got to know them a bit better! The teachers have kindly shared a bit of information about themselves with our Trident community. Make sure you say hi and make them feel welcome when you see them around. Mr Sam Barr - Mathematics teacher Where have you come from prior to starting at Trident? I have just graduated from Teacher College at Waikato University. Prior to gaining my teaching degree I gained a bachelor of commerce in Accounting and worked as a tennis coach. What inspires you in your teaching practice? Seeing students make progress and watching them get a sense of satisfaction out of the improvement in their learning. Most memorable teaching moment? Relief teaching drama - Way outside my comfort zone. Who is your role model and why? I really look up to people who have the ability to inspire, empower  and bring out the best in other people. What is a fun fact our students might like to know about you? I represented New Zealand in tennis. If you could invite 3 people (dead or alive) to dinner, who would they be? Roger Federer, Will Ferrell, Donald Trump What's your favourite movie? Gladiator Dr. Nishanthan Rabeendran - Science teacher Where have you come from prior to starting at Trident? I was teaching Physics and Science at Orewa College in Auckland before I started at Trident. What inspires you in your teaching practice? Knowing that education can change the outcome of a person's life-such as bringing someone out of poverty. Most memorable teaching moment? I bumped into a student who was working at Warehouse, and he told me how he remembered my zombie analogy in his physics exam. He was not even in my class but learned the zombie trick through a friend who was. Who is your role model and why? Jesus- I admire his servant leadership, that he was powerful yet he was meek. Bob Hurst - one of my supervisors at University, he had a vast amount of knowledge in his field yet he didn't use it for his sole benefit, and he was kind and supportive to his students. What is a fun fact our students might like to know about you? I have built lasers, I can do Kung-Fu, I have flown an aeroplane, and we have 3 different last names in my family (my wife, myself and 2 kids). Mr Te Manaakitanga Pryor - Te Reo Maori teacher Where have you come from prior to starting at Trident? I have been the head of Maori studies at Maunganui College for the past 8 years. What inspires you in your teaching practice? I have been privileged to have been taught by my elders, when knowledge is given to you, you have a responsibility to share that knowledge and ensure our language, our customs and the teachings of our ancestors are kept alive. Most memorable teaching moment? Hearing about past students using some of the skills they have acquired in my classes to make positive contributions to their Iwi, hapu and Marae. Who is your role model and why? People who up hold the mana of their Marae whether it’s preparing food for manuhiri, speaking on the Paetapu or cleaning the toilets while also getting on with their day to day activities. What is a fun fact our students might like to know about you? My favorite movies are The Godfather part 1 and 2. Miss Alex Howe - PE teacher Where have you come from prior to starting at Trident? Prior to Trident I lived in America for 4 years where I attended Delta State University. I was lucky enough to gain a full sporting scholarship (for tennis). During that time I was able to travel a lot for my university competing and I also finished my degree and came out with a Bachelor of Science (exercise science). When I finished my 4 years I decided to move back home where I jumped into the teaching field and completed my teaching qualifications through the University of Waikato. What inspires you in your teaching practice? -Seeing students grow and strive to achieve their goals. I hope to inspire students where they as well believe that they can go and achieve anything they put their minds to. Who is your role model and why? I would have to say my parents. Just looking at what they have achieved throughout their lives, how they overcame obstacles and gave up so much for me so that I could pursue my dreams is amazing. They've truly influenced my life the most and pushed me to where I am today so I hope I can influence others as they have. Fun fact A couple of things I still have to cross off my bucket list are; visit every continent, go sky diving and paragliding, see the northern lights & get my motorbike licence :-) Ms Jackie Simoes - Mathematics teacher Where have you come from prior to starting at Trident? I have spent a good part of the last ten years in Australia, working in tertiary education at a first year level for around four years. What inspires you in your teaching practice? Small breakthroughs inspire me and make my heart sing! There is something very special in seeing the 'penny drop' and being witness to that aha moment. Most memorable teaching moment? Setting up the Indorayon Expatriate School in Indonesia back in 1995 for around fifteen expatriate families living in Porsea. Who is your role model and why? My parents are my role models, they have always worked hard and long hours to provide for my siblings and I and they would often stay up till late at night assisting us in our 'rote learning', which was considered the way to retaining information back in the day. What is a fun fact our students might like to know about you? Many years ago I entered a Ceroc dance competition which was held in Auckland and managed to get into the semifinals. If you could invite 3 people (dead or alive) to dinner, who would they be? Geraldine Cox; Nelson Mandela and Freddy Mercury. What's your secret talent? Pottery.