News
Swimming
Oliver Lusk (Y10) Whitby broke a Wellington swimming record at the National Age Group Swimming Championships in Christchurch last week.He took the 14yr boys 100m breaststroke record and gained a bronze medal. He was also third in the 50m breaststroke and fourth in the 200m. Well done. (10/03/2010)
Ironwoman
We are proud of our Head of Science, Mrs Gabrielle Gunn, who completed the Taupo Ironman race last weekend in a time of 14hrs44mins, to finish 14th in her age group. She had a 3.8km swim in a wetsuit, a 180km bike ride and a 42.2km run. Phew! An inspiration to us all. (10/03/2010)
Triathlon
Congratulations to Bridget Kiddle and Alexandra Heather-Sclater (Y9) who had excellent performances in the College Sport Wellington triathlon at Scorching Bay last Friday. Bridget was third in the junior girls' section and Alex was seventh. (3/03/2010)
Wellington Youth Sinfonietta
We are delighted for talented Kate Burgess (Y12) who has been appointed principal cellist with the Wellington Youth Sinfonietta. Kate will also be sitting her ATCL Recorder Performance exam in early June before leaving for California to represent New Zealand in the International Brain Bee Challenge. (24/02/2010)
Touch Rugby
Congratulations to Kate McCaw (Y13) who has been asked to trial for the Wellington under 19 Touch Rugby team following her outstanding play at the Wellington Secondary Schools tournament held today. (24/02/2010)
Orienteering
Our orienteers continue their great success. Lauren Turner (Y11) won her first event in the Women’s U18 class at the “Sprint the Bay” competition in Hawkes Bay. Hannah Sampson (Y10) competing in the Woman’s U14 class won all her events convincingly. She was the overall winner in her class for the series. Well run girls! (24/02/2010)
Cycling
Two Marsden students hold Wellington Junior Track cycling records. Ione Johnson (Y8) holds the U13 Girls 200m sprint, 500m Individual time trial and 1 km time trial records for the season. Ione also holds the 200m sprint record and the 1 km time trial for the U15 girls. Ione is joint holder of the U13 and U15 girl’s 2up 500m Wellington records. Hannah Barnes (Y11) holds the records for the U15 girls in the 200m sprint and 1 km time trial for the season and also holds the Wellington record for the 2000m individual pursuit. (24/02/2010)
Silver Crest Award
Congratulations to Rachael Wiltshire (Y10) who completed a Silver Crest award in 2009. CREST is the Royal Society of New Zealand's international awards scheme designed to encourage years 6–13 students to be innovative, creative, and to problem solve in science, technology and environmental studies. Rachael carried out a study on the effectiveness on different types of weed matting. (biodegradable vs commercially produced ). (24/02/2010)
Realise the Dream Forum
It was a great experience for Morgan Archer (Y10) who spent the week from 6-11 December in residence at Weir House Victoria University with selected students from New Zealand and overseas as a result of her great success at the NIWA Science Fair. She participated in excursions to science and technology organisations and hands-on workshops. (24/02/2010)
Skiing
Marsden has three students in Europe competing for New Zealand. Taylor Smith (Y13) and sister, Hunter-Rose (Y10) and Chelsea Wallace (Y11) have had some brilliant results. Hunter-Rose and Chelsea have had several top 5 finishes on the Junior skiing circuit. Unfortunately Taylor has had some injuries lately but hopes to resume racing on the women’s circuit shortly. (24/02/2010)
Debating
We are proud of last year's debating students, Maria English, Dipti Manchanda and Anna Robinson (Y13, 2009), who will join seven other teams in the final round of the International Public Policy Forum debating tournament to be held at New York University on 16-18 April.
They have qualified for an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to compete for the $10,000 grand prize. The competition includes written and oral debates in front of a panel of some of the world's leaders in debate, business, law and politics. Go girls! (22/02/2010)
More Debating
The World Schools' Debating Championship has just concluded in Qatar. While the New Zealand Team was beaten in the quarter finals we congratulate Captain, Maria English (Y13, 2009), who was named as the 8th best speaker at the largest WSDC ever! A great achievement. (22/02/2010)
Athletics
Anna Roche (Y13), has been selected to represent New Zealand in the 800m at the Trans Tasman Under 21 Test Meeting in Auckland this Saturday. We wish her all the best for a great race. (18/02/2010)
Swimming
Congratulations to swimmer, Maggie Burns (Y8), who won four gold medals at the Capital City Mazda Sprint Competition in the weekend. She achieved this in four different strokes and set a Wellington record in the 11yrs 50m freestyle sprint. Maggie's twin sister Georgia won a silver medal in the breastroke. (18/02/2010)
Spanish Skype
A new initiative at Marsden Karori is allowing two Y12 students join a Spanish class that is being taught at Marsden Whitby. Twice a week Tessa Grafton and Juliet Whittaker join Y12 Whitby students by using Skype (an online video call) to participate in tutorials. Resources created by their teacher, Mr Leslie Stewart, are uploaded to a virtual classroom using our learning management system. Students can access this from either campus or from home. Feedback from those involved has been very positive. (17/02/2010)
Scholarship results 2009
Our 2009 school leavers had outstanding scholarship results and we congratulate all those involved.
Hilary Beattie topped New Zealand in History as well as gaining two more Scholarship passes, while Maria English gained four Scholarship, Hannah Kitchen, Anna Robinson and Chara Sherwood achieved three Scholarship subjects each. Amanda Tan Delli-Cicci also gained Scholarship in Statistics from Y12. There was a total of 36 Scholarships including six Outstanding. This is a voluntary exam for top students who also sit NCEA Level 3. More …
Hannah Kitchen: United States Presidential Scholars' Programme
We are very proud of Hannah Kitchen (Y13 2009) who is one of 3000 students out of 3.2 million American high school graduates to be selected for the 2010 United States Presidential Scholars' Programme. Her invitation is based on her outstanding results in the SAT examinations, the entrance process for American Universities. Hannah, as an American citizen, chose to sit SATs as well as her New Zealand qualifications. Hannah starts studying later this year at the prestigious College of William and Mary in Virginia, the second oldest college in the US. This is an outstanding achievement. We wish her well at university and in her application to advance to the next stage of the Scholars' Programme. (09/02/2010)
Cycling
Congratulations to Hannah Barnes (Y11) who has been selected to represent Wellington in the RaboPlus Junior, Masters and Paracycling NZ Track Championships to be held in Invercargill 3 to 6 March. We wish her well. (08/02/2010)
New Director of Whitby
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs Anne Winnall as the new Director of Marsden Whitby from the beginning of March. 
In making the announcement, Principal, Ms Jenny Williams said: "Anne is coming to Marsden Whitby after being Deputy Principal at Corran School in Auckland for the past seven years. In addition to her extensive experience in educational management, Anne is an exceptional teacher of English, Drama and Media studies. Anne brings with her a love of reading and singing and a wonderful sense of humour.
She is a passionate and enthusiastic leader and is very excited to have the opportunity to lead Marsden Whitby into the future." (03/01/2010)
Academic Results (Provisional)
Congratulations to all of our students for their superb efforts in the 2009 examinations. They can be proud of their achievements. National statistics are not yet available but we are thrilled with the successes of Marsden students in both NCEA and Cambridge exams. See results (03/01/2010)
Top of the World
We are very proud of our students who performed at a world class level in the Cambridge examinations. Last year's Head Girl, Maria English topped the world by gaining 99% in A Level Literature. Olivia Norling (Y13) also achieved 99% in AS Level Literature. In AS Maths 82% of students gained an A Pass and in AS English 94 achieved an A Pass. See Maria's interview with John Campbell from Campbell Live TV3 2 February 2010 (03/01/2010)
The Brainiest Bee
What a brilliant result for Kate Burgess (Y12) who outsmarted hundreds of other Kiwi students to be crowned the 2010 New Zealand Brain Bee Champion in a neuroscience quiz in Sydney.
Kate now heads to the International Brain Bee Challenge in California in August. The competition, which tests neuroscience knowledge, started in the United States and has been organised in New Zealand by the University of Auckland. (03/01/2010)
World Debating
Best wishes to Maria English (Y13, 2009) who is preparing to lead the New Zealand Secondary Schools Debating Team to defend its title at the World Debating Championships in Qatar next week. Maria was the Captain of the team that beat England in Greece last year. (03/01/2010)
Scholarships
Marsden is very proud of the large number of students who have won 2010 tertiary scholarships.
Cricket
Congratulations to Old Girl, Sian Ruck (Y13, 2001) who has been selected for the New Zealand White Fern's Cricket Team to play in the Rose Bowl Women's One Day International and Twenty20 series against Australia in February and March.(03/01/2010)
School Leaders 2010
We are delighted to announce that Kate McCaw (Y12) is Head Girl for 2010. Kate will be supported by her deputy, Grace Acheson and a team of enthusiastic and supportive school leaders. See full list (11/11/09)
Dragon Boating
Y12 and 13 students who would like to try dragon boating should bring PE gear on Wednesday 3 February and meet at the Sports Education Centre at lunchtime.
Students Overseas
Our German exchange students will soon be coming home after spending Christmas away. Pictured left are Amelia Aburn, Enakshi Chakravorty, Maddie Ollivier, Sophie Kyrke-Smith, Miriam Moore and Harriet Westrate . Augusta Wills (Y12) is in France and Lucy McLeod (Y12) leaves soon for her year long Rotary exchange to Denmark. Read excerpts from our students' blogs ...