News and blogs from Embassy Auckland

Blogs

Interested in what life is really like at Embassy Auckland?

You can get the latest news and read about goings-on at the school on our Embassy Auckland staff blog and Embassy Auckland student blog.

News

Here are some recent news stories from Embassy Auckland:

International Day

Embassy Auckland celebrated its second International Day on Friday 22nd October 2010. The students pulled out all the stops to make this year even better than last and managed to raise a whopping $946.20 for Building Futures charity. Building Futures help to build schools for children in disadvantaged communities in China, Vietnam and other countries.

Students from China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Spain, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Russia and other countries set up their stalls by bringing in food, costumes and decorations to show off their countries. The rest of the students then had the opportunity to buy their lunch from the stalls and try out food and drink from all over the world.

Next were the cultural performances. The show was started with students from China organising a dumpling making competition. Then there was a flamenco dance, Scottish song, bebop performance, salsa dance and a few impromptu dances from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and India.

Overall everyone had a great time and the fact that so much money was raised was an added bonus. See more pictures from this event in our Facebook gallery.

Embassy Auckland Student of the Year 2010

Congratulations to Ozlem Ozen from Turkey, the 2010 Auckland Student of the Year!

Since her arrival in October 2009, Ozlem made great progress from Intermediate to Advanced level. She is a keen member of the conversation club and actively contributed to raising money for the Building Futures Haiti appeal.

Embassy Auckland Staff Run Round the Bays for Haiti

On Sunday 14 March, teachers and staff from Embassy Auckland took part in the annual Round the Bays fun run in aid of Haiti.

Students and staff managed to raise $624.90 for the appeal. This amount will be matched by the company, so Auckland will be contributing almost $1,250!

Big thanks go out to Rebecca Hayes and Wendy Hill for all their hard work and organisation and to all the staff who took part on the day.

A trip to the rugby

Carter Voyce, teacher from Embassy Auckland, writes:

On Easter Saturday, 30 Taylors and Embassy students went to a Super 14 rugby match at Eden Park. The mighty Auckland Blues were up against the previously unbeaten (and seemingly unbeatable) Pretoria Bulls.

For most, this was their first rugby game and, complete with blue and white face paint and strong lungs, they quickly got in behind the local lads.

As the sun went down and the stadium lights came on during the second half, it was clear our boys were playing well and holding the upper-hand.

Thanks mainly to the tremendous support shown by Taylors and Embassy students, the Blues went on to win 32 – 17. A great day was had by all!

See more photos from the event on our Embassy Auckland Facebook photo gallery.

Great TOEIC results from Embassy Auckland

Millions of people take the TOEIC test every year - it's the standard for workplace English language proficiency worldwide.

We're proud to say that results at Embassy schools are consistently above the national average, and Embassy Auckland has been part of that trend.

In October 2008, the average score across New Zealand was 608. Test-takers at our Embassy school in Auckland, New Zealand received an average score of 877, the highest Auckland score being 920 out of a possible 990.

Read about our TOEIC preparation courses here.

Activities at Embassy Auckland

Here at Embassy Auckland we offer a school trip every Friday. Our trips are many and varied and we endeavour to provide students with as wide a range of cultural, sporting, educational and sightseeing activities as possible. Students can of course choose to remain at school for lessons if they prefer.

We are spoiled for choice here in Auckland and students are treated to the best of our museums, galleries, zoos, indoor sports facilities and the like. When the weather permits, we climb the volcanic cones of Mounts Eden, Victoria and Rangitoto, we sail the Waitemata Harbour, visit nearby islands or we play sports in the fields at the Auckland Domain.

See more about Auckland activities, and lots of photos, on our Embassy Australia & New Zealand Facebook page.

Auckland 'fifth best city in the world'

The Worldwide Quality of Living Survey is published each year and decides which cities offer the best quality of life. It looks at 39 different criteria, from health and sanitation to entertainment opportunities and traffic congestion.

Auckland ranks as the fifth best city to live in, while New Zealand's capital, Wellington, is also in the top 20.

Australia and New Zealand both do extremely well in the survey: Sydney is ninth on the list, ahead of Melbourne at 17, Perth at 21, Brisbane at 31 and Adelaide at 32.