"Rockstar" jazz musician nets national accolade
Auckland teenager Toby Barrett is turning heads in the jazz world.
The Avondale College student has won the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award this year.
He is among 85 students from 18 secondary schools around the country to earn the prestigious accolade.
The awards recognise the achievements of learners who took Cambridge IGCSE and Cambridge International AS and A levels in November.
Barrett came top in the country in Cambridge International AS level music.
A saxophonist and band leader, he is an award winning performer.
Barrett has netted awards in jazz competitions around the country and won the improvisation award at Avondale College.
Peers and teachers describe him as a "rock star."
Barrett plans to study music and commerce at the University of Auckland.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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