Bay Harbour: August 23, 2017

Wednesday August 23 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
BAY HARBOUR
PAGE 11
Linwood
College
PERSONALISED
PATHWAYS
TO SUCCESS
2018 Student Leaders: 1st Row: Vai Mariner, Crystal Mehlhopt, Jenna Hollis, Leeah Mullany, Sarah Moana Wooff-Smyth
2nd Row: Eden Pettigrew, Adonai Schwenke, Anaru Gray, Cole Barrie
3rd Row: Havana Aaifou, Thomas McHutchison, Sapana Kharal, William Paulden, Sean Robertson-Wright, Makayla Austin
Enrolling now for 2018
Principal’s Report
National Fagasa Speech Competition
Kia ora koutou.
Talofa. Kia Orana.
Malo e lelei.
Bula. Fakaalofa
atu. Namaste
and Kumusta.
Greetings to our
Community.
Last year Linwood
College and a
group based on the East Christchurch
community centres undertook a major
community consultation about our
school. This opportunity to be involved
in the vision for the redevelopment of
Linwood College was whole-heartedly
embraced by the community. Over
1300 people responded with many of
these responses being face-to-face
conversations.
A variety of themes arose out of these
conversations with the dominant being
that:
Linwood College should nurture
personal excellence by providing
varied opportunities to meet
individual needs. The school should
foster a ‘love to learn’ culture that
creates high levels of achievement
and success in ways that are
accessible for all.
This theme drives everything that we
do and at present it is being applied to
how our students select their senior
subjects. Our own LC experience, that
of our families and whãnau and formal
research, all agree that for many
teenagers the process of selecting
subjects becomes more personally
important and meaningful when part
of considering wider career pathways.
This is why LC now calls our Years 7-10
curriculum the ‘Learning Pathway’ and
Years 11-13 the ‘Career Pathway’.
Yes, education is full of jargon but in this
case, there actually are some helpful
phrases that enhance understanding.
Two such terms are Backward
Mapping and UBD, Understanding
by Design. A useful overall summary
sentence is, “Start with the end in mind
and work backwards.” To support this
way of thinking we have redesigned
the Career Pathways booklet and
subsequent processes to link school
subject choices with pathwayunderstanding.
It is about positioning
teenagers to be future-focussed:
thinking ahead, playing to their
strengths and accepting challenges.
Ngã mihi nui to our community as the
positive activity of the year continues. I
am always keen to meet people if any
member of the community wishes to
talk to me about anything. My door is
open.
Richard Edmundson
Tumuaki - Principal
Major Production 2017 ‘Wolfstock’
Gateway to our Future
Emerging Leaders
Last month the Samoan National Fagasa speech
competition was held in Woolston at the EFKS
church. Congratulations to Vai Mariner - 1st equal
for Year 13, Titi Ma Sun - 4th for Year 13 and Gloria
Su'a - 2nd for Year 11. This was an outstanding
result especially considering that they were up
against students from the Auckland and Wellington
regions!
Vai Mariner- 1st equal for Year 13
Photo provided by Ana Mulipola
This year in ‘Gateway’ Linwood College students have work experience in a wide
range of industries and have been gaining some valuable skills.
First Aid
Hospitality
Health and Fitness
Year 13 students, Vanessa Franklin, Amber Taylor-
Jones and Tayla Spence receive certificates for
Advanced Customer Services, achieved through the
Gateway programme.
As the newly appointed Performing
Arts teacher, when I first came to
Linwood College I was quick to see
the wonderful talent that our school
had and sought a musical which our
students and families would enjoy.
Settling on a Maverick Musical called,
‘Wolfstock’ (written by Mary McMahan
with music by Donald Woodward),
this was the perfect challenge for our
students.
With time and practice the students
thrived in this environment and the
end product was exciting, funny and
dynamic. I am exceptionally proud of
my students and the effort that they put
in. To all the parents who transported,
waited, got up super early and gathered
costumes - thank you so much! We
could not have done this without your
support. I can't wait for the next one.
Mrs Boyce-Da Cruz
In early July, selected students
were given the opportunity
to attend the annual Christ’s
College Emerging Leaders’
Conference, along with
representatives from many
Canterbury schools. At this
conference many inspirational
speakers told their own
unique stories and passed
on quintessential advice for
Communities of Learning
aspiring young leaders.
Callum Lawson, said that the
day was an inspiration. His
favourite message was from
the speaker Joel Bouzaid, that
leadership is something that
you can own, something that
you can bend and mould to suit
your traits and strengths, so
that you can be the leader you
hope to be.
Callum Lawson
(Year 13)
Linwood College belongs to two Communities of Learning. Tamai is the schools
of Bamford, Bromley, Linwood Avenue, Linwood College, Linwood North,
Tamariki and Te Waka Unua. The other is Aupaki: Heathcote Valley, Linwood
College, Mount Pleasant, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Redcliffs and Sumner.
We are very excited about the rich opportunities that lay ahead for our tamariki
within these learning communities or kãhui ako from early childhood through to
secondary school and beyond for many years to come.
Linwood College • Phone: 982-0100 • Email: office@linwoodcollege.school.nz • www.linwoodcollege.school.nz