Western News: June 28, 2016

12
Tuesday June 28 2016
WESTERN NEWS
Hornby High School
Commitment,
Achievement,
Years 7 – 13
School, curriculum
revamp progressing
Resilience,
Respect
Kia ora koutou, Talofa, Kia Orana, Malo e lelei, Bula, Fakaalofa atu, Namaste,
Kumusta. Haere mai ki Te Huruhuru Ao o Horomaka. Warm greetings to the
Hornby High School community.
Have you heard the saying “May you be
blessed with interesting times”? People tell
me that it was an ancient Chinese curse. I
haven’t been able to find any evidence to
support that suggestion, but nevertheless
the sentiment is possibly true in many cases.
However, our interesting times at Hornby
High School are anything but a curse. They
are a time for excitement and anticipation.
Planning is now well under way for the
almost complete rebuild of the school. The
only existing buildings to remain are the
auditorium and music school, both of which
will receive a make-over. The Ministry of
Education is rebuilding the school for 800
students as our roll continues to show strong
growth. Why? The word is out: Hornby High
School is a great place to be.
Running in parallel with the building rebuild
is a “rebuild” of the junior curriculum.
Students learn best when their learning
connects across subjects, when it is related
to real-world problems, and when it is
“culturally responsive”. That is, when it has
meaning in the lives of individual students
and their own cultural backgrounds. That
is our goal. Our aspiration is to have every
student find coming to school to be the most
compelling thing in their day. I use the word
“aspirational” because it is one of those
things we will always be working towards,
although we may never fully achieve it. Over
the next three years (the approximate time
span of the rebuild) we plan to rebuild our
junior curriculum to achieve just this.
Put simply, we see our curriculum in Years 7
to 10 as offering students the opportunity
to discover their learning passions, while in
Years 11 to 13 (the NCEA years) they have
the chance to develop those passions. It is
too early to state what that curriculum might
look like, but it is likely to include a good
dose of technology (ranging from traditional
engineering to 3D printing, robotics and
coding), liberal arts (drama, music and the
visual arts) and the sciences, all built on a
solid framework of literacy and numeracy.
Perhaps most importantly though we will aim
to have these subjects explored by students
while considering real-world problems.
If you have any thoughts on these issues,
please feel free to send me an email and let
me know. In the meantime, as soon as we
have some firmer drawings and plans for the
new buildings, we’ll be keen to show these
around the community to let you know what
is happening.
You can follow my thinking on issues that
are both specific to Hornby High School and
also of more general educational interest on
my Principal’s blog “Whakatauki: He waka
eke noa”, after all we are indeed all in this
together – https://whakataukihewakaekenoa.
blogspot.co.nz/.
Cooks cater for camp
Ngā mihi
Robin Sutton
Principal
Project K students returning from their Wilderness Adventure.
Programme boosts
students’ life skills
The Graeme Dingle
Foundation is named
for its founder, one
of New Zealand’s
renowned adventurers
and explorers. In
establishing the
foundation Graeme’s
goal has been to support
our young people to
develop strong life skills
and grow to become
their potential.
At Hornby High School
we are very proud to
be supporting students
with three of our
acclaimed life skills
programmes being Kiwi
Can, STARS and Project
K.
Kiwi Can is an energypacked
programme all
Year 7 students take part
in weekly. It teaches
values such as integrity and respect, and
delivers fun-filled learning.
The STARS programme involves working with
Year 12 and 13 students and training them as
Peer Mentors for the Year 9 students.
At Orton Bradley Park the students and
their mentors engage in a range of team and
confidence building exercises while at the same
time getting to know each other and build those
important relationships that will carry our
new students successfully through their time
at Hornby High. Once back at school the Peer
mentors have delivered weekly lessons to Year
9s.
Graeme Dingle, Shontelle Wallace and Noeline Allan (Graeme Dingle
Foundation Regional Manager).
Project K is a programme designed for Year
10 students. It has four programme stages: an
induction, a Wilderness Adventure in which
the students are taken into the mountains for
three weeks; a Community Challenge; and a
12-month Mentoring Partnership with trained
adult mentors.
Our Project K students tell us that being on
the programme increases their self-belief
and confidence. It has also been proven to
significantly improve academic performance.
Last year Shontelle Wallace completed the
programme and was selected to deliver a
speech at Government House at the annual
excellence awards.
Year 10 students attended the annual camp held at The Boyle River Outdoor Education
Centre. Pictured here, from left, are Eliza Tyrell, Haydon Dickie, Lewis Bradford and
Marylynn Matagi, students from the NCEA Level 2 Hospitality class who did all the catering
for the hungry Year 10 students.
Cactus successful and popular
The Combined Adolescent Challenge Training
Unit and Support programme – known as
CACTUS – is an initiative to develop and
support youth to achieve outrageous goals
and co-operate with others through physical
activity.
Each programme runs for three sessions
each week for eight weeks starting at 6.25am
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday
morning.
The programme finishes with “The Longest
Day” graduation during which participants
combine all the skills they have gained and
celebrate their successes with family/friends/
support networks.
Almost 100 students have taken part in the
CACTUS programme since it started in term
3 last year.
COMMITMENT, ACHIEVEMENT,
RESILIENCE, RESPECT
Open Afternoon
Wednesday August 3
1.00pm — 2.30pm
See the Junior College in action.
Information Evening
Wednesday August 3
7.00pm
Both of these events provide an excellent
opportunity for parents with children in
Years 7 to 9 in 2017 to hear about the
exciting learning programme at Hornby
High School.
We look forward to meeting you.
Robin Sutton
Principal
180 Waterloo Road, Hornby – Ph 03 349 5395
www.hornby.school.nz