Selwyn Times: February 07, 2017

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14 Tuesday February 7 2017 SELWYN TIMES Your Local Views Focused on individual learning ews needs Lemonwood Grove School principal Sean Bailey writes about the importance ashion of making sure each pupil’s unique learning needs are met and what his school will do to achieve this. OUR VISION at Lemonwood Grove School can be described as ‘the best of you as you.’ Gardening Our intention is that all learners our community including teachers and parents will strive to be the best they possibly can be through being engaged and included in the learning experiences that take place at Lemonwood Grove. The establishment board and staff have used a model called the Golden otoring Circle, widely used in education, determine key curriculum decisions. Every decision we have made and will continue to make around our teaching and learning programmes will start with the question ‘why?’ which determines our purpose, cause and beliefs. One of the key areas we will continue to focus on is student structures and strategies we will looked closely at research and observed settings in New Zealand and overseas where learners are engaged and motivated and as a result are achieving personal success. A number of the programmes, asty Bites engagement, motivation and put into place will focus on iden- enjoyment for learning. Too often we see examples of pupils who don’t like school and what they are learning. We as educators need to stop and ask the big question why this is. Research tells us that oney a lot of the time it is because the learning does not fit the learner and his or her needs. Our leadership team have tifying individual learning styles and interests and then pitching our programmes around what works best for each pupil. One of the messages we want to get across to our students is that learning and life can be challenging at times, it can also be messy and uncertain. Through our four values we will focus on skills around persistence and not giving up, taking responsibility for what we say and do, acting with integrity and using a number of thinking skills and tools to help us learn. We are introducing a number of approaches that will ensure our learners make the very best of the time they spend at Lemonwood Grove each day. These include shortened learning sessions with regular breaks, opportunities to explore passions and interests, exposure to experiences that encourage creation, problem solving and allowing new knowledge to be created. We will also be blending ICT across all learning areas. We have employed an amazing team of teachers who have experience in collaborative environments and can work with all age groups. Our spaces have been designed to cater for individual and group needs. Each day pupils and teachers will move around their learning landscape and take part in workshops related to what they need to be learning at any given time. Their progress and achievement will be closely monitored and reported to parents. Ian H Duff, of Lansdowne – It is pleasing to note that 2016 ended with local good news that Central Plains Water had repaid nearly $7 million principal and some interest on the unsecured loan funded by Selwyn ratepayers (Selwyn Times, December 20). However, the self congratulatory spin from the district council chose to omit the bad news. In November 2015 the stated interest rate was 10 per cent, reflecting the absence of tangible asset security on the loan but it appears that actual interest paid was only about one third of that. The bigger bad news is of course that the risky loan appears to have been replaced or repaid by the taxpayers of NZ as a whole in a smoke and mirrors job using a Crown entity known as the Irrigation Acceleration Fund. The announcement by Minister Nathan Guy on May 18 last year was “through the MPI Irrigation Acceleration Fund, up to $6.64 million has been allocated to CPW to support completion of stage 2 of its scheme’s development as well as $898,000 for the Sheffield Irrigation Scheme (a subscheme of CPW).” In other words, a handout of $7.538 million to the shareholders of a company. IAF was one of the entities established using $400 million of spoils from the sale of hydro dams etc. that we thought we already owned and had paid for over many decades. Government spin keeps telling the world, and us, that we have clean, green, unsubsidised agriculture in New Zealand. Clean and green have been bunkum for years but this payment in excess of $7.5 million to CPW shareholders is inescapably a subsidy to agriculture and is typical of the neo-liberal way of doing things. Privatise what was in the public domain for private privilege and profit; socialise debt, risk and loss. A borrowed theme still sums up this loan. Never in the history of inappropriate corporate welfare by a local authority has the burden of risk and loss been borne by so many, for the benefit of so few. District council chief executive David Ward responds – Following an appropriate consultation process, the district council advanced funds to CPW to assist with the design phase of its stage 2 development. The sums of money advanced were over short periods of time during 2016. An interest rate of 10 per cent per annum was charged on the sums advanced, however the loan sums were only drawn down for a short period before being repaid. CPW fully repaid the sum advanced, including the legal and professional costs related to evaluating the loan proposal (not including the audit fee) and interest of 10 per cent prior to Christmas. Central Plains Water chief executive Derek Crombie responds – CPW borrowed the money from the district council to complete the design of the stage 2 and Sheffield components of the scheme and as part of that process to secure funding to construct and operate those stages and it was always intended to repay the loan from the future funding raise. The district council loan was repaid in full in December from shareholder equity so there is no Government funding involved in the repayment. The reason that the interest is less than 10 per cent of the sum borrowed is twofold. The 10 per cent interest was the rate per annum based on the sum actually borrowed and we did not borrow all of the funds for the full year. District council borrowing was drawn to match the expenditure on the project so the average sum borrowed was less than half the total and it was not for a full year. I hope this clarifies the issue.
SELWYN TIMES Tuesday February 7 2017 15 VISIT OUR NEW LOCATION LOCATION 430 ST ASAPH STREET! RECOVER YOUR LOVED FURNITURE No job too big or small Hours of Business: 7am-4.30pm Mon-Thurs Fri 8am to midday or by appointment with Keith 027 566 3909 Still able to offer you the finest top quality new furniture Visit us online www.qualityfurniture.co.nz P. 371 7500 QUALITY FURNITURE SPECIALISTS RE - UPHOLSTERY SPECIALISTS KEITH HARTSHORNE 0275 663 909 John Summers, of Southbridge – Mayor Sam Broughton’s assertion that Central Plains Water repayment of its loan proves that the district council’s decision to lend was well founded is total tosh! If I borrow from ratepayers for a day at the race track and come out on top I could make the same ridiculous claim. District council chief executive David Ward described the loan as high risk and having dire repercussions if it wasn’t repaid – that is to say higher rates and/or reduced services. My understanding is that the scheme has been reduced to irrigate 8000 fewer hectares than originally proposed ostensibly to make the scheme more profitable but it’s common knowledge that the water at $900 is too expensive and take up of shares poor. Why should we mugs of ratepayers be lending to what is a private enterprise (that’s what banks are for) especially as we already subsidise it through our taxes – that is the Crown Irrigation Fund. As he introduced himself to the district the newly elected mayor said he believed in justice. Where lies the justice in stretched ratepayers often on fixed incomes having their rate money put at risk to enrich landowners? Rather than trotting out clichés about benefits let the mayor identify a specific advantage that will derive to this or other fixed low income ratepayers in Selwyn. Mayor Sam Broughton responds – Thank you John Summers for your letter to this paper about the district council’s loan to CPW for design work. It is my belief that the benefits to the district go beyond the boundaries of shareholders’ gates. We will see fruit in terms of job creation and the flow on effect this has on activity in our towns and service sector. Bringing alpine water onto the plains and replacing deep ground water extraction has environmental gains as identified in the Selwyn Waihora Zone Implementation Plan. If council were to receive an application in the future with benefits of a similar size and scale then we would look at it based on the information received as we do with all community aspirations through our annual planning process under way over the next month. I would be happy to meet with you if you would like to discuss the matter further. I can be contacted at sam. broughton@selwyn.govt.nz Following news that work on a new Rolleston development including The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming stores would soon get under way, Selwyn Times asked readers what stores they would like to see come to Rolleston. Sue Elder, of West Melton – My husband and I would love to see a Mitre 10 Mega in Rolleston. Alan Ramsay, of Marton – 1. Farmers; 2. Whitcoulls or Paper Plus; 3. Hallensteins. I am not a resident but am often (with my wife) in Rolleston staying with our daughter. Rolleston is like our second home. Betty McIlroy (left) is congratulated by Rosalie Mason (right) from Masons Drapery, where she entered the competition. Congratulations to betty McIlroy From Darfield on winning the Selwyn Times 2016 shop n win spending spree Betty would like to say thank you to the Selwyn Times, and especially Rosalie from Masons Drapery, Darfield for making this possible. WIN $2000 SHOPPING SPREE Shop scan Thank you to all our participating Selwyn Retailers. south islanD super saloon champs and canterbury stocKcar champs sat 11th february 7pm start family pass: (2 aDults & 4 chilDren 14yrs & unDer) $40 aDults $20 | seniors $10 | chilDren $5 | unDer 5yrs free the place to be this summer! DoubleDays roaD Kaiapoi | infoline 03 364 8833 | www.wooDforDglen.co.nz
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