Western News: April 03, 2018

4 Tuesday April 3 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
WESTERN NEWS
RICCARTON HIGH SCHOOL
Te Kura Tuarua o Pūtaringamotu
FIRST CULTURE FEST A HUGE SUCCESS
Image above: Riccarton Primary School’s Kapa
Haka group performs for the crowd.
A wonderful celebration of our school and
community’s ethnic diversity was held in the
assembly hall on Friday, March 23.
As the school day came to a close, students,
teachers, parents and people from the local
community came together at RHS to enjoy
exciting and colourful cultural performances,
RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE
and sample an array of ethnic foods at the firstever
Culture Fest. The audience lapped it up,
clapping and cheering for the performers and
tucking into the tasty food.
Suggested by Principal Neil Haywood, the idea
for Culture Fest grew out of last year’s Cultural
Walkthrough, where ethnic group leaders were
brought together to discuss ways to celebrate
the cultural diversity of the local area and
create a sense of belonging for our new New
Zealand residents.
As a community event, it was a collaboration
between the school and the Riccarton Public
Library, with the school’s librarian Sally Blake
and Cultural Diversity Facilitator Lulette Carney
organising the food and entertainment, and
the library, along with community groups and
organisations, providing information about
their particular areas of interest.
KEEpING THEIR LANGUAGE ALIvE
An innovative pilot project has been introduced
to Riccarton High School this year – a Filipino
Literacy and Culture Class.
This followed a meeting in early February when
the idea for the class was presented to parents
to gauge their interest, and enrolments were
sought.
As a result, 35 of the school’s 102 Filipino
students from Years 9-13 spend about an
hour every Thursday after school with Filipina
teacher aide Delia Talili, studying their native
language, Tagalog, and their country’s culture.
DECADES-LONG TRADITION CONTINUES
Head of ESOL Angela Bland says research has
shown that maintaining their native language is
important for immigrant students in achieving
academic success.
A community project, it includes similar classes
being held at Riccarton Primary School, with
both principals supportive of the initiative.
Generous funding for the first year has come
from the Riccarton Rotary Youth Trust, Lavida
and Life Resources and was used to provide
laptops, Delia’s wages and a tasty afternoon
tea, which rounds off the class every week.
A tradition that began way back in 1959 still
continues, as students from Riccarton High
School and Kaikorai Valley College in Dunedin
compete against each other in summer and
winter sporting tournaments.
Participants from the two schools travel to
each others’ home turf each of the two seasons
and year about, with the most recent summer
tournament being held at RHS on March 15 &
16. Some 70-80 boys and girls from each school
competed in athletics, futsal, tennis, touch,
volleyball, and girls in cricket.
The winter tournament will be held in Dunedin
on June 14 & 15.
Sports co-ordinator David Biddick describes it
as the pinnacle of the school’s sporting events,
and one that the students always look forward
to.
Other annual interschool tournaments are held
with Westland High School and Geraldine High
School.
NEW OUTDOOR EDUCATION FACILITY
Congratulations to all of our students who
achieved NCEA Level 2 endorsed with
Excellence: Melanie Aitken, Alden Arduo, Sion
Choi, Erica Chung, Patricia Guo, Katie Hayles,
Kasey Hillary, Donna Hou, Yunru Huang,
Charmaine Lam, Carmen Lionnet, Yasmine
Maarouf, Hannah MacClure, Niamh Maxwell,
Apoorva Patelkhana, Emma Patmore, Joshua
Paul, Ruby Perring, Lehman Taleni, Nicholas
Ting, Sarah Wallace, Ashley Walsh, Daniel Wei,
Vanessa Ye, Francesca Zhang
OUR pEOpLE
SAYING FAREWELL
Our long-serving sports co-ordinator David
Biddick is retiring after 22 years service at
RHS. After joining us as cricket coach in
1996, he was asked by the principal to take
on the sports co-ordinator role, which he
started in 2000.
That saw David organising all 34 sports
RHS offers, helping students reach their full
potential through representing the school
in their chosen sport, and encouraging
students of all sporting abilities to
participate.
He extends a ‘big thank you’ to teachers and
parents, whose support through coaching
and management he says is a major
contributor to the school’s sporting success.
David firmly believes that participation in
sport and the values that underpin it, like
teamwork and fair play, provides students
with a strong foundation for life in the
wider world.
David leaves RHS on April 13 and looks
forward to travelling overseas with his wife.
We wish him all the best.
Riccarton High School’s Kokiri facilty on the
West Coast near Lake Brunner has served its
purpose well as the Outdoor Education Centre
for our Years 9 and 10 students. However,
given the distance from Christchurch, and the
increased gold mining and forestry in the area,
the Board was looking for an alternative, more
suitable facility.
“We became aware that the Boys’ Brigade
camp at Birch Hill in North Canterbury was
up for sale and we thought that would suit us
perfectly,” principal Neil Haywood says. “It’s
very close to the Ashley Gorge and Mt Thomas
Ph. 03 348 5073
E. info@riccarton.school.nz
www.riccarton.school.nz
Forest Park walking tracks.
We are very excited to have a facility 45
minutes from school, which will have a lot of
other uses too, such as for geography field
trips.”
Work needs to be done to bring it up to the
new building standard to ensure its safety,
and the current capacity for 24 students will
be extended to accommodate 35-40 students.
Funding for this work will come from the sale
of Kokiri.
The opening of the new facility is planned for
the start of the 2019 school year.
COMMITMENT HONESTY RESPECT EXCELLENCE