The Star: August 30, 2018

20
Thursday August 30 2018
Our People
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
The Star
Retiring principal makes a stand
•From page 18
Do any of those opinions
come from your own
experiences as a child?
Yes, I think a lot of those sorts
of things do. Either as a child or
watching a child you are working
with have a bad experience.
There is a lot of things that we use
to do in teaching, especially in
the PE sense. That really singled
out those children who were of
a somatotype that didn’t allow
them to enjoy it. Take high jump
for example – the little child who
is a little bit more stout than others
is actually wondering whether
they can make it onto the mat, let
alone get over the bar, and how
humiliating? So why would you
do that? It’s both a combination
of my own feelings when I was
doing things, but probably more
something that I’ve come to recognise
through my contact in PE.
What have been some of the
best moments of your teaching
career?
I think where I worked with
teams or groups of children
where they have had success
and have basically accomplished
something beyond what they
thought they could do. I remember
one particular case
that stands out was when I was
END OF AN ERA: Bruce Topham will retire from Halswell School at the end of the term.
teaching at Casebrook Intermediate.
The children won the intermediate
athletics competition,
which was huge. It was just the
satisfaction of seeing all the kids
go ‘wow, we did it,’ because they
didn’t expect to. Those sort of
moments, seeing the satisfaction
from children and going ‘yep,
you did it’. There has been quite a
few moments through my sports
coaching in schools, where you
have seen that satisfaction and
kids going on with that sport
because you have exposed it to
them and they have had success.
What are some of the worst
moments?
I think my worst moments
were being in an environment
where to get respect from children
you had to use corporal
punishment. I guess lowering my
guard and letting myself become
the problem. That would be my
worst moment, using the strap.
You mentioned you are
retiring at the end of this term.
How many years will that make
it in the teaching industry?
Since I started at teacher’s college
– 47 years.
That’s a long time. Why have
you decided to retire now? Any
big plans?
No, I guess it’s selfish in some
ways. I have done it that long, but
I think that it’s time to try and do
some of the things I haven’t had
time to do with my wife and that
includes travel. So yes, it’s more
doing things like that, while I
have good health. The reality is
I could keep enjoying working
with the kids for the rest of my
life.
How does your family fit
into your teaching life? You
mentioned your wife is a
teacher?
I’ve got three children. They
are all grown up now. A fair bit
of their life fitted around
teaching. They had the privilege
of actually being at school with
their mum and their dad, and
they knew their dad as the
principal. I was their principal at
Gisborne Intermediate, all three
of them.
Did they support you in
your role in principal? Did
you ever have to tell them off?
No, luckily they weren’t kids
that were getting into strife. They
rode with us and basically it
was just a lifestyle thing. In the
weekend they used to come
to sport activities with me and
as a result they aspired to be
sportspeople and they all got
active.
Did they ever get any flak
from any kids about having
their dad as principal?
That was the hardest part,
especially when they made the
top sports teams. There were
some kids that would say you
only made the team because your
dad is the principal, but that only
made them more determined to
show them that that was not the
reason.
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