The Star: August 01, 2019

10 The Star Thursday August 1 2019
Hillmorton High School | Te Kura Tuarua o Horomaka
Inspiring academic excellence, leadership and a love of learning.
Hillmorton High School
adopts two-zone
enrolment scheme
Kia ora koutou
In 2014, Hillmorton High School became a
Year 7 – 13 school, following the closure of
Manning Intermediate. In consultation with our
community, we developed a Middle School for
students in Years 7 – 10 and a Senior School
for Years 11 – 13. While we remain very much
one school, this division allows us to develop
curriculum specifically suited to the age and
development of the students.
We have been very successful in developing a
“thriving Middle School” and “thriving Senior
School” (Strategic Plan), and we are now at risk
of overcrowding.
We have been asked by a number of people
“why has Hillmorton become such a successful
school?” The answer is complex, but we believe the
following things have contributed to this:
• Developing a Middle School and Senior School has
allowed us the space and opportunity to “rethink”
our curriculum
• Our Middle School curriculum for Year 7 to Year
10 allows students to explore a broad range of
subjects and ways of learning. By Year 11 students
are more sure of who they are, and where their
passions and skills lie.
• We work collaboratively within the school, with
parents, whānau and our communities and in
partnership with various external organisations.
• Our staff are highly skilled, inclusive in their
practice and passionate about young people. They
work very hard.
• Our school culture encourages our young people
to “be themselves” but also to be accepting of
others and to be open minded.
• Our Board of Trustees members bring a diverse
range of skills and knowledge.
• Our four values underpin what we do and how we
all behave.
• Our mission which we work hard towards sums
this up – it is simply the following: “inspiring
academic excellence, leadership and a love of
learning”.
Currently we are 90% full in terms of our building
capacity, and so we needed to develop an
enrolment scheme. We have worked collaboratively
with other Christchurch high schools and the
Ministry of Education. Principals believe that all
high schools in our city are “good schools” and all
state secondary schools in Christchurch will have
enrolment schemes from 2020. As principals, we
take collective responsibility to ensure that all
students learn to their potential. A recent secondary
principals’ study tour to Brisbane showed us just
how outstanding education is across the city of
Christchurch.
Hillmorton’s proposed enrolment scheme was for
one zone for Years 7 to 13, but this was unsuccessful
with the Ministry of Education citing the continued
risk of overcrowding. We have now been directed
to implement dual zones; one for Years 7 and 8, and
one for Years 9 – 13. The zone for Years 7 and 8 is
smaller and sits to the east of the school. It does not
include the zones for Oaklands, Halswell or Knight
Stream to the west of our school. These schools
already cater for Year 7 and 8 students and have the
building capacity.
We understand that this will be disappointing for
some of our Aidanfield and Halswell families who
wanted the option of sending their children to our
Middle School from Year 7 rather than enrolling at
Year 9. We are also disappointed and will continue
to work with the Ministry of Education to review the
enrolment scheme each year.
We are committed to ensuring smooth transitions
to our school, no matter when or at what level the
students come to us.
New enrolment dates for 2020 enrolments
August 1 Acceptance letter sent to in-zone
enrolments
August 1 40 places available for out-of-zone
students in Year 7 & 8
1 or 2 places in the Upland Specialist
Programme may become available
August 19 Out-of-zone enrolments close
August 21 Ballot if necessary
August 23 Parents informed of outcome of ballot
While in-zone students will be accepted at any time,
we do appreciate receiving these applications early
and ideally now, so that we can plan for our 2020
staffing, timetable and curriculum delivery.
Our enrolment scheme can be viewed in detail on
our website at www.hillmorton.school.nz, or at the
school office.
Please contact us with any questions or concerns.
Ngā mihi
Suzie Sauer
BOT Chair
Ann Brokenshire
Principal
Planting for the future
Some members of the Environment Committee joined the community
of Westmorland to plant 350 native plants in the Eastern Valley
Reserve between Worsleys Spur and Westmorland on Sunday
morning. Thanks to the Christchurch City Council for providing all the
plants and the organisers. We are glad that we can be a part of such
social action projects.
Year 6 students from
our contributing schools
enjoyed a morning of fun
learning as part of our
Experience Hillmorton
days held recently.
Students returned to
their respective schools
buzzing and were
overheard saying that
they were definitely
wanting to come to
Hillmorton next year!
Technologists triumphant
Congratulations to
Logan Smith, Louie
Nikau and Taylah
Smith, pictured at
right, Hillmorton Year
7 and 8 students
who won the Great
Christchurch
Technology
Construction
Challenge 2019.
A second team,
comprising Mihana
Hof, Zoe Thomson,
Isabella McNeil and
Godwin Deliha N’Zhou, was placed third.
We are also proud of the scratch coding
team that performed really well.
hillmorton.school.nz