Western News: September 02, 2021

WESTERN NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Thursday September 2 2021 5
Old oak trees granted
a reprieve by school
• From page 1
Board chairman Rob Dixon said
the importance of the decision meant
the board chose to consult the school
community.
“This included providing them with
all available reports to allow for the most
informed decision possible,”
Dixon said.
The play area was planned to
be 32m long by 20m wide and
be bordered by native plants to
replace the oak trees.
Creating it was one way the
school proposed to spend a
$400,000 Government school
investment package.
This needed to be allocated by
the end of the year in order for the
school to retain funding.
“The money tagged for this will go
towards other projects around the school,”
Dixon said.
Principal Stuart Cameron said the
school had an expanding roll of more than
700 pupils, and the astroturf court aimed
to provide more space for them to play
in winter.
Stuart
Cameron
“The area proposed is underutilised
for playing compared to the rest of the
school.”
He denied that online criticisim of
the plan was behind the move to put
the decision in the hands of the school
community.
“First and foremost in all
decisions made is the best interest
of the students.”
Parents who recently talked to
Western News about the plan to
remove the trees were divided.
“I’m fine with that. They’re
planning to put a court there. It’s
for the children,” Jex said.
“It looks good, what they’re
planning on doing,” Nicole said.
Junghyun said he would be sad
to see historic trees go.
Emily said that as the trees were
expected to live another 15-25 years
according to the arborist report, they were
likely to outlive the proposed synthetic
court.
“It’s just a really bad message to send to
kids, with the climate crisis, that it’s okay
to chop down 10 large trees.”
Outward Bound
‘transformational’
CHALLENGING:
Hornby High
School’s Mijieli
Okusi (left)
and Mairehau
High School’s
Samantha
Fawcett-Kay were
among those who
took part in youth
Outward Bound
course Takere. ​
“EDDY”, a much adored 10 month
old Tabby was rushed to McMaster
& Heap vets on a Sunday, after
alerting his owners that something
was up when he hopped on their
bed early one morning and started
moaning loudly. One of the owners
had worked as a nurse for us, so she
didn’t waste time in getting Eddy
seen. Steve Heap was called in when
it was clear there was a severe injury
to Eddy’s right eye.
McMaster & Heap
Veterinary practice
Sad case of animal abuse
The lens material was removed by
a machine that performs cataract
surgery - A Phacoemulsification
Machine. The eye was irrigated and
the corneal wound sutured carefully.
Then the eye was reinflated. X-rays
performed identified the slug pellet
and Steve realised he’d been shot
through the eye. The bullet was
lodged in a downward angle, and it
blew out the animal’s lens, meaning
Eddy would have been looking
directly at the offender at close
range.
Suffice to say Eddy is recuperating
excellently being cared for round the
clock by his dedicated owners. Steve
thinks the surgical eye is comfortable
and Eddy is back to his crazed, manic
antics. He won’t see in the eye but
we are hoping he gets to keep his
eye. Once his eye is stable and he’s
recovered , a second surgery would
be advised to remove the slug pellet
that sits very close to his cervical
spine.
Dr Michele McMaster
TAKING PART in Outward Bound’s
Takere youth course was a complete
change of mindset, according to Mairehau
High School student Samantha Fawcett.
“I now am ready and keen to do
anything . . . and to always think about the
positive not the negative,” Samantha said.
She and Hornby High School student
Mijieli Okusi spoke about their experience
of the Anakiwa course during an event
celebrating those who participated.
In July 14 secondary students from Canterbury
took part. The course was one of
13 involving 111 schools nationally.
Mijieli said meeting new people was the
best aspect of completing the course.
The activities were fun but difficult, especially
the kayaking and tramping, she said.
“It was a wonderful opportunity. I’m
honoured to have been selected to go to it.”
Other pupils came from Avonside Girls’
High School, Catholic Cathedral College,
Haeata Community Campus, Hillmorton
High School, Linwood College, and
Kaiapoi High School.
Samantha did not know much about
Outward Bound before she went but felt it
was such a good opportunity she “had to
take it up”.
“It was amazing,” she said.
“It was physically challenging for me . . .
but I overcame those challenges and found
strategies to stay positive.”
While at Outward Bound Samantha
said she learned a lot about setting goals.
“I thought a lot about my values and
how I need to set goals and to stay
motivated.”
Outward Bound has been running
courses to develop youth leadership and
personal skills for 59 years. Since the
school’s inception in 1962, more than
65,000 New Zealanders have attended.
Outward Bound chief executive Malindi
MacLean said most students find the
course transformational.
“For the majority of our schools
programme students, Outward Bound is
three weeks of ‘firsts’.
“They tell us that the course provides
a safe, encouraging and stimulating
environment in which they can . . . push
the boundaries of what they believe they
can achieve.”
When Steve saw Eddy, he identified
a ruptured right eye with a large
piece of lens protruding through
the cornea. This would have been
excruciatingly painful. A penetrating
eye injury was suspected but the
cause was not initially apparent. He
was immediately anaesthetised,
placed on intravenous fluids and
given pain medications. Steve
became suspicious of a slug pellet
injury due to the unusual corneal
injury and the fact the lens had
totally exploded! Steve hadn’t seen
anything like this in 30 years of
Ophthalmology practice.
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McMaster & Heap