North Canterbury News: January 18, 2024

10 The
NEWS
North Canterbury News, January 18, 2024
Schoolcell use
By DAVIDHILL,
Local Democracy Reporter
Schools already have the
ability to ban cellphones, a
North Canterbury principal
says.
Rangiora High School
principal Bruce Kearney
says existing legislation
gives schools the ability to
develop policies
appropriate to the school
environment.
The National Party
campaignedonbanning
cellphones in schools
during last year’s general
election, but Mr Bruce
Kearney said prohibition
rarely works.
‘‘We all agree cellphones
can have anegative impact
on learning, but they can
also be used positively in
the classroom.’’
Rangiora High School
allowed students to use
their phones during break
times, but phones were
normally put away in school
bags during class time.
But teachers sometimes
allowed students to use
their phones for classroom
activities, such as Kahoot!
quizzes.
Mr Kearney said the focus
was on educating young
people around good
cellphone etiquette and
developingsocial skills.
He said cellphones were
common place in the world
and young people would
likely be using them every
day when they entered the
workforce.
While cellphones could be
used for harm including
online bullying, some
students also used phones
as ‘‘a safety blanket’’.
‘‘If we have to ban
cellphones, we will ban
them, but is that the right
response?,’’ he said.
‘‘We will have year 9s
coming to school next year
who have never lived in an
environment where they
have never had a
cellphone.’’
While there were
concerns about the amount
of screen time, Kaikōura
High School board of
trustees presiding member
John Wyatt said technology
‘‘opened up the world’’ for
students, particularly those
who lived in rural areas.
‘‘If these young people can
read, then there is no end to
the amount of research they
can do online andsubjects
they can open up on an iPad
or cellphone.’’
He said it was better to
allow schools to develop
their own policies around
cellphone usage, rather
than an outright ban.
LDR is local body
journalismco­funded by
RNZ and NZ On Air.
Grape skins composted
Pegasus Bay winery’s Paul
Donaldson talks about
sustainable viticulture with the
ease of someone who lives what
he speaks.
With adegree in zoology and
marine biology, and raised on
the family winery, it’s aconcept
that sits as close as the grape
skinswhich the vineyard
returns to the earth as compost.
‘‘With viticulture, the
mindset is already there to look
after the land.
‘‘Youcan’t trash your area
and keep the vines healthy.’’
An example, he gives, is
deficit irrigation.
As with people, abit of
adversity can bring outthe best
in grapes.
Overwatering notonly causes
disease, but impacts the taste of
the grapes.
Pegasus Bay also adopts the
practiceofplanting cover crops
under the grapevines.
This increases biomass in the
soil and suppresses weeds,
allowing the vineyard to avoid
using pesticides.
As general manager of the
winery, where he works
alongside his three brothers
and his parents, who planted
the vineyard, Paul has helped
to install an awareness of the
need to protect not just his
patch, but the planet.
Hurunui Council’s waste and
compliance support officer
Nicole Hurinui is impressed
with the methods the winery
has implemented to reduce its
impact on theenvironment as
much as possible.
‘‘It's awonderful example of
Sustainability... Pegasus Bay General Manager Paul Donaldson with the
cardboard boxes that are reused and repurposed in other forms of
packaging.
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
how you can, as abusiness,
incorporate daily habits that
notonly bring cost savings but
also reduce the amount going to
landfill,’’ she says.
Signs in the staff area remind
everyone to separate out
recycling from waste, and
provide an education on how to
keep recycling clean.
Just as one bad grape can
spoil abottle, it takes one dirty
item going into recycling to
spoil the whole.
It’s away of life that has been
with the winery from the start.
‘‘It’s incredibly rewarding
working alongside our
businesses who are
incorporating such great
environmental practices in
their businesses and are happy
for these to be shared with our
other businesses,’’ Nicole says.
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