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community news
sUNDAY JUNE 7 2009 N
July 2009
Papanui High School
NEWSLETTER from the Principal Greetings, Tena Koutou Katoa The Government’s decision to slash funding for Adult and Community Education (ACE) by 80% is deplorable. ACE funding is what has enabled Papanui High School to maintain its large night school programme for many years. Last year more than 2500 adults attended night classes at the school. More than 355 courses ran in the school and the wider community. Over the years many thousands of local and Christchurch people have availed themselves of the opportunity to upskill themselves, to develop new interests, or simply to extend their social circles. Everyone is aware of the need for the Government to reduce expenditure, and at first glance, ACE looks like “soft” money. However, I think the Government has totally underestimated the importance of night classes to so many people in our community. In many ways night classes are a part of the fabric which helps to hold our community together. Every night of the working week the school is alive with members of the community benefiting from them. The Government’s decision flies in the face of the considerable body of evidence, including an in-depth report from Price Waterhouse, about the benefit of night classes to individuals and to the community at large. The Board of Trustees is determined to fight the changes and is currently making decisions about a strategy for next year. But, quite clearly,
Early notification re absences Thank you to all parents and caregivers who have returned their updated contact details to the office. If you have not done, so please do so asap, as we need accurate mobile phone numbers and email addresses for all caregivers. In Term 3 we will trial an early notification system. This system will allow us to contact you via text message to notify you if your child has not arrived at school. Initially these messages will go out once a day and will only be sent to selected parents as part of our trial. Please inform us immediately of any errors in our process.
For your Diary July
20............First day – Term 3 PTA meet – 7.30pm in staffroom 22............Winter sport resumes 29.............Junior reports posted 30............Board of Trustees meet – 5.30pm 31.............Enrolments close
August
4-8..........Southern Jam 5...............Out-of-Zone enrolment ballot held 6...............Australian Maths competition Junior parent/teacher interviews
unless the Government reverses its decision, the school is not going to be able to continue to offer the same wide range of affordable programmes in the future. They will need to be run on a “user-pays” basis and this will substantially increase fees and put the courses beyond the means of many people. What a waste it will be when the school’s facilities and resources lie unused once the day school students go home. How tragic it will be when the community-based life skills courses, which ACE also funds, and which meet the needs of some of the more vulnerable members of our community, are scrapped. And how ironical it is that, at the same time these cuts are announced, Government money is found to purchase a “party centre” for the world cup, and private schools are promised extra funding. I hope the school’s community will add its voice of protest at this most unfortunate Government decision.
Denis Pyatt Principal
Angela McLeish, Assistant Manager of Papanui Warehouse Stationery hands Mrs Welsh Back to School certificates.
Thank you • To The Canterbury Community Trust for their grant to purchase musical instruments and improve the student furniture in the science wing. • To the Papanui High community for supporting us in the Warehouse Stationery Back to School plan. Your spending meant we were refunded $2900 in vouchers. These went to Departments in the school so they could buy equipment for those students who could not afford to replace books and equipment that they had lost or finished through the year.
Library commemoration Four students are working on a panel to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of Public Libraries in Christchurch. The panel is a contemporary weaving based partly on patterns of a special totara tree at Papanui High School and will be permanently displayed in the Papanui Public Library when finished. Lauren Tatana and Tiana Milner working on the panel.
Enrolment process for Year 9, 2010 • Enrolments for in-zone and out-of-zone enrolments are due by July 31. Out-of-zone enrolments received after that date will not be accepted. • All in-zone applicants have an absolute right to attend the school. • The school will accept about 40 outof-zone students at Year 9 next year. A ballot for out-of-zone places will be held on August 5. Successful out-of-zone applicants will be notified by August 8. Please contact the school office, phone 352 6119 for further information.
Tikanga Class trial InTerm 3, the Maori Department will run a trial Tikanga Class for all students involved with the four Maori kaupapa at Papanui. This includes the whanau form group, Te Reo Maori classes, Kapa Haka and the Tu Kanohi Ora programme. The aim is to strengthen Maori identity and broaden the awareness of our Maori community at Papanui High School. The class will run over the 10 weeks of Term 3 in selected periods each week.
Papanui High School alumni Tessa Bowler and Phillipa Draper, who are both recipients of Dickinson College Global Scholarships, recently spoke to Year 13 students. They are pictured with Mrs Dwan and Mr Pyatt.
Read the Newsletter on Papanui High School’s website: www.papanui.school.nz
community news
4
sUNDAY june 7 2008 N
July 2009
Papanui High School
NEWSLETTER Fantastic formal
This year’s Senior Formal “Phantom of the Opera” was once again an outstanding success. More than 450 students and staff attended the gala occasion at the Riccarton Racecourse.
Formal photos courtesy of Linton Photography
We congratulate:
PEP news • Last week Ashleigh Ooi, Alannah Rickerby, Mimi Liu, Matthew Crake and Max Wilkinson attended the Asia: NZ Young Leaders Forum at Unlimited. There they listened to guest speakers and participated in group activities relating to Asia’s influence in New Zealand.
• Twenty 9Wz students participated in Power Reading Workshops to improve their reading comprehension skills. • 10 Wt visited the Airforce Museum at Wigram as part of their “Aspects of War” inquiry. A highlight was trialling the flight simulator currently being installed.
Peter Pan The school’s Barbershop Quartet, “Cat-astrophie” featuring Caitlin Ruddle, Catriona MacDonald, Katie KentonTodd and Toni Officer came fourth in the South Island Barbershop Heats in June. They, with other musical groups from the school, entertained 100 people at the recently opened Restaurant 181 in the Northlands Mall.
Ski Club
More than 100 students, above, were involved in this year’s three-night school production season of J.M. Barrie’s classic, Peter Pan. Four large audiences enjoyed a pacey production with stunning sets and costumes.
The Ski Club is running trips each Sunday, weather and pupil numbers permitting. Students can get information packs at the student office and book for a trip. For more information see Mr Dalkie or Ms Major.
Above: Peter Pan (Josh Butler) and Tinkerbell (Natalie Hughes). Left:Wendy (Jen Eder) held captive by Hook (Tyson Dench-Poutu) and his pirate crew.
Kimi Ora students Matthew Olley, Joshua List and Grace Paterson have been attending AJ’s Day Option Trust this year. So far, they have been involved in rock climbing (pictured) and Canadian canoeing sessions.
House Shield update In week 8 of the term, the House Sports shield was decided by a Benchball competition, right. Taa Hiko won the event narrowly from Ruwhenua, Ngarunui and then Ahi Ka. Next term will see the Houses competing for the Community Action Shield.
• The Year 11 Geography quiz team of Robert Fletcher, Carl Bolland and Nicholas Mulligan who came second in the Regional Finals of the Mataangi Whenua Year 11 Geography quiz recently held at the University of Canterbury. • The Young Enterprise team, ‘Youth of the Nation’, consisting of Alex Andrews, Andrew Topp, Jasmin Dunbar, Sarah Hawkes, Justin Williamson, Jordan Ring and Jacob Bates-Puha who were placed second out of forty teams at the regional Business Plan presentation finals. Their product is a silicon wristband branded with the slogan ‘Kiwi and Proud’. • The students who attended a fourday Digital Technologies Electronics and Robotics course at the University of Canterbury. They were challenged to build a robot and program it using the programming language “C”. University staff were impressed with the students efforts and Year 12 student Tom Walsh was asked if he would like to attend part time university classes next year while in Year 13. • Ben Musson, Matthew Brorens and Michael Jones who competed in the National Secondary Schools Cross Country Champs in Nelson. • The boys’ team who competed in the Canterbury Secondary Schools Badminton Champs recently. They played some very close matches and came 6th. • The three students who competed in the Canterbury Secondary Schools Gymnastics Champs held at Olympia Gymnastics Stadium in Wigram. Simone Ruddle came 1st in the A Grade, Caitlin Ruddle came 1st in the B grade and Hayley Roberts came 5th in the B grade. • The Year 9 rock band “Forget Gravity” featuring Liam Carroll, Liam Ooi, Jesse Bennett and Jackson Bray who won the Smokefree People’s Choice Award at the Rockquest Regional Finals.
Read the Newsletter on Papanui High School’s website: www.papanui.school.nz