Tuesday 15 November 2011
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Saxton Oval Teammates set to square off at Pavilion
Locals survive scooter challenge
Celebrating the Opening
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School to slash staff Andrew Board Salisbury School is to shred up to 12 staff members before Christmas, says its principal. The move comes as the government pushes to get more special needs students into mainstream schooling, dropping the number of students enrolled at the school. Salisbury School, in Richmond, can cater for 80 special needs students from all over New Zealand. Currently it has 68 pupils on its roll but principal Brenda Ellis says only 45 are enrolled for next year; the drop in numbers means between 10 and 12 residential staff will be made redundant. The teaching staff will remain unaffected. Brenda says the school is looking towards a bright future, but with more students being integrated into mainstream schools, they will have to look at how
they adapt to support other schools. The government policy to bring more special needs students into mainstream schooling was started around a decade ago by the Labour government. Maitai School is another specialist special needs school, but its principal Diane Whyte says its roll is growing and the school is evolving to supply support to other schools. “At the moment we are providing support for five students in mainstream schools and we can see that growing. It’s an area where we can offer our specialist skills,” she says. Brenda was upbeat about the future of Salisbury; she says it’s never nice to lose staff but the school was remaining positive. She says next year’s roll could still grow. Redundancies will be made before the Christmas break “so families have some certainty”, says Brenda.
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School’s out
Nelson College for Girls year 13 student Ella Kilpatrick takes a dive off the Wakefield Quay wharf in her uniform with fellow students to celebrate the end of the school year. Photo: Andrew Board. Phillip Rollo Nelson College for Girls has a history of traditions spanning more than 100 years. But the latest crop of year 13 students made sure they signed off their schooling year with a brand new one. A group of around 80 students leaped off Wakefield Quay into the ocean in their full school uniform
last Thursday, signalling the end of their secondary school education at Nelson College for Girls. Nelson College for Girls student Ella Kilpatrick says the idea was sprung by one of the students and wordof-mouth spread it throughout the school following the senior prize giving. It is hoped the new tradition will be taken up by future school leavers
and continue for years to come. “It’s something that’s not extreme and rebels against the school and will get you in trouble,” says Ella. “Hopefully people will follow.” The tradition is made famous by Wellington Girls’ College. Year 12 students fling themselves into Wellington’s waterfront to symbolise the last year of wearing their school uniform.
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