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This Week
TUESDAY 4 October 2011
Ian Henbrey
A man with a reputation for integrity Call Ian now for a free market appraisal of your property Phone: 54 83034 or 027 546 8283 • Residential, farm and commercial sales and purchases • Subdivision • Building contracts • Company law and business formations • Trusts • Wills and estates
The Rugby World Cup is well under way. With all the hype both locally and nationally, are you still excited about it, or are you over it?
Belinda Clark REGISTERED LEGAL EXECUTIVE (DipLExSt)
92 Collingwood St, Nelson Ph: 546 8670 or 0274 312 874 belinda@stallardlaw.co.nz
EXPERIENCE EFFICIENCY INTEGRITY
Pierre Mitchel, The Glen. “Still pretty excited because my team is still in it - the All Blacks of course.”
Richard Palmer, visiting from Canberra, Australia. “Excited? You betcha! It’s great for New Zealand and it’s great to see everyone behind it.”
Rosalee Campion, Wakatu.
Alison Pinkerton, Mapua.
“I’m very excited. Such a great rugby event for Nelson as well as New Zealand and we’re all behind it.”
“I am excited. I love the atmosphere and seeing everybody getting involved. It doesn’t matter who wins.”
Local principal elected to national post NEWS IN BRIEF FROM PAGE 1
which represents 2147 of the country’s principals, more than 90 percent. National Standards aims to measure students in key subjects including maths and English. Those results are then passed onto parents so they can gauge the rate at which their child is learning. It will bring more accountability to teachers and schools, says education minister Anne Tolley. But Paul says it is a “low trust, top down model” that has disenfranchised schools. “They want to somehow drive more out of the system but you’re not going to get more out of teachers, schools and parents by waving a big stick and demanding more. If you involve them about how we can make it better, isn’t that more likely to get the outcomes that we want? At the moment there is a sense that there is no trust there. “We feel the voice of the profession is
being ignored and trivialised by the government. The argument has big appeal, because who doesn’t want to lift achievement? But they are going about it the wrong way.” He says the reason for low achievement isn’t a lack of effort from schools: “We can tell you who they [low achievers] are already and we can tell you they are disproportionally Maori and Pacific and we want to do something about that. But they are also disproportionally from familys in poverty situations. There is a very strong link between poverty and low achievement, so by asking schools to do more for those children by measuring them more isn’t going to affect the issues. We have some of the highest levels of poverty in the Western world, that’s our shame. Not our 15 percent that might be low achievers, that you might actually expect. “We are not all going to be academics, success is measured in various ways and that’s the other danger of this pol-
Kids Treats
icy, that somehow we are all going to be academics and all get UE [university entrance]. The danger of having high stakes around those core subjects is that you then minimise the wider curriculum, the very things that some children will be successful in. “We want children that are creative, flexible, problem solvers, not robots. Don’t suck the joy out of school by training everyone to focus on just two subjects,” he says. Paul says he will push those issues and others facing principals when he moves into his new role. “It is exciting and balanced with a healthy bit of anxiety and trepidation because I’ll be away from my family and school for long periods of the year. But it will be exciting for me personally and I’m looking forward to it.” Paul says he is looking forward to working with the new government after this year’s election, be it either National or Labour.
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Open: Mon - Fri 5.00am – 5.00pm Sat 5.00am – 1.30pm
WARM WEATHER FOR NELSON: Expect a warm spring and early summer says the NIWA National Climate Centre after it released its outlook for Nelson from October to December. Temperatures in Nelson are likely to be average or above average for the time of year, while rainfall is equally likely to be in the normal or below normal range. Soil moisture levels and river flows are likely to be below normal around the region. La Niña conditions are redeveloping, meaning warm weather, and are expected to continue through summer.
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CAUGHT RED-HANDED: A Nelson man was arrested last Monday after he was caught masturbating in the changing rooms of a wellknown local clothing store, say police. Police were alerted when a female caught the 21 year-old man red-handed. He was arrested for an Indecent Act and is well known to police. He has a history of drunk and disorderly charges as well as assaults in town. The man is now off the streets and is being held in custody at the Nelson police station. A court appearance has been set for October 12.
548 4949
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‘Dine Early’ Menu Dine between 5pm & 6pm
2 Courses for $42 per guest* *Conditions apply – see website for details
www.mintdining.co.nz
20 Harley Street, Nelson | 03 5467092