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Well 2021 - that was a whirlwind! I have loved my first year as Principal at Grey High and cannot thank the whole community enough for making me feel so welcome on the coast.
Firstly, I need to talk about our amazing rangatahi. They have blown me away with their kindness, respect and the ability to get on with things. Is everything perfect? No, but I am very proud of how they have all developed and grown this year even when things were tough. Not only have I loved seeing them around school but also in the sporting arena, on the stage and at various school events.
Ever since I joined Greymouth High School I have been so impressed with our staff. They truly want the best for all of our rangatahi and I see it every day. Whenever we have had an outside provider visit to give professional learning development they always tell me how much they appreciate our staff’s involvement in the learning. I especially have to mention our Senior Leadership Team whose dedication and hard work go above and beyond.
In 2021 we welcomed Kylie Bellis and Joe Mason as Kaupapa Māori and Kaiako Māori in Ngā Here Kahikatea, Ann Kieran and Harriet Wise in the languages departments, Nisha Mitesh, Rosa Buijs and Deane Milne in Maths, Sian Utton who took over from Dan Hanson while he was on parental leave, Cath Donovan who supported us in lots of areas and Ian Johnson who joined us as Assistant Principal at the end of Term 3 when Scott Bermingham went on secondment. We also welcomed back Lauren Evans, Su Coutts and Tom McGirr who returned from parental leave in 2021, and Shona Preston who is back on our team as Guidance Counsellor.
In 2021 we said goodbye and good luck in their future endeavours to several of our staff.
• Scott Bermingham took up a one year secondment with the Ministry of Education as Education Advisor.
• Petrus Steyn moved over the hill to take on a new challenge; setting up a Trades School department at Rangiora High School.
• Aleta Chowfin is taking an exciting step in her career and moving back to India to work in education consultancy with children from the slums.
• Daniel Hanson will be spending more time with his family and undertaking further study in 2022.
• Abby Hamilton is moving on to gain her Masters Degree at Lincoln University.
• Rosa Buijs, Deane Milne and Sian-Marie Utton were all with us for one year as new teachers. They all move on to new roles and destinations and I wish them all the best.
• Sue Nuttall, who has a passion for special education needs, took up a role with RTLB
• Alain Davies left her position as Guidance Counsellor with us to take on a new opportunity as Case Manager at SASH West Coast.
We remember Simon Norris passed away in March 2021 in a motor vehicle accident; our continued thoughts are with his family. We also remember Flora Beynon who worked in our office for many years and was really involved in West Coast netball.
We are so lucky to have such a supportive Board. I would like to thank the following for everything that they do:
Shannon Gordon (Presiding Member), Jo Newton,
Wayne Robbins, Robyn Verstappen, Torben Fischer, Joe Mason, Kiri Russell, Kaia Waipouri, Kaia Beal, Hayden Shand and Breagh Watson. They truly have the best interests of all of our akonga at heart.
Our PTA does an amazing job and I want to thank them. They really care about providing those extras that make all of our lives better. Their fundraising efforts are fantastic, including spending many hours outside of the supermarkets selling raffle tickets, directing cars for parking at the Coast to Coast and clearing space for our new playground by removing all those pavers! They also help out at our big school events and I would especially like to thank them for all of their hard work with our 2021 School BallEnchanted Forest. The PTA really made our magical night even more magical with their decorations.
Our Arts convenors and the Arts department did a great job organising a wide variety of activities for our students to do. There were a number of performances that showcased our amazing talent and I really enjoyed watching and listening to them.
Here, I am going to talk about Fame! What an amazing show and we were so lucky to hold our production right before we went into lockdown! Thanks go out to Martin McDonald, Tealy Lynch, all of the students and staff involved on the stage and behind the scenes. It gives our young people the opportunity to demonstrate all of our ARCH values which is great! The community band was awesome and the amount of time and effort they put into our production was unbelievable. I had a brilliant time watching the show!
I loved going to watch as many of our school teams as possible throughout the year. Sports also gives our young people the opportunity to demonstrate our ARCH values. Although we had
the absolute disappointment of not being able to go to Tournament week for the second year in a row, our young people represented us so well in all of the other games. Thank you to all of our coaches, managers and referees. Also, a massive thank you to Maddison Crawford, our amazing Sports Coordinator, she goes above and beyond.
All of our convenors and student leaders did a fantastic job this year. From organising massive events like the Ball to fundraisers such as the 40 Hour Famine and Shave for a Cure. Ka pai!
Special thanks to the komiti matauranga of Ngāti Waewae who have been so supportive of us at Grey High. Joe Mason is our kaiako Māori who teaches te reo and it is an absolute pleasure to work with him and the other members have offered their time to us to increase our understanding of Māwhera including visiting the marae and Milltown to learn the local Pūrākau.
We are so lucky to be part of The Manaiakalani Programme which here on the Coast we call Toki Pounamu. It is not just the access to chromebooks, which is absolutely amazing but we also have access to innovative pedagogies such as “Learn, Create, Share” to shift the academic achievement of all our rangatahi. Our kaiako have regular professional learning led by our two leads Sandra Quick and Angela Seyb as well as access to an intense digital fluency course.
Our relationship with Tai Poutini Polytechnic has grown stronger and stronger. One of the areas we are piloting with TPP is a Foundation Skills course with our Year 11 students who need some extra support with NCEA. The rangatahi are still spending time with us to complete their Literacy and Numeracy credits which are so important for their future. We are looking forward to working with them more in the coming years. In 2021 they again teamed-up with Rotary through the “Trees for Māwhera” project where the Polytechnic Pre-Trade Carpentry students will build a three-bedroom house as part of their practical learning, which is to be auctioned at the end of the year.
Rotary has been so supportive with Greymouth High School this year including the “Trees for Māwhera’’ project. This is a collaboration with Rotary and Greymouth High School to plant more than 2000 native trees across the district. The project is being driven by students of the high school’s new Conservation and Earthcare course, with Papa Taio Earthcare which provides hands-on learning current and future sustainability issues and biodiversity protection.
I am a strong believer when talking about our Māwhera primary schools that “their kids are our kids and our kids are their kids” and that if we work together it will have nothing but positive outcomes. I have really enjoyed working with the tumuaki of our Kahui Ako and all of their kaiako. Next year we have some very exciting plans to work at our kahui ako schools which will be fantastic for everyone.
This year saw Tania Washer and Kayla Hibbs move out of their office based at Greymouth High School and into their new office space downtown in the Digital Hub. This has not stopped us from working really closely together and offering amazing opportunities for our rangatahi. When I first moved here I couldn’t believe how many different courses our young people can choose from to enhance their career opportunities. Tania and her team are a pleasure to work with and I really appreciate all of their hard work and creative solutions.
We have been fortunate enough to work with Development West Coast and we have really appreciated all of their hard work and their added funding to support the future pathways for all of our students.
In conclusion, I have had a fantastic year and I am looking forward to all that 2022 has to offer us!
Kia ora koutou katoa,
As Presiding Member, I am honoured to present the 2021 report on behalf of the Greymouth High School Board.
After farewelling Andy England at the end of last year after 19 years, we started 2021 with a brandnew Principal. Samantha Mortimer hit the ground running in January and hasn’t stopped since. She has been an absolute asset to our school, our students, and our wider community. The Board have been delighted to see Sam’s approach with fostering a great school culture, managing some difficult situations, listening and learning from our community and supporting all of our GHS whānau to achieve their best. We look forward to continuing to work with Sam in the coming years to solidify our school direction and increase student achievement.
Kaia Beal and Kaia Waipouri were elected as the 2021 Student reps on the GHS Board and I would like to thank them both for the contribution they made to our discussions earlier in the year. We have welcomed Kiri Russell to the Board this year as Staff representative and she has made a real impact. Joe Mason, Robyn Verstappen, Wayne Robbins, Torben Fischer and Jo Newton have remained invaluable Board members this year. Thank you all for the
work you have done in 2021. We welcome Hayden Shand and Breagh Watson to the board as the 2022 Student representatives.
GHS is privileged to have a team of dedicated teaching staff who are passionate in supporting all our students to achieve their goals and even push beyond them. Our SLT are out the front, leading by example, planning, guiding and supporting our team. Our teachers provide a positive learning environment where students not only learn subject matter but also social and personal skills which will assist them in their lives outside of GHS. We have seen them grow and adapt as they have honed their skills at teaching online during this year’s lockdown periods. Thank you very much teachers!
Thank you to the support staff who give their time every day to support our teachers, students and keep our school looking tidy and running in a professional manner.
I would like to thank the students of Greymouth High School for the effort that has been put in over 2021. It is truly delighting to see you all achieving in so many ways. You have become extremely resilient, and we are so proud of how you have continued to strive for success under the challenges that Covid -19 has provided us with. A HUGE thank you to
whānau, caregivers and all people who have given up their time to coach, mentor, supervise, tutor and support our students through these times.
I hope you have noticed some of the great work that has been done to improve the look and feel of our school in 2021. The new signage looks amazing, and we have received many compliments from the community which feels great! There is still a lot of work that remains on our ‘to-do’ list, and we are in a good financial position to support this.
Things are constantly changing for us these days as we learn to adapt to living in these new ways, managing our safety and the wellbeing of our loved ones. One thing that remains the same is that as a Board we will continue to put our students at the heart of all the decisions we make. We will challenge ourselves to develop our school, staff and students to be the very best we can be.
In 2021 the PTA started with the same members minus one. Over the year we have gained three additional members, who hopefully will become regular members over the next few years as at the end of this
As usual, the PTA helped out both physically and financially with school functions. The main event was the ball which again was held at the school. The committee erected and decorated the gazebo at the entrance to the hall, thanks to everyone who helped with this, as well as the ladies who assisted inside.
Our source of income came from raffles and the use of the school field as a carpark for the participants who were registering for the Coast to Coast. This was a whole day event and help was enlisted from different sources, PTA, Staff, MSA members and two ex students, Tristan Howard and Calib Anderson. Thanks must go to the school for supplying Pizza throughout the day. The highlight of the day was Richie McCaw who arrived for Registration and was more than happy to pose for photos.
Finally, to all the school leavers. On behalf of the 2021 PTA, I wish you all the best for the future. Take this next chapter with vigour and enthusiasm regardless of which career path you take, University, Trade or just entering the work force.
Graeme Howard 2021 PTA ChairmanBeing asked to write a final message marks the end of what has been a rollercoaster of an incredible five years at Greymouth High School. It was only until this final year, I found myself asking for more time, just that little bit longer to be able to look back and experience some of the most heartwarming and forever hilarious moments all over again with the best people.
Looking back through all the challenges that were thrown our way over the years, 2021 has most definitely been the biggest challenge of them all. In some regards the most rewarding too. Unlike when we were first navigating the hallways as clueless little year nines, we now as year 13’s are made to carve and discover a pathway that will lead us into the next chapter, and possibly the most important one of our lives. Being able to look back and see all that has been achieved in my five years is something to be so proud of. Representing Grey High as Head girl has rewarded me with such important skills and helped build greater connections with the ones I’ve met along the way. Lucky for me I was a part of an amazing leadership team that were motivated and always driven towards improving Grey High just that little bit more.
A big thank you is needed for all of the jokes that had the worst timing, teachers that spent the majority of their lesson re-explaining everything to me, and most of all everyone who made the last five years such a blast!
For myself and the class of 2021 I guess this is where you could say it ends or is just beginning… The rest of your life is just around the corner, go live it! Although our year 13’s haven’t been the closest group of peers, you’ve each been a part of the incredible class of 2021. And so I can’t thank each and every one of you enough for all the good times, laughter and friendships that have helped me navigate the wonders of high school. I’ve never really been one for goodbyes, but for wherever your path may lead you, I do wish you all the best of luck for wherever you decide to go!
And so as my final message and some of the most important things I’ve learned at Greymouth High school, go out and make friends, strive for change, take a leap of faith and try something new, and most of all just enjoy the fun and memories you’ll make along the way!
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” - John Quincy Adams.
This quote I feel brings to the light the essence of a leader. I used to think a leader was someone that told you what to do and knows everything and anything all the time. But I have learned throughout this year that is not the case. As years go, this one has been far from easy, but it has just flown by. It feels like yesterday when we were on our student leadership trip climbing at the top of the trees at adrenalin forest or sleeping in the creepiest jailhouse hotel. But it also seems not that long since I finished at Cobden Primary School in 2017 and started my huge and nerve-racking jump to my first year at Greymouth High School.
Since year 9 I never really thought about being a head student or even being one of the cool kids. I was quite happy living life with my 2 friends Matthew and Kole playing on our Chromebooks at lunch. Later on, in year 11 I joined Mawhera Services Academy (MSA). This opened up heaps of leadership opportunities and helped me become a firefighter. In year 12 I made the move from MSA back into mainstream school, and at the same time started running for Head Boy.
I ran because I made such a difference in MSA and want to try to make a difference to the wider school. I honestly didn’t think I would get the role because it’s so competitive. At Senior Prizegiving that year, I was announced Greymouth High School Headboy for 2021, I was so happy and couldn’t believe it. It was one of the biggest achievements in my life to date. I was thinking about all the things I could do and change to make the school a better place, but I quickly found out these ideas take more than a single year. I also thought having such a prestigious role would make everything easy and all my worry and stress would disappear, but I was wrong.
This year has been one of the most difficult of my life, but it has also been one of the best. It has been filled with sadness like the tragic death of Simon and a Global pandemic, but despite the sadness, it has also been the best year. What made this my best year is not the events and activities, it is the people. All my friends, family, teachers, Caretakers, Groundskeepers, random people along the way, all the hello’s as you walk past, the smiles, the laughter. As hard as this year has been, this has made it all worth it.
This brings me back to John Adams’s quote “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”
During this year one of my main goals was to build better relationships between different schools and the community. So with some help, I ran the 40 Hour Famine to help the people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Together with John Paul ll and The Shed Youth Group we raised a couple of thousand dollars, this was one of my highlights for the year.
So what did I learn? Well, head boy isn’t about being the best or the coolest person, it is about helping people achieve their goals and paving the way for future students. It’s about being the best you and going that extra step. A key thing I also learned is your life is not just limited to school, and to take time for yourself, you don’t have to say yes to every project and event. But when you do, try your very best at it.
I am sad to be leaving the school that has given me so much, sad to be leaving my amazing student leader team where we are always laughing about something, sad to leave my amazing teachers, Mr. Tangney gets a mention for the daily weather during Tangney time, Miss Cropp for helping me understand Calculus, Mr. Gallagher for teaching me science, Miss Hamilton for all the amazing stories when we should have been learning, and Miss Kieran for teaching me English (who is probably cringing reading this and everyone else). I am sad to be leaving my friends that I have so many fond memories with. I am sad to be leaving all this behind.
But I am also excited for what is in front of me next year at University and all of the challenges that lay ahead. I’m excited to talk and joke about all these times I’ve had at Greymouth High School. So as my time as Headboy comes to an end, I challenge you to go that extra step and help your fellow peers, to cherish every moment because it goes so fast. To inspire others to dream more, learn more, and do more, and then you may become the leader.
We started the year off with the annual Valentines Day event. With help from fellow student leaders we were able to fundraise much needed funds for Athletics Day. We sold handmade cards, balloons and we had a very successful bake sale (your cupcakes were an absolute hit, Alyssa!)
Athletics Day was a big highlight for our 2021 agenda. It was a super fun experience which presented lots of learning curves (always buy more bread than you think you need!). Students loved the sausages, bacon butties and ice cold drinks on a hot & sunny day. Our station managed to survive the strong winds, but not without a few close calls. All in all it was a banger of a day filled with student participation.
portfolios from all of the art & photography classes, had a beautiful Kapa Haka performance at interval,
and of course some live music at lunch. The day was accompanied by a mufti day, and students had the opportunity to get face paint done by some talented artists at break times. The day was great fun, and I believe that it showcased some of the wonderful creative avenues that are available to students at Grey High.
Throughout the year we have had some mufti days for the St John Heart of Gold Annual Appeal as well as Pink Shirt Day for the anti-bullying campaign. We love supporting these organisations and it is amazing to see the rest of the student body all dressed up for a good cause. With the flooding that happened in Westport, the Council really wanted to support the families that had been affected. So we held a bake sale with some yummy treats that were sold out super quick within the first few minutes of lunch. Thank you to everyone who helped with this, and a shout out to everyone who bought a treat to help out the people of Westport.
Week two of term four saw a Halloween Celebration! This was such a fun event that saw a high rate of student involvement. There was of course a themed dress up day, where a lot of students’ creativity and resourcefulness was shown. A bake sale was also held at interval and lunch, and I must say it was some of the best baking I have ever seen in my life! Ranging from ‘spooky brownies’ to little ghost mini meringues. Thank you so much to the students who stayed behind after school on Thursday to help turn the Drama room into the
ultimate haunted house. Without the help with other students, the day would not have been nearly as successful as it was, thank you!
The Student Council is nothing without the support and contributions by students at Grey High. Thank you to those who are always willing to give a helping hand and offer your time to organise fun events and fundraisers for your fellow peers. My leadership abilities have grown so much during my time as Chairperson, and I will miss it immensely. It has been an awesome experience and one that I would recommend to everyone. To Mrs Lynch and Mr Haigh: THANK YOU! Your unwavering support is very much appreciated. Good luck to the student leaders of 2022, but especially to the future Chairperson! I look forward to seeing where you take the council next year. Best wishes to the students of 2022, may it be the greatest year yet!
T n koutou katoa. This year has been a great year in the aspect of M oritanga. We have made amazing growth in our Kapa Haka team and we are always trying to improve.
The Pūmanawa role in my experience this year is about introducing and incorporating Te reo Māori and Te ao Māori tikanga into our school, and to help the school advance alongside Māori tikanga. It is also about upholding the mana of Māori and assisting in any aspect to do with Māori.
I have been on many roller coasters this year personally, but I definitely believe I have kept a high standard for the Pūmanawa role, some of my achievements this year in this role include: working with staff of Grey High to incorporate tikanga into our mornings and afternoons by implementing karakia. This has been mostly successful since I know every morning in staff briefing they practice karakia
to start the morning, and in most classes they do the same. If I were to carry on this role next year I would like to work with the school on trying to work around any issues in having it in the afternoon. It is doable but we need to figure out times to do so.
This year I have also worked very closely with our Ngā Here Kahikatea class for Māori students who would like to be more involved with our culture, and also the Grey High kapa haka team in leading the Tāne for the haka and waiata, I believe I have excelled in this space and I will carry on holding the mana of our class and team.
At the start of this year I was involved in a Māori tourism programme run by Whenua Iti Outdoors called ‘Manaaki Tāpoi’ which focuses on teaching students pūrākau of different places in the Tasman region, and also different kōrero of Māori atua and famous stories throughout Aotearoa. These trips
to Manaaki Tāpoi strengthened my knowledge and understanding of Māori culture, and gave me a lot to bring back and talk about to our class.
This year I also attended a wānanga at the Arahura marae talking about Ngāi Tahu holdings, It was mainly tuakana and only 3 rāngatahi went, but it was a good space to learn a lot of kōrero about how Ngāi Tahu has grown strong as an Iwi. The main figure of this space was Tā Tipene O’Regan, who is well-known throughout Te Waipounamu for being the Ngāi Tahu chairman of the Māori Trust Board that led the Ngāi Tahu Claim process before the Waitangi Tribunal and negotiations of the Ngāi Tahu Settlement.
Whaea Kylie has been a big supporter of me this year, and whatever I have needed to do or needed help with she has come to support me and help me out with my achievements.
We took out the full school athletics with 383 points which showed how many members of Kahurangi got involved on the day. We came first in the Senior Girls relay, second in the Senior Boys, third in the Junior Girls and fourth in the Junior Boys. This great start to the year gave us a 40+ point lead over the other houses.
The weekly Staff vs Student sport in Term 2 was always hotly contested and each week Kahurangi had a good showing of representatives which kept our total points clicking over.
This year we had the first full school cross country that was heaps of fun to get involved with, there were competitive races along with a really fun event with chances to win bonus points for blowing a balloon until it popped, eating a dry weetbix and taking a shot at the netball hoop. This event was great and once again Kahurangi
came out on top to keep our lead increasing.
For the final tally of the year Kahurangi came out on top beating our nearest rivals Rata by over 200 points! Congratulations to my Kahurangi team on taking out this convincing win over the other houses, bring on 2022 where we hope to retain the House Shield!
2021 was a great year to be part of the Kahurangi
Another year plagued by Covid, reducing the number of events we may have had, yet the enthusiasm emanating from Rata house was enormous.
Throughout my years at Greymouth High School, I have never witnessed such passion within students, from Athletics Day through Cross Country. Maybe it’s because I’ve never looked before, but now that I was Rata House Leader, I see joy and happiness in everyone. Everyone contributing to the best of their abilities demonstrated great school spirit.
Through 2021, I had the honour of leading Rata house through house activities, teacher vs student competitions, sports days, and I was always delighted to see the students’ competitiveness and delight in their eyes. Just seeing grins on people’s faces gave joy to my heart, as did the atmosphere that everyone had been releasing throughout the school year. The fight within each of their hearts, pushing themselves and their peers to give it their everything and exceeding everyone’s expectations, was a sight to behold. It was a true honour to be able to take Rata through all of the events since I was able to interact with the pupils and share in
their excitement. Especially the house colour dress up days, everyone showed a lot of passion for dressing up, not shying away and demonstrating the genuine essence of Rata house. It brought me great satisfaction to be able to observe every Rata member enjoying life.
I would take this leadership position again if I could just because witnessing everyone’s smiles filled me with joy. I congratulate the Rata house leader of 2022 on your new position, and I have one piece of information that was passed down to me. Be a beacon of joy, happiness, and bliss, because if they see you having fun, they’ll choose to follow you. This year, I was able to witness that, as everyone in Rata house was filled with their own delight and expressing it.
Up Rata!
For my final year at Greymouth High School, I had the pleasure of becoming the 2021 Tawa House Leader. This year saw many achievements for Tawa students, especially in the annual athletics day, cross country and teacher vs student sports days!
This year was the first year Grey High held a whole school cross country. Students had the option of racing in the competitive run or dashing through the fun run. The fun run included activity stations, where students had the opportunity to gain points by popping balloons, eating dry weetbix and shooting a netball shot! This event was a huge hit for the school
and saw great results for Tawa house! Tawa’s very own Callum Brown took out first place for the U15 boys while Will England took out second place in the U14 boys category! Tawa gathered a whopping 774 points from this event alone!
Being part of the student leadership group this year, gave me the privilege to attend a two day
GRIP student leadership conference in Christchurch. This was held at the beginning of the year. I attended this conference alongside seven other leaders and Mrs Lynch. This trip was an amazing opportunity, where I learnt a lot about not only leadership within the school, but leadership in a workplace, out of school and within my peers. This trip was the perfect opportunity to bond with the other leaders. We visited Adrenaline Forest, escaped from an escape room and made friends with other school leaders from around the South Island while we were there!
This role has exceeded my expectations and more! It has given me a huge foot in the door, within student leadership in the school and the community. It has been awesome working alongside Mrs Lynch, Mr Haigh, and our other leaders. I couldn’t recommend joining the student leadership team enough! It has given me endless opportunities and has taught me so much!
Hey Guys! This year I was grateful to be a part of the 2021 Student Leadership Team and one of the four house leaders for this year. 2021 has been full of ups and downs, highs and lows, but hey we made it anyway and we should all be proud of ourselves!
As we all know one of our biggest house events is Athletics day. It was awesome to see so many people show up, support each other as well as our house Pounamu, by dressing up in green. We were lucky enough to have the weather on our side with
sizzle being run that day by the Student Leadership Team and the Student Council.
Thank you Pounamu House for an awesome year and all the teachers who made it so we all survived the day!
Along with being a part of the student leadership team this year it was also very rewarding to be a part of the 2021 peer support team and helping the new Year Nines feel welcomed and a part of our school community. We ran fun games and activities in their mentor classes from newspaper fashion shows, fun new games that most of them hadn’t even heard of and we even created class flags. It was so much fun to see the juniors start to feel more involved and included in our school family. Thank you so much Mrs Lynch for giving us this opportunity to help our fellow peers.
Finally one last big thank you to everyone who helped us as a student leadership team and as individuals get to where we are today!
Peer support is an awesome program for our year nine students. The program aims to raise the self esteem and confidence of our year nines during a time where they may be vulnerable as they adjust to high school. It helps students to develop skills, knowledge and confidence to interact with fellow peers in a positive way. It also helps to build a personal support network by class bonding through some fun activities.
The program is run by year 13s with the support from Mrs Lynch, the Peer Support Coordinator in term one. It goes for 11 weeks, with every week having a different lesson focus. Throughout the term there were activities that allowed for classmates to get to know each other and to focus on their team work skills. It is really important to us that our year nines feel comfortable and that they build support networks which will help them all throughout high school.
Every session is unique. For example, two of our sessions presented a creative challenge to the students. The first was a newspaper fashion show, which allowed for the students to create their own runway ready fashion statement piece with only newspaper and their imaginations available for them to use. Another session that was run gave the students in each of the five core classes an opportunity to create an art piece that would represent their class. They had complete artistic liberty, with their only rules being that they had to include everyone’s names and the core class identifier.
Both sessions were very fun and memorable for the students that participated in them.
The program also allows for year 13 students to be involved in the school community, and gives them the opportunity to make a positive change. It is also a great experience for our senior students as it is great for developing and building on already existing leadership skills.
Overall the much loved Peer Support program is very beneficial and special to the junior and senior students of Greymouth High School. It establishes connections between groups, creates friendships and promotes our school values of Akoranga, Respect, Community and Hauora.
Back row (L-R): Mrs Nisha Mitesh, Mrs Kiri Russell, Mrs Kate Cronin, Miss Harriet Wise, Mrs Miriam Rees, Mr Alex Hayward
5th Row (L-R): Mr Brett Lomey, Mr Thomas Henderson, Mr Daniel Hanson, Mr Jason Johnson, Mr Deane Milne, Miss Maddy Crawford, Mr Tom MCGirr, Ms Sue Calder
4th Row (L-R): Mr Joe Mason, Mr Kent Gallagher, Mr Michael Hunter, Mr Ciaran Tangney, Miss Jana Roos, Miss Sian-Marie Utton, Miss Rosa Buijs, Miss Emily Westacott, Miss Sydney Gay
3rd Row (L-R): Mrs Susan Nuttall, Whaea Erin Connolly, Mr Bernard Adams, Mrs Alex Gillam, Mr Ben Louie, Mrs Cath Donovan, Mrs Ann Kieran, Mrs Kate Halls
2nd Row (L-R): Ms Angela Seyb, Mr John DeGoldi, Mrs Anna Bermingham, Mrs Tealy Lynch, Mrs Susi Thompson, Whaea Kylie Bellis, Ms Aleta Chowfin, Mr Bob McAuliffe, Mr Andrew Dempster, Mrs Shelly Chapman
Front Row (L-R): Ms Joanne Cheeseman, Ms Sandra Quick, Mrs Morag Newberry, Ms Raewyn McKnight, Mrs Jayne Wheeler, Mrs Samantha Mortimer (Principal), Mr Scott Bermingham, Mr Rowan Haigh, Mr Lindsay Robertson, Mr Martin McDonald, Mr David McTaggart
Back row (L-R): Matt Belcher, Carla Beirne
Middle row (L-R): Emily Westacott, Jill Nicol
Front row (L-R): Yvette Roche, Elaine Bruce
Absent: Raewyn McKnight, Monny Robbins
Alain Davies left her position as Guidance Counsellor with us to take on a new opportunity as Case Manager at SASH West Coast.
Award for Top Student Year 11
Award for Top Student Year 12
The Prime Minister's Vocational Excellence Award
Proxime Accessit - Melse Cup
The Harley Award for Top Male Student, The James Hutton Prize and Recipient of the Guinness and Kitchingham Tertiary Study Award, The University of Canterbury Hiranga Scholarship, The Dux of the School for 2021
Celeste Aguayo Vargas
Charlotte Allison
Jessie Baatjies
Adriaan Badenhorst
Sean Bain
Jessica Beckford
Liam Belcher
Kaede Cowan
Cam Dickey
Nikau Dymond
Phoenix Fowler
Caitlyn Gallant
Shannyn Goldwater
Liam Gurden
Destiny Harris
Joseph Hogeboom
Noah Jacobs
Mya Lindbom
Ella Mahuika
Erika-Rose McIsaac
Richard Meek
Charlotte Allison
Kyle Hsieh
Dillon Cooksley
Jamelia Kitchin
Jacob Miller
Jack Newell
Mate Papa
Ethan Parsons
Quaid Roche
Joshua Rogers -
Griffin Thomas
Ty Wall
Max Welsford
YEAR 12 ACADEMIC EFFORT WITH DISTINCTION
Seetai Barrow
Ella Beirne
Kate Bell
Finlay Brown
Ethan Cain
Jaime Christie
Kaley Christie
Joseph Cotterill
Matthew Davey
Jimmy Gully
Aleece Harris
Kyle Hsieh
Jessie Magon
Troy McLaughlin
Alex Muir
YEAR 13 ACADEMIC EFFORT WITH DISTINCTION
Sophie Allison
Zoe Double
Joel Dumelow
Clark Fountain
Aedan Gunn
Byron Howard
Hayley Jo Jacobs
Sophia Keown
Jameila Kitchin
Mishka Lombaard
Shreya Maharaj
Matt Mann
SUPPORTED LEARNING PROGRAMMES
Most Diligent Student
SPEC Certificate in Key Competency Development
Yotam Perchig
Joshua Robbins
William Scott
Holly Smith
Kaylee Stone
Lakin Sutton
Devin Taylor
Ella Rae-Wood
Troy Schimanski
Daniel Smith
Mitchell Smith
Jack Stead-Wilson
Allie Vaughan
Zak Bourke
Kirsty Fayen
Zak Bourke
James Hutton Cup and Sportsperson of the Year
Sporting Excellence Medal
Cook Family Cup-All Round Sports Person
Sports Team of the Year
Fair Play Award
School Values in Sport Award
Top Student Level 1 Physical Education Cup
Top Student Level 2 Physical Education Cup
Top Student Level 3 Physical Education Cup
Top Student Level 1 Health Cup
Top Student Level 2 Health Cup
Top Student Level 1 Art
Top Student Level 2 Art
Top Student Level 3 Art
Top Student Level 1 Drama
Top Student Level 3 Drama
Drama Cup
Coxon Top Student Level 1 Music
Top Student Level 2 Music
The Dane Wafer Award for Music Composition
The Wicks Prize for Music
Top Student Level 2 Photography
Top Student Level 3 Photography
The Stewart Nimmo Award for Photography
Alyssa Blacktopp
Alyssa Blacktopp
Peppa-Jay Boddy
Joseph Cotterill
Miko Ginivan-Barrow
Ella Mahuika
Jon Palmer
Bailey Russ
Ella Rae-Wood
Ruby Rae-Wood
Derek Chizuni
Coast to Coast Team
Finlay Brown and Clark Fountain
Senior A Girls Basketball
Jon Palmer
Cam Dickey
Theo Barnett
Derek Chizuni
Mya Lindbom
Paris Jackson-Roberts
Jessie Baatjies
Michael Morgan
Aedan Gunn
Jessie Baatjies
Jessica Beckford
Mishka Lombaard
Ash Matthews
Jessie Baatjies
Kyle Hsieh
Kyle Hsieh
Jimmy Gully
Fearne Richards
Sophie Allison
Alex Kennedy
Keri Hulme Trophy - Top Year 11 English
Eleanor Catton Trophy - Top Year 12 English
Top Student Level 3 English
Barbara Cowan Cup for Excellence in Senior Writing
Peter Hooper Award for Creative Writing
Paul Caffyn Award for Non Fiction Writing
Kia kaha kia u - Award for Te Reo
Top Student Year 12 Media Studies
Top Student Year 13 Media Studies
Senior Media Studies Cup
Euler Cup - Top Student Level 1 Mathematics
Agnesi Cup - Level 2 Pure Mathematics
Poisson Cup - Top Student Statistics
Leibniz Cup - Top Student Calculus
Top Student Level 1 Geography
Roney Cup - Top Student Year 12 Geography
Hannan and Seddon Cup - Year 13 Geography
Top Student Level 1 History
Maverick Cup - Top Student Year 12 History
Firebrand Cup - Year 13 History
Top Student Level 2 Classics
Top Student Level 3 Classics
Top Student Level 2 Psychology
Top Student Level 3 Psychology
Top Student Level 2 Tourism
Top Student for Education for Sustainability Level 1
Top Student for Education for Sustainability Level 2
Top Student for Education for Sustainability Level 3
The Kaitiakitanga Environmental Sustainability Leadership Award
Kaitiakitanga Excellence Award
Charlotte Allison
Kyle Hsieh
Jameila Kitchin
Jack Stead-Wilson
Alyssa Blacktopp
Zoe Double
Nikau Dymond
Mackenzie Hallberg
Byron Howard
Byron Howard
Charlotte Allison
Kyle Hsieh
Zoe Double
Jameila Kitchin
Mishka Lombaard
Jack Stead-Wilson
Jessica Beckford
Joshua Robbins
Samantha Friend
Jessica Beckford
Joshua Robbins
Jamelia Kitchin
Jessie Magon
Jack Stead-Wilson
Jessie Magon
Allie Vaughan
Shialla Steele
Kaylee Stone
Mya Robson
Erika-Rose McIsaac
Tairyn Romana
Alex Kennedy
Reuben Dibben
Reuben Dibben
Jak Partridge
Top Student Level 1 Business Studies
Top Student Level 2 Business Studies
Thorn Cup - For Excellence in Commerce Year 11
Top Student Level 1 Earth Space and Science
McGirr Trophy - Top Student Level 2 Earth Space Science
Tangney Trophy - Top Student Level 3 Earth Space and Science
Top Student Level 1 General Science
Top Student Year 12 Chemistry Cup
Top Student Level 3 Chemistry Cup
Top Student Year 12 Physics Cup
Top Student Year 13 Physics Cup
Westland Engineering Prize Level 1
Westland Engineering Prize Level 2
Top Engineering Student
Top Student Level 1 Hospitality Prize
Top Student Level 2 Hospitality Trophy
Top Student Level 1 Furniture and Design
Top Student Level 2 Furniture and Design
The Design Technology Cup for Top Furniture and Design Student
Top Student Overall Design Technology Prize
Top Student Digital Technologies Level 1
Jennian Homes Trophy - Top Student Digital Technologies Level 2
IPL Trophy - Top Student Digital Technologies Level 3
Meihana Award for Top Academic - Māwhera Services Academy
Alistair Bromley Trophy - Most Determined to Succeed
Allan Wilson Most Improved Student - Māwhera Services Academy
GATEWAY
Top Gateway Student Year 11
Top Gateway Student Year 12
Top Gateway Student Year 13
Mate Papa
Ethan Parson
Kaley Christie
Mate Papa
Ethan Parsons
Miller Anderson
Joshua Rogers
Niko Barnett
Joel Dumelow
Charlotte Allison
Jessie Magon
Jack Stead-Wilson
Kyle Hsieh
Jack Stead-Wilson
Griffin Thomas
William Cleghorn
Griffin Thomas
Destiny Harris
Catrin Grant
Isa Sharil
Ikhlas Sharil
Ikhlas Sharil
Adriaan Badenhorst
Cam Dickey
Yotam Perchig
Joel Dumelow
Byron Howard
Sean Bain
Jacob Miller
Llewellyn Dronfield
Hazel Elford
Dillon Cooksley
Levi Wooley
Award for Student Arts Representative
Award for Service to School Council
Award for Service to Māori Students - Pūmanawa Tāne
Award for Service to Māori Students - Pūmanawa Wahine
The Bowes Family Award
Principal’s Award for School Service Head Boy
Principal’s Award for School Service Head Girl
Principal’s Award for School Service - Deputy Head Boy
Principal’s Award for School Service - Deputy Head Girl
House Leader Kahurangi
House Leader Pounamu
House Leader Rata
House Leader Tawa
Te Tohu o Whakawhanaungatanga
The Kapa Haka Leadership Award
House Shield
Evelyn Cooper Award for Tertiary Study
Poppy-Blu Reyland
Mishka Lombaard
Jack Bolton
Billie-Rayne McMillan
Jack Stead-Wilson
Clark Fountain
Alyssa Blacktopp
Reuben Taylor
Ella Rae-Wood
Jak Partridge
Samantha Friend
Byron Howard
Allie Vaughan
Mishka Lombaard
Samantha Bergin
Jack Bolton
Kahurangi
Clark Fountain
Year 9
Reid Anderson
Rhys Anderson
Junior Auvaa
Aiden Daily
Emil Fischer
Jess Gallant
Jorja Harris
Wairini Iraia
Isabelle Maiava
Phoebe Marris
Alex Mills
Johnathan Mulhane
Autumn Palmer
Marlin Rushby
Shruthi Vishnu Maharaj
Riley Wisdom
Year 10
Harvilla Barrow
Franklin Barry
Moss Barton
Reagan Boniface
Morgan Burrows
Isaiah Cameron
Lara Cleghorn
Blake Cleland
Adi Cosma
Sinead Flood
Katelynn Ford
Brighid Gallagher
Dylan Holliday
Milan Jamieson
Caysey Johnson
Jemma Johnson x2
Hannah Kelsall
Zaheer Khan x2
Declyn King
Zara Kirk-Pont
Natasha Lee
Maddi Limmer
Peter Lucas
Natarlia Moore
Daniel Newton
Kacey Oosthuysen x2
Toby Patterson
Jake Priebe
Lilly Prouting
Rata Rushby
Kaleb Steel
Lailani Weil x2
Harrison Whittaker
Year 11
Kirsty Fayen x2
Destiny Harris
Top Student Year 9 Arielle Perchig-Gibli
Top Student Year 10 Sasha Ellery
YEAR 9 TOP STUDENT IN SUBJECT AWARD
English Katherine Hoyte
Mathematics Jacob Bull
Science Aiden Daily
Our New Zealand Arielle Perchig-Gibli
Physical Education Arielle Perchig-Gibli
YEAR 10 TOP STUDENT IN SUBJECT AWARD
English Dylan Holliday
Mathematics Franklin Barry
Science Dakota Robins
Global Studies Sasha Ellery
Physical Education
Reagan Boniface
Duke Of Edinburgh Hillary AwardBronze Level
Reagan Boniface
Brighid Gallagher
Hannah Hsieh
Zara Kirk-Pont
Daniel Newton
Iris Reynolds
Top Weekly Note Average Year 9
Top Weekly Note Average Year 10
Barbara Cowan Cup for Excellence in Junior Writing
Mathematics Competition
Katherine Hoyte
Arielle Perchig-Gibli
Reagan Boniface
Jess Gallant
Franklin Barry
Ferguson Cup Zara Kirk-Pont
Sporting Excellence Medal
Franklin Barry
Aamaria Beal
Caitlin Boddy
Callum Brown
Archie Haldane
Milan Jamieson
Junior Sports Team of the Year
Junior Sports Person of the Year
Junior Netball
Callum Brown
Reid Anderson
Rhys Anderson
Junior Auvaa
Alex Barlow
Aamaria Beal
Anusshika Bhan
Levi Bromley
Jacob Bull
Morgan Burrows
Rowan Campbell
Myha Coleman
Zach Cruise
Rhys Dumelow
Holly Ellis
Jai Englebretsen
Summer Fahey
Emil Fischer
Cailan Freeman-Terry
Jess Gallant
Xavier Gawith
Megan Goord
Billie-Jean Gully
Archie Haldane
Thomas Hardie
Jorja Harris
Tori Hartill
Katherine Hoyte
Wairini Iraia
Ethan Jane
Elsie Johnstone
Farihah Khan
Liam King
Leevy Lancaster
Ryan MacKenzie
Isabelle Maiava
Regan Marē
Phoebe Marris
Jason McCracken
Leah McDowell
Alex Mills
Johnathan Mulhane
Aashna Narayan
Chanel Allison
Harvilla Barrow
Franklin Barry
Ayesha Berry–Barnes
Caitlin Boddy
Reagan Boniface
Callum Brown
Lara Cleghorn
Blake Dixon
Sasha Ellery
Kaleb Ferguson
Sinead Flood
Katelynn Ford
Brighid Gallagher
Mackenzie Gibson-Ewen
Rata Gurney
Dylan Holliday
Hannah Hsieh
Liam Irvine
Milan Jamieson
Caysey Johnson
Hannah Kelsall
Declyn King
Zara Kirk-Pont
Kade Kitchin
Dylan Kolesky
Natasha Lee
Jimmy Lister
Morgan McComb
-
Autumn Palmer -
Alisha Parsons
Arielle Perchig-Gibli
Vadim Pinkerton
Arli Robson
Marlin Rushby
Jemma Russ
Sabrina Smith
Jacob Speakman
Tyler Spence
Alex Staiger
Jasmine Stevenson
Charlie Taylor
Miro Turley-West
Elliot Van der Geest
James Van der Geest
Shruthi Vishu Maharaj
Grace Walters
Brayden Williams
Riley Wisdom
Jade Philpot
Mia Prendergast
Jake Priebe
Lilly Prouting
Iris Reynolds
Grace Rhodes
Dakota Robins
Rata Rushby
Kadyn Sandrey
Nathaniel Scott
Harry Shaw
Harvey Tacon
Jennae Topliss
Harrison Whittaker
2021 again saw a record number of Greymouth High school students choosing the West Coast Trades Academy as part of their NCEA study.
Over 100 Grey High students studied a range of trades courses, including: automotive, mechanical engineering, building and construction, agriculture, cookery, manaaki tāpoi, hair and beauty, adventure leadership, uniformed services, civil defence, environmental science, conservation and earth-care and computer programming. Our new courses proved popular, with The Fishing Academy being introduced mid-year.
Senior students excelled in academic achievement and trade skill development, despite the disruption COVID-19 threw upon us once more. Students adapted to on-line learning during lockdown, and are to be praised for their resilience and adaptability, particularly when they faced huge changes to our schedules and ways of learning for our block courses.
It is our job as a Trades Academy to ensure we provide course options that support students into viable employment. With jobs in the conservation sector growing by a predicted 40% in the next 5 years, we invested heavily in our Papa Taiao / Greymouth High school led Conservation and Earthcare course. As the senior students approached the end of the year, it was a highlight of ours to see students offered employment here on the Coast in their chosen field. We were very proud to see a further 15 students placed into full time work from The Trades Academy during the year from automotive, agriculture, building and construction and our leadership programmes.
We were sad to say farewell to Mrs Kate Halls from the GHS Trades Academy school coordinator role this year. Since 2020, Mrs Halls has supported students in their trades programmes, by providing pastoral care and administrative support.
Taking on the reins of the GHS Trades Academy position is Kiri Russell. Kiri started mid-way through this year and quickly learnt the role. Kiri has already helped us to improve some administrative systems and was a huge support to the Academy in selecting students for 2022 programmes.
Our New Office Location:
The West Coast Trades Academy moved to a new office location in the Byte Māwhera Digital Hub, located in the heart of the Greymouth CBD. The move was part of the strategic development of The Academy. Being in the Digital Hub further connects our team to the West Coast business community, which is essential for the development of our programmes and for connecting students to employment opportunities as they graduate. Greymouth High School has been the home of the Trades Academy for the past 7 years; we have enjoyed our time at the school, being part of the staffing team. Grey High is still the lead provider of the WCTA, with Mrs Mortimer being our lead principal advisor. We visit the school regularly for meetings and enjoy the opportunity to see our students too.
The West Coast Trades Academy supported students who chose to enter the YES Young Enterprise Awards this year. We congratulate all of the students who entered; all showed creativity, good business planning and entrepreneurship.
The 2021 winners of the Trades Academy Award for Best Community Focused Business was Greymouth High School's Papatuanuku Sports Kits.
Congratulations to all Greymouth High School Trades students of 2021. Many of you are embarking on a new and exciting journey, gaining employment or moving onto tertiary education. We have a larger number of you starting apprenticeships in your chosen trade locally in 2021, with Coast businesses owners taking advantage of the free apprenticeship scheme provided by the government. I wish you all the very best for your bright futures and look forward to welcoming returning and new students to our programmes in 2022.
Automotive Engineering Year 1
Building and Construction Year 2
Cookery Year 1
Hair and Beauty Year 2
Manaaki Tapoi Level 2
Conservation and Earthcare Year 1
Conservation and Earthcare Year 2
Conservation and Earthcare Year 3
Building and Construction Year 1
Building and Construction Year 2
Building and Construction Year 3
Cookery Year 1
Cookery Year 2
Cookery Year 3
Computer Programming and Web Design
Hair and Beauty Year 1
Hair and Beauty Year 1
Hair and Beauty Year 1
Hair and Beauty Year 2
Hair and Beauty Year 2
Hair and Beauty Year 2
Mechanical Engineering and CAD Design Year 1
Mechanical Engineering and CAD Design Year 1
Mechanical Engineering and CAD Design Year 2
The Art of Business
Civil Defence and Emergency Response Level 3
Agriculture Year 1
Agriculture Year 1
Conservation and Earthcare Year 1
Conservation and Earthcare Year 1
Konnah Hawkins
Patrick Haussmann
Catrin Grant
Fearne Richards
Jack Bolton
Isiah Sheehan-Priest
Tairyn Romana
Joel McKay
Sam Shaw
Kobe Hewison
Jayden Topliss
Quaid Roche
Harry Hogeboom
Eilish Morgan
Conor Duncan
Cairo Leach
Brier Shand
Korie Shaw
Courtney Coram
Sophie Donaldson
Devin Taylor
Alex Double
Jacob Miller
Jordan Baker
Shreya Maharaj
Hayley Howard
La-Rochelle Grobbelaar
Kalim Symonds
Mya Lindbom
Erika-Rosa McIsaac
Conservation and Earthcare Year 2 -
Conservation and Earthcare Year 2
Tania Washer Manager, WCTAConservation and Earthcare Year 2
Conservation and Earthcare Year 3
Conservation and Earthcare Year 3
Conservation and Earthcare Year 3
Conservation and Earthcare Year 3
Hayden Shand
Arlen Pahl
Hope Cox
Reuben Dibben
Jak Partridge
Alex Kennedy
During lockdown, members of staff and our wider Grey High community kept busy by preparing and delivering homemade, heat-and-eat meals to those who needed some extra support during this time. This is something we have been doing for approximately a year now but due to the increase in demand, we are producing kai on a far larger scale.
When we returned to school after lockdown, I arranged a big ‘cook up’ in our food technology room to replenish our stock. Myself and Whaea Erin created a menu and sent it out to staff with a list of ingredients. Staff then contributed ingredients and their time. Several staff wanted to help but were not sure how to, so this was an opportunity for everyone to pitch in. A huge, heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers involvedka mau te wehi!
We also have our hospitality students getting involved, which is fabulous. Some classes might prepare the food, another class may cook the food and another class may package and label the food. The students are aware that they have contributed to the kai that is being given to our school whānau in need. The students are doing
hands-on learning but also learning about the value of community and how they can contribute.
There are several others that I also need to thank for their continuous support and I thank you all for your kindness, thoughts and donations:-
Grey District Youth Trust, Rotary, GHS PTA, GHS staff, Julie Howe Catering, MUMMHG’s Kai, Annie’s Angels, GHS Digital Technology students for their aroha boxes and so many individuals in our community that reached out to me when they found out what I was doing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
A huge thank you also goes out to the Noel Leeming Group, Greymouth. We contacted them about donating a freezer to make sure we always had kai on hand at our kura. They didn’t hesitate to help us out by gifting us a large chest freezer. We can’t thank them enough for their generosity.
As a school we also supply weetbix and milk to our students. This is available in the whare, student kitchen, student office, MSA classroom and the assisted learning area or by just asking a staff member. Students are welcome to this at any time. We also have feminine hygiene products that can be found in several areas of the school, free of charge.
If your family/whānau need any extra support, please contact me and I’ll do my best to help you, including delivering meals.
The Year 10 Sewell Peak Challenge is an annual event that former GHS Principal Andy England started in 2015.
The Challenge is for all Year 10 students to walk up the scarily steep hill behind Taylorville to the incredible view from the top. This gives an analogy to moving into Year 11, in that NCEA can be achieved by everyone if they keep placing one foot forward and it’s better for everyone if you learn to support each other. The view is also a good reminder of the amazing place we get to call home!
The Sewell Peak Challenge 2021 was fantastic success for our Year 10’s. They all walked to the peak up a tar sealed road which is very steep in places. The intention was that every student makes it to the top, supported by others as required, and they all did so well!
At the peak, everyone was rewarded for their hard work with sandwiches and ice blocks. While enjoying the 360 degree views at the top, there was an opportunity to listen to stories about the region and the pre-European history of Māwhera by former Mayor Tony Kokshoorn, before heading back down the hill to finish the challenge.
On Friday 26 December, our kapa haka group did us proud at the Te Tai Poutini Kapa Haka Festival. Our rōpu of 21 students, with Samantha Bergin as Kaitataki Wahine and Jack Bolton as Kaitataki Tane performed a waiata tira called Taku Piki, a whakaeke called Ko wai, a waiata a ringa called Whakatika E Te Iwi, our school haka: Ko te kura ko Mawhera, and the whakawatea called E Hinemoana.
Special thanks to Miriama Mason, our super talented tutor. Miriama worked with us every Monday for the year and also at weekend wananga, and inspired our students to perform their best. Our rōpu benefited also from the tireless enthusiasm and support of Whaea Kylie Bellis, Matua Joe Mason and Matua Gordy Iafeta.
Learning all sorts of ways to protect our precious honey bees, including making bee-safe pesticides.
The Time Capsule group created their own time capsules which will be dug up when they’re in Yr 13.
This bee project plans to stop bees dying from predators by making houses for them.
Fashion to funk is about sewing and up-cycling textiles. The students can use machines to sew or they can sew by hand. In fashion to funk they get to learn new skills and more.
Working hard on figuring out different ways to stay healthy, how to grow sustainable food, looking at how ecovillages work and looking at the obesity crisis.
“I Will Survive.” Staying Alive is all about learning about the dangers of being outdoors and keeping yourself safe.
All about getting outside and staying fit and healthy through fun, physical activity.
During the last week of term here at Greymouth High we ran our Junior 2050 timetable with a wide range of amazing opportunities to choose from.
Timetabled classes were stopped and all junior students participated in the week-long project. There were 14 projects that students could choose to join based on passions, interests, skills and strengths. Each project had a different focus and was based on problems that we may face in 2050, or visions we have for 2050.
Taskmaster is a project where everyone competes for a token and whoever has the most at the end of the week gets a prize. In 2050 there might not be social media for entertainment.
The project life on Mars is all about how would and could the human race survive on Mars if the Earth becomes uninhabitable.
Cleaning up at the beach and around the town, and in the classroom, they have been recording every piece of litter they found.
A bit of a squeeze is about tiny homes, right now they are building 3D models using card and cardboard.
Expo 2050 has been exploring how the West Coast can have a good economy without the use of fossil fuels.
Mural painting is about working together to create pieces of art for the school. The topics are the Southern Alps, the ocean and Māori culture, forest, lakes and rivers on the West Coast.
Project 2050 Media has focused on the documentation of the 2050 projects - recording what is happening, and what the other project 2050 teams are doing!
The Duke of Edinburgh award is an award which creates opportunities for high school students to learn a new skill (or develop an existing one), get physically active, give service back to the community and, finally, take part in an outdoor adventure.
For my skill I chose Fame as this was something I had been working on at the time, my physical activity was netball training and games and for giving service back to the community I baked weekly for the staff of my former primary school at Grey Main.
I chose to do the Duke of Edinburgh award particularly to learn more about the outdoors and work towards going on the final ‘Adventurous Journey’. I am quite passionate about EOTC activities as I loved doing these trips in primary school and enjoy getting outdoors with my friends and family. I thought that having to pretty much do all of this outdoor journey by ourselves and only to be supervised from a distance would be a challenge in which I would have to learn more skills such as navigating to finally be able to put these together to participate in this journey. This made me particularly keen as I love a challenge to work towards! We planned this ‘Adventurous Journey’ to be somewhere outside of Greymouth, meaning that we would be able to explore a new place in our country with our classmates.
One of the biggest challenges and what I learnt the most about was when we were practicing navigation back at school with the compasses and then when we went on our walk using the grid
references to make a plan of where we were going and stopping, distances between different points and contour lines.
My favourite experience would have to have been convincing Mrs Wheeler (with the help of some other trampers and DoC workers) that we were able to take a dip in the river after a long, hot day of walking. So, as soon as we had set up camp, we went out for a swim! The added bonus was that when we were swimming, there were no sand flies hanging around for once! Also, the campsite was in such a beautiful area on the shores of the Heaphy river surrounded by native bush. A great walk that I recommend!
I really do encourage anyone that is interested and has a passion for the outdoors to join this award next year! :)
I chose to do the Duke of Edinburgh because I wanted to expand the things I know and take part in, and the idea of having an outdoor journey at the very end sounded fun. Doing it helped me learn about commitment, persistence, and how important teamwork is. The award lets you choose what specific skill, exercise, and volunteering you want to complete, and you also plan the adventurous journey you want to do in groups. My favorite experience I got from DOE was doing the Heaphy track with this year’s group, minus all the sandflies. We all worked together, no matter the difference in skills. Not only that, but we all had a lot of fun together talking and making smoke with damp leaves to get the sandflies away! Overall, I learned a lot through this award, I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried it out! Thank you Mrs. Wheeler for bringing DOE to Greyhigh.
All involved on the sporting front for 2021 were excited to get back into a more regular year of sport compared to the previous with many events lined up for our students. We started 2021 with a bang with our Coast to Coast athletes tackling this fantastic multisport event, something which is on many of our students’ bucket lists and we have had many successes throughout the years with excellent representation of GHS students and former students.
The full school athletics was once again a success with many students getting behind their houses, dressing up in some impressive outfits, participating in many events and seeing some records fall once again! Following on from that great house event the Y9s took part in the Top Team Challenge which gets the students working together, problem solving and taking on different leadership roles. Depending how well each team did at each event they gained points toward the coveted house shield, our student leaders were amazing assisting with this activity.
The Staff vs Students events on Friday in Term 2 was once again a popular event with many taking the court in various sports, and those who did not compete cheered everyone on from the sidelines. Also in Term 2 we saw the first Greymouth High School full school Cross Country take place at ANZAC Park using the Kowhai Bush track to complete a great 1500m circuit. Competitive runners ran two or three laps, social runners did one lap with multiple fun activities to join in with to gain even more house points.
Once again our top participation sporting code was basketball that had 11 teams competing in the weekly competition. We had many students coaching teams, involved with refereeing or just assisting WC Basketball to ensure the competition was successful - huge thank you to everyone who put their hand up to help with basketball. Another sport which saw fantastic growth and commitment was rugby union, we had a very successful 1st XV
school with pride, and U15 boys team with a great level of skill that we cannot wait to see develop as they go through the years. We had a combined Open Girls Team with John Paul II and Westland who challenge the boys with their skills and toughness on the field for many who have not had a lot of rugby experience.
For the second year in a row Winter Tournament Week was sadly canceled due to the uncertainty and putting the health and safety of those involved first. This was terribly disappointing as we were so much closer to the events than the year prior. Although our students and their families were disappointed with this decision, it was something we were aware could happen again so it was not as much of a shock. We do feel for our students with seniors missing out on the pinnacle tournaments of their school sports careers, and our juniors who will be moving into Y11 in 2022 who have not had any multi day secondary school sport experience. We look forward to next year where we look to send away ten sports teams including basketball, netball, rugby, hockey and rugby league - watch this space!
For West Coast Secondary School events we had fantastic participation getting behind all the sports offered, and many times coming away with the top spot - congratulations to everyone who got involved. Leading on from WCSS events we also had some students represent GHS at Canterbury events, this was a big step up for these athletes but it is valuable experience to further their sporting development.
On behalf of Greymouth High School I would like to thank everyone who volunteered their time to the Sports Dept. - those who put their hand up to coach, manage, officiate, assist with fundraising, getting our students to games, supporting our students in action among other things. Without this support we cannot offer the amount of sporting opportunities we can - THANK YOU!
Maddy Crawford Sports CoordinatorWHAT A DAY! As always it was a busy day of action for our school with everyone down at the ANZAC Athletics Track. It was a wee bit windy at times but still an enjoyable day for everyone involved.
We saw some students excelling across the board entering multiple events as seen below with the top point getters across the age groups. We also had a fantastic carnival type of atmosphere throughout the day with music pumping, fun games such as giant jenga and tug-o-war in action, plus the student council cooking up a storm in their big fundraiser of the year. Many of the staff got involved competing against students as we are also attached to houses and have to do our part to contribute to the house point totals!
TWO records were broken, both in Shot Put that
was throwing into the, at times, gusty wind!
Caitlan Williams has the new bragging rights for U16 Girls with a great throw of 9.31m, beating the previous record that was 9.06m. Isy Mavaia broke the record not once, not twice, but THREE times during her shot putting event with throws of 6.99m, 7.54m then a huge 7.97m and now holds the U14 Girls record smashing the previous one of 6.75m by over 1m.
A huge thank you to all the wonderful GHS staff and volunteers for running every event on the day so our students had the opportunity to compete in a variety of athletic events. All of this could not have been possible without the support from the Greymouth Athletics Club for allowing the school to use their fantastic facilities, especially Jack O’Connor for his extra help setting up the track, thank you so much!
Fast paced action in this exciting sport!
On the first Friday of Term the Staff vs Student InterHouse Event kicked off - first sport was KORFBALL.
We had a fantastic turnout of students getting involved and students cheering on those on the court - fantastic way to start the term and the popular Staff vs Student competition! We loved to see all the smiling faces of our students supporting this event.
There was a lot of friendly competition between everyone on court and of course some cheeky ribbing didn’t go astray when an easy shot was missed or butter fingers let the ball slip away. All part of the fun and the Staff love to see this healthy competition in action.
The students definitely showed up in this week’s instalment of Staff vs Students, a huge turn out of students getting involved at interval and lunchtime!
It was fantastic to see so many happy faces getting involved on the court and heaps of support up the top of those cheering the players on.
All of our Junior PE classes and some of our Seniors had the awesome opportunity to get introduced to this fast paced sport by Torsten from Korfball NZ during the week - Torsten was extremely valuable to have onsite all week and the students seemed to thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to try a new sport. As korfball is a combination of netball and basketball our students picked up the sport with ease - even though shooting into the huge 3.5m tall korf was a challenge!
Korfball originated in the Netherlands in 1902 and has grown in popularity throughout the world as it has similar skillsets to netball and basketball. The sport is unique in that there must be 4 females and 4 males on each team, and they are split into two zones - offence and defence - with 4 members from each team but after two goals are scored the teams switch offence/ defence so every player needs to have a strong base of both offence and defence. Scoring points through the tall korf is the way to win the game!
It was a fantastic afternoon of school activity for the first Greymouth HS full school cross country in we don’t know how many years!
We had a 1.5km circuit for our students to take on that started at the ANZAC Athletics Track, along entrance road, onto the old Star United rugby field, then through the Kowhai Bush Track, across the netball courts to finish on the ANZAC Athletics Track. There was also obstacles of tyres to run through, low hurdles, high steeples, and a very damp field with a small steep hill to give students a challenge (somewhere on hands and knees as it got muddy!)
Our competitive runners completed this circuit two or three times depending on their age (U14 3km, U15/16/19 4.5km), the faster they completed the race meant they were rewarded with even more house points. There was some great contest between the age groups and we had about 30+ competitive runners take on the course.
We know running in a cross country is not for everyone so we teed up a fun event for those to go around the same circuit as above but only completing one lap. This meant students could walk, run, skip, roll - however they could finish the race and importantly they could casually do this with their friends! Every student who completed the event earned house points and they were also awarded bonus house points for blowing up a balloon until it popped, eating a dry weetbix and
U14 Girls
U14 Boys
Reagan Boniface Charlie Taylor
Dakota Robins
Heidi Goodman -
Olivia Scott
Alisha Parsons
DNF Niah King
U15 Girls
Will England
Alex Staiger
Max Tollison
Emil Fischer
Alex Mills
U15 Boys
Sinead Flood Callum Brown
Harvilla Barrow Franklin Barry
DNF Katelyn Ford
DNF Rata Gurney
U19 Girls
Alyssa Blacktopp
Seeti Barrow
Ben Maxwell
DNF Harry Shaw
U16 Boys
Yotam Perchig
Sam Shaw
Sean Bain
Llewellyn Dronfield
shooting a netball goal! Just a bit of fun to break up the circuit for these students - many of the competitive runners went around with their friends again gaining even more house points but it shows how enjoyable the course was and the emphasis on HAVING FUN!
William Scott
Felix Gillam
Joseph Hodgeboom
DNF Jacob Miller
U19
Clark Fountain
Niko Barnett
We would like to thank all our students who attended this event and for getting involved - it was a great vibe from everyone crossing the finish line and it was a fantastic way to break up the already busy Term 2. Plus how good is it to gain more house points to go towards that important house shield?!
Time: 13:14:48
3rd / 13 Open Men’s
6th / 23 Males
7th / 66 Overall
Finlay and Clark had to compete in the Open Men’s Category as there was no schools section in the 2021 event. There wasn’t much between the top 3 finishers in this category - 1st place finished in 12:48:37, 2nd 13:06:47 and our team in 3rd place 13:14:48. This only gives just over 35 minutes gap between 1st - 3rd! Great to see after racing 243km that teams are so close together.
How did you find the race?
F: I loved the race! I found it really fun and I enjoyed it a lot especially the kayak, I just started hurting a bit towards the end of the kayak and that made it a little bit less enjoyable haha but other than that it was so fun!
C: I found the race very challenging but running up
the last little hill made the whole thing worthwhile and made all the long hours of training pay off. It was an amazing experience and we couldn’t have done it without all the amazing support from school and our support crew.
What was your favourite part?
F: My favourite parts were the parts in the kayak after the couple of rapids that I was nervous about where I didn’t come out and just felt a rush of excitement and I actually shouted “woo” after all of them because of how good I felt for not coming out.
C: My favourite part of this endeavour was either eating two amazing mince pies after the mountain run or having an amazing dinner after the race.
What was your least favourite part?
F: Again probably the kayak but just the section after Woodstock where you can see the finish and it just drags out for what feels like forever and at that point my legs had fallen asleep it was just slightly miserable but other than that it was really good, and the gorge section is stunning so that’s another plus.
C: My least favourite part was having to get up on the second day after the run because the body was very tender and sore and later that day was a 70km bike ride into a headwind.
Did you achieve your goal?
F: Well I think our overarching goal is just to give it
our best shot and do the best we can so I think we did that. Our other goal was to beat our time from last year which we didn’t do but then I realised that the run section was on the road last year so it contributed to the time last year being a bit quicker.
C: Overall I feel we achieved our goal and more just completing the event in my opinion is a huge accomplishment, let alone getting a podium place.
Will you do the C2C again, if so what category?
F: I think I’m going to take a quote unquote “gap year” this year so that I can enjoy a full summer and not be training the whole time haha but
Time: 04:09:39
1st / 5 School Boys
6th / 113 Males 6th / 186 Overall
Callum was the youngest competitor in the field and he finished his event just over 30 minutes behind the 1st overall athlete home, who was an Open Men’s runner. Plus he finished his race 23 minutes ahead of his next closest competitor in his category of School Boys. A very impressive run from this talented young athlete!!
potentially I could be interested in doing it again in 2023, I think doing it with my brother could be cool so that’s potentially an option.
C: I would love to compete in the event next year for the 40th anniversary, maybe even as an individual or just do the mountain run to see what happens.
Anything else to add?
C: I would like to thank everyone for the amazing support. It definitely made a difference and our support crew for the late nights and early mornings and all the help everyone put in, couldn’t have done it without you!!
How did you find the race?
The race was fun but getting cramp at the top and having to run 17km with a cramp is not a good idea.
What was your favourite part?
Probably getting over Dudley’s Knob and knowing that I’ve got downhill for the rest was a good booster in the mental game.
What was your least favourite part?
Definitely Dudley’s Knob, it just hurts, you’re about 20km in and you’ve got a sharp uphill it’s just very annoying.
Did you achieve your goal?
Well I was on to achieve my goal of 3:35-45 but obviously the cramp slowed me down but was still happy to get 1st in my category by 30 minutes.
Will you do the C2C again, if so what category?
I’m hoping to do the 2-day individual at year 11 going into year 12 or 2023 and then going onto the longest day the year after.
Anything else to add?
This whole event is a fun thing to do. It’s just hard to train for but is fun if you train right.
We took three Greymouth HS Senior touch teams to Hari Hari to compete in the hotly contested WCSS Senior Touch Tournament. Unfortunately due to Alert Level 2 restrictions a couple of schools could not attend and we were limited on the amount of teams we could bring, plus no spectators to cheer on those playing.
In the boys competition we had two teams GHS A (navy) and GHS B (light blue), Westland HS and South Westland AS. The GHS A team consisted of more of our senior boys: Theo Barnett, Niko Barnett, Reuben Taylor, Jak Partridge, Marty Rochford, Josh Cooper and Joel McKay. These boys had some tight games first up against SWAS with a 3-2 win, same score against WHS then a draw against the GHS B team.
The GHS B team was mostly made up of the exciting Y11 boys of: Liam Gurden, Wil van der Geest, Griffin Thomas, Noah Goodwin-Lister, Sam Shaw and Y12 James Crooks. This team had a try fest against SWAS winning 5-2, then two draws 1-1 against WHS, then 3-3 against GHS A.
For both boys teams there was some great talent on show as many have been playing touch
in the local competition. The referees made a comment that it was tough keeping up with the speed the boys were playing at which made for some entertaining viewing. Well done on your performances boys!
Final Placing: 1st GHS A, 2nd GHS B, 3rd WHS, 4th SWAS
The girls' competition saw some very tight games between GHS, Westland HS, South Westland AS A and South Westland AS B. Our team had a mix of girls with some who hadn’t played touch since primary school but they found their feet quickly.
Team: Alyssa Blacktopp, Haylee Mackinnon, Yana Latta, Sophia Keown, Aleece Harris, Allie Vaughan, Madison Rihari and Emma Boddy
All teams took their time to get into the matches while dealing with slipping and sliding around a greasy field but once they found their feet the games opened up! In the first game the girls stormed home with a 5-1 win over SWAS B, then a tighter 2-0 win against WHS and in the final game it finished as a draw 1-1 with SWAS A. With this draw both teams had the same amount of points on count back for and against so the decision was made to have a golden point final! 3 minutes of extra time was played - no points scored, player drop offs begin every minute. 5v5 no points scored,
4v4 no points scored, finally at 3v3 GHS made the most of the extra room on the field and Haylee Mackinnon got in for the win! Thrilling way to finish girls!
Final Placings: 1st GHS, 2nd SWAS A, 3rd WHS, 4th SWAS B
Awesome day of touch, and all players proudly represented GHS - well done teams!
Tough scoreline does not represent the excellent first game of the school season.
This year our combined Open Girls Team sees 10 Greymouth HS girls tee up with 10 John Paul II HS girls to create an impressive team of both experienced and young exciting players. Some of the players are new to rugby union or contact sport all together but it doesn’t take them long to get into the swing of the game and leave everything on the park.
All the girls have been putting in a huge amount of training leading up to the school rugby season with the fantastic guidance from Rob Maitland. Their performance on the field definitely demonstrated with a fantastic never give up attitude and some skills that would easily compare to the boys who play week in week out. Watch this space for this team of hard hitting young women! Very impressive with their play and they just need to learn a few more tricks of the game and they will be a force to be reckoned with!
Thank you to referee Andrew Robb for officiating the game, excellent to have you on board and giving the players tips throughout, as for many this was their first game of rugby!
FULL TIME: GHS/JPII 22 - 67 Buller HS
Our talented young group of men all looked forward to building on the success from the 2020 season. IN 2021 we reverted back to the original Brockbank Graves Series format that includes four Canterbury Schools of Ellesmere College, Darfield HS, Kaikoura HS and Rolleston HS along with the four West Coast Schools - John Paul II HS, Buller HS, Westland HS and Greymouth HS.
The format of the series sees the West Coast Schools in one pool, Canterbury Schools in the other, crossover games take place for semifinals, with the higher finisher in pool play hosting the game. Then the final dance of playoffs again, the higher finishing team has the hosting rights.
The first game of the season was an unfortunate default from Westland HS. However, the boys could not be more excited to run out against old foes John Paul II HS on the fantastic John Sturgeon Park.
Plenty of rain on the day prior made for a damp surface, but the park is a fantastic ground and being the third game of the day it held up extremely well for all the teams.
FULL TIME: Greymouth HS 32 - 10 John Paul II
The conditions could not have been better for a game of rugby, John Sturgeon Park in fantastic condition and blue sky for an exciting semifinal.
WHAT A THRILLER! This game really could have gone either way today, both teams working extremely hard on the field and showcasing some excellent rugby ability.
Thank you to head referee Jamie Rodges and AR’s Will England and Andrew Robb for officiating this tight encounter, really appreciate you volunteering your time for the teams.
The 2021 edition of the Matt Gunter Memorial Exchange was smaller compared to other years with only the 1st XV Rugby teams competing due to various reasons. However, it was a fantastic game played by all involved to honour Matt once again for this special game.
This was the 9th year of the fixture being played between Greymouth HS and Nelson College Boarders, it did not disappoint!
This year Greymouth HS with support from the kapa haka group performed a haka in response to the powerful Nelson College haka, this was a fantastic haka and the boys performed it so well.
We cannot wait to see the whole 1st XV team performing our school haka in 2022 fixtures.
FULL TIME: Greymouth HS 28 - 31 Nelson College
Congratulations to Nelson College on their win, fantastic game of footy that could have gone either way. Both teams played extremely well, representing the schools with pride and making the Gunter Family proud for this game in Matt’s honor.
Thank you to officials Colin van der Geest, assistant referees Will England and Rob Maitland. Also to Head Coach McTaggart for getting our boys to the stage of producing some excellent rugby. Finally, a huge thank you to the Gunter Family for having this fixture for the schools, it is always a special game for both sides and never a let down.
High scoring affair for the first U15 game of the school season!
On Tuesday 4th May we took our exciting U15 Boys Team off to Hokitika to compete in the first rugby game of the 2021 season.
Our boys were the first ones to have the opportunity to wear the BRAND NEW Greymouth HS rugby uniforms and boy did they look great out on the park - Thank you yet again to Canterbury Sports Wholesale for their excellent quality products!
It was awesome to see Westland HS have about 4/5 girls in the mix of their team, and they held their own against the boys and weren’t afraid to get right in the thick of it.
The game was a huge achievement for the group who have been building up well and by having 4x Year 9s, 13x Year 10s and 2x Year 11s on the park you can just imagine how exciting we are about the future of rugby union at Greymouth HS.
Although the scoreline blew hugely in favour of our side we would like to thank Westland HS for putting up a great fight and never giving up, they had some nice wee patches of play that made us work hard to keep them off the scoreboard.
Tough day at the office for our younger boys, but always good learnings!
The U15 Boys were excited to get back out on the field after a very dominant game against Westland HS the week prior.
Unfortunately we were missing some of our speedy players through injury or illness on the day so our team line up was very different from the week prior. However, this group of hard working boys still had some fantastic moments throughout the game including some very strong defence in the middle of the park.
Thank you to referee Colin van der Geest for officiating and to AR’s Will England and Daniel Gibbens. We are always so grateful to have excellent officials like these assisting on the day.
It was great to have some of our injured players of Declyn King, Liam Gurden and Alex Clark on hand to be water boys and helpers for our coaches Mr McGirr and Mr Haigh. Everyone involved in this team has been doing a great job at bringing them together as many play for various clubs in the local competition.
FULL TIME: Greymouth HS 17 - 64 John Paul II
Fantastic team effort to bounce back from last week’s loss.
It was a damp day at John Sturgeon Park with plenty of rain falling over the last few days making it tough work for the field’s pumps to remove water, however the ground was still fantastic for the teams to get on and play some exciting rugby.
After last week’s loss to John Paul II the boys were keen to get back in the winners circle and with the return of some players and new ones available the dynamic of the team was different again.
FULL TIME: Greymouth HS 49 - 15 Buller HS
We had a lovely group of players - Alyssa Blacktopp, Sophia Keown, Madison Rihari, Ansariya Nisha, Reuben Dibben, Kole Darling and Clark Fountain - representing Greymouth HS at the recent West Coast Secondary School Badminton Tournament hosted at Westland HS on the 11th May.
Some of our players have attended this tournament before, others were brand new and had only picked up the racket during PE sessions showing some impressive skills. Although our players were mostly novices against some very talented players from South Westland AS, John Paul II HS, Westland HS and Buller HS, who play in the local club competition, they seemed to really enjoy themselves. At tournaments like this, with so many games in the day, players improve their games quickly; safe to say all our players chalked up some solid games and there were flares of impressive skills against much more experienced players. Well done on a great day out team!
All players had the opportunity to play in double and singles games really testing all the players with having multiple games. Both teams worked well and picked some points throughout their games but credit to the other schools with some very talented players on the court.
Thank you to Mr Louie for taking the team away, giving them some well seasoned tips and tricks and
being a great supporter of badminton in the school.
Final Standings:
Girls Competition
1st South Westland AS A, 2nd Westland HS, 3rd John Paul II, 4th South Westland AS B, 5th Buller HS, 6th Greymouth HS
Boys Competition
1st Westland HS A, 2nd South Westland AS A, 3rd John Paul II, 4th Westland HS B, 5th Buller HS, 6th Greymouth HS, 7th South Westland AS B
On Tuesday 15th of June a group of keen swimmers travelled to Westport for the West Coast Swimming Sports. This is an event where the best swimmers on the Coast have an opportunity to compete against other swimmers and celebrate their hard efforts training at local pools.
I had the privilege of taking four swimmers this year and along with the interesting music being played on the way up there, I really enjoyed and felt proud of the way our students held themselves and performed. The team consisted of Caitlyn Gallant and Richard Meek in Year 11, and Jess Gallant and Max Tollison in Year 9.
Some notable achievements were our second place in the Freestyle 4x50m relay, Richard’s victory in the 50m and 100m Backstroke, Max’s 50m Freestyle 2nd showing great sprint speed, Caitlyn’s second in
the Individual Medley (all four strokes raced) and Jess’ 50m breaststroke race.
Each of these students can teach us all something:
• Richard - Entered in every event he was eligible for - a keenness to play full-out.
• Jess - No longer swims but gave it a go - a give it a go attitude
• Caitlyn - her hard work training at the Recreation Centre could teach us all perseverance and persistence
• Max - whose quiet, humble demeanor despite his speed - humility.
We hosted the WCSS Senior Futsal Tournament on Wednesday 17th March at our very own gym. This made for a very exciting day of action that included many of our students watching the action throughout the day.
Each game was only 7 minute halves, so teams needed to get into their work quickly to ensure they got on that scoreboard as games stayed as a draw during pool play. Teams were awarded 3 points for a win, +1 bonus point if they won by 5 or more goals, and teams who lost gained +1 bonus point if they lost by 2 points or less.
Both GHS boys teams made easy work of their pool play games and both headed to the semifinals in the top spot. GHS A again showed their talent with many of the boys having attended a Canterbury Futsal event previously and that experience was shown on the court. GHS B could not quite find the goal in their semifinal and were gutted to go down a single goal for JPII B to take the win. The 3rd/4th playoff between GHS B and JPII A was a tight one and GHS just edged through to take the win by one point. Similarly in the 1st/2nd final it was a tight game, JPII B had improved a lot from their first encounter but our boys just snuck through to take the win by one point!
GHS A Boys: Yotam Perchig, Kayne Wall, Judah Wate, Ray Wate, Archie Johnstone, Adrian Bullimore
GHS B Boys: Marty Rochford, Clark Fountain, Max Welsford, Kaleb Farmer, Bailey Russ.
In the girls competition there were no playoffs, only a round robin competition so every point was very important as places were decided by wins/loss/ draws. Our girls finished the tournament with two wins, one loss and one draw. With the closeness of some games our girls picked up some important bonus points and in the final game they stormed home getting the bonus point on goals scored. This paid off big time as our girls took home second place just a single point in front of SWAS.
GHS Girls: Alyssa Blacktopp, Sophia Keown, Poppy Blu-Reyland, Pheonix Fowler, Caitlan Williams, Emma Boddy, Caitlin Boddy
Congratulations on such a fantastic day of futsal GHS teams!
Thank you to Mr Tangney for running the teams throughout the day and being on the whistle multiple times, he is a great asset to our schools and especially for our futsal/football mad students!
Mackenzie Hallberg competed in the Buller Gorge Half Marathon Walk and came home in 1st place in the Men’s Under 20 category in a time of 3:17:38. Overall there were 83 competitors in the half marathon walk, so there was plenty of competition!
This is Mackenzie’s third time competing in this event, in 2020 he got on the podium in 3rd place so he has gone two places better taking away the top spot.
Congratulations on your performance Mackenzie!
We took a talented athletic group of students to Hokitika to compete in the first West Coast Secondary School Korfball Tournament.
There were five teams competing - Westland HS A and B, Buller HS A and B and our young Y9/10 team. This tournament was an open age group tournament so it was great to see so many players taking on this new sport and creating some great results. Games were 15 minute halves that resulted in a lot of running around for everyone involved.
Our GHS team was full of netball and basketball players who were very new to the sport only trying it out when Korfball NZ visited the school. However, the skillsets of this sport are very similar to netball and basketball so our students picked it up with ease.
The Korfball tournament was a fantastic day out and our students played extremely well! We are hoping this tournament has spurred on the interest in the sport.
Results: 1st WHS A, 2nd GHS, 3rd WHS B, 4th BHS B, BHS A
It was fantastic to have the Flora Beynon Trophy being contested for back in Greymouth after an 11 year absence from winning the trophy thanks to the 2020 team. This year's team is a newly formed group of young talented players which included multiple Juniors as we build the team for future years.
This year we had six of the seven West Coast Secondary Schools competing for this special trophy and it was, as expected a hotly contested day! Games were 8 minute quarters to ensure players where not playing too much netball in one day.
In our pool we first came up against Westland HS, we started the game well being right in the contest up to half time. Westland made some smart changes and started to grow the gap in the third quarter, then finished very strong to take out the win. Our girls played very well for their first court time together and there were many positives to come out of this loss.
Second game in the pool had us taking on Karamea AS, this is a very small school so it was fantastic to see them in action! We had the opportunity to try out some new combinations allowing for many players to show off their skills in a range of positions. KAS were not to be taken lightly with their shooters being very accurate. However, our through court defence put too much pressure on them giving our team good turnovers and converting in the shooting end.
Our playoff game was against old foes John Paul II HS for 3rd/4th positions. Many of our team plays with JPII players in the local club competition so it was great to see the contest between players who have been coached together throughout the season. This game was a tight contest with JPII and it could have gone either way with a few turnover here or there making the difference for which team converted more goals. We snuck out to a lead in the fourth quarter building on some excellent play through out the game and took the win 27 - 21.
Very solid performance from a newly formed team, very exciting to see where this team will be in the near future with talent across the board and importantly players who can fill multiple positions. Well done girls!
Thank you to our many officials throughout the day - Krystal Dietrich, Jess Galibrath, Sue Smith, Nadia Lee, Sally Rae, Sammi Fahey, Kiana Gallion and two Buller HS players. Without these amazing volunteer umpires we would not have a game, we are so grateful there are so many experienced officials on the Coast!
In 2022 we will be up the road to Westport as Buller HS took out the win in a thrilling final, the team who won the trophy in the year prior gains hosting rights as well. This is the first time since 2014 that Buller HS have won the trophy, great to see netball improving across the board!
Huge day of netball for our talented Y9/10 team with having three full games of netball in the day walking away with two wins and one tight loss! This excellent day one performance has seen our girls go through to the Top 16 grouping. Congratulations team and to Coach Cronin and Manager Lynch, plus a shout out to our team umpire Mackenzie Clark!
After this big day of netball our team was booked to go to the LIVE Taxtic netball game tonight - We hope you enjoyed yourselves!
Day two saw some exciting games on the cards for our team. The second stage of pool play was a chilly start with -5 degrees! Our girls must not have liked the cold Canterbury weather and they went down to Rolleston. However, the second game of the day saw a solid bounce back against St Peter’s taking an 11 point win.
The quarterfinal game against Geraldine HS was a thriller! Both teams were tied up at full time, being a QF there must be a winner so extra time was played (17 minutes of it!) until our girls went two ahead to take the win - woohoo!! For the final standings on the points table of stage two of pool play we took through a bonus point from the tight loss to Garin the day before and with one win and one loss the team finished on 5 points. This was
equal to Garin, however we had a better point difference of just 6 points! SEMIFINALS for Top 4 here we come! An even earlier game tomorrow will see the team take on Roncalli College, I am sure it will be chilly - if you are cheering on the team make sure you rug up warm.
DAY 3
Super early start for our girls against a talented Roncalli team who have been winning big throughout the tournament and it was the same tone against our girls, however a good performance from the team in the early morning chill.
Off to the 3rd/4th playoff sees the girls take on Rolleston College again who we played game one on day two, Rolleston got the jump on us in that game beating us by 10 goals. This time around our girls took the convincing win! Eight games of netball in three days finishing 3RD out of 32 teams in the Combined Y9/10 Grade! Excellent result for this impressive team, congratulations!!
Thank you to Coach Cronin, Manager Lynch, and Mackenzie Clark as umpire. Also special thanks to Coach Kayla Hibbs for prepping the girls well for the tournament, I am sure they did you proud! Also a special shout out to all the wonderful supporters who attended games, it was fantastic to have so much local support in Canterbury.
On Thursday 24th June our Junior Netball team was off to Hokitika to compete in the West Coast Secondary Schools Junior Netball tournament. This year the tournament had six teams from Buller HS, Westland HS, John Paul II and two teams from South Westland AS in the mix.
It was an action packed fast day of netball with games being 6 minute quarters so teams had to get into their work early. Our team did not disappoint! Going 5-0 and looking very strong throughout every game with their ability and combinations it is exciting to see how this team will improve even more as they build up to SISS.
Final placings: 1st Greymouth HS, 2nd Westland HS, 3rd John Paul II, 4th South Westland AS B, 5th Buller HS and 6th South Westland AS A
The annual Coast of Origin Rugby League game between Greymouth HS/John Paul II vs Haeata Community Campus (formally Aranui HS) came into its 10th year of competition with the 2021 edition going back to Y11/12/13 players from last year’s Y9/10/11 group.
For those who are not aware of the history of this game, it all began after the Canterbury earthquakes to offer the Canterbury school the opportunity to play their sport away from home due to many of the facilities being damaged from
the quakes. This annual event has developed into one of the biggest league games on the school calendar and one the boys are always itching to compete in.
Our team only had one training together under the GHS/JPII banner but they had great numbers of 19 players attend and we were in the unique situation that many of the boys play together in the West Coast U18s team so they were very familiar with each other’s playing ability.
Greymouth HS Players: Theo Barnett (Capt.), Niko Barnett, Derek Chizuni, Jak Partidge, Sean Bain, Noah Goodwin-Lister, Llewellyn Dronfield, Sam Shaw, Wil van der Geest, Fa Masalu, Brodie Luff, Dom Moles, James Crooks, Liam Gurden
FINAL: GHS/JPII 34 - 12 HCC
The Senior Basketball Boys competed in the West Coast Secondary School Senior Boys Tournament in Westport on the 10th August. There were only four schools competing this year with other schools targeting specific other sports for their students.
This tournament had 8 minute quarter games to allow the teams to squeeze in 3 games each without playing too much in the day.
Game one was up against hosts Buller HS, the boys took a wee bit to get into this game. However, by the half time they had a strong 10 point lead and kept on building on that to finish the game 65-35 against a spirited and young Buller side.
Game two had us take on John Paul II, who cannot be underestimated with the different fire power they have. First quarter both teams scored well being locked at 20 points a piece, second quarter had our boys edge ahead ever so slightly but still wasn’t the type of basketball the boys are normally known for. Some strong halftime encouragement got the boys on the right track stretching the lead to 68 - 52 then they stormed home 84 - 67 to put a strong stamp on the game.
Final game of the day against Westland HS allowed the bench players to get some valuable court time and put on a strong display of basketball, even questioning some of the normal starting 5 players for spots! After the convincing win over JPII the team came out firing and ran away with a 73 - 22 win over Westland.
Thank you to Manager Mr Robertson for stepping in to coach the boys for the day as Coach Jack Olsen was tied up at work. Excellent performance boys, congratulations!
This year the West Coast Secondary School Senior Girls Basketball Tournament was hosted in Greymouth at our awesome Westland Rec Centre on Thursday 12th August.
Our team had just come away from the local basketball finals with a loss and wanted to make up for their performance. This talented group of young women have been training extremely hard with winter tournament week and nationals in their sights so the WCSS event was a great opportunity to play against other school teams.
Games were 8 minute quarters so teams needed to get into their work quickly. This year saw only four schools competing - Greymouth HS, Buller HS, John Paul II, Westland HS, as other schools were targeting other sports for 2021. With a small tournament it made for some great basketball across the board with teams giving it their all.
First game against John Paul II was a convincing win from our team, everything was clicking well and the team well and truly shook off the dust from their recent finals loss.
Next game against Westland HS was going to be an easier game for our side as WHS focuses more
on their netball than basketball, however Westland still played some good basketball. Our team was just on a level of their own in this game making things look easy and points getting dropped from all over the court.
The final game of the day which ended up being the decider for 1st/2nd was against Buller HS. Buller have been our closest rivals in the Senior Girls Basketball for a number of years and everyone knew this game would not disappoint! It was even at the end of the first quarter, 13 points a piece. Second quarter we just crept ahead with a 6 point buffer 28 - 22, the team sustained a similar lead of 5 points going into the final quarter. Fourth quarter was a thriller! Buller outscored our side 12 points to 6, however clutch play from Ella Mahuika scoring an important 3 pointer and a final free throw gave GHS the win by a single point! Fantastic game to watch!
Thank you and congratulations to Coach Matiu Wikaira for taking your team through in great fashion, the girls have learnt so much from you this season!
Also thank you to all of our referees and bench helpers throughout the day, we cannot host a tournament like this without your great help.
We were lucky enough to have the crew from Top Team Challenge visit the school on Tuesday 23rd March to put on a fantastic morning of activities for our Year 9 cohort.
The year group was split into 18 teams to compete in activities that involved: water challenges, giant sack races, tower stacking, giant team skiing, slingshots and plenty of problem solving. It was great to see all students laughing, smiling and getting involved in the challenges, while working together as a team.
All the teams were split into house groups so those important house points were up for grabs! Every team contributed extremely well to house pointswatch out for the next update of points in next weeks newsletter. Congratulations to Group 13 from Rata for taking out the event, then to Group 15 from Tawa locking in second place, Group 2 from Kahurangi and Group 14 from Rata for tying third place.
A huge thank you to our awesome group of student leaders and peer support leaders for doing a great job leading each activity, being enthusiastic and getting the Year 9s involved. We are very lucky to have such a great group of senior students who can easily step up to run events like this.
Thank you to Shani at Top Team for visiting the school. We had a two year break from Top Team visiting with being rained off in 2019 and Covid stopping the event in 2020 so it was fantastic to have them back on site and bringing our Year 9 cohort together.
Cousins Caitlin and Pepa-Jay Boddy were part of the WINNING team of six riders making up Greymouth Green. They competed at the New Zealand Pony Club South Island Showjumping Championships on the 12th and 13th of January in Waimate.
Greymouth Green finished on a combined 148 points, just sneaking ahead of North Otago who finished on 146.
This is the 20th Annual event that saw over 200 riders attend making up over 30 teams from across the South Island, each team comprised of two senior, two intermediate and two junior riders. Each rider was put through their paces, undertaking a series of challenges involving jumping, with different sets of rules.
Caitlin took out bragging rights riding Summer Haze placing 1st Junior overall with the highest points after placing in all four rounds of competition.
The following Greymouth High School students participated in the West Coast Secondary School Chess Tournament at Grey Main on 13th May 2021.
• Shannon Baker
• Brighid Gallagher
• Alisha Parsons
• Richard Meek
• Franklin Barry
• Ethan Parsons
• Julia Kokiri
• Troy Schimanski
• Harry Johnston
The top Greymouth High School players were Franklin Barry, Richard Meek and Ethan Parsons.
What did the students enjoy?
Juniors - student voice from Mr McTaggarts survey
“Although health was not my favourite subject, I enjoyed the challenge system with the key competencies and KitKats”
“I enjoyed getting to pick the sports we did for a week and leading everyone to do it.”
“Learning about different health problems. Getting to work in groups and share our ideas about each topic.”
“Learning with classmates and friends, we were all given a chance to be collaborative and pitch in ideas.”
The Health and Physical Education department, complete with a revamped teaching staff, have enjoyed a successful year. After the uncertainty of 2020, we were all looking forward to a more settled year and the staff quickly got on with some new and improved teaching and learning experiences.
We welcomed back Mrs Cronin to teach senior Health and Staff Lomey stepped into the Outdoor Education role with year 10. We said goodbye to Mr Bermingham as he takes up a secondment with the Ministry of Education, but in his place the experienced Mr Johnson steps in.
Our junior classes focussed strongly on the school ARCH values at the start of the year and this set the tone for an interactive and enjoyable year in HPE, with students taking the reins, leading their peers in activities and producing some great collaborative online Health and wellbeing resources during lockdown.
The Yr 11 Sport, Fitness and Recreation class really stepped up this year and embraced all challenges thrown at them, in the great outdoors. The SFR2 class had a great few days white water rafting and we were pleased to reintroduce the Boyle River trip. Our senior Health classes had some great ideas to improve the wellbeing of their community and our senior PE classes got active in Punakaiki, successfully traversing not one but fourteen rivers!
All in all a very active and successful year and we look forward to a less disrupted 2022!
We started the year with a challenge, as a class we teamed up with the music class and delivered two internal assessments through the form of writing a song. This put a lot of people outside their comfort zones, most students rose to the challenge and gained a new skill, and both music and health credits for their efforts. They have continued to work hard throughout the year. I have been impressed with how open and honest people have been willing to be during our class discussions.
This dedicated bunch quickly gelled together as a class and created their own routines, such as shared snacks on a Friday, nicknames and trying to give Mrs Cronin a fright!
They really pulled together and helped each other out during one of their assessments which required them to ‘Improve the wellbeing of a group of people’. This saw groups designing and implementing their own ideas then evaluating the effects. One group ran a beach clean up that the whole class got behind, another group ran ‘Mindful colouring sessions’ during lunch breaks to help Greymouth High School students manage their stress levels. We had a group conduct a school wide survey about bullying and trying to introduce kindness cards. Two girls took on the challenge of brightening up the entrance way to our classroom.
What were your highlights for the year Mr Henderson? Far too many highlights to name but will have to say, I’ve loved working with an amazing, entertaining, accountable bunch of students who have a strong variety of talents and creative personalities.
Any wins Mr Henderson? Big win for me this year has been lifting the Year-11 SFR pass rate by almost 90% in earning half of the total course credits of 23 before Term3 concluded compared to our 2020 data of only 50% earning half of the available credits at the end of the year. Just shows the determination of our students who have been putting in the mahi from day one of 2021.
Overcome any challenges this year? Term-3’s Covid-19 Delta outbreak and national lockdown would have to have been the biggest challenge for us all this year. It created a major shift in our teaching and learning momentum for term three and the remainder of the year had to be redesigned from our initial timetabled assessments to create flexibility in our learning intentions. Our students once again highlighted the need to put student and whanau well-being first and not demand so much during and post lockdown. Which is a fine line between balancing student achievement and student well-being during what was another difficult time of uncertainty.
What did you enjoy this 2021 Mr Henderson? I enjoyed meeting my Year-9 classes and getting to know them as they transitioned into GHS life. I also enjoyed working with our TPP providers in them offering four days worth of kayaking and rock climbing experiences and skill development towards our Year-11 SFR students and seeing them test their own fears and skill sets outside of the classroom from conquering cliff heights to kayaking down the Grey river.
“Umeia te marokura e Kia Toa anau - Strive for Excellence and Stay Strong family.” Merry Christmas and catch you all in 2022.
What were your highlights for the year Mr Louie?
As always, seeing students participating and enjoying the activities during PE and Health with the juniors and seeing the high number of participants during the outdoor education days with the seniors.
Overcome any challenges this year?
With the impact of Covid-19 during Term 3 it really threw a spanner in the momentum gained through the earlier part of the year. Having to manage the learning online was a challenge for both students and staff and maintaining that motivation was difficult to achieve. It was a relief to see students back at school and back doing learning in a school environment.
What did you enjoy this 2021?
Being involved with the Year 10 Outdoor Education for the first semester. A massive highlight for me is when students choose to take on a challenge and move out of their comfort zone to try new activities.
Year 9 PE was a challenge to get students to participate in activities as well as being willing to try new sports and games. Lockdown made it more difficult for students to engage in learning.
The big win for me is that towards the end of the year lots of students tried new activities while others demonstrated both self and group leadership skills in the class.
2021 brought many changes for the Languages Department. We welcomed several new staff members: Ann Kieran, who also stepped in as Y11 Dean and Mentor Coordinator, Harriet Wise, who is in her first year of teaching and has taken on the Y9 programme, Kylie Bellis, who took over Ng Here Kahikatea, and Sian Utton, who came in when Dan Hanson went on leave. We also welcomed back Cath Donovan.
Our growth has added to the department’s skillset, ideas, but we continue to hold ourselves and our students to high standards. Overall, we are proud of our students and the resilience and passion that they have shown over the course of this year.
Students from 9B and 9D have been exploring short texts about some of the big choices and challenges people have to make. For their first activity during lockdown they explored a poem with two different meanings depending on how you read it.. They then had a go at writing their own. (P.S. Try reading the poem forwards and then backwards)
- Harriet WiseOcean pollution
by Wairini IraiaLike aquamarine
It’s all clean
There is no litter
It doesn’t need to be fitter
So don’t tell me
We need to fix what is not ours
Like it’s our own
That is not true
This term, 9C have been working on the ‘Choices and Challenges’ of climate change.
We started by exploring the facts and commenting on our choices as individuals and as a society and the challenges we face. We have studied a range of short stories and poetry through the genre of Climate Fiction to add to our thoughts. As you can see the infographic is based on the climate change facts and the word cloud is inspired by the poem ‘I am earth’.
Ella and Paris lose patience with Ms Roos’s unorganised classroom and take matters into their own hands. The desk was a lost cause, but the shelves have endured a bit longer!
Scholarship English got off to a strong start this year. And more students than ever are planning to complete the Scholarship exam at the end of the year!
The theme this year for ENG313 was ‘For the Greater Good’ and students have looked at texts which challenge this idea- both morally and practically. We started with critical lenses and how to analyse texts from other perspectives. Then we watched the controversial American History X which led to excellent discussions on current issues. Students have also looked at climate change and what humanity is doing and how it could be reversed. And in the final terms, the students took these ideas and wrote their own pieces.
Sydney GayWe have had a busy year this year! Our multi level kaupapa M ori akonga have been on many adventures for place based learning. We have also had a class based noho to develop our bond together. We are working hard at trying to improve our te reo and learn all about tikanga.
Our first hearenga (journey) this year was to Blaketown beach. We learnt some te reo based around the things we could see down there and became creative with driftwood. Our next few haerenga were to Whare Manaaki. We met Eli who runs Whare manaaki and we also met Jake and Trish. We learnt all about the preparation of hangi and how to put one down. Our whānau all joined us in a hākari (feast). The kai was tino reka (really tasty). After that, our next haerenga was a hikoi (walk) down Arahura river to hear the pūrākau of Poutini and Waitaiki. We searched for pounamu and found some very small pieces, we also got to visit Arahura Marae and hear about the whakairo on the outside of the whare tīpuna.
We also had a hikoi around Māwhera where we learnt the history of the Māwhera Pā and how Māwhera was named after ‘Te Māwherataka o kā kūwha oTūterakiwhanoa’.
In term two we had a day trip to Hokitika to visit Seaview and hear about the history related to parihaka and the prisoners that were kept underground and forced to build roads. From there we went to Sunset Point and Lake Mahinapua to learn the history of ‘Te Tawiri o te Mako’ a pakanga (battle) that took place there a long time ago. Many died in
this battle which is why Lake Mahinapua is tapu.
Later in term two we had a haerenga to Lake Ianthe to learn how to follow tikanga and collect kuta and kiekie - resources used for raranga (weaving). We actually had to get in the lake to collect kuta. Everyone had a great time.
At the end of term two we had an open day in the whare to celebrate Matariki, we celebrated with kai, waiata and we made stars and posters to show what we have learnt about Puanga/Matariki. We also had a noho at school on the last Thursday of the term. It was an awesome way for us to develop our bond as a school whānau.
In term three we went on a haerenga to Kohimaramarā (Kumara) to learn about some of the history in that area. From there we drove through Mitchells and out to Moana Kōtuku (Lake Moana) to talk about the pakanga (battle) that took place out there. It has been a busy year but we are smiling and speaking more and more in te reo Māori. We are all looking forward to next year’s adventures.
A highlight of our work on curriculum innovation this year was collaborating with the Science Department in a project called ‘Nature vs Nurture.’ Year 10 students learned about genetics in Science, and research and debating skills in English, and put together some very thoughtful responses on whether we are born brilliant or whether we mostly shape and grow our brilliance as we go through life.
We went into lockdown part way through the project, and this gave us a chance to trial some different approaches to sharing our ideas. Dr Hunter and Ms Quick made podcasts interviewing each other on google meets and some of our fabulous 10B students then created their own thoughtful and thought provoking interview podcasts on the roles of nature and nurture in mental health. We all learned a lot, and look forward to more cross-curricular projects in 2022.
2021 has tested MSA’s resilience, but has also helped us grow. This year saw us come up against roadblocks (literally) which prevented us from being able to go on some of our adventures, as well as putting us into a midyear lockdown. But roadblocks and lockdowns aside, we kept focused on our personal and Academy goals.
MSA welcomed Staff Seyb as our core Math teacher this year, along with Staff Quick returning for English. Check out what we have been up to this year!
Induction is a very important part of the year for MSA because it is a time where we all get pushed to our limits and come together and work as a team. Induction is two weeks of early mornings and action packed days that can go from navigating a confidence course to running 10km! But every day was a mystery.
Induction is also a place to make new friends at different Academies. The other Academies at induction were Aurora from Invercargill and Haeata from Christchurch. Both of the other academies had double the amount of people in it so we were the smallest by far, but that didn’t mean that we were going to back down from Induction - we were going to show the other academies and the instructors what MSA was made out of.
MSA had the pleasure of having Ruth Croft, who is a West Coast-born, world-famous, professional trail runner, hold a running workshop for us at GHS. MSA learnt some great techniques for running long distances.
Basic leaders are very important for building a good foundation to lead a group and plan activities. This is a good start on becoming a leader. Basic leadership is a 5 day course that consists of getting up at six in the morning, cleaning, marching, lectures and activities.
The lectures consisted of how to plan and construct an activity and how to conduct and speak while presenting the plan. The activity was planning and presenting how to do an activity and then doing the activity to see how the plan would work and how well the presentation was laid out. This course is for the select few who have potential to be leaders from the three academies which are Aurora from Invercargill and Haeta from Christchurch. I was fortunate enough to go on behalf of Māwhera.
Troy Schimanski, MSA Student 2021Greymouth High School and John Paul II ākonga had a fantastic experience on a two day apiculture short course. The days were packed full of localised and authentic learning opportunities for our taiohi.
A huge thank you goes out to Miriam Rees at Blue Spur Milk and Honey for welcoming us onto her land and sharing her expertise with us. I would also like to thank Miriam. S from Papa Taiao Põneke for coming down to the coast to help us set up Apiculture courses here on the coast.
Eco-Sourcing native saplings
Our Level 2 Conservation and Earthcare ākonga were kindly welcomed onto Craig’s land to ecosource native saplings. The collection included Totara, Mānuka, Rimu, Miro, Matai and Horoeka. We then went back to our native nursery and potted up our collection. These trees will eventually be gifted to rangatahi and taiohi within the Grey district as part of a collaborative project between Greymouth Rotary and Greymouth High School/Papa Taiao - Te Tai o Poutini/West Coast Trades Academy.
Native Nursery Project
Our Level 2 students worked hard to construct a shade box for their native nursery project. A big thanks to Mitre 10 Mega Greymouth for organising the timber and to Westland Workgear for the pallets.
Native planting at the Punakaiki Restoration Project site
The crew planted just over 200 native trees at the Punakaiki Restoration Project Site. They also transplanted a handful of Kahikatea. This project is led by Conservation Volunteers New Zealand and it focuses on restoring the mountain to sea forest corridor that used to span the Barrytown flats.
Our Year 3 Conservation and Earthcare ākonga had the privilege of being invited onto Chris and Suzanne’s land/into their home. We learnt about alternative housing options and living off the grid. An added bonus was getting to taste food that Suzanne had cooked in her solar cookers. Thankyou for sharing your journey with us, exposing us to different ways of thinking and for welcoming us into your home. This is an experience that none of us will forget.
We headed off to Coal Creek falls with rain forecasted in the afternoon. Enough time for us to walk the track and explore the falls, yea right! No sooner had we arrived when one student fell in and got completely saturated. With the possibility of rain we quickly worked in groups to analyse the water quality and collect data of the different species present. We were able to give the stream a clean bill of health and found a diversity of animals including Mayflies larva, Dobsonfly larva and water snails in addition to the ever present eels lurking behind the rocks.
Just as we finished collecting the data the heavens broke and it was a mad race back to the vans. By the time Mrs Newberry and Mrs Rothery got back everyone was soaked and hiding beneath the trees for shelter from the torrential rain. The journey home was a bit eventful with the roads flooding and the vans aquaplaning across the road. Although it was a great experience outside the classroom and awesome companionship, it was a relief when we got back to school and changed into warm dry clothes.
The Chemistry Physics Field Trip to Canterbury University went well this year having had to cancel last year due to lockdown. As part of Canterbury Universities Outreach Programme students got to do a range of activities including: a tour of the Engineering, Chemistry and Physics Departments; a look at the Geology and Geography departments; a presentation by Rocket Labs; as well as lab work on a level 3 Chemistry and Level 2 Nuclear Physics internal assessments. Fun activities also included lying on a bed of nails and using a hoverboard.
After postponing the trip due to the huge floods in Canterbury a class of 11 students along with Mr Tangney and Penny Kirk went to observe the night sky in the world famous dark sky reserve of Tekapo. The trip consisted of a guided tour to Mount John observatory where students had the chance to observe stars such as Proxima Centauri, Herschel Jewel Box and see the Moon in such detail it hurt their eyes!
The following day students went to Mount Cook village to walk Hooker valley up to a glacier terminal lake. We lucked out with the weather as you can see by the photos! After a quick snack break we again went up Mount John in the daytime to meet with Dr Michelle Bannister of University of Canterbury. She was a fantastic speaker and extremely knowledgeable in all things astronomy based. We learnt about the reasoning for placing the observatory at mount john, a detailed walkthrough of all the telescopes and the day to day (I should say night to night) work of an astronomer. This included a vacuum where they split the incoming light rays to measure the “fingerprint” of atomic properties at the heart of stars. Many students now had a better understanding that we are but stardust on a speck of dust floating in the vastness of space.
I hope many of the students could see a pathway onto further education and help solve some issues of space exploration that human kind face.
“The Level 3 Earth and Space Science trip to Tekpo was an amazing experience outside of the classroom environment! The visit to Mount Cook observatory broadened our perspective on different aspects of astronomy that we were not so familiar with, including how each of the telescopes worked and the intricate way scientists gather data. One of the things that interested me the most was looking at the star, Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our own. Viewed from Earth it is seen as a single star but looking through the telescope we discovered it is a binary star, made of two stars orbiting each other.”
Hayley Jo Jacobs, Year 13 ESS student.The Earth and Space Science class visited the active, hard rock mine at Snowy River. Don McClean, an exploration geologist, spoke to the class about the geology and history of the area along with what Federation mining is currently doing at the site. After the presentation, we drove up to the ghost town, Waiuta, learning more about the history and features of the area. We were treated to an amazing day and many thanks to Don and the team at Federation mining. Next time we’ll bring gumboots!
We set off on a beautiful sunny day to explore marine life at Motukiekie Beach. No sooner had we arrived and discovered large brightly coloured sea anemones, we received a civil defence warning to evacuate as soon as possible due to a tsunami warning. We quickly boarded the bus and made our way safely back to school. We were pretty disappointed to be returning home so we were given the task of making chocolate fudge for our colleagues.
Our second trip was less eventful, but just as much fun with beautiful weather and great companionship. We split into groups of three and counted all the marine life we could find along transect lines to identify a distribution pattern of different species from low tide to high tide mark.
Grey High’s Science Club visited Awahono School on June 21st, presenting a trio of science demos, practicals and hands-on experiments to teach the primary school students about chemical reactions, acids, and bases.
The club (this year a mix of Year 9, 10 and 11 students) had spent many Friday afternoons throughout Term 2 in preparation - planning the experiments they’d present, rehearsing their presentations (including how best to explain the science ideas to audiences as young as Year 2!) and considering all the health and safety aspects.
The students from Awahono were a great audience, full of questions and keen to participate. Room Six (Year 7+8 students) and Room Five (Years 4-6) were first to take the tour, and by the time Room Two (Years 2-4) arrived after lunch the three stations were like well-oiled machines.
One group used cabbage juice indicator solution to test if common household liquids were acids or bases; another got hands-on with fizzing baking soda and fruit to figure out which fruits had the highest concentrations of acid. The most popular station of the day for all the classes was sherbert-making, to show off the chemical reaction between citric acid and baking soda.
The 2021 science fair took place on the 8th and 9th of July in the school library. Our year 9 and 10 students spent three weeks coming up with ideas, working out their methods, collecting data and putting together some fantastic presentations. As always our students put together some very interesting projects, including…
- What year level has the best impulse control?
- How is hydrogen produced for fuel cells?
Does gaming make you happy?
- What soft drink break down bones fastest?
- Can people use The Force?
Do people eat more on the weekend?
- Do pads or tampons absorb the most?
After intensive marking by our senior students and science teachers, the winners were determined to be…
First place: Do horses have a preferred colour (Regan Mare, Jess Gallant, Alisha Parsons)
Second place: Hot Chocolate (Aamaria Beal, Georgia Maclean, Grace Williams)
Third place: Five second rule (Arielle Perchig-Gibli, Farihah Khan, Maya Mcintyre)
First place: Amount of Vitamin C in Fruit (Caitlin Boddy, Reagan Boniface)
Second place: Hearing Examination (Franklin Barry, Dylan Holiday, Jake Priebe)
Third place: Cellphone Usage (Mia Prendergast, Jazmine Stechmann, Caysey Johnson)
These projects and several other highly ranked ones were then invited to the West Coast Science fair, held at John Paul II High school on the 30th of July. THis featured projects from Westport, Hokitika as well as Greymouth and the standard of competition was even higher. Our own Caitlin Boddy and Reagan Boniface achieved the top prize in the Year 10 Category for studying the amount of vitamin C in juice, with all the judges being impressed by their highly accurate results and extremely well designed experiment. These two talented young scientists walked away with $150 in prize money! Our thanks go to John Paul II for hosting and Harcourts Greymouth for funding the event.
The Otago University Science Academy offers an amazing four-day PLD programme for science teachers, run at the same time as their January summer camp for Year 13 science students. I, along with 22 other teachers from all across New Zealand, got to learn about - and have a go with - a range of practical tasks we could incorporate into our science classrooms.
We arrived at Dunedin Airport mid-afternoon on Monday, January 18th, and following a mihi whakatau we got stuck in straight away with a forensic science workshop. Forensic science is an exciting, engaging way to get students practicing important science skills like critical thinking, making inferences based on their observations, and learning to use scientific equipment with care and precision. At Greymouth High School, we have a forensic science unit in Year 9, so I was able to bring some of the techniques we practiced in the workshop back to the Coast. We inspected and lifted evidence from a mock crime scene. Fingerprints, footprints, soil samples, handwriting, and blood splatter patterns were all used.
Day two was a personal favourite, with a citizen science focus. We heard from a dozen people about the projects they run - ranging from a community level to creating national databases - to get schools involved in gathering data about their local streams, soil and air. An afternoon trip out to Taiaroa Head gave us the opportunity to generate some data of our own, with two projects to catalogue intertidal biodiversity and beach litter.
Day three took us to Otago University campus proper, with a morning spent in the School of Physical Education and Sport Science. We used cameras and software to create our own motion data, a cool tool for both Year 10 Ballistics and Year 11 Mechanics. My afternoon was spent in the Department of Biochemistry, getting familiar with practicals to support senior Biology (with a strong focus on genetics).
The final day was a much-needed chance to collaborate, consolidate, and connect with my fellow teachers on the programme. There was a strong thread of feeling refreshed, inspired, and excited to take what we had learned back to our schools.
The L2 Earth & Space Science class visited the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch as part of their studies around extreme environments and how life has adapted to live in such harsh environments. The students visited the penguin rehabilitation center, hearing about the work the center does in rehabilitating penguins. Other highlights were the 4D movie experience, spending time in the sub-zero storm room, and being driven around an obstacle course in the all-terrain Hagglund vehicle.
All Year 9 students completed a Financial Literacy module to equip students with the skills they need to make decisions about their finances. The Banqer High app was an important part of this. Topics covered were credit, saving, insurance, Kiwisaver and the share market.
Students said Banqer High informed and educated them about these topics and made them better prepared for their financial future.
The Year 10 students learnt about key concepts of Economics and through the Growing NZ Challenge developed innovative ideas to combine technology and agriculture.
The Level 1 students put their business planning, and sales and marketing skills to the test at a Food Stall Market Day in Term 1.
The Level 2 Business Studies students attended two Sunday Market Days at Tai Poutini Polytechnic to fundraise for local charities St Johns, the Cancer Society and the SPCA.
Level 3 Business Studies and Enterprise students participated in the Young Enterprise Scheme.
Joel McKay from PSK attended the Entrepreneurs in Action weekend in Wellington where he met other YES students with a passion for enterprise and teamed up to compete in business challenges.
Thank you to Development West Coast and Tai Poutini Polytech for their support for Young Enterprise.
In 2021 the West Coast was a separate Young Enterprise region for the first time. Congratulations to the inaugural West Coast Young Enterprise award winners and thank you to everyone who supported the Young Enterprise companies in 2021 and previous years.
The winning Young Enterprise company overall and recipient of the Tai Poutini Polytechnic – West Coast Regional Winner Trophy was Papatuanuku Sports Kits (for Baseball5™), from Greymouth High School. This company also received the West Coast Trades Academy Award for Community Spirit.
Second overall was Buller High School’s company Golden, which produces surfboard repair kits.
Other regional finalists were West Coast Collie Co and A&H Beerscuits.
Ahurea Kāri received two West Coast Regional Young Enterprise Awards:
• The Development West Coast Award for Excellence in Innovation
• The Papa Taiao Award for Excellence in Regenerative Enterprise
Ahurea Kari designed playing cards to foster Māori language learning using unique artwork representing Maori legends.
Ahurea Kāri Company Directors
Chief Executive Officer: Shreya Maharaj
Chief Financial Officer: Matt Mann
Production: Daniel Smith
Sales: Korbyn Perrin
Graphic design was by Bless Groome (Westland High School).
It has been a busy year in the Technology department where we said goodbye to Petrus Steyn and welcomed Sue Nuttall as our Mechanical Engineering teacher. Sue moved on from GHS in November to take up a new role with the West Coast branch of RTLB.
Gene McNae will be replacing Susan Nuttall as our Mechanical Engineering teacher mid Term 4.
Gene has a wide range of experience including building, joinery, carpentry and cabinet making and we are excited to have him on the team.
I would like to belatedly welcome Kate Cronin who joined the department in Term 4 of 2020 as our new food teacher. She has been an excellent addition to the department bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Whaea Erin became the assistant Head of Technology this year with a focus on the Year 7 and 8 junior Technology.
It has been a challenging year for junior Technology this year. The classes and teachers have changed to accommodate the growing roll in our primary schools.
Our Year 7 & 8 classes have expanded significantly this year and more classes have had to be added as we made room for the new students. We have added the following staff to the year 7 & 8 programme; Shelly Chapman is teaching a class on making puppets and the associated skills, we welcome Catherine Moffit back to the department where she is teaching a textiles project.
Junior students were offered some or all of the following subjects (depending on the school): Food, Wood and Design, Metalwork, Digital, Textiles, Fun with Science and Puppet making.
• I would like to thank Lisa Kilkelly-North for teaching an Art and Technology course during Term 1.
• Peter O’Connor continues as our Hard Materials Technician and Frith Connolly as our Food Technician.
• I would like to thank them for all their hard work. Tom McGirr continues to teach Yr 7&8 Fun with Science.
Year 10’s complete a semester in Wood Design. Term 1 or 3 pupils make a jewellery box that is heavily skilled based to give students a good working knowledge of accurately working with
During Term 2 or 4 pupils make a project of their own choosing. This could be an upcycling project, lighting, toolbox etc. Pupils research their idea, design it and make it.
Year 11’s have made some excellent quality projects in the Furniture course. The toolbox teaches them how to use and maintain hand tools. The bar stool teaches them how to mark out accurately and use a mortise and tenon machine. The shelving unit teaches them how to use a range of power tools including cordless
Year 7 and 8
Year 12’s have made a coffee table and are currently finishing their bedside cabinet. The coffee table teaches them how to use the bandsaw and the sanding machine correctly and safely. The bedside cabinet teaches them how to make a furniture carcase, freehand drawing and hand joints suitable for furniture.
We made display boxes with jewellery, dog tags or keyrings with the students this year. This enables them to get a good working knowledge of using the tools and equipment and also gives them an introduction to using a range of materials.
We had an overhaul of the Hard Materials workshops last year and completed the upgrades at the end of Term 2 this year. Below is the new shadow wall and the Student and
Year 10’s have been making a range of products, including a dustpan using fabrication skills, a bottle opener and have the opportunity to learn welding and to design a product using metal and their welding skills. This could be a sculpture or an actual working product. Here are some pictures of their work.
Year 12 compressed air engine
Year 11 tool makers clamp
Year 11’s have made a drill gauge, a toolmakers clamp and a simple product using engineering procedures.
Year 12’s started off with Engineering drawings and have gone on to machining a Compressed Air Engine.
The Year 9 Digital Technologies students access two modules which help them build an understanding of Mathematics, Science and Technology as they manoeuvre and program the Sphero Rover, design projects on the Micro:bit, setup code for the Ozobots, make games on Scratch and get familiar with Vectary and the VR Station.
Working in activity groups, students explore the design and computer science concepts as they complete 7 guided activities. Once they are comfortable with using code functions, operators and comparators, they design their projects using software and hardware to present to their whanau. Learning team dynamics and Human Computer Interaction as they algorithmic thinking and design ideas based on x and y coordinates.
The 9D group had the opportunity to present their projects to their whānau during their last session of the 8 week module. From innovative chess variations to Scratch games, the rangatahi were able to incorporate their hardware and software skills to design a project to showcase their learning. It was great to see them step up and talk about the iterative design process and the authentic changes they had made to their project design based on the feedback of their peers, following a rubric. Thank you to the whanau that were able to come in and provide some positive feedback and recommend
Over the last 3 years we have been working through the iterative design process to impact our community with a product designed and created at Greymouth High School.
We have been sending The Aroha box to Jacinda Ardern and last year we sent one to Judith Collins. We are excited to now have a product that we are calling ‘The Aroha Box ™.’ This defines our journey which has gone through many iterations to design a box which can showcase manaakitanga and also meet a need in the community.
The sustainable development goals are indicators of how we are looking after our planet and caring for our community. Did you know that 20.8% of tamariki live in low income homes and 25% live in damp environments which are harmful for them. The korero about child poverty and the needs of our community are essential to raise awareness about and find solutions in our Kura and in Our Kahui Ako. The students responded by exploring possible necessities that could be put into the gift box; blankets, food and local natural hygiene products. The ideating process was rigorous as we needed to approach this from an ethical perspective. We teamed up with our Kaitakawanga and board representative to obtain her feedback to refine the product and its contents. The final presentations to parents and whanau was a wonderful way of showcasing the progression of learning. It helped us get a better understanding of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga.
The exciting aspect of Semester two allowed students to venture into designing a functional drone that can be used for good. As good computer scientists they explore the Mathematics and Physics involved in making the drone airborne, going through various design iterations. This is the first year that the drone club has moved into the classroom and allowed the kaiako and the ākonga to collaboratively go through the product development phase; from testing paper planes, to using the Vectary software to mimic the aerodynamics of the ailerons, each step has required a conversation about how lift and thrust work in flight. Some of the students explored the design of a mobile bedside table, an AED monitoring App and a working model of a town.
The 2021 Digital Technologies Roadshow is a part of the Computer Science offered at Greymouth High School and is a way for the students to step out of their own comfort zone and explore the opportunities and pathways available to them.
In the first two terms the Level 1, 2 & 3 Digital Technologies students propose a digital outcome and with user and stakeholder feedback design and develop a working prototype for their project in a learning team or with a peer programmer. Term 3 is an iterative journey of refining and accommodating new knowledge and change as they continue to design their project keeping hardware and software in mind from an ethical perspective.
Our focus was to look at innovative and creative work spaces that students were beginning to use to make the use of Digital Technologies the norm. Our final port of call was the Computer Science Lab where the students had an opportunity to present their ideas to professor Tim Bell and get his feedback and thoughts to incorporate in their own projects. Byron Howard, Matt Mann, Cam Dickey and Liam Belcher elaborated on the Ground Rover Project and explained how the Raspberry Pi would work with the Microbit to control the movement and the soil sensor. Joel Dumelow, Caleb Wanstall and Daniel Smith presented their VR project for designing an interactive game on Unity for Year 7 & 8 students in the Kahui Ako and received some invaluable feedback about keeping the focus group small for metacognitive thinking processes. Designing games around computer science concepts, Yotam Perchig, Isaac Negri and Finn Elford explored trackability with professor Bell and enjoyed trying to solve the CS Unplugged problem for ice cream trucks. Mackenzie Hallberg is passionate about his music and he shared his website which hosts his podcast and his aim to run a concert to showcase his work. Tim Bell said that it was definitely “inspiring” to hear the project ideas and he looked forward to iterations to it.
Visiting Tu Tūranga was definitely a highlight and we loved making our way up to the top floor to observe some innovative projects being made by some Year 7 & 8 students
using the design labs. We were welcomed into Burnside High and discovered that similar software and processes were used, albeit with many more students, to design and develop some awesome projects. It was wonderful to share some of our ideas which generated some great conversations.
The Christchurch museum was awe-inspiring and I could have easily spent a few more hours there. Graham Benett’s inspiring play on materials and objects using the laser cutter and cnc machine was fascinating as he used ‘Axis and Axes’ to balance and display Pacifica motifs.
The students and the parents volunteers managed to forge some wonderful bonds and I hope that the pathways ahead are influenced by the new ideas and knowledge we acquired.
This year saw us try something new with a combined trip with students from Hospitality and Tourism classes heading away on a “Wonderful West Coast” trip.
“He aroha whakatō, he aroha puta mai” - If kindness is sown then kindness is received.
This year’s hospitality classes have modelled our school value of ‘Community’ as the food prepared and produced within practical lessons was donated to our community freezer - an effort supported by staff through food donations and help, and by the hospitality students.
Hospitality students also helped prepare the catering for the Senior Ball, food for Board meetings, breakfast for the rugby team, and food for the annual Matt Gunther rugby league match.
I would like to thank all my students that have prepared fruit and vegetables and those of you that cooked dishes for our school community. This reflects what is expected in the industryto produce quality food for other people.
Ngā mihi nui to my students - you are awesome!!!
Day one students travelled to Franz Josef to take in the views of the glacier, over to Fox Glacier and a walk around Lake Matheson. The evening saw us sit down together and share a meal at ‘Snake Bite’. Day Two - what other way can you start your day in Franz Joseph than with a ride in a helicopter! After coming back down to earth we visited the ‘Wildlife Centre’ with a talk from one of the rangers. Along our journey home we stopped at Lake Mahinapua to hear a pūrākau from Lucy Tonihi, who shared with us the stories and history of the area.
It was a great two days away with lots of opportunities for students to be immersed in their chosen industries.
This year I was lucky enough to experience a teaching sabbatical during Term 2. The original plan was changed drastically as changes in the world came upon us with Covid and how this also affected timeframes of when people were originally available. Also every weather event possible kicked off during that time.
I did, however, visit a number of schools that have influenced thinking for ways we might instigate and support change.
We have always been keen to provide a sensory space but have been limited with space options. Moving forward this will be a priority and the feeling is ‘anything is better than nothing’ in this regard.
We will also look at running specific junior school classes and senior school classes, with identified SPEC modules that best suit the age and stage of the students. There will still be flexibility to add interest modules for individual students.
Other plans are afoot with ideas of programmes within school, the community and tertiary environments that will be beneficial for students.
Annette JonesRoyden is a Wiggles enthusiast and had the idea that he would like to be part of a play based on The Wiggles Black Velvet band musical. The students have been practising hard and aim to perform the play before the end of Term 3. Here are Luka, Royden and Kirsty in their costumes.
The school athletics is a great event at the beginning of the year for students and staff to build positive relationships in an environment outside of the classroom setting.
We saw year 9 students like Luka make friends with other students pretty quickly. Other students such as Lucas were happy just making lots of observations.
This is a big open environment with a new bunch of people. The students should be proud of themselves for lasting all day. We learn pretty quickly that for future events we will need different preparations for individual students so we action these to help ease any anxiety. Jemma had an amazing day, Cath was so great taking her to all the events, she loved it. Tyrone also went in heaps of events and gained huge support and cheers. What an effort he put in.
Lots of laughs had by all, and lots of hard work from the dedicated teachers! Matua Jo sure was funny on the mic. And I believe Pounamu won!
Ben Oates attends Cookery Course at Tai Poutini Polytechnic. He competed in a mock Masterchef competition with two others in his team with their choice of Chocolate mousse made from scratch and old fashioned Cinnamon Oysters. This is Ben’s individual creation. Oh and by the way, his team won the competition!!
We would like to acknowledge the support we receive from Jeanette Oliver who helps us secure Bradly House to run our ‘flatting and life skills’ sessions. Jeanette always organises our bookings and keeps us in the loop. We are extremely lucky that CCS Disability Action Group provides this space for our students free of charge. The life skills we can experience here in this real life setting are so worthwhile and necessary and the opportunity to make these jobs routine is immeasurable. Even learning the safety routines required to be in the van are crucial, let alone job rosters, someone else’s selection of food to eat, someone else’s selection of movie can test the students self management skills.
Covid-19 has tested everyone in many different ways. The students this time around have really engaged in online learning and have coped with the changes and should be very proud of themselves with the effort they put into their learning and the different challenges they met.
Jemma, Kirsty, Luka and Brock go to RDA every Wednesday and learn all about horse riding, horse care and maintenance and it helps them build confidence.
Horse riding is only one aspect of the activity. The students learn important skills about signing in and out of school, being respectful and following safety rules and expectations in the van, time management to get everything turned around, responsibility to have all the required gear at school. All of these experiences become evidence for the SPEC Horse Riding module that is submitted at the end of year to gain the SPEC Headways certificate.
And don’t forget those treat days when they go to Porky’s.
Kirsty getting a taste of what it’s like to be a firefighter at the Career Expo held at Tai Poutini Polytechnic.
We have extended our learning space into C Block. This has allowed us to have quieter, less busy spaces for learning and also bigger spaces to carry out activities. With the growing number of students we support this has helped make a positive impact on everyone’s well being.
We took the opportunity during a teacher only day cto align what we thought would be appropriate headway modules to different levels of learning. We have no allocated modules to our students who come for an extended transition ahead of high school. Relevant modules to support students beyond high school have been selected to help understanding and awareness for the students as well.
The arrival of a wheelchair accessible van that is based with our department has made a massive difference to not only our department but to the wider school. The van is based with our department but is available across the school. We have been able to fine tune our organising with less fuss and disruption because it is here ready to go. We are extremely grateful to have this available.
The culmination of the year’s work will be displayed at our end of year barbeque and student led conference. This is a great opportunity for parents to be involved and help to alleviate anxiety about what school is like for their child.
• Showcasing student work is a wonderful opportunity to uplift the students.
• A student led conference is exactly as indicated - the students lead their parent interview. In the past this has made a positive impact on the students.
• The wall in the TWK corridor is used to display a timeline of the gardening project.
• The ICPP (Individual Career Path Portfolio) is where we make copies of any certificates the students gain and this showcases some of their experiences while at High School, and is also shared during the evening.
• Students use their cooking skills and knowledge to make food to share at the barbeque.
Nate has a weekly ‘friendship zoom’ with another young girl from HiIlmorton. It is lovely to watch the girls sign away and no doubt a lot of teenage talk goes on.
On the Level 1 HOS course at Trades, cooking Pork Belly and Veges
The garden has never looked tidier and the seating area is now almost complete with coloured seating made by Teacher Aide Don Monk and student Reuben. The timber for the other seat was donated by Electronet thanks to the wife of Matt in the office who works there and kindly made by Mrs Chapman’s husband, Greg.
The senior students have now finished their gardening SPEC books so a decision has been made to hand the tunnel house and main part of the garden over to Lara Thompson and her students who have won a $30,000 grant to set up a native plant nursery.
This year we have had a very proactive team who have been willing to take on a variety of opportunities to access professional development. We have also set aside one period a week where specific PD is delivered to the TA team. During lockdown many of the TA’s completed training to better support students with their literacy and numeracy.
Once again, this department and in fact many departments would struggle to function to meet the best needs of the students without the added support of the TA’s. Our TA’s have varied roles. We support students within our department, out in regular classes, at Trades for any student requiring support across the West Coast and also support students as a reader writer in exam times.
What a team.
Ka wani kē!
Te mutunga mai o te pai!
It was established that we would work as a team to create a ‘Treaty’ for staff and students who are part of the Supported Learning Department. This involved input and participation from the students. The process has helped students to take ownership of the rules, as they had such an integral part in the development of them.
2021 saw a need to create a learning space for students who may have found a High School environment slightly challenging to begin with.
These students began the year joining in with programmes run within the department. As the students became more comfortable they started attending regular classes, one curriculum at a time. Towards the end of term 3 the greater majority of all the students were fully integrated into regular classes.
Nate - Sign Language
Royden - Board Games
Max vacuuming at the end of the Thursday out and about, the students take part in the clean up,the Thursday venues have been accessed freely which we are very grateful for. This means we have to treat them with great respect and leave them as tidy as we found them. To this end we all have end of the day tasks.
Zak and Reuben making an easy batch of muffins, the transition students are encouraged to take part in lots of basic oven and microwave cooking,this can be a skill they will use after they leave school. They have become pretty good cooks with familiar recipes.
Sometimes other students join in. On this occasion Jemma J came along.
Max Edwards and
coming back to TWK to share the vegetarian pizza they had made in the hospitality class. We all loved it and were very grateful for Max and Callum for sharing.
2021 was a positive year for the Social Sciences department despite the covid challenges. New learning programmes were introduced for Year 10 Global Studies, with a cross-curricular focus. It was the second year of the Year 9 Aotearoa Studies programme, providing an opportunity to refine and embed good practice.
It is important to note that our department is in a good place to implement the new Aotearoa Histories curriculum. Numbers in senior Social Sciences were good with large classes in L1 Geography, L1 History, and L2 Psychology. It was pleasing to see the uptake of students for the’ Education for Sustainability’ course facilitated by Lara Thompson which has come under the Social Sciences umbrella for the first time and provides an additional complement to the other courses. Achievement in internal assessments in the senior
Social Sciences was very good and a reflection of the mahi invested by students and teachers.
After the departure of Mr Lachie King to Australia at the end of 2020, existing staff stepped up to fill the gaps. Mr Adams enjoyed the opportunity to take on the L2 and L3 Geography classes. He did this with passion and enthusiasm. Ms Hamiliton enjoyed the opportunity to utilise her Psychology background in teaching the L3 Psychology course. Ms Chowfin applied her digital skills in teaching a Y9 Aotearoa Studies class. Later in the year when Ms Thompson took on the Turuki class, Mr Richard Bell joined our department midyear to support the teaching of Y10 Global Studies and L3 Tourism. His addition to the department provided us with an experienced social scientist with a sound teaching background both nationally and internationally. Finally in Term 4 we were fortunate to host a student teacher, Whaea Annie Breeze, who supported and taught alongside teachers of Health, History, Aotearoa Studies and Global Studies.
Her innovation and enthusiasm was valued by students and staff across the school and we learnt as much from her as she did from us. Nga mihi nui to all the kaiako.
Professional Development was again a big focus for our department. Highlights included the Angus and Sonia McFarlane hui about Hikairo schema, which aims at improving our teaching pedagogy and making learning relevant, effective and supported by good scaffolding and processes within the learning environment. Staff attended a range of professional learning activities during the regular Tuesday morning sessions as well as a plethora of other learning opportunities provided either online, in school, or by subject associations. Mr Robertson attended the New Zealand History Teachers’ Conference in Waitangi with the big learning being related to Aotearoa Histories, Te Tiriti O Waitangi and new NCEA standards. All staff participated in the training days for unpacking the new NCEA standards.
Y9 Aotearoa Studies students focused on learning about the early settlement of Aotearoa, the early contact period of Māori - Pakeha contact leading to the establishment of the partnership embodied in Te Tiriti O Waitangi. They also learnt about the issues associated with this partnership not being equal, and protests that have impacted on Aotearoa. There was an emphasis on major challenges facing Mawhera and Aotearoa during the 20th Century during Term 3. Unfortunately the planned visit
to Shantytown to study the impact of WW1 on Mawhera had to be postponed until Term 4.
Y 10 Global Studies introduced a new course that aimed to make it more relevant and significant, with a cross-curricular focus when opportunities presented themselves.
Studies such as Origins of people, Global Health Issues, Human Right and Refugees, and Environmental Issues all supported students in developing skills, knowledge and understandings to support future learning and to provide them with a better sense of their place in a challenging world. An emphasis on current issues was a big part of Global Studies. In particular the Covid pandemic linked in well with the Health Issues unit.
Students taking History continue to achieve well and internal assessment results reflect this. Level 2 and Level 3 students visited Shantytown early in Term 2 to gather information for their research assignments about local history. The students were given great support by the staff at Shantytown, Lisa and Sherri. It was a great opportunity to delve into many of the primary resources made available to us. Level 1 History was again a popular choice, spending the year examining events in New Zealand’s history as well as events overseas and developing students’ critical thinking skills, research and communication skills. Many excelled under the expert tuition of Mrs Bermingham.
Geography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their
environments. This year in Level 1 geography students have explored properties of the Earth’s surface and the human societies spread across it by looking at the global pattern of earthquakes and through the specific study of the Christchurch earthquakes. Geography seeks to understand where things are found, why they are there, and how they develop and change over time. Considering this, we have studied dairy farming on the West Coast and visited a dairy farm in Marsden. In addition students looked at the use of 1080 on our conservation land and visited the Kiwi Creche in the Moonlight area to learn about efforts to save our national bird. Towards the end of Term 3 students participated in a weather research project which involves comparing the Metservice weather to our own observed data. It has been an enjoyable and busy time in level 1 Geography for 2021.
This year the Level 2 and 3 class was combined and we shared many similar geography contexts while changing the level of detail to accommodate each level. Geography’s two main branches are physical geography and human geography. With this in mind we identified and located major physical and human geographic features of various places and regions in the world, including our local environmental issues here on the West Coast. Topics covered included the global pattern or piracy and malaria, urban patterns in Chicago related to homicide rates, the contemporary issues facing Franz Josef Township and a fluvial research project on the Waiho River at Franz Josef. Students have also learned about the natural environment of the Franz Josef Valley and the South Island High Country. It has been a
very interesting and enjoyable experience to teach students about the multitude of connections and interactions between places in our world.
The Level 2 Psychology class was again large, starting the year with 30 students. Perhaps it is a reflection of school stresses, being a teenager and the covid situation we are confronted with that is making it a significant choice. It was pleasing to see students applying themselves to learning about psychological approaches through a variety of inquiry based tasks and assignments. Achievement has been high with some impressive presentations, including websites, which unpack and communicate student learning. The smaller Level 3 class also performed well under the guidance of Ms Hamilton. A highlight for this group was their visit to a District Court sitting, the local Police Station, including the Armed Offenders Squad equipment room, and Primary Health services. This trip provided insights into the practical application of psychology. I wish to give a special shout out to Ms Hamilton who will be departing at the end of this school year to undertake postgraduate study at Lincoln University.
Your empathy and care for our akonga will be missed.
This year the Classical Studies class was a combined Level 2 and 3 class and brought some new faces to this wonderful subject. It is great to see Historians delve into Classics too. We began the year with ancient literature studying Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s Odyssey. There is so much history, fun and mythology covered in these poems, they are real windows into ancient life. Both year levels also look at art works and architecture from the Greek or Roman worlds to discover the messages that can be uncovered by their creation, and those that we can still see being used in modern architecture. Classics week, in T3 and run by the NZCT Association, always brings a few periods of entertainment in re-creating the artwork, kahoots, colouring in and meme creation. The class enjoyed being creative! We also took to sculpting soap, not as easy as it might seem, but it smells nice. With the disruptions that Covid brings, the class has worked steadily on internal assessments and exam preparation. I look forward to seeing who signs up for 2022.
The Tourism programme is designed to provide students with an introduction to the major aspects of the tourism industry. Students who complete the Level 2 and Level 3 programme successfully may qualify for the New Zealand Certificate in Tourism, Introductory Skills (level 2). The level 3 program is a continuation of the programme offered at Level 2, although new students are welcome to join the class as Year 13’s. This year Level 2 and Level 3 classes were combined which created a challenge for students managing their own time in class.
Congratulations to our tourism students who worked diligently through their workbooks and assessments throughout the year. Our Level 3 students enjoyed having Mrs Cronin from our Technology department helping them during Term 2, and enjoyed the Tourism Trip to Franz Josef. During Term 3 and 4 our Level 3 students have Mr Bell’s expertise to guide them through their assessments. Congratulations to our Level 2 students who are well on their way to achieving the ‘New Zealand Certificate in Tourism, Introductory Skills (level 2)’. Well done!
The main highlights of the year have undoubtedly been the resilience demonstrated by students and staff amidst the disruption of
covid and the denied opportunities the pandemic has inflicted on them. It demonstrates that our akonga can prosper in the face of adversity. The new learning programmes in the junior social sciences have been updated to keep pace with the requirements of the current and future world. Senior students have been successful in all aspects of their learning. Thanks to the BOT, PTA, parents and support staff for providing us with the necessary resources required to support our learners. Nga mihi nui!
It has been a fun year in art. From working from home during lockdown to mural painting for the 2050 project. We have been bringing the art to our school. Here are a few samples of our art from this year.
We had a big class this year, with a full load of Year 13's and 12's. It was a steep learning curve but we got there. It was also great to have two new cameras to use this year. This year saw our best management of the portfolio printing process, resulting in lots of neat photographs and portfolios for students to take home. Here is a tiny sample from a few of our students.
13
BACK row, L - R: Hannah Neame, Joel McKay, Jack Stead-Wilson
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mr Lindsay Robertson, Caleb Wanstall, Isaac Kirk, Hans Keil, Derek Chizuni, Mrs Anna Bermingham.
FRONT row, L - R: Courtney Coram, Mishka Lombaard, Korbyn Perrin, Conor Duncan, Sophie Allison
ABSENT: Dominic Cate, Nina Dronfield, Samantha Friend, Yve’e Mauromatis, Britney Miller
13GAY
BACK row, L - R: Jak Partridge, Joel Dumelow, Byron Howard, Reuben Taylor, Levi Woolley
MIDDLE row, L - R: Clark Fountain, Daniel Smith, Elijah Cain, Mitchell Smith, Josh Cooper, Reuben Dibben, Lachlan Rose
FRONT row, L - R: Miss Sydney Gay, Hope Cox, Ash Matthews, Ella Rae-Wood, Alyssa Blacktopp, Sophia Keown, Ashleigh Stanton, Reed Johnson
ABSENT: Ben Ching, Dom Moles, Arlen Pahl
13SEY
BACK row, L - R: Jon Palmer, Kole Darling, Bailey Russ, Adean Gunn, Jordan Burn
MIDDLE row, L - R: Sophie Dellaway, Ashley Mallet, Poppy-Blu Reyland, Kate Stanbridge-Hammond, Hayley Jo Jacobs
FRONT row, L - R: Shreya Maharaj, Julia Kokiri, Samara Uraio, Jameila Kitchin, Allie Vaughan, Zoe Double, Billie-Rayne McMillan
ABSENT: Vinessa Braxton, Harry Johnstone, Alex Kennedy, Matt Mann, Madison Rihari
12DEG
BACK row, L - R: Dayton McStay, Felix Sorci, Joshua Robbins.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mr John De Goldi, Holly Smith, Shekinah Mort, Nic Caines, Yana Latta.
FRONT row, L - R: Haylee Mackinnon, Fearne Richards, Malia Turner, Summer Murcott, Indian Priestly.
ABSENT: Ben Birchfield, Ashton Knipe, Jacques Bloomfield, Maamiahly Priestly-Hall, Tierly Wilson, Harry Campbell, Ridge Steegh, Tara Foster, Lakin Sutton.
12 HNT
BACK row, L - R: Theo Barnett, Finlay Brown, Gage Jamieson, Sam Johnson, Niko Barnett, Ikhlas Shahril.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Kate Bell, Yotam Perchig, Ella Beirne, Jimmy Gully, Finn Elford, Callan Ferguson, Isaac Negri.
FRONT row, L - R: Aleece Harris, Kaia Waipouri, Matthew Davey, Kyle Hsieh, Adrian Bullimore, Jamie Christie, Jessie Magon, Seetai Barrow.
ABSENT: Zac Cropp, Paris Jackson-Roberts, Jayden Topliss.
12HAM
BACK row, L - R: Tairyn Romana, Kyle Cox, Joseph Cotterill, Ethan Cain.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Miss Abby Hamilton, Blake Palmer, Catrin Grant, Hayden Shand, Shialla Steel, Kalim Symonds.
FRONT row, L - R: Prakriti Dhakal, Devin Taylor, Jessica Stenchman, Kaylee Stone, Gerald Mlambo, Emily Chisnal, Alex Muir.
12WIS
BACK row, L - R: Alex Fraser, Harry Hogeboom, Mackenzie Hallberg, Kayne Wall.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Miss Harriet Wise, Brodie Luff, Michael Morgan, Ansariya Nisha, Archie Johnstone.
FRONT row, L - R: Faith Walker, Sophie Donaldson, Kayley Christie, James Crooks, Tess Boddy, Taygen Lloyd.
ABSENT: Jordan Baker, Liam Barrett, Hayley Howard, Ben Oates, Breagh Watson.
BACK row, L - R: Sam Shaw, Noah Goodwin-Lister, Ethan Parsons, Kaine Mallett, Kaleb Pouton, Noah Gray.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Ms Roos, Shannyn Goldwater, Lavina Spooner, Brier Shand, Caitlyn Gallant, Maddy Armstrong-Clement, Korie Shaw.
FRONT row, L - R: Max Wildbore, Issak Symonds, Casey Morris-Oswald, Anya Williams, Mya Lindbom, Cara McKay, Ray Wate, Levi McMillan.
ABSENT: Erik-Rose McIsaac, Vanessa Hutt, Bryalyn Thomsen.
BACK row, L -R: Sonny Haldane, Max Welsford, Wil Van der Geest, Jack Langford.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mr McTaggart, Marcus McKenzie, Flynn Hewison, Corbin Bugler, Levi Burgess, Cohen Blyth.
FRONT row, L - R: Matthew Smith, Lexie Scattergood, Marshall Whyte, Joshua Rogers, Liam Gurden, Phoenix Fowler.
ABSENT: Adriaan Badenhorst.
11KIE
BACK row, L - R: Kaede Cowan, Miller Anderson, Corbin Pearson, Ethan Shields.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Ms C Donovan, Celeste Aguayo-Vargas, Isa Shahril, Konnah Hawkins, Pepa-Jay Boddy.
FRONT row, L - R: Lleyton Rogers, Cario Leech, Caitlin Shields, Dylan Stanton, Crystal Johnson.
ABSENT: Alex McCallum, Nikalai Duffell, Willow Dunlea, Lilly Harris
11HAL
BACK row, L - R: Sam Harris, Troy Mare, Xavier Brears, Richard Meek, Monty Keenan, Ty Wall.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mrs K Halls, Mate Papa, Arly Bellis, Griffin Thomas, Cam Dickey, Kieran Lankshear, Jack Ellis.
FRONT row, L - R: Jess Beckford, Hazel Elford, Quaid Roche, Alex Double, Mackenzie Clark, Caitlyn Hamilton, Isaiah Sheehan-Priest, Charlotte Allison.
ABSENT: Sammie Hagenaar, Fa Masalu.
BACK row, L - R: Tyrone Perring, Bailey Chapman, Mace Robertson.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Ms Chowfin, Reilly Seifert, Kaleb Farmer, Liam Belcher, Jack Newman.
FRONT row, L - R: Cody Goord, Jessie Low, Reuben Delaney, Destiny Harris.
ABSENT: Jessica Boyd, La-Rochelle Grobbelaar, Kaylee Hackett, Jessie Baatjies, Kaylee Hales, Zoe Harrington, Matthew Hoyte, Ryan Nolan, Natalia Venter.
BACK row, L - R: William Scott, Joseph Hogeboom, Jacob Miller, Llewellyn Dronfield.
MIDDLE row: Mrs A Gillam.
FRONT row, L - R: Sean Bain, Felix Gillam, Troy Schimanski, Troy McLaughlin, William Cleghorn.
ABSENT: Luke Morgan, Eilish Morgan, Jack Newell, Staff Lomey.
NHK
BACK row, L - R: Isaiah Cameron, Jack Bolton, Sapati Taufa, Messiah Taurima-Leach, Nikau Dymond.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Whaea Kylie Bellis, Rivir Crombie, John Tierney, Marty Rochford, Kahu Ropiha-Ginty, Hayley Taufa, Mr Gordon Iafeta
FRONT row, L - R: Nataliah te Tau, Nikau Prendergast, Morgan Burrows, Samantha Bergin, Noah Smith, Tiana Baker, Autumn Palmer.
ABSENT: Ebie Rana, Isabelle Maiava.
T1
BACK row, L - R: Thomas Hardie, Zach wilkins, Alex Mills, trent Smith, Brodie Goldwater.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mrs F Cropp, Rata Gurney, Hannah Burkitt-Petch, Natasha Lee, Gabe Marino, Olivia Scott, Lavinia Cosma, Miss R Buijs.
FRONT row, L - R: Jade Philpot, Caysey Johnson, Sophie Clark, Briea Cashin, Summer Fahey, Megan Bentley, Amy Crooks.
ABSENT: Sebastian Tiller.
T2
BACK row, L - R: Tristan, Alex Clark Jake Priebe, James Van der Geest, Will England.
MIDDLE Row, L - R: Mr C Tangney, Hannah Kelsall, Emil fischer, Max Tollison, Morgan McComb, Rhys Anderson, Kaleb Steel.
FRONT row, L - R: Megan Coord, Levi Bromley, Jennae Topliss, Taylor Williamson, Katherine Hoyte, Kash King, Lachlan Campbell.
T3
BACK ROW, L - R: Morgan Burling, Nathan Kelsall, Alex Staiger, Adi Cosma, Reed Amtman, Trajun Kanara-Smith.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mr P Steyn (left), Liam Stone, Kacey Oosthuysen, Callum Brown, Deakyn Hands, Daniel Newton, Max Edwards.
FRONT row, L - R: Dylan Holliday, Lara Cleghorn, Aamaria Beal, Miro Turley-West, Victor Batchelor, Tori Hartill, Gailan Freeman-Terry, Lochy Wall.
ABSENT: Lily Shaw-Jeff, Jack Topliss.
R1
BACK row, L - R: Sam Henderson, Caleb Bennett-Dewhurst, Eli Song, Jason McCracken.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mrs Lynch, Izaak Johnson, Charlie Taylor, William Newman, Elliot Van der Geest, Phoebe Marris.
FRONT row, L - R: Zara Kirk-Pont, Grace Williams, Chanel Allison, Elsie Johnstone, Thomas Howard, Rykar Buchanan, Jade Smith.
ABSENT: James Chisnall, Eve Hope, Ryah Keenan, Angelina Robinson.
R2
BACK row, L - R: Jack Henderson, Deklan MacAskill, Zach Cruse, Milan Jamieson, Jorgen Keil.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mx M Somerville, Myha Coleman, Holly Ellis, Leevy Lancaster, Lilly Pouting, Jemma Russ.
FRONT row, L - R: Kalani Harper, Damian Clark, Heidi Goodman, Nathan Johnson, Paige Taylor, Hannah Hsieh, Arielle Perchig-Gibli.
ABSENT: Blake Cleland, Ethan Macklin, Beth Wratten.
R3
BACK row, L - R: Ms J Cheeseman, Kaine Dowling, Kade Johnson, Charlie Williams, Leon Rawson.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Jess Gallant, Mackenzie Gibson-Ewen, Xavier Annandale, Sabrina Smith, Moss Barton.
FRONT row, L - R: Ethan Jane, Jasmine Stevenson, Ava Willman, Staci Bernard, Finn Mitchell.
ABSENT: Carlo Badenhorst, Jesse Pengelly.
P1
BACK row, L - R: Jazmin Short, Harvety Tacon, Kaydyn Sandrey, Latesha Murcott, Rhys Nolan.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mr Dempster, Latesha Fowler-Powell, Vadim Pinkerton, Ryan Mackenzie, Eamon O’Keefe, Caitlyn Boddy, Tahli Kennedy.
FRONT row, L - R: Seamus Sheehan-Priest, Aashna Narayan, Bridget Dense, Billie-Jean Gully, Wairini Iraia, Nova Hayden, Martin Stanton.
ABSENT: Liam King, Luke Mathieson.
BACK row, L - R: Ben Maxwell, Matthew Friend, Dakota Robins, Josh McMillan, Neo Williams.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Larkin Edwards-Donnelly, Jai Englebretsen, Tyler Spence, Makaia Preston, Sasha Ellery.
FRONT row, L - R: Maya McIntyre, Rhys Dumelow, Xavier Gawith, Lochlan Williams, Grace Walters, Jacob Speakman, Shilah Carter.
ABSENT: Franklin Barry, Rachel Campbell, Leah Dalzell, Dylan Kolesky, Harry Shaw, Ms Sandra Quick (teacher).
BACK row, L - R: Regan Marē, Declyn King, Ry Gamble-Smith, Alex Cooksley.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Mrs K Cronin, Katelynn Ford, Reagan Boniface, Adam Price, Rylan Jackson-Roberts, Kelisha Brandon (left), Georgia Maclean.
FRONT row, L - R: Arli Robson, Peter Lucas, Rowan Campbell, Farihah Khan, Lailani Weil, Niah King.
ABSENT: Anthony De Oliveira, Shakeria Hackett, Daniella Oman, Oshanna Surman.
K1
BACK row, L - R: Havilla Barrow, Storm Kingi, Jonathan Mulhane,Liam Irvine, Reid Anderson, Nicky Toal, Harris Olsen.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Jeordie Harding, Gabriel Kingi, Kaleb Ferguson, Junior Auvaa, Bailee Hooper, Mia Prendergast, Cullam Moles, Kharina Irvine.
FRONT row, L - R: Karisa Anderson, Brooke Packer, Makenzie Archbold, Riley Wisdom, Anusshika Bhan, Callan McQuire-Lowe, Sinead Flood, Marlin Rushby, Hannah Pope.
ABSENT: Liam Gillion, Cayden Miller, Jazmine Stechmann, Te Whaiora Tangimetua.
K2
BACK row, L - R: Zaheer Khan, Kaleb Wisdom, Blake Dixon, Korban Bellis, Toby Patterson.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Ms Susi Thompson, Ayesha Berry-Barnes, Issy Boreham-Gasten, Sophie Stewart, Willow Poutu, Grace Rhodes, Archie Haldane.
FRONT row, L - R: Gypsy-Bella Haddon-Peters (left), Jacob Bull, Aiden Hunter-Daily, Brayden Williams, Jahara Duncan, Jake Rowe, Jimmy Lister.
ABSENT: Mr Jason Johnson, Damien Carpenter, Leah McDowell, Eden Watson, Harrison Whittaker.
K3
BACK row, L - R: Kade Kitchin, Alex Barrow, Kristian Hallberg.
MIDDLE row, L - R: Layken Inglis, Brighid Gallagher, Rata Rushby, Jorja Harris, Deklan Gray, Aiden Scattergood.
FRONT row, L - R: Allie Gibson, Shruthi Vishnu Maharaj, Quinn Palmer, Jaxon Stepkowski, Bayley Farmer, Aoife Roche.
ABSENT: Mrs M Newberry, Storm Ashford, Maddi Limmer, Natarlia Moore, Logan Muller, Alisha Parsons.
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 University of Canterbury
Dream Job Airforce Pilot
Will probably end up... Hopefully Airforce Pilot
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Working at a plantation in Samoa
Dream Job Professional Hockey player
Will probably end up... Picking bananas and coconuts at the plantation.
Favourite GHS
Moment Coast to Coast
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote The tent
Moment When one of my classmates tried making a bomb from dry ice then the whole class being made to evacuate the science lab.
Final message or quote To all the teachers who had 9CS… hope you’re doing better these days.
Class SEY313
Destination 2021 New World
Dream Job Minecraft Youtuber
Will probably end up... Manchester Street
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Universtiy Of Canturbury Computer Science Course
Favourite GHS
Moment Jon’s Sport Leader Speech
Final message or quote “Up the bears”
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 Doing courses at home
Dream Job Game Design/ Programming
Will probably end up... Permanently fatigued from school
Dream Job Software Developer
Will probably end up... On a yacht
Favourite GHS
Moment Matt getting his finger stuck in a stencil during DVC
Final message or quote Get Real
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 KFC drive-thru
Dream Job Gynecologist
Will probably end up... Homeless
Favourite GHS
Moment Performing in Twisted
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote “When life gives you lemons, paint them orange and sell them for double the price.”
Moment Sports Leader speech
Final message or quote Big body Benz, 'member I used to be dusty - Jalen Green
Class SEY313
Destination 2021 KFC drive through
Dream Job Bears head coach
Will probably end up... Bears water boy
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 Christchurch
Dream Job Tattoo Artist
Will probably end up... Travelling the world
Moment Getting tattoos during 3rd period
Favourite GHS
Moment Signing with the Bears
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote Up the Bears
Final message or quote I’m funky not a junky (but I know where to get it)
Class 13SEYB
Destination 2021 University of Canterbury or my bedroom
Dream Job Mechantronics Engineer or Game Developer
Will probably end up... Becoming Batman
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 The Union
Dream Job Working at heights in the sun
Will probably end up... With a trade
Moment Getting up to mischief with the mates
Favourite GHS
Moment When I bought a PS4 Pro Fortnight Edition with Joel
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote In the game of chess, you can never let your adversary see your pieces.
Final message or quote My affection for Taiwan... is witnessed by everyone. My wife is Taiwanese and I am a son-in-law of Taiwan. I am half Taiwanese.Jackie Chan
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 Gap Year
Dream Job Animal Behaviourist
Will probably end up... Broke with too many dogs
Destination 2021 Stuck In Greyhole
Dream Job Rally Cross Driver
Will probably end up... Back In Bed
Favourite GHS
Favourite GHS
Moment Any of the school trips we went on
Final message or quote aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Moment Mr Sayed’s duels with the local flies
Final message or quote “It’s hard to win an argument with a smart person, but its damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person.” - Bill Murray
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 In the bush with binoculars
Dream Job Russian Spy
Will probably end up... Spying on you in your birthday suit
Class 13 SEY
Destination 2021 Hell aka the real world
Favourite GHS
Moment I threw a lemon in Dr Hunters class and smashed a lot of glass
Final message or quote Don’t look up to the guy who used a Jackie Chan quote as his final message. I also am waiting till the day my best friend comes out the closet…
Dream Job Rich and famous Actor
Will probably end up... A history or drama teacher
Favourite GHS
Moment Throwing a egg around in the drama class
Final message or quote “Girls don’t look at me Lawrence. I’m too intense and serious’ - Drama 2021
Class TWK
Destination 2021 To work
Dream Job Loader and truck driver
Will probably end up... Working for a contracting company
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Greymouth
Dream Job Web developer and/or Cinematography
Will probably end up... A butcher
Moment All the time I spent with my teacher aides
Favourite GHS
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 Either Greymouth or Christchurch
Dream Job Interior Designer
Will probably end up... Still working at New World
Favourite GHS
Moment Probably when Julia jumped out of the bus and hit her head on the top of the door frame then got stuck in the gutter
Final message or quote “I wanna go home”
Favourite GHS
Moment Kerry driving us to Christchurch and ditching Miss Chowfin in Christchurch to go to Time Zone for hours on end
Final message or quote “Remember: reality is an illusion. The universe is a hologram. Buy gold. Bye!”
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 Greymouth
Dream Job Hair stylist
Will probably end up... The Warehouse
Favourite GHS
Moment Geography trip in Year 11 or Hops trip in Year 13
Final message or quote Make sure Angela does the roll :)
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 Greymouth
Dream Job
Beauty Therapist
Will probably end up... Countdown for a year
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Yes
Dream Job No
Will probably end up... in Stephan Hawkings wheelchair
Favourite GHS
Favourite GHS
Moment 2020 Ball
Final message or quote :)
Moment Lochie catching seagull
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 Gap year
Dream Job Something to do with politics, but not an actual politician.
Will probably end up... Secondary School Teacher
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 University of Canterbury
Dream Job Criminal/ Commercial Barrister
Will probably end up... Hannah’s Housewife
Favourite GHS
Moment All of year 11 drama, but especially Twisted
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you.
Moment Level 1 Health trip
Final message or quote If you’re going to be late, you may as well be late with a coffee
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 Maritime Customs
Dream Job Pro baseball player
Will probably end up... Owning a meke business
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Grey doing absolutely nothing
Dream Job Be Rich
Favourite GHS
Moment Beating John Paul II
Final message or quote Grip it and rip it
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Therapy
Dream Job Competitive Napper
Will probably end up... Broke out on Manchester Street
Will probably end up... Becoming a Nobody
Favourite GHS
Moment Watching Joel stomp a Milo carton, covering an entire wall in the tech block and the school having to paint over it
Final message or quote DON’T go Gluten free, WORST decision of my life
Levi Woolley
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 The Hub
Favourite GHS
Moment Being part of the most fruity and chaotic drama class ever
Final message or quote Be Gay, Do Crime
Dream Job International DJ/MMA Fighter
Will probably end up... At Calendar Girls
Favourite GHS
Moment Spending time with Andy England
Final message or quote “It is what it is”
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Working at the Warehouse with Levi
Dream Job
Brazzer’s Camera Man
Will probably end up... Calendar Girls
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 Paris with Kanye
Dream Job Male Horse Milker
Will probably end up... OnlyFans Content Creator
Moment Eating pizza and talking to the prime minister while the rest of our class was working
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote If they're questioning you, you're doing something right
Favourite GHS
Moment ESS Trip
Final message or quote The happier I am, the less I can see
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 No Idea
Dream Job Don’t Know
Will probably end up... Not Sure
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 A box under Cobden Bridge
Dream Job
Something with horses
Will probably end up... In the rubbish
Moment Trades days in the van with EFS
Favourite GHS
Moment Creating quizzes and game for my classes to do.
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote May The Force Be With You
Final message or quote Remember, with a little Rusteeze, and an insane amount of luck, you too can look like me. Kachow
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 Greymouth for a gap year (working)
Dream Job Film industry
Will probably end up... where ever I end up
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 Probably get a job and work towards improving my skills
Dream Job Working in the gaming industry
Will probably end up... Working freelance
Moment FAME production
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote "You've broke the cherry twice you don't get a third one" - Mr McDonald
Favourite GHS Moment The senior ball of 2021
Final message or quote Whatever your’re journey may hold, when all seems hopeless. do not forget that many have gotten over it before, you need only seek their aid.
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 KFC drive through
Dream Job Ask me when I figure it out Will probably end up... Still worrying about my unfinished internals
Shreya Maharaj
Class 13 SEYB
Destination 2021 The wonders of the world
Dream Job Getting paid to do nothing
Favourite GHS
Moment Performing in the Vast Dance festival every year
Final message or quote Don’t take anything for granted
Will probably end up... Somewhere unexpected
Favourite GHS Moment Coal Creek Biology trip
Final message or quote “I am what I think you think I am”
Class 13seyb
Destination 2021 Somewhere exotic like Gore
Dream Job Vending machine fixer or stop-go sign person
Will probably end up... As the plant supplier for Poppy’s van. Or actually maybe just rehab
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021
Dropping fat mixes with mixy nixy
Dream Job Purp goan connoisseur
Will probably end up... In the Philippines, in a twelve-man shack, fishing
Moment Boys in the can
Favourite GHS
Moment This year when we realised that Hope still thought it was just Panadol from that time in year 10 PE
Favourite GHS
Final message or quote Make Good Choices. Or at least choices, because no one likes an indecisive person.
- yours sincerely a bisexual switch.
Class 13GAY
Destination 2021 Most likely Greymouth
Dream Job Mid-wife
Will probably end up... Herb Farmer
Final message or quote How much pain????
Final message or quote “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t, because you can!”
- Johnny Danger
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 Anywhere but here
Dream Job 5th member of the wiggles
Will probably end up... Living out of my van selling plants
Favourite GHS
Moment Getting tattoos with the besties
Final message or quote With peace and love, don’t be a dick
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 I’d like to go somewhere exotic, but there’s a pandemic.
Dream Job Astrophysicist (no, I didn’t take physics or calculus)
Will probably end up... Buying sherbet from Poppy’s van.
Favourite GHS
Moment
Every drama class shenanigan: Twisted, egg throwing, Marco Polo, the secret drama class graffiti, etc
Final message or quote Always ask questions! The question I asked most during my time here was: “Wait, what are we meant to be doing?”
Arlen Pahl
Emma Boddy
Derek Chizuni
Jordan Burn
Kyle Bradley Kee
Samara Uriao
Shannon Baker
Troy Schimanski
Class 13BEA
Destination 2021 UC
Dream Job Electrical Engineer
Will probably end up... In a small apartment in some random place in Europe
Favourite GHS Moment The UC Physics and Chemistry trip in 2021
Final message or quote “Be yourself because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind” - Anon
Class 13SEY
Destination 2021 Australia
Dream Job Beauty tech
Will probably end up... At Countdown
Favourite GHS Moment
Playing never have I ever with Ms Seyb on a geo trip