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Wednesday May 24, 2017
Meeting the brains – students off to science camp with Nobel Laureates
Principal Toby Stokes says implementing an enrolment scheme is necessary considering recent growth of the school roll. PHOTO: Jake McKee Cagney
Crofton Downs Primary School zoning By Jake McKee Cagney MASSEY JOURNALISM STUDENT
Next to science opportunities, Neakiry also sings in various school choirs and plays the violin for the school orchestra. PHOTO: Julia Czerwonatis By Julia Czerwonatis
Five senior secondary school students and an accompanying teacher from all around the country have been selected by the Royal Society Te Aparangi to represent New Zealand at the 11th Asian Science Camp Neakiry Kivi, Year 13 student from Samuel Marsden Collegiate in Karori, will join the camp at the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, which is about a two-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur, in August. “I look forward to meeting a lot of really cool people. Everyone will be new to me, so that is going to be exciting,” Neakiry said. The deputy head girl has excelled in science class ever since she joined high school and has been to various science opportunities around New Zealand before. “My favourite subjects are biology and chemistry. I’m mainly interested in the human body,” Neakiry explained. After she has finished school Neakiry wants to study medicine. “I’d like to study in Auckland or at Otago University, but I
definitely want to stay in New Zealand.” The Asian Science Camp is the brainchild of two Nobel Laureates: Yuan-Tseh Lee from Taiwan, who is the 1986 Nobel Laureate in chemistry, and Masatoba from Japan, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize in physics. Yuan-Tseh will be one of the key speakers at the camp amongst two further Nobel Laureates and other distinguished scientists. “This is a great opportunity for talented young New Zealanders to interact with experts at the top of their fields in science,” Andrew Cleland, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of New Zealand, said. More than 25 countries will participate, involving over 250 science enthused students. During the week they will attend plenary lectures and contribute to panel discussions. The Talented School Students Travel Award, managed by Royal Society Te Aparangi and funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, will fund 70 per cent of the student’s travel costs and the registration.
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Prospective students at Crofton Downs Primary School will need to live in-zone once an enrolment scheme comes into effect on May 24. The school has more than doubled its roll over the past seven years. It began the 2017 school year with 219 students and is already near 250. Principal Toby Stokes said, “While the growth is great – it’s really positive – we just can’t keep handling this growth at the moment.” Toby identified Crofton Downs as a growing suburb of Wellington. “Crofton Downs is an area where young families like to settle down,” he said. Toby said the Silverstream Road housing development would likely increase student numbers. “If we got another 10 to 15 students from there – that’s a really big deal for a school our size.” He said the school did not know who would move into the new subdivision, but it was a matter of “looking to the future and who might turn up here”. The school was able to predict some future students through those at the school with younger siblings, but for now there was a need to “curb the growth we don’t know
about,” Toby stated. The main focus behind the zoning was maintaining enough space on the grounds for everyone. A new classroom was built last year and, space-wise, the school was at its capacity, he said. Commuters into Wellington’s CBD are a notable group that will be caught out come May 24. Toby explained the school was on the commuter route and had had students from many surrounding suburbs because parents could pick up and drop off their children on the way to work. Students have previously come as far as Titahi Bay and the Hutt Valley. Toby said the reaction to the decision for enforcing a zone for the school was great. Very few people had made contact about being cut off, and those that had understood why zoning was necessary for the school. The Crofton Downs Primary School zone stretches from Chartwell Drive, running north through to the top of Khandallah Road, and east down Ngaio Gorge. All addresses west of this are included. The zone scheme comes into effect May 24. A list and map of the zone can be viewed on the Crofton Downs Primary School website croftondownsprimary.school.nz.
Antibullying programme successful The anti-bullying programme KiVa has successfully reduced bullying in New Zealand schools and online, a preliminary evaluation from Victoria University of Wellington showed. The report, led by Vanessa Green from Victoria’s School of Education, evaluated 14 primary and secondary schools in New Zealand that had been using KiVa over a period of 12 months. “The findings suggest there was a significant decrease in the frequency of bullying, the frequency of victimisation at school and on the internet and an increase in students’ feelings of safety within their school environment,” Vanessa said. The children were asked how often they had been bullied at school and via the internet, and whether they had bullied others at school. They were also asked about their feelings of safety when at school and their perception of teachers’ involvement in decreasing bullying over the previous year.
The results showed a 10.5 percent increase in the number of children who were not bullied in the previous year, and a 5.4 percent increase in those not bullied over the internet. There were significantly fewer students engaging in bullying behaviour over the year. Vanessa said the role of teachers and peers was also essential in addressing bullying, and results from the report show that KiVa has had successful teacher engagement. “The results show a significant change with students indicating that teachers were doing more to decrease bullying, which suggests a good level of buy-in by the teachers and participating schools. “This initial evaluation shows a positive result and that participating schools are going in the right direction to combat bullying. What we are now doing is seeking funding to be able to continue implementing KiVa into all schools interested in the programme.”