(by Dave Murdoch)
Dannevirke High School is up and humming already with a hectic programme ahead of us, so full that the term is officially designated a non-interruption one. Nevertheless we still have Tournament week, during which a group also goes to OPC, to take up some of the precious teaching time.
The loss of four international students last term has been slightly compensated or by the arrival of a German student Johanna Schoenecker for a term. Others may come especially when the word filters back to Asia that one of our students Stephanie Fok has won a scholarship to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hongkong her home town. Stephanie has been under the tutorship of Ms. Atkinson in the visual arts and Mr. Hewald in graphics for the past two and a half years and we are delighted with her success.
Eight students and a parent went to Dunedin to investigate course options at Otago University early in the last week of term and returned very impressed by the experience and the university. They left at 3.am after the last of the school shows and flew from Wellington. Over the next two days they visited four hostels which all had different characters, nothing like the infamous scarfie flats, then toured the departments which offered course options, particularly health science. They were impressed by the latter’s anatomy museum, the university’s huge battery of computers in the library, the massive gymnasium and the old university buildings.
Scott Mancer had a great experience in the first week of the holidays attending a Business Studies course in Palmerston North. There he listened to a variety of speakers and was involved in a variety of challenges related to business and enterprise. He is excited about the prospect of a business career as a result.
Mrs Menzies has been at it again, enriching the lives of young folk, this time through the Duke Of Edinburgh Award Scheme and a two day tramp in the Ruahines. Seven students traversed the Ruahines from the Tamaki to Cattle Creek Hut where they stayed the night. On the return journey, four of the students doing their silver award stayed over at Stanfield Hut on their own before tramping up to the A Frame Hut and then back to the Tamaki.
Among the experiences were trying to cook dehydrated food on tiny primus stoves, using the Mountain Radio and trying to cope with each other both on the trail and in the confinement of the huts. Mrs. Menzies – you are amazing!
Meanwhile the first fifteen is on a roll, taking some significant scalps. In the last weeks of term, after demolishing Horowhenua College 71-0, it played Wairarapa College in the mud under lights at Pahiatua as a mid-week game and beat them 10-3, winning for the first time in a competition game for years.
As both of these teams play in the Quadrangular Tournament in Tournament Week prospects look good to retain the All Blacks Captain’s Trophy. A holiday game against Central Hawkes Bay College proved that the win in the inter-school was no fluke, winning again 22-14.
Some of these players are heading for higher honours. Tiwai Hauiti and Carlos Te Hua attended a Hawkes Bay Under Sixteen training camp in the holidays, Rhys Pedersen attended a Hurricanes Secondary Schools Training Camp and seven others trialled for the Hawkes Bay Under Eighteens five of whom made the squad. They are Rhys Pedersen. Richard harris, Braden Rose, Zac Wadley-Te Ture and Jayden Pinfold.
We are busy interacting with the community at present. Wednesday evening was a meet-the-teacher night which was well attended, especially as the reports had gone home accompanied by the printout showing what seniors had scored in NCEA already.
This Wednesday (July 28th) is the annual open evening during which parents of year seven and eight students and the general public are invited to come and see what we have to offer for 2011. It starts at 7pm and concludes with a light supper and a prize draw at 9.15pm.
We hope to see lots of interest as the staff spends considerable time preparing the displays. Competition for students is strong as evidenced by the amount of advertising some school are doing. We are confident that our NCEA results speak for themselves but we would like the public and students to see work done by junior classes and the other side of education – the tone and spirit in our school - that cannot be quantified.
The loss of four international students last term has been slightly compensated or by the arrival of a German student Johanna Schoenecker for a term. Others may come especially when the word filters back to Asia that one of our students Stephanie Fok has won a scholarship to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design in Hongkong her home town. Stephanie has been under the tutorship of Ms. Atkinson in the visual arts and Mr. Hewald in graphics for the past two and a half years and we are delighted with her success.
Eight students and a parent went to Dunedin to investigate course options at Otago University early in the last week of term and returned very impressed by the experience and the university. They left at 3.am after the last of the school shows and flew from Wellington. Over the next two days they visited four hostels which all had different characters, nothing like the infamous scarfie flats, then toured the departments which offered course options, particularly health science. They were impressed by the latter’s anatomy museum, the university’s huge battery of computers in the library, the massive gymnasium and the old university buildings.
Scott Mancer had a great experience in the first week of the holidays attending a Business Studies course in Palmerston North. There he listened to a variety of speakers and was involved in a variety of challenges related to business and enterprise. He is excited about the prospect of a business career as a result.
Mrs Menzies has been at it again, enriching the lives of young folk, this time through the Duke Of Edinburgh Award Scheme and a two day tramp in the Ruahines. Seven students traversed the Ruahines from the Tamaki to Cattle Creek Hut where they stayed the night. On the return journey, four of the students doing their silver award stayed over at Stanfield Hut on their own before tramping up to the A Frame Hut and then back to the Tamaki.
Among the experiences were trying to cook dehydrated food on tiny primus stoves, using the Mountain Radio and trying to cope with each other both on the trail and in the confinement of the huts. Mrs. Menzies – you are amazing!
Meanwhile the first fifteen is on a roll, taking some significant scalps. In the last weeks of term, after demolishing Horowhenua College 71-0, it played Wairarapa College in the mud under lights at Pahiatua as a mid-week game and beat them 10-3, winning for the first time in a competition game for years.
As both of these teams play in the Quadrangular Tournament in Tournament Week prospects look good to retain the All Blacks Captain’s Trophy. A holiday game against Central Hawkes Bay College proved that the win in the inter-school was no fluke, winning again 22-14.
Some of these players are heading for higher honours. Tiwai Hauiti and Carlos Te Hua attended a Hawkes Bay Under Sixteen training camp in the holidays, Rhys Pedersen attended a Hurricanes Secondary Schools Training Camp and seven others trialled for the Hawkes Bay Under Eighteens five of whom made the squad. They are Rhys Pedersen. Richard harris, Braden Rose, Zac Wadley-Te Ture and Jayden Pinfold.
We are busy interacting with the community at present. Wednesday evening was a meet-the-teacher night which was well attended, especially as the reports had gone home accompanied by the printout showing what seniors had scored in NCEA already.
This Wednesday (July 28th) is the annual open evening during which parents of year seven and eight students and the general public are invited to come and see what we have to offer for 2011. It starts at 7pm and concludes with a light supper and a prize draw at 9.15pm.
We hope to see lots of interest as the staff spends considerable time preparing the displays. Competition for students is strong as evidenced by the amount of advertising some school are doing. We are confident that our NCEA results speak for themselves but we would like the public and students to see work done by junior classes and the other side of education – the tone and spirit in our school - that cannot be quantified.
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