When you think of Stewart Island and schools, you instinctively think of seas swimming in blue cod and salmon. In fact about fifty different species of fish, crustaceans and molluscs inhabit the Island’s waters including the highly rated crayfish, and the spectacularly famous Foveaux Strait oyster, arguably the most flavoursome shellfish in the world. The Island at last count had a population of 390, so the fish are winning by a long shot, especially if you are a crayfish. Quota for crayfish has doubled in recent years due to phenomenal population growth. Not so for the Stewart Island humans. Inland from the schools of fish, Stewart Island is home to another kind of school educating 24 eager young learners. The local Halfmoon Bay (HMB) School has not overlooked the powerful influence fishing and the sea has on the Island’s children
and has incorporated the language and imagery of the industry into its school logo. ‘Schooled for Success’ is the bold ambitious vision, and the title adopted for this story. The school, its values, expectations and aspirations reflect those of the Island’s people. It’s a close knit community, to the extent that locals’ birthdays are publicly celebrated on the blackboard outside the Island’s Four Square supermarket! Split from the mainland Stewart Island is situated in an environment so pristine it’s almost surreal. Whether standing on the wharf or frolicking in any one of the impossibly scenic bays, you can see through the layers of unblemished waters to observe every level of sea life right to the bottom. Bordering its shorelines are 1570 square kilometres of unspoiled bush-clad hills and valleys, 85 per cent of which form the Rakiura National Park. The
The seniors manage their own quiz time, flashing the questions up on a screen for all to read
Kath Johnson Principal Halfmoon Bay School, Stewart Island
Playtime
The ‘A-Z’ of Stewart Island
National Park creates employment for a significant number of the Island’s inhabitants through the Department of Conservation. Their work includes maintaining Ulva Island as a ‘pest-free’ open sanctuary, where threatened bird species flourish in the un-milled, perfectly preserved environment. Other Islanders work either in the commercial fishing industry, aquaculture or in the tourism industry. A small number are employed in local services. It is not surprising then that the natural environment dominates the Islanders’ lives. The school’s artwork displays demonstrate the strength of relationship between this natural world and the children’s thinking. The ‘A–Z’ of Stewart Island, which the children created begins with ‘Ackers Point’, sight of the Island’s lighthouse and is followed by ‘Blue Cod’, ‘Crayfish’, ‘Dolphin’, ‘Eels’, ‘Fishing’, ‘Great White shark’, ‘Hunting’ the ‘Inlet’, ‘Jellyfish’ and the ‘Kakapo’. You quickly get the picture. Nature is just ‘so natural’ here on Stewart Island. The environmental influence manifests itself well beyond the art curriculum. It spills over into the children’s literature preferences too. Prominent in the school’s library display are books such as ‘The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch’, ‘Whales and Dolphins’ and ‘Marine Science’. Nature also provides the inspiration for senior children creating their own alliteration poems with titles like: ‘The howling hazardous Horseshoe hurricane’ and ‘The stormy, squally Stewart Island Strait’. Kath Johnson is the HMB school’s principal and teacher of the senior school. Strong, direct and utterly dedicated to seeing Stewart Island children succeed, she is highly respected by all the locals who give her their full support. They are delighted with the way she has progressed the school and ever so proud of the
All wired up for the Virtual Learning Network class
academic, artistic and sporting achievements of the children. ‘We know that relatively speaking we are very isolated here on Stewart Island,’ says Kath, ‘but we don’t dwell on that. We think about how lucky we are to have so much else that mainland kids don’t have,’ she says. Top of that list of advantages is the enormous sense of freedom that all of the Islanders enjoy. ‘Our kids can play in the bush alone at the weekends and parents know they won’t come to any harm,’ she says. ‘There’s always someone looking out for them whether they are kayaking, diving, swimming or bush walking, so they are quite safe.’ With this freedom to openly explore, the children develop high levels of self-confidence, resilience and common sense.
They become good at overcoming obstacles because they have plenty of outdoor opportunities to test and develop their problem solving skills. These attributes in turn have an effect on the way they approach their school learning. The senior school day at HMB opens with a general knowledge quiz. The questions include local news, sports news, world news, current affairs and trivia. The children administer the quiz themselves and mark each other’s answers. They are a self-reliant bunch unafraid to take charge of their own learning and quite capable of taking on the responsibility of managing each other. That allows Ms J, as the children affectionately call their principal, to take a lesson with another group. The children love school and consider themselves lucky to
The local Fish n chip shop where you get battered blue cod fillets with your chips
The Island’s wharf awaits the next ferry
George not only wins triathlons, here he is at work on his MacBook
Creating an alliteration poem to share with peers via the Virtual Learning Network was such fun
have so many opportunities to go places and do things like caving and rock climbing and taking trips to Wellington to visit parliament, the Police College, Weta workshop, the zoo and to join the Hurricanes in a gym session and watch them play at the Westpac Stadium from a corporate box! They also recognise that ‘small is good’ when it comes to learning because they all get so much individual time with their teacher. Honesty, openness and community spirit runs rampant amongst Stewart Islanders. Although some would suggest they are locked into a bygone era that would be mistaken thinking.
The children at HMB school are better prepared than most to adapt to a changing world because modern technology is central to much of their schooling. As Marley Wright wrote in his Flyer, introducing himself to his new secondary school last year, ‘At Halfmoon Bay everyone between year five and eight have their own Apple MacBook that we use every day for work.’ Marley well knows how technology can be cleverly used for many learning purposes. A music lover, guitarist and competent singer, Marley won the ‘Best Vocalist Award’ in Otago BandQuest
Enjoying the cricket at lunch time with Ms J supervising
Kath Johnson takes a class whilst the seniors do the quiz
in 2014. BandQuest is a nation-wide competition between primary and intermediate schools and has an entirely on-line section which the ‘Rakiura Rockers’ of HMB entered. Their band won the national on-line competition from 22 entries. The children had only four face-to-face music lessons during the year because their music teacher is located in Kaikoura. The rest of their musical instructions came via Skype. It’s an extraordinary story but a typical example of how HMB school works creatively to provide opportunities for the kids to succeed in as broad a curriculum as possible. Technology also connects the Stewart Island children to other classes, such as poetry and foreign languages. The day I visit HMB, the children are learning about alliteration poems through
the Virtual Learning Network Primary School. The teacher from Makuri School in Pahiatua is leading the class comprising children from seven schools. It is exciting to listen to the HMB children read their poems and then watch on screen as children from areas as far flung as Marco, Whataroa, Ohura, Makuri, Putorino and Kaitoke (Great Barrier) show their appreciation by spontaneously clapping their ‘video classmates’. Even more exciting is listening to the feedback offered by the children who bring a diversity of viewpoints. It is a rich learning experience at so many levels. ‘We are all little isolated schools and [as teaching principals] we take turns at leading this class,’ says Kath. ‘The kids just love the opportunity to interact with kids from the other schools. It
Polynesian inspired artworks
When the children are ready to leave HMB and go to secondary school on the mainland, they prepare an information leaflet about themselves for their future teachers
The Four Square supermarket celebrates the locals’ birthdays on their blackboard
The South Sea Hotel in Halfmoon Bay
benefits everyone,’ she said. With only 12 children in the entire senior school, one would think that sports competitions would be impossible. Not so for the enterprising Stewart Islanders. ‘We enter all the Southland competitions we can,’ says Kath, ‘because we don’t want our kids missing out. It’s a huge help that the Foveaux Strait Ferry lets all our kids travel for free.’ This is just another example of the way business on Stewart Island supports the school and the children’s endeavours. The local South Seas Hotel is another generous sponsor of the school and often donates the proceeds of their weekly trivial pursuits quiz night, along with all the spare cash dropped on the floor! ‘You’d be surprised how much money ends up on the pub floor by the end of the night,’ laughs Kath.
Business efforts are well rewarded. Last year, HMB children excelled taking top three placings in many sporting events including the Southland primary schools athletic and Southern Zone swimming sports, and the Southern Zone Cross Country. ‘When you think that our kids are competing against six other schools that have a total of 600 students our kids do pretty well,’ said Kath proudly. ‘Last year, every year five – eight student from HMB school had success, at least to Southland level, in at least one area,’ she said. The successes of HMB kids are not just limited to sport and music. They extend to the Social Studies Fair in which HMB school cleaned up both the digital and heritage sections; the Southland Science Fair where for the fourth year in a row they won the Soroptimists’ Award for Junior Female Scientist, silver
The boys get some extra close attention from Ms J
Halfmoon Bay School from the playground
awards for excellence and the award for excellent use of statistics in a science project. Results were similarly spectacular for the speech competitions where again the HMB kids shone with two first placings and a second and finally it was a HMB school sweep of the Southland Media Mash year seven and eight IT awards in graphic design section. The day I visit the school year eight student George Conner was given a hero’s welcome down on the wharf when he stepped off the ferry with the gold medal for the Southland triathlon. ‘We are so proud of George,’ said Kath, who rushed down to the ferry to meet and congratulate him on his fantastic achievement. She wasn’t alone. The local South Seas Hotel bar was abuzz with the latest news and delighted that George paid a quick visit before heading home for dinner . . . possibly fish and chips from the local ‘Kai Kart’ – surely the only take-away in the country where the chips come with battered fillets of blue cod! Kath Johnson has her own family connections to the Island having moved there in her teens. After 17 years away, she
The entrance to HMB school, proudly displaying the school logo
returned to the Island as a teacher and has been principal of the HMB school for the past eight years. She taught all three of her own children through their primary schooling and like every other Stewart Islander, her daughters headed off to boarding school on the mainland for their secondary schooling. It’s a fact of life if you are a Stewart Islander and at HMB everything is done to make the transition as smooth as possible, including arranging visits to the secondary schools, which might include a night sleeping over in the school hostel. Again the Foveaux Strait Ferry helps out with free transport for the kids so they can come home at weekends. The kids still find it tough because in many cases they have gone through their entire primary schooling together. As Marley Wright said, ‘Moving to town also means saying bye to all of my friends and people that I have grown up with and also my home.’ Timu Moxham similarly said, ‘All of my school mates are like family too because we have known each other since kindergarten.’ Despite the thorough preparation for transitioning to high school, the pain of separation from friends and family is palpable. For many, knowing they can get on the ferry and come home for the weekend is a critical coping mechanism. As a teaching principal, Kath works long hours and has no complaints if what she is doing leads to better learning outcomes for her kids. She considers herself privileged to work with such keen learners who achieve so well and alongside a Board of Trustees who, like the parents, are utterly supportive. In a perfect world she’d reduce some of the paper work, which ‘has no direct input to helping the kids learn better.’ These are things like Novopay and audits that soak up her precious time. But overall what gives her the greatest thrill is seeing the HMB kids achieve as well or better than the mainland kids. Judging by the current results Kath has nothing to worry about. True to their school motto, HMB kids are indeed schooled for success.
Need Accommodation for sports teams or end/start-of-year camps? Want senior students to visit and experience the University of Auckland?
Financial Reporting Grafton Hall is a privately administered University of Auckland student accommodation, and we are experts in catering for student groups! We are centrally located between the university’s city and Grafton campuses, and close to the Newmarket shops, movie theatres and pool/gym complex; Parnell restaurants; the Domain/museum; and the city centre. The central bus corridor goes right past our gate, and the Grafton rail station is just round the corner. Car parking onsite. Fully catered accommodation is available mid-November – mid February (other times possible by arrangement). Facilities include a tennis court, volleyball net and basketball hoops, games room with pool table and table tennis, two sky tv lounges, and meeting rooms if needed. Free internet access. Adults: Special school rate of $55 per night B&B; $60 full meals. Students: $50 per night – all inclusive. Phone or email Greg, Sally or Esther to enquire further.
Education Services provides a Financial Reporting Service to over 640 New Zealand schools – we are the largest provider of accounting services to school’s in New Zealand – and would love the opportunity to help you. Take all the worry out of Financial Management and have everything done on time, every time and done right! We have an office and personnel near you: Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Whanganui and Wellington. If you would like a no obligation quote to compare the cost of our service to what you are currently receiving, or would like to enquire exactly what our service involves, please phone:
Grafton Hall Of Residence 40 Seafield View Rd, Grafton, Auckland Ph: +64 9 373 3994 Fax: +64 9 377 9134 email: office@graftonhall.co.nz website: www.graftonhall.co.nz
Pete on 06 757 5489 or email: pete@educationservices.co.nz www.educationservices.co.nz
Specialists in Audio Visual Supply & Installation for Schools
ComSec specialises in design & consulting, project management, installation, programming & commissioning, and service of commercial AV systems.
p: 09 912 7222 • Classroom Interactive Learning
• Auditoriums & Theatres
• System Design and Equipment
• Microphones, Mixers, Processors
• Amplifers, Video/Data Projectors
• Infrastructure Wiring,
• Supplying Portable PAs
• User Training
• Bayview School • Vauxhall School • Coatsville School • Carmel College • Glenfield College • St Cuthbert’s College • Freemans Bay School • Kristin School • Vector Arena
e: info@comsec.net.nz
w: www.comsecav.co.nz