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From Canterbury Blue Light:
Fourteen very excited students from Wharenui School travelled to Rangiora Airfield for
this year’s annual Canterbury Blue Light Take a Kid Flying event on 13 May 13.
This event happens every year thanks to the incredible generosity of a group of local pilots … View moreFrom Canterbury Blue Light:
Fourteen very excited students from Wharenui School travelled to Rangiora Airfield for
this year’s annual Canterbury Blue Light Take a Kid Flying event on 13 May 13.
This event happens every year thanks to the incredible generosity of a group of local pilots who donate the use of their personal aircraft and their time to take a group of deserving young people
out for the experience of a lifetime.
This year the children were taken on an incredible scenic
flight over Lake Coleridge, Mt Hutt and they even had views of Mt Cook.
Canterbury Blue Light is a charity that works closely with police so all its events are
supported by police staff.
After returning to land, the young people spent their lunch time
getting to know the pilots and police, dressing up in some police uniforms and enjoying the
beautiful Canterbury surrounds.
This memorable event has the power to be incredibly inspiring and impacting for the
children selected to take part.
Canterbury Blue Light extends a big thanks to the pilots and
their families for making it possible.
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By David Hill, local democracy reporter
Reducing speeds rather than installing wire barriers is the best way to reduce fatalities, says a former Christchurch City councillor.
Mike Stevens, who served two terms on the Christchurch City Council, has been meeting landowners and businesses along … View moreBy David Hill, local democracy reporter
Reducing speeds rather than installing wire barriers is the best way to reduce fatalities, says a former Christchurch City councillor.
Mike Stevens, who served two terms on the Christchurch City Council, has been meeting landowners and businesses along State Highway 1 between Cam River, Kaiapoi, and Saltwater Creek, north of Ashley River, to hear their concerns.
"People feel like they’re not being listened to and they don’t know what to do," he said.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is proposing to install wire barriers, known as cheese graters, on the centreline.
But at a meeting with Waka Kotahi director of regional relationships, James Caygill, last month, residents realised that under the agency’s guidelines, wire barriers were not required when the speed limit was under 70kph.
Stevens advocated setting a speed limit of 60kph from Cam River, south of Pine Acres intersection, and Woodend, and then from Woodend to Ashley River.
The present speed limit was 80kph.
"There will be complaints, but I would rather see lives saved in what is one of the most dangerous intersections in New Zealand."
He also advocated stopping traffic from turning right at the Pine Acres intersection.
As a former break-down service operator, Stevens said the Pine Acres intersection was "the most profitable intersection in Canterbury".
These days Stevens passes between his property at Saltwater Creek and Christchurch along SH1 each day.
"Whatever they’ve done here has not improved it," he said while parked up in the layby just north of Pine Acres.
The layby was where truck drivers stopped to take a rest or to change drivers.
Stevens said the proposed Woodend Bypass would solve many of these problems, when it opened.
A SH1 business, which did not wish to be named, told Local Democracy Reporting they agreed with Stevens’ sentiments.
A Waka Kotahi spokesperson said a letter had been sent to all residents and businesses on SH1 between Saltwater Creek and Cam River at the end of last year inviting them to contact the agency if they had any concerns.
"We have received a lot of comments about our current design for safety improvements along SH1 between Saltwater Creek and Cam River.
"We are continuing to talk with our partners, undertake further investigations and consider the comments received as we work further on the design.
"We will be keeping the community informed as we progress."
Residents and businesses can still contact safetynorthcanterbury@nzta.govt.nz to share their concerns.
By David Hill, local democracy reporter
"It’s back to 1986" at Rangiora High School, but a new enhanced version.
That’s the assessment of principal Bruce Kearney following a comprehensive curriculum review, which will lead to sweeping changes to the school’s teaching and … View moreBy David Hill, local democracy reporter
"It’s back to 1986" at Rangiora High School, but a new enhanced version.
That’s the assessment of principal Bruce Kearney following a comprehensive curriculum review, which will lead to sweeping changes to the school’s teaching and learning, pastoral care, and a revamp of the Rakahuri building.
Kearney tasked deputy principals Paula McDonald and Haidee Tiffen with the task of conducting the review in term one.
The pair worked with education consultants ImpactED to conduct an online survey and interviews with students, staff and whanau, with more than 1000 students responding from a school roll of 1700.
"It’s not a step back in time to 1986, but it is something parents can understand," Tiffen said.
"We are trying to simplify it, but we’re not letting go of all the good stuff," McDonald added.
She said the students would be "at the heart of everything", with a new philosophy of "know me, guide me" under-pinning the new curriculum.
"It is about getting to know our learners and guiding our learners.
"The number one thing parents said was they wanted the students to be going to school happy and having lots of choice (in their subjects)."
Tiffen said having strong connections between students and teachers also came through strongly.
Once the survey was completed, staff were invited to test the review findings, with 23 staff volunteering to explore what changes were possible.
The biggest change will be installing internal walls in the open plan Rakahuri building, which is thought to be the largest classroom in the South Island.
The proposed layout will be essentially the same, but with learning spaces turned into single cell classrooms and the potential for the library to be incorporated.
The project is out for tender and the school will be seeking funding from the Ministry of Education to make it happen.
Tiffen said students had found it distracting being in an environment where multiple classes were operating in one big space.
"Our neuro-diverse learners were finding it particularly challenging.
"They still want those spaces, but with more closed off spaces to improve their learning."
From next year junior students will return to spending more time with specialist subjects teachers, instead of the co-operative teaching across subjects employed in recent years.
Senior school courses will return to full year, rather than semester (half-year) courses.
"It is all about those relationships with learners," Tiffen said.
"You can’t get to know our learners well enough in half a year."
She said the focus would be on the teaching and learning rather than assessment, with the assessment built in.
The Wānanga (form class) structure will change, with students spending less time "with a trusted adult for whanaungatanga (building relationships)" from next year.
Literacy and numeracy would also be a big focus.
Use some Resene paint and a little imagination to revamp your outdoor room.
Follow this handy advice to get started.
By David Hill, local democracy reporter
A North Canterbury principal says school attendance targets are unrealistic in the present environment.
With a general election looming, politicians have been promising to fix declining school attendance rates.
But Rangiora High School principal … View moreBy David Hill, local democracy reporter
A North Canterbury principal says school attendance targets are unrealistic in the present environment.
With a general election looming, politicians have been promising to fix declining school attendance rates.
But Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney said the biggest barriers to school attendance targets were the Ministry of Education’s "inability" to negotiate a pay settlement with teachers and the mandatory seven-day Covid-19 stand down.
The Ministry of Education’s target is for all students to achieve 90% regular attendance at school.
That equated to just one day absent a fortnight, or six or seven days in a school term.
"Yes, non-attendance is a problem, but it is not because students aren’t attending school, it is because we are coming out of
Covid where hardly anybody in any industry is hitting 90% attendance," he said.
"It is a little rich for the Minister of Education to write letters to school principals asking them to get on board with attendance when the biggest factor impacting attendance at the moment is the Government’s inability to sign a contract with teachers."
While there was a lot of talk about non-attendance, Kearney said there was a lack of funding to enable schools to tackle the issue.
Rangiora High School recently employed an attendance officer from school funds to reach out to students in the 70-80% attendance category.
Rangiora New Life School principal Stephen Walters said the Ministry of Education should be putting more emphasis on student achievement rather than looking at attendance on its own.
"We looked at our data and attendance in term one was higher than last year, but it is still behind 2019.
"But the interesting thing is even though attendance is lagging, academic performance has been sustained and even improved slightly in some areas."
He said the Covid experience had led to a change in attituded towards wellbeing.
"I think Covid has taught us, if you are unwell stay home until you are well."
Walters said his school moved to "a hybrid learning style" 10 years ago, embracing online learning alongside learning in the classroom.
It allowed students to continue learning and engage with teachers when absent from school.
The results indicated it was working, he said.
Oxford Area School principal Mike Hart said attendance improved significantly in term one this year at 61.9%, compared to 43.7% for term one last year.
"Pre Covid-19 attendance in term one 2019 was 71.7% regular attendance, so we still have improvements to make, but the data so far is trending in the right direction."
Comment has been sought from the Ministry of Education and Education Minister Jan Tinetti's office.
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