Papakura High School Start Date 2012

Tuesday 7th Feb                               Whole School.  8.40am – 3.00pm

PRIZEGIVING ADDRESS

Tēnā koutou, talofalava, Namaste and welcome

I am honoured and privileged to welcome you all here tonight to celebrate the success of the young people of our community. I would also like to welcome our two special guests tonight, first of all the actress and ex-Auckland teacher, Amanda Billings who will be our key speaker, and secondly our Member for Parliament, the Honorable Judith Collins.

At Papakura School we have an excellent staff, wonderful students and an extremely supportive community. As a school this gives us a sound foundation to build on our successes,

At last nights sports awards we heard about George Edwards who plays league for NZ Maori U18s, Jazz Tevaga who plays league for the Samoan U16 team, our Cook Island League player, Luke and Kayla Stowers who took part in the Oceania championships representing NZ at karate, Kayle Lockwood, a NZ mountain biker and Foli Waru who represents NZ at Waka Ama.

Additionally many of our teams won their Counties Manukau competitions and should be congratulated.

Our Arts Faculty has amazed the community at the Massey Park’s fireworks night, art competitions, drama performances  and also at the Hawkins Theatre whilst our cultural groups have been outstanding at Polyfest, Fia fia night and the Three Schools competition. On an individual note Duncan Armstrong was awarded an unprecedented second scholarship for the Royal Ballet.

At the   Awards, our Board Chair, Peter Goldsmith said that ‘- ‘arts and sports are the heart and soul of the school’. We are fortunate in our community that our school has such a thriving heart and soul.

Academically our Level One results for our Maori students have doubled since 2008, at Level 2 we were above decile 2 average and equalled our neighbouring Papakura High School.  1 in 3 of our Seniors gained University Entrance level as have many of our Year 13 students in this hall. Our Hospitality section won the secondary school championships for the second year running and the vast majority of last year’s leavers have moved into employment or further education.

This year’s seniors have also been successful and we celebrate many of their successes tonight, including some substantial scholarships. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those institutions who have provided awards and scholarships for our students.

As a school we are making changes which will improve the prospects of our students. We aim to make our students ‘work ready’ by teaching them the values necessary for employment, we are developing Pathways where our students gain the skills necessary for employment whilst also  continuing to excel academically. This is where partnerships with local industries ranging from Stevensons, Heb  and McConnells to the small business which offers a student a Gateway place are essential.

When I came here we had 50 Gateway places, next year we have 150 opportunities for students to have work placements in our community.

As a school our point of difference is that we will be offering  academic excellence and ‘work readiness’. The traditional career pathways that we followed when we were young have gone and in our school we concentrate in years 9 and 10 on competencies so that students have skills. for example if I asked you when you were at school what qualifications you would need to be a plumber, doctor or sailor- it would have taken you a library trip and several hours to find out. Today’s youth can find out in less than a minute. We therefore develop these skills through the process of inquiry based learning following themes which cover the curriculum but do so in a way where students have ownership.

Our school was built in 1954 for a different style of learning, in fact it was designed on a model where it could be converted to a hospital,  we are therefore working with the Ministry to look at ways of making our school a 21^st Century facility where the children work in modern learning environments and specialist classrooms which reflect the employment world of this century, not the last.

Over the last few years our Maori roll has increased to roughly 55%. This is due to demographic change, and an increased willingness of families to embrace their cultural identity. Our Pasifika roll is also over 20%.

We have continued to encourage this development of cultural links and our Board Chair and the majority of my senior management team identify as Maori.

We work with the Marae and parents groups to support our Maori students as well as our Pasifika through parents’ hui and fono. I thank all those caregivers involved in supporting these groups for their time and commitment to our children.  Our students are also supported extensively by local trusts and churches and I wish to thank those in our community who support us.

Later this evening At Prize Giving the Honourable Judith Collins will issue the prefects badges for 2012. I would like to congratulate her on her recent electoral victory and acknowledge the support she gives our school. This years’ prefects have been  young men and women who have shown an immense commitment to the school, organising blood drives, fund raising for charities such as leukaemia and a plethora of events, they have learnt skills which will put them in good stead in their future pathways.  I would also like to commend the Junior Prefects and look forward to their role modelling in Year 10.

Our key speaker tonight has also travelled a varied pathway to her current vocation. Amanda Billing grew up in Masterton, went to Canterbury  University where she gained a 1^st Class degree in Geography before becoming a High School teacher in Auckland, most recently at Rangitoto College. Throughout her teaching years she was involved in drama and many of you will recognise her from her role as Sarah Potts in Shortland Street. Amanda, thank you for coming and we look forward to your speech.

As a school we are very proud of our successes and wish our departing students all the best in their chosen pathways.

Leaving us at the end of the year are many talented teachers and several support staff. I wish to acknowledge;

George Stirling,                                 Steve Bodger,

Allan Donald,                                     Debbie Saxon,

Ian Deoki,                                           Jessica Harrex,

Annie Mathews,                                 Ravjeet Kaur,

Jessica Norton,                                 Emma Joynes,

Lynne Whiu                                        Eloise de Toit.

I wish them the best also for their future and on behalf of the school thank them for their dedication.  They have worked hard to make our school the vibrant happy place it is and will be missed.

In summary I see PHS as a dynamic school offering unique educational experiences. With dedicated staff, community partnerships and the ‘family’ atmosphere of the  School we have the capability to retain students and prepare them to be work ready via tertiary placements and university or straight into employment.

Although having only been in two years I feel very privileged to have the stewardship of such an important part of our community.

Thank you again for the opportunity to speak to you all.

Nō reira, E ngā Rangatira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.