1 April 2010; Week 1-2, Term 2

Note: Due to a network upgrade over the holidays, this issue of Korero is late

Tomorrow over seven hundred past students and staff will be welcomed back to celebrate the fifty years of the college’s existence. The three days of celebrations will begin with a mix and mingle on Friday evening. On Saturday morning Donald Yee will be photographing past students and staff in decade by decade groups and in the afternoon college teams will take on past students in a variety of sports. On Saturday night over four hundred people will sit down to dinner and on Sunday morning after a church service, trees will be planted and a time capsule containing images and documents describing Kuranui in 2010 will be buried. The reunion committee which consists of past students and current staff, have worked very hard to make the weekend a success and the weather gods seem to be smiling. It will be a weekend to remember.

We have had a significant change to our senior leadership team. Catherine Rossiter has stepped down from the role of the Head of Junior College and Gina Smith will take over this role from the beginning of term two. I want to thank Catherine for her outstanding work over the last year and a term. The Head of College is an important but difficult role and Catherine always went the extra mile to support students and families.

Parents, I need to remind you that year 12 and 13 students should all be wearing blazers next term. Staff member, Liz Lennox who is responsible for uniform supplies, tells me that she has ordered a large number of blazers recently. I am concerned however, that a number of students still have done nothing about getting a blazer for the beginning of the term. The holidays are a good time to sort out uniform issues. I am noticing a number of boys beginning to wear non regulation shoes. The rule is “black leather shoes.”

From time to time staff will confiscate non regulation items of clothing, iPods or cell phones being used in class or other inappropriate items. The procedures for the retrieval these items are as follows.
Teachers pass all confiscated goods to the college office where they are carefully stored until Friday at 3.15pm at which time they may be uplifted by students. Cell phones may be retrieved earlier only if parents or caregivers come to the office in person.

The college is one of three schools in the Wairarapa to pilot Education for Enterprise, E4E. This programme encourages schools to find real, relevant learning opportunities by developing partnerships with businesses or community groups. One of the first projects to get up and running will involve our year 9 horticulture class planning and planting a garden at the Greytown branch of Farmlands. This is exactly what E4E is about, a real client with real needs and real deadlines. Another project involves current students interviewing and filming past students to produce a short documentary about life at Kuranui “back in the day.”

Outdoor Education on the Right Path
Kuranui senior students are once again venturing out into the bush with the Outdoor Education department. Outdoor Education teacher Glenn Beach is hoping that the students will have the opportunity to work alongside the Department of Conservation in maintaining some of the huts in the Tararuas.

Mr Beach said: “It is such an awesome opportunity. It will be great to see the students give something back to their community as well as learning some additional skills in building and plumbing.”

This year, students are studying at both Levels 1 and 2. Level 1 allows students to experience a variety of activities including: high ropes, abseiling, tramping, camping out, mountain biking and flat water kayaking. They also learn about first aid and risk assessment.

At Level 2, the students start to demonstrate their skills to others and begin sharing their expertise. Next year, the college will run Level 3, where facilitating the activities becomes the main focus. This involves planning and running activities for others and students will have to write their own RAMs reports. It is hoped that Kuranui students will be able to invite pupils from the local primary schools to take part in these activities.

This term Kuranui students have already mountain biked at Karapoti in Upper Hut and at the Makara Mountain Bike Terrain Park. They have tramped at Mount Reeves and Smiths Creek and camped out at Kaitoke Regional Park.

Mr Beach continues: “The students are learning a huge range of skills from teamwork to personal endurance, from bush craft to bike maintenance. The Kuranui Outdoor Education programme gives our students a great range of life long skills. It’s great to see them pushing themselves to do their very best.”

Board of Trustee Elections
Nominations are still being sought for the BOT elections in May. Currently three nominations have been received. For a board to function effectively at least five parent representatives are needed to work with the principal, the staff and the student representatives. The current board will host an information evening for prospective candidates on 26 April at 6pm in the college staffroom.

From the Sports Desk…
Boys Rugby - Congratulations to the 1st XV on their excellent 13-11 victory over Tararua College yesterday. Well done to coach, Dave Wish and his management team of Ryan Hardman, Marty Berry and Geoff Shepherd. This year the team will be playing in the Wellington secondary schools competition. Good luck boys!

Wrestling - Congratulations to the boys who wrestled in the NZ Secondary Schools Wrestling Championships. Excellent results were achieved by Dylan Duffy with a gold medal in the 37kg division, Tristan Williams with gold and bronze medals in the 40 and 42kg divisions, Thomas Uatuku, a bronze medal in the 55.5kg division and Wade Lovett who was placed 4th in the 37kg division.
Motocross – Congratulations to Joubert Botha who came second in the 125cc division in the NZ Secondary Schools Motocross Championships held at Rotorua recently. Callum Moore achieved a 4th placing in the 125cc Championship class. Nathan Pitt was placed 12th in the 125cc division. Well done boys!
Mr Donald Yee
Kuranui College Sports Co-Ordinator


Have a relaxing Easter break.
G Shepherd
PRINCIPAL

Upcoming Events
Fri 23 April 12 noon Nominations for Board of Trustees election close
Thurs 27 April Evening Intercollegiate Shakespeare Competition
Fri 30 April All Day UCOL Taster Day for selected Senior students