Buller High School Newsletter

Last week we welcomed students back for a busy Term 3. This term has traditionally been the term where NCEA students need to focus on completing all internal assessments and preparing for end of year exams. I have urged them to monitor their achievement through the NZQA website, so they (and you) know what they have achieved and what they need to achieve to reach their end of year goals.

For our Year 13 students, they will have the additional workload of applying for courses of study, accommodation and scholarships to support further study in 2023. Certainly, a busy time! It is important that they do take time out to relax and refresh during this busy and potentially stressful period.

This week we announced the appointment of a new Assistant Principal to replace Ms. Karen Wells who left at the end of Term 2. Mrs. Alison Cleary will begin with us at the start of Term 4. Mrs. Cleary arrives from Rangiora High School where she is currently one of the Deputy Principals. We look forward to her arrival.

We have also appointed a Food and Nutrition teacher to replace Ms. Jude Eakin. Mrs. Roselyne Maharaj begins at the school on 7 November. She is currently the Head of Food Science and Nutrition in Fiji.

There are a number of key events returning this term that we are looking forward to. These include:

Open Night - 17 August (5.15 – 6.45pm)

We invite all parents and Year 8 students to have a look around our beautiful school,

talk to teachers and see what we can offer for our students.

Tournament Week 29 August – 2 September

The opportunity for seven school sports teams to travel and compete around the South Island.

School Senior Ball – 17 September

Often the highlight for many senior students. An opportunity to dress up and impress.

Junior School Dance – 23 September

A prefect run event to bring our junior students together for a night of fun.

It is great to see opportunities beyond the classroom becoming available once more. Of course, to take advantage of these and other opportunities all that we ask is for the students to attend regularly (essential to get the most out of their learning) and represent themselves, the school and their families/whānau with pride.

Anei au, tō pou whirinaki

I’m here, I’ll support you

Tēnā koutou

Ko Alison Cleary tōku ingoa.

I whānau mai au i London.

I tipu ake au i Tamaki Makaurau

Ko Peter tōku hoa tāne

Ko Callum, rātou ko Connor, ko Dominic aku tamariki.

I am super excited to be joining the staff at Te Kura Tuarua-o-Kawatiri - Buller High School in Term 4.

I'll be leaving Rangiora High School after 11 years (my longest gig in any school), where I have been initially Head of English and Deputy Principal for the last 8 and a half years. I am looking forward to working in a smaller, community focussed kura - my current school has 390 Year 9s!

I plan to head over to Westport during the term and am looking forward to getting to know the students, staff, whānau and the wider community.

I'll just share with you two quotes and whakatauki that I hold dear to me and that frame my CV :

I touch the future - I teach (Christa McAuliffe - teacher/astronaut, 1985)

Ko te ahurei o te tamaiti arahia o tatou mahi - Let the uniqueness of the child guide our work

Tēnā koutou

Students from Year 10 Wood class displaying their small tables that they have just made.

The challenge apart from making the table was to have a design of their choice Laser cut into the top. The laser is a new addition to the technical block and is being integrated with design in both workshops and Graphics.

From left to right: Lukin Council, Kyan Harris, Lenka Cargill, John Colligan, Liam Craddock, Sam Sirikulsupakon, Billy Barlow, Layton Larkin, Austin O’Toole, Sam Shirney.

I have now been teaching drama and music at BHS for 16 years and have to admit that time has gone quickly. I am very fortunate to work alongside Rona Halsall in our music department. Last term I was preparing a presentation for the Board of Trustees and wanted to know what some of my students had done with their love for the Performing Arts. I decided to contact 17 students and they all replied with their current status.

I have decided to make a feature of their replies and in the coming newsletters, each student will be highlighted.

This newsletter features graduate of 2018 Jayshri Ratnam.

After I completed my studies at Buller High School I went on to complete a Bachelor of Performing Arts specialised in Music Theatre through the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts (NASDA) at the end of 2021. Through this degree I also got to be a part of The Court Theatre’s Professional production of Frankenstein in 2021 as an ensemble member.

Through NASDA I created my own solo show as part of the Ignite Festival, where I explored the topics of what it’s like to be a Fijian Indian in Aotearoa alongside the journey that the Indentured labourers partook from India to Fiji under the British Raj. In my last year of NASDA I became a company member of Yugto Productions, a theatrical company run by six Asian NASDA students and graduates.

After Graduating NASDA I have started teaching dance to preschoolers through Pitter Patter in Christchurch. I also am a children's birthday party host, where I get to be a princess, mermaid, pirate, popstar etc. and take children on adventures! Soon I will be touring Aotearoa as part of the New Zealand Playhouse. From May - October we will be going to primary schools throughout Aotearoa and performing a play for them.

On Friday 29 July Tess Carlson and Sophie Rea of 09R represented Buller High School at the Regional West Coast Science Fair in Hokitika. Their project was analysing the absorptive ability of a range of paper towels for which hey won a "Judges Choice" award!

A big congratulations to them both for a brilliant project.

The Festival for the Future is always the highlight of my year. It's inspiring, innovative, engaging and, overall, really fun. It taught us so many skills to transform our community in better ways that will really benefit the people in it. Spending time with the Kawatiri Youth Council in Wellington was awesome and they are some of the coolest people I know.

My favourite part of the Festival was definitely when Youth Voice Kawatiri Council hit the stage and taught the entire audience a TikTok, which everyone really enjoyed! The panel speakers were amazing, and we learnt so much about the world's current political and social issues in 2022. It's an excellent way for inspiring young leaders to interact alongside senior leaders from across the nation who are all striving to make a change for a better future.

I’d recommend going to anyone who gets the opportunity. It's a life-changing conference, and you won’t regret attending. We want to thank all of the community that helped us fundraise to be able to attend the Festival of the Future, including West Coast Community Trust, ESL, the Buller District Council, and the Youth Voice Kawatiri Steering group. Us being able to take part in this amazing experience would not be possible without these people and groups.

Nga mihi

(Written by Lizzie Cunningham)

Gateway students attended a Health and Safety Course this week, a good introduction into the Health and Safety practices required in the workplace, this course offers level 1, 2 and 3 credits and is available each year to Gateway students.

During the first week of the school holidays the BHS Junior A Netball team travelled to Christchurch for the SISS Junior Netball Tournament. The first games resulted in a loss against Middleton Grange School, a win against Villa Maria College and ending the day with a draw against Oxford Area School.

Unfortunately, the second day of games were cancelled due to extreme wet and windy weather.

The final day brought tough competition as BHS lost the quarter final to Hillmorton High School and the semi final against Westland High School.

The final game was against Mt Hutt College which we won placing Buller High School 15th out of the 32 teams in the grade, an impressive placing considering the team had only a few Saturday games to prepare before the tournament!

Buller High School would like to thank and acknowledge the support from Pub Charity Limited for making attending this tournament possible.

To see what the minimum requirements for a laptop are, check out https://buller.ac.nz/stationary-list-ict/ and select your students Year level.

SC10K got out of the class to tour the school with our grounds man Rick Shearer to learn about rocks as part of their Earth Science module. The students got to see how rocks can be cleaved along neat cleavage planes and build their own dry wall using techniques Rick taught them.

Rick also showed them various Limestone feature rocks which are part of our gardens. The students learned about different rock types, how they form, their unique properties; such as, pumice floats due to tiny air holes from when the gassy magma cooled fast, sedimentary rocks may have fossils, metamorphic rocks are very hard, limestone is porous and gets degraded by mosses and algae easily.

The class wish to thank Rick for giving up his time and sharing his expertise in such a warm presentation!

What services can help to support.

- Crisis Resolution, Freephone 0800 920 092, (After hours), 7 days a week.

- Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 support from trained counsellor, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

- Lifeline 0800 543 354

- Safe to Talk (If affected by sexual harm) 0800 044334; Txt 4334.

- Aviva (Family Violence Services) 0800 284 82 669

- Asian Helpline 0800 862 342

- Suicide Crisis Helpline 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

- Youthline 0800 376 633 or free text 234

- What's Up 0800 WHATSUP (0800) 942 8787 (5-18 year olds). Phone counselling Monday to

Friday, midday-11pm and weekends, 3pm-11pm.

- thelowdown.co.nz –or email team@thelowdown.co.nz or free text 5626

- Anxiety Helpline 0800-269-4389 (0800 ANXIETY)

If it is an emergency or you, or someone you know, is at immediate risk call 111