A special welcome to all new students, families and staff members who start their association with the Burnside High School community in 2018. I look forward to meeting you all as the year progresses. 

I hope the start of Term 1 has been a smooth one for you and the Burnside students. I am certainly impressed with how quickly our students have switched into school mode.

We have some major repair and refurbishments happening at school; and these are a key focus for us this year. For all of us in the Senior Leadership Team, a critical component of such work is to minimise, as best we can, the disruption to school life and learning.

Work on the Aurora Centre began on 8 January. This is a combination of earthquake repairs, weather tightness repairs, air conditioning repairs and maintenance, and refurbishment of the Green Room. The work is funded by school’s reserve funds - managed by the Board of Trustees - and insurance money. The cost of this project is approximately $2.1 million.

With the Aurora Centre being out of commission, the Powhiri on 31 January to welcome Year 9 students, and other students and staff new to the school was moved outside. We met in front of the historic stand of ti kouka: the cabbage trees that are so significant to our school, our community and Ngāi Tahu. It is by these trees that the school’s first assembly was held at the school’s opening on 2 February 1960. The Powhiri was a wonderful occasion and we hope to repeat it there next year (refer photos). 

 Assemblies

Some assemblies in the coming weeks will be held in the Cross Gymnasium or online using Google hangout. The Year 9 Parent Evenings, beginning on Monday 12 February, will be held in the staffroom; while the Year 13 Parent Evening is postponed and will be replaced with a newsletter.

Carparks

To help us avoid issues in carparks at the start and end of the school day, please follow the designated traffic flow and avoid using staff carparks when dropping off or picking up your children. Fencing around the Aurora Centre means that students do not have safe access to the footpath and so we need to reserve the carparks for staff only, and to avoid parents driving through these areas.

Thank you for your patience with the disruption caused by the repairs to the Aurora Centre. The end result will be worth it!

Master Planning Process Update

We are making good progress on the first phase of the redevelopment of our campus; writing our Education Brief. This document outlines our vision for delivering education at BHS; including how property can support that vision-Essentially, what learning spaces will look like and the infrastructure that supports them. Spaces that are purposeful and offer flexibility will be a key factor in any design.

We hope to have the brief completed and to the Ministry of Education for approval by the end of Term 1. Once the brief is confirmed, we will work with the architect’s team that has been assigned to us, to develop a concept plan for Ministry of Education-funded new buildings and structural alterations to existing buildings. Burnside High School has been allocated $25 million to develop our facilities: in particular to address weather tightness issues in some of our buildings, repair earthquake damage, and to upgrade and modernise our learning spaces.

Preparing the Education Brief is both an exciting challenge and a responsibility; as the outcomes will impact on our school community for the next 25-50 years. We have one chance at getting this right. Thank you to all the key stakeholders - students, staff, parents/whānau - who have an input into the Education Brief.

At the same time, we have permission from the Ministry of Education to proceed with some earthquake repair work and the refurbishment of the Hunter and Cross Gymnasiums at the end of Term 1. This will be carefully staged, so that we can maintain teaching programmes as best we can.

Also, plans are being developed to address weather tightness issues, and some refurbishment, of I and J Teaching Blocks and the Administration Block. There is a possibility that work on one of these areas could start when the seniors are on study leave in Term 4.

As you can see, we are entering a time for Burnside High School that is both exciting and challenging. Thank you, in advance, for your patience, tolerance, understanding and ongoing support of our school.

I look forward to a great term and the athletics and swimming sports events next week.

Phil Holstein

Principal