Hero photograph
Robin Sutton, Principal
 
Photo by Hornby High School

Principal's Report

Robin Sutton —

Kia ora koutou. Talofa. Kia Orana. Malo e lelei. Bula. Fakaalofa atu. Namaste. Kumusta. Haere mai ki Te Kura Huruhuru Ao o Horomaka. Warm greetings to the Hornby High School community.

As I write this column for our last newsletter of the year, our juniors are well into their term 4 learning, with Year 7 and 8 students busily engaged in their Arts kete focus, and our Year 9 and 10 students working on their project based learning tasks. It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm and engagement that have become an implicit part of these learning programmes. The creativity evident from the Year 7 and 8 students is wonderful. The commitment and caring demonstrated by our Year 9 and 10 students as they plan and implement practical actions that might make their community a better place for others is inspiring. Both are yet more evidence that young people today care, and they care a lot, about the world in which they live. This should give us hope that we are passing the world into good hands with our next generation.

Our senior prize giving was yet another wonderful occasion. Two of our special guests at the evening later quite separately passed to me the same sentiment: our students looked confident, and they looked proud, as they came forward to receive prizes. This is a wonderful positive commentary on the work that these young people undertake at Te Kura Huruhuru Ao o Horomaka Hornby High School. Regardless of whether or not you have tamariki receiving prizes, this is an event worth supporting. We would love to see even more whānau at the prize giving in 2018. #manahoromaka

The school rebuild is proceeding to plan. The project was a little behind time because of the wet winter conditions, but the contractors are well on the way to catching up the lost time. The first major building is still scheduled for completion around the middle of 2018. We are now planning how and when we will move into these new spaces, but there can be no delay, as the second stage of the build (the demolition of the existing A and S blocks) and the build of the new kahui (learning hubs) must be underway by the end of 2018. These new spaces are scheduled for completion by the end of 2019.

Staff are working hard to develop the new pedagogies that will be required in our new spaces: project based learning and Manaiakalani are important parts of that process. Both are demonstrating significant positive impact on student learning. The Manaiakalani ‘Learn Create Share’ pedagogy, and the use of Chromebooks, are accelerating achievement by between one and a half and two times the national averages in reading, writing and mathematics. This highlights the importance of Chromebook ownership. The importance of your investment in a Chromebook for your son or daughter is second only to your investment of time and love.

While these projects consume a large amount of time, we are always working away on many smaller improvements, whether it’s the re-imagining of our Learning Commons, or how and what we report to whānau. The focus of every one of these is on improving achievement for every student. Our work across the whole school is driven by these four questions:

  • What are we doing?

  • Why are we doing it this way?

  • What difference is it making to student achievement?

  • How do we know?

And underpinning everything we do is the understanding that what matters most is ‘Relationships for learning’. Staff make building positive relationships their first priority, and this means acknowledging and celebrating our wonderful culturally diverse community. We use the PB4L (Positive Behaviour for Learning) framework to build those relationships, and have this year given even more prominence to Restorative Practice as the pathway for resolving conflict.

Finally, as a result of current and predicted roll growth, at the request of the Ministry of Education, from the beginning of 2019 Hornby High School will be putting an enrolment scheme into place. The proposal was notified via the school’s Facebook page, and was distributed to all neighbouring schools as a part of the consultation process. The Board will make a final decision which it will notify to the Ministry in early December. The final zone will be notified again in early 2018 as required by the Ministry’s zoning rules.

As this is our last newsletter of the year, I’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy summer break. Thank you all for your support over the past year. We look forward to seeing many of you again at the start of 2018.

Nga mihi nui

Robin Sutton

Principal