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

There are lots of cool things about working in education, and they almost all centre on our rangatahi, our young people, and their capacity to achieve wonderful things. As I write this column I am revelling in the news that our senior students came away from the national Otago University Sheilah Winn competition in Wellington with a range of awards. Ka mau te wehi, Molly, Sam, Nadia, Meagan, and Jessica (all Year 12), and thanks to Mrs Clark for all of her hard work. We all know that very little happens in any kura without a passionate and hard working adult.

Another great piece of news to come out of the weekend was the wonderful achievement of Kyra-Lee (Year 10) who has been selected to represent the New Zealand Māori League kõtiro under 16s Representative team. Ka mau te wehi, Kyra Lee.

The range and depth of talent and achievement from our Hornby High School young people is astounding. It speaks so much for them, and for their whānau whose work every minute of every day shapes them to be the people they are. Kia ora i te whānau!!

A couple of weeks ago we held our annual information evening for prospective students and whānau. The turnout was the best yet, in line with our own predictions, and those of the Ministry of Education, around growth in our kura. There is an interesting question here and I’d love some feedback from our community: how large do you want our kura to grow? We will top 800 students in 2022. What do you think?

At the information evening I was asked the hardy annual question: “what is your stance on bullying?” Always a great question, and here is my answer.

Bullying is never acceptable. Whenever we identify bullying we act, quickly. A major issue for us is when such behaviour occurs, and no-one tells a staff member. We cannot act when we don’t know. It is also important to be clear about what bullying is and isn’t. It isn’t a one off incident. We see this confusion often. Young people are as capable as anyone of doing silly things, of behaving badly. We act on those things too. But for those incidents to be considered as bullying we must see repeated unwanted behaviour where there is a power imbalance. That is the definition of bullying. What does a power imbalance look like? It could be an older student with a younger student, a physically larger student with a physically smaller student, groups on individuals, and so on.

There is always emotion and strong feeling associated with bullying, but these issues are complex. We always take the time to investigate reported incidents, we always apply the principles of natural justice, hearing all perspectives on an issue. Applying the principles of natural justice, everyone deserves to be heard.

Perhaps the biggest issue is this: bullies aren’t created in our schools. They are created in our communities. However schools have to deal with the consequences of that. Usually when schools are criticized for not ‘dealing with bullying’, it is because the parents of the victims want or expect a more severe punishment as a consequence. While that’s a natural enough parent response, it‘s well known that most often harsh punishment isn't the answer.

We are a restorative school. We seek to repair relationships first, in exactly the same way that our justice system does. Of course consequences are still important, we are however mindful that these need to be proportionate to the circumstances.

Let’s not forget to celebrate the amazing achievements of our young people too. I for one feel confident in our future when I see teens with the attributes and attitudes that so many of this current generation show us. They give me hope.

Please make sure you follow us on Facebook for the latest and most up to date news https://www.facebook.com/hornbyhighschool/ , and on our website www.hornby.school.nz . You can also follow my thinking our education journey at Hornby High School, and more generally, on my blog at https://whakataukihewakaekenoa.blogspot.co.nz/

Kia tau te mauri

Robin Sutton

Tumuaki