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

‘He puna auaha, a centre of creative excellence’, you say? ‘What’s with that’, you may ask? Well, I hope you do, because it’s a great question, one worth asking again and again and again. Why ‘creative excellence’? Why the focus on creativity at Te Huruhuru Ao o Horomaka Hornby High School?

There are several reasons, and it’s always good to keep them in our minds.

The first is this. As technology changes (at a faster and faster pace) more and more of the activities we think of as human are taken over by that technology. Artificial intelligence becomes more powerful by the month, or so it seems. This means that more and more of the jobs we have traditionally thought of as waiting for our school leavers will disappear over time. That begs the question, what then is the purpose of schools? One argument in answer to that could be that the purpose of schools is to allow us to become better human beings by focusing on those things that make us human. In particular our ability to empathise, to connect with our fellow human beings, to be accepting and supportive of them. Another is our sense of creativity, because it allows us to express those things that are uniquely us, our culture, and our imagination.

The second answer to the question is that evidence from around the globe says that focusing on creativity has a big effect on our wellbeing, and also on academic achievement. If you are not sure whether to believe me on that or not, Google a paper published in 2020 by Professor Peter O’Connor of the University of Auckland titled ‘Replanting creativity in post normal times’.

Now don’t get me wrong. Focussing on creativity and nothing else is definitely not (in my opinion) the right thing to do. We need good teachers who build strong relationships with students, and who use a wide range of proven techniques to support learning. Direct teaching in all areas of learning is still essential to our rangatahi.

However supporting learning through a creative ‘lens’ works. Over the first five weeks of this term I have loved walking through our kura, capturing images of some of the creative things our kaiako and our rangatahi have been doing. We are immensely proud of them. I am immensely proud of them, and our wonderful teachers for all of the incredible mahi that they all do.

I have been intent on building a culture at Hornby High School that values creativity. In this way too we value, support, and nurture, the individual student. One of our areas of strategic intent is to “Provide future focussed individualised learning”, and what better way to do that than through the support, the nurturing, of individual and collective creativity. Our creativity is about as unique, as individual, as it gets. Creativity is a fabulous way to connect with our own cultures and backgrounds.

We continue to share with you all via social media, newsletters, and our web page, these examples of the creativity that is within our rangatahi, your children. I hope that you will be as proud of them as we are.

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