Term 2 has started with much excitement for our GATE students. Ms Tania Hawes, keeps us up-to-date with what's been happening.

 On Wednesday May 10, ten of our Senior GATE Students from Years 11-13 attended the annual Senior Gifted and Talented Conference at Cashmere High School. As always, they experienced a day of awe, as they listened to a series of lectures by both Julie Arliss and Jeffery Hodges, before partaking in a mass debate. Aside from providing our students with the opportunity to hear such distinguished international lecturers, this conference also enables them to discuss and exchange ideas with over 300 GATE students from Canterbury and beyond.

It is in a similar vein, that I am proud to announce a new GATE initiative at RHS, the development of a Gifted and Talented Coordinators Cluster with Villa Maria College and Middleton Grange School. From this term onwards, the cluster will endeavour to extend the range of enrichment and extension activities available to students, while nurturing greater collaboration between the schools. We intend to meet at least twice a term, to discuss and plan possibilities. Given that our cluster consists of three equally passionate GATE Coordinators, I am extremely optimistic about its future success.

As an immediate consequence of our blossoming relationship with Villa Maria and Middleton Grange, the 2017 incarnation of our Philosophy Group is made up of students from all three schools. Luckily, our resident Philosopher, UC’s Michael Couch is a strong supporter of this new dynamic, and is relishing the diversity it brings. Should your student wish to be part of this group, they may lodge their interest by emailing me at hw@riccarton.school.nz

Aside from this, should you like to be part of your student’s enrichment beyond school, there are many free activities and events readily at hand. The Christchurch City Council Libraries run a fantastic array of workshops, presentations, and competitions, while the University of Canterbury offers free lectures twice a month through their UC Connect Programme. If neither of these inspire, perhaps a trip to the Art Gallery or to the newly opened Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities might. The key is to encourage curiosity. As Samuel Johnson once wrote, “Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect”, and our GATE students have it in abundance.