Kia ora e te Whānau,

As I begin this showcase of more of our year 11 courses, I’d like to pose the question, how blessed would we all be if we could all say that – I love my job, I love what I do?

This morning, I was very fortunate to begin my Rāmere, Friday, in kaiako Mark Presley’s year 11 Digital and Visual Communications (Graphics) class. The aspiring architects, engineer and civil engineer in the room, a mix of tane and wāhine, young men and women, were all quietly relaxed, focused and busily sketching. When I asked why they had chosen the DVC course, one wāhine responded with “I chose this course with my future in mind, and I get the freedom to be creative but within certain boundaries. The work is relevant and real.” She went on to say, “I enjoy the challenge – when things get hard that’s when you really learn stuff.” Another ākonga went on to say that she loved the ability to be in a class where “it’s not all just writing all the time.”

The class’s ongoing task is to research the work of a designer in order to gain some inspiration for their own designs for two outdoor chairs. Ever heard of Santiago Calatrava or Zaha Hadid? I hadn’t until this morning. They are two of the international architects and artist whom some of the ākonga had researched. Despite the fact that one ākonga “loved this class because it’s not just writing all the time”, They had prepared biographical information about them, their process and designs, submitting this as a literacy rich task for assessment. They had also investigated aspects of the engineering involved, a numeracy rich facet of the task.

Today the ākonga were sketching ideas of design aspects that they could incorporate into their chair design.

Bryn Talbot’s ideation for a chair design based on an aeroplane.

It was fascinating to hear how ākonga have learned concepts of design and engineering through their research and had their world views expanded. Their ability to see different shapes and concepts in the real world was astounding. Bryn is developing his concepts based on various “chair shaped parts” of an aeroplane, but he went on to explain how he is doing this with “an image of a handgun, the shape of the human nose and the angles and bumps of a piece of welding”.

Our rangatahi are very mindful of their place, here in Aotearoa New Zealand. One of their chairs is required to incorporate design ideas from Te Ao Māori, the Māori worldview. Ola Brumby’s ideation mahi is shown below.

Ola Brumby’s ideation incorporating Mātauranga Māori, Māori knowledge.

Walking around the Graphics room, talking with these rangatahi and their kaiako, it wasn’t hard for me to see them sitting in design studios in a few years, making a difference to the world they live in. I could hear them saying, as they pretty much said today, “I love my job – I love what I do!”

Ngā manaakitanga,

Bridget Ryan
Deputy Principal Teaching and Learning.