Figure 1.--.
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Figure 1.--. |
Have a look here at the activities at some representative New Zealand Year 13 classes. Some of the descriptions are in the student's and teachers' own words. This is the last year of secondary school and the students are beginning to look and act as young adults.
This year began with 255 students, the largest seventh form ever. Of these, forty-nine were new to Cashmere and sixteen were form seven. Over the year about fifty students left, some to jobs, most to further their education at the polytechnic.
Students started the year full of good intentions. Rules enforced inprevious years were relaxed: no uniform, just clean tidy clothing; no lunch passes; no supervised study; no detentions. The pressure was on to handle these new freedoms. Many rose to the challenge and have had a rewarding year. A few showed a lack of maturity and abused the system, to their own disadvantage in the long term.
In Term One there were many distractions: Chelsea Swinard and Sarah Lusher went on the Spirit of Adventure, peer leaders were out of class doing their bit to help the new third form settle into school life, and outdoor education camps for fourth formers were run with the aid of the seventh form students. The athletic sports gave us a day in the sun, with many seventh formers showing that they can still keep up. The major production took up hours of time for rehearsals, all obviously worth it once the open night of West Side Story arrived. Students found that access to work experience was easier and many went on rewarding weeks where they found out just what job they had been considering was really like. A group from Oxford Area School came to visit for the day. Their whole seventh form came. All eleven of them. We held elections and finally announced Troy Gilmour and Melody Pilgrim as Head Boy and Girl. They were popular choices.
Term Two was also busy. Exams took students out of school for a week. Open Night came and went with seventh form students visible in many places as helpers and supporters. We tried a new fundraiser this year, Scratch-and-Win Cards. Many seventh form students rose to the occasion and either helped others or sold on the day. Damian Rogers went over to France to compete in mountain bike races. The highlight of the social calendar for many occurred during the last week with the Senior Cabaret, an enjoyable affair marred only in a small way by the presence of a few partners from other schools who did not quite know how to dress or behave at a semi-formal function.
Term Three has seen renewed efforts as students make a final push to gain a Bursary or to get accepted for that course or traininng programme.
I've found this an enjoyable year. I think the lack of constraints has made for a more relaxed tone. Students are old enough to conform without the rules and regulations so necessary further down the school. Most of our seventh form students will leave Cashmere High School as mature, thoughtful peopIe who know where they want to get to in life. I will miss them and wish them all the very best for the future.
Jenny Sauer, Lymphad, Cashmere High School, 1993
