Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
The headmaster or principal at New Zealand schools, especially the secondary schools, provide annual or term reports on developments at their schools. These reports contain interesting information, not only about the specific school, but about New Zealand school trends in general.
The headmaster at this school recounts the academic successes of the students and athletic teams and explains that they have many more applications for new students than they can accomodate. This term 3 report also deals with upcoming examinations. He also mentions reunion groups, which he classifies by when the boy began school, in contrast to American schools which are always by graduation year.
Last year I commented in my report that if 1993 produced the same challenge in education as 1992 then it would be an exciting year. It certainly has been an exciting year for staff and students. The school not only maintains its position as the quality education provider in Christchurch but leads the way in many areas in education throughout New Zealand. While doing this there is obviously a certain amount of reaction from either those who are traditionalists in their view of education or from those who feel that the change is not going to benefit either them or the people they work with, but change in education is never easy.
Many staff have been involved in the writing of the National Curriculum in Science and in Mathematics. The work they have done there has ensured that the school is ready to meet the challenge of the National Curriculum in any of the core subject areas. As the other subjects are brought into the National Curriculum, I am sure that the leadership qualities shown amongst the staff will ensure that in all subject areas the school remains a leader in the provision of quality education.
The National Qualifications Authority has unfortunately not lived up to the expectations which many had of it. The slowness of producing units of learning has caused problems in the preparation of courses for 1994 and beyond. One must question the effectiveness of such a large group if they can not reach the goals they set for themselves at an early time in the year.
The school remained at the cutting edge of educational reform in 1993 and that brought with it the associated problems of being the first into any market. In many ways the school is meeting head-on the challenges which others will meet in years to come. They will learn from our mistakes and they will learn from the hard work which the staff and students have put in. But such is the price of being an innovative school and such is the price of being a leading school. We accept in many ways the good parts of sucess butwe must also accept that when breaking new ground mistakes can be made and as long as they are learned from, they are worthwhile mistakes.
Many others in the education system are sit back and watching what is taking place at Cashmere High School. Many are envious of what is offered to our young people and must be part of the driving force in any school.
We have seen a fundamental change over last few years and that change will me accelerate in the next two to three years. There are countless challenges in front of us as a school because we are innovative and willing to take on any of the bureaucracies which hold other schools back. If we now stop meeting challenges in front of us and decide to rest our laurels, then we will have to accept being part of the "bunch" is what we really want to be. But is it?
To everyone who has assisted the school in way this year, a big thank you, but especially to the students and staff make this school the very special place that to me.
Robert Wilson, Principal, 1993
