Collingwood Area School ends term three on high notes
CAS Year 12 outdoor education students Hazel Kerr, left, and Aden Bettridge check one of their rodent traps as part of their environmental education standard.
Collingwood Area School will honour one of its senior teachers in its final assembly of term three today (September 25) when Garry Lewis will be presented with a certificate recognising a community nomination towards the Excellence in Teaching award. These awards were established in 2005 to honour exceptional teachers who demonstrate talent and commitment to teaching that is truly above the ordinary.
Acting principal Steve Beck also mentioned the school’s numeracy project, a government initiative that focuses the teaching of maths around the understanding of number skills and tactile learning.
“It’s really taken off this year under the leadership of Kirk Milligan and Jonny Hanlon. They have totally reshaped the subject and have taken advantage of the schoolwide approach of developing a truly seamless approach from Year 1 right through to Year 13. The results have been really positive. Even the perception of maths in our secondary students has been enhanced.”
Out of the classroom, Year 12 outdoor education students completed a 10-week environmental sustainability achievement standard that has seen them launch a replanting and pest eradication programme on one hectare of regenerating scrub at the back of the school.
Steve Beck said they made some great progress putting in tracks, cutting out the gorse and planting out native trees.
“Much of this was aided by our forestry students, while other plants were donated by the Stream Care nursery, which is just alongside. It was a rough bit of ground strewn with bits of corrugated iron and all sorts of stuff from 150 years of the school’s history. These students have turned it into a real resource for the school. When we looked at where to set up a sustainable ecosystem that can be utilised by future students, there was actually no better place than on the school grounds because that’s where we can care for it the best.”
In charge of trapping, students Aden Bettridge and Hazel Kerr first set up monitoring tunnels with ink pads and feeding stations to establish what predators did exist. They then built the traps, which so far have caught four rats and three mice. Already there is talk about extending the planting project into the school’s “pakihi” block further out the back. This area was partially planted over Arbor Day last year, along with other areas, by the forestry class.
Meanwhile three year 12 exchange students from Europe used the time to focus on an advertising/education concept looking at limiting plastic bag use. David Amzolin (Italy), Axel Lindner-Olsson (Sweden) and Yanik Scholtissek (Germany) researched and designed posters extolling the virtues of a plastic-shopping-bag-free world. These will hopefully be posted up in Big Fresh Takaka, although they have yet to hear back from supermarkets in Motueka, Richmond and Nelson.
On the horizon next term, Collingwood’s year 9 and 10 class will be participating in a global classroom initiative. This will involve them linking up with specific schools in Pakistan, Turkey and Mexico via video conferencing. Their first task will be to present their country and school to their counterparts, then work collaboratively on projects utilising a range of online tools.
Gerard Hindmarsh
