Waiheke High builds bright future

BY: DIANA WORTHY

Waiheke High School is aiming to go from strength-to-strength after better than ever exam passes and the near completion of building works to enhance the school's image.

Recent NCEA external exams have seen the decile six school's students do generally better than comparable ones nationally.

Published statistics released by Waiheke High principal Neil Watson show the school's NCEA Level One pass rates eight percent above average, and Level Two at four percent above the norm.

Waiheke High's Level Three rates were one percent behind the national average but its passes for University Entrance were four percent above.

Mr Watson is delighted.

"More students than ever before have gained NCEA qualifications. Our external examination results were also the best we have ever done with a 69 percent pass rate and more than 25 percent of external standards gaining Merit or Excellence grades."

He says the school will be working to do even better and expects to see yet another increase in roll numbers this year, perhaps to as high as 470 students.

He believes more students are staying on to complete their Level Two and Three exams having realised it is necessary to get the qualifications to be successful.

"Studies show that a student who leaves school with Level Three earns a million dollars more during a lifetime than a student who leaves without a formal qualification," he claims.

Waiheke High is planning to develop two subject areas - Spanish and Business Studies - and will also be working on having viticulture recognised as an official subject.

This year's students can now study Spanish up to Level Two and there are plans for that to be eventually extended through to the end of Year 13 (the last school year).

Business Studies will be offered as a course that can lead onto University Entrance now it has been nationally recognised.

Mr Watson says it will also encourage students to become entrepreneurs and equip them with skills to run their own companies.

Meanwhile, new and present students can look forward to internal changes to the building that began with construction work last September and aims for completion by Easter.

Work to demolish internal walls has all but finished, with building company Cunningham Construction pressing ahead with significant changes.

Mr Watson praises site engineer Andrew Hill for his and his team's efforts to keep noise down during the exams and says the finished result of the $1.2m works will be exciting.

The main reception area will now be sited near the school hall (recently transformed into a well-equipped theatre, seating 500 people) and promises spectacular views of the Gulf.

Floor to ceiling glass is being installed at the front and rear of the new area, affording see-through views as people approach the school.

There will be a main reception office with an L-shaped counter and sofa seating for visitors. A boardroom that can be used for social functions is also being built there.

The library, housed at the rear of the school, will allow views across the field to the trees and Recreation Centre.

It will have one room equipped with 18 new computers - to add to more than 100 already in place within Waiheke High - as well as a seminar room, study area, and book check-in desk.

And student support facilities, including rooms for the Dean and the school's counsellor, are to be housed in a re-designed block that makes the most of formerly wasted space.

There are also future plans for an improved music room and a whare wananga (meeting place for Maori).

Mr Watson says he is also keen to see the intermediate classrooms improved but believes it is unlikely to happen in the near future.

For now, though, he is just looking forward to getting his own office back as it has also been included in the re-vamp.

"The new building work will allow us to offer facilities we couldn't before to the community as well as students and staff.

"I'm looking forward to the many successes 2010 will bring."

- Waiheke Marketplace