We're over the moon at Opotiki College as the students from 2006 have achieved the best ever NCEA results at each year level that we have ever achieved. At each year level our students achieved at above the national average. We are a decile 2 school which generally means we should be achieving at well below the average. In fact at level 1 our pass rate of 61% compared to the national average of 59% is not surpassed by any other decile until decile 6. At Level 2 our pass rate of 77% compared to the national average of 63 % is not surpassed by any other decile average at all! Our pass rate at Level 3 of 53 % compared to the national average of 51% is not surpassed until the decile 7 average. As well, our literacy and numeracy achievement of 90% is also not surpassed by any other decile!
Opotiki College is where it's 100% effort 100% of the time! Congratulations to students, their families and to the very hard-working and committed staff. Our town has a secondary school of which it can be extremely proud.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Swimming Sports
What a beautiful day at Opotiki College 2007 swimming sports.
Students made a real effort with dressing up in house colours and the house competition was strong. Participation was great and staff made a real positive contribution to the day. It was a bit of a bummer dealing with a couple of kids who smuggled some alcohol, but as with all such incidents the students will be given the opportunity to learn and to move
on.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Cellar Rats Take on Taupo
Opotiki Cellar Rats reached new heights while running and walking around Lake Taupo in the Round the Lake Relay. We completed our fastest ever time of 14 hours and 27 minutes and were placed third in our highly competitive grade! For the first time in our history we were summoned to the stage amid rapturous applause and widespread acknowledgement to receive a beautiful cap, a lovely pair of socks and a large bronze medallion designed to be worn with an unbuttoned shirt and tight short pants!
Once again organisation was superb with fine accommodation and outstanding cuisine organised by our manager Chris. The event was a challenge as we all wrestled with our own demons and faced the challenges we set for ourselves competing against previous times.
Rachel gave us a strong start walking us into 6th place. James took over and despite feeling out of sorts, he, like Rachel, ran a faster time than had been done before. The next two walking legs were completed by Bruce and Stacey and both also set new fastest times. Unfortunately, I was not able to continue the trend and ran a minute slower than the awesome record I set the year before! I did, however, bring up my UpnGo during the race and had a series of dry retches at the end as I reacted to the painkillers I was taking for my broken ribs (I had to get the broken ribs thing in!). Peter and Shane then ran the next two legs strongly (slightly slower than the fast times from last year) but we were now in about 5th place. However, to Bruce's disappointment we had now well and truly dropped the red hotpants team.
Chris stepped up to the mark and like a true captain ran his heart out and almost equalled last year's time. He held on strongly to the fast athlete from 414. Joseph then attacked Kuratau Hill and when he finally got his knees, elbows and ankles going in the right order took us closer to teams in front and set a time faster than last year.
Joseph handed over to the unknown new member, Lisa "I don't like losing", who had an outstanding walk and powered through the field and past the grubby old man to walk us into second place. Captain Fantastic, Jared, then took off on his own personal odyssey and charged down the hill, along the swamp and into Turangi. He was unable to keep out the strong runner from 414, but he hung on strongly to him and had a gutsy slog into the wind. He missed James' record by 2 seconds but had us in a very strong position.
Our racing tuna, Ross, took off after the two racing sardines in front and set a new fastest time pulling away from the teams behind us. At the end of his lap he wished his wife a happy anniversary and Jo took off and held her strong starting pace through to the end. Unfortunately James was in the dunny when she finished which created a little confusion, but after a quick shake he was off.
James put all his demons to rest and ran a fastest time for this leg. He was now a happy chappy again. Joseph then strode up Hatepe Hill and dug deep as he took on his second big climb for the day. Bruce then had his second leg and with the attitude of "let's just do it!" started the charge towards Taupo.
Barry who had been waiting several hours to enter the stage got himself into the zone, donned his flash white cap, and strode out towards the airport. While he did not match Maurie's awesome record on that lap he kept out a fast attacking team from Bush.
Maurie took over the last leg as Jared was well and truly spent and completed the charge to the finish line setting a new leg record.
No-one had anything left in the bank. All had given everything they had. After a fine prizegiving overseen by kaumatua Hemi Crosswell we hit the party and danced the night away.
click here for photos
Once again organisation was superb with fine accommodation and outstanding cuisine organised by our manager Chris. The event was a challenge as we all wrestled with our own demons and faced the challenges we set for ourselves competing against previous times.
Rachel gave us a strong start walking us into 6th place. James took over and despite feeling out of sorts, he, like Rachel, ran a faster time than had been done before. The next two walking legs were completed by Bruce and Stacey and both also set new fastest times. Unfortunately, I was not able to continue the trend and ran a minute slower than the awesome record I set the year before! I did, however, bring up my UpnGo during the race and had a series of dry retches at the end as I reacted to the painkillers I was taking for my broken ribs (I had to get the broken ribs thing in!). Peter and Shane then ran the next two legs strongly (slightly slower than the fast times from last year) but we were now in about 5th place. However, to Bruce's disappointment we had now well and truly dropped the red hotpants team.
Chris stepped up to the mark and like a true captain ran his heart out and almost equalled last year's time. He held on strongly to the fast athlete from 414. Joseph then attacked Kuratau Hill and when he finally got his knees, elbows and ankles going in the right order took us closer to teams in front and set a time faster than last year.
Joseph handed over to the unknown new member, Lisa "I don't like losing", who had an outstanding walk and powered through the field and past the grubby old man to walk us into second place. Captain Fantastic, Jared, then took off on his own personal odyssey and charged down the hill, along the swamp and into Turangi. He was unable to keep out the strong runner from 414, but he hung on strongly to him and had a gutsy slog into the wind. He missed James' record by 2 seconds but had us in a very strong position.
Our racing tuna, Ross, took off after the two racing sardines in front and set a new fastest time pulling away from the teams behind us. At the end of his lap he wished his wife a happy anniversary and Jo took off and held her strong starting pace through to the end. Unfortunately James was in the dunny when she finished which created a little confusion, but after a quick shake he was off.
James put all his demons to rest and ran a fastest time for this leg. He was now a happy chappy again. Joseph then strode up Hatepe Hill and dug deep as he took on his second big climb for the day. Bruce then had his second leg and with the attitude of "let's just do it!" started the charge towards Taupo.
Barry who had been waiting several hours to enter the stage got himself into the zone, donned his flash white cap, and strode out towards the airport. While he did not match Maurie's awesome record on that lap he kept out a fast attacking team from Bush.
Maurie took over the last leg as Jared was well and truly spent and completed the charge to the finish line setting a new leg record.
No-one had anything left in the bank. All had given everything they had. After a fine prizegiving overseen by kaumatua Hemi Crosswell we hit the party and danced the night away.
click here for photos
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Back to School
We had a great start yesterday. Don't tell the Ministry that we started the year early! Our powhiri was great with Vaughan bringing new staff and students into the warm embrace of Kura-ki-uta. After a brief assembly we got into things and the day ran very smoothly thanks to the hardwork of the two wahine. Senior staff stepped up well and assisted new staff to settle in. We finished the day with a hectic session in the Itiaki looking at mydesktop, managing email accounts, discussing behaviour management, using Integris to get timetables and classlists, checking NZQA for student results and accessing AsTTle to check student ability.
I attempted a run with Scotty and Kurt but had to turn around after 300m because the ribs were too painful so I consoled myself by changing my flat tyre which I had when I arrived in the morning!
The great news I have been able to share with staff and students is our wonderful NCEA results which are the best we have ever achieved. It feels as if things are coming together a bit and paying off - touch wood! 61% of Year 11s got Level 1, 77% of Year 12s got Level 2 and 54% of Year 13s got Level 3 - all well above national averages. 90% of Year 11s also got both literacy and numeracy as well!
Today is Waitangi Day and I came in at 9.00am to witness a session being run with our senior rugby players. Year 11 Dean Vaughan Bidois, Coach Louis Desbats, Rugby Development Officer Brent McKillop and Rugby Co-ordinator Debbie McKillop were here with almost 30 boys 
and discussing thei kaupapa for the year and how they can as a team work together to help other team members to meet all school and team expectations. It was a neat session to be part of and I applaud the efforts of the staff to align their kaupapa with the whole school.
and discussing thei kaupapa for the year and how they can as a team work together to help other team members to meet all school and team expectations. It was a neat session to be part of and I applaud the efforts of the staff to align their kaupapa with the whole school.Madness and Damage on The Meremere
On Sunday we drove to Motu and Andrew, Nicole and Brian rode biked to the kayak start and myself, Kurt, Lea, Peter, Hamish and the Teddy boys (Jared and Aaron) rode down the Motu Rd to Tirohanga. The highlight of the ride was all 5 (not Lea and Peter because they were a bit behind us on the downhill on Meremere) of us racing down the Meremere like mad banshees at 54kph, sliding out on corners and changing the lead repeatedly. The lowlight 150m from the end was 
me following Hamish around a particularly tight bend when he bailed so I had to go inside him only to find Kurt there. At high speed loss of control was the only option and I found myself bouncing along the clay berm inches from a 150ft sheer drop. I must have turned my wheel to avoid certain death which dug into the clay and was thrown onto the road at about 40kph. I was certain that I had broken my elbow and my ribs hurt. The elbow was just bruised, but I had to ride the 20k home one-handed! The ribs are buggered, most probably cracked and everything is now painful. Before we left the scene we noted that my bike track along the clay berm was 2-3cm from the edge!
me following Hamish around a particularly tight bend when he bailed so I had to go inside him only to find Kurt there. At high speed loss of control was the only option and I found myself bouncing along the clay berm inches from a 150ft sheer drop. I must have turned my wheel to avoid certain death which dug into the clay and was thrown onto the road at about 40kph. I was certain that I had broken my elbow and my ribs hurt. The elbow was just bruised, but I had to ride the 20k home one-handed! The ribs are buggered, most probably cracked and everything is now painful. Before we left the scene we noted that my bike track along the clay berm was 2-3cm from the edge!
Anyway we retired to the spa with a couple of beers and met up with Leigh, Marg, Shirley, Lucy and Mary who had biked from Waiaua Church to the top of Meremere and return.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Andrew "The Boss" Taylor grinding up a hill.
This is a great photo of Andrew putting in the hard yards on our day in the Redwoods on Sunday. Myself, Leigh, Thomas, Lucy, Margaret, Andrew, Tine and her sister, Brian, Michael and Hamish and Scotty and Faith went to the Redwoods for MTB and trailwalking. There are many new tracks there that I had never ridden before and they were wonderful - lots more drop downs and technical stuff and plenty of opportunity to get some air. Every one had a great time as you can see by clicking here and looking at the
photos. Hamish slashed his calf on his big chain ring and then bust his rear deraillieur. We had to take it off, shorten the chain and make temporary repairs, which we did well with a little help from a passing bike afficianado!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Maraenui Clubhouse
On Sunday had the first bike ride in a couple of weeks. Andrew, Lea and I rode from home to the club house in Maraenui where we were joined by Leigh and Margaret who drove up. We were hosted by Bev and Ted who had a Swiss visitor. Pete was there and cooked a breakfast of bacon, french toast, grilled bananas and tomatoes for all of us on the awesome BBQ in the photo. We also had coffee made from water boiled in the thermette! After breakfast someone had to drive the car back so that Marg and Lea could bike so Andrew and Lea had to bike back without my company! More coffee and a spa completed the final day before work started again.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
McNaught's Comet
This photo is the first in a set of 14 that tracks the path of McNaught's Comet on the evening of 19 January from my front gate. The different colours are because I tried different shutter speeds. Click here to see the full set.
Northland Holiday Site
This is the view of our private beach from our bach where we stayed with Kurt and Hine and Kurt's old buddy, Matt. Waitapu came with Lucy, Sam, Leigh and I. Unfortunately Thomas had to stay at home for work! The bay is called East Bay which is just east of Tauranga Bay at the mouth of the Whangaroa Harbour. It is immediately west of Mahinepua and slightly more west of Matauri Bay.
We had 9 days there with it raining on 2 of them. The rest of the time was perfect apart from the fact that there are no fish anywhere near here. We fished off rocks at all different times of the day and different tides, with different baits, with berley, with and without sinkers and we fished off kayaks in 2 different bays, we surfcasted off 2 beaches and Kurt, Matt and Hine went out in Bill Hall's boat. We put back 7-8 small snapper, lots of hiwihiwi, caught one kahawai for bait, one octopus and one small trevally which we turned into raw fish.
This was a magic spot and was a great holiday with excellent company.
The highlights were hanging out, watching Sam get turfed out of the kayak twice in big waves in an attempt to go fishing with me off the far point in the photo and persisting so that he was successful on the third attempt, trying to fish, visiting Bill at his great house in Tauranga Bay and hanging out.
Click here to view the full set of photos.
Sam has a great set of photos from the trip. I will put a link. In the meantime I am sure if you go to his site from the sidebar here he should have a link already.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Monday, January 8, 2007
Bathing Beauties
Spa pool is now working! Note the beautiful staining of the timber! oh, and the two bathers!
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Alien Visitor
Mat from San Francisco arrived and dined on mussels and BBQ steak and fine red wine. We met him when we stayed with Kurt and Hine in San Francisco and it's great to catch up with him again. We are all about to head to Matauri Bay for 10 days. I feel the anticipation you are feeling for the photos and stories from Tai Tokerau. You'll just have to wait!Saturday, January 6, 2007
Spa Pool
Spa pool construction took only two days because it was approached in typical bull-at-a-gate manner. The main reason why it went so well because Lucy was an awesome apprentice. She lugged bits of wood and measured and squared accurately. She also came up with clever ways of covering up my mistakes.
I was particularly impressed with the development of my 'builder's crack' as the job progressed. It resulted in the fine creation pictured here.
The final two photographs show the almost finished creation and the view you get when sitting in it!
Night Time View
And the view from the deck at night is just as awesome! Full moon over the sea at Hanaia.Friday, January 5, 2007
Mud and Golf
Proof I did the slide! That's me in the white T Shirt.
Yesterday Lucy and I had a round of golf. We have joined the local club which might force us to play a bit more often. I warned Lucy that I would thrash her, which I did over the first 9 holes by 3 shots. Unfortunately there were another 9 holes to go and Lucy just pipped me by 3 shots! This gave us a tied score, but somehow I still had to buy lunch. The embarrassing bit was that we shot 127! At least there is a lot of room for improvement.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Summer, Summer, Summer!
Summer might finally be here! This is the awesome view from our deck this morning.
Look Ma, no brakes!
The Tuesday night cycling has become a must-do event for a lot of people in town. Jarod has done a great job running a hassle-free regular event. It is usually road biking, but he has introduced a MTB even over the festive season. There is talk of having both each week - Tuesday and Thursday!
The MTB track is quite tough with lots of gravel and paddock with some short steep up and downhills across Roger's farm. This is me heading down one of the steep, tricky bits. Apparently, I can be seen touching my brakes which is something I claim that I don't do! He must have photoshopped that bit in!
Monday, January 1, 2007
Who Says I Don't Do My Bit In The Kitchen?
Bacon and pancakes were the ideal brunch for the whanau for New Year's Day.
Feeling much better today. As well, it rained most of the day so not much to do other than read and tutu with the mountain bike.
Feeling much better today. As well, it rained most of the day so not much to do other than read and tutu with the mountain bike.
Te Tau Hau
Kurt's birthday was great and Lucy, Phil and I carried out the Abraham tradition of air guitaring Cracker's Happy Birthday to Me! Drank a few beers and finished off with a couple of whiskeys and got home at a reasonable hour. Therefore, I couldn't understand why I woke feeling how I did. Room spinning, cold sweat and severe nausea. Typical for 2006 to end up like this on the final day.
However, there was no time to feel 
sorry as I had to head to Maraenui to pick up our spa pool from Bev and Ted. The big excitement was driving Ted's SUV back towing this huge trailer!
sorry as I had to head to Maraenui to pick up our spa pool from Bev and Ted. The big excitement was driving Ted's SUV back towing this huge trailer!I then spent most of the last day of 2006 sleeping hoping that people who were invited up for a BBQ didn't turn up!
However, we ended up having a BBQ with Mum and Dad and Marg. Sam's girlfriend, Juanita, turned up with him after work at about 10.30 as well. It is quite unusual seeing 
the new year in without knocking back a few drinks and laring up a bit. It does make you feel better on the first day of the new year though!
the new year in without knocking back a few drinks and laring up a bit. It does make you feel better on the first day of the new year though!It was a quiet night and the photos show us relaxing by the brazier and enjoying Thomas' choice of music - The White Stripes.
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