The former Wakatipu High School teacher tells James Beech that making sure children stay motivated learners through life is a priority.
Queenstown Times: Why did you want to become a board member and how long have you been in the role?
Gigi Hollyer: I am new to the St Joseph's board this year. My interest in joining the board stemmed from my role as president of the Central Kindergarten Association Board and the positive experiences I have had there.
Also, as a past pupil and current parish member, I want to give back to the school which helped shape me. Having a governance role for an education institution allows you to be involved in your children's education and make a difference for the school in an all encompassing capacity.
QT: What is the biggest issue facing St Joseph's School pupils and what do you want done to tackle it?
GH: Ensuring the children become motivated learners now and throughout their lives. Motivating and challenging the children to follow our school values to Walk in Truth and with Respect.
As a governing board, we need to work with our principal to enable and motivate our teaching team to capture our pupils' energy to achieve these goals. As a trustee of St Joseph's, I aim to contribute towards ensuring the teaching team has the best tools available to take on this issue.
I feel as a board we strive to make the dollars and cents go further to provide the pupils with the best education experience possible.
QT: Will National Standards improve a pupil's education at the school?
GH: National Standards alone will not improve a pupil's education. We are fortunate that our teachers had a valid measure for assessing a pupil's level of achievement prior to the introduction of this new assessment tool.
As a parent, I have already received a National Standard-based report on our child and was impressed with the full explanations of where our child is at in relation to the National Standard.
Personally, I fear that this comparative information will force children and schools to compete against one another leading to competition far too early in a child's education experience.
The value of the world-leading curriculum which underpins National Standards may be lost.
QT: Is a Catholic education relevant in today's society?
GH: Definitely. We have chosen for our children to experience a Catholic education to help them become a well rounded individual who has had the opportunity to develop their academic, physical and spiritual side.
A Catholic education encompasses learning how to treat others and themselves with respect and dignity, something I feel can be lost in our consumer-driven society.
QT: How would you describe the school's financial situation and what needs to be done to improve it?
GH: As with any school in New Zealand, we struggle to make the Government-allocated funding go far enough to cover our children's education, even the necessities such as teacher aides.
The demographic in the wider Wakatipu Basin means our decile rating of 10 puts us in the lowest funding allocation band, taking into account the few who are wealthy in our catchment area.
However, we are very lucky that the wider community, especially our parish, gets behind and supports our fundraising efforts. The PTA at the school does a fantastic job of facilitating fundraising for the school to make up the shortfalls we have.
QT: What benefits will the proposed Speargrass Flat campus bring to St Joseph's pupils and the community?
GH: A new St Joseph's campus would create a new hub to our parish community by allowing more families to access a Catholic education. It goes without saying new buildings, grounds and integrated technology will complement our original Queenstown campus.
By having one principal and board of trustees, the two schools will be able to move forward together.
QT: What is your response to concerns by appellants the campus would increase traffic and noise and detrimentally effect the amenity?
GH: As I am sure the neighbours to our existing school in Queenstown will attest, you could easily have worse neighbours. Yes, there will be increased traffic at the beginning and end of the school day and the playground noise of happy children.
The school holidays and evenings will remain blissfully quiet though. I would personally prefer this land use change to an industrial or commercial one.
QT: How can the community help St Joseph's School?
GH: Please continue to support us in our fundraising endeavours, and parents and caregivers please take an active role in your children's education.
