Boarding school - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Sun, 17 Apr 2016 22:45:33 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Boarding school - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Who are you, and what have you done with my son? https://cathnews.co.nz/2016/04/19/who-are-you-and-what-have-you-done-with-my-son/ Mon, 18 Apr 2016 17:10:34 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=81940

One of the most daunting things about sending our boy to boarding school was that, for the first six weeks, aside from handwritten letters, we weren't allowed to have any contact with him. In the pre-email, pre-free calling era, this would have been fairly standard. Back in the day, boarding school parents didn't have much choice Read more

Who are you, and what have you done with my son?... Read more]]> One of the most daunting things about sending our boy to boarding school was that, for the first six weeks, aside from handwritten letters, we weren't allowed to have any contact with him. In the pre-email, pre-free calling era, this would have been fairly standard.

Back in the day, boarding school parents didn't have much choice but to drop their kids off at the start of the term and hope for the best. An old boy of one Maori boarding school told me he has clear memories of a junior running down the long driveway in the dusty wake of his parents' car, begging not to be left behind.

Boy, they bred parents tough back then.

Nowadays, we're kept up to speed on the happenings at Hato Paora College thanks to a steady stream of social media updates, Facebook photos and Twitter feeds. It's just as well because, during those first few weeks, our boy sent precious few letters, and the ones that did make it home looked like they'd been written from a bomb shelter while under heavy fire. The first letter simply said: "I am alive." The second, barely legible in a red scrawl, requested more undies and munchies. Urgently.

People told us that by the time Gala Day came around at the end of that six weeks, we wouldn't recognise our boys. "They change so much," one mum said, all teary-eyed with nostalgia. I smiled politely, but didn't believe it for a second.

I was wrong, of course.

The first clue came in the third letter we received, just over four weeks in. It was three pages long — both sides of the paper. To put that in context, this is the kid who, before he left, could text with his eyes closed but couldn't hold a pen for longer than a minute without being struck down with cramp.

The second clue was that he used fractions to rate his subjects, listing them in order of preference, with maths topping the list. Yeah, I had to read that twice, too. When he signed the letter off, all he requested was more pens, "because I keep running out of ink." Continue reading

  • Nadine Millar writes for E-Tangata, a Maori and Pasifika Sunday magazine.
Who are you, and what have you done with my son?]]> 81940 Student violence in Tonga - closing boarding schools an option https://cathnews.co.nz/2013/07/30/student-violence-in-tonga-closing-boarding-schools-an-option/ Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:30:32 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=47713

The escalation in student violence is a major crisis for the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, its General Secretary Rev Dr Tevita Havea says, and he is suggesting that closing the rival boarding schools of ‘Atele and Toloa for ten years might be a way forward for the schools and the country. He was commenting Read more

Student violence in Tonga - closing boarding schools an option... Read more]]> The escalation in student violence is a major crisis for the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, its General Secretary Rev Dr Tevita Havea says, and he is suggesting that closing the rival boarding schools of ‘Atele and Toloa for ten years might be a way forward for the schools and the country.

He was commenting on last week's student attack on a house at Tofoa that has left a 22 year old man in a coma and a 15 year old with serious injuries, and 147 students, ex-students and a teacher charged with offences.

"We consider it as a major crisis for the church and also the schools and for the country," he said. "We have now activated various school activities to see what can be done … to deal with violence in the schools".

Police Commissioner Grant O'Fee said the attack was a riot and he compared the students' behaviour to serious gangs in New Zealand.

"Very severe criminal damage. Everything in the house smashed, every single thing that could be smashed was smashed," he said.

Fr. ‘Aisake Vaisima, the president of the Tonga Secondary School Principals' Association says the TSSPA has decided that finals for the secondary schools' rugby tournament 2013 will continue with only "parents and guardians of students in the teams" allowed to attend. He said this decision, "was confirmed by the Ministry of Education and the Directors of Schools Systems".

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Student violence in Tonga - closing boarding schools an option]]> 47713