Western Heights School
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10/5/2018

Community - 1

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Until I was six, I spent all my life on a farm in Lowcliff in rural mid Canterbury, and from then in Springbank in rural north Canterbury. The school I went to mostly had around a dozen kids in total, though we did reach the heady heights of 19 children at one point.

My nearest neighbour was about six kilometres away and so play-overs at a mate’s place almost never happened. All the farmers seemed to work all hours, so the only community events were if we had a school picnic at the start of the year, or our end of year school concert. With just 12 kids involved, they weren’t the biggest of occasions though.

There were really only two ways you could connect with community, and both were frowned on by my parents. The first was listening in on the ‘party phone line’. In this instance party meant something very different. We all shared one ‘party’ phone line. If you wanted to ring a neighbour you dialled the Morse code for their letter. Our phone number was 50W - so to dial us you wound the ringer to make “short-long-long.” If you heard the Morse code for T, the call was not for you, but if you were very quiet and careful you could lift your earpiece and maybe listen in on their conversation.
Not good, but we didn’t have TV or even radio. We did have that other option I mentioned - an early example of reality TV, just without the TV.
Living in the country it was quiet. In the evenings and at night sound travelled for miles. Often you could go outside in the evening and listen to the neighbour - many kilometres away - completely and utterly losing the plot at his sheep dogs. The language was dreadful, hence my parents frowning upon me going out to listen.

Many years later I was a country school principal north of Napier. The Tareha community was very different from my Springbank one. When I started, there were just four children on the roll and they were looking to close the school down - nice of them not to let me know until I got there.
Anyway we got the roll up to 26 children in no time and our country school quickly became the heart of the community. There was a real variety of people in the community and we would have several school based events a term where people of all ages and backgrounds came along and had great fun.

Achieving that same sense of community in a school of 650 children is much harder. We come from so many different backgrounds, have such diverse tastes in food and sports and leisure and in many cases, work very long hours to be able to afford to live here.

And yet, in spite of those challenges, there is much that connects us as a community. 
We are westies, and most of us our proud of it. We love our beaches, our Waitakere Ranges, our local sports clubs and markets, and so much more that makes the west special.
We are also Westies -  Western Heights parents and whanau. The challenge is to build a Westie Heights community where we feel connected, feel we are part of something pretty special - our awesome Western Heights school - feel we belong and can contribute and participate, but without it being a burden.
It is easy for our ideas and initiatives to be ‘just one more thing’ that gets added to the huge and demanding list that is our life.

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    Greetings to all the families and friends of Western Heights school.
    I am truly excited at the prospect of coming to work at this wonderful school each day.
    Family:
    My wife Jacqualene is the Principal of Mangere Central. She has outstanding skills and talents in administration, curriculum design and integration of ICT into the teaching and learning programme.
    My son Tiaki is a bright boy, very keen on technology, a bit of a musician, and a very talented footballer and softballer. Tiaki was the youngest footballer to make it into the National Talent Centre, and was MVP at the South Island Softball Champs.
    I also have two adult children and two grandchildren - all in Australia.

    Western Heights school is a wonderful school, staffed with exceptional teachers and support staff; led by an outstanding Board; and supported by an enthusiastic and committed parent community.

    Career:
    I began teaching aged 19, some 41 years ago, and began my 20th year as a principal at this wonderful school in 2014.

    Principal of Tareha School                              - Napier 2 years
    Deputy Principal Prospect School                  - west Auckland 7 years
    Principal Pomaria School                               - west Auckland 7 years
    Principal Te Akau ki Papamoa School           - Bay of Plenty 3 years
    Principal Kaiapoi Borough School                 - Canterbury 8 years

    President of Waitakere Area Principals Association 2003 - 92 schools 
    Apple Distinguished Educator Award - 2009. Sponsored to Apple Headquarters in Cupertino, USA.
    Secretary Auckland Computers in Education Society
    Primary Principals’ Representative - Primary Sector Education Advisory Committee
    Waitakere City Council - Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education, 2003.
    Presenter at UNESCO Conference on Values in Education, 2002.
    Guest speaker - International Principal's Federation Conference, Auckland 2002.
    Ministry contracted trainer - Implementation of New National Administration Guidelines
    First Time Principals’ Mentor for Ministry of Education in Auckland and Christchurch.
    Mentored new principals of four Canterbury schools.
    University of Canterbury School Curriculum Development Facilitator - e- Learning, ICT in 2011 and 2012. Worked with 70 schools.
    Post Grad Studies at Mindlab 2016

    Personal Achievements
    Sportsman of Year - Christchurch College of Education 1978 
    Canterbury Colts Softball representative
    National League football with Woolston FC
    Waimakariri Football Club Junior Coach of the Year - 2011, 2012, 2013

    Philosophy
    I believe passionately in all learners becoming independent.
    My Vision has always been of “Growing Great Kids” who are self managing, self motivating, self moderating, independent leaders of their own learning.
    This has been achieved through “Dream. Grow. Shine. Reflect.” 
         Children choose appropriate goals. 
         They develop an effective action plan to achieve those goals. 
         They identify success criteria - what we can expect to see when success is achieved. 
         They reflect on their goals, their plan and their outcomes and make decisions in light of this.

    We know that positive relationships are the key to success, not just in learning but in all aspects of life. Positive relationships are built on trust, honesty, respect, and genuine concern, and nurtured through active listening and time spent together.
    Whanau (Family) Relationships are the basis for all I do and the way I teach, coach and lead. For this reason, I set great store in being open to and available to children, staff and community.
    As examples of this, we now have a presence on Facebook, a Twitter account, a revamped web site, an Open Door policy for access to me, and my personal email and cell phone number available to you all.

    My door is open, my cell phone switched on and email launched - feel free to contact me any time.

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126 STURGES ROAD  
HENDERSON
​AUCKLAND 0612

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 021779 009                                               macash@mac.com​         

                                                                                                       
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  • Home
  • Enrolment
    • Enrolment Zone
    • Cohort Entry
    • New Entrant Booklet
    • International Students
    • More Info
  • Information
    • Education Review Office Report
    • Policies Log-In Info
    • WHS Policies
    • Connections
  • Learning
    • Learning through Structured Play
    • Learning through Play the WHS Way
    • Creativity through Play
    • Bush Classroom
    • I C T
    • Kickstart with CPR
    • Learning at WHS
    • Learning @ Home
    • Where We Learn
  • News - Dates
  • Parents
    • Parent Info
    • Helping Your Child
    • Seesaw Digital Portfolio
    • Lunch Menu
  • Our People
    • 360º Images
    • Board of Trustees
    • Principal's Page >
      • Mr M's Bio
      • Principal's Appraisals
      • Ash's Blog
    • Deputy Principals
    • Support Staff
    • Teaching Team
    • Job Vacancies
  • Media
    • NZ Champions - Rippa
    • You Tube Channel
    • Latest Event Photos
    • Book Characters
  • Contacts
  • Strategic Plan
    • KCs and KTs >
      • Foundation Stones
      • Whakatauki
    • Financial Reports >
      • New Page