King of all Caretakers

Wally Ngata - King of all Caretakers

From within the forest of Tāne a lofty totara tree has fallen.

Wally Ngata, the king of all caretakers and the friend to four decades of teachers and students of Lytton High School - we honour and farewell you!

On Monday you will lie with your lifelong sweetheart. You will once again get to hold, the love of your life, your ruruhi, in the strong arms that held her until her final days only a few years past.  Peter Gibson (principal 1990 - 2003) said that people like you, Wally, "were the glue that held schools together!"
Travel well my friend!

Kia ora.

Wally was an outstanding contributor to the community of Lytton High School and I have fond memories of meeting him when I arrived here in January 2000.  Peter was still the principal at that time.

Ask anyone who was here for any real length of time and they'll talk about Wally's ability to build and construct things that were needed. He was an innovator, the typical kiwi Number 8 Wire bloke!

So, what does Wally leave as a legacy, as Lytton turns itself towards becoming a future-oriented school. I'm sure you've seen different versions of the youtube clip Shift Happens. A future oriented school is one that is truly built to create relevant learning experiences reflective of and considerate of, the future. There has been a shift from our days of memorizing facts from curriculum areas, to learning how to learn in a world of rapid change.

A few weeks back Derek Wenmoth facilitated a workshop here at Lytton as part of an ECT CORE education Initiative. During the evening he recommended to me the book Leaving to Learn - which I've downloaded and now read.  At the same time I've been reading the recently released National Report from ERO entitled Secondary Schools: Pathways for future education ...

Something common to all of these is the recognition that secondary schooling of yesterday will not serve us in preparation for tomorrow let alone today.

So, the task for us as educators at Lytton is to follow the example of Wally Ngata, to be innovative. As Wally built shelving and resources in response to the school's and teachers' needs; so must we act in deliberate ways that are responsive to our students needs and aspirations for the future.

To become a future-oriented school we must take deliberative and co-ordinated steps, i.e. to act in deliberate ways, that are truly responsive to the needs and aspirations of our students. 2013 is about Student Voice in preparation for 2014 where as a community of teachers, students and whānau we build a re-organise our school system.

On Wednesday morning Graham Young facilitated a workshop on "What an outstanding school looks like?" Jody Walters (DP) and I involved three of our students in this small workshop that included teachers from other local schools. Their input was invaluable - and we plan to meet early next term to unpack the workshop for ourselves here at Lytton.

Well, it's term break and I have a few tasks yet to complete. Keep well.


And finally back to you Wally, Lytton High School salutes you -
                          ko te kura o Rītana e ngunguru nei ...


Video of the week - a remix of Pachelbel's Canon with Korean string instruments, a beat box and dancer.