Two a penny

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Parents can be a student’s worst enemy when it comes to making excuses about why their child is not at school.

Waimea College and Nayland College have an automated computer system which sends text messages to parents asking them to explain why their child is not at school.

Parents can reply to the messages to confirm if their children are legitimately away from class, or if they are just skiving off. Beforehand, the college had 85 per cent attendance and now it was 90 per cent.

Waimea College principal Larry Ching introduced the text response system last year and said it had made a difference in student attendance.

“There are two versions of the bad stuff, firstly the ‘too bad it’s not my problem to deal with’ and secondly the ‘how the hell would I know if they were at school or not’.

However, Mr Ching said there were a small number of parents resulting in concern with the messages they sent back to the school.”

He said despite volunteering their cellphone number to receive notifications, sometimes parents did not believe the text message about their child’s absence and would then send a message to their child, who would claim to be at school. These ranged from “I have kept him at home to mow the lawns” to “Don’t text again, I’m sick of hearing that she’s not there”.

“But how would they know whether they were in school or not?”

He said they received small numbers of responses that were “totally ridiculous”. “It’s the rapid response of it all.

Mr Ching said generally the system worked.”

The system cost the school 8 cents a text and costs a few thousand dollars a year to run but Mr Ching did not know how many texts would have been sent out in the past year. If we were relying on a paper trail or telephone it takes a lot longer especially if parents are at work. .

Nayland College has used the system for about 18 months.”

Mr Olley said the system worked because if there were issues with parents struggling to deal with their child, it came through in the tone of the text and the school could follow it up and offer help. “The ones we get that are not positive are usually parents crying out for help. The more we can communicate, the better it works.

“It is all about communication and keeping the channels open with parents. She has instructed ministry staff to start surveying schools next month to gauge national truancy rates.”

Education Minister Anne Tolley has demanded action on truancy after officials admitted they had little or no idea how many thousands of pupils cut class each day.

Nelson College headmaster Gary O’Shea said the school was considering the text response system for next year. The last survey in 2006 showed up to 30,000 children were absent each week.

TEXT RESPONSES TO WAIMEA COLLEGE

I have kept him at home to mow the lawns

His sister was bringing him to school in the car; she must have got tired of waiting for him

I’ve told the little sh*t to gt dwn ther strait away

Dnt text again, I’m sick of hearing tht she’s not thre

Get tht f***n washing in off the line and get down to school [sent from parent to the school by mistake instead of to the child]

Swimming sports are on and she doesnt like swimming [Swimming sports are entered by choice, not compulsory]

– Next Education story: –
Early childhood could be 1000 teachers short

– National Homepage -

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Tears welled in the eyes of 92-year-old Albert Hewitt yesterday as he paid tribute to the mates he lost in World War II.

Hunched in a wheelchair, medals proudly pinned to his chest and with a poppy in his lapel, Hewitt struggled to keep his emotions in check during the Christchurch dawn service to remember both those who landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, and all those who have fought for New Zealand. An estimated 10,000 people packed Cathedral Square for the service, led by Canterbury Malayan Veterans’ Association president Paul Tau.
Hewitt, who served with 20 Battalion in Egypt and Italy, said he was touched by the size of the turnout to this year’s service.
“It’s lovely to see so many people there, especially the young children. The numbers attending Anzac Day services have been on the rise since the 1980s.” Hewitt said. .
“A lot of them didn’t come back,” said Hewitt, who has attended the dawn service every year since the war ended.
It is 64 years since the war ended, but he still thinks often of the mates he made during those “terrible years”.
A keen student of history, Gregory said it was important the sacrifices made by those who served at Gallipoli and in subsequent wars were remembered.
Standing on Hewitt’s left at yesterday’s service was retired Lieutenant-General Russell Gregory, who served 22 years in the territorial forces.”
Yesterday, thousands of Kiwis ignored wind and rain to pay tribute to those who gave their lives for their country.
“The lessons of history, if you don’t learn from them, are likely to be repeated again.

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Bride gives ultimate wedding present

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Tears welled in the eyes of 92-year-old Albert Hewitt yesterday as he paid tribute to the mates he lost in World War II.

Hunched in a wheelchair, medals proudly pinned to his chest and with a poppy in his lapel, Hewitt struggled to keep his emotions in check during the Christchurch dawn service to remember both those who landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, and all those who have fought for New Zealand. An estimated 10,000 people packed Cathedral Square for the service, led by Canterbury Malayan Veterans’ Association president Paul Tau.
Hewitt, who served with 20 Battalion in Egypt and Italy, said he was touched by the size of the turnout to this year’s service.
“It’s lovely to see so many people there, especially the young children. The numbers attending Anzac Day services have been on the rise since the 1980s.” Hewitt said. .
“A lot of them didn’t come back,” said Hewitt, who has attended the dawn service every year since the war ended.
It is 64 years since the war ended, but he still thinks often of the mates he made during those “terrible years”.
A keen student of history, Gregory said it was important the sacrifices made by those who served at Gallipoli and in subsequent wars were remembered.
Standing on Hewitt’s left at yesterday’s service was retired Lieutenant-General Russell Gregory, who served 22 years in the territorial forces.”
Yesterday, thousands of Kiwis ignored wind and rain to pay tribute to those who gave their lives for their country.
“The lessons of history, if you don’t learn from them, are likely to be repeated again.

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Climber adapts to life after fall

By Friday, 27 February 2009

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MAKING PLANS: Taupo builder Troy Grimwood, who was confined to a wheelchair after he broke his back in a rock-climbing accident, looks over house drawings with fellow builder Marty Devonport. .

Taupo builder Troy Grimwood once helped install wheelchair ramps at the town's hockey pavilion.
Mr Grimwood, 22, is confined to a wheelchair after he broke his back in a rock-climbing accident in December. "I never thought one day I would be using them myself," he said.
The fall crushed a vertebra and dislocated his spine, severing the spinal cord. He fell 17 metres while descending a rock face at Whanganui Bay after a miscommunication with his belay partner standing on the ground.
Mr Grimwood has no feeling or movement from the waist down.
"I'm getting itchy feet," he laughed. Now back in Taupo after eight weeks' rehabilitation at the Auckland Spinal Unit, he is positive about his future, and eager to get back into the building trade. "It has made me bring a few things forward.
The accident had changed a lot of things in his life. The couple are buying a house after they found it difficult to find a flat suited to his needs."
His relationship with girlfriend Debby Sutton was closer.
"A lot of landlords aren't too keen to make modifications for wheelchairs.
"A lot of landlords aren't too keen to make modifications for wheelchairs.
He has never blamed his climbing partner for the accident but said he would not return to climbing."
He planned to work with an architect to redesign the house and the couple would move into it in about four months when alterations were complete. If I did it now I would have to rely on brute strength which I wouldn't enjoy as much. "I enjoyed the technical side of it. "It has the same excitement value and will be good at strengthening my upper body."
Instead, he intends to learn to river kayak.
He had plans to go to polytech and do a design course."
Mr Grimwood had been offered work by a mate as a project manager on a house about to be built."
Everyday life was difficult, what with having to re-learn basic tasks which all took time, he said.
"There's a demand for people with building experience to move more into design work for people with disabilities…. it's frustrating, it used to be so simple to do.
"I'm not going to let the accident hold me back. If you thought about the negative things you might as well curl up into a ball and hide away."

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Trail of damage as driver flees

The Tuesday, 10 February 2009

Adriver fleeing a police chase in Hawke's Bay damaged four other vehicles before plunging down a bank and destroying his own car. .
"I was doing 100kmh and I'd estimate he was doing twice my speed," he said.
Constable Paul Yarrall of Waipukurau was overtaking another vehicle in his police car on State Highway 2 near Waipawa on Saturday evening when the driver's V8 Ford Falcon suddenly loomed large in his mirror and he was afraid he was going to be rammed."
He pursued the Falcon, but gave up the chase because the high speeds made it dangerous. "It gave me a fright, anyway."
Soon afterward, the Falcon driver lost control on a corner, veered over the centre line and collided first with the trailer and then an oncoming car. "He disappeared pretty quickly. But the Falcon then sped off again, scraping the police car as it did so.
The Falcon stopped and a police car parked in front of it. The driver tried to run away but Mr Yarrall arrested him after a struggle.
Again the driver lost control and the car went down a 10-metre bank into dense bush.
A 37-year-old Dannevirke man will appear in Waipukurau District Court tomorrow, facing several charges as a result of the incident.

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Old violin stirs search for wartime prisoner’s family

Friedrich Kamler’s descendants – where are you?

Tuesday, 03 February 2009

For 90 years it lay silent but whispers of World War I history surround an old violin that Kevin Bock's grandfather brought home from a Somes Island internment camp in 1917.
Johann Anton Bock stored papers, photos and mementoes of his three years in the camp, but never told his family, who discovered his secret only after he died in 1965.
"It shamed him so much," Kevin Bock said. .
Johann Bock was born in Ballarat, Australia, and arrived in New Zealand with his father and brother at the age of two."
After the war he was paroled indefinitely and allowed to stay in New Zealand. As far as he was concerned he was a Kiwi, but because he had German heritage, they said, `No, you're a risk,' and interned him. His belongings, including the violin that he somehow acquired from its owner, Friedrich Kamler, were stored for years in his son's garage.
As no one in the family plays, Mr Bock now wants it returned to the original owner's family.
Kevin Bock's mother was about to throw the instrument out in a fit of spring cleaning when he rescued it from the fray.
Many prisoners were deported after the war, but Mr Bock hopes someone will recognise the name.
But all he has to go on is a name and a brief physical description from some internment papers..
"Kamler, from what I can piece together …
Although Mr Bock believes he will never know how his grandfather came to have Mr Kamler's violin which still has its owner's name inked inside he likes to think it was given in friendship."
As well as two bows, a chin rest, rosin and pieces of string, the violin's rosewood case contained handwritten music, including a piece titled When I Lost You. But I've heard lots of trading went on, desperately trying to get the money together to start life again, so maybe that's what happened.
"I assume the nice side, that they were mates of about the same age and so on.
He had not had the instrument valued, but said its worth was probably more historical than financial.
"But then why would he hold on to it for so long?"
Mr Bock said Victoria University music school staff had told him the instrument had a good tone and could be restored to playable condition for about $400. But by 1894, when this one was made, the market was awash with imitations of varying quality.
It is stamped with the name Hopf, a brand dating from the 1600s.

. Cruise ship rescue underway in southern ocean

A daring long-distance operation involving two helicopters is under way to rescue a cruise ship crew member near Campbell Island.
The man is understood to have seriously injured his hand while aboard the Bremen.
Rescue Coordination Centre spokesperson Sophie Hazelhurst said they were alerted to the accident yesterdaymorning but the ship was too far out to consider a rescue operation.
It is unknown at this stage how the injury occurred.
Two helicopters from Otago and Southern Lakes Helicopters left earlier earlier today and were expected to reach the ship about 2pm.
The ship has been making its way towards Campbell Island and is currently 50-60 nautical miles South of the island, she said.
Campbell Island is situated 700km South of New Zealand.
The choppers would then fly to Campbell Island to refuel before heading forSouthland Hospital in Invercargill where they were expected to arrive in the early evening.

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Flight delayed after dog chews through wing

– Friday, 23 January 2009

A panicking pooch managed to ground a Qantas jet on a trans-Tasman flight after it escaped from its cage and chewed through paneling and wiring in the planes wing.
The plane was en route from Auckland to Melbourne on 7 December when warning lights began flashing in the plane's cockpit for no apparent reason, Australian website the Courier-Mail reported.
"The dog ripped out several wires which set off the cockpit warning and then it had a go at a number of electrical units in the rear of the plane," the source said. ."The damage was to the auxiliary power unit which supplies power to the plane when it is on the ground."Under duress the animal obviously went nuts biting through anything that it came across.
However, the cargo handlers at Melbourne Airport were given a nasty fright when they opened the door only to be greeted unexpectedly by an angry and distressed dog. As it was already in mid-flight, there was no immediate danger to the air craft.

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"I do not know the breed but the dog had to be fairly big with a big bite to damage cargo hold panels that are as tough as billy goat boots – it is difficult to even cut through this material with a knife," said the source

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Rescue a miracle for jetskier drifting 24hrs

By FINBARR BUNTING EMMA PAGE – Sunday, 04 January 2009

A Christchurch man says he is lucky to be alive after spending 24 hours adrift at sea on a broken-down jetski.
Nathan Maclure, 26, sat out extreme conditions, including a southerly storm and hail, by tying himself to his jetski.
Always in sight of land but unable to to start the craft as a result of mechanical failure, he was preparing to spend another night at sea last night before attracting the attention of a Russian trawler about 13km off the coast near Woodend Beach in Canterbury.
"I was really scared.
Scared and in the water with sharks, Maclure kept up his spirits by singing and talking to himself. . Friday night, with the storm and everthing, worried about hypothermia and the cold and the wet, I was moving as much as I could and talking to myself and singing to myself. He believes people on the shore saw him waving his brightly coloured buoyancy aid but didn't respond. "The Russians were awesome.
Seeing the the trawler was a relief."
Asked if he felt lucky, he said: "Oh mate, very luck as bad as it was it couldn't have turned out any better. They got be on board quick smart.
"We're really happy to have him home."
His father Brad Maclure was also relieved to have his son back and safe and sound."
Inspector Warren Kemp said Canterbury had been buffeted by "absolutely shocking" weather over the previous 24 hours, including strong winds and hail, and surviving the southwesterly and southerly storms and being spotted out at sea on such a small vehicle was incredible."
Inspector Warren Kemp said Canterbury had been buffeted by "absolutely shocking" weather over the previous 24 hours, including strong winds and hail, and surviving the southwesterly and southerly storms and being spotted out at sea on such a small vehicle was incredible."

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‘Pimp’ had ‘perfect client’ for underage teen, court told

By GLENN McLEAN – Tuesday, 16 December 2008

CAMERON BURNELL/
CHARGED: Brothel owner Michael Hastie outside the New Plymouth District Court. A teenage girl told the court Hastie asked her to work as a prostitute when she was 15.

A teenage girl has told a New Plymouth court that brothel owner Michael Andrew Keith Hastie asked her to work as a prostitute when she was 15.
"He said he would book me a job," she told the New Plymouth District court during depositions yesterday.
The girl, who has name suppression, says Hastie was keen to have the girl work from his two bedroom home in New Plymouth in January, 2006."
Hastie, 58, of New Plymouth, has denied seven charges, including contracting a girl aged under 18 for sex, receiving earnings from a girl aged under 18, operating a brothel without a licence, sexual connection with a girl aged between 12 and 16 and supplying drugs.
"He said he had the perfect client for me.
The teenage girl was the only witness to be called yesterday, with the police handing up its remaining evidence to the court.
The witness said it was obvious from when she went to stay with her school friend and Hastie almost three years ago that there was prostitution happening regularly at the house.
Defence counsel Kylie Pascoe conceded there was a prima facie case to answer and Hastie was remanded on bail to appear back in court on March 4.
The running of things included organising her friend who was also working as a prostitute while she was in a relationship with the accused and living at his house.
"He (Hastie) pretty much organised everything and kept things running," she said.
The witness said after a week staying at the house she agreed to work as a prostitute.
"She didn't have to pay the pimp fee that Mike took from all the other girls," she said.
When it was her turn to meet a client the witness said she felt sick just before he arrived and her friend "had to do the job".
When it was her turn to meet a client the witness said she felt sick just before he arrived and her friend "had to do the job".
She also admitted to having a falling out with her friend in recent times.
When cross-examined, the girl could not give the court the surnames of anyone who was either a prostitute or client at the house.