Inside this Issue:Web address for non-HTML email version www.whitireia.ac.nz/e-news Porirua Education Forum Looks for Answers New institutional collaboration - Certificate in Preparation for Tertiary Study Contemporary Jewellery Auction Culinary Competitions End of Year Whitireia Performing Arts Season Katherine Mansfield Awards Music and Movies, a unique collaboration for Whitireia students with the New Zealand Film Archive New health facility after 22 years of groundbreaking teaching. Earlybird enrolment! Whitireia arts students work feature in this years Montana Wow Awards New Industry Training Centre Whakairo Students travel to USA for ‘Journeys in Creativity’ Whitireia Music Students Perform at Shooters Whitireia textile artists represent New Zealand, at International Shibori Symposium 08 New Cuba Street campus |
Issue Six - October 2008Porirua Education Forum Looks for AnswersOn 7 July 2008, representatives from all levels of state funded education in Porirua committed to improving education outcomes in Porirua. Russell Marshall chaired this forum at Whitireia Community Polytechnic, which included presentations from representatives of the Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary sector and the Chief Executive of the Porirua City Council. This forum aims through closer collaboration to lift educational performance, strengthen perceptions of Porirua and research and lobby on education issues. The Education Forum’s next get-together is a public meeting; Thursday 30 October at 5.30pm at the Whitireia Community Polytechnic Campus – Lecture Theatre, Wikitoria Katene Building. A panel representing schools and tertiary education will host, question and chair presentations from all candidates for the Mana and Te Tai Haurauru government seats. Invited candidates are: Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Hekia Parata, Robin Gunston, Michael Gilchrist and Mike Colins. The forum has a stated aim to increase educational outcomes in Porirua as a key issue in the development of this city. “We warmly invite everyone in the city to attend this meeting” says Russell Marshall. “I believe that by working more closely we will be able to do even better by all our learners, and that we can build a story even more worth telling.” New institutional collaboration - Certificate in Preparation for Tertiary StudyOn 19 September Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Victoria University of Wellington and Wellington Institute of Technology launched a shared programme which will prepare students for tertiary study and sound decision making about career paths.
Contemporary Jewellery AuctionNational Radio Broadcaster Kim Hill auctioned off jewellery on 16 October, made by contemporary jewellery students and pieces donated by established jewellers like Peter Deckers and Matthew Macintyre Wilson. The event has been organised by students as part of a course project, the money raised goes toward a catalogue of their years’ work which will be distributed nationally and internationally - to galleries, libraries, collectors and institutes. The Bachelor of Applied Arts at Whitireia is well known for exhibition and market projects. Students currently have an exhibition at the Museum of City and Sea in Wellington. End of Year Whitireia Performing Arts SeasonWhitireia’s Performing Arts students are celebrating their year with public and school performances at Pataka Museum and Gallery this November. The internationally acclaimed performing arts group will put on a performance involving contemporary New Zealand, Samoan, Cook Islands and Maori dance practices. “It is a wonderful, entertaining and fun night, all would enjoy” says Performing Arts Programme Manager Gaylene Sciascia. The performances are part of assessments for second and third year students of the Bachelor of Applied Arts (Performing). Second year students design, create and make their own costumes and then choreograph and perform their own work solo. Third year students design, create and make their own costumes out of fresh foliage, then collaboratively choreograph and perform duets. Fresh from performing at three International Arts Festivals in the UK this year, the students will be applying new found international knowledge to their already spectacular repertoire of performance routines. A schedule of performances and ticket prices as below; School Performances November 10,11,13,14,17,18,20,21 Two shows daily: 10.30am and 1.00pm Admission: $5 per student (One teacher/caregiver per 20 students gets in free) $3 per student when whole school attends Approx 50 minutes
Public Performance November 25-29 7.30pm Admission: $15 waged and $5 unwaged Approx 90 minutes
Venue: Pataka Museum and Gallery, Norrie Street, Porirua. Katherine Mansfield AwardsWhitireia writing student Joseph Ryan has been awarded the Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Novice Writer award, for his story, Stranger Than Beautiful. The awards were held 2 October at Te Papa Museum in Wellington and are one of New Zealand’s longest running creative writing awards. The Awards commemorate New Zealand’s best-known writers and help New Zealand writers achieve recognition within the country.
Music and Movies, a unique collaboration for Whitireia students with the New Zealand Film ArchiveDuring October and November, second year Bachelor of Applied Arts (Music) students of Whitireia Community Polytechnic will perform their original score to a seventy minute collection of New Zealand silent films from the 1920’s. Their soundtracks will accompany the collection on an extensive tour of New Zealand and, possibly, abroad. Students will perform their work in the Film Archive’s Cinemarette on the corner of Ghuznee and Taranaki streets in Wellington City. Performances are scheduled for Friday 31 October at 7 pm (black tie); Saturday 01 November at 5 pm (invited friends and whānau); and Saturday 01 November at 7:30 pm (public screening as part of the Archive’s public programme). New health facility after 22 years of groundbreaking teaching.The new facility for Nursing and Teaching programmes, Wikitoria Katene, was opened on 18 June by Prime Minister Helen Clark, Ngati Toa and representatives from the Katene family. The buildings house state of the art classrooms, lecture theatres, offices and meeting rooms, has a low carbon footprint and incorporates environmentally sustainable features. It’s a long way from the first Diploma in Nursing offered by Whitireia in 1986 in a couple of prefabricated classrooms we borrowed from Mana College says Dr. Margaret Southwick. When I started as a tutor we had so little equipment, we borrowed bowls, wheelchairs, towels. We didn’t take swabs out of their packets but mimed the use of them in wound cleaning and returned the unopened packets to the shelves.” In 2008 it is clear from the numbers that success has grown progressively through the years. The allocated places in nursing training fill quickly. Employers choose Whitireia nursing graduates because they are well grounded, ready to work, approachable and hard working. “Down to earth, approachable graduates and respectful connections with people are what we do” says Chief Executive Campbell. Earlybird enrolment!Reserve your place for 2009 by enrolling before 31 December 2008 and you will only pay the 2008 fee*. *Some conditions apply Call us for further information or visit our website www.whitireia.ac.nz Whitireia arts students work feature in this years Montana Wow AwardsFour separate entries from Whitireia Bachelor of Applied Arts (Visual Arts) students were accepted into Montana World of Wearable arts twentieth anniversary show, being held at TSB Bank arena located on the Wellington waterfront. To a sold out season of local and international audiences; Olivia Giles, Joan Atter, Chris Apisai Wong and Cleo Thorpe Ngata had a group entry accepted in their first year of entering. Billee Mutton and Rita Schrieken have had work in the show in previous years, and have again had work accepted for the exhibition. New Industry Training Centre
Whakairo Students travel to USA for ‘Journeys in Creativity’
Demuth and Smith were the first Kiwi’s to attend this programme ‘Journeys in Creativity’, which was established to help further the knowledge of Native American Art and craft. The work completed by the sixteen participants in the two week programme will feature in an exhibition, ‘Art of the Canoe’, which will be shown in various locations in Washington and Oregon. Qualifications in Whakairo are unique to Whitireia Polytechnic, and are offered as one year courses, at levels 4, 5 and 6. “Whakairo is not just an art form” Dr Smith says, “It is significant for its storytelling and promotes Maori culture.” Whitireia Music Students Perform at Shooters
“For over twenty years the Whitireia Community Polytechnic music course has been training some of New Zealand’s top musical entertainers,” says programme manager Dan Adams. Students worked to produce their own rendition of the music and performed this publicly, at Shooters Bar in Wellington City.The gig is an opportunity for students to experience live performance. “Participation is optional”, says Adams “every student has chosen to be involved and that’s what makes this so cool – that the gig is real, they won’t be assessed, this is purely for them.” Whitireia textile artists represent New Zealand, at International Shibori Symposium 08
Connelly was invited by Co-Chairman and organiser Yoshiko Wada to present a demonstration on Nuno Felting, which is a style both Ngata and Donnelly use in their current work.The international exposure and opportunity to see other artists’ work is invaluable. The pair intends to research the way natural dyes are used in collections from world renowned designers, such as Yoshiki Hishinuma and Christina Kim, with a view to sharing the knowledge they gain on their return. Educating the Teachers of the World — Whitireia and Indonesian Ambassador Sign AgreementA five-year Memorandum of Intent was signed with Jambi educational representatives on 7 October. The formal arrangement allows academic staff from tertiary institutions in Jambi to study at Whitireia Community Polytechnic for four months to upgrade their skills in academic English and teaching. The Memorandum recognises the intention that teachers from Jambi will come to Whitireia for the next five years. A group of twenty-three Jambi academic staff have just spent four months completing their Certificate in Professional Teaching Practice at the Whitireia campus in Auckland. A delegation from Jambi came to New Zealand to review the students’ progress in Auckland and sign the agreement in Wellington. The delegation was, however, delayed in Auckland because of a closure at Wellington Airport. Wellington-based Indonesian Ambassador Amris Hassan stepped in and signed the agreement on behalf of the delegation with Don Campbell, Chief Executive of Whitireia. “We are keen to foster awareness of this polytechnic and the teacher training it can provide our people with. Not many Indonesian people know about educational institutions in New Zealand and we want to have our academic staff learning from one of the best,” said Mr Hassan. The initiative was proposed by the Indonesian Government, which also directly funds the students’ grants. Cohorts of up to twenty-five staff are likely to be involved in studying over each four-month period. Ongoing programme content for delivery will be subject to a detailed Memorandum of Agreement for each cohort. Whitireia has experience and success in educating international and national teachers alike. The Certificate in Professional Teaching Practice provides an opportunity for international teachers of English to study here. In the past, this opportunity has been taken up by groups of teachers who travel from a particular country and learn as a group. In 2006, Thailand was the participating country. Established programmes such as the Bachelor in Early Childhood Education, the Diploma in Early Childhood Education and the Certificate in Early Childhood Teaching produce highly sought-after graduates and give Whitireia an excellent track record in teacher training. New Cuba Street campusIt used to be the Working Men’s Club on Cuba Mall; a cheap pint, smoky rooms and sagging pool tables. As the new Wellington campus for Whitireia Community Polytechnic, fibre optic networks replace the camaraderie of bar room socialism. Budding journalists, bloggers, editors and publishing managers, office managers and business entrepreneurs now rest their elbows on contemporary computer desks. Formally opened by US Ambassador Bill McCormick and the Honorable Luamanuvao Winnie Laban on Tuesday 1 July, the campus vision for flexible, in workplace, B2B and internet enhanced training encapsulates the themes of New Zealand’s changing workplaces. Students can study with the nation’s leading publishing course either face to face in contemporary refitted Working Man’s Clubrooms, or completely online. Even office management programmes are offered directly into the work place or home in the ‘Flexi Learn’ programme. “It is a place of learning that engages with the world, located in the capital, with programmes that reach out to international activities and events (like journalism, publishing), supported by state of the art IT infrastructure, to provide an international applied training centre that works through industry and other partnerships says Don Campbell, Chief Executive of Whitireia Community Polytechnic. Download a PDF version of this document from our website We have sent you this newsletter as we believe you are interested in developments at Whitireia. Please contact us on newsletter@whitireia.ac.nz if you wish to unsubscribe. Lack of universal browser support for macrons and accents prevented their use, apologies to readers of Maori. |