Hawera High School principal Paul Ryan has announced his resignation.
In a shock announcement at the Taranaki Secondary School Association's annual dinner this week Mr Ryan said this year would be his last. He will be the fourth Taranaki principal to leave in 14 months but while the other three will be working overseas, Mr Ryan is going to travel. Quite simply, it's time to see the world with his wife – again – but this time in style. "It's been 20 years since Christine and I have done any decent travelling," he said.
The pair are off on an overseas adventure to visit family and friends and return to places they have wanted to go for years.
It'll be their third overseas experience but with a bit more comfort – there'll be no backpacks and shoe-string budgets.
"I've made a promise to Christine that we'd stay at the Victoria Falls Hotel when we're in Zimbabwe because last time we were in a motor camp."
South America and China are also on the travel plans they never visited the first and second time around. There are no other plans beyond the travelling yet.
When Mr Ryan leaves it will be three years and three terms since he first set foot in the door of Hawera's secondary school and he thinks he's made his mark.
Classrooms have been refurbished, there are plans under way for further improvements to the property and the school is in a financially strong position. "I've been hearing from a few people the school is in better shape now than before I arrived which is nice to hear," he said.
He's also proud the school has improved academically. "The students continue to make positive decisions in relation to their schooling and in setting up the best possible future for the themselves."
Staff had also been amazing to work with. "They are a fantastic group who really focus on the students and have a genuine desire for them to achieve."
Showing posts with label Hawera High School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawera High School. Show all posts
Friday, October 23
Friday, September 14
School produces three computer champs
RICHARD WOODD - Taranaki Daily News Friday, 14 September 2007
Joshua Brungar, and Simon Wadsworth who have beaten out competitiors to become two of the country's best young computer programmers.
Hawera High School has three computer programming champions - and one of them could be a genius.
They have beaten 50 other schools for top honours in a nation-wide programming teams contest.
One, Kieran McLaughlan, hasn't hung around. Twelve days after the contest, he flew to Boston to start a five-year scholarship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worth $250,000. He sat the US college entrance exams and scored near-maximum in all the papers.
Kieran (18) will probably go into science-based practical research and development, says the school's head of computing, Andrew Phayer.
His two team-mates, Simon Wadsworth (17) and Joshua Brungar (18), yesterday were presented with certificates by the NZ Computer Society chief executive Douglas White, and products by corporate supporters, Obertech Group of Hawera and Gen-i Taranaki. The contest is run annually by the society.
Mr White said Hawera's success was surprising, as it was up against bigger schools with more money and resources.
Mr Phayer was the team mentor and helped the students work as a unit. They had to share one computer in the five-hour contest, at Waikato University on August 4.
"Kieran was a key member. He likes to solve the problem first, and the other two did the programming, creating the code and get it working. They were complementary," Mr Phayer said.
Most people could be trained in computer programming. "But there's also an art to it. You need desire, discipline and a flair."
Simon says the Hawera team got a lucky break: "We tackled a really difficult one first and found it fairly easy and scored very high points."
Joshua Brungar, and Simon Wadsworth who have beaten out competitiors to become two of the country's best young computer programmers.
Hawera High School has three computer programming champions - and one of them could be a genius.
They have beaten 50 other schools for top honours in a nation-wide programming teams contest.
One, Kieran McLaughlan, hasn't hung around. Twelve days after the contest, he flew to Boston to start a five-year scholarship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worth $250,000. He sat the US college entrance exams and scored near-maximum in all the papers.
Kieran (18) will probably go into science-based practical research and development, says the school's head of computing, Andrew Phayer.
His two team-mates, Simon Wadsworth (17) and Joshua Brungar (18), yesterday were presented with certificates by the NZ Computer Society chief executive Douglas White, and products by corporate supporters, Obertech Group of Hawera and Gen-i Taranaki. The contest is run annually by the society.
Mr White said Hawera's success was surprising, as it was up against bigger schools with more money and resources.
Mr Phayer was the team mentor and helped the students work as a unit. They had to share one computer in the five-hour contest, at Waikato University on August 4.
"Kieran was a key member. He likes to solve the problem first, and the other two did the programming, creating the code and get it working. They were complementary," Mr Phayer said.
Most people could be trained in computer programming. "But there's also an art to it. You need desire, discipline and a flair."
Simon says the Hawera team got a lucky break: "We tackled a really difficult one first and found it fairly easy and scored very high points."
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