John Morrison and Sarah O’Reilly. Photo supplied.Two young Mid Canterbury born-and-raised harness racing drivers will be shooting for glory against the best of their contemporaries across Australasia over the course of the next week.

John Morrison and Sarah O’Reilly are set to embark on a week-long tour which will take them across New Zealand as part of a 12-strong group competing in the Australasia Young Drivers Championship.

Featuring the best young names in the sport, the duo make up half of the New Zealand contingent of four for the series and will be joined by New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria.

O’Reilly is in the side as the New Zealand representative having won the National junior drivers’ championship earlier this year, while Morrison earned his ticket as the South Island representative by winning the national premiership for the driver with the most wins last season.

Sheree Tomlinson and Benjamin Butcher are the other two Kiwi drivers, with Tomlinson making the cut as the defending champion of the series and Butcher claiming the North Island representative spot.

Both of the local drivers said they were looking forward to the experience.

“It means a lot to me to be in the Championship because it is an honour to represent New Zealand and I’m lucky to get the opportunity to drive against the best in Australasia,” O’Reilly said.

Morrison echoed those sentiments.

“It’s a privilege to represent your country and to get to drive against the best young drivers going around, I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.

The series kicks off tomorrow night at Addington with one heat of racing before heading out to Methven on Sunday where they will compete in two races.

It will be a new experience for many of the Australian visitors with grass track racing limited back home.

The group of 12 will then head north next week for two days of racing from Manawatu before the final night of the series is held under the bright lights at Alexandra Park on Inter Dominion Grand Final night next Friday night.

Both Mid Canterbury locals have strong drives to start the series, with O’Reilly likely to drive the favourite, One Over Da Son, in tomorrow night’s opening heat at the Addington round, while Morrison is on the handy Justan’s Sister.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 5 December 2019

Opting in to the Ministry of Education’s $150 per student pay deal might guarantee around $180,000 in Ashburton College’s budget, but it could also mean some school activities are canned, says principal Ross Preece.

The college is among hundreds of decile one to seven schools around New Zealand that have decided to scrap their voluntary school donation in favour of receiving the $150 per student payout.

And while Preece is cautiously optimistic it will be a winner for the college, he is going into the deal eyes wide open, knowing there will need to be plenty of juggling and a few sacrifices of traditional activities.

“I think we’ll be about $20,000 to $30,000 better off because we’ll be guaranteed money for every child in the school but at the moment we can ask for cost recovery for activities and we won’t be able to do this.

“That will force us to make choices,” he said.

An example of cost recovery would be the traditional Year 9 ropes course.

This comes with a $70 per student cost that is recovered from parents.

Under the new system the $70 would absorb half of a student’s $150 grant and could not be recovered from parents.

Overnight camp fees, however could be recovered and this could see schools combining two activities to ensure there was an overnight component, Preece said.

“We’re trying to resist the temptation to do this but it could mean there are activities we don’t do. We’re already looking at some of the ‘nice to do’ activities that we can charge for.”

While the bulk fee option guaranteed a payment for every student, in deciding whether or not to take up the option, schools ran the risk of parents refusing to pay the voluntary school levy if they turned it down, on the basis that education was supposed to be free.

“Overall we feel taking it up was the right thing to do because for many families being asked for $150 at the start of the school year presents something of a challenge.”

The college’s voluntary donation was $100 per child or $150 for two or more children.

The initiative will see schools receive their additional funding in January 2020, alongside their regular operational funding.

Secondary schools, with their wider range of extra activities were likely to feel the impact of the new deal more than primary schools, and whether or not signing on was the right option would become clear at the end of 2020 when schools took stock of the activities they had done and had not been able to do, Preece said.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 30 November 2019

Ross Preece When your school roll could blow out by more than 20 students over the summer, establishing teacher numbers for the coming year is the ultimate guessing game, school principals say.

Last year Ashburton College principal Ross Preece signed off with an anticipated Year 9 roll of 255.

By March that number had blown out to 274, the equivalent of one additional class.

This year the college is looking at an intake of 266 students at Year 9. Because the school tries to keep classes at that level to no more than 25 students, Preece faces a dilemma – 10 or 11 Year 9 classes.

The numbers are “ugly” and based on last year’s experience where an additional 21 students turned up at the start of the year it’s difficult to make that decision with confidence, he said.

“Last year it turned out we should have had 11 Year 9 classes.

“You get walk-ups and walk- offs and the problem is you usually don’t get any notification.”

When you get the ugly numbers, Preece said you’re talking 0.2 of a teacher across several subjects if you create an extra class.

And the question then becomes where do those teaching hours come from.

At its last board meeting the college was looking at a long list of vacancies, some from anticipated retirements, but others were because teachers had gained promotion at another school.

“At this time of the year every school is scrambling to be fully staffed by the year’s end, that’s everyone’s goal.”

Currently the college has most of the advertised vacancies filled but in a competitive market there were always areas such as maths, science, Te Reo and technology where schools were chasing staff from a relatively small pool.

“We’re lucky here, if we do have a vacancy we can shoulder-tap our retirees to fill in while we advertise again,” Preece said.

If that wasn’t an option, deputy principals might find themselves taking additional classes to fill gaps.

He’s aware of schools that have been trying for two years to fill hard technology vacancies.

“At the extreme end you might have to put two classes together.

“That’s something we haven’t had to do, but there are schools that’re forced to do that now.”

There was also the option of bringing in someone from the community skilled in a specific hard to fill area and giving them limited authority to teach, but the salary offered fell far short of what they were likely to be earning in the private sector, Preece said.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 30 November 2019