Ollie Jones (Year 12), Tom Whitteker (Year 12) and Jake Cutler (Year 13) who were selected for the New Zealand Secondary Students’ Choir and rehearsed and performed with the choir throughout the year amid Covid-19 issues. It would not have been possible to have such a successful year without the help of Director of Music Robert Aburn and Assistant Director and organist Nick Sutcliffe. Both were amazing to work with in 2021, and ensured the choir could continue despite the disruption. If it were not for their dedication to the Chapel Choir and their musical abilities, the choir would not have been able to have as great a year in 2021. Our thanks to them both. Joshua Erasmus Head of Chapel Choir ENVIRONMENT College is doing well to adapt to the ever-increasing need to look after our world. The Environment committee this year has worked towards assisting College in embodying its strategic theme of sustainability. Our largest project was the creation of a recycling bin proposal. We identified and amended issues we discovered in the recycling system put into place last year in the Warren and Science blocks, and have created a strategy to expand
recycling to the rest of the school. This provides the framework to further develop recycling and to increase landfill diversion at the school. College students have also been provided with several environmental service opportunities throughout the year, and I am proud to say that we maintained a strong presence at all of them. In Term 2 a beach cleanup was organised with several other local schools including Christchurch Girls’ High School, Rangi Ruru Girls’ School and Christchurch Boys’ High School. Despite the rivalry between College and Boys’ High, both were united by the shared goal of making New Brighton a cleaner place for all, bringing about a successful cleanup. In Term 3 we organised a cleanup of the Hagley Park area next to College, primarily along the riverside. This event, dubbed “A Walk in the Park” had College boys working with girls from Rangi Ruru. The City Council was more than happy to provide grabber-reachers, bags and gloves, and with everyone’s support we were able to efficiently clean Hagley Park while enjoying the event. I must mention Eco-Action and the work College has done with them. College is one of Eco-Action’s nursery schools. Every Tuesday and Friday College students are joined by those from Rangi Ruru at the Christ’s College nursery.
Here students nurture seeds and saplings (eco-sourced from the Travis Wetland area) until they are ready to be planted in unusable land in the red zone. Red zone plantings occur three times a year, with many schools across Christchurch coming together to plant the matured saplings. These planting sites will develop into forests, providing shelter and food for native birds and lizards. More than 12,000 plants were planted in the red zone, and 20,000 more saplings were pricked out to be planted in the future. This is an outstanding achievement which really goes to show how a big impact can come from an accumulation of smaller efforts by the different schools. I take pride in speaking of the two College boys who have been chosen to be Eco-Action leaders for 2022, Thomas Currie and William Law. I know they will ensure the continued success of our nursery. Lastly, I’d like to wish the best of luck to William Law who will take over as Head of Environment in 2022. I know that he has some wonderful ideas, and has the passion and persistence to make them a reality. Hopefully Will can take on board his experience working with the committee this year and use it as a springboard to reach new heights.
Janindu Pahalawatta Head of Environment
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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