The BFD | How Do We Get Them Back to School?

OPINION

Alwyn Poole

Alwyn Poole founded and was the head of Mt Hobson Middle School in Auckland for 18 years. MH Academy is now an in person private school for Year 11 – 13. There is now a nationwide online provision called Mt Hobson Academy Connected for Years 1 – 13.

alwynpoole.substack.com

I hated the end of the school holidays – even when I was a teacher/Principal. I loved it when I actually got back in there but on the first day of school … Powderfinger sang it so well:

It's coming round again
Slowly creeping hand
Of time and its command
Soon enough it comes
And settles in its place
Its shadow in my face
Puts pressure in my day

At primary school, I pretty much went all of the time – apart from when I could convince my mother that the chunder that looked a lot like fresh yoghurt was real and/or that I had not stuck my fingers down my throat.

At high school I went for the sport but wagged if there was something better to do – e.g. watching every day of the 1984 Olympics, playing golf with my uncle. My high school was of very poor quality and without friends and sport I see very few other reasons I would have attended … oh … apart from those things called “qualifications” – which have certainly been helpful and I am thankful for – they have helped me do things like earn an income, buy a home, etc.

For a range of reasons we now have a HUGE attendance problem in New Zealand – both in reference to our own history and by international standards.

Percentage of NZ Learners Fully Attending