Garin College, Nelson
Encyclopedia
Garin College, Nelson is an integrated, co-ed day and boarding secondary school located in Richmond
, Nelson
, New Zealand
. The college is Nelson's first catholic college. It was founded in 2002 to serve the Catholic community in, especially, Nelson, Golden Bay
and Marlborough
. The college first opened on the 28th of January 2002.
The college is named after Father Antoine Marie Garin (1810–1889) who was the founding pastor of the Catholic Church in Nelson. The proprietor of the school is the Catholic Archbishop of Wellington
.
Surrounded by trees main feature of the sacred space is the statue (or Cairn) which built up of an assortment of rocks which were brought by day one students to the school, on the 28th of January 2002. This was all to build a small cairn as a lasting memorial of Garin's opening.
The Garin College boarding hostels are to serve the Catholic community in the “top of the South”-the region north of a line between Westport and Kaikoura in the South Island of New Zealand.
Third hostel
A third hostel has been proposed, discussed and fund-raised for a number of years, but it is unlikely that it will be built in the near future, as the school is comfortably catering for its existing boarding students. The third hostel is designed to cater for the senior students of the college, most notably students who are in years 12 and 13. It would be a co-ed hostel unlike the two existing ones.
was written and performed for the first time in 2006, four years after the school first opened. It was first unveiled to the school and spectators at the 2006 annual Te Wairua o nga Mahi Toi festival. It was the opening act on the 2006 final Mahi Toi night.
for The spirit of creation in the arts'.
Founded in 2002, the two-day festival is an event where the school's students participate in music, dance and impromptu items. The best items from these two days are selected to perform on the final Mahi Toi night. The Mahoi Toi final night is often the last night of the college's second term.
Since then Mahi Toi has found new forms of creativity every year. The college's Maori language teacher Matua Simon Pimm came up with a title that fitted with the new Catholic school and our goal of being extraordinary.
Awards
The festival is also a competition between the college's houses (Aubert, Barbier, McAuley and McKillop), in which they collect 'house points' from competing and performing well in items over the two days, and also on the final night. On the Mahoi Toi final night the overall house is awarded the 'House Cup', in which Barbier house have won it for 8 years straight since Te Wairua O Nga Mahi Toi's inception in 2002.
Cups are awarded to the 'House Song', and an award is made to the winning 'Whanau Class' which enter's the most events throughout the festival. The Whanau Class Barbier 2 has notably won the award the most times.
The house singing is arguably the most competitive item throughout the festival. The college's four houses put together a rehearsed song of their choice, and change the lyrics to suit their style and often bag the other competing houses.
Club Garin
The organisation which supports participants and coaches of sports, arts and service in the school in all sorts of ways.
Garin Express
The Garin Express is a bus route from which students attending the college could catch from the inner Nelson city to Garin College in Richmond, Nelson. The bus route was designed to pick up only Garin College students, stopping in Bishopdale, Tahuna and in the earlier years in Stoke.
The Garin Express had an infamous sign on the front left corner of the bus reading in block letters "GARIN EXPRESS".
Recycling
In the early years of the Garin, an initiative was started where recycling of rubbish was taken on a serious note an implemented throughout the college by the use of large plastic bins, that were labelled with either 'plastic' or 'paper'.
This was something they started with in 2002, but something that was lost in the busy-ness of starting a new school. Garin has just set up new compost systems, their worm farms and their gardens again.
Spirit of Garin
The Spirit of Garin is an award that is handed out at the college's weekly assembly on Wednesdays.
Staff at Garin hand out slips to students who do and say the good things they expect at the college.
Study Hall
The term 'Study Hall' is used amongst the students and staff of Garin. This was created in the later terms of the schools opening year. Students who are late get a “study hall” and spend the next lunchtime doing school work to make up for the time lost.
There were early criticisms of the new initiative at the time, such as receiving punishment for not having basic class equipment such as a pen. The students names who receive a study hall are published in the schools daily notices. The 'study hall' students were supervised in the college's library.
Split page note-taker
From day one at Garin, split-page note-taker was a compulsory piece of stationery for the college's students. It was a developed and research-backed note-taking tool that helps students think.
The key things to look at are the focusing question so the students knows what they are trying to learn from the start, the left hand panel for new words, key concepts etc., and the review panel at the bottom ensures the learning can be transferred into long-term memory.
In the early years at Garin the split-page notetaker was criticized for only being in a refill form. In 2004 a book form of the split-page note-taker system was developed so that students would not lose their notes.
Solutions Unlimited
Solutions Unlimited is the sign on the Deputy Head Teacher’s door Denis Moriarty. Every problem is an opportunity, no difficulty is insurmountable. Students sent to the Deputy's office are often negotiated a punishment, rather than given it. Garin believes there is always a better way of looking at a negative.
Richmond, New Zealand
Richmond, the seat of the Tasman District Council, lies 13 km south of Nelson in the South Island of New Zealand, close to the southern extremity of Tasman Bay...
, Nelson
Nelson, New Zealand
Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. The college is Nelson's first catholic college. It was founded in 2002 to serve the Catholic community in, especially, Nelson, Golden Bay
Golden Bay
Golden Bay lies at the edge of the junction between the Tasman Sea and Cook Strait. It stretches for 45 kilometres from the long sand spit of Farewell Spit in the north to Separation Point in Abel Tasman National Park at its southern extremity...
and Marlborough
Marlborough, New Zealand
Marlborough is one of the regions of New Zealand, located in the northeast of the South Island. Marlborough is a unitary authority, both a region and a district, and its council is located at Blenheim. Marlborough is known for its dry climate, the picturesque Marlborough Sounds, and sauvignon blanc...
. The college first opened on the 28th of January 2002.
The college is named after Father Antoine Marie Garin (1810–1889) who was the founding pastor of the Catholic Church in Nelson. The proprietor of the school is the Catholic Archbishop of Wellington
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington
The Latin Rite Catholic Archdiocese of Wellington is the Metropolitan Archdiocese of New Zealand. Catholics number about 83,214 . Parishes number 47 parishes and the archdiocese extends over central New Zealand between Levin and Masterton in the north to Kaikoura to Westport in the...
.
Sacred Space
The 'sacred space' is an area located at Garin College near the D Block building of the school. The 'sacred space' is mostly grass which leads up to a cross which is cemented in a statue of rocks. The space is designed for students to reflect, relax and sometimes pray in the area.Surrounded by trees main feature of the sacred space is the statue (or Cairn) which built up of an assortment of rocks which were brought by day one students to the school, on the 28th of January 2002. This was all to build a small cairn as a lasting memorial of Garin's opening.
Houses
Garin College has four houses. The houses are represented by colours. Students who have brother's or sisters at the college are often put in the same house- Aubert = Blue
- Barbier = Green
- McKillop = Yellow
- McAuley = Red
Boarding hostels
The school has accommodation for up to 60 boarders in two boarding hostels, Francis Douglas House and Mother Teresa House which have been catering for students of the college since 2002.The Garin College boarding hostels are to serve the Catholic community in the “top of the South”-the region north of a line between Westport and Kaikoura in the South Island of New Zealand.
Third hostel
A third hostel has been proposed, discussed and fund-raised for a number of years, but it is unlikely that it will be built in the near future, as the school is comfortably catering for its existing boarding students. The third hostel is designed to cater for the senior students of the college, most notably students who are in years 12 and 13. It would be a co-ed hostel unlike the two existing ones.
Haka
The college's hakaHaka
Haka is a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand. It is a posture dance performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment...
was written and performed for the first time in 2006, four years after the school first opened. It was first unveiled to the school and spectators at the 2006 annual Te Wairua o nga Mahi Toi festival. It was the opening act on the 2006 final Mahi Toi night.
Te Wairua o nga Mahi Toi
Te Wairua O nga Mahi Toi is MaoriMaori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
for The spirit of creation in the arts'.
Founded in 2002, the two-day festival is an event where the school's students participate in music, dance and impromptu items. The best items from these two days are selected to perform on the final Mahi Toi night. The Mahoi Toi final night is often the last night of the college's second term.
Since then Mahi Toi has found new forms of creativity every year. The college's Maori language teacher Matua Simon Pimm came up with a title that fitted with the new Catholic school and our goal of being extraordinary.
Awards
The festival is also a competition between the college's houses (Aubert, Barbier, McAuley and McKillop), in which they collect 'house points' from competing and performing well in items over the two days, and also on the final night. On the Mahoi Toi final night the overall house is awarded the 'House Cup', in which Barbier house have won it for 8 years straight since Te Wairua O Nga Mahi Toi's inception in 2002.
Cups are awarded to the 'House Song', and an award is made to the winning 'Whanau Class' which enter's the most events throughout the festival. The Whanau Class Barbier 2 has notably won the award the most times.
The house singing is arguably the most competitive item throughout the festival. The college's four houses put together a rehearsed song of their choice, and change the lyrics to suit their style and often bag the other competing houses.
Garin speak: Institutions and assumptions
Since the college's beginning Garin has adapted a number of terms, initiatives and practices used widely amongst the Garin community and its students.Club Garin
The organisation which supports participants and coaches of sports, arts and service in the school in all sorts of ways.
Garin Express
The Garin Express is a bus route from which students attending the college could catch from the inner Nelson city to Garin College in Richmond, Nelson. The bus route was designed to pick up only Garin College students, stopping in Bishopdale, Tahuna and in the earlier years in Stoke.
The Garin Express had an infamous sign on the front left corner of the bus reading in block letters "GARIN EXPRESS".
Recycling
In the early years of the Garin, an initiative was started where recycling of rubbish was taken on a serious note an implemented throughout the college by the use of large plastic bins, that were labelled with either 'plastic' or 'paper'.
This was something they started with in 2002, but something that was lost in the busy-ness of starting a new school. Garin has just set up new compost systems, their worm farms and their gardens again.
Spirit of Garin
The Spirit of Garin is an award that is handed out at the college's weekly assembly on Wednesdays.
Staff at Garin hand out slips to students who do and say the good things they expect at the college.
Study Hall
The term 'Study Hall' is used amongst the students and staff of Garin. This was created in the later terms of the schools opening year. Students who are late get a “study hall” and spend the next lunchtime doing school work to make up for the time lost.
There were early criticisms of the new initiative at the time, such as receiving punishment for not having basic class equipment such as a pen. The students names who receive a study hall are published in the schools daily notices. The 'study hall' students were supervised in the college's library.
Split page note-taker
From day one at Garin, split-page note-taker was a compulsory piece of stationery for the college's students. It was a developed and research-backed note-taking tool that helps students think.
The key things to look at are the focusing question so the students knows what they are trying to learn from the start, the left hand panel for new words, key concepts etc., and the review panel at the bottom ensures the learning can be transferred into long-term memory.
In the early years at Garin the split-page notetaker was criticized for only being in a refill form. In 2004 a book form of the split-page note-taker system was developed so that students would not lose their notes.
Solutions Unlimited
Solutions Unlimited is the sign on the Deputy Head Teacher’s door Denis Moriarty. Every problem is an opportunity, no difficulty is insurmountable. Students sent to the Deputy's office are often negotiated a punishment, rather than given it. Garin believes there is always a better way of looking at a negative.