Challenge College -
Alternative Education Programme
Challenge College is now in its 9th year as a holistic, wraparound education and personal development programme. It caters for young people who, for a variety of reasons are not able to continue in a mainstream school.
The AEP has gone from strength to strength and lots of our past students are back at mainstream schools or doing well working or studying in their communities. In 2009, Gerard Tully became the new principal of Challenge College. Gerard has vast experience in the education field and has in the past been the Deputy Principal of Porirua College, before being the Rector of St. Patrick's College in Kilbirnie. It has been great having someone with so much experience overseeing the college.
The College has a structured programme, focussing both on numeracy and literacy as well as life skills, and many other subjects. Poetry, music, Te Reo Maori, art, craft, food technology, Shakespeare, carving, sports, guitar learning, adventure learning, life skills, boys group, girls group and health education. As you see it is a very full weekly programme.
Our students come predominantly from the Porirua, Northern Suburbs and Wellington areas. Fees for the AEP are generally met through the Ministry of Education, although this funding does not adequately subsidise the actual cost of the programme. So Challenge 2000 spends a lot of time fundraising for the AEP, receiving donations or, in some instances, businesses sponsor young people. We are also very grateful to the Winton and Margaret Bear Trust who assist every year with funding towards this programme.
Last year, several of our past students also did extremely well. A number have returned to mainstream are achieving, and some attending university. Another student recently graduated from a Polytec and is now a chef in a major Wellington restaurant. So well done.
Many of our past students come back and visit Challenge 2000 or offer to support us in different ways. It is great to see them stepping up to assist Challenge, their school and communities and participating fully in our society.
September Update
Challenge College has been bursting with excitement. This term we have been working on a shortened version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” The students have a role each and really got into it. It was performed on Wednesday September 16th, for staff and friends of Challenge 2000. The audience loved it and the students really enjoyed the experience.
We have been getting out and about, as the weather starts to warm up, sketching Wellington’s landscape and sea. It’s nice in the afternoon to have a bit of peace and quiet to just sketch what ever inspires us at the time. It helps to be able to see the South Island on these days too!
As the weather warms up we’re gearing into our touch season which a majority of our students will be involved in. On Monday afternoons we’re out there practicing our touch and teamwork skills in preparation for the season.
Camp, last term, took us to the Central Plateau with Andy Murray where we participated in activities in Taupo and Turangi. We got up to Whakapapa ski field and threw snow at each other, lay down a hangi in a “natural ready to go hangi pit” then finished it all off with a soak in hot pools at Tokaanu. We stayed in a beautiful camping ground called Turangi Cabins which provided the icing on the cake for such an adventurous trip.
Also last term we were lucky enough to have the unique talents of Joshua Wolf who came in to teach us about rapping. Josh worked with the students for the term and at the end of it students had written their own rap and performed it back to their peers. On top of that our students had the task of researching a person or event in New Zealand’s history. They researched hard and presented their findings in diverse ways using multimedia, posters and speeches. They each chose profound topics such as David Bain, Colonisation and how that comes back to gangs in NZ, and sporting heroes like Tawera Nikau. We as staff at Challenge College were most impressed at what they discovered and look forward to our next NZ history projects.
The 3rd term is nearly over for Challenge College and we’re all looking forward to a well deserved break before we kick into the last term of the year.
Naku Na
Gerard Tully & Jamie McCaskill
Past actvities and events are recounted below
Kayaking in the Pool - March 2009
Recently our Challenge College students had a fun afternoon practising kayaking skills in the pool! This was a preparation afternoon for the Challenge College Camp to be held this month. During the camp students will be kayaking down the Whanganui river for four days.
The afternoon was very successful and enjoyed by all!
Check out the photos!
Sports Day - February 2009!
On the 23rd of February, we had our first sports day at Challenge College.
There were five students, five staff members and one gap year student who joined the programme. We started the day off with basketball and we played for one hour in the Salvation Army hall where we have had a great match. Afterwards we drove to the badminton hall where we had lots of tournaments while playing in pairs.
After that everyone was hungry and we bought our lunch and ate it at Hataitai Beach. While on our lunch break we enjoyed the great weather and also saw a penguin swimming! After our break we stayed at the beach to play touch rugby.
To end the day we had a quick swim at Khandallah pool. When we arrived there the girls jumped into the pool and enjoyed the cool water.
The Sports Day was a great success and students were challenged to play sports they hadn’t played before. They did really well! Overall it was a great day and everybody had lots of fun!
Written by Daniela Mossbacher (German Social Work Student)
