Rīpoata Kura | School Director’s Report
I am continually in awe of the wonderful people I get to work with every day. From instructors Robbie and Luke, who ran and cycled more than 2000km during their month off to raise over $12,000 for student scholarships, to our Clothing Rover, Heidi, who has been diligently maintaining and issuing clothing and boots to students since 2005, we’re lucky to have such a dedicated team here.
Since late 2021, we have onboarded an entirely new delivery manager team and this year they have really come into their own. As we have come out from the challenges of COVID-19, they have taken the baton and ran with it. As the world has continued to change around us, they have helped us maintain great course outcomes by supporting our staff, building relationships, and continually refining our courses, logistics, recruitment, and training.
It finally feels like COVID is in the rear view mirror, this year we have lifted almost all of the pandemic policies and procedures that we had in place over the last 3 years. Instead, some of our biggest challenges this year have come from the weather.
2022 turned out to be Marlborough's wettest winter on record.
Anakiwa received half a metre of rain within just one course.
Extreme winter storms cut off local roads and caused significant damage to walking tracks.
This has been a reminder of the importance of climate resilience, which we now bake into our infrastructure planning.
This year has also seen the arrival of some valuable new assets. July 2022 saw our new launch, the Rāhiri, enter service. The Rāhiri is special. It is our first new launch in 3 decades and it means we now have 3 vessels with similar handling characteristics and systems, which simplifies maintenance and training.
It has special features to support adapted courses for students with disabilities. Lastly but importantly, this vessel has been blessed by Te Ātiawa with the name of their hāpu, Rāhiri, who once occupied the site where our school is today.
We have also purchased a new Mercedes Sprinter bus and plan to replace at least half of our bus fleet with Sprinters at a rate of approximately 1 per year.
These new buses have better safety features, better fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and are more comfortable for long drives than our older buses. We will retain a number of our existing bus fleet because their valuable ground clearance is still needed on some of the roads we access.
Hamish Reid with staff and alumni during our 60th Celebration, September 2022.
Of course, not all new assets are as appealing as a new launch or bus, but can be just as important. This year we embarked on a major upgrade of our wastewater system.
The addition of underground ‘buffer’ tanks means that we can now divert waste to these tanks for a time to reduce peak loads on the system at busy times. They also allow us to safely divert and store waste while repairs or upgrades to the wastewater plant are undertaken.
While the work we do with our students in the outdoors remains deliberately low-tech, it is increasingly important for us to embrace technology in the background. We have been utilising more tech tools to make our work easier and more efficient.
For example, to communicate between workplaces, to understand data trends, to collect feedback or to monitor safety.
A big change this year was moving our PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) systems from paper to digital, allowing staff to make checks or update records via their phone.
This year we recognised our long and strengthening relationship with Te Ātiawa, signing a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between us and starting work on a joint initiative. We also enjoyed the manākitanga |hospitality of Te Ātiawa at two noho | overnight stays at Waikawa Marae. These noho have been a great way to gather all of our staff together from around Aotearoa, while also learning more about what it means to be a good Te Tiriti ally.
2022 was also our 60th birthday, so we celebrated this in style with an event at Anakiwa. This was a special opportunity for former students, staff and supporters to reconnect with each other and with Anakiwa. With alumni who were on course 1, through to those who finished their course only weeks before the celebration, attendees represented every era of Outward Bound New Zealand’s history.
Ngā mihi nuiHamish ReidKaitohu a te KuraSchool Director
