Friday, February 2, 2024

Milford Huts, Milford Lagoon, Opihi River Mouth

Wed 31.01.24. From Pleasant Point, I drove approx 22km via Temuka, along Milford Lagoon Rd to Milford Huts by Milford Lagoon, Opihi River Mouth. Parked my car at Milford Huts town, Milford Lagoon.

Tramped approx 7.5km return along the grassy stopbank & nearby roads, N side of Milford Lagoon & Opihi River. First walked NE along the stopbank for approx 500m before overgrown vegetation made the walk unpleasant, despite using my walking poles to push past vegetation. Saw log flotsam & gulls beach side of Milford Lagoon. Saw 4 white-fronted terns darting & diving for prey, akin to kingfisher dives, straight into lagoon water. A DOC sign where I turned back:

Milford Lagoon / Orakipaoa
Conservation Area

Along the stopbank, I continued W from Milford Lagoon beside Opihi River true left bank, past Milford Huts, past a flood warning apparatus on Milford Lagoon bank, past farm paddocks, inquisitive cattle on my right; poplars, crack willows, blackberry brambles lining the stopbank on my left, till I came to a farmhouse at the end of the stopbank by Wareing Rd gravel.

Wareing Rd gravel took me to Opihi River. Downriver, returning to Milford Lagoon, I wandered over shingle near the stopbank, past 3 fly-fishermen, till I came to Milford Lagoon again at shingle's end. A strong swimmer, I could've swum some of Miford Lagoon from the shingle back to the stopbank, but my cell phone, car keys, cochlear implant processor would've been water damaged. Also, I was put off swimming, as I'd passed hazard signs by the stopbank warning about toxic blue-green algae in river & lagoon waters.

Riverbank backtracking & avoiding stopbank return, I returned to my car at Milford Huts via river shingle, gravel Wareing Rd & tarsealed Milford Lagoon Rd, the latter roughly parallel to the stopbank.

Note: As Milford Huts were built close to Milford Lagoon, Opihi River mouth, Pacific, the town was in danger from coastal inundations by high tides, river flooding, tsunami. Town noticeboard & tsunami danger signs gave warnings.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Mt Guy Climb, Hakatere Conservation Park

Thursday 07.12.23. Sunny, breezy morning, rain showery afternoon, Mt Somers vicinity. I drove 110km from Pleasant Point via Geraldine, Mayfield, Mt Somers, Ashburton Gorge to Lake Clearwater in Hakatere Conservation Park to climb Mt Guy, 1319m, overlooking Lake Clearwater & surrounded by Alpine peaks.

My climb stats: From Lake Clearwater carpark, 11km, 7h return. 600 vertical metres climb. (5.5km, 3.5h ascent to summit cairn. 5.5km, 3.5 descent back to carpark). Excl in stats, half hour lunch & pic break by the summit cairn. A full day's hike.

The DOC pole-marked track had various DOC signs enroute. The farm track from the carpark skirted SE end of Lake Clearwater to a Pringle memorial bench near a footbridge at the lake outlet. NE end of Lake Clearwater, beyond the footbridge, the track led to a stile from where the climb began through tussock, becoming steeper through matagouri scrub beside a rocky gully. About halfway up, the track became very steep sidling up & over rocky outcrops to ease over summit tussock with grand Alpine & lake views from the summit cairn.

Anticlockwise, Some lakes & mountains seen enroute: Lake Clearwater, Lake Camp, Harper Range, Lake Emma, Mt Peel, Coal Hill, Moorhouse Range, Trinity Hill, Ashburton Gorge, distant Canterbury Plains, Mt Barrosa, Clent Hills, Mt Somers Range, Winterslow Range, Taylor Range, Dogs Range, hidden tarns in tussocklands at mt bases, The Pyramid, Mt Potts, Mt Sunday (Edoras, Lord of the Rings fame), snowy D'Archiac, The Thumbs, snowy Main Divide, Two Thumbs Range, Rangitata River headwaters, Ben McLeod Range...

Fauna seen: Black swans in Lake Clearwater; 1 pipit, I imitated its whistle keeping it company a while; 1 butterfly; skinks; grasshoppers, flies.

Flora: Tussock grassland; matagouri; small, white flowering celmisias; bigger celmisias; speargrass; yellow flowering bulbinella; creamy flowering snowberries; white flowering pentachondra pumila, some red berries trackside; yellow flowering buttercups; pale blue flowering wahlenbergias; broom; scleranthus; drachophyllum; craspedias; scabweeds... Also yellow flowering hieracium hawkweed, seen from lakeside to mt top, thanks to past stockfarming.

As on previous hikes over the years I found DOC signs wishful thinking regarding walk times & distances. DOC didn't reckon on lengthy zig-zagging needed to avoid plant, mud, rock & scree obstacles. An example, DOC sign by the stile below Mt Guy: Mt Guy Summit 2 km / 1 hour 15 min.

My reckoning from stile to summit, as per 2 fitness apps on my Cell: 3km / 2h 45 min. (Same for ascent & descent climbs).

Patchy Cell coverage: Midday, I texted & phoned my wife from Mt Guy summit, no problems. But enroute texts I sent from Lake Clearwater carpark & half way up Mt Guy were undelivered.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Friday, March 17, 2023

Lake Clearwater, Hakatere Conservation Park

Wed 15.03.23. Hiked round Lake Clearwater, 14km, 4.5h. Anniversary of Christchurch mosques attacks.

From our Pleasant Point home, via Mt Somers, through Ashburton Gorge & Hakatere Potts Rd, Lake Clearwater was about 110km.

Parallel glacier formed lakes, Lake Camp & Lake Clearwater, popular holiday lakes, were surrounded by Alps: Mt Guy 1319m N side & Mt Harper Range 1829m S side dominated Lake Clearwater. Eastwards, passing through Ashburton Gorge from Mt Somers, I'd driven past Mt Barrosa 1364m which I'd climbed pre Covid19 lockdowns. NW of Mt Guy were grand autumn views of Dogs Range, The Pyramid 1748m & Mt Potts 2184m which had featured in Lord of the Rings movie. Further W were clear views of higher Alpine peaks at the head of Rangitata River.

Lake Clearwater circuit walk: At Lake Clearwater village, I parked my car at the lakeside carpark near the campsite. Walking eastwards along a farm track marked by DOC poles, I passed 2 fishermen & their SUVs & a memorial bench at the east end of Lake Clearwater. I crossed a wooden footbridge over the lake outlet stream. I walked a farm track on the N bank below glacial terraces on Mt Guy S flank. There were various side tracks for fishing spots on the lake shore & a track junction for those wanting to climb Mt Guy. Passing an island, I had grand views of Lake Clearwater village on the S shore, below Harper Range. Some Alpine plants seen enroute: matagouri bushes, porcupine bushes, Pentachondra pumila, Scleranthus, white flowering gentians, spear grass, tussock grassland. Due to stock farming, lots of high country, including Lake Clearwater environs was covered in Hieracium hawkweed. W end of the lake I saw waterfowl: ducks, paradise shelducks & black swans whose wings clapped against the water when they took off & flew low over the lake.

W end of Lake Clearwater, I reached a swamp with numerous swamp plants soaking up Alpine waters. A grass featured on a DOC info board by the swamp:

24/7 workers on the job here.

Wetland plants never stop working and Carex specta / pukio is a standout.

They are a flood controller, helping to hold excess water then releasing it slowly. With a big sreading root sytem they trap sediments and pollutants.

Nothing is wasted - their old leaves drop into the water providing food for invertebrates. They in turn feed fish and birds.

Working for us forever.

As long as we keep pukio around, they'll stay on the job. They can grow large and live over 100 years...

A DOC raised boardwalk & duckboards let me to wander over the swamp without getting my boots wet. Westwards, there were grand views of the high Alps & eastwards, magnificent views of the swamp & Lake Clearwater. Thistles amongst swamp plants spoiled the conservation idea. Therereafter, as it was midday hot without any breeze across the lake, I rejoined Hakatere Potts Rd at a DOC carpark to enjoy an easterly breeze all the way back to Lake Clearwater village.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

The Long & Winding Road, Mt Nessing, Hakataramea Valley

Tues 21.02.23. A scorching day in the Hakataramea Valley: 6am, I drove off from Pleasant Point, I wanted to climb a bit of Mt Nessing from Hakataramea Valley.

Pleasant Point - Cave - Fairlie - Burkes Pass - Dog Kennel Corner to Haldon Rd: Rollesby Range, Mackenzie Pass, Dalgety Range left, Grampian Range right, Hakataramea Pass Rd, drove over several rocky fords both sides of Hakataramea Pass top, 947m. 2017. I had summitted Dalgety Range & Grampian Range, different tramps.

After 115 km drive, at the N end of Hakataramea Valley I parked at the DOC carpark beside the road. A DOC sign:

Access to
Hunters Hills
Conservation Area

The DOC Conservation Area was a water catchment area where waters gathered from Dalgety Range, Grampian Range, Hunter Hills including Mt Nessing in the form of Hakataramea River & tributaries like Dalgety Stream & Longden Stream... Thus the DOC Conservation Area was a mix of Hakataramea River, dry & wet creek beds, low river terraces, river terrace grassland, bogs & in places impassable matagouri scrub.

My Topo50 map showed a farm track going up one of the western ridges of Mt Nessing, 1601m. Boots wet, after wading across Hakataramea River, I found the track was unmarked by DOC poles. I had to scout a bit: over a fence, river terraces, knee high grassland & prickly matagouri before I found the farm track which crossed the cachment area then zigzagged up the Mt Nessing Ridge. The farm track was also covered in knee high grass, first through matagouri scrubland then alpine vegetation, like tussocks & speargrass. Just below 900m height the farm track curved downhill to a farm fence marked on my map. My tramping logic would've been to follow the fence-line all the way to the top of Mt Nessing. Wishful thinking!

As it was scorching hot, I stopped climbing at a high point just above the farm road top curve, 860m, Grid ref: BZ17 153843. Grand views: farmsteads & green farmlands in Hakataramea Valley & views of snowless ranges: Hunters Hills, Dalgety, Grampian, Kirkliston, Benmore, Kurow. I could've climbed another trackless, 100 vertical metres to a higher part of the Mt Nessing ridge, but the February heat was dangerous, a cooling breeze, disguising my dehydration. I'd already quaffed 1.5l Coke during 2 hours' climbing. It was time to return to my car.

I drove the rest of Hakataramea Valley, about 60 kms, to Kurow where I had pie & Coke at Te Kohurau Cafe. I drove back to Pleasant Point via Waitaki Valley, Waimate & Timaru.

My climb stats:

* Height: 300 vertical m from Hakataramea River bed, partly up a Mt Nessing ridge.
* Return time: 3 h. (2h up, 1 h down).
* Distance: 9 km.
* Emergency communication: No cell phone coverage, text message undelivered, at the DOC carpark. But I was able to text my wife from the farm track a short way up Mt Nessing. Oddly, Spotify music played via my cell phone directly to my cochlear implant, was perfect, all the way. The Long & Winding Road my favourite. I don't carry a locator beacon, too expensive.
* Circular road trip: 300km.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Mount Studholme Rd, Waimate District

Valentines Day 14.02.23. Along Waimate Hunter Rd, then Upper Hook Rd, I drove 13 km NW from Waimate to Mt Studholme Rd, a dirt road going steeply up a Hunter Hills ridge to Mt Studholme summit, 1085m. A red skull & crossbones, pesticide threat sign by the roadside farm gate:

WARNING POISON

Potassium cyanide

DO NOT touch bait
WATCH CHILDREN at all times...
DEADLY TO DOGS...

NZ farmers & foresters were a poisonous lot, happily poisoning or hunting verminous animal & plant species. Never mind copious amounts of Roundup sprayed on gardens & road verges!

The left upside of Mt Studholme Rd (forestry area?) was like a war zone, dead vegetation completely grey-sprayed to hell for 2 km farmside of the foothills road, till I parked my car by a farm / forestry(?) fence at the DOC bush area. A DOC sign:

Mt Studholme Conservation Area

Road suitable for 4WD vehicles only

In a roadside ditch near the DOC sign lay 2 animal skeletons, so hunters had been busy in the hills.

I trekked up the rocky, zigzag road for an hour odd through native bush, passing roadside native plants like Pseudopanax 5 fingers, Tutus, Hebes, Coprosmas, Pittosporums... Roadside, there were exotic plants too, like gorse, thistles, broom, foxgloves, wooly mulleins... DOC didn't spray the roadside exotics. The higher I trekked up Mt Studholme Rd the better the view: bushy ravines both sides of the road; low clouds, green farmlands & Pacific eastwards; Gunns Bush & Waimate southwards; Hook Bush & Mt Cecil northwards; low clouds scudding over Mt Studholme summit westwards, last gasp of Cyclone Gabrielle which had devastated the N Island, causing widespread slips & flooding.

Above the bushline, for another hour odd, I trekked up the rocky road through tussockland, mostly tussocks interspersed with spear grass, Dracophyllum & stunted flax. Notable were Celmisia white daisies by roadside rocky cuttings. I had missed NZ Alpine plants in their natural state over the last couple of years, due to Covid-19 restrictions, my Cochlear Implant op at St Georges Hospital, Christchurch & hearing rehab (2021) & my catching Covid flu (2022). My fitness training walks around Pleasant Point gone to waste!

Midday. Mt Studholme summit views: N & S over Hunter Hills; SW Waimate; E farmlands & Pacific; W Pentland Hills & Campbell Hills, gouged by Waihao River below. I didn't continue along the summit road or explore cycle tracks, as last gasp, Cyclone Gabrielle was threatening lowering clouds. The summit mast & two locked electrics cabins were already rattling in the wind so it was time to get off the mountain, soon covered in mist & sporadic rain showers. On a locked door a final threat sign:

CHORUS

Operational Area

This is a Multiple Hazard Area

Wear Test Specific PPE!
Beware Trip Hazards!
Beware Exposed Live Metal Low Voltage DC!
Heed Posted Warning Signs!

From the DOC sign 2 km up Mt Studholme Rd, my walk stats:

Time 4.5h return (2.5h up, 2h down).
Return Distance 11km.
Height climbed 700 vertical metres.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Gunns Bush Track near Waimate

Sat. 04.01.23. Waitangi Weekend. I drove about 10kms from Waimate along Parsonage Rd, Waimati Hunter Rd, Upper Hook Rd, Gunns Bush Rd to DOC conserved Gunns Bush.

Gunns Bush Track beside Gunns Bush Creek undulated in a string & baloon walk up the creek valley, crossing several smaller tributary streams, enabled by a muddy / rocky track, boardwalks & a wooden pedestrian bridge. Distance: slightly less than 6 km. It took me 2.5 hours with lots of flora & avifauna stops en route. Notable were bird calls, old mans beard fungus, sphagnum moss, understorey ferns & bigger tree ferns. There were lots of whiteywoods & old tree fuschias too. From the small DOC carpark, about 1km from the track start, a fine old matai can been seen just off track.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Open Letter to Chris Hipkins, NZ Minister of Education. Reference: The Press article, 05.02.22

Dear Chris,

The Press article: "Teachers wanted: must take pay cut" refers:

Lee Kenny, Education reporter quoted a letter of your's: "Seabrook [School] did not 'offer an education that differs from the education students would get at an ordinary state school.'"

You are wrong Chris! Ordinary state schools have ordinary teachers with little or no knowledge of children with SLD, Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (both terms acceptable), nor do ordinary teachers know how to teach SLD students in crowded classrooms. (Dyslexic, dyspraxic, ADHD students, as mentioned in The Press article). Few NZ organizations remediate dyslexia regarding psychology assessments, one-on-one tuition & teacher training. One such organization is SPELD, another is Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch, where my wife Leah worked on low pay. Chris, for many years those private organizations were doing dyslexic remediation teaching which your Ministry of Education should have been doing.

The making of an SLD Teacher / Resource Teacher Literacy:

My wife Leah is our family breadwinner due to my profound deafness. Leah has been associated with Seabrook McKenzie Centre for 25 years as a self-employed tutor, full-time teacher & a teacher trainer.

2005. Leah was an inaugural teacher of children with Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (SLD) at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, London St, Christchurch. The school is a private school, insufficiently trust funded, especially teacher salaries. Leah & teacher colleagues & support staff (teacher aides, psychologists, speech & language & occupational therapy staff) continued specialist remediation through Christchurch's 2010-2011 quake times (parents & staff dug away tons of liquefaction mud from school grounds after 2 big quakes) & beyond during demolition & rebuild times, enduring years of London St excavations by SCIRT & demolition ructions for years across the road at Richmond Working Mens Club, now rebuilt Richmond Club.

During the 9 years that Leah taught full-time at Jean Seabrook Memorial School it had small classes with a favourable teacher / student, 1:6 ratio, allowing close individual attention for SLD students from 2 teachers per class (2 classes) & 1 teacher aide per class. That low teacher / student ratio does not happen for SLD students in crowded state school classrooms, so SLD students lose out in state schools. Apart from Seabrook Memorial School, at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, in the same building, self-employed teachers, trained in SLD teaching, give private tuition to SLD students in separate offices, (or elsewhere e.g. state schools, like Leah did) specialist tuition paid for by parents. Overseen by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, prior to any SLD teaching, (Seabrook Memorial School or private individual tuition) all students are assessed by a battery of standardized tests done by psychology staff. Confidential psychology reports are then supplied to paying parents & specialist teaching staff for teacher interpretation & student SLD remediation during specialist teaching.

Leah worked with & mentored at least 3 teachers on-the-job. Once those low paid teachers had gained full-time, SLD teaching experience & professional guidance from Leah they left for higher salaries elsewhere. Leah was a gifted teacher, interpreting assessments & developing teaching methods to remediate dyslexic difficulties not found in text books. She willingly passed on her remediation knowledge to other teachers, parents & interested persons. At Jean Seabrook Memorial School, Leah's salary was never enough to support our family & for years we had to apply to WINZ for state financial support (dole) for our Burnside, 3 bedroom house rental. Whenever anyone asked me why Leah continued to teach at Seabrook I replied, "She's a dedicated, experienced teacher, but is not paid what she's worth."

For years Leah was / is part of the teacher training team at Seabrook & regularly ran / runs teacher training sessions during weekends & school holidays for teachers & others (parents, teacher aides...) wanting to know more about SLD teaching. She also mentors / mentored teachers studying for Seabrook diplomas. (NZQA approved diplomas). That teacher mentoring & teacher training may cease due to lack of funds. To my knowledge, no other NZ school provides those services & NZQA approved diplomas for the public & teachers interested in helping SLD children. Over the years, Leah had spent many days preparing SLD lectures / seminars & lecturing SLD interested teachers & public.

1997-2004. Leah was a self-employed tutor, teaching SLD students referred to her by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. She taught in our home office, state schools' offices & in Seabrook McKenzie centre hired offices. Her tutoring was one-on-one to remediate SLD, her hourly wage paid by parents. She was also volunteer librarian at Seabrook McKenzie Centre.

2005-2013: Leah taught primary school, SLD children, full-time, at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. For 17 years, While Leah worked for Seabrook McKenzie Centre / Jean Seabrook Memorial School, we were on wage / salary assisted dole. We had no savings & it would be impossible to ever buy a NZ house, unless we won the lotto. Our adult sons were in the same boat.


Only when Leah & I left Christchurch for S Canterbury did our finances improve, enabling us to get off the Working Poor dole.

From 2014, Leah taught for 3 years at Lake Tekapo School, an ordinary state school, after a Mt Gerald Station farmer / parent had head-hunted Leah & arranged for her to teach his dyslexic son & other children at Lake Tekapo School. The farmer / parent privately paid Leah's salary, more than what Leah had earned at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. 2016. During 1 winter school term, we lived at Mt Gerald Station, as the farmer wanted Leah to give home-schooling to his 3 children before they left for Christchurch schooling in 2017.

2017 to the present: For the last 5 years, using her hard won SLD training & expertise, Leah has been Resource Teacher Literacy, South Canterbury, based at a Timaru state school. We live at Pleasant Point near Timaru. Leah travels daily to various South Canterbury, state schools to teach primary school SLD children on a one-on-one basis, mentor teachers & advise parents, teachers & other staff about SLD challenges. Using her own car: Some S Canterbury towns / villages she visits (or could visit) as part of her itinerant, SLD teaching work at state schools: Timaru, Pleasant Point, Albury, Fairlie, Lake Tekapo, Twizel, Mt Cook, Geraldine, Mt Peel, Winchester, Temuka, St Andrews, Makikihi, Waituna, Waimate, Waihao Downs... involving a lot of driving in S Canterbury. (She was paid petrol expenses by her Timaru home school). Her beat involved intermittent teaching / advising / mentoring in 40 South Canterbury state schools, the biggest RT Lit beat in NZ.

While itinerant teaching in S Canterbury state schools, Leah did not lose contact with Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch. Using her own car: Part-time, during weekends & holidays, Leah continued as part of the SLD teacher training team, for teachers reading NZQA approved, SLD teaching diplomas. She also continued her lectures / seminars / mentoring / advising for SLD interested teachers & public. She also trained SLD teachers at Ashburton: at a state school, a church hall, a Community Centre. Busy travel years involving great driving mileage in Canterbury. (She was not paid petrol expenses by Seabrook McKenzie Centre).

Leah's Work Background & experience which enabled her NZ Resource Teacher Literacy expertise:

SA & UK.

1975-77. Edgewood College of Education, Pinetown, SA: 3 year, pre-primary teacher diploma. (NZQA equivalent).
1978-84. Durban, SA: Several years' teaching at pre-primary, state schools, incl a Northdene acting principal position & beginning an experimental class where pre-primary children were accommodated in a Montclair primary school, Durban. Other Durban districts where Leah taught pre-primary children: Woodlands, Durban CBD.
1981. Our OE: Relief primary school teacher, various Haringey, London schools.
1984-85. Year 1 teacher at Kleinzee, Cape: A De Beers mine, private school.
Thereafter Leah was stay-at-home mother for our 2 sons.

1995. Our family emigrated to Christchurch, NZ.
1996-2004. Christchurch. Teacher aide (1996). Self-employed, SLD teacher while reading 2 NZQA approved, SLD diplomas at Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at our home office, state school offices & at Seabrook McKenzie Centre hired offices. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at ordinary Christchurch schools, like Oaklands Primary, Halswell Primary, Elmwood Primary, McKenzie Residential School... The hourly pay rate was always low, pay rate set by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, enbling poor families to get SLD tuition. I did Leah's book-keeping & tax returns. For one year after our arrival in NZ we had to survive financially on our SA settling-in funds. Thereafter we could apply for NZ dole. In a low wage economy, as "Working Poor" we often applied for the dole to make ends meet! We had to inform dole personnel Leah's weekly earnings, so dole payments could be adjusted weekly.

The 17 years Leah taught at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, as a self-employed tutor, on the dole, then as a full-time, classroom teacher at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, on the dole, honed her expertise as a respected & sought after teacher for SLD children. BUT, for years, Seabrook McKenzie Centre was doing Ministry of Education work for free, by training dedicated SLD teachers & paying them peanuts while the Ministry of Education sat on its hands doing nothing for SLD students!

During the last 5 years as Resource Teacher Literacy, S Canterbury, Leah read a 3 year, correspondence, post-grad, Literacy Diploma, (with distinction) at University of Canterbury. Leah was the pioneering student for that post-grad diploma (NZQA, Hons degree equivalence). Now several other teachers have done that post-grad diploma at UC. Leah was expected to read the post-grad diploma at Victoria University, Wellington, N Island, a crazy idea as we lived at Pleasant Point, S Island. (During one semester, Leah had to attend weekly lectures at UC, lots of Pleasant Point - Christchurch travel involved). Leah had liaised with UC Education Faculty to start that post-grad diploma at UC.

Chris, there you have it, the making of a Resource Teacher Literacy, a vague designation, hiding the failure of SLD remediation by the Ministry of Education for many years. I doubt NZ state primary schools have speech & language therapists & occupational therapists doing SLD remediation & psychologists doing standardized tests for SLD students & confidential reports for parents & SLD teachers, which Seabrook McKenzie Centre did. Neither would ordinary state schools have a low 1:6 teacher / student ratio as extraordinary Jean Seabrook Memorial School had for SLD students.

Just pay Jean Seabrook Memorial School teachers a decent salary Chris!

Yours faithfully,

Mark JS Esslemont.

PS. I had a 22 year, primary & high school teaching career in SA, while going deaf, general science & biology specialist, teaching in Durban, Kleinzee, QwaQwa, East London, before our arrival in NZ.

Coda:

21.01.23. After PM Jacinda Ardern's resignation Chris Hipkins became the new Labour leader. 22.01.23. Chris Hipkins became NZ Prime Minister. 2024. Christ Hipkins became leader of the opposition after ousting by Chris Luxon, new PM, National Party.

Jan 2023. After completing her last teacher training course for teachers at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah stopped teacher training for good. Over the years she was never paid for all the teacher training, planning meetings she attended at Christchurch, or Ashburton, or Methven. Nor was she paid petrol expenses. She was paid a pittance by Seabrook McKenzie Centre for the teacher training courses she led during weekends & school holidays. As for our overnight accommodation costs at Christchurch when Leah lectured at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah paid for motel accommodation, or we stayed at a friend's Riccarton flat, when available. The flat was owned by the family of a retired director of Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Our motel expenses were never paid by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. After 6 years return commuting, Pleasant Point / Christchurch, after the flat became unavailable Leah stopped teacher training, as our expenses were a huge loss. I did most of the driving, chauffering Leah to / from her teacher training meetings & teacher training sessions in Canterbury.

Mar 2023. National teacher strike for more pay & support. That goes to show what nonsense ex minister of education & current PM Chris Hipkins talked. Leah is a Literacy support teacher for 40 South Cantebury schools, an impossible number of schools for one Literacy teacher to support adequately. Go figure.

Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.