Hawera students see farming firsthand
Field trips by Hawera High School agriculture students inspire students to pursue careers, says a teacher.
Trewithen Farm at Tikorangi, the inaugural winner of the Ballance Taranaki Farm Environment Awards in 2014, has just hosted 50 of the school’s Year 11 agriculture students.
During their visit they observed the afternoon milking of the 1200-cow herd owned by the farm’s sharemilkers, Tony and Loie Penwarden.
The students are in their first year of study of a two-year programme for the Level 2 Introduction to Primary Industries Certificate. The programme also allows them to achieve NCEA credits.
Malcolm McKercher, the head of Hawera High School’s primary industries academy, said the certificate introduced students to horticulture and to different sectors of agriculture, including sheep farming, beef farming and dairy farming.
It also showed them the opportunities that were available and what they needed to do to obtain a job within the sector.
In Year 12, students choose electives for their second year of study for the certificate, which gives them practical skills and knowledge relevant to working in the rural sector. Field trips were a crucial part of studying for the certificate.
‘‘These visits inspire the students and it means they may end up pursuing a career in the agriculture industry,’’ he said.
‘‘They’re meeting employers, seeing the opportunities that exist, finding out what they need to do to get a job in the agricultural industry and the skills and attitudes they need.’’
During the trip to North Taranaki, the students also visited New Plymouth District Council where they learned about arboriculture, amenity horticulture and sports turf management.
Students gained practical experience at the school’s extensive horticulture facilities, developed over the last six or seven years with funding from the Tikorangi-based L A Alexander Trust.
The school works with Agriculture New Zealand which delivers instruction on safe working practices around farm machinery, vehicles and livestock.
McKercher said the school also liaised closely with the Primary ITO to deliver the certificate and had developed a relationship with potential employers, so a strong three-way partnership had been created.
Wayne Benton heads the school’s transition department, which oversees gateway, STAR, agriculture, horticulture, chef training, and tourism courses.
A total of 280 students in Years 10 to 13 were studying horticulture and agriculture at the school.
Hawera High School was one of the few schools offering Level 3 unit standards in those subjects, which reflected the robustness of its programmes, he said.