Newspaper Article 1996 – Retiring with pride

Retiring with pride

By Kathy Webb
Staff reporter, Hastings

DUNEDIN-BORN and bred David Barham always had ideas of going into farming when he left school, but the closest he got was three years’ country service teaching at Greymouth Technical High School.

“While we were there, there was 38 feet of rain, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. I stayed three years. It was a very interesting place to teach, and I still see some of the original pupils.”

Forty years later, about to retire after 21 years as leader of Havelock North High School, the largest secondary school on the East Coast, it’s obvious his career with children rather than sheep or cattle, has been an enriching and successful experience.

Mr Barham had spent three years as a secondary school inspector by 1975 when he was charged with establishing the brand new Havelock North high school.

Education expectations were high in the middle-class town as Mr Barham, 140 (“really quite precious”) foundation pupils and eight staff picked their way among muddy tracks, among piles of concrete blocks, to the school’s first few classrooms.

They were exciting times, with a myriad of decisions to be made. In the foreground were public image issues, such as a uniform and name for the school. In the background, administration systems and school directions and culture had to be established. The task was easier in a new school. Making changes in an established school can be quite hard, says Mr Barham.

THE DECISION-MAKING has never stopped. Change never ceased, so there was never a chance to switch to auto-pilot and sit back, he says.

The school can be seen as a success story unlikely ever to have had a different plot. A relatively affluent catchment area inhabited by families who place a high priority on education ensured the school of strong support of all kinds.

It has amenities other schools can only dream of, while a string of clever and high-achieving pupils have regularly drawn public attention to the school.

Without wanting to seem immodest, Mr Barham says leadership, appointing the right people to the staff, and community expectations are the main keys to an effective “pupil-orientated” school operating for the benefit of pupils.

He doesn’t measure a school’s effectiveness by the exam results published in newspapers each year, although his school has little to worry about on that point. The measure of a good school, for him, is one from which all pupils, able or not, leave better equipped than when they started.

In a large school it would be easy for the individual child to be swallowed up, but Mr Barham says Havelock High has been careful not to allow that to happen.

“We were the first to introduce vertical forms, which acknowledge the individual. That’s the school’s philosophy.”

It was also one of, if not the first, school in the region to introduce multi-level study to cater for individual needs.

His worry is for some of the young people who are in serious difficulty, casualties of the breakdown of families and support systems, and under mounting stresses. They’re the ones who have, without a doubt, made teaching a much harder job in trying to maintain moral and general standards.

“I actually worry for lots of kids, about what they have to deal with in their personal lives.

At the same time, he is sure the young people will win out over any aberrations or hiccups in the changing education system.

“One of the things that has constantly backed me up is to get out of the office and visit classrooms. I’m constantly impressed by the qualities of young people.”

His new phase of life will begin with a rest, followed by a “modest spot of travelling” then probably a new job (nothing definite sorted out, but there are a couple of possibilities)

He’s keen to get in to a bit more fishing, yachting and other “outdoor things.”

David Barham is proud of his school, which he says has been held consistently in high esteem. He is equally proud to hand it over in good shape to the new principal, Bill Ward, teaching at Rangiora High School in Christchurch, who takes over next term.

“It’s always good to feel proud to be working in the place you’re in.”

He’ll miss the school, “and I know there’ll be a vacuum, but I feel fully satisfied with the way I’m leaving.”

It’s always good to be proud to be working in the place you are in… I feel fully satisfied with the way I’m leaving the school. – David Barham

Photo captions –

Below: David Barham toasts another school success.

David Barham, the foundation principal of Havelock North High School, stepping down after 21 years.