Finalist Schools Set Great Example For Others

27 May 2002

This year's finalists for the 2001 Goodman Fielder School of the Year Awards reached a particularly high standard, proving themselves leaders in excellence and innovation, according to the Awards' Judging Panel.

The judges were once again greatly impressed with the quality of the entries, describing the 14 finalists as setting an example from which not only other schools, but also the business sector and the community at large could learn much. New Zealanders realize and appreciate what is being achieved in our schools, they added.

New chairman of the Goodman Fielder School of the Year judging panel, former Governor General, Sir Michael Hardie Boys, says small rural and large urban schools from the length of the country were well represented, with the calibre of entries continuing to rise since the awards' inception in 1997.

"The standard of entries was nothing less than a salute to excellence. The Judging Panel's experience is that each year more schools are surpassing the highest of expectations, making our job extremely difficult.

"We were astonished by the enormous amount of work some schools do on any given day. These Awards are a real eye opener as to what goes on inside the school gates," he says.

Joining Sir Michael on the judging panel were internationally acclaimed educational resources and book publisher Wendy Pye, Managing Director of Goodman Fielder New Zealand Limited, Ron Vela, April Bruce, and educationalists Pat Riley and John Boyens.

Mr Vela says honouring excellence in education through the Goodman Fielder School of the Year Awards is the company's way of giving something back to New Zealand. The community has supported Goodman Fielder products for more than 100 years, helping the company to become the nation's leading food manufacturer.

"Schools are the cornerstone of any local community and Goodman Fielder is delighted to contribute to New Zealand education through an awards programme that recognises and rewards exceptional performance. It's important for schools to embrace both their staff and students' hard work, dedication and successes. What's more, we should all take it a step further and actually learn from the leadership and successes of this year's finalists," says Mr Vela.

Providing details of their performance, schools entered under one of the five competition categories that best fitted their school type and size. Schools in similar circumstances are measured against core judging criteria which include academic progress, cultural and sporting achievements, relationship with the community, teacher involvement, and effective use of budget.

The principal and a student representative from each of the 14 finalist schools will be flown to Wellington to attend a special awards ceremony on Wednesday June 26, at which time the winners and two runners up of each category will be announced along with the overall 2001 Goodman Fielder School of the Year.

The five category winners each receive $10,000 cash and the nine runner up schools $1000 each. The overall winner, chosen from one of the five category winners, will be presented with an additional $40,000. Merit certificates have also been awarded to schools that show outstanding achievement in a particular aspect of their achievement.

What's more, to mark the awards' fifth year milestone a one-off Fifth Year Award will be presented to schools which have shown continued excellence and ongoing commitment and contribution to the awards.

The 14 finalist schools are (in alphabetical order by category):

Small Primary/Intermediate
Aokautere School Palmerston North
Mangamahu School Wanganui
North Taieri School Mosgiel

Medium Primary/Intermediate
Carncot Independent School for Girls' Palmerston North
Manunui Primary School South Taumarunui
Mountain View Primary School South Auckland

Large Primary/Intermediate
Fendalton Open-air School Christchurch
Frimley Primary School Hastings
Tauranga Intermediate School Tauranga

Secondary
Gisborne Girls' High School Gisborne
Nayland College Nelson
Mt Roskill Grammar School Auckland

Composite
Mt Anglem College Invercargill
Tweedsmuir Junior High School Invercargill

Released on behalf of Goodman Fielder New Zealand Ltd by Porter Novelli New Zealand Ltd.

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