I joined the Freyberg staff in 1974 as well as enrolling at Massey University for my final Stage III papers that would end up with me having a BA in History at the end of the year.

Freyberg was headed by Noel Smith who was well known as a progressive Principal who encouraged his staff to experiment and work to embrace new technologies and content in their courses. He needed to be progressive and encouraging as there were eccentrics across the different Departments who needed to be encouraged to channel their eccentricities to create lessons and content that would motivate the students.

My immediate HoD was Roger Hewitson who was the in charge of the English Department. He was enthusiastic and dynamic in the classroom and students responded to his teaching. However, he was known and tolerated for some bizarre behaviours like riding his bicycle down the corridors from the staffroom to his classroom and, on one occasion, taking his seventh form class outside for a creative writing motivation exercise in which he grouped them, heads against the trunk, around some trees, told them to lie there, watch the clouds and open their minds to the environment for inspiration then, after checking each group and offering advice, got on his ever present bike and went home for a coffee and “forgot” to return, leaving the class to dream the English period away.

On other staff occasions he would appear after everyone else, including his wife, lie down on the floor clutching a beer bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other to hold court or, at an end of year function, watch and comment on the entertainers performing at an end of year stage show.

At another time he announced his arrival at a staff “Wine Sops” party by climbing through the window rather than simply opening the front door!

His leadership of the English Department was balanced by his deputy, Tony, who tried hard to keep Roger’s enthusiasms under control and ensure that the rest of the staff delivered the course and got their students’ grades recorded accurately for later reference.

The HoD Maths had extensive business contacts who offered him and the school a redundant IBM computer for teaching purposes which the school accepted. When it arrived it took up an entire classroom. Programming it required loading stacks of punch cards into it and waiting for it to provide the information. Its arrival created a lot of interest and speculation about the future of such technology in the classroom especially considering its size and limitations. 

Other staff had interests they shared with students. Norm Sievewright had an antique letter press printing press complete with lead type and the cases to create pages in one of the school sheds where he and a group of students ran off handbills and posters for events.

Chris Saunders, who taught Latin and English, was a model train enthusiast and violinist along with his wife, Glenice, who shared his interests. 

I got involved with the school photography club and ran photography trips, camera shoots and competitions with the group. The club had access to a darkroom so the students could develop and print their own black and white photos.

The English Department was keen on exposing the students to writers and cultural events which included visits to the school of poets Sam Hunt, Gary McCormack and Hone Tuwhare who were on a poetry safari around the schools. 

The performance of their poetry was entertaining with Sam Hunt dominating the stage clutching a beer bottle as he declaimed his verse in his inimitable style.

The other poets presented their work in a somewhat more sober style to the assembled and bemused senior school.

Freyberg was a good grounding in developing my teaching style, classroom management and philosophy. I found that I was working with texts and materials that gave the students some insight into social issues and a sense of history that linked into their social studies themes and topics. I was finding that getting active discussion and involvement with the text made for better understanding and learning. 

Freyberg was my initiation into the PPTA for, while I had been content to be involved at branch level at Kuranui, I was persuaded by the Regional Chair, Rod Holm, who was HoD History,  to stand for Regional Secretary for the Manawatu-Wanganui district of PPTA. We ran as a ticket and duly got elected. 

I was Secretary of the region from 1976 through till 1979 and was involved with campaigns to redefine School  Certificate assessment methods and curriculum changes along with increasingly fractious pay negotiations when the National Government under Muldoon decided to slash state spending on education and froze secondary teacher pay increases below the increasing cost of living. In fact in 1977 Muldoon and his Minister of Education presented PPTA with a nil wage offer despite giving the NZEI a pay rise.

As well, there were noisy arguments at smoke shrouded branch meetings over the definition of the PPTA - were we a “Professional Association” or a “Trade Union”? and “If we are seen as a “Trade Union” should we join the Federation of Labour (CTU now)? These debates were usually framed around comparisons of teaching with lawyers and doctors who were seen as professionals and above the messy business of negotiating pay and conditions with employers. 

A milestone event at Freyberg was the retirement of the last of the staff members to have served in a World War. It marked an end of an era.

Freyberg Staff Photo 1979

Back Row L-R: Manu Te Awa, Mr Hamilton, David Bretton, Bernard Hickey, George McConachy, Terry Rivers, Gordon Campbell, Don Sievewright, Terry O'Brien, John Ridge, Ross Gard, Mike Whale

Third Row L-R: Alan Papprill, Miss Beattie, 3, Sandra Browan, Marlene Smith, Di Davis, Judine Ladbrook, 8, Penny Slack, 10, Lesley Kane, Liz Tuelon, Lisa Weaver, 14

Second Row L-R: Gavin Nicol, Jim McCulloch, 3, Chris Saunders, Rod Holm, Chris Davidson, Susan McConachy, Bill Strickland, Peter Holden, Graeme Gordon (Flash), 11, Mr Easton, Bill Sutton

Front Row L-R: Colin Bell, Charles Lawn, Trevor Betts, Viv Gash, Tom Price, Noel Smith, Kay Williams, Roger Hewitson, Russell Matthews, Doug Mawson, Jim Pitt

Comment below if you can help to fill in the gaps!