Latest news with #GloriavaleChristianCommunity
Otago Daily Times
04-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
King's honour for home-grown cop
West Coast-based cop Terri Middleton. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Little recognised in Queenstown last month was the awarding of a gong to home-grown Terri Middleton. A member of the Middleton family who farm Queenstown Hill, the 59-year-old senior police constable was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to the police and the community in the King's Birthday Honours. In the list she was principally under her married name, Fairhall, however she's kept her maiden name over her police career. That whole career, since 1992, has been on the West Coast, where she's worked with victims of child abuse and family harm. And as school community officer since '02 she's worked in drug education, with kids in and out of school, often on a voluntary basis, and led engagement with youngsters in the Gloriavale Christian Community. It's "impossible to count the lives Middleton has changed for the better, or quantify the harm prevented by her engagement with some of the most vulnerable people in our society," police commissioner Richard Chambers said when her honour was announced. Despite her years on the Coast, where she and her husband raised three sons, Middleton still calls Queenstown home, and recently finished building a holiday house here. Educated at Queenstown Primary and Wakatipu High, "it was mainly the sporting stuff I enjoyed". She later played rugby league for the West Coast, while her younger siblings Stephen, Murray and Kelvin all played rugby — the latter representing the Highlanders. She recalls undertaking "lots of chores"on the farm, including mustering sheep on horseback and hay-making. Her first job after school was at the council, where she graduated from cashier to assistant financial controller, followed by two years' OE. Though she returned to council, "I thought I always wanted to be a cop — I wanted to make a difference and to help people — but I didn't think I'd be able to". Over a few drinks a friend talked to into applying, and she was accepted into Wellington's "old school" police college. During a three-week secondment with Queenstown police she recalls going with cops to the house of a deceased Arrowtowner that neighbours suspected had bombs and booby traps all through it. She squeezed in through a toilet window, "and ended up falling down and getting my foot stuck in the toilet". Middleton's undecided on living back in Queenstown when her career's over. "Not too sure ... I miss my home here, but, yeah, it's lovely on the Coast too."
RNZ News
02-07-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Gloriavale school fails second ERO audit
The Gloriavale compound on the West Coast. Photo: RNZ / Jean Edwards A private school run by the Gloriavale Christian community has failed an audit for the second time in as many years . The Education Review Office said in a report published on Wednesday that its review visit at the end of 2024 found the school had improved since a 2023 review , but it still failed three of eight registration criteria. It said the school did not provide suitable staffing for students with complex additional needs, suitable equipment for students with complex additional needs, or a physically and emotionally safe space. "At the time of the ERO onsite review phase, the school was supporting an enrolled student with extremely high and very complex needs that impact on full onsite engagement within the classroom," the report said. "An overarching goal of supporting full attendance and achievement at school is in place within the limitations of the school's isolation, the wishes of family and the severity of the complex needs." It said enrolled students with high and complex needs could not attend because there was insufficient equipment to support those needs. The report said about 40 percent of the 224 school-aged children in the Gloriavale community attended the school, while about half were home-schooled and the remainder were enrolled with Te Kura (formerly the Correspondence School). "Education provision in the Gloriavale Christian School is slowly improving. The school board and staff have worked extensively with board-contracted external support and Ministry of Education advice and guidance to develop capacity to provide high quality learning and teaching," the report said. The report said most children in home-schooling were taught "at least as regularly and well as in a registered school" and students studying through Te Kura felt well supported. The community's preschool was working towards fully implementing quality systems, processes and practices to enable the delivery of a responsive curriculum for all children. However, the report said "access to education across the community is inequitable" and course and NCEA choices were limited. "ERO is not yet assured that all learners' physical and emotional health and safety is closely, regularly and sufficiently considered and monitored across all schooling provisions. The inconsistent application of some policies and procedures poses risk to children given a history of unsafe practices within the Gloriavale community," the report said. It said the Teaching Council was investigating an allegation of staff misconduct and the school had been instructed to formally monitor the staff member. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
