Thursday 23 January 2014

Passionfruit Magazine goes into hibernation

There have been some major changes in the world of Passionfruit Magazine since I last updated this blog. The catalyst for these changes has been me (Sam Cunnane) taking a new job as Visual Arts Team Manager at Wintec's School of Media Arts, and as a consequence, moving on from Fraser.

I'll admit that the timing for this wasn't ideal for Passionfruit (given another year or so we would have developed more sustainable staffing), but some opportunities don't come round every year! After some deliberation it was decided that the best option is for Passionfruit Magazine to take a break for 2014, with the possibility that it could be resurrected in a somewhat different form in 2015, depending on staff skill sets and availability.

Looking back on two years of the project, one of the things I'm most pleased about is that we proved that integrated curriculum delivery and assessment is possible in the context of NCEA. We went further than speculating about an idea, to actually giving it feet and wings. It's been rewarding to see developments of this concept in the form of various projects at Fraser and the many people I've received emails from and had conversations with about how they're planning on doing similar projects at their schools. While it would have been nice to stay at the helm of the project for a number of years while it became more established, if it has served to encourage other people to take the leap into running their own project then I think it can be counted something of a success.

Keep an eye out for the "Music Project" at Fraser, along with weConnect.

To finish, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the people who have been involved over the past two years, in particular the students who took part - Keegan Balfour, Caroline Barett-Haitana, Kayla Bason, Sarah Crawford, Lia Ellis, Jeremy Healey, Sharnae Hope, Harmony Hunter-Webber, Georgia Harris, Toni Kelly, Sarathonux Kor, Deaan Marchioni, Kella Matekohi-Samuels, Kirstin Mclachlan, Carissa McSheffrey, Sam Park, Ryan Playford, Jessie-Lee Radford, Tyla Roberts, Gemma Rockliffe, Ezra Shield, Devon Stockman, Joel Szabo, Natasha Williams, Jasmine Wiltshier and Sally Young - and the teachers who supported them - Anna Dowthwaite, Angela Rogerson, Lorena Strother and Jesse Te Weehi.


On that note, it's over and out from me for now. Take care.