Honiana Love, from Archives New Zealand, visited the HVHS archives in August. A new policy for school record retention and disposal has been developed with the aim of providing schools with guidelines as to which records must be kept and for how long, and which can be disposed of.

Archives New Zealand want to work alongside schools to ensure that important documents are either kept by schools or passed on to them for indefinite storage. Annual Reports, Board meeting minutes and records of students who receive national or international awards for example, must be kept, either by the school in appropriate conditions, or submitted to Archives NZ. Other documents such as school plans and student reports are to be kept only for as long as the school needs them. It is expected that all schools will be audited sometime between 2010 and 2015 to check that they are following the guidelines.

Honiana was visiting a range of schools to gauge how their archives are being managed at present. She thought the HVHS archives were in good shape, well supported by the school and that we had adequate procedures in place for deciding what to keep and how to store it. It was nice to get some positive feedback.

More information is available on the Archives NZ website www.archives.govt.nz Sarah Wilcox, Archivist

Owen Hill, 1933-36 has donated a 103 year old Webster Dictionary to the school with 2010 pages of information. Jean Bowden found the Australasian section of history from 1550 – 1902 most interesting. This book is now in the Archives if you have a few hours to spare and are interested in old books.

School magazines especially 1959-1961. Please don’t throw out your old school magazines and memorabilia, the Archives will gratefully receive them. If you hear of other past pupils downsizing please pass on this request. The magazines are used for research by both Archives staff and present pupils.

Kapa Haka cups. HVHSPPFA provided the funds for Hine Amoamo, teacher in charge of Te Reo Maori, to purchase two cups to be presented at the final assemblies. These cups are to recognise the outstanding efforts and leadership of Kapa Haka leaders. This year they were presented to Waimarino Te Ratana (female leader) and Marley Mihaere (male leader).