Sunderland School & College

Kent Favel

Principal, Sunderland School & College

Kent is a Southlander and he’s one proud of his beginnings in bustling Winton. From school he joined Trust Bank however after two years he was following what he always wanted to do, securing a teachers diploma at Dunedin College of Education (1987) and bachelor’s degrees in education and arts(History) at Otago University. He completed his Masters of Educational Management from Auckland University in 2002. “My first school was Ruawai Primary School (Northland) and I threw myself into the community, playing cricket, rugby and getting involved in the local arts scene. From there I moved to Paramata School under Andy White – a fantastic principal. After two years I went overseas for three months and met Emma,” his wife. Returning to New Zealand Kent taught at Saint Kentigern School, Remuera, under Geoff Burgess for five years. Initially he taught years 6-8 but later became dean of the senior school. From Auckland he moved back to Wellington, again for five years, to another independent school, St Mark’s School by the Basin Reserve. At St Mark’s Kent was curriculum director, head of the primary school and had responsibility for the early childhood facility. “Being in the independent schools loop you become aware of new school developments and I was aware that the Sunderland owners were investigating a school in West Auckland. The Old Waitakere City Council building became available and Sunderland was established. The entire building has been gutted and refurbished and by opening day we will have twelve classrooms, two science labs, two technology rooms, two multimedia rooms and eight itinerant music rooms. I joined Sunderland in November with the mandate to establish an independent school and college with strong academic, cultural and sporting focuses, which are underpinned by traditional values and standards. Sunderland will commence with years 0-6 in the primary school and 7-9 in the middle school. Another year will be added annually until 2011 when they will cover all ages and cater up to 1000 students. Specialist teachers for science, technology, drama, art, Spanish, ICT, PE and music will enhance learning with all classes. The school’s announced values are family oriented and include respect, care and excellence in all things. Kent is delighted at the strong team he has around him and is looking forward to an exciting foundation year in the life of Sunderland. Kent is married to Emma and they have three children. Food For Thought column Sunderland School and College opened in February of this year and it has been a very busy foundation year in West Auckland’s only co-educational independent school and college. Sunderland took over the former Waitakere City Council Chambers in Waipareira Ave and converted the 24 year old building into purpose built classrooms, administration areas and specialist rooms at the end of 2006. The school’s philosophy is to provide a holistic education for students around high quality academic, sporting, music and cultural activities, all of which are underpinned by traditional values and standards. Foundation Principal and Principal of the Primary School, Mr Kent Favel, speaks fondly of the school’s foundation year. “When I look back at what we have achieved since we opened our doors on February 7 this year I am amazed at our progress. We started with 66 students on day one and we now have 110.” In 2008 Sunderland will begin with over 200 students from New Entrants to Year 10. By 2011 we will go all the way up to Year 13. Kent believes Sunderland’s “point of difference” is within their teaching staff and specialist facilities. “Our staff are highly qualified, passionate about teaching and instilling in students a love of learning. Learning should be fun!” states Kent and he believes his teachers work extremely hard to ensure that their classroom programmes meet the needs of their children, are challenging and interesting. Sunderland boasts some excellent facilities to aid teachers in their delivery of the curriculum – two multimedia rooms, two science labs, two technology rooms, an art room, a drama, a music room and itinerant music rooms. An extra 10 classrooms are due for completion for the beginning of the school year in 2008. Specialist teaching begins with students from 5 years of age with students receiving specialist teaching in: Music, Drama, Visual Arts, Spanish, Technology and Science. From Year 3, students receive all of the aforementioned as well as PE and Multimedia. Itinerant teachers for music and Trinity College drama are available during school hours at an extra cost to parents. “We offer excellent services to our parents” says Kent. The school offers before and after school care services from 7.00am to 8.15am and from 3.05pm until 5.45pm on a daily basis. The school also owns their own buses and runs several services all around West Auckland. Students come from as far afield as Helensville to Pt Chevalier and from Herald Island to Titirangi and everywhere in between. Some of the highlights from this year’s calendar have been the official opening of the school in May by the New Zealand Governor General, His Excellency, Anand Satyanand, the Sunderland Arts Festival, the Sunderland Music Evening, Open Days, the Parents and Friends Quiz Night, numerous sports exchanges, House charity activities raising money for the community and a very successful ERO visit. Parents and members of the public are continually commenting on the uniform that the students wear. They have a very striking summer and winter uniform and the school blazer is worn with a great deal of pride. Kent is looking forward to 2008 at Sunderland very much. The Board has recently appointed the College Principal, Mr Nathan Villars, to the management team. Together the two principals have been planning and organising for the rapid growth of Sunderland.