Retired Rutherford teacher salutes

Baden Rountree reminiscing about his long career with Rutherford Intermediate School. PHOTO/BEVAN CONLEY

People are arriving from around the country, and the world, for the Rutherford Intermediate 50th Jubilee but one of the school's first teachers doesn't have far to go.

Baden Rountree was a foundation staff member at Rutherford Intermediate School in 1963 and worked there full-time until 1996. He was still performing release and relief teaching work there as recently as last year and his passion for the job is evident when he's discussing it.

He lives in Wanganui with wife Barbara, herself a former teacher, and taught in the city for most of his career. After starting at Gonville School in 1953 he moved to Castlecliff and then Tawhero, took up a position in the Waikato before returning in time for the beginning of Term One, 1963, at the brand-new Rutherford Intermediate School.

Mr Rountree with Room One at Rutherford in 1964

"We had a library, but we didn't have a heck of a lot of books!"

He said it was an exciting time for the staff as it wasn't just the school buildings that were new, the "intermediate" concept itself was relatively modern.

"Everyone was quite keen as it was brand-new ... they had 'decapitated' the schools to take the Form Ones and Twos out of the primaries and put them into intermediates.

"We didn't have a lot of staff so class numbers were relatively large - mostly over 42, no one had under 35 in their class. We peaked at about 640 kids - we had prefabs, two new blocks - there was an awful lot of kids jammed in."

Mr Rountree was occasionally called on to do science and art as the school couldn't find a dedicated teacher, but for the most part he ran his own general class.

The biggest changes he saw in his career were the introduction of information technology and the removal of corporal punishment, which he thinks is part of why males have largely disappeared from the classroom.

"We were 50/50 at the start - five men and five women - but now it's more like 80 per cent women. "

He said the increasing number of digital devices was having a detrimental effect on Kiwi schoolkids' reading and writing skills, as well as the obvious problems caused by powercuts at school.

"In the old chalk-and-talk days you didn't have to worry about that, you could keep going," he points out.

Events commemorating Rutherford Intermediate School's 50th Jubilee begin on Friday and include a black-tie dinner on Saturday and culminate in the unveiling of the Jubilee Plaque on Sunday.