Mr Alastair Drayton

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou, katoa

Good morning school and families of our new monitors. Thank you for joining us today for the special occasion of your sons receiving their monitor badges. The school has many traditions, and this is one I am sure will endure.

My name is Mr. Drayton; I am a Commerce and Maths teacher, Kaitiaki of the Monitors, and a staff representative on the Te Kura Trust. I am, along with my brothers, an old boy of this school. I attended CBHS from 1981 – 1985. My father and brother came here in the 1950s, my grandfather and brother came to this school, and my great grandfather attended the school in town. My son Nick is a student here, which makes him a fifth-generation CBHS student. I know that here at assembly today, there will be boys who have a whakapapa that also stretches back over one hundred years. And that some will have forebears who taught here or were even a Headmaster.

I played my first ever game of cricket at Boys’ High. I played football at school and was a Monitor in 1985.

I loved this school as a student, many of my closest friends I went through this school with, and I am proud to be a staff member here. There are of you whose fathers were here during my time as a student. It is great to meet you and sometimes to teach you.

Since I left this school, my travels have taken me to teach in many parts of the world, Te Kauwhata College, Palmerton North Boys’ High, Finchley, Bowmanville Ontario, Napier Boys’ High School, Rangiora High, and now our wonderful school. I have travelled to Europe, Africa, Australia, and North America. Teaching has allowed me to do that. I was inspired by several staff at this school. Some of them are here today.

Two things I love about this school is the sense of Whanau. Amongst you all, it is great to see. This, the head nod, the high fives, the pop when you do that cusped handshake, the bumping into each other, all this the nonverbal form of communication we see all the time. We see it on the grounds in your friendship groups and, of course, in your teams. You have a great aroha for each other.

The other thing I wanted to touch on was honohono – connectedness. We are connected to this school and always will be. A couple of weeks ago, I had breakfast down the road with my Kaitiaki, and as we left, one of the staff mentioned how great the lads were and that her sons had been at boys high. Everywhere we go, people are connected to us. They are the mums whose boys went here, and they are sisters whose brothers attend here. They are also the Old Boys who will ask you when you were there and then they will day do you know….he was there about the same time. This will happen everywhere you go and will happen your whole life. You are connected to it know and will be for all time whether your picture is on the wall or not. Honohono applies to us as New Zealanders as well. 

In signing off, I want to share with you the Poem by Rudyard Kipling, “If” ready by Michael Caine. 

Altiora Peto