Not quite sure how I have managed to be nominated to be the first one to do this but here we go...

My name is Andy Thomson and this is my first year as a Hostel Master and my first in the Dean of Boarding role. This, however, is not my first year at Hamilton Boys' High School as I have worked at the school for the past six years and taken on two major responsibilities as Year 11 Academic Dean and Teacher in Charge of Year 9 Social Studies. The purpose of this article is to give you a bit of background information about myself and what has led me to where I am now. 

First and foremost, I grew up on the west coast of Scotland, in a small town called Dunoon (you can see this on the map above). It is probably most famous for mugs or when those from Glasgow ventured on their summer holidays "doon the watter" before people realise they'd get better weather in continental Europe. I have a bit of a strange love-hate relationship with Dunoon but it will always be home. 

Since the age of around 14, I have always had a goal of being a teacher. This was no doubt influenced by the experience that I had during my time attending high school in Dunoon as I had a Geography teacher that inspired a passion for the subject. This led to my attending the University of Glasgow to further my education in the subject. I was incredibly lucky to have many of my lectures in the main building which you can see in the image above. 

At the completion of my studies at University, I found myself venturing on an extensive trip to various locations across the world. Looking back on this I can see how significant it was in both developing myself but also learning about others. It is such a vital skill to learn that there are other perspectives and cultures out there that are different from your own.  The end of the trip found me arriving at Auckland airport for a short trip around the country that I had dreamed of visiting since December 2001 when I first was mesmerised by the Fellowship of the Ring. I am unapologetically obsessed with all things fantasy. 

The short trip, however, did not pan out well and instead, I found myself working at Hobbiton Movie Set for around two years and in this period of time, I met my fiancé Keiran (above is a terrible picture of us but I absolutely love it). Undoubtedly, she is a big reason that I stayed in New Zealand and she encouraged me to leave behind the Shire and finally take up what I had always wanted to do.  

I completed my Graduate Diploma in Secondary Teaching at the University of Waikato and was able to gain my first teaching position at Hamilton Boys' High School. To be completely honest, my knowledge of the school on arrival was not great when I first started working here. Now that I have been here for a while the combination of sporting success and academic success continually impresses me.

On a bit of a side note, I feel like now is a good time to mention that I am also an avid football fan, I suppose many people from the United Kingdom are. I was raised supporting Rangers as this is as ingrained in our family as our last name. Unfortunately, I am terrible at actually playing it as I am with most "land sports". Instead, I spent a large amount of my childhood swimming back and forth in my local pool and went on to achieve some awesome things in the sport!

I was originally involved in coaching football at school but I would be the first to admit that perhaps I am a wee bit too passionate about it and instead I've transitioned to being part of the Duke of Edinburgh team which I would highly recommend getting your son involved with. 

Finally... starting at the Hostel this year my number one goal is that all our boys manage to have as successful a year academically as they possibly can. Having analysed the results from last year I can see that this has been taking place but we can always do better. I would also love to develop a passion for reading in our Year 9 and 10 students. This is something that I am really trying to work on at the moment as regardless of interests there is a book out there for you, and as George R R Martin once said "A reader lives a thousand lives".

That's probably enough rambling about myself! If you have any questions feel free to send them through.