Welcome to the first edition of the Prefects' Pew!

Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to our 2018 Prefect group, their roles, and the form classes that they will be working with throughout the year.

Andrew Hughes — Head Prefect / 7MBe
Matthew Fokkens — Deputy Head Prefect / Health / 7MBe
Tom Shallard — Deputy Head Prefect / Last Word / 9NPa
Johnny Baker — Student Council Chairman / Uniform Prefect / Liaison Prefect / 9HCa
Will Paterson — Cultural / Liaison / 9RRa
Josh Stoddard — Academic Prefect / Sports Prefect / 10TCa
Angus Frew — Sport Prefect / Health Prefect / 11CWa
Jack Pacey — Academic Prefect / 7AHo
Ben Timmings — Special Character Prefect / Cultural Prefect / 9NCh
Max Gomez — Sports Prefect / Special Character Prefect / 10AKa
Charlie Davies — Sports Prefect / Health Prefect / 11AAn
AJ Visagie — SADD Representative / Special Character Prefect / Academic Prefect / 9NPa
Alex Byars — Environmental Prefect / Sports Prefect / 10DCa
Toby Jarvie — Sports Prefect / Academic Prefect / 9PMc
Boen Deng — Academic Prefect / International Prefect / 11ABu
Sam Engelbrecht — Cultural Prefect / Arts Prefect / 8MRo
Jack McLaughlan — Special Character Prefect / 8ADu
Rix Chung — International Prefect / 11LTh
En Watanabe — Academic Prefect / Sports Prefect / 8AVe
Nick Guilford — Social Prefect / Cultural Prefect / 9RRa

This year has seen the reintroduction of the House Minors competition, an event that I remember well from when I first started at McGlashan! This initiative has been welcomed by the boys and it is running smoothly thanks to our Sports Prefects. It is great to see everyone getting out and into it!

The Sports Prefects were also invited to a meeting with other secondary school students from around Otago. This was run by the Otago Secondary School Sports Association and involved guest speakers such as Tom Willis, Katie Menzies, and Ben Smith. Speaking about leadership and their roles as sportspeople, the prefects involved acquired plenty of knowledge and skills to put to good use at school. I look forward to seeing them use these new found skills!

Student Council Chairman and Uniform Prefect, Jonathan Baker, has been the brains behind a new Centenary Tie for the schools Centennial celebrations. The tie is an effort to bring back one of the previous school ties worn many years ago by students at McGlashan. This initiative has been a massive effort, however, the tie is looking fantastic and we can’t wait to see this being worn by students. This will be for sale in the near future once orders have been taken.

Some of the boys involved in the student council were invited by the Columba College Student Council to make and deliver Easter Baskets around some of the rest homes in Dunedin. In previous years, the entire prefect groups from McGlashan and Columba would be involved, however, the masses of people in these homes made the residents uncomfortable. This was a fantastic and rewarding time to serve some of the elderly around the Highgate area and we were happily welcomed. The toughest part of this for the students was delivering the baskets to the dementia unit at Yvette Williams. It made those involved extremely thankful for what they had!

The Health Prefects, alongside Mr Clark, have been involved in organising a visit from Nic Russell. She is the brains behind Kenzie’s Gift, New Zealand’s leading charity committed to improving the emotional well-being and mental health of children, young people and their families affected by serious illness or bereavement. Together with her son Conor, Nic will be running a workshop for Year 12 and 13 students on Wednesday the 11th of April. There will also be a parent seminar held that night. It would be great to see active involvement from the senior students in this workshop, and it would be even better to see a huge turnout for the parent seminar! You never know when hard times will hit.

Lots of students were involved in the Cancer Society Relay for Life in March. This was a successful event and, between McGlashan and Columba, we managed to raise approximately $4,500.00. This was a phenomenal effort and to my knowledge, we raised the most as a school out of all of the schools involved.

I hope you all have a safe and fantastic holiday!

Matthew Fokkens
Deputy Head Prefect, 2018

Art Department Term 1 2018