A canoe trip, rowing regatta and an athletics championship under a dark sky of coronavirus made for an interesting weekend in School House.

School House boys enjoyed great success at the recent South Island Secondary Schools Rowing Championship. Alex McLachlan and Jake Burgess won gold in the U17 quad and Jake gained a bronze in the U18 quad. The U16 quad made up of hostel boys Grayson Small, Jacob Bowell, Cody Campbell and Jake Burgess took out a bronze medal. It was an impressive regatta for Jake with three medals, but also for Alex McLachlan who only started rowing this season and was competing against boys who had rowed for three seasons. 

The hostel had further success on the weekend at the Otago Athletics Champs. Symon Maguire had a brilliant meet winning gold in the 400m, 400m relay, and the 100m relay. He also gained silver in the 100m. Archie Chittock also had some success with silver in the U14 discus and and 100m relay. Well done Symon and Archie!

Congratulations to Hamish Faulks for his selection to the U16 New Zealand touch team. He will attend the National Youth Championships in Australia in September as part of the 2020 Under 16 Development Tour. Well done Hamish! 

Recently in assembly, Lachie Robinson was given a highly prized 'Good Man Award' for helping an elderly man whose car had broken down in the middle of nowhere. Lachie gave him a lift to the nearest town and stayed with him until his family arrived. The man rang the school saying what a great young man Lachie is. Well done Lachie! 

The canoe trip on Sunday went well with the boys enjoying the experience. Plenty of seals were spotted plus a very large sea lion who swam in and around the boys canoes. Next up on the activities calendar is surfing with Esplanade Surf School.

The inaugural Otago Boys' Boarding programme has got off to a good start with the boys enjoying their lessons and courses. The various instructors and coaches have been very complimentary about the boys behaviour and talent, which is fantastic. It will seem strange when all the activities start coming to an end in term two as they have quickly become a weekly routine in the hostel.

Just a reminder we have the parents dinner coming up at Lone Star on the 8th April, time to be confirmed. If you would like to attend please RSVP to either Janis or myself by 1 April. This is the major parents event of the year and I would encourage you all to come along, it is a great night out. 

Have a great long weekend and enjoy having your son(s) home for a few days. It is hard to believe that when the boys return they only have three weeks to the end of term and two of those are short weeks!