School House looked a bit different on Saturday night with the Year 13 boys dressed to the nines and with their partners in hand.

Hostel staff rarely see the boys dressed up and certainly never see girls in the hostel, so the pre-formal drinks and nibbles in the dining hall is always a fun experience. In what has become an unofficial tradition, we also had an Year 13 parents’ dinner while the formal was on. It was a lovely way for the parents to socialise and start to prepare for the end of their sons’ secondary school education. A big thank you to Keri Young for organising the dinner.

The 1st XV vs 2nd XV game on Saturday generated a lot of interest at the hostel with many boys going down to watch. It may not have been the close game some people were expecting, but the boys certainly enjoyed watching and it was a big discussion point that night.

On Sunday, our impressive hostel shooting team competed at the Balfour Inter-Collegiate shoot. All the top shooting schools in the Otago/Southland region were present and the team finished 3rd overall. Individual results are as follows:

3rd  Senior Skeet   Henry Sim

3rd Junior Skeet   George Scurr 

1st Junior Single Rise   Shamus Young 

2nd Junior Single Barrel   Isaac Ottrey 

1st Junior Skeet   Nick Sim

2nd Junior Single Rise   Nick Sim

HOA (high overall) Single Barrel   Nick Sim

HOA Point Score   Nick Sim

High Gun/Best Shooter   Nick Sim

Well done to the team, especially Nick Sim for his very impressive results.

The shooting theme continued on Sunday with the juniors involved in Laser Tag. This was a bit different than the normal Laser Tag indoor experience as it took place outside in the bush between the tennis courts and Littlebourne. The guns are impressive pieces of technology being within an inch accurate over 180m! The boys really enjoyed being outside in the bush and pretending they were Rambo. They wore themselves out however, and it made for one of the earliest 'lights out' of the year!

Last week we had a Student Council meeting. Some robust discussion was had regarding how we can increase the amount of interaction between year groups. One of the suggestions of the council was to hold hostel house BBQ nights once a term. The house itself would cook the food and oversee the menu, with the help of Donna King the kitchen manager of course!! This would be followed by a house activity, which may be games at Roberts Park or Leap etc. This is a great concept and something that we will get going towards the end of the term.

The boys have started to prepare for Cultural Night. The boys in their houses are required to perform the school haka and then a song. The song is to be sung with no background music i.e choir style. This year the theme is Disney and the song chosen must feature in a Disney movie. There are over 130 of them so the boys have a few to choose from. The boys are pretty comfortable with the haka but the song will push them out of their comfort zone. The house that prepares the best and has the year groups working together will do well. In some ways this is the whole point of cultural night, to encourage the year groups to mix and to work towards a common goal that is not sport related.

We have grandparent’s dinner this Sunday. We have had an amazing response and are getting close to our capacity. So, if there are still some grandparents that would like to come along, please get in touch asap. This is one of the more enjoyable nights of the year at the hostel. The boys are always so proud to show their grandparents the hostel and it is touching to see the interaction between grandsons and grandparents.

Lastly, a big thank you to Donna and the kitchen staff. We have held many functions at the hostel recently and the staff have had to but in some big hours. The food has constantly been of a very high standard and the efforts that the kitchen team have gone to has been appreciated. On top of all the functions at the hostel the kitchen has also been required to provide dinner for the staff at school for the three recent parent teacher interview evenings. The teachers have commented on how good the food has been.

I hope you all have a fantastic week.