The first Year 10 camp is due back today. Eight wifi-free days for our lads in the pure New Zealand Alpine environment. Magic.

Attending camp this year I gained a real insight to just how well boys operate with each other without the digital distraction. They engage with each other, they play made up games for fun, they run around and simply put, they act like kids.

In fact, I think it is so good that we are bringing a little bit of the 'alpine environment' back to the school on Fridays. From today we are turning off the wifi, here at school, at interval and lunchtimes. Why?  We want the boys to be outside more, running around, playing games, talking to each other.

We want them to be like boys.

A phone has its place and it is a useful parent student communication tool, but that is about it. So I hope that you can understand that the reason we are doing this is not to make the communication with you more problematic, rather we want them communicating with their peers, or failing that, our library has some fantastic books to read. If you need to communicate with them, you still can through the office.

Monday is a teacher only day - staff will be actively engaged across Dunedin with leaders in assessment. This will be a very important time for staff, they need the professional opportunity this provides for them and will benefit all students in the years to come. I acknowledge that this may have brought difficulties for you, but without these opportunities we as a school go backwards in our teaching of boys. We appreciate your understanding.