As we approach the end of the year, we want to clarify the criteria around how boys gain the Honour badge and the new “Above The Hoops” badge that will be awarded at Junior Prizegiving.

We will also introduce a new page in the end-of-year reports to help parents see, at a glance, the values badges their son has earned.

Firstly, here is a reminder of how boys earn the badge for each term. Boys must fulfill these criteria to gain a badge:

1.  Have a GPA of 3.8 minimum in effort grades.

AND

2.  One positive postcard OR 4 house points.

If your son’s GPA is too low, he won’t gain a badge even if he has a postcard or enough house points. If his GPA is 4 or above, the badge is awarded automatically.

Earning the Honour badge

Once a boy earns the four badges for Respect, Courage, Perseverance and Excellence, he will get the Honour badge. This could be at the end of Year 9 or Year 10, depending on how long it takes him to earn these.

Earning the “Above The Hoops” badge

This is the ultimate reward for boys who have earned every badge in every term over their first two years at OBHS. It is reserved for boys who have consistently demonstrated the school values throughout the entirety of their junior schooling.

New Reports Page

Any issues we have had this year have now been resolved through working closely with the providers of our student management system and will be correct by the time the final reports go out at the end of term. In assembly this week, boys have been told to look carefully at the week 6 progress report and tell us of any issues that they still have. There is a Google form for them to give us feedback on any snags. This needs to be done by the end of week 7.

You can see in the image attached below how this page will work.

It is important to note that just because your son gets a postcard sent home, this does not mean that he will automatically gain a badge - he needs to fulfil all of the criteria for that. On this page of the report, you can see which postcards he has gained.

Feedback

We welcome feedback at Otago Boys’ - it is how we improve and we care about making the schooling process positive for your son. The whole concept of the “Above The Hoops” badge came from feedback collected last year from current Year 10 boys Dustin Young and Harry Townsend. Boys have already been invited to give us feedback on the badge scheme and we welcome the voices of Whānau too. Please feel free to send us your feedback.