When Old Boy Cameron Rose (PNBHS 1958 – 1962) passed away on the 1st of September 2021 he left a bequest to our school.  As a teacher for 40 years, Cameron recognised the importance of effective teaching, and of a teacher's contribution to the wider life of a school. His support of PNBHS and of our teachers, as well of our young men, is very much appreciated.  Alongside initiatives to benefit young men, some of Cameron’s generous legacy gift will be used to recognise staff members at Palmerston North Boys’ High School who have made significant contributions to the school and its young men.  The inaugural presentation of these awards was made this morning.

Miss Shayla Close

Miss Close joined the PNBHS Social Sciences department in January 2017 as a teacher of Social Studies and History.  Miss Close made an immediate impact with her hard-working and dedicated approach alongside her relational ability in the classroom and high expectations.  She was appointed to the position of Teacher in Charge of Social Studies in January 2023.  This appointment coincided with significant curriculum and assessment reform, and she has been at the forefront of this at a school, regional and national level.  Miss Close has demonstrated significant commitment and leadership at each of those levels.

Miss Close is the Chairperson of the Manawatū History Teacher’s Association and in this role organises and leads professional development for local teachers.  She is on the New Zealand History Teachers Association Executive Committee and in this role was contracted to create resources for schools throughout New Zealand on the history of the 28th Māori Battalion.  She has collaborated with Rangitāne and the Palmerston North City Library to create resources for schools.  During terms one and two completed in-depth professional development with Rangitāne to build her knowledge of iwi history so that she can share that with her colleagues and students.  Miss Close has also collaborated with the Fred Hollows Foundation to create resources for schools that will further the legacy of our most prominent Old Boy.

Miss Close created and implemented the Year 9 Challenge, a very popular end-of-year activity that involves all young men in Year 9.  She has also been involved in the wider life of the school, managing rugby and hockey teams and the Year 10 camp programme.

Mr Richard Fogarty

Mr Fogarty first joined the PNBHS teaching staff in 2004.  With the exception of a year in a senior management position at a school in Charters Towers in Queensland in 2018 and two years as the Hostel Manager at Timaru Boys’ High School in 2020 and 2021, he has taught at Palmerston North Boys’ High School since this time.

Alongside his teaching duties in the Technology Department, Mr Fogarty has held a diverse range of other roles.  From 2009 – 2015 he was a Dean at Year 10 and Year 11, he was a College House Master in 2014 and College House Assistant Manager from 2015 – 2017. 

In 2016 he was appointed as Head of Technology and it is in this position that his greatest legacy – so far at least - has developed.  The creation of the Construction and Automotive programmes has enabled the school to better meet the needs of our young men.  The Construction programme's first build was a classroom that sits proudly on-site at our school, a daily testament to the skills of the staff and students involved in the build.  In more recent years the Construction programme has expanded to include the construction of relocatable houses for private clients.  This year the Automotive workshop opened and was oversubscribed with enthusiastic senior students.  Mr Fogarty has been instrumental in the establishment of both of these courses which are providing significant practical skills and qualifications, as well as a direct pathway into employment, for our young men.

Mr Fogarty is incredibly hard-working and has spent countless hours at weekends, during school holidays and during the Christmas break working to ensure these programmes are successful.

Mr Fogarty is also an enthusiastic supporter of our co-curricular programme.  He has been the Teacher in Charge of Basketball and Manager of the Premier A Basketball team, Teacher in Charge of Hockey and a Hockey coach and has been involved with the Year 10 Camp programme throughout most of his time at PNBHS.

Mr Kevin McAnulty

Mr McAnulty joined the PNBHS Property team in 2000 and was appointed to the role of Property Manager in January 2019.  Over time, schools have assumed more and more responsibility for maintaining and developing their facilities.  Mr McAnulty’s building experience and expertise have proved invaluable in this regard. 

PNBHS is a diverse operation, with a property portfolio that includes all school facilities, with the covered pool complex and Speirs Centre bringing another payer of complexity, College House and Manawatū Community High School.  Mr McAnulty’s ability to take on a project management role in many of our property developments, rather than having to contract this out, has saved the school hundreds of thousands of dollars that have subsequently been able to be directed into property developments.

The expectation that schools can continually ‘do more with less’ seems pervasive in the education sector and this is something that Mr McAnulty has proved adept at.  With the property funding we receive from the government,t it is a struggle to maintain our school environment, with some buildings being more than 100 years old, in an appropriate state to encourage learning.  However, this is something our Property Team manages in an outstanding manner, and we frequently receive compliments from visitors about how good the school looks.

Mr McAnulty and his team have continued to develop ‘boy proof’ as a whole new level of building, over and above the demands of ‘industrial’,  This was recently illustrated when renovations to the B block bathrooms were held up in the demolition phase as a consequence of how well they had been built.

As a school, we are incredibly fortunate to have a highly skilled property team, with a wide range of building and construction experience, and we are incredibly fortunate to have a man of Mr McAnulty’s expertise to lead them.

Mr Jason Moore

Mr Moore joined the PNBHS Physical Education and Health department in 2007.  His ability to relate positively to young men while simultaneously holding them to high standards and enforcing high levels of expectation was immediately evident.  He has gone on to hold curriculum leadership positions in the department.  Mr Moore joined the College House staff in 2009 as a House Master and continued in this role until mid-2013.  He was the Assistant Manager from 2012.  Again, this mix of support and high expectations of young men was apparent.

Mr Moore’s standing as an accomplished teacher and relational skills, alongside his organisational ability and commitment to excellence in all that he does, saw him appointed to senior Deans positions in 2009 and then the role of Year 9 Dean in 2017, a role he has held since then.  The Year Level Dean’s role is an essential one at PNBHS.  They are tasked with an important role in providing pastoral support to young men as well as upholding school expectations.  As such, they make a significant contribution to the culture of our school.  The role of the year 9 Dean, assisting each new generation of young men to learn the rules and cultural norms of the school, is an especially complex one.  In recent years our Year 9 cohort has come from more than 60 contributing schools and bringing together this diverse range of schooling experiences and expectations is challenging.

Mr Moore has excelled in the Dean’s role.  His proactive and personable approach and outstanding communication skills have been his hallmarks.

Mr Moore has been a significant contributor to our co-curricular programme.  He has coached Rugby at a variety of levels, including the 1st XV from 2013 – 2017 and the 2017 UK Rugby tour, as well as junior Cricket teams, is the Teacher in Charge of Softball, has completed the Crest to Crest, and has been a regular supporter of the Year 10 camp programme.

During term two 2024 Mr Moore stepped in as Senior Master and again made a significant contribution during this time in the role.

Mr Vincent Ong

Mr Ong joined the PNBHS Mathematics department in 2007.  He quickly established himself as both a popular and expert teacher of Mathematics to both junior and senior classes.  Alongside his teaching duties, he has also held curriculum leadership roles in the Mathematics department.  That our Year Level Deans, especially those in the senior school, regularly receive requests from parents for their son’s to be in Mr Ong’s classes (and the equivalent requests from many boys themselves) is testament to his ability to engage students positively and effectively teach complex and challenging subject material to them.

Alongside the many hours of time he voluntarily provides for lunchtime tutorials for students, he has also developed a significant online presence through his YouTube channel and more recently Tik Tok – @mrongmathslessons

Mr Ong is incredibly generous with his time and expertise, both for students and his colleagues, with one of his colleagues recently writing “I continue to be full of admiration for Vincent as a teacher specialist. All students, whether academically able or challenged, are so fortunate to be taught by such an iconic subject specialist, and iconic relational teacher. Vincent is a teacher who takes students to their potential. It is no light thing to offer such fulsome praise, but I am fortunate to have worked together with Vincent.”

Mr Ong’s expertise has extended beyond the classroom, and he has been the mainstay of PNBHS Badminton throughout his time here.  PNBHS is the second most successful Super Eight School for Badminton and Mr Ong has been in charge for six of the school’s seven titles.  Mr Ong was especially proud to have his son Junius in the winning PNBHS team in 2016 (with the team finishing fourth at the New Zealand Secondary School Badminton Championships), 2017 and 2018.

Mr James Ross

Mr Ross joined the PNBHS Mathematics department in 2007.  He has held curriculum leadership roles in the department and was appointed to the role of Assistant Head of Department in 2015, a role he has maintained since then.  He completed a stint as a College House Master from 2008 – 2010, bringing his renowned enthusiasm to this role.

Mr Ross’ greatest legacy to date at Palmy Boys’ is undoubtedly his contribution and commitment to our co-curricular programme, in particular to Water Polo.  Mr Ross has singlehandedly been responsible for the establishment and development of Water Polo as a sport at PNBHS.  His enthusiasm, commitment and expertise have seen the sport grow to a stage where we are able to be highly competitive at a national level. 

For many years PNBHS Water Polo teams have competed in the Wellington Secondary Schools competition, a huge commitment for all involved.  In 2016 the Premier A team won their first Wellington Secondary Schools title and have continued to be very competitive in this competition since that time, along with the Junior A team.  Mr Ross has clocked up thousands of kilometres and hundreds of hours to provide this opportunity for our young men.

In 2022 Mr Ross’ expertise and passion were recognised by New Zealand Water Polo who put him onto a high-performance coaching pathway as a part of his role as the New Zealand Youth Men’s team manager, offering him a place in High Performance Sport New Zealand's two-year Core Knowledge programme.

The depth that Mr Ross has developed in Water Polo is evident in the four Old Boys who were selected in the New Zealand Under 20 Men’s team this year - Lachie Griffiths is the head coach of the NZ team with Cole Phillips, Jacob Booth and Mario Moody all playing in the team. A fifth Old Boy, Alex Odom, was ruled out with illness.

Alongside this significant commitment, Mr Ross has managed PNBHS swimming teams to North Island and New Zealand championships, coached rugby teams, has been regularly involved in the Year 10 camp programme and has provided logistical support to the Crest to Crest.

Mrs Jackie Tomlinson

Miss Hutchins, as she was prior to marriage, joined the PNBHS Mathematics department in 2006.  She quickly proved adept at working with students who were struggling with maths basics and for many years was involved with the Learning Support programme.  She held curriculum leadership positions in the department prior to taking maternity leave.

Upon returning from maternity leave in 2016 Mrs Tomlinson had a change of direction and was appointed to a Computer Administration support staff role.  As with many of the support staff roles in a school, the work they do is unseen yet essential to the effective running of the organisation.  In her role in the Computer Administration Office, Mrs Tomlinson has provided significant support at key times of the year.  Her expertise has enabled us to streamline many school activities, saving countless hours for many staff, although often adding to her own workload.  As with anything involving ICT there are inevitably some glitches and Mrs Tomlinson is always available at the end of the phone or email to patiently and cheerfully resolve those issues.  Much of her work is unseen, but her contribution is significant.

Mrs Tomlinson has also continued her Mathematics teaching, in a role working specifically to support young men in the Learning Support Programme.