Well done and thank you to all of the young men and staff who attended the recent Year 13 Leavers’ Dinner. Special thanks to our guest speaker Mr. Hadleigh Parkes (2001 – 2005) and Mrs. Parkes for giving up their time to join us.

Mr. Parkes concluded his speech with three messages for our leavers.  Firstly, there’s nothing wrong with changing your career and life direction.  It’s perfectly normal to not know what you want to do.  Secondly, adversity is a part of life.  Embrace it and step up to the challenges in front of you.  But also celebrate your achievements and triumphs.  His third point was that you’re never too late to try something new and change direction.

Thank you also to the College House catering staff for putting on a magnificent meal for us and Mrs. Davidson for the many hours she spent setting up the Dining Room.

From Deputy Head Prefect Jack Trotter’s introduction for Mr. Parkes:

“Mr. Parkes, who hails from Ōhingaiti, followed in the footsteps of his three older brothers, Ben, Scott and Greg and attended PNBHS and College House.  In 2005 he was named as Head Boy of College House and Head Prefect of Palmerston North Boys’ High School.

On Mr. Parkes’ Testimonial the Rector at the time, Mr. O’Connor, noted “Hadleigh is an exceptional and exciting young man.  He has the admiration of the teaching staff and his peers.  His position of Head Prefect has seen him demonstrate maturity, modesty, immaculate personal presentation and sense of occasion.  Hadleigh has undertaken these tasks with pride and courage.

Hadleigh is an outstanding role model for younger students.  He is genuine, reliable and well rounded.  While Hadleigh is not a natural communicator, he has worked extensively to present himself and the school in the best possible fashion.  He has my admiration for the time and effort he has put into an identified weakness.”

Throughout his time at PNBHS Mr. Parkes fully involved himself in school and hostel life, competing in a range of sporting codes – athletics, basketball, school boxing championships, cricket, hockey,  indoor cricket, 7’s rugby, rugby and water polo – as well as being selected as a Yellow Ribbon ambassador, for the OPC Leadership Development camp and the Crest to Crest challenge.

Mr. Parkes was first selected in the 1st XI Cricket team in 2004.  That year the 1st XI were the joint winners of the national secondary schools’ cricket championships, the Gillette Cup.  He was again in the team in 2005.

Mr Parkes was also selected in the 1st XV in 2004 and 2005.  He travelled to Australia with the team for preseason training and games in 2004 and went on to feature in 17 of the 20 games the team played that season, scoring five tries in the process.  

The 2005 1st XV enjoyed an outstanding season, playing 22 matches for 19 wins and three losses.  In the process the team scored 813 points while conceding only 282 and finished third in the New Zealand Secondary Schools ‘Top Four’ competition.  

Mr. Parkes was selected for the Hurricanes Secondary Schools rugby team.  His strong form for the Hurricanes side saw him selected into the New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby team.  He was subsequently named as vice-captain of the national team.

Since leaving Palmy Boys’ Mr. Parkes has fashioned an impressive rugby career, playing 15 times for the Manawatu Turbos, 41 times for the Auckland NPC team, 13 times for the Blues, seven matches for the Kings in South Africa, six appearances for the Hurricanes, 122 games for the Scarlets in Wales, 23 matches for the Panasonic Wild Knights and six for the Black Rams in Japan.  Mr. Parkes is also an international rugby player having made 29 test appearances for Wales, including playing in the 2019 Rugby World Cup.  

A professional sports career that spans 15 years and more than 200 appearances is impressive.”