Dear Parents

The recent Year 13 Leavers’ Dinner, held at College House, was the opportunity for our young men in Year 13 to enjoy their final official PNBHS function together. With the changes forced upon us by Covid, and the subsequent alterations to the NCEA examination timetable, the usual full school prizegiving could not go ahead. Instead, a senior prize giving was held at school and we were able to recognise the achievements of a significant number of young men.

At the Leavers’ Dinner, our guest speaker was Mr. Mitchell Alexander (PNBHS 2010-14), who now works in the world of media and politics; he has had a busy time of late in the lead-up to the election. Mr. Alexander spoke to the Year 13s about his time at school and the impact it had on his life since leaving Boys’ High. His success, he said, came from his failures and his challenges. There were tough times, but out of those tough times came a renewed determination to pursue his goals and do well.

In short, life sometimes isn’t easy.

A common question at this time of the year, particularly for those young men who are leaving us at the end of their Year 13, is “What are you doing next year?” Now, some will know, some will not. I spoke to the young me of Year 13 about having more time than they think – they don’t need to make the big decisions just yet. For those who are unsure what path they want to head down they can actually spend some time thinking about what comes next. Spend that time usefully, of course, but for some it may take a while to work out what it is that they want to do.

At last year’s prizegving, I quoted the great Jodie Foster, who said “There is nothing more beautiful than finding your course as you believe you bob aimlessly in the current. Wouldn’t you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to become. This path does not belong to your parents, your teachers, your leaders, your lovers. Your path is your character defining itself more and more everyday like a photograph coming into focus”.

This year, unlike others, the seniors will not be returning to school for the annual full School Prizegiving ceremony. They will currently be focused on their NCEA examinations, and it is to be hoped that despite the interrupted year they will be able to achieve to their potential and get out of the exams what they put in. The time for using Covid as an excuse is well and truly gone.

At the Senior Prizegiving we were privileged to be able to recognise a plethora of fantastic achievements. Congratulations to all our prize winners, in particular our top award winners: Dux Litterarum Paul Lee and Proxime Accessit Eric Jiang; Dux Ludorum Curtis Heaphy (Year 12); runner-up Dux Ludorum Angus Lyver (Year 12); Dux Artium Ciaran Carroll (also the 2019 Dux Artium) and Joe Inman (Year 12); runner-up Dux Artium Zac Maskill, and the Richard Absolon Memorial Award, the most prestigious award outside of the Dux awards, Raymond Tuputupu. Congratulations also to Jacob Dredge and Jonty Fleck, who were named as Head Prefect and Deputy Head Prefect respectively for 2021.  

The Senior Prizegiving also enabled us to recognise the long service and commitment to academia from Mr. Willie Docherty (pictured above), who was presented with an Academic Stole, the highest recognition afforded to one of our teaching staff.

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Staffing 2021

Appointments for 2021 have been made in the English department but the staff turnover is particularly low at this stage.

Enrolments 2021

There has been a significant increase in the numbers for Year 9 in 2021, considerably more than the 2020 intake. We continue to receive applications for enrolment at Years 10-13, some from schools in the region or from whanau relocating to the Manawatu. There have been an additional 32 young men join the school during the year in year groups other than Year 9. Due to the numbers who have applied for 2021, the school has again been unable to accept all enrolments and subsequently we have had to create a waiting list.

School Fees and Donations

A reminder that any outstanding fees need to be cleared before the end of the school year.

Year 10 Camps

My thanks are extended to parents who attended the Year 10 Camp Meeting recently. Year 10 camps take place in the penultimate week of the term, from Sunday 23/Monday 24 November through to Thursday 26 November. Camp week has been shortened due to the compulsory Accord Teacher Only Day.

D M Bovey

Rector

Recent Student Achievement and Other News:

· NCEA Examinations – these are in full swing and good luck to all those young men involved.

· Junior Examinations – Year 9 and 10 pupils recently sat their end of year examinations, the results of which will play an important role in terms of next year’s classes

· Cricket – the 1st XI lost to Nelson College in the CD qualification tournament and as a result did not qualify for the NZSS Gillette Cup.

· Barrowclough Awards – presented at assembly recently to young men in the Senior and Junior school.

· Juggling – a juggling club has been set up. Mr Sinclair is the Master in Charge.

· Hockey – Solomon Kaihe and Hael Pritchard have been selected for the NZ Maori U21 hockey team.

· Choir – Sebastien Cave, Leo Xu, Grayson Lodge, Vealata Tongati’o and Tom Varney have been selected in the NZ Secondary Students’ Choir for 2021/22.

· Basketball – 9DS won the Year 9 interclass basketball competition.

· Martial Arts – Jack Cains won gold medals at the South Island NZ Grappler Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Championships in the U67kg grade and the Open Featherweight division.

· Chemistry – Dan van der Spuy and Lucas Richardson won bronze awards in the NZ Chemistry Olympiad.

· Dance – RV Quijano had two first places at the South Island Latin Dance Championships.

· Softball – Haimona Maruera and Joe Simpson-Smith have been selected for the NZ Junior Black Sox training squad.

· Swimming – Alex Odom has been selected for Swimming NZ in the National Age Group Programme for 202/21.

· Croquet – Paul Kaiser won both the Open Singles and Doubles competitions at the North Island Croquet Championships.

· Tennis – Jonty Giesen won the Tennis NZ U14 competition.

· Sports and Cultural Awards – over a series of assemblies, sports awards that would normally be presented at the Sports & Cultural Prizegiving were presented.

· Leavers’ Dinner – Old Boy Mitchell Alexander was the guest speaker at the Year 13 Leavers’ Dinner. Mitchell works for TV3 as a news/political reporter.

· Dance – Camden Woodroofe has been selected for the New Zealand School of Dance Associates programme in ballet.