From the Rector

Dear Parents

I can contain myself no longer. Recently, in an almost Melchett-esque fit of pique, I left a presentation for principals about NCEA readiness, or changes (or something like that, I can’t quite remember) with an unbridled sense of indignation. And I wasn’t the only one. There was mass indignation, if there is such a thing. We were indignant because despite our concerns about the tinkering and changes to NCEA, we were essentially told that no, all the changes are awesome, you have more than enough time and we have given you more than enough information to make the changes, and you are all wrong. I paraphrase, here, but the sentiment remains.

If it weren’t for the fact that the sausage rolls were excellent, the interminable presentation would have been a colossal waste of time.

What is frustrating not just for principals, but so many involved in secondary education in New Zealand, is the blinkered approach, the resolute burying of the ministerial head in the sand, when it comes to feedback about the changes. Simon Sinek says “Start with Why” when it comes to change, but while it is acknowledged that NCEA is not perfect (a world-leading qualification that no-one else in the world is following) there has been scant evidence to suggest that the proposed changes will improve it at all. The ‘Why’ is tenuous at best, with real concerns that all the changes to both NCEA and the curriculum are going to do is continue down the path many critics have noted in recent times, a path that sees knowledge becoming less important. Dr Michael Johnston of the New Zealand Initiative believes the current curriculum is already knowledge poor: “The lack of prescribed knowledge in the New Zealand Curriculum allows for ad hoc approaches to subject content and muddled sequencing of learning, resulting in many students developing fractured and incomplete understanding”.

Dr Bronwyn Wood, Associate Professor in the School of Education at Victoria University, says, “All of us at university would say that we are noticing gaps in knowledge in our students”. This is a real concern.

A suggestion might be that instead of theorists and analysts and Pollyannas and rose-tints, principals and teachers, those who have been in the classroom recently and who know what is happening in schools today, should be put in charge of looking at secondary education in New Zealand. Perhaps then we might make some progress.

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When the mind is quickened, out of doubt

The organs, though defunct and dead before,

Break up their drowsy grave and newly move

With casted slough and fresh legerity.

Henry V (IV.i)

With Term III at an end, the young men who have recently completed their school examinations will have had a chance to reflect on their performance and effort, or lack thereof, as they gear up for the NCEA examinations in November. The coming holidays provide an opportunity for them to be rested, to come back to school for the new term rejuvenated and fresh, as Henry is the night before the Battle of Agincourt in Shakespeare’s Henry V. He talks of how the body may be recharged by the power of the mind, and in a recent assembly when I spoke to the boys about motivation, the point was made that a positive and focused approach will be needed if they are to achieve success commensurate with their ability. The young men themselves must take responsibility for their own motivation.

But the pragmatists among them would suggest that they may already have enough, or at least nearly enough, credits to have achieved NCEA success, thus reducing the importance of the exams. This would be a dangerous assumption, however. Every year we see young men who have fallen into this trap, and who through miscalculation, or through laziness, or hubris, come a cropper. So, one hopes that our young men can return for the new term with a renewed sense of purpose with a goal to do as well as they can over the last few weeks of the year.

Staffing

We have very few vacancies for 2024, but these have been advertised and a number of interviews conducted.

Enrolments 2024

Unprecedented numbers of enrolment applications were received and for the first time in many years, a ballot had to be held to determine the remaining available out-of-zone places for Year 9 in 2024. As a result, there is a significant waiting list, both at school and at College House. It is unfortunate that so many young men have missed out on the school of their choice, and so it behoves those who were successful in the ballot to ensure they give it everything when they come to Boys’ High next year and not waste the opportunity they have been given.

It has been a busy term, with so many of our young men involved in co-curricular activities on top of their academic workload. Have a well-earned and relaxing break.

D M Bovey

RECTOR