From the Rector

This term has, for the first time this year, enabled the whole school to come together with the return of assemblies. To be able to share successes, to reinforce expectations, to have presentations, all with our staff and our young men together in the hall, is traditionally an important part of our school.

The young men often hear me talking about our history and traditions; at a recent assembly I spoke about the background of the Butler Cup for Shand Shield cricket, and of the Andrews Cup for Shand Shield tennis. I read the results from the 100th School Road Race, first run in 1921. I gave the results from traditional fixtures, one which dates back 99 years, another over 100. On Queen’s Birthday weekend, the 1st XV will play Napier Boys’ High School for the Polson Banner as part of our brother school’s 150th celebrations. That fixture, our oldest, goes back 118 years.

All of these fixtures, and competitions, the relationships and rivalries, and the people who have been involved in them, are part of our whakapapa, our school’s story.

In Owen Eastwood’s book, Belonging, the author describes how he understands whakapapa: “Each of us are part of an unbreakable chain of people going back and forward in time…Each of us in this chain of people have our arms interlocked with those on either side of us. We are unbreakable.

The sun rose in the east and shone on our first ancestor. Here is our origin story. Just as happens with each passing day, the sun slowly moves down this unbreakable chain of people. Each of us will have our time in the sun. But the sun is always moving…When the sun shines on us we are alive, we are strong. For we have had passed down to us a culture that immerses us in deep belonging…We share beliefs and a sense of identity with those around us and this anchors us. We share a purpose with them…We fit in here. Rituals and traditions tie us together.

Whakapapa points a finger at us and tells us, You will not be judged by your money or celebrity or sense of self-pride…you will be judged by what you did for our tribe.

When the sun is shining on us, we must be guardians of our tribe and of each other.”

A sense of belonging is incredibly important for teenagers, boys in particular, and from the moment a Year 9 boy puts our uniform on for the very first time, he becomes part of our whakapapa. There will be challenging times throughout a young man’s time with us; the turbulence of teenage years means that is inevitable, but the whakapapa he is part of, the traditions, the history, our story, will anchor him and help guide him, as it does the school.

And, during this busy term, with winter sport underway, with cultural and performing arts activities aplenty, every young man that steps onto a field, a court, a stage is representing all those who have come before him, all those who have worn the same uniform, all those who sat in the same seats he is sitting in today. He is as important to our whakapapa as all of those young men have been.

He belongs.