Greetings from St Bede’s College.

Term Term two finishes and looking round the tired faces of staff and students yesterday at assembly, it will be a timely break.

At assembly, the Senior Boys did a wrap-up of the term. Spiritual, community, cultural and sporting activities were all recapped and acknowledged. The Big Sing, The Mad Soiree and the performances of the debating team were featured as well, and the progress of not only our well performed first teams, but also all the other teams that are representing the College in the winter.

Also at assembly, a group of Year 9 boys led by Rueben Stoffers (Year 12) drew the College’s attention to the Maori New Year which began last week. The Maori name of the new year is Matariki. The stars of the Matariki show us that the Maori New Year has begun. Each of these share a special connection with our environment and play an important role in the Maori world. Stories of the stars have been passed down from generation to generation. Each iwi have their own story.

One of those stories was told, and as with any new year it is a time to celebrate. So some of the boys from 9X and 9M led the school in teaching them the Matariki Macarena, which is a dance! Eight-hundred boys and staff responded and it was an entertaining way to finish the final assembly of the term!!

Earlier in the week, some of our Year 12 boys attended a Leadership Day at Christ College, joining students from all over the city.

The first guest speaker for the day was NZ’s blade runner, Liam Malone. He hit the headlines when after less than three short years in the sport, he broke the previous Paralympic record held by Oscar Pistorius. Liam’s story of hitting rock bottom at university, of the tragic death of his mother who succumbed to cancer, to turning it all around and receiving two gold medals and a silver medal at the Paralympic Games inspired all those attending.

One of his “nuggets” or pieces of advice he shared is noteworthy as well. He dwelt at some length on the information age we live in, and stated “what calories are to the body is what information is to the mind”. He also spoke of how potentially crippling the ‘like’ syndrome, so prevalent in social media environment, is on particularly young people, and how that can influence thoughts, emotions and therefore our well-being. “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind”, he continued, and pointed young people to the benefits and the practice of mindfulness. That concept warrants further investigation for the benefit of boys.

He was excellent.

Until next Term,

J.G. Boyle