On 13 September, nine students travelled to Berkley Normal Middle School to compete in the Term 3 Chess Power Regional Competition. Despite facing strong opposition, primarily from Hillcrest High School, St Paul's performed admirably. For some of our players, this was their first tournament experience in a long time, or even their first ever. The competition consisted of seven rounds of intense chess matches. While our team didn't qualify for the National team competition, we had two outstanding individual performances. Kaedan Govender (Year 11) displayed solid foundations and clever use of the chess clock, finishing the day with seven wins. Leo Li (Year 9) also excelled, ending with an impressive five wins and two draws. These exceptional performances resulted in Kaedan and Leo securing first and second place, respectively, in the individual portion of the competition. As a result, both have qualified for the Chess Power National competition, which will be held in Wellington later this year.

International student Riku Sato (Year 11) proudly represented St Paul’s at the Education Fair in Tokyo during the holidays. Alongside staff from the International Department and his family, Riku shared insights with prospective families about life and schooling as an international student in New Zealand. Thank you, Riku, for doing us proud from afar!

 Asha Russell (Year 11) gained a Highly Commended for her Science Fair Board. She looked at how different netting material impacts the rate of evaporation.

Roy Zhu (Year 12) has recently been selected for the Waikato Debating Development Squad for 2024. This squad selected eight debaters from across high schools who showed the most potential and flare from across the Waikato, who have been involved in the Waikato Schools Debating competitions in the 2024 season. The squad is led by the University of Waikato Debating Society and it not only aims to coach and progress debaters further in their skills but also prepares them for further opportunities in debating, such as selection into the Waikato School’s Debating Team in future years.

Roy represents St Paul’s premier debating team in the Waikato Premier Debating division–the highest division of Waikato Schools Debating–and also represents St Paul’s in school sports exchanges. Having competed at this premier level since year 11, he is now the coach of St Paul’s junior debating. He hopes to bring back these skills and learnings from the development squad to students at school to prepare them for opportunities as such in the future.

Students Gracie Potter (Year 13) and Richard Ruetsch (Year 13) have been selected to attend the Hockey New Zealand FBS U19 Super Camp 2024 held from 7-11 October.

Well done to the Sargood First XI Hockey Team, who won the Waikato U18 C Grade Hockey Division, taking home the Burch Cup. As it was their inaugural season as a team, this was an outstanding effort.

Congratulations to the St Paul's Girls' Lacrosse Team who placed third in the Premier Grade Lacrosse competition. The girls won 13-5 against Te Awamutu College thanks to their exceptional skill, teamwork and determination. Awesome stuff, ladies!