The new Hockey and Football Pavilion is almost ready and we're getting ready to celebrate...

Five weeks into the new school year and routines have well and truly been established. Headmaster Grant Lander shares his optimism about the exciting year ahead.

Headmaster Grant Lander outlines the school's focus for 2020.

This year we have made a number of internal staff changes:

One of the special features of St Paul’s is the strength of our Pastoral Care system.

Moving to a new school is a big deal! Your child is going to meet lots of new people and be thrown into new situations. That’s bound to make them feel lots of different emotions. They may feel worried and anxious, but also excited and happy – all at the same time!

Students at St Paul's are provided with careers guidance and support in making vocational/educational decisions. The Future Pathways facilitator (Mr Paul Wilson) provides students with a range of opportunities and experiences which encourage them to make informed choices about their future education, training and career pathways within and outside of school.

It’s no secret that the end of school can be a huge source of anxiety for both students and parents alike. Studies have shown that over 40% of final year students suffer from high-level anxiety or stress, with some even suffering from depression.

We offer access for our parents to an online resource to assist you with your journey in working with your teenagers. SchoolTV is a resource which offers information on key topics with expert interviews, fact sheets, parent quiz’s, recommended apps, books and much more.

Year 13 students at St Paul's have the option to take Construction as a class. It is an opportunity to work as apprentices on a real job site for one full day each week and learn from qualified builders. This year's project was officially blessed in a special morning ceremony on 27 February.

Each year St Paul's Year 11 students attend 'Activities Day', a day to foster relationships between the boys and new girls in the year group.

In a recent assembly, 2019's top academic students were awarded their scholar's ties.

Anxious kids are brave kids. They are creative, thoughtful and have the potential to light the world on fire – every one of them, often in unexpected ways. When anxiety takes hold though, it’s overwhelming.

The latest round of academic results includes Cambridge Examinations and Scholarship.

A golden weekend for St Paul’s triathlete Oliver Larcombe saw him crowned as the New Zealand under 19 boys champion.

February has been a busy month for sports and athletics at St Paul's. On Waitangi Day students competed in athletics and swimming standards. Then on 20 February, students made the annual pilgrimage down the road to Porritt Stadium for House Athletics.

On 20 February 2020 the Governor General's XI took on the New Zealand Maaori Schoolboys cricket team at Karori Park in Wellington. The game featured St Paul's own Kuwyn Price, who was vice-captain of the team.

Over the weekend of 24-27 January 2020, the North Island Club Champs (NICC) regatta was held at Karapiro, with SPC rowers getting into 13 x A finals and seven x B finals.

The 1st X1 cricket team have begun their season with two games against Hinuera and Morrinsville. Read the full reports here:

Athletes Foot have partnered with St Paul's for their School Rewards Programme. For each pair of shoes bought in-store, they will donate $15 of sports equipment to St Paul's.

Other notable recent highlights include:

Students, Dion Xue (Year 13) and Matthew Chanwai (Year 10) have been selected to be members of the NZSSSO - New Zealand Secondary Schools Symphony Orchestra for 2020.

Gustav Jooste (Year 13) is just one of St Paul's talented musicians who attended music camp at the start of the year. He writes about the experience for Informer:

As the Tihoi intake one of 2020 settles into the new year, the boys run training has begun. Running has always been a part of my life due to several key and very valid reasons:

Prepare for presenting in the business world. Gain the confidence to speak effectively in public.

One hundred eighty years ago, two people stood in accord with one another. Two people stood for the founding of a nation. Both signed and agreed upon a lengthy piece of document which provided the rules and laws this new nation would uphold. The greatest experiment that humanity had ever seen was about to commence. And for a short time, it seemed to work. A short time. Cracks of tension and disagreement began. Brothers would begin to fight brothers. Blood would forever stain the whenua. This piece of paper, this crunched up drawn-out document was meant to stop this from happening . . . So why did the Treaty fail?

One hundred eighty years ago, Maori and Pakeha joined together in the Bay of Islands to sign what would become New Zealand’s founding document, te tiriti o Waitangi, the Treaty of Waitangi. Written in English and hastily translated into Maori, the treaty is now a cornerstone in New Zealand History.

Results from the 2019 New Zealand Scholarship examinations have confirmed some impressive results for 11 St Paul’s students who passed their scholarship exams. There were a total of 26 scholarships received with two being outstanding scholarships.

Alice Cao, who was dux as a Year 12 student in 2018, recently finished her first year of study at Auckland University doing Health Science.

The Headmaster and Associate Headmaster have already completed just over 40 interviews for the 2021 new student intake. We have limited places in the Boarding Houses and will be restricted to just 55 new Year 9 boarders and 18 new Year 11 to 13 female boarders. While in Year 9 we will take just 80 new day students to ensure average class sizes remain at 20 or below.