It was an up down year for McClintock house this year, after a fourth-place finish last year the house was hurting and wanting to make amends this year. We welcomed our new leader Laverton Loto and his willing, helpful fellow year 13’s to lead our charge up the leaderboard to where McClintock house belongs.

This charge started off on a hot day at Halswell Pool, it was a great day, full of chants, bright house colours and costumes and even some competitive swimming. McClintock may have finished in fourth place but we did have some swimming champions in our ranks. Marcus Bernal in year 10 and Ben Morrison in year 7 so the future is looking bright.

We took this setback in our stride and prepared to gain back some points at the next event, the school athletics champs held at the wonderful and world-class Nga Punawai sports hub. Unfortunately, things did not go our way once again, the year 13 students and Laverton did their best to try to will the house to victory but we fell agonizingly close and missed out on third place to Marlow by two house points.

The third main event for the four houses was special character week and the annual singing and haka competitions. This is a week that is unique to St Thomas and one which we should be very proud of. Firstly, as a school we celebrated Mass with Fr Michael Therese Scheerger and prayed in different languages that reflect our community. We raised money for our community through a fair that promoted team building and ethical business practices ($3621.90 raised). Lastly, we collected clothing for the needy. (1563 items donated to Saint Vincent de Paul). So, after all of this collective charity and good towards each other it came down to the singing and Haka contests. Each year these are keenly contested, and the results are always debated about for weeks to come by staff and students.

The McClintock haka this year was superbly led by year 12 student George Doig. This was George's first time being the house kaitataki and he did an amazing job. He expertly helped us in the leadup, helped the less able and younger boys and showed plenty of patience in doing so. On the day of the contest George led the Haka with great poise, mana and passion and McClintock came away with our first victory of the year.

Is has been a year of ups and downs for the school and for McClintock house, one we can look back on with fondness at times and a few what if moments, but all in all we have all we gave it a good crack and competed and gave things a go. During the year we had some staff changes and lost some staff and drafted in others to help the house. The loss of Mr Washington and his passion, costumes and his points calculations was felt by the whole house. A big thankyou to Laverton and his Year 13 crew for the work with the house, the weekly house meetings and the many Bruce challenges along the way, we didn’t get the result you were after but you have all added to the house and added to the McClintock legacy.

Next year the house kaitataki will be Max Sergel-Stringer, I’m confident that Max and his new McClintock Crew will already be plotting our comeback and establishing McClintock back on its throne and the best house here at St Thomas of Canterbury College