We are into the last full week of school - exams are winding down, Junior Prizegiving and conferencing are just around the corner and everyone is starting to think of the coming summer break.

Our Senior Prizegiving was a wonderful evening. Jack Aicken carried away the top prize of Dux, which was just reward for such hard work. Well done, Jack! Ryan Ammar, our Head Boy from 2010, spoke poignantly about the joys of friendship, something which is so important to our teenage boys. It was great to celebrate our success in 2020 and look forward to 2021. I want to thank our leavers for everything they have contributed to our school, especially our Head Boy, Josh Earnshaw, who has proved himself to be an outstanding young man. Balkrishna Uniyal was named as next year’s Head Boy and I’m really looking forward to working with him and his team in 2021.

Our Year 13 Leavers’ dinner this week wound up our Senior farewells. It was a relaxed and warm celebration of their 5 years at Boys’ High. Parents were there in force and it was a fitting way to see these awesome young men off. Good luck for the next part of your journey, guys! Keep TBHS in your heart and come back and visit us when you can.

Three weeks ago we had our Year 8 Welcome Day for all our incoming students in 2021. It was wonderful to meet these boys from Timaru and beyond. The boarders going into Thomas House had a sleep-over to help them prepare for being away from home. Welcome Day was a great success and the boys enjoyed finding their way around the TBHS campus, learning some important routines, getting to know their Deans, engaging in bonding exercises and asking lots of questions. I really look forward to getting to know these 145 plus young men better in February next year.

Despite everything that has happened in 2020, it has actually been a great year. We managed to get nearly everything done. Some sports (Rowing comes to mind immediately) missed out on attending Nationals where they would have excelled, but all our competitors got to test themselves in their chosen fields and they will have built warm memories of fun times with their mates. We even got to finish the Year 9 Camps with Manuka enoying the late spring warmth up at John Scott Lodge last week.

Thanks to the whole school community - BOT, teachers, support staff, volunteers, parents, whānau - for all your support this year. Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you all in 2021!

Scientia Potestas est - Mā te Mātauranga te Mana

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Happy Christmas!!