Our Junior Prizegiving takes place this Friday with a few conferences still left to complete on the following Monday. What a year it has been! The craziness of our actual Covid-19 infection period has settled down completely. While other schools have seen case numbers pick up in the last few weeks, Boys’ High numbers have remained extremely low.

The Rectory field development is complete. It is now flat and green. It is going to be such a wonderful asset for us in the coming years. Thanks so much to the Old Boys’ Foundation for the generous grant of $100,000 that got this ‘once in a generation’ project over the line. We now have a fantastic sports and recreation space with ‘state of the art’ drainage and irrigation - no more pooling, bare patches and flooding! I can’t wait to see our cricketers playing on the newly installed wicket and our footballers running out for their first home game next year.

Our NCEA external examinations are now over. Turnouts were good and we feel that overall achievement will be strong this year, despite the sickness that the students and staff have endured. The Year 10s also engaged meaningfully with their examinations and now understand what is required of them in the coming years. Thanks to all parents and teachers for working together to ensure that learning still took place over the last 3 years despite lockdowns, stress and illness. Fingers crossed that those times are behind us now!!! I would love 2023 to be a normal year.

We are farewelling quite a few teachers this month:

Charlie Gardner (Technology) arrived from the USA late Term 1 and is now leaving us for Wellington High School.
Ms Sam Paterson (Agricultural Science) is taking refreshment leave for 1 year.
Alex Batista (Digital Technology and other subjects) has been at TBHS for 2 years helping out in a variety of areas - he is taking a break from teaching for a couple of years while his children grow up.
Chris Fackney (Technology) started at TBHS in 2019. He finishes up this year to begin a well-earned retirement.
Ms Lynley Olds (Literacy) has been a part time teacher at Boys’ High for 20 years. She has retired from her permanent position but will help us out with a few classes for a couple of years.
Mr Rod Sparrow (Deputy Rector) is retiring after 19 years at TBHS. Needless to say, he will be missed.
Mr Graham Melrose (English) is retiring after 42 years. Like Ms Olds, Mr Melrose will help us out by picking up a class or two over the next couple of years.

We wish all of our departing teachers the very best for their futures.

Timaru Boys’ prides itself on the extra-curricular opportunities offered to boys in sport and culture. Of course, most of these activities would not be possible without parents and volunteers. Thanks so much to all of you. We have plenty of elite athletes and performers at this school and we are proud of their success, but we also have many, many lads who just join up for the sheer joy of doing something fun with their mates and trying their best to achieve something together. The best thing about Boys’ High is we recognise that all of these experiences are important to a boy’s development.

Have a great Christmas and a wonderful summer break.

Scientia Potestas est - Mā te Mātauranga te Mana - Knowledge is Power