Kia ora whanau

I hope this newsletter finds you well as Term 1 draws to a close.

My personal highlight of the past fortnight was attending an Old Boys’ function during the Wanaka Show. Over 50 old boys and their partners joined our school group at a function hosted by 1971 Head Boy Deans Hudson. Old Boys from the 1940’s through to the 1990’s was in attendance. The current students were ‘blown away’ by the deep affection these men still have for our school and the lifelong friendships they have formed.

We were in Wanaka to market our hostel Don House which is in an amazing space right now – with outstanding staff and students. Our Director of Boarding Scott Mayhew has been nationally recognized for his work. This year he has been joined by Chelsea Seddon as the Residential care manager and she is doing an outstanding job. We have three team leaders and another seven housemasters so the staff:student ratio is 1:4. At any given time there are at least 3 staff supervising the boys. Of the 12 staff, 5 are current teachers and so these teaching staff actively support the boys at prep time.

From Year 10 the boys share a double room and from Year 11 onwards they have a single room. Literally on their ‘doorstep’ is Fraser Farm, the new artificial turf, the swimming/diving pool and of course the school. The fact the school and Board are invested in the future success of the hostel is demonstrated in the current building project which will see the Hill Q/Sari Bair ablutions block and roofs replaced before the start of next term.

We are not allowed yet to publish the recent ERO report on the hostel, but I am allowed to say it was incredibly positive.

To that end, if you know of any students (they may be Year 8 or above who want to have a look at this amazing opportunity) there is a Don House Open Day from midday on Sunday April 2nd.

I know many of you will have been affected by the teachers strike yesterday. I would like to share with you, my perspective which I shared in a staff email earlier in the week.

“Teaching is becoming a more stressful and less well-resourced vocation by the day. It is also (in my opinion) the most important job as we are tasked with 'moulding' the future of our society. I hope the 'powers that be' can understand this and implement the necessary measures to once again give the teaching profession the support and resource it so badly needs so we can attract the kind of amazing people that are required to undertake this huge responsibility.”

Teachers deserve better pay and better working conditions.

Looking ahead to next week, also please be aware that following Otago Anniversary Day on Monday March 20th we have a Kahui Ako (our local community of learning group) Teacher only day on Tuesday 21st March and the school will not be open.

As always, we continue to excel on the sports fields/courts/lakes etc. In recent traditional interschools the 1st XI beat Timaru Boys’ for the first time in 8 years. Our Senior Volleyball side beat both Timaru and Otago Boys and our very promising Junior Cricket XI beat Otago Boys’ also. Congratulations to our 1st XI cricketers who have had a marvellous term. Last Thursday they beat St Kevin’s in the annual interschool to regain the McSkimming-Smith trophy. The match ‘doubled’ as a Gillette Cup qualifier so we are now into the Otago final to play the winner of John McGlashan and Otago Boys’. To win three out of their four interschools is an outstanding achievement.

We have continued to have success in Rowing also with Jake Roney (Year 13) and Stuart Isbister (Year 11) winning a silver medal at the South Island schools’ championships last weekend. At the recent Aoraki duathlon/triathlon champs a number of students did exceptionally well – Ben O’Sullivan (Year 13), Scott Hay and Sam Edmonston (both Year 13), and Mason Kingan (Year 10) won their respective events whilst Sam Petrie (Year 13), Brodie Holywell (year 10) and the teams of James Soal, Olly Wickham, Will Dukes (all Year 9) and Toby Edmonston, Ismaeel Elsaka, James Kelland (all Year 10) all made the podium. Awesome event boys – it was great to watch and we were by far the biggest team at the event.

Whilst we are talking sport, can I publicly acknowledge the great work our sports co-ordinator, Twyla Kingan is doing with the sports Facebook page. Waitaki Boys High School Sport - New 

Outside the classroom our musicians/actors continue to practice hard for the combined school musical of Grease later in March. I imagine the tickets will sell very quickly so keep an ‘eye out’ for communication around this.

As the term draws to a close, could I ask for your support around some of our school expectations where standards have slipped a little lately. Firstly, with regards to uniform – a number of non-regulation shoes (mostly gym shoes), caps, and jackets in particular are being worn at school. Shoes need to be black leather, caps need to be school caps and the jacket needs to be a school jacket. These caps and jackets can be purchased at the school uniform shop which is open on a Wednesday between 3pm and 7pm. If you need any support in financing these, please do not hesitate to contact me. Boys will often say “this jacket is warmer than the school jacket” and whilst that may be true – a school jersey, underneath the school soft-shell jacket (accompanied with a school beanie if necessary) will be more than adequate in the coming colder months. 

Secondly, with regards to lateness to school – school starts at 8.40am, excepting Wednesday’s when we start at 9am. A growing number of boys are coming in late. Not only is this incredibly disruptive to the teacher but also if you miss the start of the lesson, it is nearly impossible to catch up and this will lead to a gap in learning. If you could please give your son a ‘nudge’ to leave home 5-10 minutes earlier in order to be outside his Period 1 class for 8.40am that would be greatly appreciated.

Wishing all of you a lovely weekend and thanks for your on-going support of our school.

Whakaohooho taitahake marohirohi

Inspiring young men of outstanding character.

Floreat Waitakia

Darryl Paterson

Rector