It has been an incredibly hectic time at Waitaki Boys’ over the past two weeks and a good number of our boys have been involved in activities outside the classroom.

Schools are extremely dynamic places and we do not want to deny any boy an opportunity to participate in something that engages him. However, some boys are getting behind in their school work and feeling under pressure to keep up. Could I ask that at home you ensure your sons are catching up with the work they are missing and also help us with their time management skills.

On Wednesday a team of nearly 40 athletes travelled to the Aoraki Sports. They enjoyed not only a hot day weather wise but some outstanding performances. Thanks once again to Mr Pine and Mrs Symes for their continued support of our athletics team.

Continuing on with sporting success our 1st XI Cricket team have been in great form recently. Over the past two weeks they have beaten St Kevin’s, Dunstan and Taieri College to win the Otago wide 20-20 “super smash” trophy. This qualifies them for the Gillette Cup play-offs. In the local club competition (the Borton Cup) they caused something of an upset by beating Union in the semi-finals and this Saturday play Oamaru-St Kevin’s in the final. Your support at Centennial Park on Saturday afternoon would be much appreciated. Congratulations boys, and on behalf of the school thanks to player/coach Francois Mostert and the cricket club led by Sandra Kitto, Jason Mavor and Dan Keno for all the support you provide our cricketers. It is much appreciated. To see over 40 boys every Saturday enjoying their cricket is outstanding.

Congratulations also to Year 10 student Damien Miller who was awarded the “Aorangi Junior Young Farmer of the Year Competition” competitor of the year award at the recent regional final in Oamaru. Two of these are given out at each final and they are tallied up from nominations from judges of all modules, based on attitude, manners and outstanding behaviour. Well done, Damien.

I was also extremely gratified two days ago to receive an email from North Otago Primary school swimming sports. It read as follows

“Just wanted to send a message through to you and your school to thank the boys who helped today with the NO Primary Swimming Sports. They were all very professional in their manner and represented WBHS to a very high standard. We very much appreciated their help today.”

To the eight boys involved – you know who you are – RESPECT. Well done.

Not only are our students amazing here at WBHS but so too are our staff. Over the past year, our pathways co-ordinator Andy Lane has been the driving force behind the “Ready for Work” passport. The official launch of the “passport” took place at the Oamaru business hive last Tuesday. It has been developed to allow students to collect and collate their non-academic achievements and skills and record them in one place to present to a future employer. This initiative has the support of the Waitaki District Council, The Waimate District Council and the Otago Chamber of Commerce and is becoming recognised by a quickly growing number of local employers. Every student in the four Oamaru and Waimate secondary schools now has a copy of the passport. Mr Lane has done an incredible job in firstly designing and compiling the content within the passport and then not only engaging all the schools but also getting local businesses on board.

Inside the classroom the great work continues. Meeting with our incredibly hard-working Deans on Wednesday afternoon (we are blessed at WBHS to have such a committed group!) indications half way through the term are that we have about 60 referrals across the school for negative behaviour and about 90 boys “tracking” for “top” fortnightly notes (for effort in class) of or above 4.0 average.

That is a positive differential of 30. The best last year was in Term 3 with 102 “top” notes against 95 referrals. That differential of +7 well within reach and this data is another indicator of the positive culture within the school.

Last weekend Dan Keno (Director of Boarding) and I travelled to the Wanaka Show. It was the first time in four years Waitaki Boys’ had been present. Over the two days we met a huge number of old boys who reminisced about their time at school and a number of families who indicated they may send their son’s here in the future. After a very wet start to the weekend it was an enjoyable time and the feedback on our marquee and marketing was very positive.

On Tuesday March 26th we are having a Teacher Only day with other schools in our kahui ako (collaboration of learning group) which will see us join with our colleagues from Oamaru North, Fenwick, Oamaru Intermediate, and Waitaki Girls’ High School in looking at what our collaborative teaching inquiries will look like for the year.

This follows after Otago Anniversary Day, so enjoy a long weekend and don’t forget not to send your boys to school on the Tuesday!

Have a great weekend