Below is my address from our celebration Assembly on Thursday 24th September.

Talofa lava

· How fantastic it is to be in our beloved Hall of Memories once again as a whole school. First full assembly since the middle of the term due to Level 2.

· Unashamedly a celebration assembly – just one “work on” right now and that is the standard of our uniform. Keep it simple – the expectation is that 1. you wear your socks up 2. You have your shirts tucked in and 3. If you are wearing a tie you do it up correctly. This is the expectation to and from school, to and from class and whilst you are in class. At interval and lunchtime there will be some discretion allowed particularly if you are involved in some activities.

Why is this you may ask? Is this just the expectation of an old man who is a proud old boy of the school in a day when a prefect gave you a detention for having your socks down or your shoes were dirty..no it is not, the feedback from the entirety of the student council was the same view as mine that wearing your uniform as described is 1. Showing self-respect for your personal appearance 2. Showing respect for your school and the legacy of the school’s traditions that set us apart from other schools without such standards and 3. Most importantly it is a reflection of our school vision to be ‘an inspiring young man of outstanding character’.

Quite simply it is part of being a Waitakian!

· What a stunning past couple of weeks it has been with so much success across a range of areas. Beginning with academic pursuits as this is our core business.

· Feedback from the Benchmark exams has been very encouraging. Mr Fifita’s feedback improved attendance, improved attitude, teachers saying improved performance… Mr Fifita awards to Ryan McCabe, Toby McGeown, Caleb Doran and Aidan Takuira-Mita for their outstanding application during the exams.

Academic tracking

· Level 3 results – ‘tracking’ at 60% pass rate with predicted 10 endorsements.

· Level 2 results – ‘tracking’ at 79% pass rate with predicted 26 endorsements.

· Level 1 results – ‘tracking’ at 74% pass rate with predicted 42 endorsements. Along with another four Year 10 boys who are looking at an Excellence endorsement also.

School goals – 50 endorsements, pass rates better than last year, above national boy’s schools. We are certainly in line to surpass all these with a question mark over the Level 3 attainment at this stage.

· Maths certificates (Mrs Prosser) were awarded to the following boys for being in the top 10% in the world, for work successfully completed on Education Perfect. (there are over 100,000 competitors world-wide) – Ben Houston, Itia Chapman and Sebastian Henderson. An emerald award was presented to Ruben McNamara for being in the top 1% of competitors! This work is all done out of school time! Well done boys.

· He Ara Tikas (Ms Matthews) – Bronze awards (20 cards) were awarded to the following Year 9 students - Joshua Miller, Hozayah Taylor, Joshua Phillips, Ruben McNamara, Ian Tacchini, Tevita Otunuku, Lachlan Rooney, Jamie Sim and JT Supanichvoraparch.

· Badminton awards (Mrs Crane)- The Badminton team have achieved stunning success this term. They won the Aoraki champs and have also been unbeaten in the Dunedin competition. The team that won the Aoraki champs consisted of Shan Barcelona, Husnain Mohd Idris, Marshall Hore and Quaid Fincham Wells. Andy Anderson also played for the team in the Dunedin competition.

· Small bore recognition. (Mrs Prosser)

At the recent North Otago club awards the following boys were recognised.

Ian Paisley Memorial Shield – Ben Brosnan, Iyzach den Dulk and Cameron McFarlane. Kilworth Shield – as above plus Jonty Nelson. North Otago Challenge Cup (Junior Clubs champion) – Ben Brosnan; Patrick Kane (runner-up). Times Shield – Ben Brosnan, Iyzach den Dulk part of the mixed team who won this.

· Basketball recognition. (Mr Cathcart) The 1st V have had a stellar season. Top 6 in the South Island, 2nd in Otago-Southland Champs, unbeaten in Interschools, beaten every team in Otago- Southland except Otago Boys and they will be beating them tomorrow night in the Dunedin competition final. Squad for the South Island Top Six is Taz Selfe ©, Sam Senior (vc), Danyon Ashcroft, Siua Fonua, Toby Johnson, Lukin Tayles, Joseph Riwhi, Traye McKenzie, Floyd Tayles, Toby Lewis and Saxon Morgan. Other boys who have been in the squad throughout the season include Saia Fonua, Ben Tran, Ryan McCabe, Lattrell Shelford, Kodie Gordon-Frew and Jacob Bates.

· Mountain biking success! (Mr Suter) Last weekend we had a very successful day at the Aoraki champs at the Herbert Forest. Enduro results: U19 1st – Blain Hamilton, 5th – Will Paton. U15: 1st – Harrison Weir, 3rd – Cade Hamilton, 7th – Jamie Sim, 9th – Izayah Goldsmith. Cross – country results: U19 1st – Taz Selfe, 2nd – Blain Hamilton, 3rd – Vandy Selfe. U17 1st – Jakob Cunningham, 3rd – Jonty Nelson, 4th – Ben Strang. U15 2nd – Harrison Weir, 5th – Cade Hamilton, 7th – Josh Styles, 11th- Jamie Sim.

· Duathlon success (Mrs Symes). Last Sunday Sam Petrie and Ben O’Sullivan 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Otago Year 9 and 10 Otago Duathlon Champs. Along with Jakob Cunningham and Sam Edmondston these boys are competing in the South Island Duathlon champs this weekend. Good luck boys.

· Student rep on the Board – Ethan Reille (Year 11) has been elected. Well done Ethan. Congratulations to the other candidate Harry Wilson. It was a very close contact. Voter turn-out was somewhat disappointing. Boys take your opportunity to have a say.

· Class Acts – Blake and Taz (unfortunate victim of Covid was the cancellation of the ODT class act awards earlier in the term. It is fitting that we recognise our two recipients today at this full school assembly and in doing so also welcome their families to this special occasion. I will read their citations as published in the class act edition of the ODT then ask Mrs Ludemann (in lieu of the Prime Minister) to present them with their framed photograph and badge.

· Blake Martin

· Taz Selfe 

· Wow, what a list of achievements we have celebrated this morning! Take a moment to reflect on this and remember that we are the smallest boys school in NZ. I would like to share with you a quote from Mr Sullivan who was a student teacher here recently who said “the boys don’t know how lucky they are at this school” and as I walked around the school on Monday I thought he’s so right – from the front block, the social centre, Tech block, recreation area, oval (red and black shade sails!), back field, swimming pool, courts, quad! The space, the opportunities – unparalleled. Principals conference last week - we are the envy of other schools – ie, city schools 3x as many students, 1/3rd our facilities.

· Farewell to Mr Rick Suter.

It is with sadness that we farewell Mr Rick Suter from our staff at the end of this term.

Mr Suter joined us in 2016 from Matamata College in the Waikato as the Head of Technology. He quickly worked to ensure this was a thriving, successful and popular curriculum area within the school as it continues to be today. More specifically as a Graphics/DVC teacher in the main he has been an engaging and highly respected teacher for a great number of students.

During the last 2 years Mr Suter has stepped back from the Head of Department role to take on the major challenge of being the across schools lead teacher for our Kahui Ako which is a collection of six local schools who are working together to provide better educational outcomes for all their students. After a lot of hard work by many including Mr Suter this group is really starting to make a difference and he deserves great credit for that.

It was previously noted the success of our mountain biking team and this has been Mr Suters passion away from the classroom. Over the past five years he has given countless hours to mountain bikers of all ages and skill levels, transporting their bikes to tracks around and about or giving his support at events which are mostly held on Sundays ( Some words from Blain or Taz).

We will still see Mr Suter around as he stays in the education sector and based here at WBHS working for the RTLB service which is becoming a Resource teacher for Learning and Behaviour needs.

Rick on behalf of the school we thank you for your dedicated service and wish you all the best. As a staff we will farewell you at interval tomorrow and the boys will show their respect by performing the school haka to you at the conclusion of this assembly. We wish you all the very best for the future.