Kia ora whanau o Waitaki

It is with a heavy heart that we as a school community acknowledge the recent death of Wayne Kinzett. Wayne has been an integral part of the school community for over 20 years now as both the Hostel Manager from 2002 until 2005 and the 1st XV Rugby coach intermittently from 2003 until 2019. His son’s Mason and Oliver were at school between 2013 and 2019. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his wife Jenny, daughter Morgan along with Mason, Oliver and their extended family.

We welcome Ms Angela Slemint to our staff as the new Business Manager. Angela takes over from Graham Mills who retires at the end of the term. We will be acknowledging Graham’s significant contribution to WBHS in due course. We wish Angela all the best in her new role which she steps into after the Easter break.

Over recent weeks the school has enjoyed a great deal of sporting success. The 1st XI Cricket team defeated St Kevin’s in the interschool match to retain the McSkimming-Smith Trophy and also by defeating Albion in the final game of the regular club season won the Payne-Tempero Challenge Cup. They also won the Otago regional ‘super smash’ competition to qualify for the Gillette Cup as one of the top 6 teams in Otago – Southland. At the recent Aoraki Athletics we had a small contingent represent us and the best results came from Jakob Cunningham (Yr 12) who claimed 3 titles (the 3000m in an Aoraki record) and Cade Hamilton (Yr 10) who won the U15 1500m. At the South Island Duathlon/Triathlon in Oamaru two weekends ago the team of Sam Edmondston (Yr 11), Lochie Mavor (Year 11) and Samuel Petrie (Year 11) gained a silver medal in the U16 Teams event and Ben O’Sullivan (Yr 11) gained bronze in the U16 Duathlon. Our Volleyball 1st team has also tasted success recently, placing 3rd in the Otago Champs and defeating Timaru Boys’ in the interschool fixture. Congratulations to captain Stanley Kalepo (Yr 13) who has been selected in a national talent identification squad. Our thanks go to Mr Tony Natapu who has recently moved to the district and is doing an outstanding job coaching the team.

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to attend the Wanaka Show where we had a stall. It was wonderful to connect to a number of old boys who were there and hopefully we are able to secure some enrolments from prospective students who spoke with us. Thanks to Gem Marsh and a number of boys from Don House who came over and did a fantastic job marketing the school and Don House in particular.

Congratulations also to Dean Allan and the prefect team for organising the Mufti Day last Friday. They raised nearly $600 for child cancer. Awesome work, boys!

We all hope the boy’s enjoy the extra long weekend in front of them – not having to attend school until next Wednesday. Monday is obviously Otago Anniversary Day and Tuesday is a Kahui Ako Teacher Only Day. The goal for this day is for teachers across the five schools and kindergartens involved to co-ordinate teaching inquiries into targeted areas of learning that will increase student engagement and as a consequence student achievement. The goal is that teachers from across different schools will collaborate and share their best practice.

The upcoming long weekend will not be getting in the way of our incredible staff and students who are rehearsing for the joint Waitaki High Schools musical “Aotearoa”. After the cancellation last year, and all the hard work that has been going in during this term we can’t wait to see the performances which run from Saturday until 27th March until Tuesday 30th March. You can get your tickets now from the school office. All involved deserve a full house every night – please support them.

Finally, I have to share a special moment from our assembly this morning. We took time to commemorate the March 15 Christchurch terrorist attack in 2019. Muhammad (Zahran) Hidayat (Yr 13) one of our three Muslim students addressed the school with a moving speech about the impact the event has had on the Muslim community and his family in particular who lost an uncle in the attack. Zahran told the boys about the power of prayer in his religion. It was incredibly touching. Zahran, well done on showing the courage to stand up before your peers and express your feelings. This has been a week when we could have shown more care for our fellow students and your message was a timely reminder that we need to look after everyone in our school community.

Wishing everyone a relaxing long weekend with whanau and friends. Thanks for all your support.

He waka eke noa (We’re all in this together)

Floreat Waitakia

Kind regards

Darryl Paterson

Rector