The tragic events in Christchurch on March 15 have quite rightly dominated our thoughts of late. As a school we joined in with the rest of the country at 1.32 pm last Friday to remember the 50 victims.

We also celebrated a “colour” day at school and money raised from that and the sausage sizzle at lunchtime will be donated to the local Muslim association. Nearly $700 was raised which is a fantastic effort. Many boys also took the time to write on a message board or write cards in the Library. These will be passed on to the families of our two Muslim students – Husnain Mohd Idris and Zahran Hidayat. Our thoughts particularly go out to them and we share their grief for their friends in Christchurch.

As I stated in a memo early last week, can I ask for your support in helping us raise awareness of other cultures and beliefs that may not be our own. Our message to the boys is that difference is “not better or worse, just different”. We also ask for your guidance around your son’s use of on-line gaming. I know times have changed but it is still crucial that we clearly identify with our young men what is fact from fiction. What happened on Friday was fact not fiction! Sadly but not unexpectedly, social media has again played a negative role in all of this.

Speaking with the Commissioner we are still looking at Board elections in June. He is releasing a press statement in the very near future. Any interested parties are invited to the next Governance meeting which will take place on Thursday April 11th at 6pm.

On Tuesday at the Teacher Only Day all the teachers across our Kahui Ako (Community of Learning) met at the Oamaru Club to lay the foundations for all to engage in a collaborative teaching inquiry into either student engagement, transition pathways or student achievement with the goal of improving teaching practice and student outcomes in these areas. It was a very productive and highly educational day. We all look forward to this work gathering momentum throughout the year.

Over the past fortnight the summer sports season has come to a close. Thanks to all of you who have provided our young men with so many fantastic opportunities – whether it be at Touch after school on Tuesday, at Saturday afternoon Cricket, travelling away to Athletics meets just to name a few. We are indebted to you all. I do hope the boys have said that most effective of words – thank you. If they haven’t then we will. This week we have had a handful of boys competing at elite events across the country and they deserve special mention. Will Plunkett and Connor McLeod at South Island Sailing, Taz Selfe, Blain Hamilton, Ryan Smit and Luke Hayman at South Island mountain biking, Hunter Wilson and Ben Smith at South Island Athletics and Kaleb Hayes at NZ Triathlon. Well done boy’s and we look forward next year to even more boys pitting themselves against the best.

In recent weeks we have been making a huge effort to market the Hostel with the aim of significantly increasing our number of boarding pupils. We have been at the North Otago, Wanaka and Methven Shows and this week at the South Island Agricultural field days at Kirwee. Along with this we have marketed in a number of publications and sent information out to relevant rural areas. Our focus is very much on attracting interested families to our Don House “Open Day” on Sunday 7th April from midday. Your help in promoting this event would be much appreciated. If you know of any families considering the boarding option please pass on this information.

With Term 1 winding down the amount of interruptions to academic routines will decrease and so this is the time when a number of boys need to catch up with work missed. If we can all encourage this to happen the boys will undoubtedly benefit later in the year.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for your continuing support.

Ma whero ma ponga ka oti
Floreat Waitakia

Darryl Paterson

Rector