From the Rector

As you can imagine the start of the school year has been incredibly hectic, but the year has begun incredibly positively. We have had another outstanding intake of Year 9 students and also an increasing number of other new students above Year 9. At the time of writing, we have 102 Year 9’s and a school roll of 423 which is 30 more boys than last year!! This has led to a real ‘buzz’ about the place which is great. Once again, this year we have also been incredibly fortunate with the quality of new staff who have joined us. Stephen Briscoe is the new Deputy Rector, Jordan Horrell is the new Head of English, Sanju Jangra is teaching Science and Mathematics, Brett Mouton is teaching Social Studies and History, Ganeshwar Dewan is teaching Commerce and Social Studies and Susana Kavatoe is teaching Mathematics. As I remarked at this week’s Year 9 ‘Meet the Teachers’ evening this is the strongest the teaching team has been in my time here. Thank you to all of you who attended that event.

It was great to get into teaching and learning from Day 1. Initial signs are that the ‘interruption free’ teaching and learning time from Periods 1 to 4 is going to be very positive. The Period 5 programme which includes the Inspire programme, Well-being programme and Whānau time will begin formally next week. Whānau time will include silent reading time – could you please help us to ensure that your son has some engaging reading material for that time on Wednesday Period 5.

As always, we have our traditional events to incorporate at the start of the year. These help us create that sense of brotherhood that is so special about our school.

After some disruption, we finally got the Swimming Sports completed on Monday and today we are completing our Athletic Sports. I have to say the boys have been amazing with their attitude and behaviour despite the challenges of the weather at times. House spirit is alive and well. A huge thanks to Scott Mayhew and the PE/Sports staff for organising such wonderful events.

The school Facebook page is a great place to go to follow these events.

On Monday we also had our first special assembly of the year which was the traditional Prefect induction. Congratulations to the 13 young men – Cade Hamilton (Head Boy), Josh Kane (Deputy Head Boy), Julius Gibson (Head of Don House), Lincoln Brosnahan (Head of Lee House), Tom Dundass (Head of Sutherland House), Jamie Sim (Deputy Head of Sutherland House), Billy McCabe (Head of Forrester House), Albert King (Deputy Head of Forrester House), Semesi Lea, Suki Nukilasi, Tyson Mareta-Ria, Daniel Kleinhans and Josh Miller who were named as our student leaders for 2024.

This coming Monday we have our Academic Excellence assembly where we recognise those boys who achieved Merit or Excellence in NCEA last year.

Next week our Year 9 camps begin. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a wonderful facility up at Lake Middleton for the boys to base themselves. I’m sure the boys will have a great time and thanks to all the staff who are going away to support them.

Next Tuesday 13th February at 6.30pm in the Auditorium we are holding a community evening. This will be an opportunity to have a Q&A with the Senior Leadership team and also an opportunity to meet our new Deputy Rector – Stephen Briscoe.

I would also like to take this opportunity to just offer a friendly reminder to please not drop your boys off inside the school gates. If everybody was allowed to do that it would be very dangerous, especially for all those boys walking to school. Appreciate your support with this – you can drop off your sons on Waitaki Ave, Virgil St or Thames Highway.

Finally, if you have any concerns whatsoever, please in the first instance contact the teacher if it is classroom related and if it is outside the classroom related the Year Level Dean. The school office is also happy to pass on any message.

As always, thanks for your continued support for the school and wishing everyone a lovely weekend.

He waka eke noa

Floreat Waitakia

Darryl Paterson