From The Rector

Tena koutou Tena koutou Tena koutou katoa

Nga mihi nui kia koutou katoa

Whaia te ara o te matauraka

Tuauri, tuatea, aronui e

Titia raia ki te upoko me he raukura rau te iwi e

Ka tamatane o Te Waitaki

Ki te riri ki te riri ke riri e

Tena koutou Tena koutou Tena koutou katoa

Malo e lei lei

Kaha u malo

Good evening, everybody and welcome to the 139th prizegiving at Waitaki Boys’ High School. It is wonderful to once again be in the Hall of memories and sharing this most special of occasions with our community. I am dedicating my address this evening to the memory of my Mum who passed away in July. She was my inspiration and I miss her incredibly.

As a boy’s school we are under threat, of the 2544 schools in NZ only 46 are boys only secondary schools – that is less than 2% and of that 2% we are the smallest. Critics of all boys’ schools, and there seems to be a growing number, say ‘the world is co-ed’, boys’ schools are ‘bastions of outdated traditions’ that boy’s school are encouraging ‘misogynistic young men to carry negative perspectives about the place of women in today’s society’, that they are ‘hot beds of bullying and anti-social behaviour’.

So, what is the future of a school like ours? I say to those critics, that not only does the data from NZQA and the NZ Council of Educational Research show that academically boys’ do better in boys’ schools but more importantly by their very existence boys’ schools encourage the building of a sense of pride in being male. That is a boys’ school we celebrate the business of boys’ – as indeed we are this evening. Are we all not incredibly proud of what our young men are achieving this evening. I don’t believe you can replicate what is taking place here right now.

When I speak to the boys and ask them what they like about our school, almost to a man they say two words ‘brotherhood’ and ‘tradition’. Rather than apologise for that, we need to embrace it. Being a male is about connection, linkages to be part that show pathways to the future, its about excellence, striving to be successful in order to honour those who have gone before. In boys’ schools like ours we are best placed to do that.

As I stand before you in this of all places, the Hall of Memories, how can we not revel in the sense of connection and belonging. To quote our school oath “we are a brotherhood proud of our school”.

At Waitaki Boys’ we have been specialising in boys’ education now for nearly 140 years and will continue to do so. We have been turning out outstanding young men for the same amount of time and will continue to do so.

So, what is the future of a school like ours? I will simply let the wonderful young men you see before you this evening answer that question. Ki te rere, ki te rere, ki te rere – strong, strong, strong to endure.

At the end of the school year, we farewell these staff members.

Nicola Turner

Nicola Turner leaves after one year at WBHS, she may have only been here for one year, but she has certainly packed a lot into her very short time here. She has been the Year 13 Dean, Relief Teaching Coordinator (in a year of covid disruption that has been very challenging), Teacher in Charge of Rugby and did I not mention a Science teacher as well.

Thanks very much Nicola for your huge work ethic this year, you will certainly leave a large roll to fill. Nicola has deservedly secured a senior leadership position at Darfield High School, and we wish her all the very best.

Elizabeth Prentice

Elizabeth began teaching at WBHS in 2014 and for the past 7 years she has been the teacher in charge of Agriculture. During that time, she has introduced new units of work into the Junior curriculum along with introducing Agricultural Science into the senior school.

Outside the classroom it would be fair to say she has become famous for being the school photographer. There would not be too many school sports grounds throughout Otago that Elizabeth has not frequented in the past 7 years. She has produced literally thousands of photos for our facebook pages which have kept our community connected to the school.

We wish Elizabeth all the very best in her retirement and hope she gets to spend more quality time on her farmlet at Maheno.

Ray Boswell

Ray began as Head of PE and OE in 2004 – that is 18 years of dedicated service. Hugely popular with the students “Boz” as he is affectionately known has regularly been voted most favorite teacher.

Outside the classroom his contribution has been immense, particularly in the sports of Trapshooting and Hockey. Hundreds of our boys’ over the past 18 years have benefitted from Ray’s passion for both disciplines. His booming voice offering encouragement will be sorely missed on the warmth of a Thursday evening at the Hockey turf. He was also teacher in charge of Volleyball for a number of years. As Head of Outdoor Education also, he has organised hundreds of camps, checked thousands of those beloved RAMs forms and he has also spent countless hours of his own time doing maintenance at Lake Middleton lodge. He has also been the organiser of key sporting events on the calendar such as the Swimming Sports, Athletic Sports and Cross Country which are integral to a boys’ school like ours.

Ray will be sorely missed, and we wish him all the very best in his retirement, and hope he gets to spend more quality time in his beloved outdoors, hunting and fishing.

I would like to conclude by saying some thank yous.

Firstly, to the outgoing Board of Trustees, thank you for all your steadfast stewardship of the school over the past three years and particularly the Chairperson, Andrea Ludemann. Thank you, Andrea for your devoted leadership. To the incoming Board of Trustees, we are looking forward to working with you and building on the school’s improvement.

To my amazing staff – both teaching and non-teaching, thank you for all your support in what has been an extremely challenging year, especially with the disruptions earlier in the year. For going above and beyond in so many ways to provide amazing opportunities for our boys’. In particular my outstanding senior leadership colleagues, Roger and Aisea for your relentless positivity.

To all those community groups that continue to support the school, the Old Boys’, the Foundation, the Community Association, the Fraser Farm – we are all the benefactors of your great support.

And finally, and most importantly to the boys’. You are what we are all about you are the strength and the future of our school. To witness what you achieve on a daily basis is our why. I have to single out those young men leaving our school. The past three years have not been easy, mostly due to the disruption caused by the Covid pandemic and you have missed out on a great deal but here you are – graduating as inspiring young men of outstanding character. Thanks for all you have given our school, you leave having made it a better place.

We are a brotherhood, proud of our school.

“He teina whakahihi matou ki to matou kura”

Floreat Waitakia.

Kia ora whanau

As you can see from my prizegiving address that is included in this week’s newsletter we have said a formal farewell to our senior students for the year of 2022. Obviously, many still have external exams to sit and some still have internal work to complete in order to gain their appropriate NCEA qualification.

Wednesday night’s prizegiving was a wonderful occasion as always and an appropriate farewell for our graduating students. It was a long ceremony but as a colleague said to me - “..tonight was not another prize giving but yet a celebration of how a school with so much tradition can embrace culture and diversity with open arms”. So true.

Congratulations to all those involved whether prize winners or not, you made it an awesome night. Well done to Seth Thomas on being named Dux at the school. I have witnessed first-hand the amount of work Seth has put into ensuring his academic success this year and this success is fully deserved. Congratulations to Dom Walsh and Lochie Mavor on being appointed as the Deputy Head Boys for 2023 and to Ben O’Sullivan on being appointed as the Head Boy of our school for 2023. I know you will make an awesome team and inspire our boys next year. Congratulations also to Don House on winning the Scrano Shield. This year’s competition has been one of the most exciting ever – coming down to the last 24 hours. By virtue of winning both the Mastermind and Academics, Don were able to just get up over Lee House. It is great to see the House competition is alive and well. To Ethan, Sione, Derek, the prefect group and to all the Year 13 leavers I said my piece on Wednesday and you know how highly I regard you all. I will look back on your year group with fond memories.

I would like to take this opportunity to announce that Twyla Kingan has been named as our Sports co-ordinator. Twyla is well-known in the community, and we look forward to the passion and energy she will bring to this role. We farewelled Mel Lewis from this role following our Athletic Sports at the end of the second week and we wish her all the very best for the future and thank her for her great service during the past eighteen months.

Ian Cathcart has been appointed to replace Ray Boswell as the Head of Physical Education and Josh Ratcliff has been appointed to replace Elizabeth Prentice as the teacher in charge of Agriculture. Both, Ian and Josh are proud old boys of the school, they are highly respected colleagues and teachers who I have no doubt leading their respective departments onto great success in the future.

In conclusion, all the best to those boys sitting external exams over the next month. I won’t say good luck, because luck has very little to do with it but hard work and preparation most certainly does. Your support at home which will allow the boys to prepare properly is much appreciated. Have a wonderful weekend and once again thanks for all your support.

We are a brotherhood, proud of our school.

“He teina whakahihi matou ki to matou kura”

Floreat Waitakia

Darryl Paterson