By TBHS | Posted: Sunday July 4, 2021
Kia ora te whanāu
I began the last newsletter in May by writing, “What foul weather!” As we enter the last week of Term 2, I must say I am thoroughly enjoying this recent spell of frosty mornings and sunny days - wonderful South Canterbury winter weather. Long may it last!
As usual, the end of term comes with a flurry of activity. Assessments often happen in the last few weeks of a term and students will be hurrying to get work in. This stage of the year is often when some senior boys feel swamped and give up. This is always an over-reaction. Counting the holidays, there are still 18 weeks to go before our Senior Prize Giving - more than enough time to turn things around. If you have a son in Years 11 to 13, ask him how his NCEA assessment work is going - what he’s passed and/or failed and what he needs to do to get his NCEA Certificate. Feel free to email his form teacher or his class teachers if you want some information - their email addresses are on our website:
https://timaruboys.school.nz/about-us/staff/
We will be checking the credit tallies of senior students at the start of Term 3 and we will contact you if we see any early problems. The above advice also stands for Junior students. We expect our juniors to complete the learning tasks and assessments they have been given and will definitely chase them up. If you are worried about your son’s progress or just want to ask questions, please email the relevant teachers.
Winter sport has been full of excitement, with wonderful victories and deep disappointments. It’s all character building, of course. Kipling said that to be a grown man (or woman) you had to be able to “meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.” Sport helps us get the ups and downs of our lives into perspective. We need to know what’s truly important - being with our friends, engaging in hard fought games with other teengaers just like us and having loads of fun. Don’t get me wrong, though; I still find winning deeply satisfying! We scooped all the major prizes in our recent exchange with St Andrew's (although, we did somehow manage to lose the overall exchange). We won the 1st XI Hockey, the 1st XV Rugby, and romped home in the 1st XI Football (Pero Forman scoring a hat trick). Watching the 1st XV despatch Christchurch Boys' at School Park last Saturday was glorious after the disappointment of losing to St Bede's the week before - such is the pain and joy of sport. It’s been great to see parents and old boys on the sidelines of the various codes. Thank you so much for everything you do for TBHS sport.
Many of you will no doubt be taking some time off during the school holidays. Have a great time and keep safe. For those of you who were hit hard by the recent flooding, I hope your lives are returning to some sense of normality now.
See you at the joint TBHS/TGHS production of ‘Chicago’ at Timaru Girls’ this week. It’s going to be great!
Nga mihi
Dave Thorp
