By Rector Dave Thorp | Posted: Monday May 1, 2023
March/April 2023
Kia ora koutou. I hope that everyone is well. Compared with this time last year, our students and staff are in much better health. I know that there is still a steady trickle of Covid-19 cases (4 off today) but nothing like last year, when 50 was a quiet day.
Term 2 started with a disrupted week and I have just sent out an email detailing the industrial action planned by the teachers’ union. Apologies for the frustration this will no doubt cause. Like we did with Covid-19, we will work around it and try to minimise the effect on students. Ask your son what he’s working on now and get him to tell you how he could use the day when he gets rostered home.
The first Conferencing day of the year was a real success. I really like how the process places the emphasis on the student and gives him agency in his own learning and achievement. A lot of our senior boys have just completed assessments in many of their subjects, so now is the time for an honest appraisal of what needs to be done to ensure success at the end of the year.
Winter sports are here with a vengeance. I spent the weekend watching some Basketball, Rugby and Football. It was great to see literally hundreds of young men striving collectively to achieve something special and clearly having a great time doing it. I’m looking forward to catching up with some Hockey next weekend.
Our Arts Expo happens in Week 4. It’s going to be a fun three days and we have a wide range of really interesting Arts and Cultural opportunities for our boys.
Lastly, I just want to say thanks to our Prefects who represented Boys’ High so wonderfully at the ANZAC Day Civic service at Caroline Bay. Stephen Latu and Andrew Blake both did readings on stage and all the Prefects delivered an awesome haka. Our own ANZAC service at the end of last term was also a great experience. Some boys had never attended one due to Covid-19 and you could see that they were deeply moved when placing their poppy by the stained glass window in the Memorial Library. We are a school that looks to the future but we are enriched by our traditions and those that came before us.
Enjoy the beautiful sunny autumn days we are having (well . . some of the days have been sunny).
Scientia Potestas est - Mā te Mātauranga te Mana
