School News

Last month, the students in Year 9 ALP classes spent a day of adventure and new learning at The Narrows. They worked through four different activities in their class groups. Mrs van der Beek had the students identify their temperament types with the strengths and weaknesses of each type. Mr Todd Miller worked through some outdoor team building activities. Senior Theatre Sports students introduced the Year 9 boys to the quick thinking and dramatic skills of theatre sports. Mr Potter had the boys complete a group construction challenge with newspaper and sticky tape and then had the winning group volunteers participate in what appeared to be a daring chemistry experiment.

 The boys wet their arms and hands in one container. Mr Potter had another container with water in it and detergent on top. He sprayed butane under the surface which bubbled up through the detergent. The boys then picked up handfuls of butane bubbles which Mr Potter set on fire. There was a dramatic burst of flame which lasted momentarily and then went out. The photograph above shows the thrilling moment for one student. The feedback from the students was that this was both a fun day and a day of new learning.

Mr Graeme Miller

As a post-examination unit of work, the students in 911 researched a notable person of their choice from history or the current day. They were required to research the person and take on his/her role in order to come up with answers to nine questions such as: what is your most important contribution to your field? Their findings were all displayed in booklets or charts.

The culmination of the unit was the “Night of the Notables” held recently in the study centre, staffroom and B4. The students arrived dressed in outfits to resemble their notable people and brought a plate each for supper, some plates being linked to the characters they had researched. They conversed in the study centre while parents and other family members met in the staffroom. Parents and other family members were given the same nine questions the boys had researched and then went to the study centre and questioned the boys to determine the identity of the notables. The boys tried to answer the questions in order to give away some information, but not too much, in order to try to keep parents and family guessing until the ninth question. The brother of one of the students, Connor Haisley had the highest total of identifications of 18 during the 30 minutes of questioning. After the interviews supper was shared and the students’ work was viewed in B4.

The attached photograph shows Beethoven (Leon Arcus) responding to a question.     

Hamilton apprentice Joshua Moore had been crossing his fingers for a while, so was "absolutely stoked" when he heard he'd been awarded the Waikato Registered Master Builders Scholarship.

The annual scholarship scheme has since 2008 worked in conjunction with the Tertiary Education Commission's Gateway programme, run at many secondary schools.  The scheme helps promising students make a smooth transition from school to employment.

This scholarship is awarded to a school leaver who has been involved with a Waikato school's Gateway programme, who has worked for a Registered Master Builder on their assigned practical days and has been offered a BCITO apprenticeship with a member of Waikato Registered Master Builders.  The scholarship is under review and will soon be open to apprentices who are not in the Gateway programme.

Employer Steve Ross of Stewart Hanna say Joshua has the right attitude and a great work ethic. 

HBHS wish to congratulate the following boys who have gained apprenticeships this year through the Gateway Programme:

Andrew Brown           Livingstone
Fraser Armstrong     Livingstone
Mark Foster                J Alexander Homes
Kieran Lawson         Tristram Marine
Jayden Miller              Karl Kampenhout Builders Ltd
Josh Moore                Stuart Hanna Ltd
Kieran White              Kitchen FX
Nick Wilkins              Convex Plastics
Matthew Cateley       Lochore Electrical Ltd

Golf has been in full swing over the last couple of weeks. The summerl eague finished with HBHS 3 finishing third in Division One. Our other teams were handicapped, due to missing a round because of Super 8 committments. I am very happy to report that my team (which consisted of Ryan Madden, David Anderson, Brady Price and Mr Cooley) cleaned up Division 2 with the best gross score. The boys really enjoyed themselves and are already looking forward to next year's tournament.

Monday 2nd April saw us take four teams to the teams event. This was an Ambrose tournament, where teams were handicapped.  This meant we used half of the lowest handicap of the best player in team. The handicap was taken off the gross score of each team, but unfortunately we had two teams that were on a 2 handicap so were always going to struggle against teams that were on a 20. Our teams finished second, third, fifth and sixth. The team that finished second