School News

A brief, welcome diversion from final internal assessments and exam preparation occurred at HBHS during Friday lunchtime; The Staff versus Prefects soccer match. An intense battle of wits and athleticism played out on the front field, with all the drama and entertainment spectators have been looking forward to since early September. Bad weather (and the absence of some of the strongest staff players) meant the game was postponed twice. It looked at one stage as if the contest would not go ahead at all. Therefore, we were all pleased when the organisers seized the opportunity on Friday to let this clash of the titans unfold.

 2012 HBHS Dux Thomas Simpson (seen here at the senior prizegiving last year) was confirmed as a Premier Scholar as the New Zealand Scholarship examination results were released this week.  The Premier award is given to the ten best Scholarship examination candiates in the country, and with five Scholarships and three Outstanding passes, Thomas becomes the only student in the Waikato region to make this prestigious list.  The award comes with $10 000 per year for three years towards tertiary study, and Thomas heads off to the University of Auckland this year to study law.  Three other HBHS students made the Outstanding Scholarship list, which is comprised of the next 54 best performers in the country.  Year 12 student Christopher Jury, and Year 13 students Alistair Lockley and Segar Manoharan were confirmed as Outstanding Scholars, and will receive $5000 per year for three years towards their tertiary study.  An assembly to honour these students, and the other successful HBHS Scholarship candidates, will be held at the school next week.

We congratulate the junior students who represented Hamilton Boys' High School in the NZSS Cross Country Championships held on 18 June in Ashburton.  The results are as follows:
 
Junior Boys
 
Jacob Priddey (pictured, right)    1st
Drikus Conradie                             7th
Finn Maunsell                                  9th
 
The 3-man team came first, and HBHS won the individual Junior title.

Jacob Priddey won the U16 race by 12 seconds, producing an exceptionally strong performance despite fraught travel arrangements to the South Island.  This is the second year in a row that Jacob has won his National age-group title.  He moves up to the senior division next year, and is getting in some practice racing against 15 year olds in the up-coming North Island championships in Taupo.  We wish him all the best.

Prime Minister John Key visited Hamilton Boys' High School yesterday to speak to the Year 13 students about his life experiences and vision for the future of New Zealand.  He was well recieved by the boys, and considered a number of questions from his audience about issues close to their hearts such as possible changes to student loan provisions.  Mr Key spoke eloquently about some of his experiences as a young person in New Zealand.  He has reminded our senior boys of their responsibilities as new voters, and given them increased impetus to participate in the general election to be held in November.

Mr Alan Neben, Managing Director of Waikato Business Publications Ltd was received by the HBHS Executive team at 8.15am this morning.  He has spent the day tracking the Headmaster and senior leaders of the school as they discussed some of their responsibilities in the public sector. 

Mr Neben was introduced to the staff at morning briefing, considered school publications with Stuart Hakeney and Graham Robinson, then toured the school with Mrs Hassall.  He was welcomed to morning tea in the Pavilion with school Heads of Faculty, reviewing afterwards some of the initiatives the school is most proud of.  Nigel Hotham described our programme of engagement in sport and leadership, Greg Kirkham discussed the high expectations attached to the pastoral system and Mrs Hassall outlined some of the practical implications of 'crafting good men' via nurturing the culture of the school and the role of the leader. 

Finn Jefferson-Cope (Year 13) and Dabin Paek (Year 13) both received their Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards at a ceremony on May 19, attended by both the Mayor, Julie Hardaker, and MP Tim McIndoe (pictured).