Hastings Boys' High School

Welcome gentleman to our Junior Academic and Sports Prizegiving for 2021. This is the first time it has been held outside the school assembly hall but the importance of the occasion remains. Today recognises the achievements of our junior school, junior in terms of year, not importance.

The COVID-19 lockdown has caused disruption to our teaching and learning, but from tough times comes tough people, and I thank all of you that have risen to the challenge.

Years 9 and 10 are very much the building blocks, the foundation upon which our school is built, so what should these blocks contain? See how many you have achieved so far.

1. Read a lot

Read as much as possible on topics that are different.

2. Have a group of good friends
Mates you can trust to get you through difficult times. Ones to lead you in the right direction, not the wrong one. You only need five or six.

3. Be a part of a team

You learn a lot about yourself being in a team.

4. Improve your Writing

Boys are not the best at putting their thoughts and ideas down on paper. Practice makes perfect as they say.

5. Set goals, short term and long term

For example; by the end of this week I’ve read my English novel (short term) or by the end of the year I have achieved a Commendation or an Akina Man Certificate (long term).

6. Have an attendance above 90%

7. Appreciate the importance of your maths and problem solving skills. Think about why the right answer is right and why that particular formula works. The best way to learn how to think is simply do more thinking.

8. Learn how to give a firm handshake, smile and look people in the eye.

9. Get involved in as many activities as possible; experience music, debating and kapa haka.

10.Lastly, be willing to stand out from the crowd,“Te wau nui a tāne – like the Kauri in the forest”

Hopefully many of you will have five, six, seven, eight or even nine of these ticked off already.

So my congratulations to those that we acknowledge today and my sincere thanks to you all that have built a strong foundation for our school

Mr R G Sturch, B.Ed., Dip.Tchg., M.Ed.Admin.(Hons).,
Headmaster

Proxime Accessit to Dux

Benson Family Cup for Academic Excellence

The Hensman Family Cup for Proxime Accessit to Dux

University of Auckland Academic Potential Scholarship

Mukul Kumar 13Gb

Dux

The Hicks Memorial Cup for Dux

Hastings Boys' High School Board of Trustees Prize for Dux

The Michael Hill Prize for Academic Excellence

University of Waikato International Entrance Scholarship for School Leavers

Revish Karunasinghe 13Fe

View the full prizelist here.

Top in Year 10 Brayden Reeve

Top in Year 9 Lincoln Mackie

Junior Sportsman of the Year Lezhi Zhu

Junior Team of the Year - Junior Canoe Polo

View the full prizelist here

A very big thanks to Grant and Jane Francis from Caltex Omahu Road who have donated $1000 worth of fuel vouchers to be used for the 1st XV Rugby programme.

Congratulations to students from 10Fa and 9Fm who have completed reading challenges throughout the year. A lunch was held on Thursday 25 November to celebrate their successes.

The accomplishments of our Head Boy Sam Connor and Deputy Head Boy Cooper Flanders were celebrated at a special ceremony on Wednesday 27th October.

The Hastings Heretaunga Lions Club host the Young Achievers Event which is now in its 12th year and two High Achievers from High Schools around Hawke's Bay are invited to attend. Criteria for the selection include high achievements in sport, arts, cultural or general all ground good citizenship.

Wairangi Taylor from 9SF has always been a water baby. At home, toddler pools were dominant during the summer where Wairangi would spend most of his days. The name Wairangi in English means “Sparkling Water”, and he is named after his tipuna (great grandfather).

Wairangi attended Clive Pools swimming sessions from age four. These pre-school sessions helped him to grow and learn the basic skills of breathing, floating, kicking, streamline glide and collecting water items at the bottom of the pool which was his favourite activity.

At the age of 5 Wairangi began swimming lessons. From here he developed his swimming at Flaxmere WaterWorld. By the age of 9 he had passed all the learning stages for swimming and advanced to Heretaunga Sun Devils Swimming Club.

Wairangi won all his swimming heats at Frimley Primary School, Hastings Intermediate and now at HBHS, as the year 9 champion. He is now in senior transition, swimming with year 12 and 13 athletes. His training schedule comprises a total of seven swimming sessions of one and a half hours each. This will increase to nine sessions by the end of the year.

Wairangi has won over 80 medals with many trophies, ribbons and certificates. He has competed all over the North Island, and is currently ranked number the one 13 year old in Hawkes Bay.

Wairangi competed in the 2021 Wellington North Island Secondary Schools Swimming Champs held in Wellington. He represented Hastings Boys’ High School, competing in all four 50 metres events; butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle making the top 10 placings in each event.

Wairangi advanced to the Secondary Schools Nationals held in Auckland. This was shown live on television, broadcasted alongside the Olympics swimming. Wairangi came first in his heat for freestyle.

Wairangi is not only good at swimming, he also plays rugby, softball, basketball, volleyball and canoe polo playing at regional, national and international levels. At HBHS, Wairangi has had to prioritise his sports and has put rugby and softball to the side as training clashed with other sports especially swimming and canoe polo.

Wairangi has the drive and passion required in his sport,and receives great support from his coaches and parents. Having a balance is important, school work comes first then everything else will fit into place.

Other priorities that are important to Wairangi are his Church Religion background and Māori

Culture. Singing and Kapa Haka with Te Roopu Manuhuia is a relaxing time that he enjoys. If you were to ask Wairangi what it means to be a good athlete, he would recall having mana, pride. Remember who you are, where you come from and put in the hard work.

Young Enterprise Scheme business Hahana Candles started by student Quaid Crawford chose Womens' Refuge as the charity he would support. He donated $1 from every candle sold to Womens' Refuge and this photo shows Quaid with Women's Refuge Manager Ms Julie Hart and Business Studies Teacher Ms Paula Ferrick. Ms Hart recieved a cheque for $300 from Quaid for Womens' Refuge.

The Prefect selection process continued during the October school holidays, with a leadership day on October 14th for selected Year 12 students. The planned camp was unable to go ahead due to COVID-19 restrictions, and was replaced with a one day activity day focusing on team work, challenge and resilience. The group of 26 students cycled from school to the Te Mata Park car park, helped mulch native plantings and remove non-native and pine saplings near the Redwoods, competed an orienteering course around Te Mata Park in small groups, then worked as large teams in waka ama in the afternoon.

Thank you to the Te Mata Park Trust and the Takitimu Outrigger Canoe Club for enabling these opportunities for our fine young men.

Our year 9 and 10 Pacific Studies class completed their Traditional Cooking Methods unit by participating in our Cultural Day. The students had to work together in small groups to prepare food such as preparing the fa'alifu kalo (taro and cocount cream), making luau, packing/unpacking the umu and organising the "Pig on the Spit". The purpose of the day was to help build student agency and to apply what they had learnt in class in a setting the students were familiar with. It was a great way to raise cultural awareness and create a sense of belonging for our Pacific students. All students took part in the activities whether it was preparing the mea'ai (food) or taking part in traditional games. Well done to our Kilikiti team who came away with a win against the Hastings Boys' Colts team in our annual Kilikiti game.

The Year 9 and 10 students enjoyed an afternoon of Tabloid Sports on Thursday 2 December with the boys showing co-operation, communication, teamwork and leadership.

Congratulations to Lezhi Zhu, 9RY for winning the men's A grade singles competition at the Hawke's Bay Badminton Open, hosted by Hastings Boys' High School on December 4th and 5th. Lezhi won the men's singles, and lost in the the semi finals of the doubles to the eventual winners.

Badminton starts up in Term 1 week 3, and is open for anyone wanting to give it a try! Trainings/games are Tuesdays 3 pm-4.45pm and Friday morning 7am-8.10am throughout the year. See Miss Ferrick if you would like more details - paulaf@hastingsboys.school.nz.

800 Karamu Road South

Hastings 4120

Ph: +64 6 873 0365
email: paoffice@hastingsboys.school.nz

http://www.hastingsboys.school.nz