Friday 8th August 2025

Kia ora whānau

What a fantastic week is concluding. At Monday’s assembly we were incredibly lucky to be visited by two of our old boys – Joseph Balfe and Hayden Meikle. Joseph finished with us in 2016 and Hayden in 1994. Joseph is about to embark on a PHD in Psychiatry at the world-famous Oxford University in England. He is also a world class guitarist, and we were so lucky he played a song for us (I would recommend you check this out on the schools Facebook page). Hayden is a highly successful journalist, having formerly been the editor of the Oamaru Mail he is currently the sports editor of the Otago Daily Times. Both have had very different journeys getting to where they are now, but their messages were incredibly similar – find something you are good at; work hard (Joseph actually said do something difficult every day); be proud you are a Waitakian and read lots!

As always over the past fortnight we have celebrated several successes outside the classroom. Pride of place would go to our Chess team who recently dominated the Aoraki chess champs taking out the first 4 places and the 1st XV who beat St Kevin’s 26-25 to make it through to the Division 2 final of the Highlanders competition. Good luck to our Basketballers who travel to Dunedin this evening for their quarter final matches. Speaking of Basketball, thanks very much to the Basketball coaches and parents for putting on a fantastic “Bingo” evening last Saturday night. I hope you made lots of money. It is fantastic to also see over 100 boys practicing with the Big Choir which goes out into the community on Tuesday 19th August.

This week we have welcomed new staff members Ross Lory (Guidance Counsellor) and Dewald Pieterse (Mathematics) to our teaching team and they have made an outstanding start. The teaching team continues to go from strength to strength. A huge thanks to Colin Pine who since the start of Term 2 has played the role of part time counsellor. Colin is a proud and loyal Waitakian who has always put the school’s needs first and once again many boys have benefitted from his support and guidance.

To those 30 odd families who came to our Open Night on Wednesday, thank you for giving up your time and supporting us. It was a different format this year with a more ‘low key’ approach, but the feedback has been very positive and our enrolments for 2026 are already looking very strong.

Without doubt the big news of the week has been the proposed changes to the NCEA programme. See attached a booklet (with a link to consultation) which helps explain what is proposed and why. Overall, (in our context) I am optimistic that these changes will lead to improved student outcomes and more importantly prepare our students better for life after school. However, there is still much detail to be worked through. It is worth noting that all current students will stay as they are with NCEA. Year 9 students in 2026 would be the first to go into the (proposed) new system in 2028 and that is still 3 years away! Which gives plenty of time to get ready.

Some key dates on the ‘horizon’ are

·         Timaru Boys’ interschool Thursday August 21st (note change of date from Wednesday 20th August due to the high probability of teachers strike action).

·         Teachers Only day - Monday 25th August.

·         Winter sports tournament week – Monday 25th – Friday 29th August.

·         Literacy and Numeracy co-requisite assessments Week 8 (start Monday 1st September).

·         Benchmark NCEA exams Week 9 (start Monday 8th September).

Thanks very much for your on-going support of our school. Have a lovely weekend.

He waka eke noa

Floreat Waitakia - We are Waitaki

Darryl Paterson

Rector

NCEA Change 2025 Summary for Parents (1mb PDF file)

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