Good afternoon School. Please be seated.

I’d like to invite Kapa Haka Prefect Matawhero Wakefield-Sciascia to deliver today’s reading

Today’s reading comes from 2 Timothy Chapter 2: Verses 4-6

No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

This is the word of the Lord

Thank you, Matawhero.

Rectors Comments:  

Today’s reading referred to the notion of the prize going to those who work the hardest, stick to their task and play by the rules. Since our return to school in Term 3 we’ve been able to witness some of the incredible performances and results coming out of Tokyo at the Olympic Games and the attributes referred to in today’s reading certainly relate to what we have seen.

Given the fact that this event has captured our imagination over the past few weeks, I thought we should spend a few moments reflecting on why the world stops to marvel at this event. I guess the main reason is that we know we are watching the very best athletes in the world competing against each other in the most intense, high pressure situations in order to prove that they are the no 1 in their field. We know that they’ve often had to go through a gruelling qualifying process just to get to the Games, so to medal is something quite extraordinary. There have been some incredible stories at these games and some of these are New Zealand stories. Amazingly some have connections to our own school!

Like the fact that we have two old boys and a current staff member competing at the Games. Tom Mackintosh won gold in the men’s Rowing 8 a week ago today. Tom was at Lindisfarne from 2010 to 2014 and his crew was the first NZ Rowing 8 to win an Olympic gold medal since 1972 in Munich, Germany. That’s nearly fifty years ago! I know a number of you were able to gather around a screen to watch the race, and I emailed Tom in Tokyo to let him know how proud we are of him. I didn’t expect a reply given he must be in great demand now that he’s an Olympic gold medalist. So I was surprised a few days again when I got a message back saying:

Thank you so much for the message. I'm stoked that some of the boys got to see it. I’d love to come into the school and say gidday to everyone and speak to the boys if they'd like that?

I think it’s pretty cool that Tom took the time to reply and that he offered to come back to speak to you about his Olympic experience. He will be coming in later this month and so we’ll have to give him a special welcome to acknowledge what he’s achieved.

Another old boy who you may not have heard of is Daniel Meech. Daniel is a vastly experienced olympic show jumper. At 47 years old he is a veteran of the 1996 and 2004 Olympics. He was at Lindisfarne from 1987 to 1990. Riding on his horse Cinca 3, Daniel competed in the individual final on Wednesday night and it’s with a real sense of pride that we can claim to have two old boys who have competed in this year’s games.

The third member of our community that you do all know is Mr McAleese, our Director of Sport who has been playing for the Black sticks in Tokyo. Mr McAleese has now competed in 4 Olympic Games in a row and he is a legend of New Zealand hockey. He has been capped 316 times and scored 34 goals. We are very lucky that he is a member of our school and we look forward to welcoming him home very soon.

The Olympics is the ultimate challenge for many athletes. Whilst all sports have their own world championship events, there’s something about the Olympic games that makes it the pinnacle of sporting excellence. In most cases athletes join their countrymen and women in a range of sports and travel to the Olympic village to become their own special family while the Games take place. 

There’s also a sense of the world coming together and celebrating sport and everything that is good about it for those few weeks. There has been a lot of controversy about whether these games should have gone ahead at all given the pandemic that grips not only Japan but also the rest of the world. Whichever side of the fence you sit on with regards to that debate, we can’t deny that this year’s games have brought incredible memories of outstanding performances and as usual, amazing example of sportsmanship in the heat of battle.

The Olympic motto used to be “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. On 20 July this year, the International Olympic  Committee approved a change in the Olympic motto. It added the word “Together”.  It emphasises the message of solidarity and the belief that the world moves forward only when it moves together, and the irresistible power of the Olympic Games to unite people, communities, and societies across the globe. 

Just like we’ve been inspired by our old boys and Mr McAleese after their astonishing performance at the Olympics, let’s also be inspired by that change to the Olympic Motto. I have talked about the Lindisfarne brotherhood before. You are a band of brothers who stand strong together for each other, as many of you had to do when you were behind in your games at the exchange on Tuesday, and as your mates did as they cheered you on from the sidelines. Let’s continue to be that school that others hate competing against because they see that strength in the brotherhood and sense of togetherness that you’ve created. Lindisfarne is a special place, boys, but it’s you who make it that way through your actions and your words. Keep challenging yourself as an individual and keep challenging your friends, your brothers, to make our College stronger than ever in everything we do. I believe that we can be an extraordinary school for young men and I believe you can make that happen because I believe in each and every one of you to get better every day.

Given one of our old boys Tom Mackintosh got to hear his national anthem playing and his national flag being raised as he stood on the podium with his gold medal around his neck it is fitting that our assembly song today is our national anthem, so please join me in singing it with a sense of pride in Tom, Daniel, Mr McAleese and all the NZ athletes who have represented their country in the Olympics.

Song: God Defend New Zealand

Please be seated

We continue our assembly today with the presentation of some NCEA Excellence Awards. I’m going to invite Academic Prefect Matthew Goodwin forward to read out the awards.

Excellence in Art Design

Richky Lim                    Art Design level 2

Tyler White                    Art Design level 2

Shunnosuke Arakawa Art Design level 3

Oliver Lys                      Art Design level 3

Bruno Wylie                  Art Design level 3        

Excellence in Art Painting

James Kennedy           Art Painting L2 x 2 certificates

Excellence in Art Photography

Peter Helliwell               Art Photography Level 2

Qichi Mo                        Art Photography Level 2

Oliver Strong                 Art Photography Level 2 x 2 certificates

Joshua Thomas            Art Photography Level 2

Matt Buckeridge           Art Photography Level 2 x 2 certificates

Charlie Yuan                 Art Photography Level 3 x 2 certificates

John McKenzie             Art Photography Level 3

Excellence in Accounting

Jack Barclay                           Accounting Level 3

Dylan Barker                           Accounting Level 3

Sam Bartram                          Accounting Level 3 x 2 certificates

Edward Brougham                 Accounting Level 3 X 2 certificates

Boston Christensen                Accounting Level 3

Luca Drayton                          Accounting Level 3

Tomas Druzianic                    Accounting Level 3

Will Meech                              Accounting Level 3 x 2 Certificates

Matthew Quinney                   Accounting Level 3

Lanson Randell                      Accounting Level 3 x 2 certificates

Barvick Ravla                          Accounting Level 3

Charles Roil                            Accounting Level 3 x 2 certificates

Jasper Wallace                       Accounting Level 3

Tim Wilson                              Accounting Level 3

George Wyeth                        Accounting Level 3

Thanks very much, Matt. I’d now like to ask Matua Sidney to come forward and provide you with some background to this fine taonga on the stage here and to announce some of our successes at the recent

Manu Kōrero Regional Speech Contest:

Te Ᾱ Kruger- Taylor – 3^rd Place

Taniora Puketapu Kingi- Ist Place

Thank you. I’ll now call on Cultural Prefect Oliver Newton to read this week’s Cultural Report

NZ National Concert Band Festival 

Congratulations to the Lindisfarne College Symphonic Band that was awarded a bronze medal at this year’s NZ National Festival of Concert Bands. The band performed well in all four of its pieces and was praised for its good energy and exemplary musical spirit! In the solo category the following boys also gained excellent results, accompanied on piano by Mr Selfe.

Hawkes Bay Model United Nations Day

On the 22^nd of June, schools from all around the Hawke’s Bay participated in the Hawke’s Bay Model United Nations hosted at Iona College. A dozen students from Lindisfarne participated in this exciting opportunity, taking workshops in diplomacy and the functions of the United Nations. The main event of the day was participating in a model plenary session, with each student representing one of the countries from the United Nations. The theme of the day was the Question of how the Internet was Governed. Over the course of the day, decisions were made upon a policy on how the interned was governed, resulting in the final decision of a complete ban on the internet.

Leo Guo Performs at the Municipal Theatre

On the 29th of July, Lindisfarne College pianist Leo Guo performed at a Midday Muni concert which is held each month at the Pan Pac foyer of the Napier Municipal Theatre. Leo played a 20-minute program of piano music that ranged from a Baroque to Contemporary. The audience in Napier really enjoyed Leo’s performance, which was fantastic performance practice for Leo. Well done.

Year 12 Art exhibition

The annual Hawkes Bay Schools Year 12 Art Exhibition is currently underway at the Community Arts Center on Russell Street in Hastings. A large number of students exhibit at this exhibition under the categories of Design, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Maori Art and Pasifika. Local artist Freeman White was the prestigious judge for the Opening of the Event and although Lindisfarne Students did not win any of the categories the artworks produced for the event are of an extremely high quality. The exhibition runs until Friday August 13^th so make sure you get down to the gallery to view our entries.

Churchill Oratory Speech Competition

The senior and junior Churchill Oratory Speech Competition will be held in week 5 on 24^th August. This is an important speech competition whereby students present a prepared speech. This is open to any students that want to give it a go. If you wish to enter, please see Dr Kristensen or Mrs Atkin, or talk to your English teachers. 

Thank you, Oliver.

I now invite Sports Prefect Charlie Roile forward to read the Sports news

Sports Report

Good afternoon I am pleased to be able to read today’s sports news.

FOOTBALL

Our 1^st XI had a win against Taradale 1^st XI 1-9

Junior B had a 5-1 win against Taradale

Intermediate school Junior A had a win against Taradale Phoenix 6-3

BOXING

During the last weekend of the holidays, Jett Varcoe competed in the Peter Bell Memorial Boxing Tournament in Christchurch. He faced a tough opponent from Rangiora but came away with another unanimous victory.  Last weekend, Jett travelled to Auckland and became the Auckland Champion in his division.

RUGBY

Our D grade played Wairoa Colts and came away with the win 19-15

The team travelled up to Wairoa and the Wairoa team really were up for the challenge and lead at half time 10 to 7.  Charlie Stevenson was rewarded for some damaging runs by crossing for our solitary try of the first half and Flynn Ellingham slotting the conversion. Fletch Ware went up another gear as Tom Powdrell and Sam Rasmussen added extra muscle to the pack, leading to two tries to Tukotahi Tiakitai in the corner. Flynn was again able to add the extras with a conversion.  We held stoic defence until the final whistle and the game ended at 19-15 win thanks to Flynn's conversions.

SHOOTING

During the 1^st weekend of the school holidays a team of boys travelled to Timaru for the South Island camps. Congratulations to Bryn who retained the South Island Single Barrel title, was 2nd in the Single Rise & 2nd in the Fish & Game, a great result for Bryn.

RATHKEALE EXCHANGE

We had a very successful exchange against Rathkeale with 10 events – 8 being sport, 1 being chess and 1 being debating.  We won the overall exchange 6-4 taking the Simon Stokes Trophy off Rathkeale.

We also retained the 1^st XV rugby shield and reclaimed the 1^st XI football Liam (Paddy) O’Gorman Shield.

All teams did extremely well and represented the school amazingly.

DUKE OF ED

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved their Duke of Ed Award and badge.

Zach receives his bronze award

George receives his bronze award

Lachie receives his silver award

SWIMMING COLOURS

Zach Ebbett-Watt has achieved his Swimming Colours and I’d like to invite him up to receive this award from Mr Hakeney

Thank you and have a great weekend.

Thank you, Charlie

Congratulation to all those boys who were recognised today and I wish you all the best for your weekend.

Reverend Dunnett will now close our assembly in prayer.

Article added: Friday 06 August 2021