Good afternoon School. Please be seated. 

I’ll call on Assistant Rector, Mr Cournane, to deliver today’s reading. 

Today’s reading comes from Colossians chapter 4 verses 5 to 6. 

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. 

This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God. 

Rectors speaks   

Thank you, Mr Cournane. As we prepare for our Junior Prize Giving next Wednesday, today’s assembly gives us a chance to practice the songs that we’ll be singing at Prize Giving and we’re going to do it in the same order, so the first thing we’ll do after special guests walk into the hall is to sing the National Anthem. Please remain standing as we sing God Defend New Zealand. 

God Defend New Zealand 

Our numbers are obviously down today following the very successful camps that we’ve had over the past four days, so whilst some of those students who are away have valid reasons, a good number of them don’t have a valid reason and therefore I want to say a big well done to you guys for fronting up. If I think about our character flags out there, it makes me think of the work courage and integrity. Courage for fronting up when the easier choice is to stay home, and integrity for doing what your know is the right thing. 

Next week is another time to front up. On Wednesday we have our Junior Prizegiving and that’s the time when we officially say goodbye and thank you. So we have normal two school days on Monday and Tuesday and then on Wednesday our Jnr Prizegiving starts at 10.30am before you then head off for 9 weeks. So you get a 9 week summer holiday, not a 9 week and 3 day holiday because you take next Mon-Wed off, or a 9 week and 1 day holiday because you say to mum and dad Oh no there’s not much going on on Wednesday – we don’t need to go. Whether you are a prizewinner or not on Wednesday, you are there to play your, part, to celebrate and applaud your friends who are being recognized and to finish the year in the appropriate way.  

See it as earning your summer holiday. You certainly won’t be getting a nine week holiday when you start working, so enjoy this time, but don’t cut corners and do what youv’e done today and front up. 

I really enjoyed coming out and visiting you on camps and spending a little bit of time with you away from the classroom and I hope you enjoyed the time away too.  

Today we’ve asked a few boys with very short notice to say a few words about their camps and what they enjoyed. First of all I’ll invite Manahi Maddock and Patrick Hoyt-Swinburn forward to talk about Yr 9 camp at MiCamp and AC Baths.  

Thanks, boys, and now Beck Allen will reflect on the Yr 10 camp at Waimarama and Ocean Beach. 

Thanks very much, Beck. 

I hope you did enjoy a break away from the cell phones, though you may have got some reception. If you managed to spend too much time on your cell phones, then you missed the point of the camp. 

Some of the things that I witnessed on the camp activities that reassured me that externals camps are a great idea included: 

1. What I said before, Boys walking on the beach, swimming in the ocean or pools, looking for crabs on the beach, fishing, surfing as well as all the other activities your guys got involved in. Slug guns, archery, rock climbing, high ropes. 
2. Boys and staff cooperating in activities. I loves watching the Yr 9s making rafts and sailing them on  Lake Taupo and of course you got soaking wet and some didn’t float too well, but you were working together to achieve something. 
3. I saw lots of kindnesses and care out there. Some were not as confident at activities as others, but camp week is not about competition and one-upmanship. It’s about working together to support one another. 
4. I loved seeing the Yr 10s pitching tents in a paddock and getting back to basics and I’m sure you had a lot of fun doing that and perhaps roughing it compared to the luxury of home life. I understand that some of you slept under the stars on Wednesday night and that’s cool too. 
5. Seeing the interactions between students and staff was really special. You know it’s been a long year and I know that in the classroom some of you struggle to meet the high expectations of your teachers, and of course they should have high expectations of you, but on camp you can forget about the Maths and English, Science and Social Studies and just enjoy each other’s company.  

So camp week has been a huge success and we look forward to our Yr 7/8s returning this afternoon.  

Camp week wouldn’t have been possible without the organisation from our staff. Mr Fritchley was in charge of the Yr 10 camp and Mr Spriggens organsied the Yr 9 camp. You will also know that a whole lot of other staff were there supporting these staff and you. This involved them giving up time with their families and this was a sacrificie they were prepared to make to allow you to have a great time.  

Please join me in thanking the staff who supported you on camp. 

I’ll now ask Mr Kristensen to come forward to present his Cultural report. 

Cultural Report from Mr Kristensen 

On Thursday and Friday of last week, approximately 20 year 7 – 9 students of Lindisfarne College and Iona College put on two performances of Shakespeare’s drama A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The cast had rehearsed the play throughout term four and delivered two great performances in our auditorium and at the Blyth Performing Arts Centre at Iona College. The whole show was thoroughly entertaining, and the cast did a fantastic job at learning their lines and understanding their characters and roles.  It is challenging putting on a work by William Shakespeare, particularly for junior students, as the style of English spoken in the play is very different to how we speak today, and that took a lot of getting used to. The play was written back in 1595 – 428 years ago. But Midsummer Night’s Dream is still a very popular play and production and it’s fantastic that so many boys put up their hand to be involved in this as learned a huge amount in the process. I know quite a few boys did come along to watch either the performance at our College or at Iona to support – there were senior boys supporting as well.  

I would like to thank the following people for making this 2023 production possible: firstly, the directors, Mrs Atkin and Mrs Masom; Mr Selfe who composed and performed the piano music. Mrs Clarke for costumes, Mrs McKinnon for the makeup. The tech team was Taine Hemmingsen and Sam Young who also did a great job setting up the staging and decorating the stage with ferry lights.  

To close today, congratulations to everyone who was involved in the junior production, and I encourage all of you to take part in any future productions that will be coming up. 

Rector speaks 

Thank you, Dr Kristensen. Please join me in singing the Christmas carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  

Thank you and please be seated. I’ll now ask Director of Sport Mr Petersen to come forward to present his sports report. 

Sports Report from Mr Petersen.  

SURFING Beck Allen competed in the Hawkes Bay Surfing Board Riders 2023 championship series which went from 1st of March through to 19 November.  He was named the U16 HB champ & Open Mens champ.  Congratulations Beck. 

Beck, please come forward to receive your trophies 

TOUCH RUGBY The Junior A touch team, captained by Te Awarangi Puketapu-Pene had an undefeated season defeating opposition such as St John’s College, Napier Boys and Te Aute College to name a few.  

Each game, the boys stepped up putting to practice what we had trained and playing as a good, structured touch team. Waiariki Hunia and Ardie J Smith were other prominent leaders amongst the team.  

After a few dominant wins, we met Te Aute College in the final. Although our boys dominated this game the score doesn’t quite reflect the competitive nature of the game. On the whole, however, our boys were superb and worked collectively as a team. Final score 10-2 to Lindisfarne.  

Well done to the Junior A touch team for taking out their division.  

SQUASH All the best to Arlie Duplessis who will be competing in the Oceania Junior Squash Championship in Tauranga during the final week term. 

RUGBY SEVENS Waiariki Hunia recently went to Bangkok to compete in an international rugby 7’s tournament representing our Hawkes Bay u14 Pacific Warriors Club. They played six games winning all six including the final, and only conceded one try all tournament. 

CRICKET Congratulations to our Colts A team playing in the regional and Seddon Cup matches this week. Not just for their results but for the spirit in which they played the game. Day one was an impressive win over NBHS Year 9 team with all members of the team contributing with bat and ball to secure an easy victory in the 50 over match. Day two versus New Plymouth Boys High School Colts A we secured first innings points towards the Seddon Cup competition, again all members of the team contributing to a solid win. Day three and another big challenge against our arch-rivals in Whanganui Collegiate for Seddon Cup points and again an impressive display by the whole team to secure first innings points.  

Day 4 in a friendly against Tauranga Boys and a change in format to T20 cricket, saw us narrowly lose this match by 10 runs. 

All the best to the team who now travel to Palmerston North on Monday for another Seddon Cup fixture against Francis Douglas from New Plymouth. 

Thank you Mr Petersen. To conclude our assembly, please join me in singing the school song, Highways in the Heart 

Rector speaks 

Please be seated. Congratulations to everyone who has been acknowledged today and I’ll now invite Hayden O’Sullivan forward to close our assembly in prayer. 

Article added: Monday 04 December 2023