Kia ora, School. Please be seated. 

I’d like to invite Service Prefect Sam Young forward to deliver today’s reading. 

Today’s reading comes from the Book of Genesis 1, Verses 1-3, The Creation of the World 

 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning….. the first day.  

This is the word of the Lord (thanks be to God) 

Rectors Comments:    

Thank you Sam. Last week Fergus, your head prefect, and I attended the NZ Boys’ schools’ conference in Christchurch. There were actually two conferences running concurrently. I was at the Headmaster’s conference with other Rectors, Headmasters and Principals. Fergus was at the Head Prefect’s Conference with around 35 other Head Boys’ from boys’ schools all around NZ. 

For those of you younger students who don’t know what a conference is, it’s a gathering of people who come together to hear expert speakers on topics of interest to them, and it’s also a chance to connect with people who have a similar role or interest to you, to share ideas and learn from each other. 

Now at the moment in our chapels and assemblies, we’re exploring the college values of leading and innovating. When you go to conference, you often hear from people who are innovative in their fields…. You’re being innovative when you come up with new or novel ways to solve problems or create things.  

I asked Sam to read from the book of Genesis today because it was about the ultimate innovation and creative piece of work, the formation of the world by God. 

At the conference we heard from Stirling Mortlock, the former Australian Rugby Captain, who has brought smart mouthguards into New Zealand. These mouthguards have a chip inserted, which registers any major tackles, especially around the head area. The information is then fed instantly back to an app on a phone or an iPad. The data is used during the season to monitor any possible player concussions and it can be used over the long term too. 

The reason this is innovative is because the inventor has taken a common item from the sports safety industry - a mouthguard, and inserted some computer circuitry into it so that becomes so much more than a thing to protect your teeth. Someone at that company, asked the question “What if, we could….” and that’s how we can be innovative too. By being curious and asking the question “What if….” 

Now you might be sitting there thinking “No I can’t be innovative….I’m not clever enough to do that.” But actually it’s not that hard to do. You just need to be curious, determined and it helps to be a little bit playful in your thinking about solving problems, and you need to be prepared to take a risk and probably fail a number of times along the way. 

There are so many examples: 

Uber: someone asked the question, “What if you could use your cell phone (an item invented by the way to make phone calls – nothing more). What if you could use an app on your cell phone to tell a driving service where you are, where you want to go and when ordering a driver you could pay for the trip via the app with a credit or debit card and then you could actually see the car making it’s way to you on a map on the screen. And you could see the licence plate so you could pick out the car in a busy city street. Before then you had to make a call to a taxi service to arrange pick up, which for my grandmother’s generation was probably innovative too.  

3-d Printers: someone asked “What if you could design a 3d object on the computer and then print it out like you can print on a piece of paper. Imagine what we could print? Materials used for sugery in the healthworld, for example.  

What if instead of walking long distances, you could pick up a scooter on the pavement and use your cell phone to put some credit on it and then ride it to wherever you’re going, and then just leave it there for the next person to pick up? Imagine the time you could save getting from A to B. 

So I encourage you to be innovative too. Actually some people in the room here will have parents or grandparents who have done highly innovative things in their lives. Some of them may have come up with innovative ideas to solve problems on the farm or in other industries. 

The other value we’re exploring is leadership and I see so many examples of this every day at Lindisfarne. And remember you don’t have to be giving instructions and you don’t have to loud and an extrovert to lead because just leading by example is enough. In fact, some of the best leaders are those who just get the job done in their quiet way and their example leads and inspires others.  

In my book, if you’re the guy who picks up litter that you didn’t drop, you’re a leader. 

If you’re the guy who notices a table has been left with glasses or plates on it in the dining room, and it wasn’t you, but you clear it away because you just know it has to be done, you’re a leader. 

If you tell the player in your team who’s dropped the ball or made some other mistake that it’s all good. Don’t worry mate forget it next one. You’re leading.  

Last week at the end of my Heads conference, all the head prefects walked into the hall and stood at the front with all the heads staring at them. 35 of the most outstanding students in the country from some pretty awesome schools, including Lindisfarne. Only one head prefect was wearing a kilt. And a red jacket. He stood out.  

And then the organiser asked the boys if they’d like to share any of their learnings from their conference. One boy stepped forward on the right and talked about what he’d learned. One or two others did the same – one from the middle, one from the right. Then the organiser asked them if there were any final words they’d like to say, and that’s when our man Fergus steps forward.  

“Yes sir, I’d like to say a few words on behalf of all the head prefects here today. I’d like to say a massive thank you to Christ College for hosting this conference, because this has been life changing for me, and for us all as head boys, learning incredible tips and tricks on how to be better student leaders,” he said. “I’d also like to acknowledge all my fellow head boys; it’s been a privilege to connect and form great working relationships with you all, getting insights into how you bring your special flair to the role.” 

“Finally, he said, “My key takeaway for the conference was this: Don’t mould yourself to the role of head boy, mould the role of head boy to you. This stuck with me”, Fergus said “as it is so important to never, ever forget where you come from, who you are but most importantly, to always be yourself. We are faced with many challenges, but as long as we stay true to who we are, we will overcome all adversity.” 

I was bursting with pride because our head prefect, the Lindisfarne College Head Boy had the last word at the conference. He spoke with gratitude and humility and he made such a great point to conclude. Lead your way. You do you. And we can all learn from Fergus’s words of advice because they’re true. We should all the take up the challenge of leadership, but we should do it our way and be happy with that. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t seek to improve our leadership skills, we should always be trying to improve, but be your authentic self and believe that you are enough as a leader. I know that like me you are also immensely proud of our head prefect – he’s doing a great job and at this halfway stage of Fergus’ final year of school, I think we’d give him a progress grade of Excellence. 

Please join me in singing our National Anthem.  

SCHOOL SONG – God Defend New Zealand.  

Thank you, please be seated.  

I’ll now invite Cultural Prefect Te Ā Kruger-Taylor, forward to update us on the latest Arts and Culture news. 

Arts and Cultural Report 

Smokefree Rockquest  Last Saturday Lindisfarne College rock band Obstruktion competed at the Hawkes Bay  section of the smokefree rockquest. This included Liam King (vocals and guitar), Dominic Goodenough (guitar and lyrics) Johnson Blakely (bass), Tait Humphreys (drums). The boys played well and were placed in the top 12 bands of the 24 that entered. They now move to the finals of the HB competition, which takes place on the 22nd June. For this the boys will perform two new original songs This is a fantastic achievement, and we look forward to hearing the band soon.  

Public Speaking Diplomas  Recently a number of students sat their first module of the ASB Public Speaking Diplomas. The following boys gained the excellent grade of Distinction in their exams:  

• Philip Larkin  

• Henry Klingender  

• Cameron Strong  

• Finn Reid  

• Chris Procter  

In addition to these, Cody Caton was awarded Honours Plus for his Grade 7 public speaking examination.  Congratulations to all these boys. 

House Music Just a reminder to you all that House Music is happening on the last day of this term. Anyone who is interested in performing in one of the groups, should speak to their House Prefer or House Teacher.  

Performance Today we will have a performance by year 10 musicians James Reid and Harry McNamara, performing “Well you needn’t” by Thelonius Monk, arranged by our woodwind teacher Mr Wuts. Please welcome Harry and James to the stage. 

Rector comments:  

Thank you, James and Harry. That was outstanding. And thank you Te Ā for your report.  

I now invite Sports Prefect, Will Foster, to present his sports report. 
 

Sports Report 

In Adventure Racing/Cross Country The Cross-Country team competed in the annual ECNI relays on Monday. The Year 9 team of Patch Leipst, Konna Schnell, Jack Chambers and Arlie du Plessis ran well to finish third. The two junior teams competed well with the team consisting of Cooper and Campbell Ellingham, August Popadich and Titus Dunnett racing home in second place. The remaining junior team managed a respectable fourth place. The seniors ran a tough race and also managed a fourth position respectively.  

Can the Year 9 team of Patch Leipst, Konna Schnell, Jack Chambers and Arlie du Plessis please come forward to receive their bronze medals. 

Can the Junior team of Cooper and Cambell Ellingham, August Popadich and Titus Dunnett please come forward to receive their silver medals 

Last Friday we had our annual cross-country competition. We were very lucky with the weather and saw some fantastic efforts across all year levels.  

In the junior section we had the following placings; 

• 3rd Konna Schnell 

• 2nd Braith Carew 

• 1st Titus Dunnett with a time of 10 minutes 42 

Can Oscar Fitness, Robbie Lewis, Oscar Wilding, Konna Schnell, Braith Carew and Titus Dunnet please come forward to receive certificates for their placings in the intermediate school and junior secondary sections. 

In the intermediate age group; 

• 3rd Noah Hemmingsen 

• 2nd August Popadich 

• 1st Hamish Butler with a time of 16 minutes 43 

And in the seniors age group; 

• 3rd Gordy Chatfield 

• 2nd Jett Varcoe 

• 1st Zac Caton with a time of 18 minutes 53 

Can Noah Hemmingsen, August Popadich, Hamish Butler, Gordy Chatfield, Jett Varcoe and Zac Caton please come forward to receive certificates for their placings in the intermediate and senior sections. 

In Badminton On Tuesday, the Badminton A team played St Johns and finished in a three all draw, which could not be separated by points. Special mention to Zion Perrott for stepping into the team as cover and playing in the 1sts doubles match with Armaan,. With the pair finishing with a 21-13 win. 

The Lindisfarne C team played NBHS. Also finishing with a three all draw. However, the Lindisfarne team came out on top on countback 63 -34. 

In Basketball The Junior A team played the HBHS Junior Development on Monday night. It was great to see new players stepping up and contributing to the overall team performance. Noah Layton played well, scoring 10 points, including going ‘coast to coast’. He also pulled down 8 rebounds. Monte Douglas, Fergus Benefield and Jay Ladette-Pinfold all made great scoring contributions. 

In Boxing Austin McDougall competed in an international boxing tournament on Saturday afternoon, New Zealand vs Samoa. Austin fought his Samoan counterpart defeating him by TKO in the first round.  

Also in the combative sport section, Remy Taong competed at the Oceania Open Brazilian Jui Jitsu competition in the April holidays. Remy competed in weight divisions above his weight and won a bronze medal on the first day. On the second day winning gold and the Oceania Title for 2024. 

Can Remy please come forward to receive his medals and be congratulated by the school. 

In Football The Junior C team had a great game against Napier Boys on Saturday, winning 9 goals to zero. Vinzent MacGregor, James McDougall and William Eyre scored some great goals for the team. 

The Junior B Football team had a strong 5-2 win over their Hastings Boys counterparts on Saturday. Harry France scored a hattrick in his first game as the teams striker.  

The Lindisfarne Football derby last Thursday saw the 2nd XI and 3rd XI fight for bragging rights. The 3rd XI were dominant in the first half having plenty of opportunities to score. However, the 2nd XI gained momentum in the second half securing a 2-0 victory.  

Our 1st XI team defeated Havelock North High School 1st XI last Friday under lights. Winning 3 goals to 1. 

In Hockey The Colts B Hockey team played Napier Boys Junior Blue on Monday night, and despite having to play without a goalie, we completed a superb win by 11 goals to 3. Will Eyre played extremely well scoring 6 goals himself. 

The Colts A played the strong and much older Taikura 1st XI on Wednesday. Our boys played extremely well as a team, with tight defence throughout the game. James boyes and Riley Burley scored goals and Oscar Brandon was courageous in goal.  

Our 1st XI Hockey had a strong win over Havelock North on Wednesday. The boys looked to play a controlled game, restricting the opposition from getting any ball and limiting Havelocks opportunities. The result was 7-1 win to Lindisfarne. 

In Rugby Our division 3, U15 Rugby team, recently played a repeat of last year's final and beat St Johns 79-0. Six players scored one try each while Ardie Smith and Fergus Benefield scored two tries a piece and Jay Ladette-Penfold scored a hattrick of tries. The man of steal was awarded to Oscar Brandon.  

The 3rd XV played Napier Boys White and lost 39-12. All the boys worked hard but struggled to keep our structure and discipline.  

On Saturday our 2nd xv had a slow start against HBHS 3rd XV, which led to a poor first half performance. However, in the second half, a surge of energy was brought from players such as Manaena, Dowley, and Brittin, which revitalized our game. As we got into our pattern, we began to show our potential, eventually winning 31-7. 

Our 1st XV had a strong start to their second CNI game vs Wesley College on Saturday. Going up 14-0 early in the first half. Lapses in concentration let the opposition back into the battle, however, we managed to close the game out 29 to 25. 

In Skiing During the holidays Oliver Wilkins travelled to Canada to compete in the Whistler Cup. This included 141 athletes from around the world in his u14 age group alone. He came 7th in GS Giant Slalom and 11th in his Slalom. This is a fantastic achievement from Oliver. 

Can Oliver please come forward to receive a certificate to acknowledge this fantastic achievement. 

Coming up this week in sport; 

• St Paul's exchange; Jnr A Football, Colts Hockey and u14 rugby all depart on Sunday for their winter sport exchange. With play commencing Monday 9am. 

Rector comments: 

Thank you, Will.  

Congratulations to all those boys who were recognised today. To all the boys playing in sport over the weekend all the best. 

Reverend Dunnett will now close our assembly in prayer. 

Article added: Friday 24 May 2024