A message from the Rector

By Richard Hall | Posted: Thursday November 3, 2022

An excerpt from the Rector's prize giving speech, namely his address to the Year 13's.

To Year 13 – it is important that my last few words here are directed to you. Understand that these are thoughts, not predictions, best wishes, but not perfect solutions. You are nearly old enough and wise enough to sort those things out for yourself, experience is often said to be your best teacher.

In our school I believe you leave a positive legacy, in both the hostel and the tower. You have been good men in blue blazers. Your energy and commitment to making the place a more inclusive and encouraging environment, your sense of humour and your undoubted positivity are cornerstones that the Year 11’s and 12’s must build upon. After three years of being mucked around, I think you have made the most of this one last year.

I hope each of you can take away from this school a taonga, a treasure, an element or a connection; something that lets you look back to the safety of an education and value system that we have hopefully instilled.

As you leave the archway for the last time tomorrow, I now believe there are two elements to you. One that has been shaped by the past, one that will move you forward from here. I speak of your background and your backbone.

You have a background now. By this I mean a set of experiences and meaning that was started by your family, continued by your primary and intermediate schools and finished off here. You have grown to the age of 17 or 18, you shave, you drive, you will vote in the next election, you live in that twilight between being thought of as an adult and being as responsible as an adult. You have made connections, to friends, to activities, to each other. Each of these connections I hope has left a mark, not a scar, but each is part of the OBHS DNA.

You stand on the brink of the next phase. School, the place you have spent the last 13 years, one of the most consistent places in your life, is behind you. You move forward now into some uncertainty, which is good, some challenge which is great and a whole new set of opportunities, which could be life changing.

The second part of you is a backbone. Something we have tried very hard to instil in you. To me, a man with a backbone is to be a man who stands for something, not shouts at everything. Who has thoughts, feelings, sometimes visceral emotional responses to situations and can handle those and not inflict those same emotions on others. A man with backbone knows what he stands for and he stands for something.

I have personally found a sense of self is often best known when you are tested, and through facing these tests with backbone, you will not be defeated.

Understand that if you have a backbone, people will be drawn to you, not be afraid of you and you will thrive.

So as you leave through the archway for the final rite of passage tomorrow, hold your head high, send your shoulders back and make eye contact. Men with a background, created in environments such as ours, with a backbone, can handle change, will embrace change, even if it is not driven by them.

Use your background, your backbone, go forward as good 'men of oak'.