School House Hostel Newsletter End of Year 2021

By Vai Mahutariki | Posted: Friday December 17, 2021

Good afternoon Hostel Parents and welcome to our final Newsletter for 2021.

It has been a pleasure as School House to work alongside your boys in their education journey and life in general. We wish you all a safe and enjoyable summer break and look forward to a fantastic new year. To our parents whose boys have now graduated and are leaving the School House journey, please know both you and your boys will always be part of School House and its legacy. We look forward to your boys and yourselves popping in from time to time in life to visit us and join us for a meal.

Men of the Week:

Well done to the following boys.

Week 5

Congratulations to Ollie Skevington for consistent work ethic in class, outstanding support of others in school and having a great attitude in all he does. He was also acknowledged in assembly recently. Well done Ollie.

Week 6

Congratulations to Jamie Hall and Tamati Taylor who demonstrated great leadership qualities as they led their House McIndoe in Assembly. Well done boys.

Week 7

Congratulations to Judd Flannery who showed consistent dedication in his exam preparations to give his best effort possible. Voted by the Housemasters for demonstrating our school values of perseverance, honour, and excellence. Well done Judd.

Week 8

Congratulations to Jayden Van Kessel, Xander Maguire, and Flynn Dalley, for gaining excellence grades in multiple end of year exams. A great example of hard work and dedication. Well done boys.

Week 9

Congratulations to Daniel Gilbert who was voted by the Housekeeping team for consistently being independent of his own personal duties and making their role a dream to complete. He has always maintained a high level of tidiness with his room and bed throughout the year and exemplifies excellence, even in his sport of swimming. Well done Daniel.

Music Room:

Our new equipment for the music room thanks to the support of the Parent Hostel Committee has arrived. This includes a variety of digital software and technology that will allow our boys to make their own music. Some added instruments like a drum kit have also been purchased for our boys to be able to express their musical talents if they wish. Thank you to Rockshop for attending to all our needs.

We have had a lot of interest from our new hostel families to be able to continue their music interests in 2022 so it has continued to be a positive addition to our hostel. In terms of music making, our boys will be given the opportunity to attend some workshops and tutorials by some local DJ legends to learn the technical aspects of making your own music and then be able to use the Hostel Digital Music Making equipment to design and make their own.

Games Room

Thanks again to our Hostel Parent Committee, we now have a better working Pool Table as well as 4 lockable dartboards and more table tennis equipment. Our boys love the gaming room now and it is very popular. We have also acquired some new outdoor equipment like Corn Hole, Petanque, and Frisbees. The equipment will be well used by our boys.

150th Hostel Reunion February 25th - 26th 2022,

Meat Donations: As part of the event we are checking if any families would be interested in donating some meat to this event for either as a raffle or part of the BBQ that we will provide for all attendees at the Special Cricket Match between Hostel Old Boys vs Old Day Boys. For interested families please contact Des Smith on 021736116.

Special Reunion Jerseys - Auction

A one off Special Set of both the Hoops 1st XV Jerseys and the Navy Blue 1st XV Jerseys will be available to bid on in a Auction format at the Reunion. For those unable to attend you can also send in a private bid to be considered. These will be a special item to treasure for years to come so if interested in placing a early bid, please email Des Smith at [email protected]

Merchandise

There is also special reunion merchandise available for sale such as ties, mugs, and badges. For more information and orders please email Wayne Angus at [email protected]

Junior Touch Excellence

Well done to our two Year 9 boys, William Nichol, and Jayden Van Kessel who were part of the successful OBHS Junior Boys Touch Team that won the Otago Regional Junior Touch Tournament remaining undefeated in the tournament.

Year 8 Overnight Stay

We had a great time hosting our new Year 9's for 2022 on December 3rd, giving and introduction into Hostel life and each other. We also zoomed in our families who could not make it from abroad. We look forward to the new Year 9's starting their journey with us full time in 2022.

International Boys Depart School House

We took sometime to farewell two of our Year 13 International Boys Nachi Kanno and Louis Kim. Boys who have been with us for a long period of time and now move onto their next chapter. Nachi has returned to Japan and Louis will wait in New Zealand to receive his external exam results and hopefully continue tertiary study in Otago. We presented them with a small taonga (gift) to remember their time in New Zealand with us and performed our Hostel Haka in their honour.

Sunday Activities

Our boys enjoyed the last few weekends participating in Ten Pen Bowling, Ice Skating, Escape Room and Golf. A great way to end the year off.

Thank you Jake Burgess-Head of School House 2021

We take this time to acknowledge our Head of School House 2021 - Jake Burgess, who has given the hostel so much of his time and value over the past 5 years but especially this year in his leadership of our boys. He has been a great example of what a hostel boys is and an OB's man. We also thank his deputies Jak Stevenson and Semisi Tae'loa who have supported him and the hostel as well with pride and dedication.

School House Dux 2021

Congratulations to Braydon Foote who won the School House Dux for 2021. A fine example of hard work and dedication pursuing excellence.

Darryl Swann Award Winner

Congratulations to Ashton Hansen for winning the Darryl Swann Award for outstanding contribution to both School life and Hostel life in 2021.

Mitchel Cup Winners - Thompson House

Leadership in 2022

Staggered Return to Hostel in 2022

Year 9 and 13 - Arrive from Sunday 30th January from 2pm.

Year 10 - Arrive from Monday 31st January from 2pm.

Year 11 and 12 - Arrive from Tuesday 1st February from 2pm.

Boarding Fees:

Reminder that Full Year payments are due by January 14th 2022, and Termly payments are due by January 20th, 2022. If you have not received your invoice for next year please email [email protected]

Have a great break, Merry Christmas and have an amazing New Year in 2022. See you in the New Year.