2012 Powhiri for New Students and Staff

Five hundred new students, parents and school staff were welcomed to HBHS with a powhiri and morning tea today.  Over three hundred and fifty Year 13 students from the returning cohort were in attendance, supporting the Headmaster Mrs Hassall with a rousing haka.  Our new students, mainly Year 9s, will spend the rest of the day with their tutor teachers, Year 13 mentors and new house groups.  All new students will have their tutor group photos taken today as a memento of their transition to high school.  These young men will be presented with their timetables for the year, and will be given opportunities to complete stationery purchases and orientation today. 

For many of our new pupils, the first day at HBHS can be overwhelming.  Tutor teachers will make phone contact with the parents or caregivers of as many new students as possible over the next working week.  They will be glad to hear about your son's first impressions, and to answer any questions you may have.   We are looking forward to getting to know our newest students, introducing them to their school environment, and helping them to feel that they are members of our community as quickly as possible.   

HBHS Finalists in Waikato Sports Awards

The 2012 Brian Perry Waikato Regional Sports Awards, in association with www.sportwaikato.org.nz, will be celebrated at Claudelands Events Centre on Thursday 2nd February.  HBHS has six finalists in the following catagories:

Secondary School Sportsman of the Year:

• Bradlee Ashby, Swimming
• Joseph Webber, Rugby
• Scott Creighton, Cycling

Old Boy Kylem O'Donnell Selected for NZ Sevens

Report by Glenn Mclean

It's not a bad record – one IRB sevens tournament, one win.

For young Taranaki halfback Kylem O'Donnell, it doesn't get much better after a surprise callup to the national sevens squad led to a cup-winning performance at South Africa's Port Elizabeth last weekend.

"I was in Dubai the week before the South African sevens playing in an invitational tournament and on my last night there the boys went out for a drink," O'Donnell said this week.

"In the morning I got a phone call from Titch (national coach Gordon Tietjens) saying he was calling me over to South Africa and I was like, oh what, really?"

With the New Zealand team already settled into camp on South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, O'Donnell was full of nervous anticipation as he boarded his plane at Dubai.

Getting to the point of being called up to the national squad came three years after he moved south following a successful stint at Hamilton Boys' High School, where he was a member of the first XV for three years, moving between halfback and wing.

HBHS Students Become National Baseball Champions

The Waikato under 17 boys' softball team, comprised of a number of HBHS players, has won the top prize at the national competition in Paraparaumu. Top players Vinny Harris (Yr 12) and Khalid Gilbert (Yr 12) left before the final to ply to Guam with New Zealand's under-19s baseball team.  The boys faced Hawke's Bay in the final, a team they played and lost to twice during the week.  The game was tied up 2-2 at the bottom of the seventh inning until Waikato got their first batter on base.  Third batter up, Jackson Baird-Gillet (Yr 13), secured the win when he hit the walk off home run and the final score tipped 4-2 to the Waikato team.

The top batter of the competition was Jackson Baird-Gillet.  Team-mate Toa Tauranga (Yr 12) was the most valuable player, which team coach Vinny Harris was named coach of the tournament. 

Jesse Reynolds completes State Epic Swim

NZ Paralympic champion and HBHS student Jesse Reynolds recently completed a very cold, gutsy five kilometre race in the Lake Taupo State Epic Swim.  He placed 7th in the 13 - 15 age group with a time of one hour and sixteen minutes.  Thirty percent of his peers pulled out as the race progressed, so it is proof of Jesse's mettle as a long distance swimmer that he completed his first open water race with such aplomb.  Jesse spent a week training in Taupo prior to the race, and was met by the Aqua Blacks - New Zealand's Olympic Swimming Team - many of whom have been following Jesse's exploits with interest.

In November Jesse won seven gold medals at the Paralymipcs New Zealand National Championships, and in 2009 won a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke at the Paralympic Youth Games in Melbourne.  His main goal is to qualify for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, for which he trains up to 16 hours a week, on top of a full study load and extra events like the Epic. 

NZSS Athletics Results

The New Zealand Secondary Schools Athletics Meet was held on 11 December.  HBHS fielded a particularly strong team this year, including returning national representatives Phil Simms and Matthew Holcroft.  The results are as follows:

(More results on following page.) 

Student Film Makers feature on Close Up

Congratulations are in order to the creative team of HBHS boys who featured on ‘Close Up’ recently.  Over the last two years Hamilton Boys’ High students Juan Robertson, Robin Kuyper, Nathaniel Watson, David Robinson, Simon Lillis, Stephen Sutjipto and David Ju have been working on a short film project titled ‘Potential’. After persevering through many problems, delays, script rewrites, endless rendering hours, and a certain team member forgetting to put a lens in his letterbox, the film was finally completed and premiered at Event Cinemas on October 3^rd. 

The premier was a huge success with both screenings selling out.  The team is currently in rehabilitation mode, trying their best to stay away from away film projects in the ‘near’ future. They wish to thank all the staff and students who helped with the film as it would not have been possible without your support. They would also like to acknowledge the generous support of their sponsors: Herbert Morton, Hamilton Plumbing Co. Ltd, Steel & Tube, Jay Car Electronics, The Fibreglass Shop, Hamilton Industrial Spray Painters Ltd, Bunnings Warehouse and Metal Man. 

Welcome Back to HBHS 2012

We would like to welcome all new and returning students to Hamilton Boys' High School for the 2012 academic year.  Preparations are underway at the moment for each student's imminent arrival; compulsory course confirmation for Years 12 and 13 is happening in the Study Centre until Thursday afternoon, while the School Shop (stationery and uniform) is open from 8.00am to 3.00pm each working day. 

All new students (Years 9,10 and 11) will report for testing on Friday 27th at 8.30am in the main foyer, and new Year 12 and 13 students will be required to complete course confimation from 10am on Friday in the Study Centre.  We begin to welcome the 2012 residents of Argyle House on Monday 30 January.  School begins in earnest on Tuesday , with new Year 9s and Year 13s meeting for our formal powhiri.  All parents and guardians of new students are welcome to attend this important event.

Grandparents' Day

Hundreds of proud grandparents were hosted by their grandsons at Hamilton Boys' High School this morning, taking the opportunity to tour the grounds, share morning tea and enjoy both speeches and musical interludes prepared by the students. Grandparents' Day is an event that the school particularly looks forward to; it is a treat for students (many of whom are quite reticent about their school lives) to show their grandparents the environment that they spend their days in.  The grandparents get an opportunity to observe classes, review the campus and see staff and students interact. 

Some of the grandparents here today have attended this particular event up to five times over the years.  It is a great chance for us to be able to show them the ways in which the school has grown, and to acknowledge the important role that they play in our students' lives.  We would like to thank all of those grandparents who were able to attend, as well as the Junior Leaders, who worked with Mr Robinson to make sure that the day was a success. 

Elite Hockey Coaches Appointed

Hamilton Boys’ High School is proud to announce the appointment of Lloyd Stevenson (pictured, in orange)and Haydn Steel as Head Coach and Assistant Coach of the 1st XI Hockey team 2012.  

Lloyd has represented the New Zealand Blacksticks between 2001 and 2009. In the time he accumulated 103 test caps. In his younger days he represented New Zealand in the under 18 and under 21 side which was part of the junior World cup in 2001. In addition he has represented North Harbour and been captain of the Midlands team. After retiring from the Blacksticks Lloyd joined Braxgata HC (Belguim) in 2010 and 2011.

On the 6th of December Llyod is off to compete in the inaugural World Series Hockey (WSH) to be played between 8 cities in India  over 5 weeks (based on the same model as the IPL cricket) along with 136 Indian players and 40 Foreign players. He will be doing blogs about the tournament on his website www.alltimehockey.co.nz.  Lloyd is looking forward to working with a bunch of motivated players at HBHS. 

Haydn is no stranger to Hamilton Boys' High School, playing for the 1st X1 Hockey team in the early 1980s. He returned as Assistant Coach of the 2011 team who were runners up at Super 8 and 5th at Rankin Cup. Haydn has had a coaching career over the past ten