Christ’s College vs Christchurch Boys’ High School rugby game

Parents are reminded that boys will be returning to school on the bus following the Christ’s College vs Christchurch Boys’ High School game this Friday afternoon. If they wish to attend the Crusaders vs Queensland Reds match, they must make their own way to and from Orangetheory Stadium.

Plan for the day:

• Normal school routine, finishing at 3.10pm

• Buses are organised to bring the boys back to school after the game (leaving Orangetheory Stadium about 6pm)

• Boys will wear blazers and long trousers.

• There will be a set seating area for our boys at Orangetheory Stadium. It is a ticketed event and ticket costs will be covered by College, with tickets being issued to the boys when they are on the buses to the game

• For boys wanting to attend the fixture, buses will leave College at 3.45pm

To buy tickets to the game, please visit the Ticketek website.

Grandparents’ Day

In the current Covid-19 climate, we have decided to delay our Grandparents’ Day until spring. Hopefully, our grandparent community can then enjoy warmer weather and a more relaxed ‘Green’ setting.

Parents parking in Gloucester Street

Several concerns have been raised about parents partially blocking Gloucester Street while waiting to pick up boys from school. We ask that you please be considerate of all road users and park in designated parking spots only.

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College vs CBHS rugby game transport

A reminder that boarders who want to attend Friday afternoon’s Christ’s College vs Christchurch Boys’ High School game will be transported by bus to and from Orangetheory Stadium. If your son wants to attend the Crusaders match that evening, you will need to make normal leave arrangements through your Housemaster.

Queen’s Birthday weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend – from 4–6 June – is an Exeat weekend, meaning that all boys must leave their Houses by noon on Saturday 4 June. Houses will reopen on Monday 6 June at 12pm. Any boys unable to return home, or to family and friends, will move to Jacobs House for the weekend. Boys need to put in their leave, per normal.

Sport commitments

Boarders must play their sport over the long weekend before leaving. Our boarding Houses are a significant part of the College community and boys need to ensure that all sports can field teams. Please take this into consideration when making your plans.

Farewell to Jimmy Healy

Our Immerse & Inspire tutor/manager and Rowing coach for the past three years, Jimmy Healy, is heading home to Ireland. Jimmy has been a large part of our boarding community, living in Jacobs House. While he has been running the Immerse & Inspire programme and contributing to our Rowing programme, Jimmy has also stepped in to support our boarding community. He has covered various shifts in our Houses, including being the Acting Overnight Richards House matron, and looking after boys who are isolating in Jacobs. All the boys and staff have enjoyed his easy-going personality. Thank you Jimmy for your wonderful contribution to Christ’s College and our boarding community.

Making a splash with paintball and surfing

For the past few weekends, our boys have been busy with paintball and surfing. See our photos as the boys make a big splash – on and off the water.

What's for dinner?

View the Dining Hall menu produced by the talented team at Spotless.

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Motivation to be independent, lifelong learners

Every week, the Centre for Teaching Excellence & Research – composed of the Heads of Teaching and Learning, our research analyst, and myself – meet to discuss the latest issues around teaching and learning in the school. A recent discussion has focused on the independent learning of the boys. Why is this important and what does it look like?

A key tenet of the New Zealand Curriculum is lifelong learning, and one of the themes of our Continuity & Change Strategy 2025 is motivation. These two are intrinsically linked. We aim to create an environment that motivates our students to develop curiosity and a passion for learning. For this to be a lifelong skill, there must come an element of independence and self-drive. So, we are continually asking ourselves, are we doing that?

This leads us to reflect on the changes so far and what more must be done. Live reporting and learning progressions have been founded on these ideas. Talking to students regularly about where they are at, and what they need to do to improve, aims to enable students to take responsibility for their learning. The introduction of new NCEA courses over the past few years and the array of offerings under the Diploma are designed with the idea of boys being able to follow their interests and passions while also gaining core skills for life beyond the College gates. Covid-19 has presented new challenges such as remote learning in lockdowns and during periods of isolation, which directly rely on having a degree of independence. Boys respond differently to each, and our challenge is to continually review whether we – both the school and whānau – are finding the balance between pushing, guiding, and enabling students to be at their best and lifelong learners.

We recognise that this is ongoing work for us as a teaching profession and as a leading independent school. For example, the Centre is reviewing the best evidence regarding homework and teachers are considering ways to motivate boys to read. Over the coming weeks, I will share this work with you in the newsletter so that we can reflect on how we can work together towards this important goal of independent learning for our boys.

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Bring Your Difference

He kōtuinga mahi iti, he hua pai-ā rau – Small ripples create big waves.

This past week was Bullying-Free New Zealand Week and at College our Student Wellbeing Committee members promoted this through their Bring Your Difference Week.

Led by Head of Wellbeing Jack Brent, the committee encouraged our school community to explore difference through Post-it compliments, the Kit Kat ‘Have a Break with a New Mate’ initiative and Pink Shirt Day on Friday. Naturally, boys will associate with boys of similar interests and outlooks. However, Bring Your Difference Week demonstrated the richness of connecting – even for a short time – with a more diverse group.

In encouraging boys to ‘bring their difference’, there is also the need – as a community – to be accepting of all our differences. In doing so, we create a greater sense of belonging for all members of our school community.

Dr Denise Quinlan, Director of the New Zealand Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience, discusses – on School TV – the importance of belonging and inclusion. In this interview, she encourages schools to shift from a culture of “fitting in” to a culture of “making room for”.

This is something we are embracing at College. So often we encourage connection through what we have in common and yet, when we make room for all our differences, when we accept and celebrate our differences, we grow stronger as a community.

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Love and Peace – flourishing in troubling times

Tēnā koutou katoa,
Christ is risen Alleluia. He is risen indeed Alleluia.

This week, the Gospel for the 6th Sunday of Easter has Christ address his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

This could be read as a Peace which is an end to trouble and conflict, as in peace in Ukraine, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. The Church, on which the Spirit was poured at Pentecost, has existed alongside, indeed embedded in trouble and conflict, for 2000 years. It is clear that whatever gift Christ gave, an end to trouble is not the only – or even necessarily the best – interpretation.

The Peace that Christ gives may be to live in spite of trouble. It should not be seen as an antidote or panacea for what confronts us. Rather, Christ’s Peace gives us confidence that we can thrive and flourish as individuals, communities, and a species – despite the seemingly overwhelming – when we abide in love.

COMING SOON – Centre for Ethics & Spirituality – The Climate Emergency

David Newton will be our first speaker at the Centre for Ethics & Spirituality this year, talking about The Climate Emergency. David, a Physics teacher at College, is a passionate advocate for the environment, and a positive role model for our boys.

Theologically, the incarnation has made physical matter, matter. Christians are not excused from living more sustainably, with some sort of “we’ll check out of here soon enough to a better place” mentality. In Christ, creation is sanctified, creation declared good, and humankind recalled to the image of those who would tend rather than exploit.

I extend a welcome to family, friends, and supporters not only to David’s lecture, but also to any of our Sunday Chapels this term.

Peace be with us all.

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CHRIST'S COLLEGE EVENTS

Friday 27 May	Grandparents' Day – postponed.
Wednesday 6 July, 7pm	Parent Education and Community Evening with Paul Dillon, Charles Luney Auditorium, St Margaret’s College. Register here.
Friday 8 July, 6–9pm	Parents’ Association Midwinter Drinks, Dining Hall. Book now.
Monday 25 July, 5.30–7.30pm	Year 10 Parent Gathering hosted by the Christ's College Parents' Association. Book now.

SAVE THE DATE

Wednesday 1 June, 7.30pm	Combined Concert with St Margaret’s College, Charles Luney Auditorium, St Margaret's College
Thursday 30 June, 7–9pm	Parents’ Association House Music Festival, Christchurch Town Hall, Lilburn Auditorium
Tuesday 5 July–Thursday 7 July, 7pm	Senior Production – Light at the End of the Tunnel, Assembly Hall. Tickets on sale soon.

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Upcoming careers dates

24 May	Lincoln University Information Evening, The Piano, 5pm
26-28 May	Careers Expo
27–28 May	Waikato University Open Days, Hamilton campus
3 June	Applications for Agri-Ventures programme close
8 June	UC Year 12 Discovery Day, 9am–2.30pm
9 June	Ara Open Day
17–18 June	Waikato University Open Days, Tauranga campus
29 June	Victoria University Information Evening, Christchurch Town Hall
July	University of Canterbury (UC) Scholarship webinars
1 July	Agri-Ventures, two-day field tour
31 July – 1 August	Otago Tertiary Open Days
15 August	UC Scholarship applications close
17 August	Waikato University Virtual Open Day
9 September	UC Open Day
September (TBC)	UC accommodation applications due

Christ's College CareerWise – new format

The Christ’s College careers website, CareerWise, is a rich source of information about all things related to careers. Check out the new site and sign up for weekly alerts by subscribing. From the home page, click on posts to see recent updates.

Career interviews – Year 12

I have started one-on-one career talks with the boys, following on from their individual interviews in Year 11. I encourage the boys to attend information evenings and open days over the next two terms, with the upcoming Careers Expo supporting conversations at home.

University course planning – Year 13

Course planning takes place in Term 3, when the universities revisit College and look at the boys’ programme for next year. Certain prerequisite subjects are required in the first year of a degree. In many cases, I have covered course planning in our career sessions. For those who are still unsure about their plans, the liaison staff will help guide the boys towards a general programme offering future flexibility.

University of Canterbury Engineering

Boys studying NCEA Level 3 Calculus – whether in Years 12 or 13 – need to understand the ramifications of entry into the Maths programme at UC for Engineering. EMTH118 Engineering Mathematics 1A requires the following: NCEA Level 3 Mathematics, 14 credits (18 strongly recommended), including the standards Differentiation (91578), and Integration Methods (91579). If they do not have these prerequisites, students must take MATH101 at university.

Lincoln University – two-day field tour

Lincoln University Future Leader Scholars are running a two-day field tour – called Agri-Ventures – for Years 11–12 students during the July school holidays. It is for those students interested in agriculture, technology, farming, and science in the sector. The free tour, which will be hosted by Tangaroa Walker from Farm4Life, covers several sites. To register, fill in the form Agri-Ventures 2022 (google.com) before 3 June.

Careers Expo – 26–28 May

You can view the list of Careers Expo exhibitors, including venue floor plans. Here are some helpful resources to ensure that students make the most of their visit:

• Student passport
• Before the Expo Guide
• After Expo Guide

Ara Institute of Canterbury

Here is a link to Ara’s Youth & Community Fortnightly Newsletter, including dates and scholarship information.

Otago REACH

The REACH Scholarship Programme – hosted by the University of Otago – offers Year 13 Māori students, who aim to have a career in health, the opportunity to spend three nights and days at the Dunedin campus and experience university life first-hand. Held from 2–5 August, it covers flights, accommodation, food and activities. Studying Science subjects at Levels 2–3 and being involved in Te Ao Māori will strengthen applications.

For further information, please go to the Otago University website. Applications close on 15 June.

Royal New Zealand Air Force Experience

28 June 2022 at Woodbourne Air Base, Blenheim. Please apply here to attend.

New Zealand Army Experience

14–15 June 2022 at Waiouru Military Camp, Waiouru. Please apply here to attend.

Note: For both experiences, travel, food and accommodation will be provided. Individuals will be notified if their application has been successful. Applicants must be double vaccinated, comfortable staying overnight, and a minimum of Year 12.

Otago Tertiary Open Days – date change

The University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic Open Days will now be held on Sunday and Monday, 31 July–1 August.

MoneyHub

MoneyHub, a consumer finance website, has published various information to help students.

• New Zealand Scholarship Directory 2022-23
• Money in a nutshell
  
• New Zealand Student Jobs Directory

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Why does College have a birthday on 21 May?

Actually, if we were greedy, we would use it as an excuse to have two birthdays, because two very important events happened on the same date five years apart.

The first date of 21 May 1850 involves the Canterbury Association. It was on this date that they signed off on the “Scheme for the Establishment of a College in or near the capital City of the Settlement of Canterbury, New Zealand, and to be called Christ-Church College”.

That’s correct, we were to be Christ-Church College, and consist of two departments.

The Public School Department, or Lower Department, was for boys aged seven to 17. They were to be taught Greek, Latin, Modern Languages and Literature, Mathematics, English History, Physical, Descriptive and Political Geography, as well as elements of Botany, Chemistry and Natural Philosophy from time to time. Experiments and the building of apparatus were encouraged. Model, Landscape and Figure Drawing were also listed as part of the curriculum and Vocal Music was to be taught to all boys so that they were able to take part in public worship.

The Upper or Collegiate Department had four divisions: Theological, Classical, Mathematical and Civil Engineering and Agricultural. Although the Public School Department quickly became Christ’s College Grammar School, the name Christchurch College was resurrected briefly and applied to College House, about the time it moved from its location in Cashel Street to Ilam.

Both departments were to have dayboys and boarders, and assemble in the Chapel twice a day. A “moderate scale of fees” was planned, depending on the endowments that could be found.

And what about birthday number two? It was on 21 May 1855 that the College was formally founded by Church Property Trustees.

The first page of the Deed of Foundation, Christ’s College Archives.

The first lines read:

In the Name of God, Amen. We the Church Property Trustees duly appointed, nominated and elected under and by virtue of Ordinance passed by the Superintendent and Provincial Council of the Province of Canterbury, Session 2, No 3, entitled “The Church Property Trust Ordinance”, being desirous of promoting ecclesiastical and educational institutions within the said Province of Canterbury, by virtue of the powers vested in us as such Trustees, and of every power and authority enabling us in that behalf, do by this present deed, sealed with our corporate seal, testify and declare that the several lands, tenements and hereditaments specified and set forth in Schedule 1 hereunder, within, or hereunto annexed with their respective appurtenances are, and henceforth shall be held by us and our successors and assigns upon, and for the several uses, trusts, intents and purposes following, and upon or for no other use, trust, intent or purpose whatsoever, that is to say upon trust for the foundation, endowment, and maintenance of a college, to be henceforth established within the said Province of Canterbury, by the name and style of “Christ’s College, Canterbury”: And we do accordingly hereby found that said College to the honour and glory of the Eternal and ever Blessed Trinity, for the propagation of the most holy Christian religion, as it is now professed and taught by the United Church of England and Ireland, and for the promotion of sound piety and useful learning more especially with the Province of Canterbury…

And it was recorded in the front page of the first Christ’s College Minute Book.

This page records the names which can be found in the Deed of Foundation: the Warden, George Augustus Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand; the Sub Warden, Henry Jacobs; and the first Fellows, Robert Bateman Paul, Octavius Mathias, James Wilson, William Wellington Willock, George Cotterill, James Edward FitzGerald, John Bealey, Henry Barnes Gresson, Charles Robert Blakiston and William John Warburton Hamilton.

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Bring What You Can and support Christchurch City Mission

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