Combined Boarding Houses Parents' Function

The House Plays featuring the three boarding Houses will be held this Thursday, 10 August. Prior to the House Plays, we will meet for drinks and canapés in the Dining Hall at 5pm. It is a wonderful chance to catch up with the wider boarding community, so please register here to attend our Combined Boarding Houses Parents' Function in the Dining Hall.

Boarders skiing

This term, staff member Hunter Wilson will travel with boarders to Mount Hutt on Sunday 20 August, and Sunday 3 September for a day of skiing. Hunter will remain on the mountain throughout the day and stay in contact with the boys.

Parents or boys can book seats on Snowman Shuttles. The boys and Hunter will be picked up from the main College gates on Sunday morning. Once the boys have booked their Snowman Shuttles seats, they will need to let Mr Vink know so that staff can order an early breakfast and takeaway lunch.

Head knocks and concussion

As can be the case with winter sports, our boys may suffer head knocks and concussion. I am very pleased with our communication between parents and boarding staff in this area, but there is always room for improvement.

Please follow these steps:

• When your son is under your care and has had a head knock or concussion, please ensure they are checked by a doctor following their game and/or watched closely – under your care – for any signs of deterioration.
• When they return to boarding on Sunday, and it is medically appropriate for a boy to do so, please notify staff of the incident and any concerns.

Your son’s health and wellbeing are our priority, so we need to be informed of any sports-related issues stemming from their activities.

Mystery tour

Our boys have enjoyed a fun-filled mystery tour to Methven. Check out the great photos as the boys relax in the hot pools and try their hands at archery.

What's for dinner?

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

Considering all options

Thank you to all the parents and boys who attended the NCEA Options Evening last week. It was great to have the opportunity to speak to so many parents and help clarify matters regarding the subjects of interest to boys.

Option choices are due to be submitted by Monday morning (14 August), so please contact the respective teachers if you need further information.

A reminder to our Years 9 and 10 parents to sign up for the Diploma Options Evening this coming Monday (14 August). We will start the evening with a brief overview of the Diploma’s academic element. Parents will have the same opportunity to speak to representatives from all our departments about the courses on offer as part of the Christ's College Diploma.

Choice is at the heart of the Diploma, so it is a great chance to understand the many different courses that are available to the boys. Please register here.

Supporting diverse minds

Understanding that each individual’s brain functions and interacts with the world differently leads to diverse learning and communication styles. While most young people are neurotypical, some exhibit variations in brain development, such as ADHD, autism or dyslexia, making them neurodivergent.

At College, embracing neurodiversity means accepting, celebrating, and supporting neurodivergent adolescents without trying to change who they are. To effectively embrace neurodiversity, we must use respectful language, challenge unhelpful attitudes, avoid assumptions, and actively promote inclusivity.

By learning more about neurodiversity, we can develop effective communication techniques, educational strategies, and compassionate approaches tailored to the specific needs of our neurodivergent students.

Acknowledging the unique ways neurodiverse young people learn and do things, and then adapting tasks and activities to ensure their full participation, will encourage them to develop strategies that feel natural. It will help improve their mental health, wellbeing, and sense of self. By recognising and nurturing their strengths, teachers, parents, and whānau can contribute to building an inclusive and compassionate school community where all our young people can thrive.

The latest SchoolTV edition focuses on Neurodiversity, with experts – including Dr Emma Woodward, Professor Tony Attwood, Dr Chris Wever, Dr James Cusack, Brooke Trenwith, Rich Rowley, and Kristy Forbes – sharing their knowledge, experiences, and insights into neurodiversity and how we can best understand and support our young people. The topic resources and key points summary are especially helpful.

Uniting choirs and bands in concert

Christ’s College will showcase the many musical talents of our students and those of students from fellow independent schools during performances in August and September.

Schola Cantorum sings at the Knox Presbyterian Church Service

Saturday 26 August at 10am at Knox Church

As part of the College choral programme, the College choirs join various groups in the community to share in their worship services. Scholar Cantorum is delighted to join Knox Church and sing throughout its worship service.

Christ’s College and Rangi Ruru Girls’ School Contemporary Music Evening

Wednesday 6 September at 7.30pm in the Assembly Hall

While many bands at both College and Rangi Ruru Girls’ School enter the annual Rockquest competition, they often have few opportunities to perform and enjoy listening to each other. For the first time, bands from both schools will rock the Assembly Hall. Under the direction of Anna Howat and Nolan Hungerford, the bands will present a lively and entertaining evening of original music-making.

Encore Choral Festival – Combined Independent Schools

Wednesday 13 September from 7–8pm in the Assembly Hall

Set up five years ago as a performance opportunity for junior students in our independent schools, this event has gained momentum. More than 300 students gather to perform massed items, along with each school presenting individual pieces. It is an opportunity for students to learn from one another and also collaborate under the direction of Helen Charlton (Rangi Ruru) and Robert Aburn. This year, the students will present a new waiata, a traditional song, Zum Gali Gali, and an upbeat spiritual, Praise his Holy Name.

Giving a voice to change

Tēnā koutou katoa.

Peace to you all in the name of God.

I write having just spent a week in conferences, including the Association of Anglican Schools Australia conference. The scale of its Anglican schools network, as you may expect, is vast compared with Aotearoa New Zealand. Some 175,000 Australian students attend Anglican schools.

One of the many reflections in my mind is how Australia, like many countries, continues to grapple with the effects of colonialism and the impact on indigenous peoples, in particular. As a proud New Zealander of English and Irish descent, it matters to me how people can work together cross-culturally. It matters to God, too, because people matter to God, in the person of Jesus Christ.

Later this year, Australians will vote in a referendum on ‘The Voice’ to the Australian Parliament. Born out of a statement drawn up six years ago, the vote asks whether Australians will endorse an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to Parliament. The Voice seeks to enshrine in the constitution advocacy on social issues for Aboriginal peoples, who, for all their history on that mighty continent, are negatively represented in almost every social indicator – from incarceration to life expectancy.

It is a long way from co-governance, a live issue here, but much of the media in Australia, in what ought to be familiar ways to our own, peddles less than accurate information, fearmongering, and soothsaying by degree. Present polling shows a likely ‘No’ vote to The Voice.

I watch on, an interested spectator with no right to vote, as no doubt others will watch our elections later this year, because it effects people – and people are my business. People are our business. People were Jesus’ business. It is contrary, to my mind, when we suggest the Church or Christians should stay out of politics. Politics – being about people – is exactly where the Church ought to be seen and heard. The Association of Anglican Schools Australia has, although not unanimously, endorsed a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum.

Yours in Christ,
The Rev'd Cameron Pickering

CHRIST'S COLLEGE & CCOBA EVENTS

Upcoming careers dates

School subject selection – Term 3

Boys choosing their subjects this term – for 2024 – can check out these best preparation links to aid their decisions regarding university and polytechnic study

• University of Canterbury – Best Prep
• Lincoln University – Best Prep
• Victoria University – Best Prep
• University of Otago - Best Prep
• Waikato University – Best Prep
• Ara – Best Prep
• University of Auckland – Best Prep
• Massey University – Best Prep

Exam preparation

Check out the NCEA resources to help attain the best grades and prepare for upcoming internals and externals.

Christ's College CareerWise

The Christ’s College careers website, CareerWise, is a rich source of information about all things related to career information. Check it out and sign up for weekly alerts by subscribing here.

Below are recent postings on the College careers website:

• Pilot Information Evening
• Experience Ara
• Navy – engineering
• Māori Health Leadership Scholarship
• Ara – Bachelor of Applied Science
• Ara – Latest News
• PwC scholarships
• University of Otago scholarships
• University of Otago – application
• University of Otago – Hands-on at Otago
• Queenstown Resort College

Victoria University of Wellington – 2024 accommodation

Applications for halls are open, with students encouraged to get their applications in early as places will be offered from mid-September.

School of Landscape Architecture – Lincoln University

The School of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University offers a range of specialised programmes. Landscape architects create landscapes within urban, rural, residential, or public environments and are involved in the management and conservation of natural and heritage landscapes. A career in landscape architecture may suit those with an interest in the environment, science, culture, art, technology, and wellbeing.

StudyLink – student loans and allowances

If boys intend to apply for a student loan or allowance, they need to register and apply online through StudyLink. As this can take time, it is best to get under way sooner rather than later.

In Black & White – Careers

I share a range of relevant information with parents and boys via In Black & White. However, I am aware that not all boys read the school newsletter, so I hope parents will use the information provided as a springboard for investigation, discussion, and inspiration to support their sons as they consider their futures. Please contact me with any suggestions regarding careers, or if you require any career-related advice for your son.

A mystery half-solved

Inside the front door of School House is an item of furniture. There is a rumour that it is an altar that arrived in Canterbury on one of the first four ships. A search of the ledgers for the Canterbury Association – held in the Christchurch Anglican Diocesan Archives – has no mention of an altar on the first four ships or on any of the Canterbury Association ships.

A plaque on the item of furniture reads:

These versions of
Holy Scripture
were presented to
The Rev’d Samuel Charles Wilks MA
By the
British & Foreign Bible Society.
This cabinet was presented by
the Congregation of Hampstead Chapel, Middlesex AD 1834

So, let us work our way through the clues:

• It is a cabinet created to hold Bibles
• The Bibles were presented by the British & Foreign Bible Society
• The recipient of the Bibles and the cabinet was Samuel Charles Wilks
• The cabinet was presented by the Congregation of Hampstead Chapel.

The centrepiece in the story is obviously Samuel Charles Wilks (1789–1872). He has proved to be a little elusive but, in summary, Samuel Wilks:

• Matriculated at St Edmund’s Hall, Oxford in 1810 and completed a BA in 1814, followed by an MA in 1816
• Was ordained a deacon in 1813 and a priest 1816 by Richard Beadon, Bishop of Bath and Wells
• Was appointed to curacies in Somerset and Devon
• Was the editor of the Christian Observer 1816–1849
• Retired to Nursling in 1847 near Southampton, where he ministered until his death.

There are two important clues in this summary – St Edmund’s Hall and the Christian Observer.

The Christian Observer – an evangelical periodical that appeared from 1802–1874 – was associated with the Clapham Sect or Clapham Saints. The most well-known member was William Wilberforce, who lived in Clapham, then a village in south-west London. This group was concerned with the abolition of the slave trade, the reform of the penal system, and missionary activity at home and abroad. Many of these reformers were associated with St Edmund’s Hall. It was Wilberforce who suggested that Samuel Marsden cut short his studies at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Marsden was then appointed assistant chaplain in the newly established convict settlement of New South Wales. By 1800, he was chaplain and magistrate and remained in contact with the Clapham Sect.ⁱ

Now to turn to the British & Foreign Bible Society. It was founded in 1804 in London, as a non-denominational society to “encourage the wider circulation of the Holy Scripture without note or comment”.ⁱⁱ In New Zealand, and more widely, the society helped established missions increase their publication of translations. Indeed, after an apprenticeship with a Cornish printer and working with the society’s printer, Richard Watts and Co, William Colenso was sent to New Zealand in 1854.

Then there is the question of the Hampstead Chapel. Research indicates that there are two choices, based on the name on the plaque. It was either a nonconformist chapel, or a chapel of ease for the parish church. What is known is that Hampstead had a Bible Society that was an auxiliary of the British & Foreign Bible Society.ⁱⁱⁱ

So that is as far as the research has been able to go. It would be good to write an update on this story. However, more information is needed. It was a large piece of furniture to bring to New Zealand, so how did it get here? How and when did School House acquire it? What is the connection with Samuel Wilks and the British & Foreign Bible Society? Any help in untangling the other half of the mystery would be appreciated.

ⁱ Newman, K. 2010. Bible and Treaty. Penguin Books p26
ⁱⁱ Lineham, P. J. 1996. Bible and Society. The Bible Society in New Zealand Daphne Brasell Associates Press p1
ⁱⁱⁱ https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol9/pp81-91#fnn235H