College is looking forward to welcoming American author and educator Andrew Reiner to speak to our Years 12–13 students about issues related to matters of masculinity. Andrew’s latest book, Better Boys: Better Men – the new masculinity that creates greater courage & emotional resiliency, aligns with all that we work towards at College as we seek to grow fine young men.
Andrew’s trip has been coordinated through the Association of Boys' Schools of New Zealand. Along with the International Boys’ Schools Coalition, this organisation provides great support for schools and their staff, focused on what is the best education for boys.
A Parent Education Evening led by Andrew will take place at Christchurch Boys’ High School. I encourage you to attend both this event and the Parent Education Evening in the final week of the term that welcomes back drug and alcohol educator Paul Dillon. You can register here. Paul has been a regular visitor to College for some years, helping us – as a community – navigate the ever-changing issues related to adolescents and aspects of their behaviour. He will also be speaking to our Years 11–13 boys the following day.
Speakers of this calibre remind us to always look outward for challenge and inspiration. They prompt us to be contemporary and willing to change as we attempt to be relevant and meaningful for the boys we serve. This is certainly important in the Christchurch and Christ’s College context as we are situated in a small provincial town in the South Island of New Zealand. To be curious and to look up and out for inspiration is a disposition we must all develop.
Darrell Thatcher
Deputy Principal – Planning & Co-curricular
Christ's College Parents' Association House Music Festival
Our popular Christ’s College Parents’ Association House Music Festival will be held on Thursday 13 June at the Christchurch Town Hall, with the doors open from 6pm and the event under way at 6.30pm. You will have received your festival tickets via email, from Christ’s College (notifications@eventfinda.co.nz). Unfortunately, due to demand, we can only provide additional tickets for the families of our senior students.
Arrival The Christchurch Town Hall doors open at 6pm. Please ensure that your tickets are printed for all guests or available electronically on your phone. These tickets will be viewed on entry. Please allow plenty of time for parking as it is a busy time of the year.
Seating Please be seated by 6.25pm. Seating is by general admission to the first floor, and, once this is full, we will open the ground floor.
House Music student routine
Thursday 13 June 9.45am – House roll call, followed by a normal Thursday routine for Periods 1–6 6pm – House roll call at Christchurch Town Hall
Friday 14 June 8.45am – House roll call, followed by a normal Friday routine for Periods 1–6
Uniform All students are expected to wear their striped blazer and long grey pants, and be clean-shaven, with an appropriate haircut, and polished shoes.
A reminder to all students that House Music attendance is compulsory.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Monique Ellis-Martin as the next Housemaster of Flower’s House.
Monique joined the staff of Christ’s College in January 2004 as a graphics and photography teacher. She is now the HOD of Design & Digital Technologies at College.
In 2016, Monique was appointed Deputy Housemaster of Flower’s House. On two occasions, she has stepped into the role of Acting Housemaster. She has found her pastoral roles exciting, challenging, and rewarding in their complexity and varied nature. Having grown up in rural New Zealand, Monique connects with many of our boys from rural areas or small towns throughout the country. Monique’s experience and ability have also been recognised by the New Zealand Boarding Schools’ Association, as she has been voted on to the association executive.
During her time in Flower’s House, Monique has demonstrated her care of, and investment in, the boys and, when balanced against her down-to-earth common sense and good humour, she has endeared herself to staff and students alike. She has chosen to undertake many professional learning opportunities in pastoral care and leadership, and possesses all the requisite skills to be a successful boarding Housemaster.
The appointment of Monique sits well within the strategic intent of the school, which values connection, and also change and continuity. We know you will join us in welcoming Monique, Jason, and their family into the heart and soul of Flower’s House.
Combined Boarding Houses Parents' Function
We invite you to join us for the Combined Boarding Houses Parents' Function from 5–6pm in the Christ's College Dining Hall prior to House Music on Thursday 13 June. Please register for the Parents’ Function here.
What's for dinner?
View the Dining Hall menu produced by the talented team at Spotless.
Nicole Billante
Deputy Principal – Teaching & Learning
Immersive approach to Diploma and preparing for exams
Next week is significant for our Diploma students, with Semester 1 courses finishing on Tuesday. The Year 10s will then undertake one half of their immersive courses as part of the Immerse & Inspire programme.
One group will work to understand Taha Māori through their time at Ōnuku Marae, as well as Global Citizenship – grounded in our spiritual identity – through a tour of significant places of worship in Christchurch. The others will take part in the Kōhititia programme, connected to Sustainable Futures, where social enterprise thinking is developed. Students will do the opposite programme at the end of Semester 2, ensuring that all boys complete these important Black and White Diploma experiences this year.
Year 11 students will concentrate on prep examinations. A key component of the ‘preparation’ part of a prep course is experiencing exams prior to NCEA. Therefore, all prep courses finish with an exam, mostly held in the Assembly Hall, replicating this experience.
While not the sole contributor, they are a significant part of end-of-course Learning Progressions which indicate a boy’s readiness for entering Level 2 in a subject. I encourage boys to start using the revision techniques covered in Immerse & Inspire last year (and discussed in In Black & White on 10 May) in anticipation of these assessments next week.
For those boys who may not have prep exams this semester, this is a great opportunity to concentrate on the Ngā Miha elements of their Diploma or revise core content covered in classes last year in preparation for prep courses starting in Week 8.
Sarah Davidson
International Student Manager & Round Square Representative
Christchurch Educated and Bangkok Old Boys
I have recently visited Vietnam and Thailand as part of a contingent of Canterbury schools travelling under the umbrella of Christchurch Educated, a group of primary, intermediate, secondary, and tertiary education providers.
Starting in Ho Chi Minh City and moving on to Hanoi, this trip has enabled me to meet an established network of Vietnamese agents so that I can introduce Christ's College as an option for secondary schooling. I have also been fortunate to speak with local students considering New Zealand for their secondary school education.
Following Vietnam, I have visited Bangkok where I have updated key agents about all that is happening at Christ's College, including our College Diploma, Character & Leadership programmes, and pathways to universities, both in New Zealand and overseas.
I have again attended agent seminars and also a student fair where I have enjoyed catching up with Old Boys Nont and Nant Prachuabmoh. Having finished their time at College in 2021, both talented young men are now studying in the United States.
While in Bangkok, I have co-hosted a Community Event with St Margaret's College. Together, we have welcomed more than 20 people from our school communities who now live or work in Bangkok, or have been visiting the area during our stay.
Christ's College has a long history of welcoming Thai students, and it has been wonderful to connect with these wonderful Old Boys again, having met many at our Community Event last October.
Our long-standing partnership with Archibalds, a full-service luxury vehicle dealership, significantly contributes to the success of our sports and co-curricular programmes at Christ’s College. As part of this commitment, Archibalds warmly welcomes the College community to visit its showrooms. When considering the purchase of a vehicle, you are invited to speak with Archibalds staff members – Mark Milligan, Corey Gray, and Alex Todd – about our shared College connection.
Our Community Business Directory supports our wider school community by providing the opportunity for those businesses and services with connections to Christ’s College to share their details as we encourage our growing community to ‘think local’.
Our College network benefits everyone, and our directory enables more people to support each other across a remarkable breadth of businesses, from automotive and construction to financial and legal services and hospitality, and retail, travel, and technology. Discover the array of College connections here.
And if you wish to have your business added to our directory, please click here and fill in your details to connect with our community.
College families can choose from an array of supporters’ gear at the Uniform Shop in Gloucester Street. From scarves and jerseys to caps and beanies, and bucket hats, you can show your support for Christ’s College and your son’s team by donning our special gear. They are also ideal birthday presents for wider members of our College family.
Please call in to our Uniform Shop on Mondays 10–4pm, Tuesdays 10.30–4pm, or Wednesdays 10–4pm to view the range of supporters’ gear, or email the Uniform Shop Manager, Craig Moffatt, directly at uniformshop@christscollege.com.
College’s Schola Cantorum has won the award for the Best Performance of a piece in te reo Māori at the The Big Sing Canterbury-West Coast regional event at the Christchurch Town Hall.
Learning to lead through actions and understanding the impact of making a positive difference are integral to the goals of Character & Leadership Week at Christ’s College.
Combined Concert strikes a chord with College audience
An extraordinary evening showcasing the musical talents of Christ’s College and St Margaret’s College has drawn an appreciative audience to the Assembly Hall.
Victoria University of Wellington Information Evening, 5.30–8pm, Christchurch Town Hall
19 June
University of Otago Information Evening, 6.30pm, Addington Events Centre
20 June
UC scholarship applications open
21 June
University of Otago (medical careers), Christchurch campus
25 June
University of Auckland Open Evening, 6–9pm, online
4 July
Career Convos – sport management/coaching
4 July
University of Auckland Information Evening, Novotel
1 August
Career Convos
23 August
Victoria University of Wellington Open Day
24 August
University of Auckland Open Day
24 August
AUT Open Day
Christ's College CareerWise
The Christ's College careers website, CareerWise is a rich source of information about all things related to career information. You can subscribe here.
Leaving School guide
Check out the Leaving School guide for study and career options for Years 12–13 students.
University of Melbourne
A University of Melbourne representative has recently spoken to Years 12–13 College students about Australian university admissions, ATAR scores, university accommodation, and scholarships. Among the presentation points, all boys need to take Level 3 English, and for those wanting to study either Biomedicine, or Science or Commerce, they must take Mathematics Calculus at Level 3. The university does not accept other English-rich subjects from Level 3.
Students can take a three-year undergraduate degree and, in some cases, complete a graduate degree leading to professional careers, including:
Architecture – Bachelor of Design (major in architecture), leading to Master of Architecture (two years), leading to architect.
Law – Any undergraduate degree, leading to Juris Doctor (three years), leading to lawyer.
Medicine – Any undergraduate degree, leading to Doctor of Medicine (four years), leading to doctor.
University of Canterbury – Engineering
Those 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.
University of Auckland – upcoming events and key dates
If students plan to enrol in the first year of an undergraduate degree at UC in 2025, they can apply for one or more of the Incoming First-Year Scholarships. Each has different eligibility criteria regarding subject, level, and qualification.
University of Otago scholarships 2025
Before applying for a University of Otago scholarship for 2025, students must set up an eVision account.
Lincoln University Scholarships
Before applying for a Lincoln University scholarship for 2025, students must set up a myLinc account.
University of Auckland Information Student Evening
The University of Auckland Information Evening will be held on 4 July, 6–8pm, at the Novotel Hotel in Cathedral Square. Please register here.
Money Matters
MoneyHub has created a comprehensive guide for students, designed to provide essential tools and knowledge for building a healthy relationship with money.
Trades and apprenticeships
For students wanting to learn a trade or explore apprenticeships, check out MoneyHub’s apprenticeship guide.
The New Zealand Common Confidential Reference Form (CCRF) is an online university accommodation reference form. Students can fill in the form at the same time as they apply to the halls of residence for their chosen university (or universities). They can register for accommodation at several universities on one form. Once boys have completed and submitted the form, their Housemaster will complete the school section. Applications for halls of residence open on 1 August and close about 27 September.
Another perspective? The Christ’s College photograph collection
Two books have been published recently about New Zealand photographs, Our Land inColour: A History of Aotearoa New Zealand 1860–1960 by Brendan Graham with Jock Phillips (7087) and A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa, edited by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins.i Each volume shows vividly how photographs capture a moment in time, both formally and candidly. Many of us have a mixture of these kinds of photographs in our family albums.
The photographs in our Archives are College’s family album. As you have seen in In Black & White, they range from early studio portraits of the cricket and rugby teams to snapshots of Athletics Days, to the coloured images of the 1980s and now, the digital record of the 21st century.
Each of these volumes presents images in a different way. Our Land in Colour asks what our response to this photograph of the 1877 football team would be if there was a coloured tie or waistcoat among the jackets and trousers? Indeed, what colour would these jackets and trousers be? Would the boots be scuffed or polished and would the hats match the suits?ii
Would the variation in the shades of the clothes of the female spectators at the 1877 sports be able to be enhanced so they were more cheerfully dressed in creams, reds, blues, greens, and greys? Museum collections suggest that this would be very likely.
At Christ’s College, we have a distinct advantage when it comes to the record of buildings. We still have many of them around us to make comparison with the hues of the printed images. It would be possible to scrape away the layers of paint on Selwyn and find its original colour, while early images of Big School show a very different arrangement of the roof slates. Were they ever another colour?
While the colouring of photographs is now a digitised process,iii the manipulation of images is long-standing. Glass plate negatives could have the background removed to highlight individuals and some studios employed people to hand colour their prints.
A Different Light takes a different approach, using the collections of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Hocken Library, and the Alexander Turnbull Library.
In her introduction, Angela Wanhalla writes: “Photographs enable interactions with past worlds, peoples, societies, and cultures … they are not neutral observations of history, people or places.”
They are not neutral in the sense that there has been an engagement between the sitters and those who are portrayed in the photographs.
As Hammond says: “It’s all fake. Every shot is set up to show something and eliminate something else.”iv
Consider this photograph of the 4th XI cricket of 1908.v
They are seated in the same way as the 1st XI, but more casually. Yet there must be a reason for the photograph to have been taken, albeit outside, beside a rickety gate and untrimmed hedge. It is the very casualness of the encounter with the viewer that elicits an emotional response. Had they just walked off the pitch? The advantage of documentary resources means that it is possible to ask whether it was the day the team played the Riccarton Reserve or the Boys’ High School 4th XI and won comprehensively on both occasions?vi
Why was Benjamin Thornton Dudley (16) photographed with a kitten on his shoulder?
There is a deliberate softness and warmth in this image of a priest who had served in Melanesia and the Diocese of Auckland and preached at College’s 50th anniversary just prior to his death.
This well-known 1869 photograph of College, with its foreground of Raven’s paddock and tethered horse, asks the viewer to place the present buildings in an association with those of the past. Rolleston House and the car park have replaced the tussock while the post and rail fence marks off Antigua Street (now Rolleston Avenue).
Like many of the Christ’s College photographs, these are available only in ‘hard copy’ as the glass plate, nitrate film, or safety film has been destroyed. Each image, with all the shortcomings due to the technology of the time, are present to be handled carefully and they need to be examined over and over again in a different light.
iGraham, B. 2023. Our Land in Colour A History of Aotearoa 1860–1960 Auckland. Harper Collins. Hammond, C and S Higgins. 2024. A Different Light First Photographs of Aotearoa. Auckland University Press ii Back from left: Godfrey Charles Borton (686), John William Townsend Boys (438), FitzGerald George Westenra (404), Benjamin Michael Moorhouse (446), James Dothie Millton (363), Richard Malone Hamilton (365), Lewis Arthur Hawkes (405). Front from left: Harry Buckland (693), Herbert William Williams (547), Collet Barker Dobson (708), Herbert Brown (413), Lionel Octavianus Mathias (357), William Henry Herbert (399). iiiSee p12 of Our Land in Colour “The process of colourising a photograph typically begins by selecting an image with a high dynamic range, that is, a good range of light intensities from the shadows to the highlights. Then the colourising begins by applying a base colour, similar to the process of underpainting used by artists since the Renaissance … Applying a base colour will ensure that the final image is more accurate and visually balanced … every object in the image must be carefully isolated and colourised based on its highlights, midtones, and shadows … colourising requires a strong understanding of colour theory and a keen eye for detail”. ivSee Macdonald, Theo. 2024. Long Exposure. North & South pp 86–90 vBack from left: John Desborough Bowden (2309), Parker Roche Westenra (2127), Clarence Leslie Meredith-Kaye (2391), Keith Wilson Manning (2276), Alan Leslie Macfarlane (2408). Front from left: Christopher Carrington (2081), Reginald Nicholas Snow (2154), Donald Dobson (2120), Geoffrey Michael Fulton Barnett (2305), Reginald James Richards (2282). Front: John William Pinckney (2420). viSee Christ’s College Register, December 1908 p 467 Nov 14 and 18 vs Riccarton Reserve The team won by an innings and 58 runs. Carrington 69, Richards 27, Bowden 22 not out, Snow 17, Meredith-Kaye 12. Snow 11 wickets for 44. November 11 and 25 vs Boys’ High School 4th XI won by an innings and 43 runs. Bowden 46 not out, Dobson 45, Barnett 27, Manning 21, Snow 20, Carrington 10. Manning and Snow took most of the wickets.
