Dear All,
It Certainly has been an eventful holidays. I have been busy ferrying stranded bach owners from Pourerere south in my 4wd across the beach at low tide. We had 420ml in 24 hours! What a mess. Here are some photos that show the damage. Luckily we got away with no damage just a moat in front of out beach house. I am staying on to help with the clean up. Nature certainly can be frightening! I hope the rest of you have all had a wonderful holiday.
Regards
Brad
Dear All,
Thank you for the continued support of my Blog Page. I have had a number
of very positive responses from it. My challenge to the boys these holidays is to make you breakfast in bed on Easter Sunday! Good luck with that, my toast last year wasn't edible but I had to as two very proud faces watched with high expectations.
I have heard Micheal Gross on a number of occasions and he is talking at our Independent School's Conference this year. The thing I like about Michael is that his ideas are not revolutionary but just plain common sense. I hope you enjoys this short presentation by him.
Boys are wired differently to girls. They think differently and about different things than girls.
They mature more slowly, particularly when it comes to language development, social skills and their fine motor skills.
They are organisationally-challenged as well. They are more boisterous, more self-conscious and more awkward than girls…particularly as they move into adolescence. Managing-Self is a big drive at Huntley and this term, for example, we have worked on getting boys to look after their gear (With mixed results!) and making sure they are on time to class and have books out and ready.
Loyalty is a high driver for most boys. Many will get into arguments and even fights to back up their mates, or because someone said something nasty about their little sister. This is not always a bad thing when channeled in the right way. Look at how Huntley boys cheer on another boy who is struggling as witnessed at the triathlon. The pride they have in the school is another example of a positive attitude towards loyalty. The way they support one another, especially the godfather/godson relationship.
The abiding wish of all boys from school-age through to adolescence is to fit in and be part of a group. They are group-oriented by nature. This is why boarding appeals to boys at this age. They love being part of that boarding community.
Approval is at the heart of working successfully with boys. They will walk over broken glass or hot coals if they sense you like them… which is an important message for teachers too. This sis something I have based my career in teaching on. Show boys more loyalty then you expect to recieve yourself and it pays big time in classroom results. That is why I have a number of boys I mentor and check up on from time to time. Funnily enough these are still the boys that contact me once they leave Huntley.
Boys need specifics. Here are some examples: They like limits and boundaries. They help them learn. They also like to push against them too so you had better have a backbone if you are raising boys. That is why the boundaries and routines at Huntley work so well for boys. Boys also respond to think language. If you want to know how a boy feels, just ask him how he thinks... and he’ll probably tell you how he feels. Boys generally are more impulsive than girls so strategies that help boys think and reflect on their behaviour are really beneficial.
Boys embarrass easily and they generally respond better when they are praised in private, rather than publicly.
Last night Mrs Gay, Henry, Jack and I took the Thai international students out to a Thai restaurant in Palmerston North. It was a hilarious night as Boom kept us all entertained (Isn't it funny how humour knows no language barrier!) The food was beautiful and the restaurant made it in the original recipes the boys requested. Luckily Nat was able to translate what we were ordering as Boom kept trying to super size his order. Song laughed along and said what can you expect they all come from bangkok except me! We heard a very funny story about Boom dropping a water bomb from the 18th floor to land on the head of the security guard. (Luckily it was during the water festival and the security guard eventually got up again!)
What a wonderfully enthusiastic lot of boys we have at the moment! They are loving getting into Winter Sports and I enjoyed watching the teams having trials on Thursday afternoon. We can see some new talent already and it is also pleasing to see some of last years boys have really stepped up.
I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures.
Picking a boarding school is a difficult decision for a lot of families and it is vital you make the right choice as your son or daughter is going to be working, playing and living there. As Headmaster of Huntley School, a boys boarding preparatory, I am often asked by parents looking for their son’s next step into secondary education, what they should be looking for. Here are some tips I give to these people.
The process of picking a school usually involves sending away for prospectuses and identifying the attributes that either appeal or you are specifically looking for. Writing a checklist can certainly save a lot of time and needless arguing between parents and child.
Things you may look out for are: Size of school
Co-educational or single sex
Size of classrooms
Educational programmes on offer
Are special education needs catered for?
After school or hostel pastoral care systems
Are you comfortable with the policies of the Hostel?
Quality of boarding facilities
Provisions for clubs or other interests
What is the school’s X Factor? Does it meet the character of your child?
It is especially important to take note of the extra-curricular activities on offer. Facilities on offer can give some insight into the school culture. For example, extensive grounds and playing fields with a near new gymnasium may indicate a preference for sport. A new auditorium capable of seating 500 may indicate strength in performing arts.
The next step is to arrange a visit. Open Days are excellent ways of finding out a wealth of information without the pressure of committing to the school. Take a list of questions with you, as it is far too easy to forget once the tour has started. Often pupils give these tours and they are a mine of information that the Principal has no direct control over. Give the school information about your child and wait and see how good their follow up is. A letter at the very least thanking you for attending should be forth coming, but some schools go much further than this. A personalized invitation to come back and have a closer look is not unusual and gives you the opportunity to return armed with a list of further questions. If visiting an offsite hostel you may want to ask about facilities the boarders have access to on the weekends. Some hostels are very separate from the schools they serve.
Another option is to attend a school function, such as a play or a music concert as this gives you an insight into the culture of the school.
Finally it is important that your child has the opportunity to be part of the decision making process. After all they are the ones living there for the next 4-5 years.
This week I have had a couple of visitors who have spent some time in the school. The first was an Uncle visiting from London, the second a prospective family and the third was a member of New Zealand Boarding Schools executive.
John who was visiting his nephew sent me the following email: "I just wanted to send you an email to thank you for allowing me to sit in one of Mitchell's lessons yesterday. His progress with you has been an amazing transformation, even in the short time that he has been there. I couldn't help but notice the rapport that Mark and, as I was walking around the school, all the teachers have with the boys. On a personal and professional level your school is such a positive environment (physically and emotionally) for all of the boys to be a part of and it's no wonder that the boys are able to achive the standards that they strive for."
The prospective family from Palmerston North were impressed with the pride and quiet confidence of the boys showing them around. They have many friends who have sent their sons in the past and although they thought the boarding would be hard to get used to I think they could see the benefits Huntley has to offer boys. They also commented that they felt the new Flexi-Boarding option was a great idea.
Cara Ferris from the New Zealand Boarding Schools Association obviously visits a huge number of schools and she was straight away struck by the positive, calm atmosphere in the school. I must admit it was a beautiful day and the boys were doing some exciting things as we walked around but it was good for me to hear her opinions on our dormitory set ups and the pastoral care in evidence around the school.
Like all schools we want to continue to strive forward but it was also nice to stop and see the boys so obviously enjoying themselves.
Many parents will have seen on the news the latest story about bullying where a boy is continually hit by another boy until he finally flips and throws the boy down onto the ground. Whilst this is certainly extreme it did create quite a stir among the boys who had various opinons about what happened. As a school we decided to follow this up with the boys to talk about bullying.
Every school in New Zealand has some form of bullying and whilst it tends to be minor verbal bullying here it can develop if it isn't stopped quickly. We talked to the boys about how bullying is repeated verbal or physical intimidation of someone else. We used the Huntley value of Honesty as a way for boys to explore whether they were being honest with themselves when they thought about how they treat each other. At times all boys experience one off verbal exchanges and this is quite normal and part of social learning. However, when these one off remarks are repeated this becomes verbal bullying. Generally with children verbal bullying is more noticable around the 8-10 years of age. This is because they are learning what is socially acceptable and coming to terms with the fact that the world does not revolve around them. They will often say things to earn kudos from their peers, not realising that the opposite often happens and they end up isolating themselves.
We encouraged the boys to be proactive about any verbal exchanges by following the steps:
1, Tell them you don't appreciate them talking to you in that way in a firm but calm way. Walk away.
2, Tell a friend or your godfather.
3, Let your teacher know.
4, Let Mr Edwards or Mr Gay know.
5, Let your parents know and encourage them to talk to your teacher.
We have a number of very good programmes at the school to make sure every boy feels safe in our environment.
