a huge success!
Our fourth Blokes night was a great success with 220 blokes (Including boys) involved. The idea for Blokes night is for dads, uncles, male friends to spend an evening at Huntley celebrating what it means to be a bloke. In this case it was watching the All Blacks play Australia. The dress was “Black” although a few Yellow jerseys seemed to appear. I was overwhelmed by the response of our families. Most boys had a significant male in their lives there on the night. Dads were only too happy to have other boys join them as well so no one was left out.
Many dads, granddads and uncles appeared on the night and sent the message out “Hey son, you’re important and I want to be part of this.” The evening started off with some drinks a meal of hamburgers and chips, followed by the test.
I have recently been re-reading Steve Biddulf’s book, Raising Boys and Ian Grant’s Growing Great Boys. Both point out the importance of “male time”. One of the benefits of Huntley is its largely male staff but adding the boys own male role models into the mix is a real winner. Boys at this age love being with their mates but they also like the opportunity to be with older males.
“Without male role-models, boy culture feels lost…Boy culture that is not mentored by spiritually vital elder males is more a gang culture. The elder males provide it with inter-generational magic, discipline, and direction. –
Michael Gurian, The Wonder of Boys
I would like to thank all the men that made the evening such a special occasion. As always it is wonderful working with the Huntley families who understand the bigger picture of getting the best out of their sons. This is just another example of Huntley and families “Preparing boys for the adventure of life.”
Regards,
Brad Gay
Headmaster
