Tēnā koutou katoa.

With the blink of an eye we are now looking at the end of May 2024.

It was our pleasure to organise and host the inaugural Hawke's Bay Boarding Leaders' Student Breakfast. We enjoyed the company of 37 students who got to mingle with each other before enjoying our guest speaker Olivia Shannon – New Zealand Black Sticks member. Olivia was a Year 12 student at boarding school when she got drafted into the Black Sticks. Olivia shared with the students that the resilience she learned attending boarding school helped equip her with the necessary skills she now draws on when she prepares to represent New Zealand in Hockey. She also shared that she didn't pick up a hockey stick until she was 11 years old, which just goes to show our Juniors that it's never too late to try something new!

I will be attending the New Zealand Boarding School Association National Hui next week with an inspirational line up of guest speakers and topics, including the opportunity to tour a couple of boarding schools in the Auckland area. I look forward to sharing more with you in the next newsletter.

I also look forward to catching up with our Year 9 whānau again at the family dinner on 16 June, it will be a lovely opportunity for you to meet some of the staff and students that you have been hearing about since your ākonga joined us at Hewett House at the start of 2024.

Ngā mihi nui

Joyce Clark

Kia ora everyone! With Term 2 well underway we’ve had some exciting events held in the hostel and school. 

Last week we were fortunate enough to host a boarding leaders' breakfast where hostel leaders from Lindisfarne College, Woodford House, Napier Boys' High School and some of our Year 13s, came together to connect over a breakfast put together by our kitchen staff. We also had Black Sticks player Olivia Shannon come along to share her experience while at Iona College and how boarding has helped her in her career. This was a great experience to be a part of, not only by connecting with the other schools but hearing from Olivia was very inspiring, knowing that hostel life can help in many ways in the future. She touched on when moving into new experiences the advantage hostel boarders have over people who may have not been in a hostel setting before and the independence she already had installed. 

Along with this, everyone participated in pink shirt day which was an opportunity to support the Pink Shirt Foundation and their anti bullying campaign. 

We have a few things coming up in the next couple of weeks... the Year 13 quiz night was earlier this week, and Year 9 and 10 are having their quiz night on Tuesday, plus there are many students involved with winter sports. The hostel is a very busy place this time of year. 

Keep up the good work everyone!

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