CHARACTER & LEADERSHIP
In keeping with tradition, no year is complete without the annual Advent Service and Carols on the Quad. The Chapel Choir welcomed both The Cathedral Grammar School choir and the Medbury School choristers to the Advent Service, and the three choirs combined to perform to a large congregation, with the highlight being the performance of Henry Purcell’s “Rejoice in the Lord Alway”. Carols on the Quad was held on a very warm summer’s evening, creating demanding conditions for the Chapel Choir. As usual, however, the boys gave another fantastic performance. Due to his sudden hospitalisation, Mr Aburn was unable to conduct the choir, but organist Mr Sutcliffe stepped in to lead the choir from behind the organ console. Notable highlights include the choir’s performances of “Sir Christemas” and “A Maiden Most Gentle”. Special mention needs to be made of Head Treble Edward Nye, who opened “Once in Royal David’s City” with an outstanding solo. As the final carol service for the Year 13 students, it was another notable performance and memorable evening. The commissioning of a waiata, specifically created for Carols on the Quad by the Puanaki whanau, added to the occasion. It was the first time a waiata had been used and the first time the choir had commissioned a work for this event. “Whakamanawa Ki Te Atua” celebrates and honours the Almighty, as we seek His help through the trials and tribulations of life. The commission was made possible thanks to a generous gift from the Rolleston family and this taonga was gifted to the choir and College in a very moving ceremony on Friday 22 November. Of course, the Chapel Choir wouldn’t have had the year we had without the leadership and support of Director of Music Robert Aburn and organist and Assistant Director Nicholas Sutcliffe. Their knowledge of music and their commitment to the choir is what enabled us to achieve so much in 2019.
Monday lunchtime, which required four boys from different year groups in each House to team up and work their way through a number of different challenges that required significant clear communication between team members. Richards House took out the win in this hotly contested challenge. On Tuesday, College once again hosted the Year 12 Emerging Leaders conference for students from across Christchurch and the Canterbury region. Yet again, College pulled off an extremely successful event, which will have a lasting impact on many teenagers across Canterbury. Director of Character & Leadership Darrell Thatcher single-handedly organised this event, and must be credited for its continued success. Thursday of Leadership Week saw Old Boy and former Young New Zealander of the Year Sam Johnson return to College to talk about different leadership styles and how to create a well- rounded team. While there wasn’t a large number of boys in attendance, those that did make the effort all took away some gold nuggets from this amazing experience. Red Socks Day – a reminder to dream big and
At the beginning of 2019, I was tasked with the role of creating, organising and running a new committee at Christ’s College based around character and leadership. While College previously had a number of other committees, there was a real gap in this area which has now been rectified. It is always difficult to start something from scratch, however, and this was a limiting factor all year. At the committee’s first meeting early in Term 1, we came up with our main aims for the year, which were to increase the awareness of having and maintaining “good character”, while also providing more opportunities for boys to be leaders and develop their leadership skills. To attempt to fulfil these aims in some way, we targeted an event at the end of Term 2 – Leadership Week. The idea was to have a week where we created an atmosphere around the school of thinking and practising leadership. To facilitate this, we ran a leadership obstacle course on the
Matthew Todd Head of Chapel Choir
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Register 2019 Virtues
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