LEADERSHIP The Chair, Board of Governors, Prize-giving Speech
Nau mai, haere mai E te manuhiri tu ¯ a¯ rangi, Haere mai mo tenei hui, Mo tenei kaupapa o te ra, No ¯ reira, te¯na¯ koutou, te¯na¯ koutou, Te¯na¯ koutou katoa.
Covid hurricane blowing around us has meant that our day-to-day world has been less disrupted than many others. The response by College to the significant challenges faced this year – led by Executive Principal Garth Wynne and his Executive team and all those who are part of College, whether they are on this stage today or not – has been incredible. I know I speak on behalf of the Board and our community in thanking you all for your unrelenting efforts to ensure that, as far as possible, our programmes were able to continue over the lockdown period. The fact that the school was able to be so nimble is a testament to your skill, resilience and hard work. I remember a conversation with one of Garth’s predecessors a few years ago, in which he said that the transfer of knowledge from a teacher to a student could not be delivered over the barrier of a bank of laptops but rather through pure classroom learning. Thankfully, we made the decision to embrace technology. On that theme, I want to give a “shout-out” to Director of Digital Services Paul Rodley and his team. I doubt anyone other than a few will know the amazing work Paul did to keep everyone connected over that period. Thank you, Paul. I hope you will have some quality downtime over the break to spend tinkering with the Land Rover. From the Board’s perspective, this year has been something of a roller coaster, reflecting pretty much
life for all of us. I am grateful to my colleagues for their continued commitment to their governance roles. We are blessed to have the benefit of some serious talent on a Board that is now more diverse, nimble and skilled, and tech savvy than recent Boards have ever been. Long gone are the days when governance diversity meant Old Boy lawyers from each House being on the Board. It has been years since a Board member shook his head and said, “This would not have happened in my day.” We are not all Old Boys and yet we do all have a passion for College and a commitment to enable Garth and his team to make College the best it can possibly be. We will ensure that the skills and competencies required around our table will always meet the needs of the school. Tim Kerr joined the Board this year as the Old Boys’ Association representative. Tim is Marketing
Welcome, welcome Visitors from afar.
Welcome to this meeting, to the important discussion of the day. Therefore, greetings, greetings, Greetings to you all. In particular, I want to welcome our Warden, Bishop Peter Carrell, and the Ma¯ ori Bishop, Richard Wallace. Thank you for coming. I also want to welcome and acknowledge Peter Cooper and David Chambers at their last prize-giving. A special welcome to those parents that have sons in both the junior and senior cohorts. I thank you for your commitment to College and your patience in having to listen to me again. Also, the good and well maintained tradition requiring the Board Chair to appear in this somewhat understated Potter-esque cloak was not disclosed to me by my illustrious predecessor Dr Ian Town – who, whilst indeed illustrious, was just too short to wear it. What a year we have had. All of us have been challenged in ways that we could not have imagined this time last year. It seems a reality of modern life that we will need to continuously learn from and embrace the seemingly more regular disruptions that confront us. The fact that our country has – touch wood – sat united in the eye of the
Manager at Ara Institute of Canterbury and has skills in
marketing, business planning and strategy development. We also said farewell to Peter Davie. Current CCOBA President Richard Polson joined a meeting during the year to discuss matters relevant to our alumni, and we appreciate the ongoing commitment of the CCOBA and the Parents’ Association, led by Catherine McLean, to College and its future. The 2020 strategy, initiated in 2017, is about to run its course, and we have just agreed the next strategic
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Christ’s College Canterbury
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