Good afternoon School. Please be seated.

We start our assembly today with a passage from the Bible which will be read by Frank May – Head of Durham House

Luke 6:12-16

Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles. Here are their names:

Simon (whom he named Peter), Andrew (Peter’s brother), James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (who was called the zealot), Judas (son of James), and Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

This is the word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Thank you Frank

We continue our assembly today with some academic awards:

ACADEMIC AWARDS

Excellence Awards - Accounting Level 1

Adam Akuhata

Sam Bartram

Sam Cassidy

Daniel Colgan

Luca Drayton

George Wyeth

Excellence Awards - History Level 1

Daniel Diprose

Fraser Downey

Shaegyol Hong

Jackson Lambert

Jack Pallesen

Jake Stephens

Tyler White

Excellence Awards - Accounting Level 1

Dylan Barker

Sam Devescovi

Jonty Good

Quinn Le Lievre

Lewis Sheldrake

Excellence Awards - Economics Level 2

Tomas Druzianic

Timothy Cornwall

Bruno Wylie

Matt Buckeridge

Henry Windhanger

Excellence Awards - Art Photography Level 2

John McKenzie

Harrison Townshend

Jason Yang

Excellence Awards - Art Painting Level 2

Oliver Newton

Excellence Awards - History Level 2

Tomas Druzianic

Harry Pike

Maclan Wright

Zachary Fitzgibbon & Accounting Level 3

Excellence Awards – Accounting Level 2

Edward Brougham

Boston Christensen

Tomas Druzianic

Jared Lines

Will Meech

Lanson Randell

Barvick Ravla

Charles Roil

Tim Wilson

Bruno Wylie

Excellence Awards - Classical Studies Level 3

Maclan Wright

Noah Sloan

James Ashby

Finley Duncan & Accounting Level 3

Excellence Awards - History Level 3

Toby Aspden

Jonathan Fall

Jonothan Kilsby

Fred Mowat

Brandon Roberts

Karanvir Sandhu

Lucas d'Arbois de Jubainville  & Art Design Level 3

Mankaran Kooner  & Accounting Level 3

Excellence Awards – Art Design Level 3

Oliver Hind

Ben Jarvis

Sun Kraiseeh

Edward Ridgway-Cross

Tom Roach

Excellence Awards – Art Design Level 3

Christopher Belhamel

Jaisun Chauhan & Art Photography Level 3

Excellence Awards – Art Photography Level 3

Riley Douglas

Excellence Awards – Accounting Level 3

Charlie Dods

Thomas Goodisson

Zac Maulder

Jack Wilton

Centurian Award

James Ashby

HYMN: 

Please join me in singing todays hymn Come Alive

Thank you, boys please be seated,

Vaping has become a serious health threat and disruptive element in our school, and it is a shame that I have to reiterate the school's stance.  But I want to make it abundantly clear that when you are caught either vaping or in possession of vaping paraphernalia you will in the first instance be given a Saturday Detention.  When it is a repeat offence the consequence is a formal stand down from the college.

You need to know and understand that the biggest risks of vaping is the fact that there is so much that is unknown.  The idea of breathing any product into your lungs unnecessarily defies logic and possess these unknown risks. Nicotine which is contained in many vapes can affect brain development and functioning in young people, this is known.  Studies have found increased airway resistance after exposure to vaping and also suggests that vaping damages the brain, heart, and lungs.  For me it's simple - don’t do it.
 

Sports News:

Sports Report to be read by Harry Stephenson

SHOOTING

Bryn Thompson went to Christchurch of the week of 7th March to the 14th March for the NZ Clay Target Shooting Nationals. The top 5 Juniors who shot Point score, Single Rise and Single Barrel are chosen for the Under 21 NZ Junior Macintosh Team. Bryn was named in this team. He was the only Junior to shoot 100 targets straight and got his Macintosh 100th badge.

TENNIS

River Apatu recently competed in: 

Waikato Thames Valley Graded Tournament - Winner open mixed singles S5 male

2020 Tennis Central Compete Singles Tournament - Winner TCR 1800 (players between 1800 and 2399)

Trophies and medals to present

2020 Derek Ward Secondary School Tennis Tournament

Boys Senior Championship

Winner Jonathan Fall (present trophy and certificate)

Consultation winner Charlie Lowry (present medal and certificate)

Senior Team Results:

Winner Lindisfarne College (Present Trophy to Jonathan Fall.)

FOOTBALL

Intermediate 1^st XI defeated Taradale 3-1 in the first game of term 3.  Reef Hicks 2 goals and Jacob Holder 1 goal.  Strong games from Ritchie Hicks, Will Baines & goalie Cater Lachmund.

HOCKEY

CNI tournament.  Saturday Lindisfarne had 2 wins beating Collegiate 3-0 in the morning and scraped a 2-1 win against Fielding in the afternoon.

On Sunday morning playing Rongatai and wining.  In the final in the afternoon Lindisfarne made hard work by not sticking to their structure or executing the basics well but did a great job to win the final against Wanganui in an 8 sec shoot out drawing the game 0-0.  We have successfully won the tournament 5 years in a row.  Oliver Newton playing exceptionally well in the final by saving a goal on the line and then saving 3 of Wanganui shoot outs.  Will Kerr having played in each of these tournaments from yr 9.

SWIMMING

Results of the regions first swim meet post covid. 

Daniel Colgan after 3 months on a plaster for a distal tib/fib fracture doing motocross, and after 2 weeks off the cast, Daniel competed and came 1st in 100m freestyle and 3rd on 200m freestyle. 

FINAL OVER ALL POINTS

14-15 Boys Jake Stephens 3rd, Daniel Colgan 4th, Marcus Sisam 5th, Zac Ebbett-Watt 10th

16 & Over Cole Scott 3rd, Marshall Soanes 6th

HIBS EXCHANGE

Hockey won 4-0 and both football and rugby losing.  HIBS won the exchange.  Our boys represented our college we and thoroughly enjoyed the exchange.

RUGBY

D Grade beat HBHS Red 62-7. Strong games from Lachlan Johnson and George McKenzie with co captains Oli Barham and Jonty Roil scoring two tries each.

E Grade vs Central Hawkes Bay College. Loss 0-37.  Hunter Andrew received player of the day for consistently outstanding defence.

FOOTBALL

2^nd XI Lindisfarne lost 1-2 NBHS

Junior A had a 5-3 loss to HNHS

WHANGANUI EXCHANGE

Lindisfarne won the exchange 4-2

Football

1^st XI win 1-0

Junior A win 3-1

Rugby

1^st XV loss 14-29

2^nd XV win 41-12

U15 win 36-12

Hockey

1^st XI draw 1-1

Colts A loss 1-2

Thank you Harry, The Whanganui Exchange ran really smoothly and I’d like to thank Mr McAleese, Mrs Akeripa and Mr Hay for all for their work in organising it but also I would like to add my thanks to not only those who were involved in the exchange but the whole school for the way that you conducted yourselves and supported those playing. It is at these opportunities we are able to highlight the foundations of being a good Lindisfarne man, living our values through our actions.

We now turn to the cultural cornerstone.

Cultural awards

Can the following boys please come forward?

Luke Devane,

Quinn Le Lievre 

James Ashby

It is with a sense of pride that I can report that during the Term 2 holidays, the Lindisfarne College student chamber music ensemble CCP Trio of Luke Devane (clarinet), Quinn Le Lievre (piano), James Ashby (cello) won the Hawke’s Bay Chamber Music Competition for the second year running. This places the trio as one of twelve Central Regional Finalists and as one of the top 36 chamber music ensembles in NZ. Well done to these boys on their fantastic result. The boys have been incredibly well organised and highly motivated. They worked tirelessly at rehearsing the music for this competition.  Well done boys.

Student Ambassador badges-

Can I have ZhiShu Lu and Sean Lagikula come forward please

It’s an honour to be able to present two young men with their Student Ambassador badges from Learning Hawkes Bay. Learning Hawkes Bay is a local organization which has a programme to appoint two Student Ambassadors in all schools. One of the Ambassadors must be an international student and one must be a domestic student. After I’ve presented their badges I’ll ask the boys speak briefly to you about their role.

ZhiShu Lu

Sean Lagikula

Thank you boys, and congratulations on your ambassadorships

Rectors Comments:  

We are each unique and amazing, and the College community is richer for the differences that we all bring.

The recent troubles that have been highlight internationally blew me away.  I’m referring to the Black Lives Matter movement. It blew me away not for the injustices that were being brought to the fore, but the fact that people were trying to justify the injustice and use the notion that it is dangerous to say we are different. Certainly, in the present climate we have to choose our words carefully, but the main message for me is that in order to move towards equality, we have to change society’s perception of the word “difference.” Because, different is good. Different is beautiful. Different is why we are even here.

The human experience is only made possible because there are differences among us. Difference is actually our connecting thread to one another’s humanity. So rather than insisting on equality because we are all the same, we should instead be celebrating our differences. Looking at how very different we are! As I said at the start, We are each unique and amazing, and the College community is richer for the differences that we all bring.

Denying our differences is actually detrimental. Imagine if the world operated from a place of understanding that it is our differences that unites us. And imagine our own personal development if we could look more honestly at the differences we perceive and understand that they actually enhance our community.

On Monday Zach encouraged us to let go of judgment. From a practical perspective this mindset (of not being judgemental) can be more useful than maintaining the idea that we are all the same so we should be treated equally. For those who are not treated as equals in our society, denying there are differences among us fails to acknowledge the biases they have faced compared to us, and the struggles they have overcome. This lack of understanding can have the effect of separating us further. Moreover, when we are deaf to differences, we fail to hear what others are feeling or needing—that doesn’t help us rally for greater equality on their behalf.

Being honest about how and where we see differences can also help us let go of judgments. This idea of being equal means equal regard for friends, colleagues, associates, relatives, good people, and even our enemies.

Being the change is important in our present time when political views are so divided. If we truly want to live in a community that embraces difference, then we can’t just tune out those who we believe to have unkind opinions. For one, anyone with unkind thoughts may be suffering, and we might be able to provide a compassionate ear. And also, if we want a world of equality we have to understand those who don’t—otherwise we remain in some sort of echo chamber of like-minded people where only our own views are coming back to us. It does us no good to believe we all think the same way, only to wake up too late and discover that wasn’t the case at all. Our journey to equality requires listening, understanding and appreciating difference.

In the passage that Frank read Jesus chooses his disciples. This depicts the moment where Jesus was chooses 12 people and the diversity in his choice is incredible.

Simon (known as Peter), James, John and Andrew are all fishermen. Matthew is a tax collector. And Judas kept the money for the disciples.

We can see from their characteristics that they are a bunch of 12 misfits yet Jesus moulds them into a team that changes the world.

Then there were a group of women that followed Jesus (they weren’t disciples) but they followed him anyway. This was very unusual for the time as women were very poorly treated. Mary Magdalene was one of these ladies. So when you add them to the group of disciples that group become even more diverse.

Then there is Luke who is not one of the disciples. He is a doctor and writes the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. He is another whose skills and experiences are completely different to the others in the group.

And finally the very rich and well educated Saul (Who becomes Paul after his conversion on the road to Damascus). Well, he actually goes on to lead the church and write the majority of the New Testament!

So as you can see Jesus does not choose a group of 12 educated and likeminded men that are all the same. He chooses fishermen, tax collectors, doctors and women, a group that offers so much due to their differences.

The benefits of tolerance, of celebrating difference is clear to see – by embracing our diversity we can learn more about our world and ourselves in turn, enabling us to grow and thrive. The doors to a multitude of opportunities can also be opened, with new friendships, contacts and possibilities all being revealed.

We are all different which makes us all equal. We all have different skills and weaknesses that make us who we are. Every one of us. This should make us come together and celebrate these differences. We are all individuals because of how different we all are from each other.

Chapel this weekend is for our seniors who will be joining the girls from Iona here at school from 7pm.

All the best to those people who are representing the College this weekend. Remember that everything that you do either adds to the reputation of the college or detracts from it. Lets make sure we are adding value through our actions.

The Chaplain will close our assembly in prayer.

Article added: Friday 31 July 2020