FROM THE PRINCIPAL
12th August, 2026
Dear HNHS families
It was a pleasure to accompany nearly 100 year 9 and 10 students to Palmerston North yesterday for our annual Central Six Sports Torunament. This year we had students competing in rugby, basketball, hockey, basketball and netball. Alongside them were a handful of senior students who acted as referees, coaches and mentors throughout the day. The tournment is a great opportunity for our emerging sportspeople to compete against teams outside our region and is an introduction to what our top teams experience when they head away to Tournement Week.
The feedback from all of the staff on the trip is that our students presented and conducted themselves admirably throughout the day, that was certainly the case at the hockey turf where I was stationed. All of the teams were met with some fierce competition and a particular mention to our girls hockey team who finished in first place and the boys hockey and girls football who both placed 2nd after nail biting penalty shootouts.
YEAR 8 DAY - TUESDAY, 4TH AUGUST
On Tuesday (4th August) we will be hosting all of the year 8 students from HNI and a number of students from other contributing schools at our annual Year 8 day.
During the day, year 8 students are given a chance to experience how a school like ours operates by sampling a range of subjects and taking part in a selection of lunchtime activities. We have offered the year 8 day to our contributing schools for a number of years now and I trust that our own junior students still look back on their year 8 day with fond memories.
Year 9 and 10 students are asked to remain at home on Tuesday to provide the space we need to run the day and accommodate approximately 300 year 8 students. I regret any disruption this may cause but trust that the families understand why maintaining a close connection to our contributing schools is a priority for a community school like ours.
ROCKQUEST TRIUMPH!
On Friday, we received the news that our year 13 band, Trolley and sololist, Lily Moore had been selected for the grand final of the Smokefree Rockquest competition. To have one group or soloist selected is a remarkable feat for a school but to have one in each section is quite extraordinary and is a first for HNHS. I look forward to watching them perform in Wellington later in the term alongside a small handful of finalists from around the country.
INTER-HOUSE KAPA HAKA
It has been wonderful to hear haka and waiata emanating from the gym each day as houses prepare for the annual inter-house kapa haka competition which is set to take place on Thursday, 13th August. The competition will be held in the Auditorium and starts at 6pm.
Given the large number of students involved on the night, we will only have a limited number of tickets for parents and whānau. We will, however, be live streaming the competition so anyone who misses out on a ticket will still be able to watch the action.
Good luck to everyone involved...espcially the mighty Kaiako Toa (staff team).
Finally, congratulations and safe travels to our swimming team who have been competing at the NZSS Swimming Championships over the weekend and a particular mention to Brooke Speers for winning a Silver medal in the 100m and a Bronze in the 200m backstroke.
Have a wonderful week ahead,
Joel Wilton
Principal
KEY DATES
153 Te Mata Rd, Havelock North 4130 (view map)
PO Box 8476, Havelock North
Phone: (06) 877 8129
Fax: (06) 877 4079
Email: office@hnhs.school.nz
Absence: absentee@hnhs.school.nz