Co-curricular Participation at PNBHS - Bucking the Trend
We are incredibly proud that our young men are continuing to 'buck the trend' of falling involvement in co-curricular activities and we are seeing very high levels of participation. So far in 2024, we have recorded more than individual student registrations for sports, a record number and ahead of 2019 (pre-COVID-19).
Registrations to date across a range of sporting codes include:
Basketball - 331
Canoe Polo - 29
Cricket - 200
Cycling - 22
Football - 219
Golf - 43
Hockey - 128
Mountain Biking - 19
Rugby - 454
Softball - 19
Squash - 18
Table Tennis - 107
Touch Rugby - 177
Volleyball - 107
Water Polo - 20
A huge thank you to our staff, parents and others from our community who volunteer their time to enable these opportunities for our young men.
Earlier this year a PNBHS Athletics team of 91 young men competed at the Manawatū Inter-Secondary Schools Athletics Championships with 20 of those young men going on to compete in the North Island Secondary Schools Athletics Championships and a PNBHS team of 25 have been selected to compete in the upcoming Manawatū Inter-Secondary Schools Cross Country. More than 50 young men have registered in term one and term two to train in the school weights facilities and the Shand Shield competition has included opportunities for all young men to get involved in Athletics, Road Race and Swimming Championships as well as Cross Country, Junior Monrad Cup, Butler Cup Cricket, Senior Touch, Tennis, and Table Tennis.
In addition to this sporting snapshot, there are significant numbers of young men involved in Kapa Haka (Super Eight - 24 young men, Te Piringa - 8, Māori Department Kapa Haka - 191), the Pasifika Club (94), Junior Musical Theatre (23), Theatre Sports (12), The Rector's Company (15), Stage Band (17), Junior Concert Band (50 - 60), the Symphonia (approximately 50), Senior Concert Band (35 - 40), Manifesto (24), SOAP Choir (approximately 70), as well as a range of other music groups and more than 200 young men receiving tuition each week through the itinerant music programme. Currently, nearly a quarter of all young men in Year 9 are involved in one way or another in our music programmes.
Other school activities include Vex Robotics (18), Chess Club (25 - 30), Clay Target Shooting (32), Smallbore Shooting (31), Senior Production (32), Debating (approximately 15), School Librarians (15), Sim Racing (10) and Motocross (10) and a multitude of other activities. We also know that there are many young men involved in a range of cultural and sporting activities outside of school.
Through our daily assemblies, school newsletters, Stratus, Instagram and Facebook, our young men and other members of our school community can see the very wide range of co-curricular activities we offer. The promotion of these opportunities, and the celebration of student success, is very deliberate. We strongly believe that involvement in co-curricular activities is an essential component of an effective education for young men and a fundamental aspect of developing their character - alongside the many benefits for both physical and mental health and wellbeing.
During term one we shared with our school community data from 2023 that showed young men at PNBHS who are involved in co-curriclar activities attend school more regularly than their peers who are not involved and they achieve at a higher level academically. This pattern was evident at all year levels.
