Sport and Outdoor Pursuits

The school promotes sport and physical activity as an important part of a holistic education where the academic, cultural, spiritual and physical dimensions are developed. 

The school completes the traditional inter-house competitions in athletics, swimming, and cross-country. All children complete in these competitions in either the championship or non-championship sections. Representatives of the school then compete in the Masterton and Wairarapa inter-school competitions in each of these disciplines.

All children participate in the internal school sports programme which focuses on skills acquisition which is then applied in modified game situations. Classroom teachers are all involved in the internal sports programme.

The external school sports programme is based on the traditional major codes. Practices for these teams occur after school or at lunch times. Because of the small number of ages at some year levels, codes such as cricket, soccer, and rugby are club-based. Softball, tennis, netball and hockey are school-based, and teams are trialled at the beginning of each season to compete in the local Wairarapa competition.

Representative school teams are also formed to compete with the other boys’ prep schools in the lower North Island. These inter-school fixtures include Wellesley and Scot’s College and St Mark’s School in Wellington, Huntley School in Marton, and Hereworth School in Havelock North. Prep school teams compete at softball, tennis and cricket in summer, and hockey and soccer in winter. The school also completes a fixture with Arden School from Sydney every second year.

There are further inter-school competitions that involve Masterton schools and Wairarapa schools. These competitions include rippa rugby, netball, soccer, and mini-ball.

Pupils have the ability to choose to play for a club or school team in all codes.

Education outside the classroom takes many forms at the school. Visits to cultural centres, educational institutions such as museums and Capital E, and to performances, concerts and shows are completed at all class levels to enhance the delivery of the curriculum at the school.

At the middle and senior levels of the school (Y5-Y8) classes complete outdoor pursuits at the beginning and end of the year. These pursuits include chasm walks, abseiling, kayaking, rock wall-climbing, mountain-biking and rafting in the Wairarapa.

The board of trustees has a strategic goal for sport which is to develop, implement, and review, a strategic programme for sports development.  The focus for this year is to assess the strategic programme and implement changes to address requirements.  The target is to have a strategic sports programme implemented so all children have opportunities to participate and excel in sport. 

The current, and ninth version of the sport programme is available here