Friday 13 November 2009: The academic strength of the senior school was highlighted today with fierce competition for the coveted Scholar Awards. At Year 11, the Gold Scholar was a joint award to Michael McAdam and James Gilchrist, with three Silver Scholars close behind. At Year 12, Cade Picard (Gold Scholar) was closely followed by five Silver Scholars, too close together to separate. In his address, The Rector, Mr Philip Mahoney, spoke about the tension in schools between letting boys be "boys" yet guiding them to be good men: a point also made by Celia Lashlie the previous evening. At Stream, our strong spiritual aspect provides solid values in becoming a "good man".

Thursday 12 November 2009: This evening, Celia Lashlie introduced herself, not as an expert, but as a storyteller. And it was through stories from her research that she held the audience of 400 mothers and fathers enthralled. She firmly made this point: that beyond the monosyllabic grunting, lazy manner and aimlessness of the adolescent boy, as the title of her book states, "He'll be OK: growing gorgeous boys into good men". As parents, it requires mothers to "stand still" and let their sons move away: to find themselves and let them realise that actions have consequences. And for fathers, to step up and become a role model having fun beside their sons. A fantastic evening arranged by the school's Parent and Friends Association.

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Wednesday 11 November 2009: On a night to remember, Year 13 students attended their last Mass as part of their Graduation night.  Citations were presented to all students in the school Chapel with parents and family looking on. A delightful dinner in the auditorium with parents and staff followed, before academic awards were presented. True to tradition, the night finished with the school haka.

Dux for 2009 was Christopher Pouwels with Gerard Farrell Proxime Accessit.

Monday 9 November 2009: In a closely fought contest this morning, the judges had a difficult task separating the contestants. In the end, the winner was Chris Alosio with his speech on "Being a Streamer" with Caleb Ford ("Nothing") second and Daniel Mahoney ("2012") third.

Friday 6 November 2009: Radio Network presenter Ron Snowden was a special guest at today's Sports Prizegiving Assembly celebrating the sporting successes of Stream in the past year.  Key awards presented today were:

Victor Ludorum (Sportsman of the Year) - Jarrod Wilson

New Zealand Representative Awards: Opetera Pelseuma (Rugby); Tomasi Alosio (Rugby); Christian Lloyd (Rugby); Kent Harris (Men's Netball); Philip Leyten (BMX); Thom Nguyen (Table Tennis); Jarrod Wilson (Water Polo); Jack McGuinness (Water Polo); Tim Salita (Water Polo); Timoti Nicholls (Rugby League); and Matthew Pavitt (Cross-country).

In his address Ron spoke of the events he had witnessed (including five Olympic Games) and that, even for professional sportsmen and women,  education was very important to ensure that there was a life after sport. Each Head of Sport also presented their sports report for the year: Anthony Meiklejohn (Football); Parataiso Silafai-Leaana (Rugby); Matt Pavitt (Athletics) and Brandon Tai (Cricket).

Photos from the prizegiving are displayed below.

Wednesday 4 November 2009: Four Streamers were presented their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards today by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, at St Patrick's College Town today. All four Old Boys, who completed their "Duke of Ed" under the guidance of teacher Des Boyle, returned for the ceremony. From left: Chris O'Riley, Daniel Rood, Robert Henderson and Michael McNair. Absent were: Richard Law and Jamie Clarke. More information about the New Zealand Awards programme can be found at http://www.challengenz.org.nz/