Students agree: `Huntley pretty'

Huntley School is a private boarding school for boys, set in park-like grounds on the outskirts of Marton.

The long, tree-lined driveway with wide lawns opens out to huge fields and a one-time orchard, where enormous trees stand like sentinels.

These grounds are tailor-made for boys with a sense of adventure, from climbing to hut-building to having sleep-overs with a camp fire and scary stories.

Acting principal Sam Edwards said the boys, mostly from rural areas and mostly boarders, were a settled, matey crew.

With the intake from Year 3 to Year 8 lads, there is a leadership system and a ``godfather and godson'' regime ... the older boys look after and mentor the younger.

Last week was book week, with five days of book activities including ``Costumes and Characters Day'', where the boys dressed as characters from their favourite books.

``Which was pretty great, because we topped off the morning with a delicious midwinter Christmas dinner of roast pork and pavlova ... everyone really enjoyed themselves,'' Mr Edwards said.

The week also included storytelling sessions with Auckland author Stu Duval, and the Squad Book Quiz with questions like:

What sport is Harry Potter really good at?

Who had a teacher called Miss Honey?

And contrary to the popular opinion that boys are not so keen on reading, Mr Edwards said no way _ at Huntley the boys love to read.

Keeping ahead of the needs of education for boys meant there was a staff development day at the beginning of the term featuring leading international educator Joseph Dreissen, who specialises in education for boys.

``He was very impressed with our school and said he'd like to visit again and talk to some of the boys,'' Mr Edwards said.

Mr Driessen is based in New Zealand and is a former assistant principal of Wanganui High School.

As well as books, music, sport and academic pursuits are celebrated at Huntley. The boys are kept busy all day until after 5pm with most staff on hand to help, encourage and listen.

For me, being led around the school by six enthusiastic Year 8 boys (11-,12- and 13-year-olds) was ... well, a joyous occasion.

You can't beat a group of laughing, talkative chaps all trying to get one up on each other ... there were jokes in abundance.

These guys were out to impress because they believed they had it made at Huntley.

The food here is so delicious, living in the dormitories is like having one big sleep-over, you get to be with your mates all the time and there are so many activities to do you never get bored ... were some of the comments.

For my personal show and tell, I was first taken to the dining hall, huge kitchen and servery. We all crowded into the kitchen with Anna Williams, who has been the catering manager for 26 years.

``I love my job here,'' she said.

Mrs Williams said it was amazing to think that when she first came to Huntley she was cooking for the fathers of today's boys.

``I just love them all. I enjoy feeding all my boys, don't I?'' she said with a grin. The boys nodded and grinned back.

``You always get a lot to eat, and it's always delicious ... man, the pavlova the other day was awesome,''one boy said.

``Yeah, but what about the famous Huntley curry? It's really awesome, even though you need three glasses of water to drink with it,'' another boy said.

From the kitchen we trooped outside but it was too wet to inspect the orchard/fort, so we went to look at the dormitories.

The boys pointed out that the Year 8 boys got fatter mattresses than the Year 7s. They lifted the bedcovers to prove their point

``And that's only fair,'' one said.

The dorms were warm and sunlit with big windows overlooking fields and banks of trees. And although there were about 20 boys in a dorm, sleeping was never a problem, they said.

``No, because once the silence bell goes, which means you're allowed to read for a while, everyone just goes to sleep.''

``Weeell, some of us do snore, some talk in their sleep ... and some sleep waaalkkk ... aaaagh,'' one boy said walking with his arms held out stiffly in front.

The thing was, they said, that all the staff really looked out for them: ``You know they can help you with anything, so you never have to get behind or worried.''

One attribute this group all agreed on was that everything was all there at school.

You don't have to pack your bag for school, take your lunch, get the bus, walk or whatever, they said.

``It's all here you just have to get up, have breakfast then walk down the hall to class ... easy.''

Sam Edwards admits that Huntley is a pretty spectacular school for a boy.

And there are several scholarships available, including headmaster's scholarships and academic scholarships.

``Tradition is strong here at Huntley, and we like the boys to try everything from academic work to sports and cultural activities. We want our boys to do well ... and they do.''-->-->-->