Waitaki Boys’ High School new director of boarding Scott Mayhew should know, having spent nearly 15 years in the industry nurturing high school boarders to become the best versions of themselves.
Mr Mayhew, along with his wife, Kylie, and their three children, returned to Waitaki Boys’ this week, having been the director of boarding at Rotorua Boys’ High School since 2014. Rotorua was a place where Mr Mayhew created great success, winning a New Zealand Boarding Schools Association boarding award for outstanding leadership in 2018.
Having previously working as a team leader at Waitaki Boys’ hostel Don House in 2007, Mr Mayhew felt now was a good time to return to the district where his wife grew up.
"It’s an opportunity that we’re pretty passionate about. We’ve always been a staunch supporter of Waitaki Boys’ and Oamaru," Mr Mayhew said.
His family were living at Don House, looking after 52 pupils. It was a stark contrast from the 140 he was in charge of in Rotorua.
He was loving the "small tight-knit community" but as a self-dubbed competitive person, he had goals to grow its future numbers.
He spent the past week taking a step back, observing the "passionate staff" and pupils who welcomed his family without hesitation.
"I can guess as a teenage boy, they would have had some anxiety about what’s going to happen. There’s quite a significant role that we take looking after 52 of them but they have welcomed us."
Rotorua Boys’ played a big part in shaping him as a leader and proved he was taking the right path, as he watched the pupils grow, and followed their successes after school.
"I love being able to see the boys during the day, I love being able to see the boys in a different aspect — in the boarding house, in the classroom, on the rugby field. You can create some really, really cool relationships through shared learning," he said.
Mr Mayhew started his career trying to gain experience studying to be a physical education teacher. However, he fell in love with the industry and never looked back.
