Rewriting the record books

King’s High School pupils (front row from left) Alex van der Weerden, Mason Corbett, Liam Hewson, Corey Symon , Max Petre, Trent Zhang , Jamie Haenraets, George Bates, Matthew Wong (back row from left) Tate Barron, Duncan Roff, Asher Quin, Sam Donkin, Awatea Watson, Arlo Munro, Aaron Hewson, Paddy Borthwick, Joey Mackle and Cameron Fletcher have broken the school’s record for the highest number of New Zealand Scholarships achieved by the school.

The 19 pupils were among 27 at the school, who sat scholarship examinations and achieved a school record of 49 scholarships, eight of which were outstanding scholarships.

Before this year, the highest number of NZQA Scholarships gained by an Otago school was 29.

‘‘The 49 we gained has blitzed this number,’’ rector Dan Reddiex said.

Not only was King’s High School the top performing Otago school, it was the top boys’ school in the South Island, the second top of all South Island schools (behind Burnside High School), and was the seventh top boys’ school in New Zealand.

Mr Reddiex put the achievement in context by saying there are 117 high schools or colleges in the South Island, including state, state integrated and private schools.

‘‘The staff at King’s High school have worked exceptionally hard alongside our young men, and are immensely proud of their success.

‘‘The number of scholarships is quite staggering.’’

The school celebrated the achievement with a school awards assembly and a lunchtime barbecue yesterday.