Two fire engines, a command unit, and the Hazardous Substance Unit were called to the school at 10.35 am on Wednesday, Fire Service communications centre shift manager Lyn Crosson said.

"They have some sort of chemical spill in a prep room near one of their science labs . . . a cabinet has fallen over." continue reading

Bravo to St Bede's College Rector, Justin Boyle, for standing firm on the school's code of conduct. Breaching airport security, by illegally taking a ride on a luggage carousel into the secure area is no trifling matter.

The two roguish rowers who did so at Auckland Airport on Friday, should count themselves lucky that the police and Aviation Security let them off with a stern warning.

But as ambassadors of the school, competing in an elite sporting regatta, their feckless actions blatantly breached the school's code of conduct, which they and their parents willingly signed up to.

Sidelining these carousel clowns from the Maadi Cup was the only credible option for Justin Boyle. In his 13 years as rector of St Bede's his firm but fair leadership style has been his unwavering trademark.

Highly-respected for his zero-tolerance approach on bullying and drugs, Boyle has insisted that the school community plays by the rules, and those who fall foul of the rules face clear consequences.

His decision to axe the carousel riders from the school's Maadi Cup rowing team is entirely consistent with the school's values, and more-importantly, fully in accordance with the code of conduct.

After last year's shameful hijinks in Tekapo by a bunch of school rowers, it's all the more galling that rogue rowers have generated embarrassing newspaper headlines for St Bede's, again.

But if this was a script from the Dumb and Dumber playbook, it's the parents of the two banned rowers who I believe have really defied all bounds of common sense.

Tromping off to the High Court to seek an urgent injunction, in a bid to get their boys back in the row boats stinks to high heaven of elitist self-entitlement. Where's the dignity? The decency? The self-respect? Continue reading

• Mike Yardley is a former Newstalk ZB host, a regular Fairfax columnist and former St Bede's pupil.

When they crossed the finishing line last week each of them had run the equivalent of a half marathon each day for the past five days.

Their 120-kilometre effort raised more than $100,000 for CanTeen, a charity supporting teenagers with cancer.

The 154 St Bede's College pupils were joined by six other students from other Catholic schools.

The boys were split into eight 20-person teams, each running to Christchurch from a different South Island location, including Nelson, Cromwell, Motueka, Haast, Karamea and Mt Cook.

See more photographs on Facebook

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Facebook

The 20 boys and 5 staff and parents arrived at Haast on Wednesday 26th, and after spending the night at Haast, set off at 7am on the first 100km leg of their 500km run to Christchurch.

The 20 boys are divided into 4 teams of five members, each team having a spread of age groups. Each team runs 25km each day. The average speed is around 11km/hour.

The run generated lots of community support, both from the South Westland parish, and from the wider community. Accommodation varied according to the town. In Haast, the hotel, in Fox Glacier the local school, in Harihari the Canterbury University lodge, and so on. Food was generally supplied and prepared by the local people, who turned up in force to feed the athletes and their support team.

Being South Westland, even whitebait patties and crayfish formed part of some menus!

Friday's run saw two major sets of hills to be negotiated, the Fox hills between Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, and the Mt. Hercules hills between Whataroa and Harihari. By the end of the day there were sore muscles, blisters and tired bodies.

During these days, other similar teams from St. Bede's are running from other locations in the South Island, each team starting about 500km from Christchurch. They will meet up on Monday afternoon at St. Bede's for the finish.

Its deconsecration and eventual removal is a huge disappointment to the College community and is a result of the Christchurch earthquakes.

The chapel has been closed since May 6, 2011, and while remaining earthquake prone, it was hoped that a building assessment and possible repair might spare the sacred space.

In a statement on the college's website, rector, Mr Justin Boyle described it as ‘disappointing' to lose the use of something as sacred and integral to the Catholic school.

As well as being the focus of the school's spiritual life the St Bede's College Chapel was a convenient size for wedding ceremonies of many old boys.

Located in the centre of the College, the chapel was the oldest building at St Bede's. In 1990 it was extensively altered to allow greater scope for modern liturgies.

The cost of replacing the chapel is estimated to be $4.7m, meanwhile college Masses continue in the school's Performing Arts Centre.

The chapel is not the only building to be affected by earthquake damage and in tough economic times, the College is reaching out to the community.

A preliminary estimate of the cost of replacing damaged buildings and or repairing earthquake prone buildings is $20m.

Source of item and photo: Society of Mary