For nearly four decades, Paul Wilson (Staff 1988-current) has been a quiet constant at St Paul’s Collegiate School. He’s the kind of teacher whose story becomes stitched into the walls of a school. Not because he stayed the same, but because he kept changing. Coach, Housemaster, Sports Director, Careers Advisor, maths teacher, mentor - every few years, he reinvented himself just enough to stay motivated and connected to the students around him.

Paul arrived in 1988, young and green, coaching rugby despite secretly feeling like “a fish out of water.” Yet by 1993, he had led the First XV to a historic final at Rugby Park against Wesley College. The team lost, but the season became legendary anyway. Parents donated the goalposts still standing at the school today, and many of those boys – including future leaders and familiar names – still return to St Paul’s decades later.

But Paul’s story is not only about rugby.

Long before students knew him as “Sir,” some knew him as the man who once held a world record for running backwards. In the late 1970s, during the strange golden age of Guinness World Record attempts, Paul sprinted 100 yards backwards in 14.4 seconds - fast enough to earn an invitation to Japan to defend the record. He laughs about it now, especially since two failing knees have retired him from any future comeback attempts. Yet students still approach him because their parents remember the story.

That seems to happen a lot with Paul Wilson: generations overlapping.

Former students return with their own children. Old boarders become parents. Stories loop back around decades later. Paul has instinctively taken many students under his wing. This compassion means that Paul is often one of the first staff members Collegians ask about when returning to the school. Paul is often at Fieldays, where a steady string of Collegians call by the stand to see Mr Wilson. Many of these past students are willing to give back by speaking at careers days or functions organised by Paul. It's these connections that define his career, more than trophies.

Even now, technically “retired,” Paul still shows up whenever the school needs him - relief teaching, field trips, covering staff shortages. Retirement, for him, looks suspiciously like continuing to belong.

Outside school, the mountains have given way to beaches. Snow skiing has been replaced by kayaking, fishing, surfing when the knees allow, and dreams of jet skis at Whangamatā. But even there, school stories follow him.

And perhaps that’s the thread running through everything: St Paul’s was never simply a workplace to him. It became a living network of people, memories, and relationships stretching across generations. He speaks less about academic success than about pastoral care, less about teaching subjects than about knowing students. After 39 years, he still says he gets a “buzz” walking into class.

At the end of the conversation, when asked for advice to his 21-year-old self, Paul pauses. He admits he once applied for jobs elsewhere, but now believes he was lucky not to get them. He had frustrations, and moments he’d handle differently - but remarkably very few regrets.

Fieldays 2026

Come and see Paul Wilson at the St Paul's Fieldays stand site 55 in the main white pavilion.  Also see St Paul’s three winning Crocodile Pit teams showcase their inventions in the Innovation Hub tent. It’s a great opportunity to see what the new generation of St Paul’s students are producing in Agribusiness.