Alumni Profile

Hayden Stuart

I started my journey at Middleton Grange School in Year 9. Mum & Dad were keen on me going there as it was a very good Christian School with high standards in not just academic areas.

Throughout school, I was a bit of a rat bag and saw school as more of an opportunity to have a laugh, but my teachers had a lot of grace for me.

After I graduated in 2010, I went labouring for a chippy for a year or so and then moved into the family timber business where I became the travelling sales rep for the company.

Following this, I moved on from there and chased the cowboy dream over in the Northern Territory of Australia mustering cattle on horseback for a couple years. By that time, I had picked up a mad passion for bull riding, so I came back to NZ to see if I could make that a profession.

One evening, at a bull riding practice night in North Canterbury, I was in a terrible bull riding accident that should have cost me my life. My Aunty, who teaches at Middleton (Lindsey Thoroughgood), updated the school on what had happened to me and they began to pray for me. I was in a coma and was not expected to survive. The Lord answered their prayers and saved my life from a near certain death.

I’m so thankful for my time at Middleton Grange where my teachers worked tirelessly to plant good seeds into my future.

I’m now an itinerant Evangelist, equipping others in evangelism and sharing my testimony to bring glory to our Lord Jesus.