Kia ora e te whānau o Te Kōtuku

I would like to take the opportunity to welcome you back to Rutherford College. I look forward with great optimism to a positive 2024. 

The educating of young men and women is a partnership between three groups of people: the school, the students and parents/caregivers. 

A special welcome to outstanding educators who have joined our senior leadership team for the start of 2024. Ms Rozanne Donald joins us as our new Associate Principal from Mount Roskill Grammar. We also welcome Mr Robert Solomone from Alfriston College as a Deputy Principal. They both have extensive experience in the West of Auckland and in school senior leadership. 

A reminder that on Monday 5 February and Tuesday 6 February - the school is closed for the long weekend.

BBQ for new families and students Tuesday 13 February 6pm - 8pm

The first opportunity for our students and families new to Rutherford College in 2024 is the Rutherford College Barbeque. All teaching staff are required to be at school on the evening. As well as the chance to meet the tutor teacher, you will also be able to meet all of your son or daughter's teachers. If you wish to bring younger family members, please feel free to do so. There will limited parking on site. The school will be providing hamburgers and sausages for the barbeque and we encourage families to bring any snacks, sweets, or beverages (non-alcoholic) that you may want.

The evening starts at 6pm and runs through until 8pm. I look forward to seeing a great turnout.

Swimming Sports and ID Photographs

The week of February 12th is a busy one. Our annual swimming sports is on the Tuesday 13 February at our school pool. Student ID photos occur on Thursday 15th and then there is the whole school athletics carnival on Friday 16th.

Athletics Day - Friday 16 February

Athletics Day is a whole school event. All students can wear mufti, and they dress in their house colours. If Year 9 and 10 do not want to dress up they can wear their PE Uniform. To see the tutor house colours, please follow this link. To find out more information for the day, please follow this link.

Students should report to their tutor class first thing in the morning to take a roll check. It is compulsory for Year 9 and 10 to compete in 1 track and 2 field events where they will receive participation points for their House. Remember to bring hat, food, drink and sunblock. Finish time is 3.10pm as per normal.

Cellphones and personal devices at school.

As you may be aware there are new regulations coming into force around the use of cellphones. The new regulations mean that mobile phones should not be used during the school day unless the teacher specifically permits the use of phones for learning activities, accessing timetables, health related issues or other school related material. Mobile phones can be used before or after school. Students are encouraged to bring their Chromebook or laptops to school and use of these during the day is permitted.

Students are encouraged to spend their break times eating, socialising, playing sport or games rather than using their devices. Our current policy around cellphones and personal devices already stipulates that phones are not permitted in class. It will be reviewed over the course of this term and any changes necessary should be completed by the beginning of term 2. 

Please talk with your son or daughter around the rules for mobile phones at school to ensure they understand that they may be asked to put their phones away even during their breaks. Thank you for supporting this government initiative which the school believes will benefit students' wellbeing in the long term.

Policies and procedures

Rutherford College subscribes to SchoolDocs for all policies and procedures. You can access these at any time by following this link. Username: rutherfordcollege. Password: kotuku.

School Timetable
During Term 1 and 2 Rutherford College runs a tutor programme each Wednesday. This means the start and finish time for Wednesday's is different from the rest of the week. To view the term dates and daily timetable, please follow this link. 

Day to Day Information

You can find out information regarding stationery requirements, buses, and ID cards or lockers via this page.

Attendance

If a student misses one day of school every two weeks, they miss a whole year of school by 16 years of age. As a parent or caregiver, you, alongside our school, play a key role in building strong habits of regular school attendance. All students are legally required to attend school every day and it is a shared responsibility to make sure students attend and engage in learning from when they first start school. As we enter 2024, every day of school matters. You must let the school know if your child is going to be absent for a day or intends to be absent for a portion of the school term for whatever reason, like a tangi or medical procedure. Family holidays or taking time off for extracurricular activities (not organised by school) are not acceptable reasons for being absent.

If you're struggling at home with getting your child to school, talk to he Dean of the Year level that your son or daughter is in. Our school is committed to supporting your child to attend school and building a culture that fosters excellent attendance by having:

· School staff who have strong relationships with students and whānau.

· A school culture that recognises your child and your family for who they are, where they come from and who they want to be.

· A school community that does everything to make sure students are at school, and they are participating, and progressing in their education.

Reporting an Absence / Organising Exit pass for appointments during the school day

If your child is going to be away for any reason, please report their absence through the School Portal - Click on Report Absence and record the reasons for the absence. For unjustified absences like family holidays you should use the "Other" option and record what is happening. And a reminder that although this is recorded as explained, it is not considered a justifiable absence.  If your child needs to leave for an appointment during the day please use the same method for them through the portal. Click on Report Absence and choose "Exit Pass". This will then trigger an alert and a pass will be organised for the time you need to pick up your son or daughter. If you turn up at the last minute we cannot guarantee we can get your child out of class without a delay and you could be late for your appointment.

Signing into the School Portal

You can access the School Portal via the website. Top right hand side of the page. To log in, please use the email address that you have registered with the school. You can choose to sign in with any of the accounts that you have associated with that email address e.g. Google, Microsoft, Facebook and you use your own password to verify the account. The school does not issue passwords. If you have problems signing in, please check we have the correct email address for you on file. On the portal you can view timetables, attendance, report absences, view school reports and pay school accounts. 

Contacting the School

If you need to discuss anything regarding your son or daughter, your first point of reference is the tutor teacher for work related matters. For other matters you should contact the Dean of that Year Level.

In Conclusion:

It is important that you encourage your sons or daughters to get involved in the wider life of the school. Involvement in sport, culture or the performing arts is a great vehicle for students to increase the level of connection they make with their school and to develop themselves. 

To strive for personal excellence is the school's mission statement and the objective we have for all our students is that they strive to seek the heights of their potential. 2024 is a crucial year in providing a solid foundation from which Year 9 students can build upon. The better-informed parents and caregivers are, the more effectively you will be able to engage your sons and daughters in meaningful conversations about their education.  I urge that you make education a regular topic of conversation in the home and contribute to increasing the importance students place on academic achievement.

Once again welcome to the Rutherford College community and I look forward to the years ahead. 

‘The defeated in life are those that never fail.’ We must always start from where our feet are now.

Kia kaha

Gary Moore