Principal's Panui - 03 May 2024

Kia ora te whanau ō te Kōtuku  

How do we improve, and be better today than we were yesterday? 

We try something different. This takes courage and bravery because we are moving from our circle of comfort into unfamiliar territory.

If all the great explorers from years gone by had not left the harbours that they were familiar with nothing may have been discovered. We need to hold true to the values that provide the foundation for striving for personal excellence.

To improve, sometimes instead of adding something new that you might not stick to, it may be more effective to let go of things that are holding us back. A stop doing list.

HOW TO CATCH A MONKEY

How do you catch a monkey? Find a coconut and make a hole in the shell, a hole that is just big enough for the monkey to squeeze its paw through.

Tie the coconut to something, put a slice of fruit inside and wait. When a monkey comes past it will smell the fruit and put its hand inside to get it. Believe it or not, the monkey is now trapped because it won’t let go of the fruit by opening its paw and it’s only by opening its paw that the monkey can get its paw out and run away.

All the cleverness, all the talent, all the skill in the world is of no use if we cannot open our paw to save our life. Just like the monkey, we can be trapped by sticking to what we think we know and refusing to change.

In the monkey’s case, that is a closed paw. For us, the equivalent is a closed mind – holding fast to a fixed position even when the evidence is telling us something different.

What makes us close our minds? Sometimes we have beliefs that hold us back. We believe we are not clever enough or good-looking enough or deserving enough to succeed. Even when we see other people with similar talents to our own, our belief keeps holding us back. If we believe that they are lucky and we are not then we can never make progress.

Sometimes it is not our beliefs but our actions that keep us trapped. We know we learn best, for instance, when we learn in manageable chunks over a period of time, but we keep on leaving things until the last minute and trying to cram too big a load of information into our brains. Or we hope things will turn out all right even without doing the work that we need to do to succeed. We keep hoping the luck other people seem to have will rub off on us.

The monkey is trapped because it stubbornly holds on to the piece of fruit even when letting go would let it escape. 

Acknowledgement: Learning Targets by Connie Moss and Susan Brookhart

Junior Scholarship Programme

The first session of Junior Scholarship for the term will take place next week on Wednesday May 8th from 3:10 – 4:15. Students must prepare for the session beforehand by watching the film Richard III posted to Google Classroom. If your son or daughter is involved in the programme, please make sure they have checked the material posted and watched the film.

Homework Centres 

Students are encouraged to take up the offer of additional support from teachers either after school or at lunchtime to assist them in their studies. Below is a table of what is available in term 2.

Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences - Thursday 9 May

Parents are invited to book with the subject teachers of their son or daughters for a 10 minute interview to find out how they are tracking academically. It is a great opportunity to meet the teachers and discuss ways you may be able to support your son and daughter. Remember to bring them along to the conferencing too. A coffee cart is available from 1.30 to 4.30pm. To book your conference time please log on to SchoolBridge (Parent Portal) and click on Term 2 PSST Conferences. You should receive an email confirming your booking times. If you have trouble accessing SchoolBridge, please check with the school we have the right email address for you. Your username and password is your email address and your own password which you would use to access Google, Microsoft or FaceBook. The school does not issue passwords.

Phones Away for the Day

The regulations for phones away for the day came into effect Monday 29 April. This means students cannot access their phone during the day unless they have been given permission by a staff member. You can read more about it here.  Staff will remind students during the day about the new regulations. Please talk to your son and daughter about these new regulations and what it means for them. They can use their phone before or after school if necessary. If you believe your son or daughter needs an exemption please talk to the Dean about this. 

AT Transport - Student ID Cards

Reminder that the public transport fare changes for under 25's takes effect 1 May 2024.

Unfortunately AT will not be supporting physical ID cards this year. Digital IDs under the Yoti app will also be discontinued; schools currently using the MyMahi student ID will still be able to use this for verification when loading concessions onto their AT HOP card.

School Policies and Procedures

Rutherford subscribes to SchoolDocs for policies and procedures. You can access them via this link. Username is: rutherfordcollege and the password is: kotuku

This term policies for review are:

• Employer Responsibility Policy
• Appointment Procedure Policy
• Equal Employment Opportunities
• Teacher Relief Cover
• Safety Checking and Police Vetting
• Classroom Release Time/Timetable

Anyone in the school can review and comment on these policies, including staff and students and parents. Your comments can be anonymous if you prefer. The review information is shared with the School Board at their meetings once a term.

Best Foot Forward initiative 

SHARE YOUR LOVE OF THE GAME:  DONATE USED BOOTS to the KIDS who need them most. 

Blues Best Foot Forward is an initiative to ensure children don’t miss out on the opportunity of playing rugby due to the cost of rugby boots. 

The Best Foot Forward initiative will support BOOT IT, an existing charity giving boots to children within the Blues Rugby community 

How can you donate?

You can drop off any pre-loved boots that still have life left in them to Rutherford College. Donations close on Monday 20th May.

Upcoming Events:

07-08 May Y9 Mindfulness trip
09 May - PSST Conferences - School finishes at 1.20pm - Conferences start at 2pm.
10 May - Cross Country
15 May - Paid Union Meeting - School finishes at 12.30pm approximately
17 May - Pink Shirt Day
20 - 24 May Year 9 STARS Camp
31 May Staff Only Day
03 June - King's Birthday- School Closed
28 June - Matariki Day - School Closed
04 July - School Ball -School closes 12.30pm for the term
05 July - (Friday)  School closed
08-21 July School Holidays
22 July Term 3 begins

Kia Kaha
Gary Moore