Principal's Panui - 7 June 2024

Kia ora te whanau ō te Kōtuku

How Resilience/Grit/Perseverance/Manawanui works

An ability to accept Triumph and Disaster as what will happen in our lives day to day and treat those two imposters the same. They are only fleeting moments in time and a chance to learn and improve from whichever of those two things cast a shadow at our door today,

Resilient people always look forward to what the future holds for them regardless of the last event that took place.

What exactly is the quality of resilience that carries people through life? Why do some people buckle under pressure? And what makes others bend and ultimately bounce back?

It’s the ability to start from where your feet are now today and every day, and also learning to get up from where you last tripped up.

One of the core characteristics of resilient people is the ability to form attachments to others and the possession of an inner psychological space that defaults to kindness for others and to themselves. In Polynesian culture this sacred space that exists between people is called “The Va.’ Having built strong meaningful relationships built on authenticity and trust is always a good starting point to learn to be resilient. This is important to me and those I care about.

And resilience can be learned.

Resilient, determined people, possess three characteristics: a staunch acceptance of reality; a deep belief in what is right and just, often supported by strongly held values, and a willingness to work hard.

A commonly held belief about resilience is that it stems from an optimistic nature. That’s true but only as long as such optimism doesn’t distort your sense of reality that everything’s fine when there are signs that we need to do something different.

Resilient people have very sober and down-to-earth views of those parts of reality that matter for survival. That’s not to say that optimism doesn’t have its place. But for bigger challenges, a cool, almost pessimistic, sense of reality is far more important. “It is what it is.” Facing reality, really facing it, is gritty, grueling work. Indeed, it can be unpleasant and maybe emotionally gut wrenching.

The fact is that when we truly stare down reality, we prepare ourselves to act in ways that allow us to endure and survive extraordinary hardship. We train ourselves to survive the tough moments and then profess and then flourish on the upwards curve as we learn. You cannot complete a marathon without some pain and hardship along the way.

It is worth noting that resilience is neither ethically good nor bad. It is merely the skill and the capacity to be robust under conditions of stress, challenge and change and to treat triumph and disasters as imposters just the same.

Parent/Student Breakfast 

We would like to invite you all to our first Parent & Child breakfast on Thursday the 27th June. If a parent is not available, a caregiver, uncle or aunty, grandparent or godparent is very welcome to come alone. This is an informal occasion and an opportunity for you to meet socially with other parents and spend time with your child before you both start your day. To cover costs, adults are $20 per person and students are $15 per person. You can purchase your tickets online from trybooking. 

Open Evening and Enrolments for 2025

In Term 3 Rutherford will host their annual Open Evening. If you have a son or daughter currently in Year 8, then please come along to the college to meet the teachers and learn more about Rutherford College. If you prefer to see the school in action you can attend on Friday 2 August between 9.30 and 1.30pm and experience a tour of the school and talk with students about what they like about Rutherford College.

Open Evening Thursday 1 August 6-8pm

Open Day Friday 2 August 9.30am-1.30pm

Following on from the Open Evening and Open Day is our Enrolment week from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 August 3.30 - 7.00pm and Saturday 10 August from 9.00 - 11.30am. All enrolments will be in our Information Commons. Booking schedules will be available closer to the time. To find out more about how to enrol, please visit our website.

School Policies and Procedures

Phones Away for the Day: This is a reminder that from this term onward the government's new regulations about cellphones not being permitted to be used during the school day are in place. This includes interval and break times. Please refer to our website for more information. Please remind your son or daughter of these rules and that they are mandated by the government. Phones are able to be used before or after school if necessary. 

SchoolDocs Policy Reviews this term. 

All students, staff and whanau can view and make comment on the school's policies and procedures through SchoolDocs. You can login to the site here.

Username: rutherfordcollege.  Password: kotuku

Term 2 reviews are: Employer Responsibility, Appointment Procedure, Equal Employment Opportunities, Teacher Relief Cover, Safety and Police Checking and Classroom Release Time/Timetable.

Upcoming Events

12 and 13 June - Wheeler's Luck Production - 7pm School Hall. Book here.
17 - 21 June - International languages week
19 June - Readers Cup
19 & 20 June - LUV Music- 6.30pm School Hall. Book here
21 June - International Languages Evening
27 June - Parent/Student Breakfast 7.30am Information Commons. Book here.
28 June - Matariki Day - School Closed
04 July- School Ball - School closes 1.30pm
05 July - (Friday) School Closed for the holiday break

Kia kaha

Gary Moore