Monthly Archives: July 2019

As teachers, leaders and parents we get to set the mood, tone or climate within our individual teaching environments. Whether at school, home or any other environment we need to consider that what we do is values based. Is what we are saying and doing based on care and kindness? To achieve this, we need to be clear, consistent and explicit about our must do and can’t do expectations. If we strive to do this in all situations, we can build strong foundations for respect, responsibility, integrity and striving for personal excellence to develop legs and be verbs or words…

Rutherford College is a community where striving for personal excellence is the focus. The following students have achieved this through their work ethic and success in either University papers as part of the Young Scholars Programme or in the Australian Big Science Competition. Congratulations to the following five Year 13 students who successfully completed university papers this year, all with A grades; Alex Lasenby an A+ in Computer Programming at the University of Auckland. Gabriel Lisaca an A+ in Computer Programming at the University of Auckland. Stefan Zdravkovic an A in Accelerated Maths at the University of Auckland (one percentage…

On Tuesday, 16 July, I was fortunate to have the opportunity of visiting the Lautoka School for Special Education (LSSE) in Fiji and meet the Head of School, Mr Kailash Pillay. We discussed similarities between both settings and explored opportunities to work together in future. We discovered that both settings operate in very similar ways with LSSE receiving Australian Aid to Access to Quality Education Programme (AQEP). Kailash and I have shared contact details to support each other in our work.

During the holidays, 15 of our senior students became holders of First Aid certificates after attending a two day course held at our Careers Dept.. They were introduced to DRSABCD, the recovery position, laceration, bruises and burn treatments (absolutely different to what was known 50 years ago... no! we do not put butter on bruising). They also took part in role plays; simulations of accidents around the home and in the workplace... and some scenarios had multiple patients to deal with, just as in real life! Our thanks go to Kat, the tutor from A1 First Aid for keeping everyone…

Students from Year 11 & 12 SKPW classes have been visiting Rutherford Primary school and meeting the students they will be supporting in both classroom and P.E. activities during Term 3. Also, two students are already running the new walking bus from a designated car park on Old Te Atatu Rd (an initiative to eliminate the heavy vehicle presence at this very busy time), and another two are helping in the maintenance of the popular playgrounds and gardens. It is of note that in previous years Rutherford students took Leadership roles at Galas etc. when the primary was fundraising for…

Board of Trustees Acknowledgment. I would like to thank and acknowledge the mahi and service of the following three board of trustee members who contributed up to nine years of loyal service and commitment to governance at Rutherford College; Mike Hirst, Jeremy Tunks and to our outgoing chairperson Kate Couling. A big thank you, to all three of you for the support you have given to me personally and for the common sense, big-picture view you all took to helping shape the direction that our kura has been taking. You leave the waka in good condition and with a clear…

The existing administration building will be closed from the start of term 3. The building will be wrapped in readiness for the commencement of the re-roofing of both the administration space and the school hall. Reception, administrative staff, and senior staff currently in this building will be relocated to the bottom floor of B Block. Attendance will be relocated to B Block and can be accessed via a door opposite the Guidance Department. Please note that Accounts, the Schools Shop, and Community Education locations remain unchanged. There will still be very limited visitor parking spaces available in the top carpark. All…