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Monthly Archives: June 2021

Rutherford at Manu Kōrero

On Friday, 11 June, Year 13 reo student Pare Kira went to rep Rutherford at the prestigious Manu Kōrero speech comps in Waiōrea. The pressure was tough; candidates had to speak eloquently for 12 minutes in te reo Māori, for the prepared speech, and eight minutes in the impromptu speech. The standard was exceptional and Pare opened the floor with great panache, giving a beautiful rendition of a waiata before talking about the deep cultural importance of moko, tying her song to Ruaumoko (deity of earthquakes, volcano, and moko) and arguing for the moko to be given the reverence it…

Principal’s Panui 18 June 2021

Kia ora te whanau o te kotuku Part of Rutherford Tikanga is International Languages week and I hope that all of our students have enjoyed all or some of what has been happening this week. A number of international languages e.g. French, German, Spanish, Italian and English all evolved from Latin. Most school mottos are in Latin. Tohea is in Te Reo Maori and displays from our school’s earliest origins our commitment to our responsibilities under Te Tiriti. Tohea meaning to strive for personal excellence has a similar meaning to the Olympic motto, “Citius, Altius, Fortius”. Firstly, in Te Reo…

Principal’s Panui 11 June 2021

Kia ora te whanau o te kotuku, The essence of strong foundations is relationships with people. As a school and community, these relationships are our core strength.  Rutherford’s vibrant personality is created by every person and group within our school, and it is the people that create the pulse that makes our place special. In a community in excess of 1400 people, it is important to have shared rules and expectations around the must-do expectations. When we operate like this, we have increased energy and brainpower for those things that need our effort and concentration. It is not possible for…

Jake Bailey visit

On Thursday, 10 June we had the privilege to have Jake Bailey visit to talk to our year 12’s and year 13’s about resilience and how to cherish each day we are alive. Jake is the ex-Christchurch Boys' High School senior monitor, whose end of year speech made worldwide headlines after going viral in November 2015. A week before he was due to deliver this speech, Jake fell ill and was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, the fastest growing cancer known to man. Jake was given two weeks to live if this was left untreated. Luckily he went into remission…

Unitec Trades Tour

Nine keen year 12 & 13 Rutherford students attended a Trades Tour at Unitec’s Mt Albert campus on Tuesday 25 May. The Unitec Secondary School Trades Tour was designed to provide students with the opportunity to hear more about the various careers and areas of study offered within the Trades school at Unitec. The tour took place across five different trade areas – Mechanical, Automotive, Electrical, Carpentry and Plumbing, Gasfitting and Drainlaying. Students spent around 25 minutes in each area looking at the physical workspaces and talking to lecturers. Our students asked lots of great questions and were impressed with…

Maori and Pasifika Student University of Otago On Campus Experience

The On Campus Experience program for the University of Otago, was one of the best trips of my life. I began as scared and nervous to even apply for the program, not knowing anything about it, what we would partake in, nor whether or not I had a chance of even being accepted. Once I had missed the initial call, I was even more terrified, “what if they were just calling to tell me I DIDN’T get it?” was a question I began to ask myself, but days later, I received the assurance that I was chosen and that the…

Maori and Pasifika Student University of Otago On Campus Experience

The Otago On-Campus Experience was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I was very honoured to be on. The purpose of the scholarship was to uplift and encourage Pasifika students to have a look at going to University. This is because many Universities have found that there is a low percentage of Pasifika students going to University. Therefore this scholarship was implemented and granted to 60 students to give them a proper insight into University life and to represent their school and culture. We arrived on Sunday, 23 May in Dunedin and got on the bus and made our way to the…

Careers Expo Trip

Each year thousands of students from different schools attend the Careers Expo throughout the country, taking advantage of the opportunity to talk face to face with a range of employers, industry, government departments, and training providers. On Thursday, 20 May, the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane was again the home of this year’s Auckland Careers Expo and the destination for a group of Rutherford students keen to explore future career options. This is a free event that is open to students and the public over three days. Around 50 exhibitors were under one roof eager to provide students with information on…

Haere Tahi Launch

Rutherford College Community of Learning team have been developing a student championing programme, Haere Tahi, for the past two years. The 2021 launch for this exciting programme was held at the school Marae on Tuesday, 18 May. On this day, sixty students, their mentors, deans and other staff members, were invited to come along and listen to a keynote speaker, and then have the opportunity to develop their teamwork skills by working in small groups. We were fortunate to secure Aiono Manu Fa’aea, the Senior Pasifika Manager at MIT, as our speaker. She shared her words of wisdom with the…

Senior Reo Māori trip

In early May the Year 11, 12, and 13 Reo Māori classes went up north to Waitangi for four days. The experience was amazing, beautiful, totally beautiful. The Ngāpuhi students felt very at home. We checked out ancient sites and heard stories handed down to the local people. The moss was like organic carpet in the bush. There was a wild bull roaming around the marae where we stayed, and we got to see the beloved Aunty Gail. A strong connection was forged between us and Aunty Gail's whānau at the marae. We also learnt about Waitangi, with a guided…

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