Kia ora te whanau o te kotuku

It gives me great pleasure to share with you that Rutherford College has been serving families in Te Atatu Peninsula and surrounding areas for the past 60 years.

As part of our 60th-year celebrations, Rutherford would like to welcome you and your whanau to our community open day. The Saturday event is a free event and is an opportunity for the community to come and see our wonderful campus and the huge range of subjects and activities on offer at the school. There will be guided tours, from 10:30am to 12:30pm where you can see our students in action in the classrooms. For those interested in Community Education Programmes a number of these courses will also be showcased on this day.

Throughout the day, we also have planned a wide range of entertainment. Our cultural groups have a stunning lineup prepared to start at 11:30am. This will be hosted on the batter/school fields with our Te Kotuku Kapa Haka group first up, followed by our Samoan Group, Indian Dance Group, Tuvaluan Group, and African Dance Groups. Our music, dance, and drama students will also be performing starting at 12:30pm in the hall.

There will be a variety of food trucks onsite between 10:00am and 3.00pm, bouncy castles, and the opportunity to join in many different sports games starting from midday. As this is a special celebration and many of our foundation students will be joining us, we have also dedicated a special lounge for those ex-pupils to korero with each other. Rutherford is proud to have always had a strong and active relationship with families, local schools, and the community. We warmly welcome you to come and spend the day with us.

Please click here for further information on our 60^th Reunion. On Friday, 9 April there is a mix and mingle in the school hall commencing at 5pm with a short powhiri and the celebrations continuing through until 11pm. Tickets can be purchased for this event here.

Into the rhythm and routines of the academic year

My expectation of all staff and students is that by now the patterns and expectations are established and becoming more widely understood across learning areas and within classrooms. For students who have been part of the kotuku flock for a year or more, this process should take hold quickly. For the 376 students new to Rutherford in 2021 of which 339 are in Year 9 the learning of what is required by them to be a positive contributor to this community is a work in progress.

All senior students have copies of assessment statements in their books. They should understand that with any assessments over a set amount of time (say six weeks); there will be two weekly check-ins to monitor progress. The point of these checkpoints is to provide feedback and feed-forward advice, and then if students are not contributing their 50% to the learning process, our staff can intervene. The first intervention is the subject teacher making contact with home. This is to ensure that the school/home partnership is walking the talk and talking the walk. This is normally done via e-mail.

Academic potential is further supported by students implementing personal organisation, developing good time management, and learning that a deadline is a finish line. Each piece of learning or assessment should be treated as an opportunity of a lifetime, which must be seized within the lifetime of that opportunity. This thinking creates the right attitude toward deadlines and being the best that you can be.

If not now, when? If not me, who?

Work can be submitted early; it does not need to be a last-day drama.

The above is for the procrastinators and some others. The following as well as the words above are for those with anxiety or fear of failure.

If fear or anxiety are your anchors, I encourage that you learn to engage in positive self-talk. At Rutherford, we know that the goal is to be better today than you were yesterday, not to pass or get an ‘E’ but to attain meaningful progress from where you are now. Our thought patterns create the attitude and create the person.

Na, te whakaaro
Ka ora, te tangata
As we think, so shall we become.

Do not be frightened of failure; be frightened of the consequence of failing to try. Kia maia, be courageous, positive self-talk. Understand that you have to do your job, 50% of the learning must be the learner’s responsibility. Teaching requires a learner, and learning ultimately is done by the person doing the work. Failing to try is the same as trying to fail. Once we recognise this then our behaviours may change.

Lastly, please remember, that anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly as you seek to get better at it. At Rutherford work hard be kind and good things happen. At Rutherford, we value little acts of human kindness.

Assessment Calendar – Term 1, Week 9
due Monday 29 March
11 Dance AS90858
12 Health AS91236 – all week
13 Health AS91464 – all week
12 Science AS90930 – all week
13 English AS91480
12 Gateway Health and Safety Workshop

due Tuesday 30 March
11 Dance AS90858
12 Health AS91236 – all week
13 Health AS91464 – all week
12 Maori AS91284
13 Maori AS91650
12 Gateway Health and Safety Workshop
12 Science AS90930 – all week

due Wednesday 31 March
12 Health AS91236 – all week
13 Health AS91464 – all week
12 Science AS90930 – all week

due Thursday 1 April
12 Health AS91236 – all week
13 Health AS91464 – all week
11 Engineering US2296
13 Engineering US20799
12 Science AS90930 – all week

Nga mihi nui
Gary Moore