Kia ora te whanau o te kotuku

Earth school – The school for our lifetime.
Life on earth is full of opportunities to learn. Often, these opportunities don’t feel pleasant. Sometimes they feel downright awful!
Here are some relevant words on this topic from an Oprah Winfrey interview with author Gary Zukav.
“Even if you’re in an encounter that feels uncomfortable, or that brings anger or disruption, that encounter has happened in your life in order to grow you, or provide an opportunity for you to grow, to whatever is the next level of your own personal evolution.”
Gary Zukav is the author of “The Seat of the Soul”, and I love the way he describes life as – “Earth School”.
Each of us has our own unique curriculum especially designed for us through the experiences that come our way. I believe that looking at our challenges or uncomfortable situations through a growth lens is helpful.

Ask:
“What can I learn from this?”
“How can this help me grow, how can I be better today than I was yesterday?”
Powerful questions!
Are you currently faced with a difficult or uncomfortable situation?
Do you have a challenge in front of you?
If so, great!
Put these questions straight to work.
If not, well… you can bet your bottom dollar there’ll be one just around the corner!
That’s not negative, it’s just the nature of life. Your next learning opportunity here at “Earth School” won’t be far away.
When it comes around, you have a choice –
You can GO through it, or You can GROW through it.

Our choice and our attitude to the situation in front of us is fundamental to taking control of our mindset and in turn helping support how we feel. I understand that this challenge is an opportunity for us to be better today than we were yesterday. When we are faced with multiple challenges then the best thing to do is prioritise and focus on what’s important now.

I would like to thank all the staff, students, and wider whanau for their contribution to Rutherford College over the last term. Slowly but surely, we are getting closer to having the culture and wairua that we remember from pre-Covid days back as part of the fabric of our place.

There are still challenges ahead but as a collective we will work together and travel in the all-important V- Formation, and understand the value of little acts of human kindness.

Derived Grade Exams

Teachers will be marking exams over the next two weeks and entering student grades into KAMAR (our school management system) as soon as they have completed their marking and moderation processes.
The results will then be published to the school portal, as in the past, for parents/caregivers to see.
If a student did not attend an exam teachers will enter Absent instead of a grade.
Not all subjects will be published at the same time; it will depend on the number of students in a subject and also the timing of the exam.
However, most results should be available for checking by the beginning of Term 4.

Kotuku Badge Applications

All students can now apply for a Kotuku Badge to recognise their achievement in either Academic, Sport, Cultural or Citizenship. Applications will remain open until 22 October. Badges will be rewarded during assemblies in week 3 of term 4. Applications and criteria are available through the website or through the School Portal. In the portal, click on Permission Slips and Forms, then ‘Start Form’.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday 25 October – Pasifika Prize Giving
Thursday 27 October – Cultural Awards Evening
Friday 28 October – Sports Awards Evening
Thursday 8 December – Senior Prizegiving at 6.30pm
Friday 9 December – Junior Prizegiving during the day -Last day of school.

Have a lovely holiday
Gary Moore