Kia ora te whanau o te kotuku,

Samoan Language Week celebrates the identity, language, and culture of students from Samoa and students whose families are from Samoa; supporting this group of learners to engage and achieve success. This special week helps all New Zealanders journey towards shared cultural understandings. Samoan is the third most spoken language in Aotearoa New Zealand and the second most widely spoken in Tamaki Makarau.

This year’s theme for Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa – Samoa Language Week 2021 is Poupou  le  lotoifale Ola manuia le anofale which means strengthen the posts of your house, for all to thrive.

When you are building a foundation for a fale (house) it can’t have a weak foundation or posts. This is the same for the foundations of our families, schools and churches that play an important role in strengthening Gagana Samoa (the Samoan Language). Language is important for the foundations of our overall wellbeing.

Education is learning the ability to meet life’s situations. To do this you need to have exposure to a range of challenges and obstacles and learn that success is about hard work and is often a process of try, fail, progress, try fail and progression a constant cycle of repeat.

The great aim of education and why I continue to choose to spend my time committed to it is not only about the knowledge you gain but also that from knowledge and testing ourselves we develop an increased ability to make the right choices and take the right actions.

Every day we make so many choices and learning to make better ones and choosing a can-do positive attitude that defaults to working hard and valuing little acts of human kindness is the foundation of education. I can and will make a positive difference.

Following the disruption last year, many of our basic school rules and expectations were relaxed to cater to the new wellbeing needs of students and staff that arose. These now need to be reinstated, to ensure our 1400 strong rangitahi can be in the best learning environment.

This week we have been reminding students of the expected behaviours when you are in the classroom, especially around being courteous and respectful in class. Being present and giving your teacher your focus and attention will only help in your learning.

The internet is useful, phones are useful, music is useful, food is useful but we don’t eat all day long. At Rutherford, eating food is set aside for morning tea and lunchtime, and the same goes for the use of phones, music and having earphones in or on your ears. The exception will be when all students in class might be invited to get their phone out for a kahoots or to take a photo of something that the teacher has asked you to do.

This week at staff briefing, I have asked staff to make this plain, clear, simple and explicit within their classrooms. The expectation is that all staff will follow this must-do expectation in all classes. This means that students won’t be receiving mixed messages from different teachers.

Some schools are banning phones; this is not my preferred approach. I prefer to encourage good practice and trust that we all recognise that, things that are useful have a time and a place. That time and place is not all places, all the time.

Nga mihi nui
Gary Moore

Assessment Calendar: Term 2, Week 6
Tuesday 8 June
11 Physical Science AS 90935 – all week
12 Physical Education AS 91329 – all week
13 Art AS 91451 

Wednesday 9 June
11 Physical Science AS 90935 – all week
12 Physical Education AS 91329 – all week
13 Geography AS 91430

Thursday 10 June
11 Physical Science AS 90935 – all week
12 Physical Education AS 91329 – all week
11 Geography AS 91012

Friday 11 June
11 Physical Science AS 90935 – all week
12 Physical Education AS 91329 – all week
11 Art AS 90915
12 Accounting AS 91386
12 Art AS91316
12 Maths Combined AS 91032
12 Maori AS 91285