On Wednesday, 6 November Rutherford welcomed the Year 8 students from Te Atatū Intermediate, Rangeview Intermediate and other schools who will be attending Year 9 at Rutherford in 2020.

This year, our orientation day took a new direction, with all students attending on a single day and participating in taster sessions in subjects such as Science, Food Technology, Hard Materials, Digitech, Performing Arts and PE.

Year 8 students were welcomed by Mr Moore and Mr Rossin, the Year 9 Dean for 2020, and then completed the pre-entry testing. Following on from this, students enjoyed a tour of the school and a one-hour taster session of their choice.

Finally, it was time for refreshment, with a sausage sizzle and some socialising. Students then returned to the Sports Hall for presentations from Mr Moore, Mr Rossin, Miss Wilson’s Year 9 dance students and a few other key personnel.

Many of our current Year 9 students participated in a tuakana role, with the class Kaitiaki acting as tour guides and staying with their group for the taster sessions. Students from 9PL and some other buddies served the kai and helped out behind the scenes.

The orientation programme is part of our Community of Learning/Kāhui Ako inquiry into transitions and strengthening the links between our local schools. The session is intended to foster tūrangawaewae as well as tuakana-teina relationships between current and future Rutherford students. It is a credit to our local intermediates that our teina/younger visitors comported themselves well and upheld the values of their schools.

The CoL team would like to thank the staff and students of our two biggest feeder schools, our leadership team and our student helpers. Special thanks go to the LEAP team for organising the testing and all the staff who ran taster sessions.