Welcome to 2020

I hope that you have had a wonderful break and some special family times together over the last few weeks, and that your daughter is excited about coming back to Rangi. To new families, we warmly welcome you and look forward to seeing you at the New Entrant PTA BBQ on the 23 February. More details to follow.

We begin this year with a growing roll of 639 and a Boarding roll of 135. There is strong interest already in places for 2021 and beyond and I am looking forward to beginning the process of interviewing those whose applications have been received. Can I ask that if you, or families you know of, are considering Rangi please be aware of the high demand especially if you or they are looking at Boarding or entry into Year 9. Naturally siblings and past families will have priority, however, if we do not have an application then leaving it until later in the year could result in disappointment as we near the maximum.

Cell Phone Policy

In October last year we introduced our Cell Phone Policy for Years 7-10. We have been thrilled to see the greater levels of engagement between the students during their break times and an increase in their concentration levels during teaching periods. Moving into the new school year, this Cell Phone Policy is now extended to all Year levels and comes into effect next Monday 27 January.

I ask that you support us so that collectively we can ensure that this is upheld. Any communication that you need with your daughter can only be answered by her at the conclusion of the school day. We do appreciate that there may be times that you need to get an urgent message to her, and we are very happy to take a message anytime in the office and will ensure that your daughter does receive this. I am certain that any text messages or voicemails left on her phone will be checked at 3.30pm when turning her cell phone on is probably the first thing that she does!

Please see the full cell phone policy below so that you and your daughter are well aware of how this policy is implemented.

Welcome to new staff 2020

I would like to warmly welcome the new members of staff who are joining the Rangi team this year:

· Sheherazad Bhote – Head of Physics

· Megan Cambus – Boarding House Resident Assistant

· Bridget Gardiner – GAP student

· Hugh Morrison-Thomas – Speech & Drama Teacher (job sharing with Lynn Williams)

· Ashleigh Mowbray – Music Administrative Assistant (PT)

· Nicole Sinclair – Netball Development Manager and Coach

· Samantha Venning – Teacher Aide (PT)

Returning staff

· Mark Cotham returns from his study leave and we warmly welcome him back.

NCEA

Our NCEA provisional results once again are outstanding and we are particularly delighted with the high number of endorsements. Congratulations to all of our girls who have achieved these excellent personal results. These results, once again, place Rangi Ruru as one of the top achieving schools in New Zealand.

Changes to our frequency of communication to you

As a trial in Term 1, our InTouch newsletter which has traditionally been sent weekly, will now be a fortnightly update. Feedback received from our parent survey last year indicated less frequent newsletters are preferred by many in our community. We will ensure all important information and key dates continue to be communicated when required via email also.

Sandra K Hastie

Principal