I hope you’ve all had a restful break and are feeling recharged and ready for what is an important and fast paced term. With only three weeks until our Senior Students head into their NCEA exams this can be a stressful time, so please encourage them to seek help if they are feeling overwhelmed but also to enjoy these last few weeks together especially to our Year 13’s who are rapidly becoming Leavers.

Every term break we lend our wonderful facilities to many different visiting groups. This break we hosted the NZ Association for Philosophy Teachers National Conference, the NZ Literacy Association National Conference and Painted Stories Exhibition, the Making a Difference Summit, as well as the South Canterbury Football team. These groups were hosted in many areas of the school and ranged from 20 people to 230 people. Our facilities are often used over the term breaks and are a great way for us to share parts of Rangi Ruru with the community.

Relieving Chaplain for Term 4

A warm welcome to Ms Lea McEwan who will be assisting us with our Chapel Services and Carol Services this term in a relieving capacity. Lea comes to us from Hope Presbyterian Church and we are looking forward to having her leadership.

Conference in Perth

During the break I attended the Australian Heads of Independent Schools Conference in Perth. The theme was around “Forging the Future” and I attended some excellent workshops. I also took part in a presentation which was shared with the other Heads of Independent Schools in Christchurch where we gave our thoughts and experiences learnt from the Christchurch Mosque attack. We received lots of appreciative feedback from our colleagues especially around the learnings with regards to Lockdowns. Naturally it is my hope that we never have to go through an experience like this again.

Year 12 Camp

I am looking forward to attending the Year 12 Camp this weekend. This is a great opportunity for our students and staff to get to know one another in a relaxed environment along with of course lots of fun and clan activities. It will be no time at all that they will be donning their gold braided blazers to become our senior role models, it is definitely one of the highlights of the year, fingers crossed that the weather is kind!

Quote for the week

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” A.A. Milne