Rutherford House 2019 has been a really successful year for Rutherford House. Our motto, “The measure of success”, has been to the fore as we have aspired to do our best. There are countless ways in which we could measure the success of our students over the year. Here are some of them.

Successful leadership: The House Executive this year consisted of the following students: Harris McRobbie [House Captain] Baillie Dodd [House Captain] Zoe Frost, Liam Dunseath, Abby Ladd, Lily Heidmann, Maya James, Lydia Smith and Sam Hilson Barratt. They have done a great job organising the assemblies and helping to organise the House events. The success of Rutherford House in the House Competition each year is directly linked to the hard work that this dedicated group of students put in. Thank you all for the work that you have done this year.

Success in the House competition: At the start of the year Rutherford managed to pull off winning House Sports Day for the second year running - something that we’ve never done before. Term 2 saw the usual “WinterFest” competitions take place. This year we had “House Netball” on the new courts. This seemed to go really well as we made it compulsory to have both boys and girls in the teams so that both genders had a go. Our seniors earned a hard fought second placing in the competition behind Mansfield. Our juniors also gained second placing overall behind Sheppard. It’s great to see that when we do have House events, we are still getting great numbers of participants wanting to represent Rutherford House.

House Choir each year is always a big event. Our choir this year was led wonderfully by Lily Heidmann and Abby Ladd. We chose “Tihore Mai” as our waiata and “Anyway you want it” by Journey as our song. Personally, I think that they were brilliant choices - one slow and meaningful and the other up-beat and full of energy. We came second on the day, a good result as the winning team [Lydiard] were amazing on the day.

Success with fundraising: Our main fundraising event each year is the “Can Drive” for the Salvation Army. This year we made a “kia ora” sign with the cans as a way of saying thank you to everyone for their donations. Our students also helped out our sister house, Mansfield, with their “Shave for a Cure”.

Successful relationships: The key to success in schools these days is to have successful relationships between staff and students. I’d like to thank the form teachers, our Dean Mrs Koster and the Rutherford support staff for all the hard work and dedication shown this year. The relationships that you have formed with our students allow them to know that they are cared for and the there is always someone there for them. Ka pai team!

Successful school leavers: To this year’s Year 13. Thank you for your input into Rutherford House and for being such wonderful ambassadors for Rangiora High School. All the best for a successful and prosperous future. Enjoy the journey that you have ahead of you.