Kia ora

Term 3 has flown by and I can’t believe that in a few school weeks our seniors will be sitting exams! This certainly reminds us that we are nearing the “business end of the competition.”

Exams can be a stressful time and it’s a good time to remind our students of the support systems that are available at school. The pastoral team consists of form teachers, House Dean and Head of House as well as the Guidance Department. Each of these people are on hand to help with some advice and tips to support our students’ well-being in the lead up to exams.

Our main fundraising event each year is the “Can Drive” for the Salvation Army. It was great to see the support that the school community gives for this worthy cause. 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”.

Our Rutherford students have been busy with House events during the term. House choir each year is always a big event that takes up a huge amount of time. This year, the student council made a rule that everyone could only have 3 weeks to work on the choir. This mean that for a tight schedule of rehearsals. 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”  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. Well done to all involved.

The Senior public speaking contest provided real food for thought with some of the topics chosen. These ranged from “Are modern learning environments detrimental to the learning process?” through to “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Our two students, Lachie McFarlane and Bailey Dodd, performed really well gaining a 2nd place overall for Rutherford. As I write this, we don’t yet know the outcome for the 48 Hour Filmfest. What I do know is that the students had a blast filming it!

Our Term 4 events leave us sitting nervously, as there is a sense of déjà vu about where we are at. Last year we were in a strong position leading into the House Quizzes and Junior public speaking, only to have first place overall in the House Competition snatched away from us in the last events. At present, our lead at the top of the leaderboard is very small, so we’ll have to give it our best shot in Term 4.

I’d like to pass on my thanks to the exec for their hard work this term in organising these events. Without your hard work, these events would not happen. Thank you so much.