Kia Ora everyone,

Term 2 has been a really busy time for the school. There always seems to be so much on and it’s a wonderful reminder of the opportunities available here for the students at Rangiora High School. This term, we welcomed three Junior Executive members to our House leadership team. Sam Hillson- Barratt, Lydia Smith, and Maya James. They have fitted in really well with the Seniors and I think they will continue to add well to the team.

This term has seen our Rutherford students participating really well in the House competition. Term two sees the usual “Winterfest” competitions take place. This year we were forced to make some changes to the competition as the fields were still not quite ready to be played on. Instead, 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 had some really close fought games and we earned a hard fought second placing in the competition behind Mansfield. Our juniors also gained second placing overall behind Sheppard. Well done to Sheppard and Mansfield and well done to both our seniors and juniors for your second placings. 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.

Looking ahead to Term 3, we will be hoping to keep the momentum up with some big events coming up. House Choir is in Week 3 and then we have the 48 hour Filmfest. This year the format for House Choir is slightly different. Houses will draw songs from a hat and have 3 weeks to prepare for the event. This will put everyone on the same even playing field in terms of preparation time. Traditionally we have performed well in Choir so as the saying goes, “no pressure guys”.

Term 3 is always a busy one for teaching and learning too. The school examinations will be starting on the week commencing Monday 16th September [Week 9]. The seniors also will be having a busy term with their internal assessments. It’s really important that the students seek to have a balance in their lives leading up to these events. Student well-being is all about feeling good and being able to function well. Too often I have been hearing stories of students “burning the candle at both ends” and having to stay up till midnight [or later] for internal assessments that have had ample class time to work on them. I know that if I was up till midnight or later on a regular basis, I would not be feeling good and able to function well. Take time in your schedule for “time out” and work hard in class.

Finally in Term 3, we will be holding our traditional “Can drive” for the Salvation Army. This is our “big fundraiser” for the year and we’re looking forward to the event already as we continue our support of this valuable service.