Kia Ora Koutou. We are almost at the end of a very busy term and I know that both our staff and students are looking forward to the opportunity to catch their breath over the two-week break. 

For many of our students, term 2 has been all about carefully balancing their obligations in the classroom with a large number of sporting and cultural commitments- far too many to mention here. 

What has been a highlight, however, have been the opportunities that this term has provided our amazing young men and women to showcase their incredible talents in wonderful events such as the Musical Extravaganza and our Major Production: ‘The Lion King’. Both events have involved a significant commitment by all involved and would not have happened if it were not for the huge amounts of dedication shown by our staff.

Recently we did some analysis on the Fortnightly Report, particularly how our students were performing with this new initiative. What has been revealed is particularly pleasing with approximately 92% of our entire student population currently sitting on an average of ‘3’ or above across all subjects. We are also using ‘3’ as a benchmark combined with unjustified absence data to ascertain whether students are in a position to be involved in co-curricular activities during school time. The message that being allowed to get involved in these sort of activities during school time is a privilege and not a right has been well received by most. It is great to see that a majority of our students are embracing the learning process and the Riccarton Way values which are reinforced through the Fortnightly Report.

Previously, I have mentioned that Riccarton High School will undergo some redevelopment in 2020. Prior to that taking place, the school will need to go through a Master Planning phase. This phase was previously signalled to take place in 2019. We have been advised by the Ministry of Education that this phase is to be brought forward to early 2018. Although the scale of this redevelopment will be at a lower level than some other schools involved in the Canterbury Rebuild Programme (approximately $9 million has been budgeted), this process allows us to revisit our vision for education at Riccarton High School. This will be done through the creation of an Education Brief between now and the end of 2017. It will need to involve parent/community consultation and will address some major questions - what do we stop doing, what do we keep doing, what do we start doing?

Exciting and busy times ahead! Stay tuned.