Kia Ora Koutou. Term 2 is certainly flying by and as we find ourselves passing the mid-way point, we also find ourselves fully committed not only to a winter sports programme involving huge numbers of students, but also heavy involvement in a number of other events around the school.
In essence, term 2
is an extremely busy term. Besides the co-curricular activities which absorb a
huge amount of time and effort by our students, their primary focus needs to
remain on their studies with internal assessments, longer term assessments and
regular tests undertaken throughout the term.
All of these demands can lead to stress. Therefore, it is vital that our young men and women maintain a healthy balance in regards to what they take on, and don’t burn themselves out or peak before crucial assessments are undertaken.
It is important to remember that the advice given to maintaining this balance is always available through our subject teachers, whānau teachers, deans and guidance personnel.
The 2017 enrolment round, which began three weeks ago with our Information Evening, is well and truly underway. The evening was an extremely successful event with our hall full to capacity with prospective students and parents. As always, it was our students that did us proud on this occasion, speaking about our school in a confident, articulate and positive way.
The Information Evening was followed by school tours a week later where we had over 400 people exploring our facilities and talking with our wonderful student leaders and staff. This gives us a clear indication that Riccarton continues to remain a successful sought after school.
Our positive learning environment and fine reputation in both the local and wider Christchurch community is certainly something to be proud of.
Over the next few days, I will have the pleasure of travelling to Kaikorai Valley College in Dunedin for our annual winter sports exchange with approximately 100 of our students competing in a wide variety of sports. Our association with Kaikorai goes back as far as 1964 and both the Summer and Winter exchanges continue to be valued highly by both schools, not just as an opportunity for some friendly sporting rivalry, but also a chance for our students to socially interact with others.
Finally, can I extend my sincere thanks to you for your patience and understanding as a result of our recent issues with heating large parts of the school. Due to a major break in one of the heating pipes servicing approximately 20 classrooms it did quickly become a health and safety issue. While we are conscious that some learning time has been lost as a result of two days of late starts, we are also confident that this will not disadvantage our students.