RJHS Newsletter - Term 2, Issue 2

KORERO FROM MEL

This week we are celebrating kindness week, culminating in Pink Shirt Day on Friday. Pink Shirt Day aims to stamp out bullying by celebrating diversity and promoting kindness and inclusion. Students are asked to dress in pink, and bring a gold coin donation, which will be donated to the official Pink Shirt Day cause.

My message in assembly this week is to reinforce kindness to others, by focusing on those times we think we are being ‘funny’ but are actually causing harm to others. The excuses “it was just a joke” or “I was just joking” are used all too often by our young people to justify unkindness to others - not to share a joke with them, but to make them the focus of the joke and make others around them laugh. A joke is something we say or do, to make the person/s we are interacting with laugh, not to say something that makes our friends or peers laugh at the expense of someone else. I’m asking our students to think about those moments, and acknowledge that if harm is caused, it’s not funny at all.

A reminder that we also have a wealth of resources about bullying and how to cope with it, as a parent and a young person, on our SchoolTV site HERE. The resources are short and succinct, but very helpful!

It has been my absolute pleasure to be part of 5 Gold CLOAK Badge pitches so far this term. Our CLOAK values have been designed to grow attributes in students that will support them to have successful lives in and outside of school. The presentations have been exceptional, and it is obvious that their students have put a lot of time and effort into critically thinking about what it means to hold and demonstrate attributes at the Gold level of our CLOAK values. We truly believe that all students have the potential to achieve Gold badges if they are prepared to think about what they are doing in their learning and extra-curricular lives, reflect on how they are demonstrating these values, or seek out opportunities to improve themselves where they are not. ILT time in Advisory is an excellent time to work on and get feedback on Silver and Gold badge pitches. This is made more achievable when students use home learning time wisely to stay on top of their coursework, allowing them time with their Advisors and Hapū Leaders at school to work on their badges.

Last night we welcomed our community in for the first of two Open Evenings to promote 2024 enrolments. It was an evening in which we were able to showcase what we have to offer as a school and what makes us unique as one of only a handful of Junior High Schools in New Zealand. If you have any friends or whānau in the community who are considering enrolling their children with us next year, please encourage them to come to our next Open Evening on Wednesday 31st May.

Ngā Mihi,

Mel (Acting Principal)