Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Kia ora, Hello, Talofa, Mālō e lelei, Bula, Hola, Fakaalofa atu, As Salam Alaykom, こんにちは, Hallo, Hoy, હ લ ો, Hē leu, Mauri, न म त, Ola , Chum reap suor, Kumusta, Nihao, Xin chào.

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Board News

The Board of Trustees is delighted to announce that they have selected Isobel Ross to join the Board of Trustees. Isobel is the mother of Lexi and Layla, and we are very pleased that she has joined the board and will contribute skills in the financial area. As we have stated before if anyone else is interested in joining the Board please contact myself first and we will arrange for you to come to a meeting.

Bullying

Bullying has been in the news lately and it has been an opportune time to talk to all of our students about what bullying is and what it is not. Bullying is deliberate, ongoing, harmful behaviour to another. For instance it is not conflict, arguing, fighting or disagreements. While all of these are not good they are not bullying as they are not ongoing. We have also spoken about the need to tell a staff member quickly if anyone is being bullied at school, and this also means peers and bystanders telling if they see bullying happening. We generally find that bullying stops when we are made aware of it. We have clear consequences for bullies, which involves contacting the parents of the bully at the earliest opportunity.

One of my biggest worries as a Principal is the online access a lot of our students have, and the communication they have with other people late into the night and for some 24 hours a day. This creates a perfect environment for online bullying and exposes your child to incredible risks. Please have a look at your child’s online access. We had a rule in my household that cell phones were handed in at a certain time of the early evening when my children were old enough to have a cell phone, but not old enough to have it all day.

Please talk to your child about bullying and use this resource if you want to find out more.

This is also an opportune time to talk about communication with the school about concerns. In the first instance you should talk to the staff member concerned, normally your child’s teacher, if you still feel you need to talk to someone you can speak to either one of our team leaders, Deputy Principals or myself the Principal. If all of this fails you can then contact the Board of Trustees via the chairperson. This process is detailed in our policies and procedures which can be found here. Please note it is never alright to take up an issue with a child at school directly with the child, or their parents or to at any stage be angry or aggressive at a school.

Nitbusters

We have an excellent Nitbusters programme at Riccarton. You can sign a consent form to have your child treated at anytime. Please contact the office if you would like to sign a consent form.

Wearable Arts

The countdown is on to our wearable arts evening. We have presentations from each team on that night, as well as the Kapa Haka Group, The Band, The Pasifika group and maybe the choir. It will be a great night! So please mark Thursday 22nd June at 7pm into your diary and we will see you at the La Vida Centre.

Gold Key Mentoring

This year we continued our association with the University of Canterbury by continuing the Golden Key mentoring project. This is when University Students work individually with a student at Riccarton to complete a passion project of their own choice. This is a tremendous opportunity for our students and every student who took part enjoyed the project. We had a sharing afternoon this week where the students and their mentors presented their projects to friends and families. A big thank you to Mrs Goulter for coordinating this project.

Have a great week and please encourage your children to be Respectful, Responsible Real Learners.

Paul Irving