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.

Earthquake
Thank you everyone for your cooperation in regards to the earthquake on Monday. The school needed to be checked before we could make a call on opening and we were mindful of the need to give the Ministry of Education enough time to make a decision on whether schools would open or not. This then became complicated, by the media giving mixed messages about schools in Canterbury being closed, when it was only intended for schools in North Canterbury to be closed. 

I have also included an image about ways to help children cope with earthquake stress.

Mrs Skinner  
This week we received a resignation from Amanda Skinner, who is our Deputy Principal 2. Amanda has been away on parental leave and wants to spend more time at home with her baby Levi. Amanda has been teaching at Riccarton for 8 years and has been in the leadership team for the past year and a half. She has been an outstanding teacher and leader for us and we will miss her. She will be back in a part time capacity next year. We will farewell Amanda appropriately. At the end of a year, there are always staff who move on, so I will provide further information about this in next week’s newsletter.

More people deserve end of year awards than we have available to give out……   As we approach the end of the year it is a great time to reflect on the many and varied achievements at Riccarton. This year we have seen our roll grow and the school continue to provide a “rich” and varied curriculum with a lot of opportunity for students to expand their horizons and develop into Respectful, Responsible Real learners!

We will soon approach the time where we give out a variety of different awards for students who have achieved excellence. Although this is important, today I want to acknowledge all the students, parents and staff for their achievements. 

The child who:

• Improved their reading, writing and maths even tho they find them really difficult.

• Has made a new friend and improved their social skills.

• Put their face in the water for the first time in the school pool.

• Came into a classroom with no English.

• Was consistently good but didn’t need constant acknowledgement to stay this way.

• Gave it their all every week at sport.

• Every day was trying their best to improve in areas that they struggle.

The Parents who:

• Worked tirelessly behind the scenes, making something happen for our children and giving up their precious time for the greater good of the school.

• Tried everyday to do the best for their kids.

The staff who:

• Put in that extra bit of time to get to know that hard to reach child.

• Worked very hard to improve an area of weakness.

• Always had a can do attitude and smile that boosted others.

The examples above are only a fraction of the great achievements that everyone has made in the year that often go unrewarded. That is what education is about! Today I want to acknowledge everyone for the improvements and efforts that they have made this year. We do notice you!

(NB: I adapted this piece from something I read on Facebook - author unknown)

End of Year Prize Giving  
We have a formal end of year assembly and prize giving starting at 1pm on Tuesday 13th December at the Riccarton High School Hall. This will include class awards and other significant trophies for various awards. Please make time to get to this important event.

School Pool Contracts and Volunteers  
We are looking to open our pool again for key holders over the summer. Keys will go on sale in the last couple of weeks of this year. There are increased Health and Safety regulations in place for the pool this year due to the Health and Safety Act changes. There is going to be an increased emphasis on key holders to follow the rules of the contract and to be considerate of neighbours and other pool users. The pool will be open slightly longer in this evenings this year.

As usual we are after volunteers to help with the running of the pool. We need to have these people in place before we can confirm that we will sell keys. If you would like to volunteer please email nicola.austin@riccartonprimary.school.nz.

Pasifika Achievement Night
The Upper Riccarton Cluster made up of ourselves, St Thomas of Canterbury College, Riccarton High School, Villa Maria College and Our Lady of Victories School have been working all year together on professional development to raise the achievement of our Pasifika students. Last week we attended a Pasifika achievement awards evening where a number of our pasifika students received awards. Our Pasifika students performed a number of items. Congratulations to all those involved and our award winners. 

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

Nga mihi nui,
Paul Irving
Principal