Tēnā Koutou Katoa, hello awesome RVS Community. Such a vibrant start to 2024 already. One thing is for certain, we are in the middle of a good ol' fashioned Marlborough summer. Dry hills, hot days and clear skies. I hope and pray you had some quality family time over December and January, even if it feels like a long time ago. I welcome to the school over 30 new students and their families, I hope you feel at home here already. Please use the time at the end of the day particularly to meet someone new, as you wait to pick up your children. It can be daunting joining a new community. It was a pleasure seeing so many people come to parent/student/teacher conferences a couple of days before the start of the school year. We made this change to create connection and hopefully lessen first-day anxiety for everyone. It looked to be very successful. The BoT will work with you in the future on more ways to connect. Board of Trustees Changes It is a pleasure to announce Mr. James Galloway as the new BoT Chairman and Mrs. Christie Rentoul as the Deputy Chair for 2024. Both were voted in unanimously by the BoT and already have great momentum. We also welcome Mrs. Margo Carelse as our new Board Secretary, thank you Margo! Having already spoken about both Mike Ponder and Emma Tempest, the outgoing Chair and Secretary respectively already, I still feel that I can not understate their contribution to RVS. Thank you both again from the bottom of our hearts for your service. A note from James and Christie themselves: Hi Everyone, Firstly thanks to Dave and the Board of Trustees for the opportunity to lead and serve alongside the other members of our Richmond View Board of Trustees. We have a fantastic bunch of people with a variety of talents and skillsets, but more importantly we all share a common vision, and heart for quality Christian education, and for the young people we serve at Richmond View School. A little bit about me, my family team consists of my wife Jo, my son Elijah (Year 7) and my daughter Grace (Year 5). I am a proud ex-pupil of Richmond View School (1990), and enjoyed the challenges and opportunities that RVS provided me during my education, it has served me well as I have progressed through further education and my career. I have served on the Board for the past 18 months, as I said alongside some fantastic people, and I love seeing the progress that the school is making each and every time we meet. As we move forward into 2024 and beyond, I want to ensure that RVS continues to offer a high standard of Christian education. Ensuring that we as school community continue to provide the best learning and social environment possible to set our children up for success in the future. Thank you to all of our wonderful teaching team, our SLT - Dave, Julian, Malanie and Ash, teacher support staff, admin superstars, and proprietors for all you do for RVS. I look forward to meeting all of you over the next few weeks. Once again thank you for this opportunity, I look forward to what this year brings. Blessings to you all James Galloway My name is Christie and I'm a mum of two girls in the junior school. My husband, Sam and I, have a wee business here in Blenheim, and we attend St Christopher's church. Every day I am thankful to the Lord for RVS. For the leadership, the staff, the quality of the teachers, the premises, and that I can send my girls to school trusting that what they are being taught, matches with my values and beliefs. I am very honoured to be the BoT Deputy Chair for 2024. We have a fantastic team and I am so excited about what this year will bring. If you see me at school pick ups, come say hi, I'm always keen for a chat! Christie A couple of important points: Susan Ramsay hosts what is arguably the most important day of the week every Monday morning in the new Library. The RVS Parent Prayer Meeting is open to all and I encourage you to pop along and join in from 8:40am - 9:00am. Please refresh your understanding of car park safety and rules. It is a dangerous area after school and we want to keep our students safe. Please do not pick up students from the no-parking zone by the grass after school. See more here.
Dear RVS parents and whanau.
As we draw the 2023 academic year to a close, we would like to take the opportunity to thank all the volunteers who have contributed their time and effort to various projects and activities to improve our school. Over the course of the year, we have seen several volunteer-driven projects completed, including funding for the mural on B block, the flower bed refresh at the school entrance, the Share Shed, landscaping by C block and the new signage on K block and at the school entrance. These projects would not be possible without the involvement of a considerable number of volunteers, who donated their time, either to fundraising activities such as those undertaken by the RVS Support Crew, or by getting involved in the projects themselves. On behalf of the RVS School Board and Executive, and the RVS support Crew, thank you to all volunteers for your willingness to get involved with these activities. We pray God's blessing and protection on all our RVS families over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, and we look forward to working with you on some exciting projects in 2024. Dave Pauling Principal Mike Ponder - Board Chair Alsitair Schorn - Chair, RVS Support Crew Almost December, gosh, where did the year go? We are preparing for a great end of year celebration at the ASB Theatre, another milestone for us. We have already had our Senior School Prize Giving, as they break earlier for exams. The end of 2023 marks the last year where we add new year levels. 2024 will be the first year since 2019, where we are a full school from day one. It is exciting to see. In saying that, we still have a way to go in consolidating teaching and learning as an Area School (Y0 to 13). We continue to work hard on this as a team and I thank the RVS staff who are committed to seeing God's promises of high quality Christian education fulfilled here at RVS. I pray as you head toward Christmas with your family that you will know His peace and grace with you. I hope the time of year is not a heavy burden but a time of joy as we remember the birth of our saviour.
New Staff I wish to welcome to the staff two new teachers for 2024. Bruce Vallance joins us as a Technology teacher, or DVC (Design & Visual Communication) officially. Bruce has a wide variety of skill and experience as a tradesman, cabinet maker, designer and returned to teaching late last year. We are developing a hard materials workshop onsite and feel excited about this area of growth. Welcome Bruce. Mrs Zenandi Beukes is also joining us as a full time Maths and Science teacher. She will join with Mr Ash Rambhai (Middle School AP) to form an excellent Y7-13 maths team. Welcome Mrs Beukes to the team. We are fully staffed for 2024 at this point which is a miracle in this educational staffing climate, God has blessed us and we have amazing staff! The 2024 year will begin with homeroom teacher/parent/student conferences on Tuesday 30th January. This is before the first official day of school which will begin with a whole school assembly on Thursday 1st February. Earlier conferences will give us all a good chance to communicate with each other early rather than waiting until Week 3. Bookings for these conferences will open in late January, around a week before the day.
I would like to introduce and congratulate our prefect selection for 2024. They are set to undergo training an serve RVS next year in the following areas: Serve and Lead - Rochelle Uys Cultural - Andras Kovacs Sport and Move - Alexi Johnston Academic - Hugo Durrheim As a Board of Trustees, we are developing the RVS Strategic Plan for 2024 and would like some input. You will see more opportunity for this next year also. Please click on the link below to be taken to a short survey and let us know your thoughts moving forward.
Survey Link May God richly bless you as the Christmas season approaches, see you at Prize Giving. Dave Pauling Principal Kia ora Koutou, welcome back to Term 4. The last two weeks have been a hive of activity here at RVS, both with Superkids and contractors around the property. All of the work being done at the moment will not effect Attendance Dues, as it is from a different funding pool. We have seen more electrical work in E Block, continuation of the 'Den' upgrade, the Senior Quad readied for TigerTurf, the small pods moved in readiness for two larger learning pods, landscaping, paths laid and more. A huge thank you to all involved, particularly Doug Clark, Kevin Dickens and Darryl Hunt. The larger pods we have arriving are in lieu of full sized classroom builds, helping keep Attendance Dues down while providing quality spaces for smaller classes. Senior Prize Giving is on the evening of October 26th in the Elim Auditorium, prior to exams. I strongly encourage all Y11 to 13 students to be putting aside paid work, hobbies etc. to focus on study until the end of the exam period. Junior and Middle School Prize Giving will take place at 5.00pm on December 12th and is a compulsory event. This year we will be having our Junior and Middle School prize giving at the ASB Theatre as our auditorium will not be big enough to host all of us, yet we wish to celebrate together. More information regarding both of these events will follow shortly. HIGHLY COMMENDED Names: Shruthika R Award: Highly Commended Prize:$20.00 Names: Zachary A Award: Highly Commended Prize:$20.00 Names: Leah T Award: Highly Commended Prize:$20.00 Names: Grayson M Award: Highly Commended Prize:$20.00 Names: Xavier W Award: Highly Commended Prize:$30.00 GOLD Names: Sadie T Award: Gold Prize: $40.00 Names: Elan V Award: Gold Prize: $40.00 Names: Macey H Award: Gold Prize: $40.00 Names: Josiah G Award: Gold Prize: $40.00 Names: Ononofile M Award: Gold Prize: $60.00 Names: Aliandra DJ Award: Gold Prize: $60.00 SPECIAL PRIZES Names: Aliandra DJ Special: Above and beyond Prize: $100.00 Names: Josiah G Special: Above and beyond Prize: $50.00 Names: Josiah G Special: Best Primary Prize: $100.00
Nominations close tomorrow at midday for two spaces on the RVS Board of Trustees. Do you have, or know someone who has, a heart to serve the RVS community in this very important way? The RVS BoT is dynamic, positive and has successfully guided our school through a period of over 350% growth and establishment. I encourage you to consider it and others who have a heart for the school and its people. Late last term, Mr Newton took nine students over to Nelson to compete in the inaugural Tasman Secondary Schools Disc Golf Tournament. It was a very successful day, with our students winning every prize there was to win: 1st place Senior boys and overall winner: Lakshay D 1st place Senior girls (and only a stroke behind Lakshay): Rochell U 1st place Junior boys: Daniel dP Other awards on the day: CTP (Closest drive to the basket) round 1: Lakshay D CTP round 2: Hugo D Putting game winner: Israel M Friendly doubles winner: Lakshay D and a boy from Waimea College Lakshay also scored an ace (hole in one) on his throw of the day. Particularly impressive in that according to the organisers, that particular hole had never been aced before in any competition across all age groups. Well done team!
I attended a conference last week where I listened to the Hon Jan Tenetti speak of coming changes to education and the forthcoming election. The political scene is certainly heating up, the season changes from winter to spring, daylight savings kicks in etc the constant is indeed change. But we need not fear the future, not with a sovereign heavenly Father. He is already in tomorrow, as well as today. We can trust in Him. The conference I was at was that of the AIS schools. We are a part of many organisations and enjoy the benefit of these varied and important partnerships. Here are some of these partnerships: Elim School Network AIS - Association of Integrated Schools APIS - Association of Proprietors of Integrated Schools NZACS - NZ Association of Christian Schools (NZ and South Island Chapter) Piritahi Community of Learning Marlborough MPA - Marlborough Principal's Association NZSTA - NZ Schools Trustees Association (Board training and contractual/legal matters) NZASA - NZ Area Schools Association CSN - Christchurch School's Network SIEBA - International School Collective (New Member)
Staffing I would like to thank Rebecca Silva for her time and expertise here at RVS. Rebecca finished up earlier in the year as a full time teacher/reliever and has now moved to a position outside of teaching. Rebecca has a beautiful way with young people and we will miss her here. Thank you Mrs Silva for the two+ years you spent with us and may God bless you richly. Mrs Francesca Crossley successfully applied for refreshment leave earlier in the year for Term 4. She will be on a well earned break and Mrs Cindy Russell will be taking over in Rm 6 during Term 4. We are expecting Mr Ash Rambhai to relocate to Blenheim from Auckland in early November when he will take up office as the Middle School Assistant Principal and maths teacher. His office will be opposite the Library entrance on the path towards C Block. It will be great having Mr Rambhai onsite and a part of the team! There is a Principal's Assembly this Thursday at 2:15pm in the auditorium. We have many awards to give out, all welcome.
I am certainly seeing evidence of spring's arrival, always good. I am also pleased to welcome the pending arrival of two new permanent teachers to RVS.
Camp Feedback Thank you for filling in the questionnaire regarding camp cost and frequency. We are finding the cost of camp has increased considerably over the last five years and has become untenable for many, due to other rising costs also. We also know of the immense value of camps and trips. The results were split three ways with 25% wanting camps more often, 30% keen for things to stay the same and 45% wanting less while we are in difficult financial times. Some of the requests in both the 25% and 30% areas were to consider day trips. The chart below is the future plan and takes into account the best of remaining the same and lessening the number of camps. You will notice there may well be a Y9 camp in 2025 as we have the Y9/10 camp booked for early next year but wish to realign Y9&10 to odd years and don't want that group of Y9's to miss out entirely.
Board Chair Mike Ponder has been our elected BoT Chairman for many years now. He was elected to the BoT as a parent rep in 2013 and then as Chairman in 2016. He has signalled to the BoT that he will not be standing again as God has different work for him ahead. He certainly finishes on excellent terms after a long tenure and will continue to be involved in RVS as he continues to have his children here. Mr. Ponder has seen the school through a huge time of growth and his steady hand has been a huge blessing to us all. We will no doubt celebrate this tenure next term but wanted you to know now Mr.Ponder's intentions. Our Board of Trustees and the new Chair-to-be are great things to pray for when you get the chance. Good time past, present and ahead. Our college basketball team are currently in Timaru competing against other secondary schools in NZ with Coach Newton, Manager (Mrs Silva) and team ref Anareia Cameron (not pictured). An amazing pool of talent who I'm certain will do well.
Until next time, Ngā mihi nui. Dave Pauling Principal Kia Ora RVS Community,
Several years ago we surveyed to find your thoughts on camps, the outcome of this being the current way we organise camps. Camps run for all year groups from Y5 to Y12 every two years rather than every year to keep costs down. This has worked relatively well in the past but due to further camp cost increases combined with inflation, the cost pressure may be too much for families. The last survey was strong in its message that you wanted camps to go ahead as long as there was plenty of notice regarding the costs involved. We are planning next years round of camps and would like to know your thoughts. The issue families face with the current model is when there are several students in a family heading away on camp in the same year, the costs mount up quickly. Here are three proposals that could be the direction we take in the future. Proposal One Camps happen every year for every year level, generally combined eg. Y5&6, Y7&8. Proposal Two: All year levels from Y5 to Y12 attend a camp in every even year, eg 2024, 2026... (Current) Proposal Three: A - Every even year we do a Y5/6 camp B - Every odd year we do a Y9/10 camp. C - Every year the Y12/13 students will have an opportunity to attend a leadership conference or something similar. D - Something else Please fill in the survey below and we will compile the results and let you know the outcome. Thank you for your input. Best regards, Dave Pauling Principal Kia ora koutou, it is great to be back. I am very grateful for the gift of time, the ability to read, think, connect with family and hand over the mantle of Principalship. The Term 2 sabbatical has been a huge privilege. A one term sabbatical comes around every five years for principals and certainly helps to bring clarity and a re-fresh of energy. I read at least six books, visited schools, enjoyed my daughter's 21st birthday and many other things. None of this would have been possible without the dedication of Mr. Julian Adamson and Mrs. Malanie van der Vyver stepping up and taking on the leadership role during Term 2. They did an excellent job and I thank them for their work and commitment.
Thank you to the CREW and all those who helped on the working bee, the place is looking amazing! Among the work was the wonderful instillation of the Share Shed. Please check it out when you get the chance. A short blog today, essentially to say I am back and looking forward to Term 3 and 4 here at RVS. Our first year of Y13 graduations with many more to come.
Richmond View School, while led, worked in, attended by and supported by imperfect humans, has the blessing of a perfect Father. Please continue to pray for His guidance and presence as we pursue excellence in His Kingdom via His ways. I look forward to seeing you around the school in the near future. Ngā mihi nui Dave Pauling Principal Tēnā koutou katoa and welcome to the end-of-term blog from the Principal’s desk. What an amazing term it has been! This term we have celebrated so much success for our school and the talented students here. God has blessed us in so many ways and we are grateful to Him for his faithful provision. We began the term by remembering those brave people who gave their lives for us in our ANZAC commemorations. Our students learnt the stories of some of the most significant events in our national history and created poems, essays, and artworks in response. We have had chess tournaments, cross country events at both junior and senior levels, multiple different sporting codes playing regularly and specialist training sessions within the school. We saw trips off campus to Brayshaw Park, Whenua Iti and many, many other places. Classes have been busy with the Technology Centre and the PE sessions at Stadium2000 continuing in full flight. More recently we have had visits from Life Education Trust, the Fire Safety team, the Dog Safety trainers and cultural groups from Whenua Iti working with our classes. Our Middle and Senior school students got the opportunity to attend the Future of Work Conference and a number of guest speakers from universities and even the Inland Revenue have come to talk about life beyond school with our Year 12 and 13 students. Alongside all this activity, our students have gone above and beyond to support the work of the World Vision 40-hour Challenge team and to finish the term with a huge celebration of the many and varied talents that God gives us through the Shine Make, Move and Show event. I would like to congratulate all of our students on a productive and successful term. Well done, you all deserve a good restful holiday! In the Junior school, there are some changes happening as well. We would like to wish Mrs Powell all the best as she goes off on maternity leave and to thank her and Mrs Ashworth for their excellent work with Room 6. They have been a great team and we look forward to seeing more of Mrs Ashworth around the school. Next term we have asked Mrs Crossley to move to room 6 to continue their learning as they finish their time in Junior school and prepare for the exciting shift to Middle school. In Room 1 we are pleased to welcome back Mrs van der Berg from her maternity leave and we would like to thank Mrs Russell for the amazing work she did in this space in the first half of the year. Mrs Russell will be away for Term 3 but is coming back to be part of the teaching team in Term 4. We wish her well for her well-earned break. All of this means that we will have a new teacher starting in room 3 next term. We are in the interview process now for this position and we will send out details of this as soon as appointments have been completed. It has been exciting to see the continued development of the school site this term. You will have noticed the new garden outside room 4 and I would like to thank the RVS Crew for their hard work in bringing this to fruition. The crew have also enabled the “Share Shed” outside room 3 and there are some brand new RVS signs being installed very soon that will add some colour to the school and help enhance the student entrances to the site. As well as this, we also opened the extension to the senior E block this term. This expansion means that the senior student block is now complete and that we have been able to shift classes out of the hall and the library and into these lovely warm, new classrooms. Our staff and students are already enjoying this transition and I would like to thank the Proprietors, the builders and all of those involved in helping bring this long-sought-after promise of God into reality. God has been faithful and we honour Him for the abundant resource and provision that He has given us! We have also had a number of new office spaces, refurbishments and a significant amount of maintenance carried out this term. Overall the school feels like a warm, comfortable, happy space in which our students can learn. As we look forward to the return of Mr Pauling in Term 3, there are a number of people whom I would like to thank. The Proprietors and the Board of Trustees for their unending support and prayers this term. I want to honour the work that is put into this school by these two groups. Their strategic thinking and vision are a massive part of the continual development, growth and success of our school and its Christian character. I would like to thank the teaching staff for their patience with me and their encouragement this term. We are blessed to have such dedicated and talented teachers. The care that they have for our students and the massive hours and effort that they put into their work makes learning great, and the reputation the school has for excellence is largely due to them. I would particularly like to thank the office and administrative teams for their endless support and dedication. Mrs Johnson and Mrs Foote in the front office always go out of their way to make things run smoothly and to present the public face that makes coming into our school a pleasure. Mrs Marwick, who knows everything that goes on around the school and is able to work miracles with finance, but who also cares deeply about all of our staff and students and quietly works so hard to make their lives easier. I could not have made it through this term without you all. Finally to Mrs van der Vyver, our amazing Assistant Principal. Thank you for the countless hours you put into this school, for the wisdom, patience and grace that you bring to your role and for being such a positive and compassionate person to work alongside. We can't wait for Mr Pauling to be back, he has been sorely missed and I know that brings back new ideas from school visits and study as well as new energy from his sabbatical this term. I hope that he will be excited to see all the change that has happened in his absence! The Bible teaches us that our God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. We have certainly witnessed Him and His hand this term. He continues to bless us every day and His Holy Spirit is our constant companion and advocate. Perhaps the greatest privilege in my role this term has been to see our students continue to grow in love for Him and discover the plans that He has for their lives. We have had students begin their Christian walk this term and that is a joy-filled miracle that I pray we may see many times in the future.
As we enter the term holidays, I wish you all a restful and blessed time with family and with God. Thank you for the many prayers and supportive comments this term. It has been a great privilege to “act-up” and to keep the Principal’s desk occupied and I am excited to get back to my classes in Term 3 - I have missed too many Physics lessons! God Bless Julian Adamson |
Mr PaulingProud Principal of Richmond View School. Archives
December 2023
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