Nearing the End of the 2023 Year

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.
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​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.  

This year's Junior and Middle School Prize Giving is being held at the ASB Theatre in order for us all to be together.  Being together has always been our goal and we are too big now for our auditorium.  School will close at 1.00pm on 12th December and Theatre doors will open at 4:30pm. It will be an exciting evening but we also face a few new obstacles.  

Due to the theatre having a specific number of seats, we will need to allocate a specific number per family.  We will have all Year 6 and Year 10 students (graduation years) on stage and will fill from the front of the auditorium with Y0-9  students respectively.  This leaves 350 seats for parents and caregivers which calculates to a maximum of three seats per family.  This is the number we will offer to begin with when the online ASB Theatre ticketing system opens this week.  A HERO notice will be sent out along with an email containing a link when it is ready.  We may be able to offer more in a second round if there are still seats left nearer the time. 

Please do not take more than three for your family initially.  Four would have been preferable but we want all families to have the chance to be represented.  This number excludes students from Y0-10 who already have allocated seats.

Students in Y7-10 will need to find their allocated seat on arrival.  Y0-6 students will need to meet their teachers at the north end of the foyer before 4:50pm and will be led in by their teachers.  ​We will start at 5.00pm.

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.

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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!

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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.

NCEA Exams are now over and I congratulate all those who have been a part of their organisation.  Julian, Malanie and Adelle Galloway have worked hard to make a quality, safe, well organised space for students to have the best chance of success.  
I congratulate our students who put in the effort to achieve great results too.

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
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Cultural - Andras Kovacs

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Sport and Move - Alexi Johnston

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Academic - Hugo Durrheim

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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