Term 1 Update

Kia ora RVS Community
I do hope the year has started well.
​We often talk as a staff about how important each day is, in the life of young people particularly.  They grow so fast!  The staff meet every morning at 8.00am and pray/talk about the opportunities the day will bring and how best to teach as followers of Christ ourselves.  This has been the case for many years, well before I arrived.  The privilege of this is not lost on us and I encourage you to also lift our school in prayer as often as you can. 

​Sam & Rebekah Kenny are the new Youth Pastors at Elim. Rebekah will be visible around the school this year as another support person for our young people. She will be in the playground at lunch time a couple of times a week and under the jurisdiction of our teachers run the Shine Programme for our Year 8 girls later in the year.

Buildings
​The start of 2023 was a flurry of construction and maintenance ultimately to support learners. Firstly you will have noticed significant changes to the car park. The changes include a new Elim Staff carpark and have allowed for at least another 15 spaces. 10km is the speed limit in the car park. Also, please do not park where there are dashed yellow lines or on the grass. Carparks are dangerous places at the start and end of the school day, thank you for your help in this matter.

The A Block toilet upgrade has taken longer than expected but is nearly ready to be signed off. They look amazing. The funding for this came from a government grant and needed to happen as the old bathrooms were well overdue an overhaul.

The Year 11/12/13 Block is nearing completion and we expect to be using these classes next Term.  I extend my gratitude to Glenroy and all involved in creating such amazing spaces for our school that are cost-effective yet incredibly high quality. 
We are also currently working with Proprietors on the development of a hard materials technology area onsite. This is a key area of development that I am excited about and will offer more exciting facilities onsite. 

Our Internet Network has received a significant upgrade. This is a work in progress. The school has new switches, access points that will in time will create better consistency of services and filtering. 
Also, the Volleyball Court has now been moved so our Middle/Senior School can use this in their break times. Thanks to Doug, Mark and Kevin for their work on this.

​Picnic
​It was great to see so many of you at our School Picnic. It was a wonderful evening of connecting and eating.  Thanks to all those who attended.  During the picnic there was an opportunity for those parents/caregivers who wanted to be apart of our RVS Support Crew.  The RVS Support Crew is a way parents can support the school through fundraising and general parent support. If you wish to join the Crew please follow this link for more information.  The Crew to date have made many wonderful contributions to RVS and it is a great team to be apart of.  Your support is greatly appreciated.

ERO
All schools are moving to a new model, a new way of working with the Education Reveiw Office (ERO). Rather than sporadic visits and a single report, ERO now partner with schools to review aspects on an ongoing basis. The feedback RVS have received from ERO has been excellent and we are considered a high functioning school with good internal processes for self review.  We are working with ERO on a co-constructed review of literacy in the Junior School as we want it to be the best it can be.

HERO App
We are always looking to simplify and streamline our communication making it as easy as possible to connect.  Our favoured mode is the HERO App.  This now takes the place of the School App and SeeSaw (junior school). Thank you to all those who are already connected by downloading the Hero App. If you are yet to do so, please do so by clicking this link. Please ensure you read the Tuesday email notices, they are important to the smooth running of school and events.

Conferences
It has been great to see the engagement between parents, students and staff throughout the Parent/ Student Teacher Conferences. The importance of connection and ongoing dialog between families and staff cannot be understated. Often the theme is that the older the students get the less the families have contact with staff over the students’ academic and social journey at school.  These older students need parental engagement no less than younger students. If you have yet to connect with your child’s teacher please do so either in person or via email at any point.

Sabbatical
This is my 11th year as Principal at RVS, an immense privilege and responsibility.  I have been awarded a Sabbatical which is a mixture of study and rest and will be taking this in Term 2.  In my absence, Julian Adamson will be the Acting Principal and Malanie van der Vyver the Acting Deputy Principal, they will also be supported by extra staff funded by the Ministry during this period.  I feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity.

Professional Development
​Our staff are always undertaking professional development and at the moment one of the key focuses is scaffolding, differentiation and feedback with Martin Hughes, an experienced and quality professional development provider. We work very hard as a school to meet students where they are at and to differentiate our teaching to fit their learning needs. This professional development addresses teaching pedagogy or how we teach. Reaching students personally within the confines of our funding and structure has long been a key focus of Richmond View School from strategic level all the way to conversational level. I am impressed with the commitment of the staff and know that students are benefiting because of this work.

God Bless you all,
​
Dave Pauling
Principal