Term 2 Update

Tēnā koutou katoa

I hope you had a fantastic Matariki weekend and you are staying warm.  It is good to know we are past the shortest day and while there is plenty of winter yet in front of us, at least the days will slowly become longer.  We need light.  Sunlight is great but Christ's light from within is by far the ultimate.

Property
As we grow in number, so does the property we learn and grow in.  There are several completed projects and more on the go at the moment.  I thank our Proprietors, Kevin Dickens, Doug Clark and Glenroy for their ongoing commitment to seeing our space develop as an amazing, warm, spacious place for our young people to learn and grow.

You will have seen the completion of the new Y0/1 block near the school field, now known as 'K Block'.  We are only waiting on paperwork now to be able to use this classroom.  We plan to open this block this Friday at 10:15am TBC, all welcome.  This will include a walkthrough. 

We have also had both courts painted with the new, long awaited basketball poles going in this week.

Work has now begun on the new Y11-13 space on the north-east corner of the property adjoining the Art/Tech room.  Two full classrooms, a study area, several meeting rooms and a nice outside area.  We expect to be in this space from the first day of Term 1, 2023 and have great need for it.  

Work in and around the RVS edible garden also continues with Mr Silas Silva building this great looking fence and two more garden beds.  The development of this space is ongoing and overseen by our Enviro-school council and Mrs. Silva.

Staffing
We are still seeing sickness in our community and it certainly effects our staffing.  Very few of the people who are away ill at the moment have COVID. Our staff have continually stepped in for each-other and our relievers have been an amazing help.  This has been the case all year to date and I commend the commitment of our staff keeping RVS open for almost right throughout COVID season.

We’ve got some exciting news to share with you in regard to staffing in the Junior School
Mrs. Powell is returning from maternity leave and will be joined by Mrs Connor to teach in room 6 from the start of term 3.
Koru class will be moving to K-block any day now. As you might have noticed, Mrs van der Berg is expecting her second child and will be taking maternity leave part way through next term. Mrs Russell will be taking over from her in the Koru class for the remainder of the year. She will be working closely with Mrs van der Vyver and Mrs Turrell in the Kea class next door which also starts early next term. 

I have also moved back to my old office beside the library, Mrs van der Vyver and Mrs Marwick are now in the office I was in and Mrs Pigou can be found in the Library AP space... Musical offices.

New Website
You may have seen the new RVS website by heading to www.rvs.school.nz.  It looks amazing and I wish to thank Kath Taylor for her amazing work.  The older RVS website is now myrvs.school.nz and can be accessed directly or through the new site under 'My RVS'.  
We wanted a simple landing site for the general public and a fit for purpose information site for parents/caregivers, hence the change.  myrvs.school.nz will remain the main information site and will also undergo development.

Honours Program
It was a pleasure to see more students receive Honours Badges recently in an assembly.  HP is a great space for students to try something new and to have an opportunity to learn perseverance, time management, and many other valuable skills. 

Hospitality
I love my job...  Look what turned up on my desk from one of Mrs. Andrew's students this week.  Amazing!  We are slowly expanding our resourcing in this area and it is an exciting, growing area of the school.

Body, Mind , Soul
I wish to thank all of those who came along to the Body, Mind, Soul evening on Monday night.  I wish to also thank members of the RVS Crew for their organisation of this, a GREAT event.  Last but not least, I wish to thank our three speakers Laura, Mandy and Adele.  Thank you for your time, for stepping up and delivering in such an amazing way!

Look at the news, local and/or international, one could be forgiven for feeling uneasy at best, even fearful at what we see happening in our world.  I wish to remind us all of the hope that is found in Christ.  This school is centred around Hope in Christ and it is such a good thing!  Please pray that as a school community, as staff and parents, we will remain continually focussed on that hope and that His hope in us is a balm to others.

I will send out a confirmation of our classroom opening and walkthrough pencilled in for Friday, weather and sign-off permitting.

God bless,

Dave Pauling
Principal

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