CONGRATULATIONS!

T O R R E N T

RUAWAI NOTICEBOARD: EVENTS AND INFORMATION

JMB Aussie Tour Am-brose Golf Tournament

Matarua Golf Course, Sat 22/11

at 9.30—shotgun start. Teams of

four - $40 per team. For more

information please contact Ra-

chel 02263086423 or Kylie

021611719

Public Health News

The PHN (Public Jealth Nurse)

visits the school weekly and is

available to all children and par-

ents/carers for any health related

concerns and/or advice. Direct

contact number is 021432084.

Community Bowls

At Ruawai Bowling Club

Wednesday 5th November 2014,

6.00pm start. Teams of three

required with fill-ins if needed-

$9.00 a team per week.

Help available

Members of the Ruawai U16

Aussie Tour 2015 are avaliable to

pick up hay.

Phone Des Bickers 09 439 2142 /

021 277 0083 Situations Vacant

We have two part-time vacan-

cies—please see page 3 for de-

tails of these.

Term 4, Week 2

24th October,

2014

Ruaw

ai

Co

llege’

s C

om

mu

nit

y N

ew

slet

ter

Please support our school sponsors

43

75

Sta

te H

igh

way 1

2,

Ruaw

ai,

No

rthla

nd

█

P

hone

09

43

9 2

216

█

w

ww

.ruaw

aico

lleg

e.sc

ho

ol.

nz

Many congratulations to our Head of Science, Liz Haines,

who has just been awarded her Masters Degree with First

Class Honours from Waikato University.

Liz (nee Kaye) is a former Ruawai College student and attend-

ed the school from in the mid 1970s, returning here at the be-

ginning of 2012 to take up the position as Head of Science.

Liz is extremely interested in the environment and sustainabil-

ity and introduced a new Environmental Science subject for

Ruawai junior students. The thesis for Liz’s Degree was

based on Environmental Sustainability.

Principal’s Report 2

PB4L Results 2

L1 Tree Climbing 2

Prizegiving 3

Footloose 3

Methven Exchange 3

Information Evening/BYOD

3

Spirit of Adventure 4

Situations Vacant 4

Inside this issue:

Lorraine Littler began in Ruawai College as a Careers Advisor As-sistant and eventually became the face of our front office. Whether dealing with parents, teachers, or the various requests of our stu-dents (who were always exceed-ingly polite to her), Lorraine did so with professionalism and abso-lute dedication to her job.

Lorraine lives in Ruawai and has raised four children, all of whom have attended the College. Two of her sons are now regular com-petitors in Iron-Man contests and she recently attended the World Iron Man Championships in Ko-na, Hawaii, with her son Bevan, who was eventually placed at number 449th overall (that’s out of 2000 competitive ironmen!).

Lorraine is leaving us to spend more time with her family, includ-ing her six grandchildren. She is an avid painter and loves nothing more than to sit down at an easel

and paint whatever takes her fancy at that moment.

Lorraine and her husband, Ralph, who is semi-retired, would like to spend more time fishing and trav-elling the world. Top of that bucket list of places to visit and things to do would be a Safari in

Africa, and also a return visit to France.

We wish Lorraine all the very best for her retirement and this next stage of her life.

FAREWELL ...

CALENDAR DATES:

27th Oct: Labour Day—

school closed

30th Oct—Y8 girls’ HPV

vaccinations

31st Oct—Top Form

4th Nov—Prizegiving

Since moving to Pahi at the beginning

of Term 3, I’ve had the opportunity to

plant up a vegetable garden. It’s the

first time I’ve ever been able to do this

and it is fascinating watching the little

shoots as they develop and begin to

mature into plants that I actually rec-

ognise, and I’m looking forward to the

point where these will come to fruition

in summer and autumn, before the

beds are cleared for the winter and the

whole cycle begins again. It occurs to

me that there is a striking similarity

between teachers and gardeners.

Term four is the culmination of a stu-

dent’s year of attending lessons, com-

pleting research, internal assessments,

and preparing to sit their external ex-

aminations. We recognise and award

students through Principal’s Awards,

Prizegiving, and Student Leadership

positions whilst continuing to encour-

age their growth in the months ahead.

To all extents, we seem to be moving

slowly and steadily towards the point

where the efforts of parents, teachers

and the students themselves are reach-

ing fruition.

But just as gardeners can’t sit back

and enjoy their results without more

work in front of them, neither can we.

As one year begins to draw to an end,

preparations are well underway sow-

ing the seeds for the next academic

year.

The new timetable is being prepared

to reflect new opportunities at Ruawai

as we respond to feedback from stu-

dents, teachers and the

wider community to

provide a more exten-

sive choice to meet the

needs of a changing

world.

Teachers have begun their planning

and preparation for next year exploit-

ing the potential of a BYOD environ-

ment.

We have appointed new Deans for

next year and are working together to

create a picture of the developing

Ruawai College so that we attract and

motivate parents and their children to

select us as their school of choice.

It is also the time when we work to

identify our goals and objectives for

the coming few years so that staff are

provided with an environment that

both develops and stimulates them.

This is an especially exciting time for

us and the challenge is for Ruawai

College to be the greenhouse of the

area, taking in new and maturing stu-

dents and providing them with the

right subjects, support, environment

and teaching to enable them to grow

and develop the potential they have to

achieve their goals.

Gardeners know they can’t make

plants grow: plants grow themselves,

but gardeners create the right condi-

tions. At Ruawai, if we provide the

right conditions for growth, we’ll have

an abundant harvest of talent, commit-

ment, imagination and creativity in

our youngsters.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Page 2 Term 4, Week 2

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR 4 LEARNING

Our new reward system is in place at

Ruawai College and is known as

“Positive Behaviour 4 Learning.”

Each week, staff have the opportunity

to award students with points for their

respective Houses if they display pos-

itive behaviour in the following vir-

tues: Resilience, Respect and Respon-

sibility. The House which has accu-

mulated the most House Points from

this system will be presented the Val-

ues (Virtues) Trophy.

The results for this week follow:

First – Totara House: 45 points

Second – Kauri House: 41 points

Third - Rimu House: 40 points

L1 TREE CLIMBING

Our Year 11 Physical Education class

had the privilege of going to the Glen-

bervie Adventure Forest and participat-

ing in various courses to complete their

Level One Physical Education Achieve-

ment Standard.

We started off the day with safety

courses which developed into 6 other

courses which varied in difficulty. All

students also had the opportunity to

complete one course blind-folded while

they were instructed by a peer from

their class.

The day was very productive and chal-

lenging, putting Year 11’s out of our

comfort zones and pushing our upper

body strength to the limit.

Every student had an enjoyable day and

all would recommend Glenbervie’s

Adventure Forest to anyone who is

looking for a challenging and fun day.

Term 4, Week 2 Page 3

MY METHVEN EXHANGE

Throughout the 10 days down in Meth-

ven we stayed with a host family which

was completely out of my comfort zone.

We learnt new skills and met a lot of

great people.

My highlight would be skiing because it

was my first time seeing snow; this was

a moment I will never forget. For the

students who will be Year 10 next year I

strongly encourage you to apply for the

Ruawai Lions’ Methven exchange be-

cause it is a once in a life time kind of

thing. Georgia Beattie, Year 10

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body. Cicero

INFORMATION EVENING AND BYOD

Thursday 6 November 2014

6.00 – 8.00 pm

Programme for evening:

Part 1: 6 – 7 pm Information for prospective parents

and students considering Ruawai College as their

preferred school for 2015.

Part 2: 7 – 8pm Information and presentation relat-

ing to BYOD for year 7 and 8 students in 2015.

Light refreshments and opportunity to ask questions

RSVP

To assist with planning and catering for the evening

would you please let the school office know of your

intention to join us for this Information Evening.

FOOTLOOSE!

Dargaville Little Theatre

recently ran their season of

the Broadway Musical Foot-

loose. Based on the 1934

movie, it centres around Ren

McCormack moving from

Chicago to Bomont, a small

southern town in the USA.

Here he finds a town left

reeling from a horrible car

accident that killed several

young people, and made

them enforce a law of no

drugs, alcohol, and dancing.

Ren develops a friendship

with Ariel, the Reverend's

rebel daughter, and they

team up with other young

people to convince the town

that 'dancing is not a crime'

and should be allowed once

more.

From Ruawai College, Kas-

sidy Kinvig played the lead

role of Ariel, with Helena

Thompson in a supporting

role of one of her friends

Urleen. The show was well

received amongst the com-

munity, and both Kassidy

and Helena were awesome.

Both showed commitment

and talent with acting, danc-

ing and singing. Many com-

mented on their wonderful

performance.

Footloose showed to over

500 people over 8 perfor-

mances. Kassidy is pictured

in the front with Glenn Mar-

sical, who played Ren.

Deborah Steele

ACADEMIC PRIZE-GIVING

Our annual Prizegiving will be

on Tuesday, 4th Novemeber

2014. Junior Certificates, as well

as our Senior Prizes, will be

awarded at this event.

Please be seated by 11.45 as we

will start at 12.00 sharp.

Light refreshments will be pro-

vided in the

Home Eco-

nomics room

following the

Prizegiving

and all par-

ents, caregiv-

ers, and fami-

ly friends are

invited to

attend.

FAREWELL …

Ngaire Dent has left Ruawai College after many years as

Business Manager. During that time, Ngaire has worked

for three different principals and seen many staff come

and go. Ngaire is now planning to relocate with her

husband to the Rotorua district and we wish her well in

her new ventures.

Term 4, Week 2 Page 4

10 days, 36 trainees, 12 crew and one boat. How could you

ask for anything better? The ultimate ice breaker was when

you turned to the person next to you and said “Sorry for

getting my vomit on you.” I was lucky enough to set out on

the 5th of October on one of my most favourable journeys yet.

The Spirit of New Zealand hit 6 metre swells on the first day

leaving us trainees groaning about how much we hated this

stupid boat. We travelled from Napier up to Tolaga Bay and

were more than happy when the boat was anchored up and

we were able to paddle ashore. Some of us even went to the

extremes of kissing the ground.

I cannot praise this experience highly enough. I even miss the

6:30am starts, morning PT and the dreaded swim. Every day

was filled with a new adventure. Dave the engineer gave a

brief history of the area every morning during colours before

we set out to explore. We travelled into Cook’s Cove,

Mercury Bay, Cathedral Cove, Great Barrier Island and

Kawau Island. Each day was jam-packed with activities but

also left room to relax.

I conquered my fear of heights and climbed to the top of the

mast. Andy the first mate reckons it about thirty metres tall!

Dolphins visited us each day, apparently they are always very

intrigued by the boat. They leap and bounded beneath us

when we were relaxing out on the bow sprite. We tramped at

Great Barrier and had a bonfire at Smoke House Bay. We had

to paddle back to the ship at night, It felt a bit like a scene out

of Pirates of the Caribbean. I enjoyed the yard swing, a game

of footy and a little bit of touch. Not only was the experience

amazing but also the people. It is really hard to express in

words how much these people have impacted on my life. The

Spirit gives each and every person a clean slate, where you

can be who you want to be. There were no pre-conceived

ideas of who you were. I can confidently say that I have made

life-long friends on this trip.

Trainee Day is where we trainees get to take over the ship.

This had to be my favourite day above all. We all came

together as a team. I think we all showed our true potential

this day as we worked together to sail the ship, have lunch on

the beach and sail some more. At the end

of the day, the crew debated upon who

the two awards would go to. I was

fortunate enough to be chosen for the

Jewellers Award for ‘displaying

outstanding endeavour and personal

growth’. I can definitely say I have to get

out and go sailing again. Emma Battcher, Year 13

Please support our school sponsors

10 DAYS, 36 TRAINEES, 12 CREW, 1 BOAT

SITUATIONS VACANT

We have two vacancies for part-time

staff.

Cleaner

We need a cleaner to work in one of our

teaching blocks, 2 hours per day, 5 days

a week, 3pm – 5pm, term-time only

Canteen Worker

We’re also looking for someone to help

feed our students in the canteen! We

offer a range of paninis, sandwiches

and healthy food options and we have

Gold status from the Heart Foundation

for our healthy food.

Currently our canteen is only open 3

days each week so hours of work are 3

days a week (Monday, Wednesday and

Friday), 3 hours per day, 8.30am –

11.30am. Term time only.

For both positions you will need to be a

committed and conscientious worker

who brings a positive attitude to the

team, taking pride in the work that you

do, and the school environment.

The option to apply for both positions is

avaliable, on the understanding the

hours are split through the day and the

positions are two separate jobs.

Please apply in writing to the Princi-

pal’s PA by 9am on 31st October 2014 .

Both positions are for an immediate

start.