Some simple things you can do to help your child at school!

• Talk to your children about what they are learning about at school. Ask questions about school that can’t be answered with a yes or no.
• Read with a to your child for up to ten minutes every day. Make this time stress free. Don’t worry about helping them sound out words etc etc. Just enjoy the story and enjoy some relaxing one on one time with your children- this can be at any age-it still helps and if English isn’t your first language have the discussion in your own language.
• Keep in regular touch with your child’s teacher and take some time to visit the classroom and touch base with the teacher, at least once or twice a term.
• Utlise our Respectful, Responsible Real learner expectations at home. This will reinforce what is happening at school.

5 reasons to enroll your child at Riccarton Primary School

Welcome back to a new year and a new motivation for me to write more regular and short posts!
I am often asked by new parents why they should enroll their children at Riccarton. So I thought I would start the year by giving 5 reasons (of course there are many more) that come to my mind quickly!

• Our amazing caring, fun and talented staff. Aside from the huge contribution that the families make to a child's achievement at school the single biggest research based factor is the quality of the teaching that a child receives. We have staff who really go out of their way to get to know children as both people and learners!
• Our school wide positive behaviour for learning programme that promotes strong values, the difference between right and wrong and actively encourages all children to become Respectful, Responsible Real Learners!
• Opportunities and resourcing- we provide a wide range of cultural, sporting, academic and outdoor education opportunities. We have small classrooms and a large amount of ICT tools that are available to all children to utilise as part of their daily learning.
• Our amazing Riccarton kids who are bright, diverse and full of life and vitality! They are very accepting of new children to the school.
• Our proven track record of high quality. We are on the ERO 4-5 year review cycle of which there are only around ten percent of New Zealand Schools. We have a strong record of moving children forward in their learning.

If you would like to come in and discuss please do.

Week 6 Term 3 2012

Dear Parents and Caregivers

A big thank you to the Upper Riccarton BNZ for assisting us with fundraising by orgainising a sausage sizzle for us at the Bush Inn mall a couple of Friday’s ago. The bank supplied all of the bread and sausages as well as the BNZ barbeque trailer and even one of their staff members to help with the selling on the day. The staff of the bank also had a mufti day with a collection of which all of the proceeds went to the school. Around $500 was raised, which was a tremendous effort. It is great to see local businesses supporting their local school.

The following is information about our Board of Trustees. We are mindful that some members of the board children are due to leave the school over the coming year or two so are encouraging all parents to consider whether they would be interested in standing in the elections next year. If you are interested to find out more you can see me and/or attend some board meetings.

Riccarton Board of Trustees

The Riccarton Primary School Board of Trustees are an elected or co-opted group of parent representatives and a staff representative who are in charge of governing the school. They set the overall direction of the school and look over the school’s operation looking at the big picture and ensuring that we are providing a high quality education for your child. The Principal and staff are responsible for the day-to-day running of the school and implementing the board’s plans and vision. The board meets monthly and various members of the board may meet at other times as part of their role on the board. If you are interested in coming to see what a board member's role is you are most welcome to come to a board meeting. The board’s tasks are as follows;

• Set and, as needed, modify the vision, mission and values.
• Ensure a sensible and feasible Strategic Plan and Annual Plan.
• Develop, approve and review the school policies, procedures and programme initiatives.
• Monitor and evaluate student learning outcomes
• Appoint, assess the performance of and support the Principal.
• Act as good employers.
• Provide financial stewardship.
• Oversee, conserve and enhance the resource base.
• Manage risk.
• Build a broad base of community support.
• Exercise governance in a way that fulfils the intent of the Treaty of Waitangi by valuing and reflecting New Zealand’s dual cultural heritage.

Our board is made up of the following people;

Nicki Aitken Chairperson

Hi my name is Nicki Aitken. I have been involved at RPS since 2001 when our first child started school.   Melanie is the only one left now and she is in year 7. The other two are now at Riccarton High – Jeremy in Year 12 and Rachel in Year 10.  I came onto the Board in 2007 and was responsible for the Friends of the School team.  Last year I changed from this to take on the chairperson’s role.    This involves working with the principal and alongside the various sub-committees - property, finance, personnel etc in overseeing all that goes on to ensure the healthy and smooth running of our school.     I enjoy being on the board because I believe in our school – the principal and the staff and what they are doing to equip our children for the future - and want to support them.  It’s a great way to be involved in my children’s education and learn new skills.

Linda Keall

Hi my name is Linda Keall, my youngest child finished at Riccarton Primary at the end of 2010.  My specific role on the board now is to provide support and pass on institutional knowledge.  I enjoy being on the board because I really appreciate what schools do, and I value very highly the education and opportunities that Riccarton Primary has provided for my children. Being on the board is a very useful way of supporting your school.
Andrea Clarke

Hi my name is Andrea Clark.  My daughter Olivia is in Year 8 at Riccarton Primary, and my son went through Riccarton Primary and he is now in Year 11 at Riccarton High.   I have been on the RPS board since 2008. My specific role on the board is on the finance committee.  The finance committee is in charge of making governance decisions about how the government grants and all donations and other money received by the school is spent.  The monthly running of the bank accounts and bill payments etc are actioned by the office staff, with the board signing off on the payments.  I have really enjoyed finding out about the background of how schools are run, and it has been really interesting to be a part of the decision making for the current students, as well as the future of the school.   

Tufulasi Taleni

Talofa, my name is Tufulasi Taleni. I have 4 children, one is a preschooler and 3 are at Riccarton primary school and are all boys.  They are Lehman who is 11 year old, Hiram 10 year old and Seth is 7year old.  I am employed by the University of Canterbury contracted by the Ministry of Education as a Senior Advisor Pasifika education.  My specific role on the board is a Pasifika representative and it is an honour to serve my Pasifika community and families in this role as a Board member and at the same time an opportunity to contribute to the life of this great school.  I enjoy being on the board.

Sharon McKeeman

Hi my name is Sharon McKeeman and I have two daughters aged 14 and 11.    Alysha spent two years at Riccarton Primary School and is now Year 10 at Riccarton High School.  My youngest Hannah is in her 4th year at Riccarton Primary School in Year 7.
My specific role on the board is as the Friends of the School Representative.  I am responsible for leading the fundraising via FOS which is a group of volunteer parents that put together various fundraising events throughout the school year.
I enjoy my role on the Board because it gives me the opportunity to be part of a group that assists in developing the plan enabling Riccarton Primary School to be the best it can possibly be.  We do this by providing excellent education in a fun, balanced and positive environment.

Craig Madsen

Hi my name is Craig Madsen. My son Campbell is in year six at Riccarton Primary and my daughter Sophie is in year 10 at Riccarton High. Both of my children have attended RPS since age five. I have been on the RPS Board of Trustees since 2004 in one capacity or another. My current role on the board is the property person.  The property person helps to create and implement a 10-year property plan, designed to provide the best physical environment for learning it can, within the budget provided by the Ministry of Education. The property person works with the principal to ensure effective day-to-day management of school property, ensuring it is in good and safe order and repair. The BOT employs a project manager to oversee any major property projects. I enjoy being on the BOT as it allows me to know what is going on and to be a part of the decision making process around the school. I feel it is important to be part of your children’s education.

Anita Breach

Hi my name is Anita Breach. Our two children Isaac and Emma started at RPS  at the beginning of the year.  I have a background in Law and Social Services and am keen to learn more about the education sector.  The most important job my husband and I have is to raise our children.  To that end, we try to participate in their education as much as we can.    I was recently co-opted onto the BOT as I wish to support the school at governance level.  We are very happy to be part of such a great school.

Andrew Wilkinson

My name is Andrew Wilkinson, I am the Deputy Principal and staff representative on the Board of Trustees.
I enjoy being on the board because I want to be involved in the school as much as possible.  Being a member of the board provides me with the chance to learn more about the day to day running of the school as well as looking at the bigger picture for Riccarton Primary.

Paul Irving

My name is Paul Irving. I have been the Principal of Riccarton primary School for 5 years and as such am on the board. I have two children Jasmine who is 14 and Sam who is 12. My job is to oversee the day-to-day running of all that happens in the school in accordance with the Board of Trustees’ charter, which includes the vision, and strategic goals of the school. I love being the Principal of Riccarton school and dealing with all of the people and children in our school community and ensuring they have the best education possible.

Have a great week!

Week 4 Term 3 News

Dear Parents and Caregivers

We continue to enjoy the Olympics both as learners and as spectators here at Riccarton. The cast has been selected and the classes are about to get going in their preparations for Maui and the Sun

This term we are teaching our children to avoid conflict by following this process based around the word SWITCH.

Meaning;

Stop

Walk away

Ignore

Take a breather

Chat to someone.

Please talk to your children and reinforce these concepts at home.

Last week we had over 70 teachers from our ICTPD cluster schools come to Riccarton to share the work that has been happening across the schools in using ICT. This was a fantastic sharing experience and it was very pleasing to see the excellent work that our teachers were able to present to the other teachers. Thanks to the club captains who assisted with the running of the day.

Congratulations to all of our teams who took part in the Winter Tournament early this week. Special congratulations to our rugby team which won all of their games and who will go to the Central Zone tournament representing the west zone.

 A reminder that all parents are welcome at all of our assemblies. These take place on Tuesdays at 12 noon in the hall and include items from the host class, class awards, gotcha draws, the Principal’s award, a welcome to new students and songs. They are a great way to celebrate with and share ion the learning of our children.

We currently have two policies up for review which can be accessed via the school website. These are the Complaints policy and the Behavior policy. Please take the time to review these and if you don’t have internet access you can get a copy from the office.

Our analysis of variance of last year’s data is currently with the Ministry of Education. If people would like a copy of this they can collect it from our office.

At the Board of trustees meeting last week Anita Breach was coopted onto the board.

The start and end of year dates for 2013 are as follows; Start Monday 4^th February and finish Thursday 19^th December. Please note that there is a variety of starting and ending dates among local schools but we all open the same amount of days. Some schools opt to take teacher only days through the year where the school is closed; hence they may start earlier to get in the allocated days.

Have a great week and encourage your children to be respectful responsible real learners.

Kindest regards

Paul Irving

Week 2 Term 3 News

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Thank you to everyone who attended a mid year parent, teacher and child interview this week. We had an absolutely fantastic turn out with around 92% of families making a booking and around 85% actually attending the interviews. This is a long way up on previous years and shows that parents are interested and active in their child/ren education. Please take note of the messages and actions that were discussed at the interview.

On Tuesday afternoon around an hour twenty minutes after school closed there was an accident where a car hit a young boy who doesn’t attend our school on English St outside the front gate. Police and ambulance were called but luckily there were only very minor injuries due to the low speed of the car and defensive driving of the driver. It could have been a lot worse and is a reminder to us all about talking to children about crossing roads safely, watching young children when they are close to roads and driving defensively around schools. Please talk to your children about these messages.

Text message alerts from school

In emergencies we have been using text messages to update all of our families. This is a quick way to get into contact with all of our families whom we have current up to date contacts for. We are going to continue to do this but we would also like to provide more text updates and reminders for things such as special assemblies, learning celebrations, and trips. The system we use for emergencies costs for each text so is inappropriate for these messages. So we would like as many families to sign up for this free service below.

Effectively you are following our face book page via text. It costs us nothing and costs you nothing. So please follow the instructions below to sign on.

1.    Text follow riccartonp to 8987

2.    You will receive a text saying you are following @riccartonp

3.    You may receive a text asking you to join twitter. Just ignore this text, as you will still receive the texts any way.

4.    You are now set up and will receive text updates about events at school

5.    To stop texts Send OFF @riccartonp to 8987

Please note: Unfortunately if you are a 2degrees customer you may have to sign up to twitter to receive the texts via a twitter feed, if this is the case, sign up to twitter and follow riccartonp.

Congratulations to the group of around ten parents who took part in the Reading Together workshops over the last term. This was the first time we have offered this programme for parents at Riccarton and it was offered to all parents of children in rooms 4 and 5. This term we are offering it to parents of children in rooms, 6,9 and 11. It runs over 4 evenings with each session lasting an hour. It is research based and children of parents attending this programme generally go up 3 reading levels within a few months of their parents completing the programme. Details will come home to the above classes soon, so be quick and book your spot.

Have a fantastic week and please encourage your children to be Respectful, responsible Real Learners!

Welcome back to term 2

Welcome back to term 2. It was great to see all of the children back at school today and a special welcome to all of our new children and their families. It is great to see you at Riccarton. Don't forget school is closed this Wednesday 25th April for ANZAC day.

Goal setting interviews

Goal setting interviews- NEXT WEEK – BOOK NOW!

These interviews will take place on the afternoons of Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 February(NEXT WEEK). Starting at 2.10pm. Each interview will be fifteen minutes long, children will discuss with their parents and teacher their goals for the year. This is a very important way to start the year! To book a time slot please go to www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and use the code UPFEP. If you have no internet capability please book at the office. Please note that school will finish at 2pm on both of these days.