Message from Staff

Kia ora te whanau

Hasn’t May be an amazing month?  I find it much easier to feel positive about life in general when I’m warm and the sun is shining. Therefore winter is a chance for me to challenge myself to find positive things about the colder temperature and inclement weather. I hope you can too, especially those of you who are new to NZ and experiencing a South Island winter for the first time.

This term we have been looking at the life of Joseph and how his story shows us how we can live with integrity in our relationships and therefore bring hope. In its most basic sense, integrity means to live out your life in private in the same way you live (or talk about) your life in public.

It is quite a daunting task to explain “integrity” to children and to impart some understanding of how this can bring hope. Because we have studied the story of Joseph in our Living Christianly sessions I was able to use this story as an example of someone who showed amazing integrity in some very testing times in our whole school devotions last week.

Joseph’s life started out pretty well as the favourite son of Jacob but at the tender age of 17 his privileged life became a nightmare. Yet, God had a divine purpose for this young man.  Joseph didn’t know why God had chosen this path for his life until the very end, yet through all his struggles, Joseph’s faith in God never waivered – he always knew that God was in control. Joseph kept his eyes on God, and God used Joseph greatly.  What a wonderful encouragement to us.  Let God use us where we are.  Let Him use us in the hard times, as well as the good times.

What exactly is integrity?  According to one dictionary, integrity is “the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards, and the state of being complete, undivided, sound or undamaged.”  These are pretty big ideas  – especially if you’re under 12!  However, simply put, “integrity” means walking the talk, saying and doing what you know is right.  As Christians, our compass for determining what is “right” is Jesus – the Light of the world.  “For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of man.” (2 Corinthians 8:21).

Love and blessings,

Lynda Siave
Junior Hub Team Leader

Exploring the Values at Home

This week we continue our exploration of Love and Hope by exploring the next chapter of the Joseph story. We will look at how living with integrity in our relationships brings hope. This week we are also learning what it means to approach things with a positive and curious attitude.

Family challenge of the week:
Read the story of Gideon (Judges 7) and discuss how he was positive in his situation.

Discussion:

What does it mean to be positive?

How are you positive in your daily life?

Why do think God wants to be positive?

How can we be more positive in ourselves and towards others?

What’s Happening

Informative morning teas – Tomorrow 9am

Please come along at 9am tomorrow to learn about how schools are structured, and ways you can be involved in school life within this structure. As parents you have a wonderful opportunity to not only enhance the education of your own children but also the education of every child that is part of our school community.

Mufti Day – Next Tuesday

Practical Support – request from the Middle Hub

To all RCS parents and caregivers,

What’s Coming Up

Board of Trustees Elections:
Nominations have now closed. Please keep an eye out for the voting papers that will be coming out.

School Cross Country – 17 June, 12.30pm

The RCS Annual School Cross Country is coming up soon. Encourage your children to practise their running and then come along to support them on the day. Don’t forget to start planning your whanau group coloured outfits!

Cookies and Jellies for sale!
Proceeds go to – Riding for the disabled horses.
Thursday 26th May at 2nd break.
Cookie Time cookies $1.00
Bag of 20 cookies $20.00
Jellies with ice cream on top $1.50
Thanks for helping,
Amy

Mufti Day Friday 10th June: supporting 40 hour famine:
Wear the colours of the Syrian Flag: red, white, black and green.
Cold coin donation.
By Sabrina and Daniel, for their Home Learning.

From the PCG

‘Second Hand Uniform Shop’:

The PCG is pleased to announce that we now have a Second Hand Uniform Shop.
Thank you Natalie Patterson for offering to run this.
How it works:
Seller: Parents to label each item with the Name, phone number and price. PCG will take 20% off the for administering the service. Funds will go towards PCG Fundraising Initiatives.
Shop Hours: By appointment only. Contact Natalie Patterson via RCS Parent Facebook page or leave a message at the office.

Entertainment Books

The PCG will be selling The Entertainment Book again this year.  A copy of the books will be coming home with each family today. If you can sell the copy you have been given, or purchase it yourself, that would be fantastic! If you are unable to sell the book please return it to the office.

Cheese Rolls – Update

Forms were sent home last Tuesday so you can start collecting orders for cheese rolls. These are due back 10 June. There are prizes for children that collect the most orders.  Please also put the 18th June in your diaries to come along and help with the production of cheese rolls. Last year this was a wonderful day of connecting with others in the school community while raising considerable funds for the school.

School Mum’s Bible Study:

Mums Bible study groups are going to be held this term twice a week. Wednesday afternoon: 2-3pm in the school staffroom and Thursday evening: 7-8.30pm, venue yet to be decided. Please talk to Cristene Trenuela-Chan (trenuela.chan@vodafone.co.nz), Jacqueline Pieterse or Amy Steven (0212254653, blair.and.amy@gmail.com) if you are keen to be a part of this, and we will make sure we have a study book for you. We are a multi denominational group, with mums who are at different stages of their walk with Christ. 

School Fair

At some stage in the future RCS would like to work towards a school fair.  The PCG is requesting someone who would take leadership with organising this event.  Please contact Nina Green or Alan Whitmore if you would like to get involved.
Donations – A big THANK YOU!
The PCG would like to thank Orana Park for their generous donation of free passes to the park for students that collect the most cheese roll orders. We would also like to thank New World Rolleston for their generous donation towards the court markings. It is wonderful to have such a supportive local community!

Get Involved with the PCG
The PCG is small in numbers and we would be grateful for more parents to come on board and serve the school.  We meet once a month and there is a place for anyone who can give their time and energy!  Please see Alan Whitmore or speak to Kendra Liggett if you would like to get involved.  It’s a fun group who are dedicated and enthusiastic and we’d love to see some new faces!

Upcoming Fundraisers
We are running a number of fundraising events this year.  Cheese rolls, school mug fundraiser, scholastic book fair, mystery bottle and mystery stick event at the fireworks, lego building fun day (save the date for 17^th September!), and sausage sizzles to name a few.  If you can assist at any of these events or donate goods that would assist these fundraising endeavours please contact Nina Green.

Bake Sale Thank you
We would like to say a HUGE thank you for all your support with the bake sale last Wednesday. We hope you enjoyed your treats as much as we enjoyed helping to prepare them and selling them to you.
With your help we raised $174.00 towards our goal. This has been a great start towards the $300 we need to get 30 pairs of Goggles for the children of Malolo School in Fiji.
Stirling Sports in Northlands have been very kind to offer us these quality goggles at a third of the retail price. So we thank them too.
We have another challenge this weekend of tramping 17km in to Lake Daniels and back. And we are hoping that the money we raise from doing this will get us to our target.
Thank you again for your support with the Bake Sale, from George and Oliver Bell.

Reminders

• Wheels Day is on a Wednesday – children may bring any type of ‘wheels’ they choose.
• Now that it is getting cold, students may like to wear black thermal tops under their polo shirts. Girls may like to wear black woollen stockings. Please name all items of clothing.
• If your child brings anything home that is not theirs please return it to school.
• Please check your child’s head for lice regularly, and please make sure that long hair is tied up at school.

House Buying or Selling through our RCS community

I will contribute $500 to the school when any family or friends of RCS looking at buying or selling their homes use my services, resulting in a list and sell through me.
Contact me anytime to discuss your real estate needs.

Details as below,

Kind Regards
Rachael

Community Notices

Southern Region Inaugural Sport Stacking Tournament:
The Southern Region Inaugural Sport Stacking Tournament is being held at Maori Hill School, DUNEDIN on Saturday 28 May 2016. This is the first sport stacking tournament to be held in the South Island and is for all ages from 3 – 60+. Registrations can be done online. All details are on the Speed Stacks (NZ) website Tournaments page: www.speedstacks.co.nz/pages/south-island-tournament 

Early registration ends 13 May. Entries close 23 May.