Kia ora Koutou RVS Community

We look forward to seeing you all back shortly!  I pray you have managed some memorable family time and are enjoying the kiwi summer.  2022 remains uncertain in regard to COVID related implications but we will keep you informed regarding offsite activities, such as camps, and any changes to onsite requirements as they become known.  As I write this, the guidelines remain the same as they did in the orange level at the end of last year. See HERE for more details.  Hebrews 6 speaks of Jesus being the hope that anchors our soul & brings security.  As Christian parents and staff in a Christian school, we can carry and exemplify that hope to our children  through Jesus in these uncertain times.  

I wanted to mention a couple of things as 2022 gets underway.  Firstly, I am excited to welcome the following staff to our team:

Mr Peter Olliver (Classics, Social Sciences, Christian Studies)

Mrs Jenny Olliver (English)

Mr Ryan Peters (Maths, Business Studies, Accounting)

Mrs Colleen Petaera (Y7&8)

Mrs Janet Guard (Music & English)

Mrs Cheryl West (Careers and Learning Pathways)

Amazing people to add to our already amazing, committed team.  I thank our Heavenly Father for bringing us the people He knows we need.  

Buildings
​There are four projects currently on the go here at RVS.
1 - The construction of the New Entrant (Kea & Koru) class, due to be finished by T2)

That's right, the Middle/Snr hard court has reached the threshold to go ahead.  The contractor has been advised and work will start as soon as they are ready.  This is great news!

Thank you first to our Heavenly Father for His provision, to all those who contributed to the project, huge appreciation. Also to the CREW for their contribution and to our proprietor, Elim Blenheim for their hard work and large contribution.  

The large hard court will be situated in the area to the south of the science lab and to the east of C block.

2022 will also see the construction of a beautiful new Y0-1 double classroom (beginning soon) and 'F block', an amazing new space for our Y11-13 students.

We are blessed,

Dave Pauling
​Principal

The Y10 Graduation Dinner has been brought forward to this week due to the implications relating to the Traffic Light restrictions.  Please see Mrs. Pigou's email for more.

May you and your families be blessed with the constant awareness of His goodness toward you in this time.  Christmas is a precious time as we remember the stunning lengths taken to connect us back to our loving Heavenly Father through Jesus.

God bless,

Dave Pauling
Principal

From the Secretary of Education:

​The Prime Minister has confirmed all of New Zealand will move onto the COVID-19 Protection Framework (CPF) at 11.59pm on Thursday 2 December.
The very good news for all schools is that there will be very little to no change needed for the remainder of 2021, regardless of which part of the country you’re in. (Level 2 rules will still apply at RVS)
Schools will retain their existing COVID-19 settings until the end of the 2021 calendar year, but guidance will recommend that schools outside of Auckland align their practices with the COVID-19 Protection Framework settings, which will come into effect for all schools from 1 January 2022.

New COVID-19 Protection (Traffic Light) Framework

Elimination and the alert levels have worked well, with New Zealand having the lowest numbers of cases and hospitalisations in the OECD. While controlled, Delta is in our communities and the strategy now focuses on minimising its impact.
 
With 85% of eligible New Zealanders now fully vaccinated, and by mid-December it is expected to be approximately 90%, this allows a careful reopening while continuing to protect New Zealanders.
 
This means that we don’t have to change the way we are operating classes this year and everyone can continue to attend school onsite.
 
For next year, we can confirm that everyone will be back onsite for learning from the start of the school year, regardless of what setting under the new Traffic Light Framework we will be in (Red/Orange/Green). This is good news and means we can plan for a great 2022.
 
Health measures in place at school
 
This year and next, health, safety and wellbeing will continue to be a priority for us and the same public health measures you are very familiar with will remain in place:

• good hygiene and cleaning
• contact tracing systems in place
• vaccination requirements for workers (paid and unpaid)
• if you are sick, you must stay home and get tested
• good ventilation.

 
And if we are at Red at any stage next year:

• face coverings will be required at school when indoors for students and staff in years 4 – 13
• we will ask that only essential visitors come onsite.

 
With all these measures in place, public health has confirmed the risk of infection remains low when at school, with households continuing to be where COVID-19 is spreading the most. As noted by Dr Caroline McElnay, Director of Public Health:
 
Our experience in New Zealand and overseas with COVID-19 shows that it does not affect children and teens in the same way it does adults. Children and teens don't become as unwell if they do get infected, and they don't tend to pass the virus on so much as adults when in a classroom setting.
 
Compared to other places, schools and early learning services are not environments where we have seen significant spread of COVID-19. Household members and work colleagues who are in close contact with people with COVID-19, are the most common sources of transmission.
 
However, if we do have someone confirmed with COVID-19 in our school, we have a plan in place to manage this and will contact you as soon as possible.
 
If you’d like to learn more about the framework visit COVID-19 Protection Framework.
 
Secretary for Education
Iona Holsted
​

Kia ora RVS Community,

As you will be aware, we are working through the vaccine mandate outcomes here at RVS.  Privacy rulings limit what I can say but I do wish to update you as the mandate comes into effect tomorrow.  

Many  of our staff have received the vaccine while a small percentage have chosen not to.  I know this is the case in many other schools across the country.  The situation is difficult and we have continued to do our best to support all people in our community while keeping the school in good stead.  We are a united bunch, even if we don't agree on every detail.
 
To the few staff not returning tomorrow, we pray for His provision for you and His blessing.  You are still a part of our community, albeit from a distance.  To those continuing on tomorrow, we pray also for continued blessing too.  

Regarding parents onsite and vaccination status.  Parents are still able to drop their children off at school regardless of status but should only stay for the 5-10 min standard turn-around time, should remember distancing rules, and should not enter the classroom.   We will update this as soon as any rulings change.

I encourage you to continue to keep in touch with your student's teachers however you can.  The isolation that COVID times can sometimes cause needn't be our story.  Even with the loss of some of our much loved traditional ways of connecting due to Level 2, we can utilise other means. 

I thank you for your ongoing support and let's keep going, our young people are worth it!

​God bless,

Dave Pauling
​Principal

We will be starting back next year on Thursday the 3rd of February.  Other 2022 Term dates can be found here - Term Dates 2022

So there is still much happening at RVS, even though it may sometimes feel like things have slowed or succumbed to the events around us.  We talk often as staff about the importance of each day, hour even minute when working with young people and schools are a place with so much life in them.  Stay in touch and God bless,

Dave Pauling
​Principal

Tēnā koutou katoa and welcome back to T4 RVS community.

​We are nearing the end of Week One, Term Four 2021 and surrounded by the continued uncertainty around Covid levels, mandates and other such concerns.  I am so very grateful for a sovereign Lord who is surprised by nothing, who is always good and who is faithful.

Please continue to observe Level 2 protocol here at RVS including distancing and continuing to drop students outside classrooms.  It is disappointing that the casual Talent Quest we are having tomorrow can't be attended by parents due to recommendations from the Ministry related to Covid, our school community gatherings are something I really miss.

End of Year Dates
The last day for Y0 to 10 students this year is Wednesday the 15th of December at 12:45pm.  If we are in level 1, or see a rule change on gatherings we will have a split prize-giving onsite.  If we are in Level 2, 3 or 4, we will not be holding a live prize-giving and I will keep you informed of what we will do instead. 
Due to our growing size, we will be splitting prize giving into a Junior (Y0-6) and a Middle & Senior prize-giving on two consecutive evenings.

Y0-6 Certificate and prize-giving (now combined) will be held on Monday 13th of December at 5:30pm
Y7-11  Prize giving will be held on Tuesday the 14th of December at 6:30pm (Y11 to attend)

We are awaiting other schools and the Community of Learning to confirm the first day for 2022.

Staffing
Logan Brown from Rm 6 will be moving to the middle school in Week 3 this term to teach Mathematics and Science.  His place will be taken by Cindy Russell, a wonderful, experienced teacher who moved to Blenheim recently from further south.  We are also advertising for several positions at the moment and I encourage you to pray for great teachers who love Jesus to join RVS.

Grounds
It was with huge excitement that the first Y0-2 students climbed the steps of the new playground on Monday.  I wish to thank our amazing RVS Support Crew for the amazing effort in making this happen.  Also to those who helped along the way, and there were many.  Congratulations!

Student Elections
We are looking forward to having one of our students join us on the BOT late this year.  As an area school, we have a position available for a student representative and voting closes on the 27th of October.  Only some students are eligible to stand for election and to vote. You can read about it here.

Special Character Review
We will be reviewing our Special Character delivery this term with the help of Mr Mark Larson.  Mark will be visiting us from Christchurch and is very experienced in Christian education and we are privileged to have him. He will work with proprietors, staff, the BOT and there is also be an opportunity for you to input too, via this survey.

We continue to move forward in the amazing grace and protection of our saviour.  It is never lost on me the immense privilege and responsibility that is raising young people to not just know but to love Christ.  Every day with our children is an important day for them.  Together is best by far, keep in touch with your teachers and reach out if you need it.  

God bless you all and I will be in touch again soon with an update about buildings amongst other things.


​Dave Pauling
Principal

Tēnā koutou RVS,

I wish to thank you as a community for your partnership over Term 3 in relation to the ongoing education of our young people.  The heightened stressors from current global and regional circumstances are mitigated by our faith in Christ and our family/community.  Term 4 is always a busy but fruitful one and I look forward to it.

Recently I received the resignation of Mr Ben Russell, he will be finishing with us at the end of Wk2 this coming term.  Mr Russell has been teaching in the Middle and Senior school.  I wish to thank Mr Russell for his work with RVS and he will be missed.  The RVS BOT and I wish him the very best for his next phase.   We will keep you informed regarding staffing as we finalise plans.

Kia ora,

I pray you are all well and doing ok under the circumstances.

RVS staff are working diligently behind the scenes to deliver a solid online program while preparing for a possible Level change.  Thank you staff and thank you parents for your ongoing communication and resilience.

NCEA
You may have seen the announcement yesterday from the Ministry of Education about the changes to the dates of NCEA exams. The examination period will now run from Monday November 22nd to Tuesday December 14th. At this stage we have very little information of the details surrounding this announcement and are waiting for more to come from our Ministry contacts.
The biggest impact of this change will be that the last teaching day for Year 11 before departing for study leave will now be Friday 19th November, two weeks after our previously planned date. This change also affects our Year 11 Visual Arts students who will have more time to complete their portfolios of work before the end of the year. Overall this change will give us even more time to be prepared for exams and is a welcome decision from the government.
We will update you with other details as they are announced.

Preparing for a possible change in alert levels
The government will announce any changes to levels this afternoon at 3pm.  In preparation for a possible drop to Level 3, I need more information on potential roll numbers for the few who fit the  guidelines to attend school onsite at Level 3.  

The Government guidelines for Level 3 attendees says that schools will be open for those students where BOTH parents need to return to work with no available alternative care.  Please note our Year 11 students are old enough to stay at home by themselves, this is only for Year 0 - 10 students who have no parents at home.  In the event of a Level change, students are asked to stay at home if they can continue to complete the home learning programme that has been set up by RVS staff.

I am needing to know how many Year 0 - 10 students may be attending school so that bubbles for school can start being organised with students and staff.  Students and staff will be organised into bubbles of max 20.  Bubbles will not be allowed to interact with other bubbles at all.

Once we have established who will be at school further information will be sent to these families regarding pick up and drop off times, health and safety procedures and requirements for attending school as more information from the Ministry of Education becomes available.

Please fill in the form below to inform us if your child/ren WILL or WILL NOT be attending school in the case of a change to Alert Level 3 so we know how many students will be returning. A reminder all children are asked to stay at home if they can.  Schools are significantly limited in the numbers they can take and spaces are intended for children of essential workers. 

No children are allowed to attend school in Alert Level 3 if they have compromised health or someone in their bubble has compromised health. We do not want to put anyone at risk.

We need ALL families to fill this form out please.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Ngā mihi nui,



Dave Pauling
Principal

Tēnā koutou RVS

The Prime Minister has extended the level 4 lockdown through to Tuesday night, so as promised, I am emailing regarding the beginning of online learning on Monday.  The staff have been working on a comprehensive plan to help our young people continue to learn during this time.  They have planned for the weeks ahead in case the lockdown continues beyond Tuesday also.

Monday will be a day whereby teachers connect and ensure all families are able to access online learning with Tuesday being the official start of learning.  The main platform for this learning is:

Y0-4 Via the Seesaw app 
Y5-11 Via Google classroom

More information regarding how to connect will be sent on Monday Morning. We wish to remind parents of the continual need to remain vigilant around internet use and encourage you to do all you can to keep safe.  Netsafe is a good place to find information on this.

It is important no one is onsite during level 4.  If you have a device onsite that you need, please email techsupport@rvs.school.nz and we will work on getting it to you.

Please be patient with staff as many have their own families to look after also.  We look forward to seeing you on Monday, please reach out if you need help.

Below are details from each area of the school, please read carefully:

Stay safe and God bless,



Dave Pauling
Principal

Junior School
Our Year 0 - 4 students will use the Seesaw Class app for online learning and our 
Year 5 &6 students will have all their online learning through Google Classroom. We will post new school work every day at 5pm for the following school day.  Teachers will be available online between 9 -12 every day if you need any assistance and also to connect with students, mark any assignments and give student feedback on their work.

​Seesaw:
We already use the Seesaw Family app for communication with parents in Junior School and instructions on how to download and log in to the Seesaw Class app will be sent out Monday morning via email by your classroom teacher. Each student has a unique log in to ensure their work is only seen by them and their classroom teacher, it is not public.

Google Classroom:
The year 5 & 6 students have already used their Google Classroom accounts this year. They can use their email address to log in to access Google Classroom. 
We would like to see all students log in on their online learning platform on Monday and there will be some activities for them to complete to ensure they know how to find, use and submit work and assignments back to teachers. Lessons will begin on Tuesday.
If you require any further assistance, please message your classroom teacher on Seesaw, email me, or alternatively email techsupport@rvs.school.nz if you need help with getting connected.

God bless you all,
Malanie
mrs.vandervyver@rvs.school.nz

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Middle School
Years 7 - 10 will have scheduled “Google meet” time with their subjects teachers from 9am until 12 pm every day. These sessions will run for a maximum of 20 minutes each. After this students are to work independently on that subject on their google classroom page until their next lesson. 
Year 7 and 8: A timetable will be available on their Google classroom homeroom page. Year 9 and 10:  A timetable will be duplicated on their English, Maths and Science pages. Please check this with them. Any subject related questions please email your child's subject teacher. Teachers will be available online from 9am until 12 pm daily and will reply to emails when they can during this time. For any further inquiries or assistance for years 7-10  please contact Mrs Pigou who will be available online from 9am to 3pm daily. 

Mon 23rd will just be connecting with students online and explaining how the timetable will work. Lessons will begin on Tuesday the 24th at 9am. 

Blessings
Leah Pigou

Teachers email address are
mrs.pigou@rvs.school.nz
Mr.adamson@rvs.school.nz
mrs.connor@rvs.school.nz
mr.kerby@rvs.school.nz
mr.newton@rvs.school.nz
mrs.diekema@rvs.school.nz
mr.russell@rvs.school.nz
See below for an example timetable

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Year 11

Year 11 students will need to continue with their online learning during this time. They will have work set for them through their Google Classrooms by their individual subject teachers. It is important that they regularly check these Classroom pages for updates and new tasks.
As for the Middle School, teachers will be available via email from 9am - 12pm each day. We will also be running tutorial sessions via Google Meet for each subject for 30min on a rotation across the week. It is very important that students attend these sessions as teachers will discuss set tasks and work expectations.
We are still able to assess students for NCEA during a lockdown period and teachers will explain more details of this as the need arises with classes.
The prelim examinations that were set for next week have been postponed. A new set of dates will be announced once we have more details about returning to on-site learning.
Any questions about learning within a subject or about set tasks should be directed to subject teachers. Any technical questions or questions about NCEA can be directed to:
mr.adamson@rvs.school.nz

Teachers email addresses are:
mrs.pigou@rvs.school.nz
Mr.adamson@rvs.school.nz
mrs.connor@rvs.school.nz
mr.kerby@rvs.school.nz
mr.newton@rvs.school.nz
mrs.diekema@rvs.school.nz
mr.russell@rvs.school.nz

See below for the current year 11 Google Meeting time