Rangi Ruru Boarding Handbook

Boarding TWENTY2 0

Rangi.

Be you.

Belong.

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Boarding 2020 Te Whare Aroha o Rangi Ruru - the Rangi Ruru Boarding House is home to around 135 girls from Years 7 to 13.

The House provides your daughter with a safe, secure and caring environment in which she can feel happy and supported in all that she does.

Our environment will help her focus on learning, discovering and exploring new opportunities and to have fun while doing it! Our Boarders come from many different areas of New Zealand and the world, yet they find a home in our House.

We value that each girl is unique and brings her own special character to our community.

As members of our Boarding Community, girls are encouraged to rise to our high standards of behaviour which reflect responsibility, and care for oneself, others and the environment.

By becoming involved in the many activities available, camaraderie will come from shared experiences and your daughter will soon develop a strong sense of common identity, and belonging.

We look forward to welcoming your family to our community.

Kyleigh Lyth Director of Boarding 3

Settling into Boarding 4

We recognise that Boarding School requires adjustment for everyone in the family. Boarding will be a challenging experience for your daughter as she leaves the familiarity of home and moves to a more communal style of living. It may not always be easy, but the gains to be made are enormous.

At the beginning of every year we have our Boarders’ Retreat which is vital to fostering our positive and inclusive culture.

It helps settle our newest members into our community, developing and strengthening relationships.

PC Time (Pastoral Care time) happens in year groups fortnightly. This is an opportunity for the girls to connect with each other and a staff member often discussing ideas and learning more about one another.

Our mentoring programme is a significant part of our pastoral care in the House. Each senior girl mentors a junior girl during her first year in the Boarding House to help establish them into the new environment, build relationships and give them confidence and security.

Pairing up mentors and mentees can be challenging and it is important that we get this right. We know our senior girls’ personalities well, however the challenge is the new students whom we may have only met once or twice. The Director of Boarding completes home visits where possible before the new girls come into the House, and this is a huge help in deciding the pairings.

The mentoring programme has created an inclusive culture and the interactions within year groups are positive giving each girl a strong sense of belonging and family.

‘Yes, I really like my Year 13 mentor she is super nice and caring and helpful’.

‘My mentor has helped me settle in so much and made it so much easier, I love it!’.

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Retreat Retreat is a much anticipated highlight for every Boarder in the House each year. Held at the start of the year before the academic year begins, the weekend is for all Boarders and Boarding staff. It is a weekend we value and treasure, where positive relationships are formed and strengthened with each other. Each girl is encouraged to engage and contribute in the planned activities and be an active member in our community. This opportunity encourages everyone to actively

work together as a team, which helps create a great sense of purpose and belong for all individuals. During the two days the activities are on site at school and one of the days is off site. Past activities have included The Amazing Race, a gondola trip, pottery, ice skating, Orana Park, Ashley Gorge, Waikuku Beach, Corsair Bay, ice cream Parlour night, movies and fun team-building games.

‘I really liked the beach trip and seeing everyone have heaps of fun and not worrying about what year group you are in’.

‘The first day of school was a lot easier as I knew so many girls from the weekend’.

‘I loved and enjoyed everything at the Retreat weekend, everyone is so friendly, and I feel happy’.

‘It helped me feel less homesick as I was so busy and made friends really fast’.

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Boarding at Rangi Our staff

Facilities

Caring and experienced staff develop close relationships with the girls, ensuring that all boarders benefit from the safe, secure and positive environment provided by the Boarding House.

Girls have access to the library, gymnasium, fitness centre, swimming pool, hockey turf, tennis courts and other school facilities after school and during the weekends – it’s a backyard that’s hard to beat!

Our House

Activities

Girls have modern and comfortable living facilities. There are large bedrooms with good storage and personal spaces. Six-bedroom flats for senior girls add a unique and special element to the boarding experience to enhance the girls’ life skills for future living.

Each term we have an Activity Calendar that is filled with a variety of in-house and external events. Every weekend there are different activities on offer for the girls to do. We make the most of what Christchurch has on offer including Crusader rugby games, markets, shows, and physical activities: mud run and City2Surf. Festivals and food markets are some favourites for the girls.

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Events Our internal events consist of regular themed dinners, giving the girls an opportunity to be creative and dress up and set the menu for our chefs. We have our annual traditional events which include the Monster Easter Egg Hunt, Mid-Winter Christmas Dinner, Boarders’ Concert, Multi Sport and our special end of year Celebration Service and Christmas Dinner which includes all families.

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A message from our Boarding Team We believe every girl should have the opportunity to learn more about who she is and to discover what her core beliefs and values are to help enrich her identity.

We want each of our girls to feel a strong sense of belonging within the House and feel a part of an extended family. Our positive behaviour model focuses on praising girls in all aspects of her life, their self-management skills, their relationships with others and what they bring to our community.

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Our girls develop independence, confidence and how to be well-rounded individuals.

When they leave Boarding, we want them to be kind and compassionate to others and make a positive difference in our world.

Our experienced and dedicated staff develop close caring relationships with all our girls, embracing each one of their unique personalities and offering guidance and support.

We want the experience of Boarding to have a positive impact in every girl’s life where she has lasting friendships for years to come, understands who she is and what she values.

Kyleigh Lyth

Nicky Barnett

Director of Boarding k.lyth@rangiruru.school.nz

Boarding Manager n.barnett@rangiruru.school.nz