Kia ora koutou,
Doesn’t time fly? It seems like just the other day we were kicking off the year with swimming sports and settling everyone into new classes and here we are already in the 4th term and Christmas decorations and lights are on display.
School Events
The manic pace of the year has been echoed by the Board as it has been an exceptionally busy and challenging few months. The election of a new board in April has coincided this year with approval of the 10-year property plan. The Plan sets out the proposed property expenditure for the school over the next 5 and 10 years and this year's funding round was impacted significantly by a (20%) cut in government funding. We’ve had a lot to work through but the exciting news is that we have made some good progress and plans are afoot for major renovations to most classrooms during 2011 including new wall linings, new carpet, and better storage and heating. Watch this space (or should that be ‘those spaces’?).
Exciting also is the upcoming Eastbourne Carnival, which is happening on Sunday 28 November. This is Muritai School major bi-annual fundraiser and the Home and School's committee and many, many volunteers have been putting in a huge effort for some months to make it the success it always is. Can we encourage you to make sure you put a big circle around it in your calendars, tell all your friends, family and work colleagues and if you are able to help out there will certainly be plenty to do. Contact the office or email carnival@muritai.school.nz. They’d love to hear from you.
And speaking of massive efforts, we’re sure you will join us in congratulating the staff and students for their wonderful preparation and performance of “The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley” which was the highlight of term 3. If you missed it, you missed a real treat and all those involved should be proud of an outstanding production.
Congratulations also to all those who assist with the various fundraising and community activities which Muritai is involved with. Our community is generous with its time, finance and resources which is a source of great pride. Some examples of recent fundraising efforts include The Orphans of Nepal, Daffodil Day, World Vision and most recently Ferndale School, which was so severely affected by the Christchurch Earthquake.
Reports
As Andrew mentioned in his last Bird’s Eye View, the Board has continued to receive some excellent presentations from staff on various initiatives and developments within the school.
Snapshots are:
- Andrew’s monthly reports which provides an in depth commentary on the school's key areas of curriculum, review, staffing, finance, property and a safe and healthy school.
- ICT and e-learning report on the high level of success and student capability we have achieved and how the ICT programme is seamlessly integrating into the classroom learning programme. (Stu Devenport)
- National Standards mid year report on school-wide overall achievement. This discussed not just student achievement levels but also the changes to assessment processes around forming the outcomes to the standards.
- Science Strategy review demonstrated the very pleasing outcomes achieved overall. Noticeable strengths are Muritai student’s abilities across the school to appreciate science as a way of explaining the world and to use this knowledge when considering issues of concern to them. (Matt Skilton)
- Heart of School paper looking at the overall feeling around the school. It was encouraging to note how positive this is and overall the school culture is one that supports our community of learners to pursue excellence, seize opportunities, value people and try to achieve their best. (Matt Skilton)
We finished the term with a joint staff and Board presentation, on the new Muritai Curriculum, which encapsulates our processes for learning and the way we do things at Muritai.
All these ‘reports’ are on the school website for you to read under OUR SCHOOL - Information and Reporting.
Board Vacancies
You will have noted from the Bird’s Eye View that we have also had some changes on the board as Krista, Peter and Arini have all independently tendered their resignations over the course of the last couple of months. We are sure you will join us in sincerely thanking them for their dedicated and valuable service to the school. Peter and Krista have given of their time for many years, and we now wish them well in their 'spare time'. Arini continues her involvement with the whanau group and Home and School and we look forward as a Board to continue working with her in these arenas.
We now have 3 vacancies on the Board and will be calling for nominations and holding elections during term 4. There is an excellent video on MuritaiTV (click here) if you are interested in being part of a great team undertaking what is a very rewarding job, we would encourage you to give it some thought. If you want to know more please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our new chair Stuart Stock either on 5620984 or stu.stock@mac.com who will look forward to the opportunity to talk to you about it.
Reminders
Can we remind you to fill in the parent survey (click here) if you haven’t already. The survey supplies invaluable information and your responses contribute significantly to ongoing annual and strategic planning and goal setting.
Lastly, and importantly, can we encourage you to give our teachers all the support you can at the start of this term as Muritai hosts the Education Review Office (“ERO”) in week 2. We are very confident of an excellent report and look forward to ERO’s perspective on anything else they think we can do to help our kids be the best that they can be.
No comments:
Post a Comment