Muritai School Board of Trustees
Newsletter May 22 2012.
“An investment in
knowledge always pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
Being involved in
school governance is both a rewarding and a challenging task. It is wonderful to be part of the
process of shaping the educational lives of all of our children and it is at
the same time frustrating to be constantly battling for resources for what
should be the country’s greatest area of investment.
Last week’s
budget was interesting on a number of levels for us as a Board and for the
school community as a whole. You
will recall we observed in our August 2011 charter consultation letter that the
evidence showed that quality teaching was the major contributor to student
achievement and that accordingly developing, retaining and, where necessary
recruiting excellent teachers was a priority for Muritai School. We have heard the same thing from the
Government this week and whilst the budget was very thin on exactly how it was
proposed to do this, it has spelled out that it intends to pay for this
investment in quality teachers by increasing class sizes. According to the Government’s figures,
this increase in student
teacher ratios will save $173.930m over 4 years and we have been told
"savings will be re-invested in initiatives to improve the quality of
teaching". Interestingly however only $59.807m of this makes its way
to "Improving the quality of teaching" and then as a contingency only
as no indication has yet been given as to what strategies and programs might be
employed. The other $115m saved appears to be directed elsewhere. As yet we have not received details about the year 7-8 technology changes and how this will effect Muritai. We should be advised in September on how this will work in 2013.
The full extent
of how these changes will affect us at Muritai will only become clear in the
coming months but at this stage it looks like the net effect will be to reduce
available staff by around 0.4 of a teacher in 2013.
You may have seen
the Rt. Hon. John Key announce this week that any class size in excess of the
ratio’s funded by the Government were as a result of a Board decision not the
government. Click here to see John Key. Unfortunately this is simply not true
for the reasons we outlined in our Financial Factsheet presented to the school
in September last year.
Funding is attached to the student (i.e. a year 0 child enrolment
entitles Muritai to 1/15th of a full time teacher’s salary) it means
that unless we have exactly the ‘entitled’ enrolments (or composite classes)
the school has to pay the balance of the teaching salary out of its operational
grant. For example in 2012 we will
have approximately 50 year 4’s funded at 1:29. On MoE grant we are accordingly funded for 50/29th
(1.72) teaching staff. Given you
don’t want 50 kids in a class nor can you teach half of them for 72% of the
time, unless you have a composite class, the school has to pay the additional
28% of the teaching salary out of its operational grant (which is the money
received from the MoE to pay for essentials like heating and lights and
‘non-essentials’ like computers and books). Even with the composite classes operated by Muritai
alleviating some of the shortfall, the MoE funding structure leaves class sizes
well above the “entitlement” levels. It is accordingly not the Board who determine
class sizes but the funding decisions made by the Government.
Evidently the
public outcry has surprised the Government and if you feel strongly about it
now would be an opportune time to make your voice heard. The Hon. Hekia Parata has said she is
interested in receiving feedback and you can email her at Hekia.Parata2@parliament.govt.nz
Regardless of what happens, the Board will continue to manage whatever
resources we are allocated to deliver the best possible environment to enable
all our children to be the best that they can be.
The other thing
in the news this week is the closure of San Antonio’s chapel as a result of an
earthquake survey, which we understand was conducted as part of a church-wide
review. The Ministry of Education,
in conjunction with local authorities, is carrying out its own review of all
school buildings around the country to assess them for earthquake readiness. At
some point this review would have included Muritai School, however, some weeks
ago the Board decided to take the initiative in this regard and commissioned
its own survey. We received an
initial survey report last week. Unsurprisingly, given our main building is a
2-story, 55 year old building with one wall predominantly glass, we have been
advised the building is 'potentially earthquake prone' and a detailed assessment
was recommended. The Board
commissioned the detailed assessment immediately and this will be completed
within the next 3 weeks. We will
report the outcome to the community as soon as it's available. The main building was last surveyed in
1998 and strengthening works were completed by the Board at that time. Accordingly, whilst the regulations
have since changed, we remain hopeful that significant upgrades will not be
required.
Student
Achievement Reporting
In our April
meeting the Board met with the senior management team to discuss student
achievement. Each associate principal presented a full report on student
achievement from the March testing programme and detailed targets and
strategies around improving student achievement. The Board was impressed with
the quality of this work and the involvement of the entire teaching staff in
the process.
The Board has
completed its annual reporting requirements for 2011 year. You can view the report by clicking here.
It is a very
detailed read and reflects on the activity of the school in 2011. It provides
comprehensive data on school wide student achievement. It shows that our end of
year achievement data showed –
- Reading: - 94% achieving at or above
the national standard with 65% achieving above
- Writing: - 93% achieving at or above
the national standard with 46% achieving above.
- Maths: - 93% achieving at or above
the national standard with 47% achieving above.
The report also
details why some restructuring at the end of the year was necessary as the
Board struggled to provide resources, in particular additional staffing, in the
school within a balanced budget.
People
The Board is very
pleased with the new senior management structure at Muritai. The ‘flat’
structure of 4 senior managers – Stu Devenport, Deane McKay, Richard Dobson and
Maureen Buckley is working particularly well. The Board has ensured this team
has appropriate resourcing for professional development to develop their
capability in supporting teacher and student performance.
Our new teachers,
Deane McKay, Murray McMillan and Rebecca Saker have settled into Muritai very
well. Some of the teaching staff had a change of level last year and have
enjoyed the different challenges this brings.
At the beginning
of term 3 we say a temporary goodbye to Sheena Naik who is taking maternity
leave and welcome back Hayley Skilton from maternity leave into year 3. We are
also pleased to announce that Jess Savage will be returning to Muritai to start
the new entrant class at the beginning of term 3.
Our roll is very
strong. We currently have a school roll of 418 children with our July 1 roll
expected to be 426. Compared against the July 1 roll of 2011, which was 410, it
shows we have a net gain of 15 children. Our end of the year roll is expected
to be 442 children.
Finance
You may have
recently received a reminder invoice for your donation and activity fees. To enable us to plan effectively for the
remainder of the year, and, importantly, set a budget and plan for 2013, we
would ask that you pay this as soon as possible. Unfortunately, although education is supposed to be free in
New Zealand, funding from the government barely provides the basics and what is
provided at Muritai on a day-to-day basis requires additional funding. We would ask that we all contribute to
this via donation to ensure our children retain the current structures they
have. A reminder that it is 33% tax deductible.
Payroll giving
Payroll giving is a voluntary initiative that enables
employees to make donations to charities, schools and other community groups
through their employer’s payroll system. In other words, you can pay your
donation to the school as you earn.
Employees that donate via payroll giving receive an immediate PAYE credit of 33% of the donation amount. This means if you donate $15, it actually only costs you $10. You can pay your School Donation, receive your tax credits immediately and you don’t have to complete IRD forms at the end of the year. No more obtaining receipts and waiting to file an annual claim form!
Muritai School is approved by Inland Revenue and has been granted organisation status. If you would like to know more about Payroll giving, go to http://www.payrollgivinginfo.org.nz/about-payroll-giving.aspx
Employees that donate via payroll giving receive an immediate PAYE credit of 33% of the donation amount. This means if you donate $15, it actually only costs you $10. You can pay your School Donation, receive your tax credits immediately and you don’t have to complete IRD forms at the end of the year. No more obtaining receipts and waiting to file an annual claim form!
Muritai School is approved by Inland Revenue and has been granted organisation status. If you would like to know more about Payroll giving, go to http://www.payrollgivinginfo.org.nz/about-payroll-giving.aspx
After School
Care
In order to
streamline payment systems, the Board has required the after school care programme
to operate on a pre-pay basis. If you would like to use the facility on a
casual basis you can purchase a 2 ticket, 5 tickets or 10-ticket book. Parents
using the permanent booking system will need to make payment when enrolling
their children in the ASC programme.
Thank you,
good-bye and welcome
Finally we say
thank you to Lisa Allen who has ended her time as the staff rep on the Board of
Trustees. Lisa is an enormously respected teacher at Muritai and has been an
invaluable representative of the staff on the Board for the last 2 ½ years. We are
delighted to welcome to Melissa Coton onto the Board as the new staff
representative.
Kind regards
Muritai School
Board of Trustees
Stuart Stock,
Olivia Paterson, David Griffiths, Julie Parker, Carolyn Patchett, Craig
Griffiths, Melissa Coton and Andrew Bird
