Term 2 2012 newsletter

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 1/15^th 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 50/29^th (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

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