Board
of Trustees newsletter
Well
its all over – the summer that is. As is
the drought, swimming and believe it or not the first term; and what a great
start to the year it’s been. Hotly
contested swimming sports, another brilliant year 5-6 camp, trips to Capital E
to see some great shows all added to the usual creative and exciting learning
experiences delivered every day by our talented and incredibly committed team
of teachers and support staff.
The
Board has also been busy, reviewing and analyzing data from last year and
making sure everything is in place from a governance perspective for 2013.
Charter
And Annual report
·
One of the first activities for the New Year
is to complete compliance work for the Ministry of Education. Using information
gathered at the conclusion of last year we have completed and submitted our Charter
and Annual Report that provide an over-view of our goals as a school and how
successful we have been in achieving those goals in 2012. We have made both the Charter and the Annual
Report available for the community on the school website and it should be up
shortly. Both reflect very positively and we encourage you to read them.
Finance
·
The additional teaching supplement and
activity fee information has gone out to the school families. We had an
excellent return last year from families committed to support the additional
teaching resources provided for the children at Muritai School and we have
budgeted to receive similar levels of continued support in 2013. The activity
fee of course is compulsory and at $100 represents good value for service
provided. This includes mathletics (which has had a massive impact on our
schoolwide maths achievement), swimming, bus charges for trips and visits and
visiting performers and some EOTC charges. The additional teaching subsidy
provides for significant extra staffing that the school would not otherwise
have. A reminder that this is a donation and so enables you to claim back 33%
on tax rebate. To enable us to budget
throughout the year it is really helpful if you are able to get your payments
in sooner rather than later.
Buildings
·
Managing school building development has
become extremely difficult in a ‘perfect storm’ of the recession/GEC, Christchurch
earthquakes and constantly-changing governmental priorities. We communicated
last year that the middle block that was assessed as being ‘earthquake prone’
and remedial work was done immediately to lift it to an appropriate and safe
level. The Ministry initially told us that funds would be made available as
soon as we required them to enable us to undertake the next phase of work to
take the building to as close to 100% of new building standard as possible. Accordingly the Board had expected to be able
to complete these significant additional works within 12 months. The strengthening works are substantial and
initial estimates put them upwards of $500,000-$600,000. Unfortunately the Ministry has now advised us
that funds may not now be available as soon as we would like due to the
extensive amount of work required to other schools around the country. Our
building is currently not earthquake prone and as a ‘lightweight building’ (because
it is made of wood) carries considerably less risk than other buildings across
the country. The Board will continue to
push the Ministry for strengthening work to be done as soon as possible.
Sports
uniforms
·
You will now be aware that the Board has decided
that children should have their own sports uniforms from Term 2. With the school budget stretched it has become
too costly and time consuming for the school to manage sports uniforms and with
some children having access to the uniforms for 20-40 times a year the Board
considers it is appropriate for children to own their own uniform rather than
school supplying the uniform for children. This is in line with all other schools that
children from Eastbourne attend. The
sport T-shirts will also be used on school trips, cultural events and whenever
children represent the school at the numerous events throughout the year. Accordingly all children will need to have one (for this year, year 3-6). There will be a couple of opportunities to
purchase these in the coming weeks and we ask you to please not leave it till
the last minute.
ICT
investment
·
Following on from a generous donation from
Home and School enabling the purchase of a number of ipads in 2012 the Board
has approved the purchase of 32 laptops to bolster our stock. These will be
funded by the money raised at the last Eastbourne Village carnival. This means
the Board will have met its recent objective of meeting the national average of
1 ICT device per 5 children.
·
The school is currently being connected to
the ultra fast broadband and hopefully this connection will be a smooth fit
with our existing internal ICT structure
Home
and School
·
After years of service many of our current
home and school members are moving on and accordingly we are very keen for a
new group to emerge. We are enormously grateful to our Home and School
Committee for the huge contribution they make to the school. Over the last few
years the Home and School and carnival group have funded 32 Ipads, 44 laptops,
data projectors, an adventure playground, a sand pit, music and PE equipment,
special interest junior reading books, the Rainbow Reading programme, games and
materials for maths, lunchtime games for classrooms for wet days, drum kit,
microphones and amplifiers for the school band, scooter parks, jackets for
sports teams, grants for our Enviroschools gardens, sound system in the hall
and many, many other things. Please
contact the office if you are able to help.
After
School Care
·
If you do use this service we would remind
you that last year, in response to on-going issues around the payment of
After School Care (ASC) fees, the Board implemented a policy that payment for
ASC must be made prior to a child's attendance.
·
ASC is intended to give parents who work
or have other commitments after school a reliable and enjoyable place for their
children to be looked after. The Board and staff take great care to
ensure that it runs smoothly, activities are provided for children and both
casual and permanent places are available.
While the majority of parents pay for care on time, there are instances
where the service is being used but the school is not receiving
payment. This results in signficant follow up by our administrative
staff and puts pressure on the school being able to continue to
run the ASC service.
·
We have asked ASC staff to ensure that all
parents are aware of the Board's policy and if you have an outstanding account
we encourage you to make payment as soon as possible. Children with outstanding fees at the start
of Term 2 will not be able to use the service until payment is brought up to
date.
Education
in the Media
·
Obviously education has been in the spotlight
recently highlighting many significant issues that have the potential
to impact on our schools. There is still much uncertainty in education
policy going forward with school funding at the heart of the issue. Last
weekend’s rallies supported by education professionals, unions and parents and
of course opposed by others highlighted concerns around the rapidly changing
face of education in New Zealand with issues such as national standards, school
closures, Christchurch re-build, data based learning, performance pay, charter schools
and the move away from personalised learning high on the agenda.
·
The Board is confident that at Muritai,
supporting a strong charter and strategic plan, we have a dedicated and
professional team of teachers committed to maintaining a system of collaboration,
equity, collegiality and trust which ensures students’ individual learning
needs are met. We continue to monitor
the national developments and will engage in any discussions necessary to
ensure the quality of learning we currently enjoy is maintained. The introduction of Novopay has been an
unnecessary distraction for the school and we commend the staff for being so
patient over the last two terms.
Board
elections
Finally we have the Board of Trustee elections coming up.
You will have received the documentation around the elections and nominations
for trustees are currently open with the election falling in May.
Our school is governed by a democratically elected group
of people called the Board of Trustees. These trustees make important decisions
about our school's strategic direction, student achievement outcomes,
resources, staffing and much more.
Being a trustee is an important and rewarding role.
Parents, families, whānau and people from the wider community can all be
trustees. We're looking for a range of people with a variety of skills,
experiences, and attributes who believe in making a positive difference to our
children’s learning.
If you're interested in standing for election or
nominating someone you know for one of the 5 positions available please contact
the school office. You can nominate yourself and nominations need to be in by NOON on 16 May 2013. The Election Day is 30 May (where there are
more nominees than positions).
Make sure your vote counts. All parents of full-time
students who are on the school voting roll can and should vote in the
elections. Look for your voting papers in your letterbox and make sure your
vote is received by noon 30 May.
Nga mihi nui
The Muritai School Board of Trustees
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