Muritai School Board of Trustees

December Newsletter 2013


The end of the year is upon us and as we head into the silly season we are left wondering where on earth the rest of the year went.

It's been a frantic but very interesting year for the school Board. We are privileged to have an excellent management and administrative team who continue to deliver a calm and structured learning environment, enabling the Board to focus on major developments in funding, property and school logistics.

SPG funding (Special Property Grant)
The biggest and most exciting news is the additional $895,000 property funding we have been allocated from the Ministry of Education to bring our non teaching space up to par with other schools around the country.  This is welcome money, as we have for some time juggled the challenges of accommodating an increasing role within existing space and trying to use every square inch of the school.

One of the key priorities for the additional funds is the conversion of the existing library back into a classroom and construction of a new purpose built library. This project has been underway for some years with delays in its development caused by the considerable and varied challenges of cost escalation, earthquake readiness investigation and strengthening works, and what is perhaps best described as fluid Ministry funding priorities.  We had just received tenders to build the new building at the beginning of term three when we were notified of the additional funding from the Ministry.  This funding enabled the Board to add some of the design specifications we had previously been forced to trim in an effort to meet our limited budget.

The wider library project involves converting the existing library back into a teaching space, renovating room 15 beside the library and developing both a covered exit way to the south of the middle block and a spacious deck in front of the middle block classrooms. The revised plans are now with tenderers, the plans are with the council for consent and we are expecting to be able to award the tender before the end of the year with building due (hopefully) to start before the start of the 2014 school year. The visuals for the wider project can be viewed by clicking here .

Playground
The first project for the library is to dismantle part of the playground as part of the construction of the new library.  This dismantling and reinstatement will be done in late January as close to the beginning of construction as possible. The playground will be rebuilt in two separate locations around the school with some safety improvements added to the turbo. 

Earthquake strengthening
Arranging the strengthening of the middle block has been difficult for the Board as it carries a significant cost and we are dependent on the Ministry for the money. Crucially it is also the Ministry’s building and their decision as to whether and when additional funding is to be made available to strengthen it.

Added to this is the classification of the building as a ‘lightweight wooden frame building’, which means that it has a lower priority for funding compared to heavy weight masonry buildings, or recently constructed modern design buildings. The Ministry is the biggest owner of wooden framed public buildings in the country and has undertaken significant testing to identify the real strength of this type of building in a catastrophic event.  You may have seen reports of this testing in the news in the last month or so.   The Board has paid particular attention to this research and obtained updates from those conducting the testing.  Critically we note that the tests have been conducted by an independent group of some of the largest engineering firms in the country, providing for the independence of the results . 

The Ministry has indicated that based on its research to date the risk of our two-story building collapsing as extremely low. We have attached the Ministry’s public communication on this type of building and hopefully this gives you information (and relative comfort) of the building being a low risk structure. This can be viewed here.

At this stage Muritai School does not qualify for any additional funding for earthquake strengthening and we are not permitted to spend any of the additional SPG funding (noted above) as it is tagged for construction of non-teaching spaces.

Community survey
As a Board we are always keen to hear your views on Muritai School. In term three we undertook an online survey and were pleased both with the number of responses and with the overwhelming endorsement of the current direction, management and culture of the school.  A summary of the results of the survey are attached to this newsletter and are available on our website and can be viewed here.

Health Survey
We are also conducting a community survey into school health issues and PE, as we are required to do annually by the Ministry of Education. We have kept this as brief as possible and should take less than a couple of minutes to complete.  Please follow this link to complete it.


Enrolment zone
As you will have seen in Bird’s Eye View we have now put in place an Enrolment Zone for Muritai School to control our rapidly growing role.   It has taken a good part of the year to work through the regulatory, consultation and notification requirements and the zone went into effect on 1 November. 

The zone is helpful to the Board as it allows us to help control our role and distribution of students throughout the school year-groups.  The Board will advise if there are any out of zone spaces available in year one twice a year and at he end of each year for all other year groups.  These will be published in a newsletter and the Hutt News.  It does not affect anyone living within zone nor existing students with priority given to siblings of existing students.  Full details of the operation of the scheme can be found on our website here.

To enable the scheme to function most effectively it is important that we have advance notice of enrolments for the following year. If you have children at the school in 2013 (other than in year 8) that are not going to be coming in 2014 could you please let the office know as soon as possible.  Also if you or someone you know is intending to send their child to Muritai in 2014 even if within zone can you please let us know as soon as possible.

Ultra-Fast Broadband Network Upgrade Project
The School Network Upgrade Project (SNUP) is a Ministry funded project to ensure that schools nationwide have a strong IT backbone to service ultra fast broadband. The Ministry funds most of this cost but a proportion has to be contributed by the individual school through its normal five-year property grant.

In term 3 we had the fibre-optic cable connected and have experienced 5-10 times faster download speeds.  Our IT consultant has reviewed the Ministry plan and now we can begin the process of connecting up the rest of the school.  Whereas initial estimates put our contribution in excess of $60,000, the cost is much lower ($7,000 - $23,000) due to our relatively advanced IT infrastructure platform.  We expect construction to begin in the next few months.

Reading Recovery
We are delighted to be able to offer the Reading Recovery programme in 2014.  The primary aim of Reading Recovery is to prevent literacy difficulties at an early stage before they begin to affect a child’s educational progress. This specialist one-to-one assistance to children in most need is an effective prevention strategy against later literacy difficulties and provides a boost to student achievement overall. 

Unfortunately, due to its intensive, one-on-one structure it is very expensive and notwithstanding its success, remains underfunded by the Government.  At Muritai, principally because of our decile rating, we are funded for only 1.4 children to go through the course annually and we were unable to offer it in 2012 and 2013.

In 2014 we have the opportunity of a one-off funding increase for the programme and are pleased to reinstate it next year.  We remain committed to providing the programme available where resources allow and will annually review our ability to provide it.

Learning Support and M.A.T.CH (Muritai Able and Talented Children)
Muritai School strives to provide an inclusive environment for all. In a manner which is now being adopted by the Ministry as the standard, Muritai school has, under the guiding hand of Sarah Richardson, for some years now adopted a somewhat unique inclusionary approach to assessing, tracking and reporting on the learning and development of children with special education needs at both ends of the spectrum.  Our inclusive structure enables all children, whatever their particular need, to be part of a supportive environment and our staff work hard to support these needs in many different ways.   Sarah presented an excellent paper to the Board, titled 'Accelerating Achievement' which is reproduced here and which outlines the support structure and systems adopted by the school.  Sarah is a nationally recognised educator and Muritai is privileged to have her skills and commitment at our disposal.

Student Achievement
The Assistant Principals presented the Student Achievement Results and National Standards Analysis for 2013 at our December meeting and the Board were equally delighted with the results and impressed at the degree of analysis, awareness and attention which goes into the continual monitoring of our children’s progress.  A summary of the results  can be found on the website shortly.   The results show Muritai School performing exceptionally well in comparison with both the national average and with other decile 10 schools in the region.  Statistics such as 93.3% at or above the national standard for reading, and 90% at or above for both writing and maths are exception are reflective of the commitment of the staff and the wonderful learning environment which has been fostered throughout the school.  With the national average of 77% at or above the national standard in reading, 73.6% in maths and 70% in writing our results we pass on our congratulations go to the staff and management and also to the children for another wonderfully successful academic year.

Professional development
The Board’s key focus is raising student achievement and this is the major driver when considering resource allocation. We constantly monitor the latest reports and research on where we get the best “bang for our buck”, particularly when looking at class sizes, homework and teaching resource.  Overwhelmingly research indicates that the two major drivers in student achievement worldwide are parental involvement in the learning process and the quality of the teaching staff. 

We are privileged at Muritai to have an exceptionally capable, professional and experienced teaching staff and it has been the Board’s commitment to retain, train and (when necessary) recruit the very best teachers available.  As part of that process we have spent over $32,000 in 2013 on staff professional development and have made a significant provisions in the 2014 budget.  Our staff’s enthusiasm for developing their skills as professionals is encouraging and mostly during school holidays they have been engaged in some way either developing their teaching practice or working together to improve systems around the school.  Most professional development this year has focused on refining practice on writing and maths but behaviour management, addressing bullying and integrating ICTs into learning are also key areas of development.  

Personnel
In keeping with our goal of retaining the best staff it is again pleasing that for the second year in a row we have no teachers leaving us in 2014 (other than on maternity leave).  This stability is vital and reflects well the positive culture within the school.  

We are disappointed however to be losing our beloved Sue McCormack on the front desk who leaves us for the sunny shores of Waiheke Island.  Sue has been the smiling face of the school and a wonderful support for parents, staff and children alike since 2005.  She leaves with our sincere thanks and best wishes.

We are excited that 2014 sees Richard Dobson move from AP and classroom teacher to focus on assisted learning and take Reading Recovery.  We thank Richard for his input into the management of the school for the last couple of years and are excited by his enthusiasm and passion for developing the Reading Recovery programme. We also congratulate Jess Savage on her appointment, in the face of some very impressive competition, as Associate Principal and leader of the year 3-4 syndicate.  Jess brings both excellent teaching practice and a keen understanding of wider educational strategy, which will compliment well the management team.

Finally….

The Board’s thanks goes out to all our staff, teaching, management and support.  We have an extremely dedicated and skilled team and are constantly impressed at the degree of awareness and focus given to the needs and pathways of the individual students making up our wonderful little school. 

Our thanks goes particularly to Andrew and his leadership team for the culture of excellence and acceptance they continue to build and refine which is evidenced in our outstanding results in student achievement on an academic, sporting, artistic, cultural and social level. 

To our families that are leaving us in 2013 we thank you for your input into the school over the years and to all parents we thank you for your support and your contributions to the school and school life. 

Have a wonderful Christmas and restful break and we look forward to seeing you in 2014.



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