Hello ,

Each term around this time (after the second scheduled Board meeting) you will receive a summary of what your School Board has been spending time on.

You will have seen in the media that the industrial dispute between NZEI and the Ministry of Education has been resolved.

The decision to close a school due to strike action is never taken lightly, so we appreciate the way you navigated the period of uncertainty.

The project continues to progress smoothly through the design stage. We will soon have more details to share, but construction is set to begin in 2024.

The Ministry of Education has decided that our boundary fencing needs to be updated to meet current code. 

This work is likely to be undertaken next month.

Our policies and procedures are tailored to our school and are created, modified or updated in response to changes in legislation, significant events, Ministry guidelines, reviews/requests, etc. Each term, some policies come up for review.

This term we are reviewing the Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) policies and we would love your input.

You have until Friday 30 June to have your say.

All reviews are open to the board, staff, students, and the school community (parents/caregivers/whānau). In order to streamline the review process, we work with SchoolDocs, a company which maintains, updates and reviews our policies.

Our school policies and procedures can be viewed at the SchoolDocs site. You will be asked to log in — the user name is ilam and the password is ilamschool (case sensitive).

Looking forward, in Term 3 we will be reviewing our Inclusive Education policy and our Maori Educational Success policy.

It’s lovely to see families enjoying the Stay and Play sessions after school. The two opportunities for our wider whanau to connect (and our tamariki to play) have been well attended.

Look out for the next one in Term 3.

Following the roaring success of the first 1-hour working bee, another is being planned for early Term 3. Keep your gardening gloves handy — the date will be announced soon.

Mapping the future of a school is a big task, and a big responsibility.

The Board — in particular, the Strategy committee — along with staff have been stepping through a process to create a strategic plan that looks beyond the next couple of years.

Not only are we considering our tamariki (present and future), our extended whanau, our staff and our beautiful campus, but also the external factors which can impact education: economic, social, political, technological, and so on.

It’s an exciting journey to be on, and we look forward to sharing more with you soon.

A vital aspect of the Board’s work is balancing the money coming into the school against the money going out.

Government funding forms one part. Donations and support from the PTA form another part. Being prudent with spending means looking after the resources we have and carefully managing the purchasing processes.

The Board has been having robust discussions to do with funding and fundraising, and how they fit into both our strategic and operational plans. 

It is anticipated a draft funding strategy will be available in Term 3, with the opportunity for our school community to review and comment on it.

As part of our wider school campus plan, we will soon engage an arborist to keep our many trees trimmed and vibrant.

Several of our Board members have completed the first part of the NZSTA training programme, Giving Effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It’s just one of the many opportunities available to members to learn more about effective school governance.

One of our elected Board members, Jimmy Chen, was recently elected on to the Canterbury Regional Executive of NZSTA (New Zealand School Trustees Association / Te Whakarōputanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa).

Congratulations, Jimmy!

The school board has a stewardship role that involves planning for, and acting in, the interests of the school and its community. Student learning, wellbeing, achievement and progress are our main concern.

If you would like to know more, or get involved yourself, please do get in touch.