School Newsletter – 26 March 2019

Term 1, Week 9 — School news, upcoming dates and notices

A Message from the Principal

Dear Parents

At the Board of Trustees’ meeting last evening, Simon Tucker, Board Chair, stepped down and Brad Dunstan, our Deputy Chair, stepped into that position. We also Co-opted two new members after the resignation of Susan Cotton last month.  The two new Board members are Matt Bolger and Kristen Sutherland.

Simon has successfully led the Board of Trustees for just over two years. I thanked him for his service to the school in that capacity and for the wonderful support that he offered me as Principal and to the school as a whole. Simon effectively led the Board through the process to appoint a new principal, an Education Review Office report and has ensured that the school has achieved high academic outcomes for students. Thank you, Simon.

Simon remains a part of the Board until the coming election cycle.

Brad Dunstan has been Treasurer and latterly Deputy Chair and, like Simon, has supported the school’s continued achievements in line with our vision and the high expectations of learning outcomes. School leadership and I look forward to working with Brad.

BOT Elections

Our Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of our school.  It is made up of elected parents, the Principal and a Teacher Representative.

The BOT are responsible for leadership and taking a strategic view of the school’s work programme.  Key areas of the school Board are set out in law and cover important governance-related areas such as strategic leadership and setting the vision for school, legal compliance, policy development and defining the delegations of our Principal.

BOT elections are held every 3 years and are coming up in Term 2 2019.  The timeline for this process is as follows:

Initial voter roll provided to returning officer  12 April
Call for nominations                                                 10 May
Nominations close                                                    24 May
Voting papers sent out                                             29 May 2019
Election day (voting closes)                                   7 June
Board Takes office                                                     14 June

If you are interested in supporting the school community and contributing to the governance of Kohimarama School, details will be available soon regarding nominations.

Parents/caregivers are eligible to vote in the election.  To do this it is important that we recognise all eligible voters and that the address we have on file is up to date.  Please email office@kohimarama.school.nz if you have any changes to be updated before 12 April.

Eligible voters are parents and immediate caregivers.  If you have any queries re eligibility please email office@kohimarama.school.nz .

Thank you OfficeMax and BIC Products

Thanks to our families who purchased their Back to School Stationery online through OfficeMax at the start of the year, Kohimarama School was lucky to win a prize pack valued at $500.00 from BIC Products.  This included $300.00 value of pens, whiteboard markers, etc and a $200.00 prezzy gift card.

Traffic Disruption Update

Liveable Streets, the contractor for Auckland Transport, has advised us that the work on the footpaths and curb and channelling on Kohimarama Road opposite the school will finish on Wednesday afternoon.

Liveable Streets are currently working a few options;

Option 1 is deferring the curb and channelling immediately adjacent to the school on Kohimarama Road until the school holiday break.

Option 2 is to continue the works later this week as scheduled.

We will inform you of the outcome as soon as we know.

The contractors working on the speed table pedestrian crossing will change to the other side of the road in the next few days. The installation of the speed table, pedestrian crossing, is scheduled to continue.

Because of the works on the pedestrian crossing the road will continue to be one way.

Vehicles will continue only going down Kohimarama Road.  Cars travelling up Rawhitiroa Road will only be able to turn right into Kohimarama Road.

Pedestrians – Kohimarama Road a controlled crossing area will be available in the same vicinity around the school entry gates. Please follow the instructions of the contractors (Stop/Go signs) and school road patrollers and only cross where and when indicated. The times agreed when the contractors are operating the crossing for us are 8.30 am -8.55 am in the morning and 3.00 pm to 3.20 pm in the afternoon.

The contractors are working closely with the school to ensure that our students can travel safely to and from school.  We thank our parents for their patience and understanding in keeping our children safe.

Speed Limit around school – The 40 km school speed sign is currently out of order.  This is being remedied.  Please follow road speed restrictions around the road works.

The Hague Report on Education

 In recent newsletters you will have seen information regarding the Tomorrow’s Schools Review and the consultation process.  There are currently a number of articles about this in the newspapers, on television and throughout the media.

Consultation closes on 7 April 2019.  We encourage everyone to make a submission through the channels available (details below).

Please refer to the letter dated 8 March 2019 from our BOT.

https://www.kohimarama.school.nz/2019/03/reform-commentary-march-2019/

How you can have your say…

Read the report:
https://conversation.education.govt.nz/assets/TSR/Tomorrows-Schools-Review-Report-13Dec2018.PDF

• Complete an online survey
• Provide your feedback in a written submission to schools@education.govt.nz
• Make an Oral Submission on 0800 FOR TST (0800 367 877)
• Attend a Public Consultation Meeting – Note these are now finished in our area

Attend a Local Information Evening

We have received an invite to our families to an information evening held by the Hon Nikki Kaye (National spokesperson for Education) in the Glendowie College School Hall to discuss the Tomorrow’s Schools report.

The details of the evening are:

Venue: Glendowie College School Hall
Date: Wednesday 27th March
Time: 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm

The Hon Nikki Kaye will discuss the contents of the report and its implications for schools, parents, whānau and students.  She will then respond to questions from the audience.  Our local MP, Mr Simon O’Connor, will also attend the meeting.

We encourage you to attend this evening and learn more about this very important review of education in New Zealand.  You are welcome to invite friends and family.

Paul Engles

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