Tuesday 11 June 2013

Wednesday 12th

Good morning all!

Meeting Reports

Yesterday was a real day of meetings for me. Below are a few things that may be of  interest to you.

Ministry of Education Property Cluster Meeting

As part of the Ministry of Education Greater Christchurch Renewal Programme following the Earthquakes all schools have been divided in to groups or 'clusters'. The vision is that we will work together in our new clusters to improve the educational outcomes for all of the students. The big advantage in a 'cluster' model is that schools can work together, share ideas, share resources and share expertise to help each other achieve our goals. The cluster approach is not a new idea, in fact our school has been involved, and still is involved in several extremely successful clusters over the past ten years.
Property development in schools are going to be delivered through these new geographical clusters over the coming years. This will mean decisions about what building happens in schools, what new property projects are undertaken etc will be made by the Ministry of Education based on our group plan and  not our individual school plan as was the case in the past.
These changes are large and the new approach has many potential benefits and disadvantages.
At the meeting Jeff (our BOT Chairperson) and I attended last night we heard from the Ministry that our 'Opawaho Cluster' has been chosen as one of the first clusters to advance towards the stage where new projects will actually be able to happen. This is great news for our school and our area as many parts of the city will have to wait a lot longer before money is invested in the property and buildings of their schools.
I will keep you posted of new and exciting plans that will improve our school and community learning environments in the near future.

Board of Trustees

Last night was the first meeting of our 'new' Board of Trustees following the recent election process. The only 'new' face on our team is Rochelle Atherton our new 'Staff Representative'. A warm welcome to Rochelle and we look forward to working alongside her in the future. Other members of our board are Jeff Moreton (Chairperson), Heather Blaikie (Deputy Chair/Finance), Tom Dowie (Property) and myself as Principal.
We had a very positive meeting and the new BOT are excited and enthusiastic about their role in helping our school to be the very best that it can be.
If you ever have any questions about BOT issues or school governance please do not hesitate to contact me and I will assist in any way i can.


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