CPDS Board of Trustees Newsletter - 12 June 2017

Dear School Community  

The Cornwall Park District School Board of Trustees had its monthly meeting last Tuesday evening 30th May.   This note provides a brief update to parents, whānau and caregivers on both that meeting and any other key Board issues. The minutes of the Board meeting are also available from the school office.

We received progress reports on matters concerning the school. We considered the monthly progress against strategic and annual aims in the Principal’s report. Specifically we looked at our progress towards our National Standard targets for 2017. We were impressed with progress to date and the commitment of our teachers and the senior lead team in continuing to work with our students in meeting our targets. We did note, however, that only a small number of our Year 2 children will reach Above Standard this year.

While this was acknowledged as a common trend across primary schools in New Zealand, we also acknowledge the work of our teaching staff in monitoring this and working towards solutions for both individual students and the students as a group.

We then discussed teachers Professional Development and looked at opportunities and requests. Of significance is the ability for the Board to provide scholarships to the teaching staff to attend a conference, undertake some research or be part of a programme that contributes to student achievement for our school. A request on the table was to send two teachers across to Ningbo, China to continue building our relationship with the people of our sister school and to expand our knowledge and practice of their culture and education system. This programme finances the costs for travel of one teacher and the accommodation costs (including a second teacher) while staying in Ningbo. Teaching staff have been asked to submit their requests for a scholarship in accordance with the criteria set out in the Board Policy.

On other progress reports the Property and Finance Committees informed us that the renovated classrooms (Rm8 and Rm10) have been issued a Certificate of Public Use.  You may have noticed that these are now occupied and the occupants are said to be very happy with their new surroundings. There are still some minor details to be completed and the Council has yet to issue the Code of Compliance, but these are being addressed. Work on the fence and gate at the rear of the school (Green Lane West entrance) is also underway and will be completed soon. The committee also reported that draft architectural plans had been produced to develop the space under Room 27.

The Policy Committee presented a Board Work Plan for 2017/2018 which was approved by the Board. The committee also presented a report template to be used by persons requested to present to the Board. This was amended and approved during the meeting. Finally, the committee discussed the current policies in SchoolDocs that are subject to review for Term 2 – as noted in our previous Board update. The committee has suggested minor amendments to the policies. These were agreed to by the Board and will be submitted to SchoolDocs on behalf of the Board. These policies are only subject to review by the Board and the staff of the school.

The Personnel Committee reported that the Principals appraisal was currently being considered as part of the annual process.

The Community Committee confirmed that it will be holding a meeting before the end of term to undertake a review of our community groups and how to maintain engagement with these. Also to progress the Communication strategy.

Under Self Review, the Board reviewed the outcomes of the Internal Evaluation Tool (IET) Survey that was undertaken in March. This is an anonymous survey carried out by the New Zealand School of Trustees Association (NZSTA) to assess the understanding of the trustees of their role and responsibilities as a trustee and as a Board. It provides a benchmark for the Board and it is recommended that it be undertaken on a regular basis (annually) to identify gaps and possible training to remedy these. We were impressed to hear that we had performed well in the survey, presenting as a cohesive group with a good knowledge of our roles and responsibilities. We are still working on understanding the roles of management and governance and assure you that we put our hearts and our heads into our primary focus of student achievement.

As always, we welcome your input and feedback and appreciate you taking the time to read this update.

Warm regards.
Cornwall Park District School Board of Trustees

Nga mihi
Lee-Ann Lucas, Sarah Sutcliffe, Nicki Taylor, Michael O’Brien,
Jamie Galloway, Lou Dennis, Gowan Duff, Chris Porteous and Janine Irvine
Cornwall Park District School Board of Trustees

亲爱的学校社区

Cornwall Park 小学每月一次的董事会议在5月30日星期二晚上举行。这个最新简报是让所有的父母、家庭和看护人了解会议上所讨论的问题。会议记录也可以在学校办公室索取。

我们收到有关学校事宜的进度报告。具体来说，在 2017 年国家标准目标方面取得进展。谢谢我们的老师们和领导干部们与学生们互相合作达成目标。 我们也注意到了，今年可能只有一部份二年级的学生可以達到或者超过国家的㝍作标准。

然后我们讨论了教师专业发展。希望董事会能够向教学人员提供奖学金参加会议，进行一些研究或参与为我们学校的学生成就做出贡献的计划。其中一项便是派两名教师到宁波继续与姊妹学校建立关系，扩大对文化教育体系的认识和实践。该计划将提供教师在宁波留学期间的旅费和住宿费用。教学人员被要求按照董事会政策规定的标准提交奖学金申请。

在其他进度报告中，财产和财政委员会通知我们，翻新过的教室（Rm8 and Rm10）已经颁发了公共使用证书。还有一些细节尚待完成，但正在处理当中。学生和老师都非常满意他们的新环境。校园后方的栅栏也在进行中，很快就会完成。27号教室的建筑计划草案也已经制定。

政策委员会提交了董事会批准的 17/18 号董事会工作计划。委员会讨论了有待审议的第二学期政策。这些政策只接受董事会和学校的工作人员的审查。

人事委员会报告说，校长的评估目前正在考虑作为年度审查的一部分。

社区委员会确认将在本学期结束前对社区团体进行检讨会议，讨论如何保持与这些群体的接触並加强沟通策略。

在自我审查下，董事会审查了3月份进行的内部评估（IET）调查结果。这是由新西兰信托协会（NZSTA）进行的匿名调查，以评估受托人对作为受托人和董事会的作用和责任的理解。它为董事会提供了一个基准，建议每年进行，以查明差距和可能的补救措施。我们感到欣慰的是我们在调查中表现良好，是一个团结一致的团队，对我们的角色和职责有很好的了解。我们仍然在努力了解管理和治理的作用，并将心思和焦点放在学生的成就上。

与往常一样，我们欢迎您的意见和反馈，并感谢您抽出宝贵的时间来阅读本更新（简报）。

温馨的问候，
Cornwall Park 小学董事会

Nga mihi

Lee-Ann Lucas, Sarah Sutcliffe, Nicki Taylor,
Michael O’Brien and  Jamie Galloway
Cornwall Park District School Board of Trustees