BOT Update – June 2020

Kia ora whanau,

So much has changed in the last few months. For many of us, our lives have been upturned. For others, they’ve been significantly disrupted. What has remained true as we’ve travelled through the challenges that have come our way is that we are all in this together – He waka eke noa.

On behalf of The Board of Trustees, I’d like to express our extreme gratitude to everyone in the school community who has come together to support the school and the children and their families through these uncertain times. There are so many people who have played an important role in getting us all through to where we are today – it’s simply impossible to thank them all individually.  I would, however, like to give special thanks to Janine and the management team – their pandemic plan was well prepared, calmly executed, and deliberate. The way that they have kept teachers and the community safe, informed, and included has been fantastic. Their ability to operate and make decisions in the early stages without clear and direct guidance from the Ministry of Education was impressive. Their focus on the well-being of all involved with the school has been unrelenting, and we’re very lucky to have them.

Parents and caregivers became teachers as living rooms and kitchens became classrooms. Teachers also became learners and designers as they adapted a curriculum (designed over many years and intended for classroom delivery) and made it digital (in a matter of weeks) and accessible, and distance-led. In such difficult and rapidly-changing times, nothing was ever going to be perfect. Thankfully, the expectations of our entire community (and country) were realistic; that everyone would try their best, and that would be sufficient for the times we are in. 

Our children’s ability to thrive through these challenging times is in part due to their own resilience and adaptability, but also as a direct result of all of us pulling together to maintain stability, calmness, tolerance and understanding, flexibility, support, and care for them. Thank you all for trying your best for them. 

As always, the full minutes of our most recent board meeting will be available on the BOT website when they have been signed off, but for now I’d like to share just a couple of key points from our last meeting with you:

• Attendance “at school” (online) during the Covid-19 lockdown was impressive and consistent
• The school continues to benefit from investment in our property, facilities and grounds. You’ll see some improvements to security and facilities have already been made, and the school will shortly commence additional work to enhance the environment, safety and security at the school for your children and staff. More information about these projects can be found on the School’s Property Vision.
• The Board is in discussion with a New Zealand sculptor, carver, illustrator and tā moko artist of Māori descent regarding the creation of a Pou for the school. We are hoping to have this taonga completed in time for the school centenary in 2021.
• Our representations to our financial statements and provision of information relating to the audited annual report for the year ending December 31st 2019 has been signed off and returned to our appointed auditor
• The Board would like to offer its congratulations to our teacher aides on their historic pay equity deal. Lifting the incomes of these wonderful people who give so much to support our children is massively important – not just in reaching a fair deal for those working in teaching, but also more broadly in taking a massive step towards closing New Zealand’s persistent gender pay gap of 11 per cent between average hourly earnings for men and women.
• We reviewed a number of policies relating to student achievement, reporting to parents on student progress and achievement, and our employer responsibility policy.

You will also have read in a separate email that in 2021 Cornwall Park District School will celebrate its centenary!! Next year will be a really exciting year for the school and for your children.  Current Board of Trustee members Sarah Sutcliffe and Kirstin Fleming are the main points of contact for the planning committee.  If you or anyone you know who has previous involvement in the school are interested in being part of the planning committee for this historic and exciting event please email Sarah Sutcliffe on ssutcliffe@cpds.school.nz. 

If you’d like to learn more about the work of the board of trustees, then please do get in touch with any member of the team. We’re super happy to help, and are always interested in your feedback in relation to the strategic direction and our governance of the school. 

Ka kite ano e kia noho haumaru. Stay safe and well.

Nick

Chair, Board of Trustees

nmackeson-smith@cpds.school.nz 

 

 

亲爱的家长们您们好 

最近几个月发生了很大的变化。对于我们许多人来说，我们的生活已经被改变了。对于其他人，它们已被严重破坏。在经历充满挑战的路程时，仍然存在的事实是，我们全都在一起 – 我们在同一条船上。

在此，我谨代表董事会向所有在这个不确定的时期里聚集在一起为学校，儿童及其家庭提供支持的学校社区中的每一个人表示由衷的感谢。有很多人在我们所有人迈向今天的过程中发挥了重要作用 – 根本不可能单独感谢每一个人。但是，我要特别感谢 Janine 和管理团队 – 他们的疫情流行计划准备充分，执行得很周到且经过深思熟虑。他们保护老师和社区的安全，通知讯息和相互包容的方式非常棒。在没有教育部的明确直接指导下，他们在早期阶段的运作和决策能力令人印象深刻。他们一直致力于学校全体成员的福祉，我们非常幸运。

父母和看护者成为老师，客厅和厨房成为教室。当教师们修改课程（将计划了多年并打算用于课堂授课用的教材）在几周之内使其电脑化，并且可以作为远距离教学，他们也成为学习者和设计师。在如此困难和瞬息万变的时代，没有任何事情是完美的。值得庆幸的是，我们整个社区（和国家）的期望都是切合实际的；每个人都尽力而为，这对于我们所处的环境已经足够了。

我们的孩子在艰难的时期中接受挑战并且成长的能力部分归因于他们自身的韧性和适应能力，也归因于我们所有人共同努力保持稳定，镇定，宽容和谅解，灵活性，支持和关怀的直接结果。 谢谢大家为孩子们尽最大的努力。

与往常一样，我们最近的董事会会议的全部记录将在签署后在 BOT 网站上提供，但现在，我想与您分享上次会议的一些关键点：

• Covid-19 封锁期间的 “在校”（在线）出勤率之高令人印象深刻且数字稳定
• 学校继续受益于财产，设施和场地的投资。您会看到在学校安全性和设施方面已经进行了一些改进，学校将很快开始其他工作，以为您的孩子和教职员工改善学校的环境和安全性。有关这些项目的更多信息，请参见学校的 “ 资产计划 ”。
• 董事会正在与新西兰雕刻家，雕刻师，插图画家和毛利人后裔的 tāmoko 艺术家进行讨论，讨论为学校创建雕刻的事宜。我们希望能在2021年学校百周年纪念日之前及时完成这个大雕刻。
• 我们的财务报表以及与截至2019年12月31日止所提供的年度报告有关的信息，已被签字并交还给我们指定的审计师。
• 董事会在此祝贺我们的老师助手们成功获得历史性的薪资提升。提高这些为支持我们的孩子付出巨大努力的出色工作人员的收入非常重要 – 不仅在公平对待教学工作人员方面，而且在更广泛的意义上迈出了重要的一步，以弥合新西兰持续存在的性别工资差距。以往男女平均时薪之间的差距为11％。
• 我们审查了许多与学生成绩有关的政策，向父母报告了学生的成绩和成就，以及我们的雇主责任政策。

您还将在另一封电子邮件中阅读到，Cornwall Park 小学将于 2021 年庆祝其成立100周年！！对于学校和您的孩子来说，明年将是非常兴奋的一年。目前的董事会成员 Sarah Sutcliffe 和 Kirstin Fleming 是计划委员会的主要联络人。如果您或您以前认识过我们学校的任何人有兴趣成为这个历史性的，兴奋的活动的筹划委员会的一员，请发送电子邮件至 ssutcliffe@cpds.school.nz 给Sarah Sutcliffe。

如果您想进一步了解董事会的工作，请与团队中的任何成员联系。我们非常乐意为您提供帮助，并且始终对您在战略指导和学校治理方面的反馈意见感兴趣。

下次见。祝您健康平安。

Nick 

董事会主席

nmackeson-smith@cpds.school.nz