BOT Newsletter – June 2018

Tena koutou katoa

The Board  has meet twice since our last update, so this brings you up to date with our 29 May and our 26 June meetings. The minutes of our Board meetings are also available from the school office and on our web page, click here

Both meetings were fairly ‘business as usual’ with the Board receiving the Principal’s Report on the achievement of students and the pedagogical practices of staff to support and develop this, and then reports from the various Board Committees regarding how the Board supports the principal in achieving this (as stated above the full set of minutes can be located on-line or viewed in our office).

The Board are always impressed to learn of the number of interventions that are being practiced by the staff both inside and outside the classrooms to assist in enabling the students to better achieve their goals. We are also pleased to receive requests by the staff for scholarship grants to better achieve their own professional development goals, which improve their understanding and application of their teaching practices.  This in turn, benefits our children. The Board have received and granted a number of scholarship applications already this year.

Of particular interest in the May meeting was discussion around the Fair proceeds. The Board suggested a number of options to direct this money and these were then shared with you for your vote or further suggestions. It is disappointing that there was little interest shown in return. As a result of the feedback that was received, the Board have decided to investigate the fitting out of the new room (under Room 27) as a multi-media space. We will keep you updated as we progress this.

In the May meeting we also learned of the change of name of the PTA to Cornwall Park Friends and Families. The new name was designed to encourage more members of our community to be involved in community driven projects to raise funds for the school. A second meeting was held on Tuesday 5 June to explore new ideas from the community. Despite the poor turn out the Board were encouraged to hear of a new initiative to seeking volunteers in advance of our school community events.

The Board also ratified the appointment of a number of new staff to the school. Given the current national situation of a shortage of teachers we consider ourselves fortunate in being able to fill our recent vacancies. It is important to note that although the national shortage is putting pressure on many schools to secure adequate numbers of teaching staff, this does not imply that we will be just seeking anyone to fill these positions. Our teaching staff are thoroughly reviewed to select the best fit. We are sure you agree that these new staff are just that. Full credit to Janine and the senior lead team in choosing well.

The Board then discussed the pending Board elections in May 2019. While this might seem a way off, we think it is a good idea to start the discussion now regarding who will be running again and who will be stepping aside. This is an important consideration for you as the parents of our school community. Would you consider being on the Board of Trustees? We invite you to come along to one of our meetings or to talk to any of the current trustees to better understand what the Board does and how it affects the school and our children. We encourage you to look over past minutes and reports that are located on our page on the website. The education world is evolving to enable our children to better fit the world they will be living in in the future and they need people to support and enable their education with investment in the right tools and people. We encourage you to consider a role on the Board.

On a final note we discussed Janine’s sabbatical for next term. This was her final meeting until Term 4. Please note that contrary to our previous report (March 2018) Shanthan Naidu will now be Acting Principal in Janine’s absence.  Sabbaticals are approved by the Government to enable Principal’s the opportunity to step back from their day to day work to refresh and reflect on their role and to undertake a study of a matter that is relevant to the school to assist the school in moving forward. Principals are able to apply once every five years and this is the first time that Janine has applied after her 10 plus years of being a Principal.

Janine will be looking at the impact that heterogeneous grouping has on student achievement when compared to homogenous grouping, and she will be sharing her findings with the Board, the staff and with you upon her return. Janine will be travelling to some international destinations for this research. Once again, the Board wish her well and welcome Shanthan into the Acting Principal position.

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

Chair: Lee-Ann Lucas – llucas@cpds.school.nz
Jamie Galloway – jgalloway@cpds.school.nz
Treasurer: Sarah Sutcliffe – ssutcliffe@cpds.school.nz
Michael O’Brien – mobrien@cpds.school.nz
Nicki Taylor – ntaylor@cpds.school.nz
Gowan Duff – gduff@cpds.school.nz
Janine Irvine – principal@cpds.school.nz 
Shanthan Naidu – snaidu@cpds.school.nz

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亲爱的家长们

董事会昨晚举行了每月一次的会议，本通讯将为您提供最新的会议讨论内容以及5月29日，上一次会议的讨论内容。 我们的董事会会议记录也可从学校办公室和我们的网页上获取。 [Link]

这两次会议都和平常一样，董事会收到校长关于学生成就的报告以及员工的教学实践，用于支持和发展这种做法。然后从各委员会的委员报告中了解到董事会如何支持校长实现这个目标。（如上所述，全套会议记录可以在网上找到或在我们的办公室查看）。

董事会总是对许多教职人员学习实施课堂内外的教育措施印象深刻，其用于帮助学生更好地实现目标。 我们也很高兴收到教职人员希望董事会提供奖学金的请求，以便更好地实现他们自己的职业发展目标，从而提高他们对教学实践的理解和应用。 这反过来说，有利于我们的孩子。 董事会今年已经收到并批准了一些老师们的奖学金申请。

5月份的会议特别感兴趣的内容是关于校集会收到的资金收益的讨论。 董事会提出了一些方案来运用这些资金，然后将这些措施与您分享，以供您投票或提出进一步的建议。 令人失望的是没有太多人对这些方案表达意见。 因为收到的反馈意见太少，董事会决定将资金用于作为一个多媒体空间的新房间（27号教室的下面）的装修工程。 我们会在此为您随时更新操作进度。

在5月份的会议上，我们还了解到家长会的名称更改为 Cornwall Park 小学的朋友和家庭。 新名称旨在鼓励更多社区成员参与社区活动的项目，为学校筹集资金。 6月5日星期二举行第二次会议，探讨社区的新想法。 尽管反应并不热烈，董事会还是很高兴听到在我们学校社区活动之前寻求志愿者的新举措。

董事会还批准任命一些新教职人员到学校。 鉴于目前全国教师短缺的状况，我们认为自己有幸填补了我们最近的空缺。 值得注意的是，尽管国家短缺正在给许多学校施加压力，以确保足够数量的教职员工，但这并不意味着我们只会寻求任何人填补这些职位。 我们的教学人员经过彻底审查，并选出最合适的人选。 我们相信你们同意这些新教职人员就是这样选择出来的。 并且充分肯定了Janine 校长和高级领导团队的选择。

然后，董事会讨论了即将于2019年5月举行的董事会选举。虽然现在看起来距离有些遥远，但是我们认为现在开始讨论谁将再次参选以及谁将离职，这是一个非常的好主意。 作为我们学校社区的父母，这是一个重要的考虑因素。 你会考虑加入董事会吗？ 我们邀请您前来参加我们的会议，听听看，或者与现任的董事会成员/受托人交谈，以更好地了解董事会的工作以及它如何影响学校和我们的孩子。 我们建议您查看网站上我们过去的一些报告。 教育世界正在不断发展，为了使我们的孩子能够更好地适应未来将要生活的世界，他们需要人们通过正确的工具和人员投资来支持和实现他们的教育。 我们鼓励您慎重考虑在董事会中担任职务。

最后我们讨论了Janine下学期的休假。 这是她在第4学期前的最后一次会议。请注意，与我们之前的报告（2018年3月）不同的是，现在，将由我们的副校长 Shanthan Naidu 替代 Janine ，担任代理校长的职务，这是经过政府批准的。稍微提醒一下，政府每年都会向全国各地的校长提供一些休假，以确保他们有机会从日常工作中退后一步，更新并反思他们的角色，并对此事进行研究。 与学校有关的研究，以协助学校前进。 校长可以每五年申请一次，这是 Janine 在担任校长10多年后首次申请。

与同质分组相比，Janine 将研究异质分组对学生成绩的影响，她将在回归后与董事会，教职员工和您分享她的发现。 Janine 将前往一些国际目的地进行这项研究。 董事会再次祝她好运，并欢迎 Shanthan 进入代理校长职位。

与往常一样，我们欢迎您的意见和反馈，并感谢您花时间阅读此更新。

温馨的问候
Cornwall Park 小学董事会