Amesbury Digest - 27 February 2019

Kia ora koutou

I hope all is well with you and your whanau.

Te Reo Maori course: Urs and I have started an online Te Reo Maori course this week with Te Wananga o Raukawa. It is quite scary going “back to school” and doing little assessments – I am discovering all over again how I like to get things right and don’t like to risk getting it wrong. There was one assessment and I am sure they had the answer incorrect! Learning a language in this way is quite a different use of my brain (learning vocabulary, for example) and as well as the advantages and joy of improving my reo Maori, I think it will be very good for my brain. The part of my brain that thinks conceptually is probably fairly highly developed, but this will develop quite a different part. It is going to be hard work, especially once I move past what I am still familiar with, but I am determined and excited about the challenge. Anyway, these courses are free. So if you are interested, check out Te Wananga o Raukawa's website.

Open Morning: It is great to see that quite a number of you have signed up for the Open Morning session. We still have a few places available, so if you would like to come and see learning at Amesbury in action on Tuesday, 26 March, please sign up at Open Morning. Refreshments will be available from 8.45am. There will be a briefing at 9.10am prior to going in (which we request all attendees be present for) and then into the hubs at 9.30am. The Open Morning will finish at 10.30am. Senior leaders will be around to answer any questions or to discuss any wonderings.

BOT Triennial Elections: a heads up that these are coming up in June this year. Please give consideration to whether you might to put yourself forward for election to the Board. There will be a number of opportunities and ways in which you can get information about what being on the Board entails. We are hoping to have a panel session made up of our own Board members (Wednesday 27th March, 7pm). NZ School Trustees Association are organising information sessions and have information on their website. One session is being held at Crofton Downs School for the schools in our Northern Suburbs. This session is being held on Tuesday, 2nd April at 6pm. This programme, Kōrari, is designed to recognise the experience of existing trustees and help to encourage potential new trustees to come and find out what it really means to serve on a school board.

People who want to understand what school governance looks like can come along and find out more. The hui will be facilitated by a regional adviser from NZSTA who will talk about the reality of being a trustee, the support and training that is available and encourage existing trustees to tell their story. For people who are keen to consider standing for election, NZSTA will then offer a range of options to provide them with some learning opportunities so that they can prepare for election and hopefully become well prepared to serve on the board.

More about the BOT Triennial Elections to come.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Nga mihi nui

Lesley