Amesbury School


Kia ora koutou,

Welcome back to a new and exciting term. I hope ngā ākonga (our students) have all had a chance to relax and spend time at a slightly slower pace than the hurly-burly of term time.

We have several exciting pieces of news from our staff: Firstly, Andy’s wife gave birth to their son on Thursday, and both baby and mum are doing well. Andy and Caroline were proud to announce the arrival of son number three, Ezra Little, and we are looking forward to meeting him soon. Andy will be away from school for the first two weeks of Term 2 on partner’s leave, whilst he and Caroline adjust to having three young tamariki (children) in the family. Andy and Caroline will also be sharing their 12 months of parental leave between them, with Caroline taking leave until the end of this year to be with Ezra, and Andy taking Term 1 of 2022 to stay at home with him as Caroline returns to work.

Our second wonderful piece of news is to announce Sonali’s marriage to Kamman Nandra. They were married on Friday, supported by small group of friends and family, including very proud mum, Regina. The couple will have a larger family-based wedding when the borders open up, to allow overseas relatives of both Sonali and Kamman to attend. We wish them both all the very best for a happy life together.

ERO partnership

Our ERO (Education Review Office) review time has come around again this term. Our previous ERO review happened in 2016, at which point we received a 4-5 year review cycle, meaning a next review date of 2020 or 2021. Our review begins this term, but will happen in a very different way to previous reviews.

Previously, ERO adopted an event-based approach, meaning ERO reviews would take place over a week, with a small team of reviewers. They would spend a number of days in the school with school leaders and spending time in learning spaces, then then they would spend 1-2 days writing up their report. The new approach is more about an ongoing partnering relationship. Each school is assigned one reviewer, an Evaluation Partner, who partners with the school over a much longer period of time. This new approach is about ongoing collaboration over several years, and a more tailored, targeted approach to meet the context of each individual school.

Our Evaluation Partner is Christine Austin. Christine will be meeting the staff and our Board of Trustees on Wednesday 5th May, and our partnership will then begin. We very much look forward to this new way of working, as a collaborative, individualised approach fits well with our school way of working, and we welcome Christine as an ongoing partner with our school.

To find out more about ERO and how they work, their new website can be found here. Information specifically about the new operating model can be found here.

Kia pai tō wiki - have a good week, and here’s to another productive, engaging term ahead.

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham  


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