Tēna koutou,

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi; with your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive

This time of year is always a bit of a strange one for school leaders and teachers. We are looking forward to next year and planning exciting programmes and ways of working in order to achieve our school vision and goals, and at the same time we are looking to make the most of the time we have left in the current term and finishing the year strongly.

Last week involved a lot of review and reflection around our school and our work as a Kāhui Ako cluster of schools. Last week we spent two days working together as a group of leaders, looking at how we had worked together and what we had achieved, and how we could organise our work together going forwards. We had deep and useful conversations around what was needed and how we could achieve it together, and spending time sharing, discussing, and challenging each other was timely and necessary.

Our Kāhui Ako is a cluster of 10 local schools: 8 primary schools, Rāroa Intermediate and Onslow College. The ethos around the Kāhui group of schools is ‘Better Together’, with the idea that we can more effectively achieve our vision of equipping students for their future and ensuring equitable outcomes for all if we collaborate and work together. We currently have two lead principals steering this mahi - Kate Christie from Cashmere Avenue School, and myself, and we also have a group of Across School Leaders who work for two days a week leading different work and initiatives in the various schools. Lisa Bengtsson is one of those leaders.

We feel that as a Kāhui cluster of schools we have made a good start with working together. Teachers and leaders are meeting and collaborating more, sharing ideas and resources across different schools. We know there is a lot more we can do and we have some great ideas around how to form purposeful working groups across different schools around key areas of need or interest in achieving the best outcomes for students. We see it as essential that we move away from the concept of separate schools all working by themselves to do the very best they can for their tamariki, and move towards genuine collaboration and shared purpose across a cluster of schools who can achieve more together than they can as individual entities.

One exciting venture we will be embarking on next year as a Kāhui Ako will be the Kura Ahurea programme through Te Wharewaka o Pōneke. This programme will help us to understand our local history through a Te Ātiawa perspective, positively impacting our collective understanding of, and appreciation for, our bicultural heritage. It is an exciting space to be in, looking to do the very best we can not just for our Amesbury tamariki but for all students in our local area. 

Have a wonderful week ahead, and may the sun keep shining!

Ngā mihi nui,

Urs Cunningham