Welcome back to Term 2, yet another busy term for the school. Thank you for taking some time out, to read about what has been happening at a board level, at CAS.

One of the issues that was raised in the community survey, was the lack of knowledge of who was on the board. So, for each newsletter, following our board meeting, I thought I would get one of the board members to do their bio. This month it is Heidi. 😊

Kia ora koutou, my name is Heidi Tirikatene-Nash. I grew up in Whangamatā however I have lived in the Cheviot region for the last 25 years. I live in Gore Bay/Pariroa with my husband Nukuroa and my daughter/tamāhine Tini, who attends Cheviot Area School. I currently work from home as an Acupuncturist/Massage Therapist, at Gore Bay as a surf coach and I am also the coordinator for the Jed River Catchment Project. I am really enjoying my role on the BOT and learning lots!

I hold the cultural portfolio, drawing on my experience as being part of Nukuroa's whanau for the last 25 years, being involved with Ngai Tahu cultural hui, wananga and runanga events. This has helped me look through a cultural lens on school life. I also have a degree in Iwi Environmental Resource Management.

Our community has so much knowledge, skills, and great ideas. So please get in touch with the Principal Roger, or me if you have any cultural ideas, knowledge, feedback or skills to share with the students at Cheviot Area School. Piki te ora 😃

We had our board meeting last week and as usual, it was a very full agenda. I would recommend to anyone coming along, if you want to further discover what we do at a board / governance level.

Some of our discussions

· We are looking to send our student rep, Scott Hoban on the Spirit of Adventure to enhance his leadership skills and network, with other like-minded students.

· We approved numerous policy changes but the one most pertinent to you is the cell phone policy update. That is no cell phone use by students during school hours unless there is a medical need.

· Please can you also contribute to our school policy reviews found on SchoolDocs. Like I said in my last newsletter, it is a way you can directly contribute to the running of our school and whether we are doing as we say / or not, in our school policies. The link is https://cheviot.schooldocs.co.nz/. Have your say, don’t leave it to a survey.

· Roger, our principal kept us up-to-date with the progress towards our strategic goals. It is important that we keep analysing how we are tracking and align our resources accordingly. The strategy plan is on the school website.

· We are nearly at the stage of finalising our cultural plan. A huge thank you to the staff and community whanau, who have contributed to this.

· We are looking at joining a ‘community hub’ for electricity and are doing due diligence around this. This would involve putting solar panels on our school roofs and a large battery, to produce our electricity for us, and those in the ‘community hub’.

· The school upgrades and projects are starting to come online for students and staff to use. The new toilet block looks fantastic. A big thank you to Jenny for being the driving force behind these upgrades.

· Truancy is also a focus for the government, and we all acknowledge the importance of our students being at school. Congratulations to you all, as our attendance is just over 90%, well above the NZ average.

· Our roll is tracking upward. A huge welcome to those new families, to our community. I know we will all make them feel welcome.

· Toka presented to us regarding student leadership. His leadership group are coming up with some great ideas and are just about to implement some of them.

· Board and management have been focusing on culture and how we can ‘live’ the school values. I think it is important for all of us to reflect on what the school’s values are, of wisdom (knowing how to act) and honour (how we act).

Finally, a huge congratulations, to one of our own, Scott Hoban (our student rep on the board). He is off to the NZ Area School tournament in Te Awamutu, and we wish him great success and fun.

Thanks so much for supporting our great school.

Ngā mihi nui

Fiona Bush

(Presiding Member of CAS)