Dear Parents / Caregivers / Whanau

If you have been watching, listening or reading the news recently, you will have noticed that there is a lot happening in the education sector at the moment.  Teacher strikes, BoT elections and Tomorrow's Schools review just to name a few.  First and foremost is the ongoing and so far unsuccessful bargaining between NZ primary teachers/principals and the government.  This has snowballed with secondary teachers and principals joining the negotiations as their collective agreements have now expired too.  With this, the NZEI and PPTA (primary and secondary teacher unions) have joined forces and collectively decided to take strike action next Wednesday 29th May.  This is being referred to as a "mega-strike' and it will be the largest industrial strike action in the history of NZ.

I, for one, witness the amount of time, energy and work that teachers put into their role on a daily basis and I have the utmost respect for them and the nature of their work.  Teaching is multi-disciplinary, complex and extremely exhausting work.  Society is rapidly changing, there seems to be a higher level of behavioural, academic and social needs than ever before.  Teachers are expected to cater for such diverse needs, without appropriate support or resourcing.  There are more demands on teachers that are well beyond their core business of teaching children and the current climate is simply not sustainable.  Teachers are burning out, they are becoming stressed, some are leaving the profession and teaching is not seen as an attractive career choice anymore.  

20 years ago, when I first started teaching, I was one of 150 applicants for a teaching job........school principals had the luxury of choosing the best-fit person for their school. Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore.  Here at Clearview, we have advertised teaching and leadership positions in the past and at times, we have had no more than two applicants, some schools have zero applicants and they need to re-advertise multiple times to find someone.  We are at crisis point and this is a shame.

The collective agreement expired in June 2018, so negotiations have been going on for nearly a year now.  This will be the 3rd day of strike action since then and we still don't seem to be any closer to reaching an agreement.  I acknowledge that next week's strike day will be an inconvenience for you as parents, but unless teachers make a stand, nothing will change.  Without action, eventually, the quality of education that your child receives could become sub-standard.  

We are not in the business of turning a profit or generating revenue, our business is centred around student achievement, inspiring our future leaders and preparing our young ones for a future complex world.  In order to do this, we need skilled teachers who are passionate, energetic and have a love for learning.  Without the government's support of investing sufficiently in our education system, my fear is that we won't be able to staff our schools with the best possible people who will play a massive part in shaping the future of our nation.  This is important and I hope you can show your support and solidarity towards our teachers who go above and beyond for your child.

Clearview BOT Elections

Board of Trustee elections are also in full flight around the country at present and Clearview is no different.  Our Returning Officer (Susie Meares) is kindly leading us through the process of electing a new BOT for the next 3 year period.  Nominations close tomorrow, so if you have been thinking about becoming a member of our board and are keen be part of governing our amazing school then please don't hesitate to put your name forward.

Enjoy the rest of your week and have a great weekend.

Nga mihi nui

Rob Rush

Principal / Tumuaki