The NZEI and PPTA have notified us they will be holding a Joint Union Meeting for teachers under these collective agreements.  In order for teachers to attend this meeting we would appreciate children being collected from school at 12.20pm on Wednesday 7 September.

The Government has announced a proposal to dramatically change the way schools are funded. Principals and Boards of Trustees would have to make trade-offs between teaching staff and other costs schools face.

Teachers are very worried that the global budget would lead to:

• fewer teachers and larger class sizes
• less job security for teachers
• lower quality teaching
• fewer hours for teacher aides and support staff
• more complex financial work for Boards of Trustees

The Government's current funding review is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to better fund education. NZEI Te Riu Roa and PPTA are the unions that represent more than 60,000 teachers and support staff from birth to year 13. They have asked all members at our school to attend meetings in September to hear more about the proposal and help determine the education sector’s response.

The meetings are paid union meetings, in order for teachers to attend this meeting we would appreciate children being collected from school at 12.20pm on Wednesday 7 September.

It is important for union members in our school to attend these meetings to have a say about how we get better funding, not bulk funding.

Clarification re 'school closure' for NZEI PUMs

There has definitely been contradictory information coming out from NZEI about our responsibilities regarding keeping school open or closed for upcoming PUMs.

The following information sent by NZEI is INCORRECT in that it had sample text to send out to parents saying that schools should close.

In order to meet the requirements of the Act, schools must officially stay open. T o manage this, we will be asking parents to collect their children early AND as we had already communicated, we will provide supervision (using relievers and non-union staff) for those families for whom this option is not feasible.

We would appreciate if you could make arrangements for your child to go home early that afternoon. We will provide a non-union staff member to supervise students in the hall for any who are unable to go home.