Board Update - May 2024

The Board of Trustees met on Wednesday 22nd May. 

Andrew Simpson presented recent attendance data, which shows that most of our community recognises the importance of consistent regular attendance.  However, the data also shows that the COVID lockdown era had a big impact on attendance and that we are still not back to school as consistently as pre-COVID levels.  We know that regular attendance is an important factor to a student meeting their potential and getting the most out of their education.  It was great to hear Andrew talk through some of the initiatives in place to make the school a welcoming and desirable place to be for all our children.  It was clear that all the staff are committed to make sure Cotswold Mātāhae students have a sense of belonging and value in the school community.  If the school does reach out to you regarding attendance concerns please know considerable care has gone into any concerns expressed.  We encourage you to take up any offer to have conversations with the staff on ways to help with attendance difficulties.  The Board extends thanks to all the families that work hard to get children to school on time each day and please know that this is setting them up to achieve at Cotswold Mātāhae and further into their education.

We heard about the professional development plans in place for the next few staff only days. The upcoming staff day will involve the Pause Breath Smile professional development program.  Plans are firming up for the remaining 2024 staff only days.   I'm especially excited and grateful for Nina Vailu'u's efforts going into a neurodiversity learning day in combination with other local schools in our Kāhui Ako. Through development in these areas we hope to see benefits for all students.   The rest of Term 2 will be a busy period in the life of the school with upcoming Matariki Evening, lots of sporting events, winter Canterbury sports in the senior school, a well attended Pasifika group, Kapa Haka, some off site visits, and the junior school preparing for a show in Term 3 just to name a few.  It is always exciting to hear that so many children are engaging in such a wide variety of activities. An ERO audit is currently underway as well, which adds some work for the team but we hope will not provide too much distraction.   It is great to see that the building site is now gone and that the refurbished rooms are in use.  We hope the Room 14 and 15 children are enjoying the fresh space.  You'll all be glad to hear that the building project was able to stay within budget so a big thanks to the management team.

There is good progress with the trials and investigation into new curriculum resources, especially around maths and literacy, and we look forward to reviewing results of the trials at a future board meeting.

Finally, the Board would like to extend a big thanks to all the staff and parents of the community that help make the school tick. 

Matthew Campbell - Presiding Member on behalf of the Cotswold Mātāhae School Board of Trustees