Tēnā koutou katoa. Tēnei te mihi atu ki a koutou

A reminder that the triennial Board of Trustees elections are coming up on 7 June. Boards play a crucial role in the success of any school. Becoming a trustee is a fantastic way to get involved in the governance of the school and make a positive contribution to your child’s education. We are hoping that the upcoming elections will attract a large field of interested parents.

If you are considering putting your hand up to be a Board member, there are several ways you can find out what is involved. The New Zealand School Trustees are running an information evening at Hornby High School at 6pm on 11 April. Please see the attached flyer for further details.

You are also welcome to attend one of our Board meetings to get an insight into the role of a school trustee. Our next meeting is taking place on Tuesday 12th March at 5pm in the Boardroom. Please contact the office for further details. Finally, our Board Chair Trevor Campbell or I would be happy to meet with you if you would like to talk it over in person. Please contact the office if you would like to arrange a meeting with one of us.

Congratulations to all our Years 5-8 students who competed in yesterday’s Lincoln Zone Swimming Sports. We had some fantastic results with several of our students now going on to represent the zone at the Canterbury Primary Schools Swimming Sports on 4 April at the Selwyn Aquatics Centre. Thanks again to the parents and teachers who helped out on the day.

Yesterday afternoon, all of our teaching staff participated in a professional development meeting on mathematics. This is the major PD focus for us this year. We have engaged a facilitator from UC Education Plus to work with teachers to explore the latest research around what makes for an effective maths programme. In particular, we will be looking at the role of problem-solving in mathematics and how this related to real-world contexts. We intend to run a couple of parents information evenings during the year to share what we have learned with you.

The New Zealand Education Institute (NZEI) will be holding paid union meetings for teachers and principals starting on Monday 18 March. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss the ongoing Primary Principals' Collective Agreement and the Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement negotiations. These negotiations are currently going through a mediation process. 

The union meetings will take place at 2pm throughout the week, however, please be aware that we have made arrangements with our teachers to ensure that our school will remain open during this time to minimise disruptions for parents and students.

If you are taking children home for whatever reason during the school day, please ensure that you have spoken to the office team first so we can keep a record of the children who have left the school site. 

Finally, good luck to our Years 5&6 T-Groups as they head off to camp at Arthur's Pass next week. Camps like these are a wonderful way of bringing teachers, students and parents together through a range of challenges and team building exercises. I'm sure they will have an awesome time and I look forward to joining T34  when they go on camp in Week 8. 

Ngā mihi nui

Stuart Cameron
Principal