Tēnā koutou e te Whānau

As many of you will recall, in Term 3 last year, the Halswell School Board of Trustees began a consultation process with our staff, students and community about our Vision for Teaching and Learning and Strategic Plan. Due to the disruption caused by having to move into Covid-19 Alert Levels, the decision was made to postpone the consultation process until 2021.

We are delighted to get this process back underway from the beginning of this term.

Background and Context:

The last time consultation regarding the Vision for Teaching and Learning and Strategic Plan took place in any depth was several years ago when the new school rebuild was being planned. Since this time, the school’s physical environment has been well established, the school roll has grown and we have appointed several new staff as well as a new Principal and Board of Trustees. Most importantly, there have also been significant changes in our community.

With so much transformation occurring, it is important that the Board seeks feedback to ensure that we are continuing to meet our staff, students' and community’s aspirations and desires for how education will be delivered at Halswell School moving forward.

To kick-start the consultation process, we are excited to share two special parent presentation evenings with our community. These will take place in the Stadium. We have assembled a group of highly-regarded speakers who will present on a range of topics relevant to education and personal development. Please find attached a brief description of each presentation. 

The details for these parent presentations is as follows:

• Positive Education (Dr Sarah Anticich and John Quinn) - Tuesday 23 February (7-8pm)
• The Developing Brain (Nathan Wallis) - Tuesday 2 March (7.30-9pm)

We had a huge amount of interest when these events were scheduled last year and hope to get a similar response this time around.

At the completion of the presentations, we will be facilitating the following two forums to help gather feedback from our parent community:

• Years 1-4 Parent Focus Group  - Wednesday 10 March (9-10.30am)
• Years 5-8 Parent Focus Group - Thursday 11 March (7-8.30pm)

To register for a community presentation and/or parent focus group please complete this google form. Please note that the registrations close at 9am on Friday 19 February. If you have any questions please contact our Office Manager Heather Burnby: admin@halswell.school.nz ph: 3227038.

We are very excited about the future of education at Halswell School and hope you will actively engage with us throughout the process.

Ngā mihi nui

Halswell School Board of Trustees