The KNS Board met on 8 August.

The Board discussed the mid-year achievement report. 94% of KNS students are at or above the expected NZ curriculum level in maths, which is an outstanding result. National results in maths show that although 82% of year 4 students are meeting the curriculum level, only 42% are doing so in year 8. However, at KNS, there is not the same drop in achievement: 87% of year 4 students and 91% of year 8 students are meeting or exceeding the curriculum level in maths. That is a fantastic outcome.

90% of students are at or above the expected level in reading, with 87% at or above in writing – a result that may be connected with a recent influx of students who have English as a second language.

You can access a copy of the mid-year achievement report here.

The Board also discussed development of the new Strategic Plan (which will set the direction for KNS for the next two years, from 2024). The Strategic Plan must set out the Board’s strategic goals for achieving its primary objectives (as set out in the Education and Training Act 2020) and strategies for giving effect to the Board’s obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and must include measures and processes for evaluating progress. The Board must ensure that the school’s strategic goals are linked with national education requirements including the National Education Learning Priorities and foundation curriculum policy statements and national curriculum statements and other national education strategies.

The Board would like to thank the school community for completing the Strategic Plan survey. There were 148 responses, which is an increase from last time (in 2020). Thank you for taking the time to provide considered and thoughtful feedback, which will be extremely helpful when the Board comes to develop themes for the Strategic Plan. The results of the survey will be made available to parents shortly. The Board notes that there were a couple of comments in the survey that related to specific situations/incidents, and the Board asks that they are taken up with the Principal or one of the Deputy Principals.

The next step in the development of the Strategic Plan is for the Board to identify some high level strategic goal themes that are based on the survey responses. Those themes will then be discussed with the community during a round of face-to-face consultation before being refined into a set of draft strategic goals.

The Board also conducted its regular review of such things as finance, health and safety, and property. In relation to property, the school is pressing the Ministry of Education for information they can share with the school community about the school’s capital works/renovations, and the Board hopes to have an update soon.

The Board’s next meeting will be on Tuesday 5 September 2023 in the staffroom. The formal meeting will start at the conclusion of an informal strategic planning workshop - indicatively, 7.30pm. Formal board meetings are open to the public.