The KNS Board held its first meeting of the year on 22 February. Simon Johnson was re-elected as Chair. The Board discussed a draft of the 2023 annual plan, which is the plan for meeting the goals in the school Charter. There are a number of areas of focus for 2023, including the Ministry of Education’s curriculum refresh (with a focus on literacy, communication and maths), structured literacy programmes, an assessment tool called ‘PACT’ (Progress and Consistency Tool), culturally responsive practice, and a wellbeing programme called PB4L (‘Positive Behaviour for Learning’). The Board was particularly interested in ensuring the school can measure the effectiveness of the areas of focus and is setting appropriately ambitious student achievement targets. The Board is also focussed on enhancing communication this year, particularly in relation to student achievement and successes. The Board reiterates that the school has an ‘open door’ policy. Parents and caregivers can contact Conrad or the Deputy Principals (Phil McIntosh and James Appleton) at any time if they want more information about any of the above or any other matter relating to the school. The Board also confirmed that this will be the last annual plan under our current Charter – a new charter (now known as our strategic plan) will be developed this year. The process for developing our new strategic plan will be highly consultative to ensure that our charter, and by extension our annual plans, represent the views of our community. The board sees the charter and our annual plans as community-led documents and not something that is set by either the Principal or the Board in isolation. Keep an eye out for our charter consultation hui and surveys later in the year. The Board also reviewed Conrad’s performance appraisal, which was carried out by an independent expert. While the discussion was held in committee, the Board wishes to congratulate Conrad on another outstanding year. Conrad is a highly competent principal who is leading our school effectively. Conrad is recognised as having strong leadership skills and a genuinely supportive, approachable, calm and enthusiastic style. The Board notes that Conrad is leading the school strongly and effectively in line with the Charter set by the school community: he has implemented it and acts on it, and Board members would like to publicly express their thanks to him and their full confidence in him. The Board also noted reports on health and safety, recent progress on our capital works project, school finances, and delegations between the Board and the Principal. Board member profiles will be included in upcoming newsletters, to introduce you to the people who set the school’s strategic direction. They do this by distilling parent/caregiver survey feedback into Charter goals and annual plans. The Board also has to check progress against the goals in the Charter and the objectives in the annual plans. The Board’s next meeting will be on Tuesday 28 March 2023, at 6.30pm in the staffroom. Board meetings are open to the public.

Please find below a glossary of Te Reo we often use in the school newsletter, I hope you find this useful. We will continue to grow the glossary in 2023 and include it in all newsletters.

The KNS PTA picnic, scheduled for last Friday 17 February has been postponed. The picnic will now take place on, Friday 10 March.

Each week we will publish the names of the children who will be on road patrol duty for the week. Please check and ensure you know when your child is on duty. Please be prompt to the crossing by 8.30 and 2.50 pm. Patrols and Jackets are kept in the corridor by the Library. It is your responsibility to swap if you are unable to do duty in advance and let Jacqueline know. We must have patrols out every day for all students and families’ safety. This is very important. Any queries contact Phil McIntosh – pmcintosh@kns.school.nz/Jacqueline Wee - jwee@kns.school.nz