ERO Report

I am very pleased to report that we have just received a copy of our school report from the Education Review Office. Our report validates what I already knew - that Konini School is a great school. Of course I am biased, so to have an external body confirm that; the Board of Trustees, the Senior Leadership team, along with the teaching team, are all doing a great job supporting your children, provides impartial credibility of the highest order.

We have been placed on a 4-5 year review cycle, which is means that ERO believe we are a high performing school, are well managed and are in a strong position to continue to provide high quality learning programmes for your children.

Please take the time to read the article from the BoT, included in this newsletter, which includes quotes from the ERO report.

Industrial Action

Following this week's nationwide rolling industrial action by NZEI members, primary teachers  and principals will vote on whether or not to accept the Government's latest pay offer. There is the possibility that further industrial action could take place in the new year.

The latest offer from the Government is effectively the same as their first offer. My concerns center around staff well being, work life balance and recruitment. I have mentioned in previous newsletters that Konini School is in a fortunate position as we are fully staffed for 2019. We are also fortunate to have a supportive Board and community. Sadly this is not the case everywhere. I regularly speak with colleagues in Auckland and other parts of the country and can empathise with the challenges they face and often reflect that Konini School could quite easily be in a similar position. 

I fully support the industrial action my staff and my colleagues have taken.  To address concerns around well being, work life balance and recruitment, the profession needs to be seen as an attractive option for future trainees. We need to value and retain the current work force as well as take a serious look at class sizes in the Year 4-6 age group. Finally, we need to support the profession tackle  the growing workload around supporting children who have additional learning and behviour needs .

The link below, shared by a colleague, provides another perspective on the mood of the profession at present.

A principal message which has spread across the country

Consultation on School Reports

Next week, on Wednesday the 21st of November, we will be hosting two informal consultation hui to discuss what our school reports may look like in 2019 . We want to hear what whanau want to see in their child's report. 

We will host two sessions - one between 8.00am and 9.30am and the second between 2.00pm and 3.00pm.

Both sessions will be hosted by myself, Ms Vanderwee and/or Ms Cochrane. The sessions will be very informal, so you can pop in at a time that suits.

If you are unable to attend and would like to offer an opinion, please feel free to email me directly - principal@konini.school.nz

Nga manaakitanga

Andrew Ducat