MNS Board of Trustees Update

Welcome to Term 2, MNS whānau!

The Board of Trustees (BoT) met on Monday 3rd April, and discussed policy review, property, school budget, Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L), and the Board Communications Survey results.

Policy Review

In Term 1, the Board reviewed Legislation and Administration Policy (the overarching policy), Privacy and Official Information Requests.

Access MNS policies via https://mns.schooldocs.co.nz/ 

Username: mns Password: weka 

Property news

The work to build new sun shades over the playground is complete. It looks great, as well as providing a lot of sun protection for kids throughout the year. The Board is also looking into:

· Plants for the new school entranceway

· Upgrades for Rooms 11, 12 and 13

· Roofing, starting in the Kowhai rooms

· Future rebuild of the retaining wall on Weka Street side

· Impacts of future housing developments around Miramar and Maupuia on the schools’ possible future role and property needs.

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) – transition from Tier I to Tier II

PB4L looks at behaviour and learning from a whole-of-school as well as an individual child perspective. It’s not about changing the students, it’s about changing the environment, systems and practices in place to support them to make positive behaviour choices. It takes 3-5 years to fully implement.

Joyce talked to the Board about MNS’s progress at Tier I, the foundational tier that looks at the support systems and processes across the whole school. The transition to Tier II this year means that MNS will focus more on interventions for students who require additional behaviour and learning support, such as teacher aides and counselling.

Board Communications Survey Outcomes

Thank you everyone who took time to answer our questions about Board communications. Key insights were:

· You’d like to keep receiving the BoT newsletter by email

· The main BoT information you’d like to hear about is strategic plans, school policies, community engagement with the Board, property, and how the Board honours Te Tiriti and supports te reo Māori.

· If the school installs a noticeboard, you mainly want information from the school itself, and from the Home & School team. BoT news would complement this other information.

Other updates from the Board

· Cherida Fraser will continue as MNS Board Chair.

· The MNS draft budget was agreed to. More information about the budget will be published soon.

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be Monday 8th May. If you’d like to contribute something during the Community Input part of the Board meeting, email Cherida Fraser at Boardchair@mns.school.nz.