FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

The College's Board met for the first time this year on Tuesday night. The Board resolved to extend my co-option to the Board for a further 12 months and I feel privileged to be re-elected as Chair. Mark Sinclair was again elected as Deputy Chair. We now have a strong Board in place and I'm grateful to members for the time that they devote to the governance of the College.

We dealt with relatively routine matters such as the adoption of a financial budget; the approval of a Board work plan; and the confirmation of key delegated authorities.

As usual, the main focus of the meeting was the consideration of the extensive report presented by our Principal, Nicola Jacobsen. Nicola reported on progress towards the goals in our current Strategic Plan and we'll be consulting with you this year on an update of this critical plan. The Board maintains a clear focus on supporting our staff to create a learning environment in which all of our students can succeed. With the excellent start that we've had to the new school year, we are hoping that this will be a year free of the external challenges of the last two years.

You will have seen that our students enjoyed excellent NCEA results last year, with our results being well ahead of both the national average and the results for comparable schools. We recognise that these results owe much to the support of parents and caregivers for which we are grateful. 

There will be a renewed focus this year on student attendance and engagement, and we will welcome your attention to the various reports that are made available to you on students' progress. There is excellent information available in the updated Parent/Guardian Handbook and we welcome your engagement with the College's staff at any time. We receive excellent reports each term from our Guidance and Counselling team, and you should know that all students have strong support networks readily available to them.

Now that we have moved into our new buildings, we're engaged with the MInistry of Education on the further work that is needed to upgrade our facilities. The "old" administration building will be demolished during the year and refurbishment of some existing teaching spaces will begin. We will be inviting you to an Open Home so that you can see the quality of the new spaces.

Our Finance Committee will continue to meet monthly and the College's finances remain in a satisfactory situation. Again, we greatly appreciate the support that we get from families, and the wider community, in supporting us to achieve our goals. The MAC Foundation continues to play a valuable supporting role and we're grateful too to the Friends of MAC for their energy - you can expect to hear more from both the Foundation and the Friends in coming weeks.

I'm happy to tell you that the College is fully staffed and we have welcomed some excellent new staff this year. We currently have 1240 students enrolled at the College (compared with 1194 students at this time last year) and we would expect another 20-30 students to enrol during the year. With our borders open again, we are taking the first cautious steps towards the future enrolment of fee-paying international students.

The Board will meet twice each term, with our next meeting scheduled for 21 March. Minutes of our meetings are available on the revamped College website, as is much other useful information. 

As a Board, we look forward to another successful year for our College and our students.

Dr Ian Hall

Board Chair