In this article we share how the school year is structured and why ... feedback a little about how the Teacher Only Day went, and discuss how we are proceeding with our designs for our new hall and classrooms...and we can't forget the House Tour this weekend!

Kia ora koutou

How do we set the dates for our School Year?

After the Easter break, I read an article questioning the Tuesday after Easter being a holiday for schools and the fact this is out of date. In my previous newsletter I explained that this was in legislation and we as a school do not have any choice regarding this. The comments below this article varied widely (as they always do) but I realised that for some, understanding how the schools structure their year is a mystery. The Ministry of Education sets the number of days a school must be open for instruction (more detailed information on this can be found on the Education Counts website). They generally give a range of start dates and a date that schools must be finished by. Schools then structure their own year. We do this by trying to ensure we take into account the needs of our students and their families and how this links with the busy work lives we lead. If we plan for a Teacher Only Day in term time, this is not counted and we extend our school year to ensure we meet the MoE requirement.

Teacher Only Day

We had an incredibly successful Teacher Only day last week. This was held at the Rapaki Marae where over 120 teachers from the around the Aupaki Kahui Ako (formerly known as the Bays Cluster). The focus was based around the achievement challenges that have been identified. Our entire staff enjoyed the presenters and the messages they gave. The morning sessions were both inspiring and challenging as we reflected on our own practice. This was powerful professional learning and I know our teachers found it rewarding and beneficial.

New Hall & Classrooms

Just to keep you updated around our site development programme. We held a ‘wider community’ consultation this week. While it was lightly attended, the themes that emerged gave us a good understanding of what the community aspires to in our site development:

• The wider community are connected to our school. They are open to, and would like opportunities to be involved.

• Having a hall facility will provide opportunities for groups to use it for recreation (dance, indoor sports and social gatherings).

• Our neighbours see a role in them as being ‘caretakers’ of the school and want to be involved. They value and enjoy living close to a school and the entertainment this brings (especially while watching the students during break-time).

• They view the school in a positive light and have positive interactions with our students.

• Traffic and parking especially during drop-off and pickup times are a concern.

• Our neighbours were seeking reassurance the development was not going to impede or block their views.

Our next step is to ensure all the feedback and themes are synthesized and provided to OPUS who will then complete the preliminary designs. Once the costing of the designs are completed and, assuming they are within the overall budget set, we will move to completing the detailed design work. We look forward to sharing this with you over the upcoming months.

For those who haven’t purchased your House Tour tickets, it’s not too late! 

This event is a PTA fundraiser and is always a good day out. For those who don’t know, there are seven houses whose owners have kindly offered to open them up to the public. Ticketholders are assigned a ‘start’ house and you then move around the houses at your own pace. Some walk, some drive, and there is even a chauffeured service if you want it. Tickets can be purchased from the school Office up until 4:00PM today, online HERE or they are available tomorrow at the Mt Pleasant Community Market (cash sales only).

This will be the last newsletter for the term. We hope the students have a relaxing break and we look forward to seeing them back at the beginning of Term 2.

Nga mihi nui

Chris Nord