An Update from Our Board of Trustees
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
A big thank you to everyone for improving drop off and parking around the school. When the drop off zone works efficiently and parking guidelines are followed, we have a far safer community for our children and families to travel to and from school. Safer, smoother and simpler!
Looking ahead, we have prioritised traffic access and management in the master planning. This will enable us to plan for better access and drop off areas. We hope to be able to liaise more on this in Term 2.
Master Planning Development
The Board continue to work with the Ministry of Education to develop the "Master Plan" for the school hall, repairs and the long term development of the school site. Now that our maximum roll number is set at 450, we are able to plan more specifically how to best utilise the exisiting buildings and how to enhance them with future construction and landscaping.
We are looking to consult further with the community in Term 2, and embrace feedback and input from you all. While it has taken a lot longer that we anticipated for this process to happen, with wider decisions affecting its progress, it is an amazing opportunity for us to create stunning facilities for all to enjoy!
Community of Learning and the Bays Cluster
Recently the Bays Cluster of schools, which incorporates Mt Pleasant along with Our Lady Star of the Sea, Sumner, Redcliffs and Heathcote, along with Linwood College as the local community High School applied to the Ministry of Education to become recognised as a "Community of Learning", also known as a CoL.
The Bays Cluster of five primary schools, has existed for many years, and has worked successfully in managing education and sports programmes, professional development and securing grants, benefitting both students and staff. This model's success has been observed by many, and since the earthquake the Ministry of Education has considered a range of options to initiate this type of collaboration around Christchurch, and beyond.
In 2015/6 they began the introduction of the CoL model, that seeks to add early childhood and high schools to groups of primary schools. Designed to increase sharing of resources and increase collaboration, they also are hopeful of greater engagement and stronger pathways for learning within local school networks. We trust that the success of our cluster will continue, and that with the formal links being made, we are able to access and secure similar, if not better, resources and funding for programmes.
BOT Staff Trustee
Meagan Kelly (current Rm 13, Yr 7 teacher) has been the staff representative on the Board for several years, however she has resigned since taking up her appointment as Deputy Principal at the start of this year. Thank you Meagan for the zest and vitality you have brought to your role, along with providing important information from 'on the ground ‘. The election process for this staff vacancy is currently underway and we look forward to welcoming a new member to the Board in May.
Interested in Joining the Board?
Our Board chose, many years ago, to have mid-term elections rather than a complete overhaul every 3 years. While this sometimes seems like we are always having elections it also means that there is on-going transfer of knowledge in order to best support our Principal. We have mid-term elections later this year and there will be two Parent Representative positions to be elected. If you are interested, and/or want to know more, please make contact with Chris or any one of the current parent reps: Marty Anderson, Rebecca Robertson, Carl Sara, James Murphy, Paul Durkin and Beth Jolly.
And to finish - Thank you!
Thank you to all our families for their continued support. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful school community. We look forward to Term 2, and more exciting things to come!
Wishing you all a wonderful Easter break.
Ka kite ano