Packing My Bags

By now, you will have caught up on the news that I am leaving Te Kura o Paeraki at the end of the year. I started here in Term 4 2011, so it’s been ten years. I love this school. The students, staff and whānau are amazing. However, it is time to move on and seek new challenges. As I said to the students, you have to be a risk-taker. I am moving to Lincoln Primary School at the beginning of Term 1, 2022. In the meantime, I have lots to finish off here and will be working to ensure there is a smooth transition. There will be multiple opportunities for me to farewell the community. It’s going to be a pretty emotional term.

Of course, replacing a principal is one of the most important tasks a Board of Trustees will ever undertake. A huge part of this is community consultation of students, staff and whānau. Here is the link to an article from the Board regarding the process ahead and an opportunity for you to contribute to this process.

Teacher Workload Day

Last term we postponed the Teacher Workload Day which is part of the employment contracts negotiated by the NZEI. These days are to provide teachers and principals with additional time to work on curriculum, teaching and assessment. As part of this, days have been assigned as part of the three-year collective agreement. 

We have made the decision to add the day missed to the Christchurch Show Weekend break. There is already one scheduled for Monday 15th November. The additional one will be added for Thursday 11th November. We looked across Term 4 and this option seemed the least disruptive to whānau. 

A Slice of the Action

Earlier in the year, we launched our ‘Get a Piece of the Action’ promotion offering whānau the opportunity to contribute to the turf project by purchasing a square metre of turf for $100. We really want to thank those who have already contributed to this. We also have a small dedicated team working behind the scenes to make this a reality for our school and community. Kei runga noa atu koe!

The lead image in this article is a 3-D render of what this project will look like. I am sure you will see that it is impressive and will make an impressive addition to our already great facilities. The start of this project is imminent. Stage 1 will be to put in the footing and basecourse and retaining wall. The funding is already in place for this to proceed thanks to two community grants, money raised by the Parent Teacher Association and funds from the Ministry of Education School funding. Ultimately,  Stage 2 and 3 are funding dependent. This means we need funds to complete the laying of the turf and then the fencing to enclose it. If you want to contribute, you can visit the Māhuri Collective website to purchase as many as you want... we would really appreciate it.

Have an amazing break if you have some time off work.

Noho ora mai, na

Chris Nord 

Tumuaki