News from our BOT

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I am Ian Fong, current Chairperson of Rangiora High School, Board of Trustees and it is the Board’s intention for each board member to write a quick update from a Board perspective each term and maybe a little about ourselves. I have lived in North Canterbury for almost 30 years after moving from Blenheim. I work in Christchurch for Heartland Bank, but have clients over many parts of the country, so I travel quite a bit. I enjoy cooking, am a keen boatie and fisherman. Three of my children are either past or current students of the school.

It is hard to believe that Term 3 is drawing to a close. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our students, particularly our seniors, the very best for their end of year examinations and assessments starting next term. I hope that during the holidays you are able to balance study and preparation with some down-time so that you re-energise and give yourself the very best chance of success next term.

The current Board’s term ends early next year so if you are interested in standing please give me a call to discuss what is required. A balance of genders and ethnicities is important. What is required? A bit of time and common sense. We are not there to run the school, but provide strategic direction and make sure that everything the school is doing is about student achievement (whatever form that is, as well as academic!) It has been a pretty busy time for us getting to grips with understanding how the school runs and transitioning from a Commissioner to the standard model of a Board elected from our community. So thank you to our wonderful staff who have had to put up with some change to how things have been done for the past few years. We have attended a great number of training sessions/workshops/meetings over the past few months and I would have to say we are on a pretty good track.

Some things that maybe of interest - this term we have been working on  a review of the school ‘s Senior Leadership Structure and as a result we have created a new position, that of an Associate Principal. We see this as an important role within a school of our size ($17.0 million turnover and some 200 staff) This “first lieutenant “ role will allow the Principal to concentrate on some specific areas within our Strategic Plan. We are also working through re-development plans for a number of buildings and associated areas within the school which we hope to have finalised early next term. We also have the Education Review Office conducting a review of school practices the first week of next term.

Finally I would like to thank everyone from the Board and staff for the time and effort that they put into our great school, especially our Board of Trustees’ Student elected representative, Reuben Albrecht. Reuben has done an awesome job and has brought an insightful perspective to meetings, that adults would never think of, so thanks Reuben and best of luck for the future. This position is for 12 months. Elections have been held this month for a new Student elected trustee – congratulations to Blake Benny who was voted by the student body. Thanks to all those students who put their name forward for this important role.

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