Ngā mihi ki a koutou

Last term we consulted with our community (ākonga / students, kaimahi /staff and whānau / parents) to inform the development of a new Master Property Plan for our kura / school. Our thanks to all those who took the time to share their thoughts. We appreciate the time and effort that you put into your responses.

The decision to review the Master Property Plan was made in consultation with the Ministry of Education when it was identified that it was uneconomic to repair the Sports Complex and library, both ‘leaky buildings’. As you identified there are other issues that also need to be addressed through the Master Plan including:

• older buildings that need to be upgraded

• heating and ventilation issues that need to be addressed

Your feedback is helping to inform the writing of the Education Brief. The Education Brief is the document that details our aspirations for school, key information about the character of the school, how the school operates and how the school sees the link between pedagogy and learning space. This document will be used by the Ministry of Education to develop the new Master Property plan.

What you have told us is that we need to develop spaces:

• where students feel valued, that they belong. Where our cultural narrative is celebrated.

• that support a wide variety of subjects and extracurricular activities

• that support learning programmes that support and / or enrich life long learners

• that are well planned, functional and flexible

• that connect indoors with sheltered outdoor spaces.

• that offer a range of activities that students can participate in lunchtime

You also told us that we need to ensure that:

• the Whare is situated in the centre of our kura

• that we need to make more of the farm and connections to our rural community

• student support services such as Guidance need to be easily accessible to all

• the noise issues in all open learning areas need to be addressed

Our next steps are to complete the Education Brief with the assistance of the Ministry of Education appointed advisor and our Mana Whenua Facilitators. The Education Brief will then be used to develop the new Rangiora HIgh School Master Plan. The Ministry of Education has yet to determine when this new master plan will receive funding. The funds committed previously to the redevelopment of the sports complex will now be used for new sports facilities as part of this Master Plan redevelopment.

We will continue to keep you informed as this project develops.

Simon Green

Board of Trustees Chairperson

Karen Stewart

Principal / Tumuaki