Kia ora whānau,

A new term and your new Te Ao Mārama board has met early in the first week to continue strengthening the understanding of our role and the unity required to provide the required support to our school. 

It’s great to welcome our new board members Chris Langley, Laura Casey and Tama Tawhai alongside Frank Young (staff trustee), Tony and Heemi McDonald from the previous BOT. We are fortunate too to have co-opted Ihipera Sweet, Chairperson of Hukanui Marae, back onto the board to maintain that important connection for the school. I want to take this opportunity to thank our previous board members Emma Burman, Dawn Gibbs and Alf Lino who contributed so much during our last term.

As we bring the group up to speed with all the developments of the school we continue to see focus from Tony on preparation for our next stage of building development. Negotiations with the Ministry of Education are ongoing (and slow) and we hope to be able to bring some certainty regarding timelines and ‘the plan’ in coming months as more information comes to hand.

Finally, it’s been great to see the amazing community use that the new playground has had since opening during Term 3. Sometimes a sunny weekend day can feel like a busy school day with happy kids filling the spaces, reconnecting and laughing as they play. Thanks to Frank and the team for bringing this asset to fruition!

Andrew
BOT Chair