Teenaa koe e te whaanau!

The year is almost at a close and it’s a year that for me has sometimes felt extremely quick but at other times the exact opposite. A year for learning a bit more about ourselves and the resilience of our whaanau!

As a Board we have been together for well over a year and we are committed to enhancing our learning as trustees to ensure we can add value to the work that Tony, Sally, Anna and the team do and enhance opportunities for Te Ao Mārama to continue to thrive as it rapidly grows. One of our key focus areas recently has been defining our roles as governors. It’s very easy, especially as a parent with vested and well-intended interests in the school and wider community to want to be too involved in school operations – these being the role of the principal and other educators. As a Board our function is to focus on the school’s vision through its charter and ensure that we are discussing matters that connect and achieve the lofty goals and aspirations of this document – effectively bringing it to life. Our recent conversations have been reflective, illustrate self-awareness and a desire to fulfil our roles and support the Kaupapa of our staff. For this I am immensely proud of my fellow trustees.

Recently I attended one of the class visits to Hukanui Marae along with my wife (Whaea Sarah from Kererū Tahi) and son Blake (Pūkeko). To date I hadn’t had an opportunity to visit the Marae and connect with the mana whenua of our wider community at their meeting place and home. We were greeted by Matua Ted and his daughter Ihipera, who is our Ngaati Wairere representative on the Board and recently appointed Chair of the Marae. I encourage you all in future years to take this journey with your tamariki – it was amazing to be welcomed onto this special place alongside Blake and observe him taking in the tikanga and learning the history of the area – an opportunity to connect with people and land that I myself never had growing up.

‘Ehara taku toa I te toa takitahi, engari taku toa i te toa takitini’ – ‘My success is not mine along as it was not the work of one but the contribution of the collective’

Ngaa mihi nui,

Andrew