Last night the Te Ao Mārama Board met via Google Meet for our ‘normal’ April Board meeting (see the pic for our 100% attendance and technological competency).

What isn’t normal is the situation we are all in as a community currently. So many negatives but absolutely a lot of positives to be gained from this current environment, especially in regard to the play, physical activity and whānau interaction that we can provide to our tamariki to help prepare them for life!

Our discussions last night centered around the current CV19 situation and the responsiveness of the school to our community needs during this time. You will by now be seeing some regular communications via Facebook/email and following the school holidays will receive more regular contact from our teaching staff. There is so much that you can do to add to and enhance your children’s school experience in this lockdown period through simple activities and engagement at home….things you probably do every day!

We also talked as a Board about what Te Ao Mārama looks like the other side of this lock down. What will our numbers be and how will we continue to monitor growth and adapt in a proactive way to enable us to grow sustainably and maintain our core values, and the Te Ao Mārama ‘feel’. It’s great as a board to be able to discuss the more strategic items and not get bogged down in day to day operations.

Finally just a big round of ‘thank yous’ to our School, our community and the people within it! Thanks to Tony, Anna and Sally for their responsiveness to this crisis. Thanks to Frank Young for his amazing contribution to the cause with the 3D printing of face-shields for health practitioners. Thanks to our teachers and support staff for their whanaungatanga and that feeling of a wider Te Ao Mārama community. Thanks to the tamariki and all the parents for your support and the community spirit that I see both online and out in the suburbs in those exercising as a family within their ‘bubble’. And finally thanks to the Board for coming together in such a seamless digital meeting space to have the important discussions about the educational space that we cherish.

Finally – for those who haven’t discovered it – there is a track along the bottom of the gully in behind Roy Hilton Drive. It’s thin and full of weeds but has recently been created through some Council stormwater work and provides a good little nature walk for our young ones within the community. Access via the concrete path off Roy Hilton Drive and keep your distance!

Andrew
Board Chair