Over the last school holidays we asked the school community how you thought we were going in relation to implementing our school vision. Thank you to those that took the time to respond. Around two thirds of the responses were from whānau (parents/caregivers) and the remainder came direct from students and staff.

The overall feedback results were encouraging. Two thirds of respondents scored our overall efforts above 5 on the scale of one to ten, with around a quarter putting us at 7/10. The picture was similar for our ongoing work to build a more positive learning/behaviour culture, nearly 80% of you attributed scores of 5-8 in roughly equal measure. Nearly three-quarters agreed that building our teachers’ abilities to support desired changes was the right priority (scoring 7-10) and a similar percentage agreed with our property investment priorities.

This widespread support is great to hear and warmly welcomed as the Board begins consideration of the school’s annual plan for 2024.

However, specific feedback in the open comments sections highlighted we are by no means there yet in terms of delivering against these ambitions. It also shows that while a majority might feel we are making good headway we are clearly not meeting the expectations of some. Specific comments and feedback on negative experiences can largely be grouped into themes around culture and consistency. Ongoing instances of bullying, racism and other anti-social behaviour are running counter to our school values and undermining pride in our kura. Reported inconsistent teaching practices and a lack of student voice for some decision-making suggests improvements are patchy and creates unnecessary uncertainties for ‘what to expect’.

The Board appreciates that change takes time and the pace of this change relies on the support of students, staff and whānau. We are committed to pulling all the levers we possibly can to reach our vision and we can’t leave anyone behind as we set direction for the school and implement our improvement plans. We plan on providing further updates as we reflect further on what we have heard and proposals for moving forward together.
Ngā mihi.