Term 3

Tēnā koutou,

Welcome to Term 3, 2019, we’re looking forward to seeing the growth of our school and learners over the next term.

The current Board of Trustees has been in place since the 14th of June. The Board consists of 7 members; 5 elected parent trustees, 1 staff trustee and 1 Principal trustee. Our current Board members are Sean Bailey (Principal), Drew Winter (Chairperson), Jane Hansford, Hayley Stirling, Michael Croucher, Rebecca Congalton and Anna Graham (Staff Representative). We have been lucky to have the majority of our Board continue on in their roles with two new members Anna and Rebecca joining the established team. This will ensure continuity and consistency over the 3 year term of office. We also farewelled Jennie Lyall our previous Staff Representative and Bevan Lewell, a Parent Representative. We thank them for their work and wish them well.

As the Board of Trustees, we act as Kaitiaki; carers, guardians, protectors of our school and it’s community. We provide leadership and strategy but delegate all day-to-day management and operations to Sean, Lemonwood Grove School’s Principal.

Our school and it’s community continues to grow with our roll now just above 300 learners. Shortly 2 new staff members will join our team to support this growth. It continues to be an exciting and interesting time to be involved with Lemonwood Grove School, projects such as our shared playground, enhanced landscaping, shade sail installation, changes to include new subdivisions in our zoning and our planned multi-purpose caretakers shed keep us moving along.

It is inspiring to see our school values of GRIT (Grit, Responsibility, Integrity and Thinking) forming the foundation of our school culture; helping us to be warm, welcoming, strong and responsive to our learner’s needs. It’s great to see our parents and caregivers build on their sense of belonging, getting involved, attending Celebrations of Learning, Ako conferences, working bees and supporting planned enrichment activities like gardening.

We will soon farewell Nick Gunn as he takes on his new role as Deputy Principal at Redwood School. The Board of Trustees wishes to thank Nick for his work and dedication to Lemonwood Grove School, he has been a critical component of our community from it’s very beginnings to now. We wish you and your family the very best.

Our extended community continues to support us, from landscaping to cultural advice to safety; we acknowledge their input and give our thanks.

Our relationship with Waitaha School continues to grow at shared events like Matariki, Mihi Whakatau and as we work on the shared playground development.

Finally we would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the commitment and energy of Sean and his team. Their skills and knowledge, ability to plan, their genuine interest in our children’s interest and wellbeing helps to develop our children’s confidence in themselves as learners.

Nāku iti noa, nā

Lemonwood Grove School Board of Trustees.

He waka eke noa

A canoe which we are all in with no exception.