BOT Newsletter Term 1 2023
BALMORAL SCHOOL BOARD NEWSLETTER
Tena koutou e te whānau he mihi nui Kia koutou katoa
Tēnā Koutou Malo e Lelei Talofa Lava Bula Vinaka Kia Orana Fakaalofa Lahi Atu Ciao Namaste Al-Salaam a' Alaykum Ni hao Hola Annyong ha shimnikka Greetings
Our School Board Members:
Kyle MacDonald (Presiding Member)
Sarah Jack (Deputy Presiding Member)
Stacey Osborne (Treasurer)
Malcolm Milner (Principal)
Dan Allen (Staff Represent)
Chris Reid (Parent Representative)
Sarah Johnstone-Smith (Parent Representative)
Erica Hodgson (Parent Representative)
Tēnā koutou
Despite a slightly delayed start with the cyclone, this term has finally seen a “normal” start to the year for the first time since the pre-covid era. Assemblies, PTA events, student conferences and sports tournaments have been back in full swing and all three school camps (Hiringa, Tūranga and Apārangi) are all set for term two.
This Term, we welcomed Stacey Osborne to the Board. Stacey and her husband Graham have two daughters that attend Balmoral - Isla in Year 6 and Violet in Year 4. She is currently working as the Chief Financial Officer at Overland Footwear and has 20 years of experience in various finance related roles. We are very fortunate to have the benefit of Stacey’s financial expertise in the role of Treasurer.
In March we were notified of our Education Review Office evaluation of our school. In 2021, ERO began a new process of school evaluation. Although ERO’s accountability function has not changed, the focus of the approach is school improvement with ERO and our school working together to ensure all learners in our system are successful. The SLT had their first meeting with ERO on Tuesday 28th March. Later in the year the reviewer will be in school. At the end of the year we will receive three initial reports and then another report after three years.
As we head into the winter months and COVID and other illnesses become more prevalent, we thank you for keeping sick children at home. We also continue to fully support any staff or ākonga who want to wear a mask.
Personnel
In March, we farewelled longtime office angel, Janet. The Board would like to thank Janet for her service to our school over 11 years. We wish her all the best in her retirement.
We will farewell Glenys Knox in the New Entrant team at the end of this term. Thanks to Glenys for her contribution this term. We welcome Nadine Mortaja, who will take over Glenys’s class from the beginning of Term 2.
As you will be aware, teachers and principals are currently negotiating with the Ministry of Education over pay and conditions. We have been told that more industrial action is likely if the offer from the government is not improved. Principals are voting on further action this weekend. As a Board, we will continue to keep you informed of developments.
Curriculum
Supporting our staff to become better teachers is very important. In the last school newsletter, Malcolm outlined the commitment of our staff to out-of-hours learning so far this year.
Next term, there is a Ministry of Education Teacher Only Day on Friday 5th May. This day is for educators nationwide to begin exploring the new, revised New Zealand Curriculum. Our teachers will be at Auckland Girls Grammar in the morning to hear Professor Russel Bishop. In the afternoon they will have further workshops exploring the NZC.
Last Board meeting we had a selection of staff from our Learning Support Team present their annual review to the Board. We would like to thank the staff for the work they have done to support our ākonga and for meeting with the Board.
Communications
We hope that you are finding the new newsletter format easier to navigate. We encourage people to get familiar with the school calendar, linked from the newsletter, and the website, as staff keep that up to date with all school events and activities.
Property
We were fortunate that the school came through the weather events of January and February without too much damage to our facilities. The flood did damage the field and the middle netball court and we are waiting for a programme of work to repair this. The field works have also not been completed due to flood damage to the bark on the primary and intermediate playgrounds. We are working closely with the Ministry of Education to repair these playgrounds as soon as possible and hopefully, this will start after Easter.
The maintenance on the pool heater has still not been able to be completed, but it is currently functioning as intended for the tamariki who have been making the most of having the pool back in commission. The school is working with an architect to extend the pool apron and build a new sports shed on the field - this will allow better use of the pool and allow staff and ākonga to access sport equipment on the bottom field during lessons and at lunchtime.
We are in discussions with the Ministry of Education to address issues with the lifts in the new buildings, which are not up to the standard we would expect and are currently out of order.
The cricket nets have been refurbished this month and Tiger turf has been laid in both. We are still waiting for Pacific Membrane to complete the canopies on both the primary and intermediate outdoor classrooms.
The Eldon Road gate has been upgraded this week after it had been damaged by people climbing over it out of hours and other deliberate acts of vandalism.
Financial
At the end of 2022 the school decile funding system ceased. With this change, we lost about $23,000 pa of government funding - under the new equity funding we get no additional funding. If we wish to keep the same level of resourcing at the school, we will have to increase income from other sources which does put additional pressure on the staff, board and community.
One source of funding is the school donation. We would like to acknowledge the families who have contributed to our school this year by paying the school donation. This money is vital for keeping our school going and investing in resources and employing staff for programmes over and above what the Ministry of Education funds. As a not-for-profit, all the money we raise in our school community goes directly to our children.
You can also get a tax rebate on your donation to our school. See: https://www.govt.nz/browse/education/school-and-college/school-fees-and-donations/
Community Contribution
We were delighted to see many new faces at this year’s PTA AGM and to welcome the new leadership team and others who have offered to contribute. Events run by the PTA are a cornerstone of community-building at Balmoral and we thank Emma McDowall and her team for their energy and willingness. We would also like to acknowledge the massive contribution of outgoing Chair, Anna Morton, whose mahi over many years has enriched our school community (and raised a lot of money along the way!).
Hopefully, you all had the chance to meet with your child and their teacher over the last two days. The staff very much appreciate this time getting to know the wider whanau. A reminder that staff are also available at other times to meet with parents to discuss their child's learning. Please email them to arrange this catch-up if you so wish.