Board of Trustees Minutes

Date: Wednesday 24 October 2018

Time: 6.35 pm

Venue: Staffroom, Ridgway School

1. Administration

Attendees: Kathryn Smith (Principal), Richard Ngatai (Chair), Julie Hanify, Barbara Dean, Sarah Wood, Rachel Kirkman, Vicki Pewhairangi-Kremm.

New declaration of interests - 2018 - none

2. Confirmation of Minutes

Resolved, That the 19 September 2018 Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes are accepted and approved (Moved, R. Kirkman; Seconded, V. Pewhairangi-Kremm; Carried, Unanimously).

Previous meeting action updates:

• Update on name - R. Ngatai if there's no changes will arrange to print at the school.

ACTION: R. Ngatai will follow up on cultural narratives re: appropriate name, branding, education.

3. Strategic Discussions

Property Update: R. Kirkman & K. Smith attended evaluation process/moderation meeting for MoE panel. Expect to hear of a decision regarding chosen architects in next couple of weeks.

Sandpit

• Rotten fences fixed as part of project (see also Principal's report).

• Need to get sand into sandpit and order another load. Call for volunteers.

• • Good parent support

• Big dig to happen next Thursday night (1 November) - families to come and plant a plant.

• Fences surrounding are for safety to keep children off.

• H. Parata to come and complete informal blessing to open. Formal blessing to occur later with P. Jackson.

Toilets

• Wrapping came off over holidays resulting in leaking in Room 1 and in work area.

• Library still out of action and work has been put back approximately 2 weeks.

• Aim for Christmas and definitely before school starts 2019 for job completion.

• Portable toilets to be returned at end of year.

• Payment for this work is being sorted. Ministry to put money into account to pay bills.

• No further issues regarding children using toilets.

• • Buddy system and teacher support with taps/washing hands.

Education brief

• The Education brief is a starting point.

• Next steps involve making decisions on top 5 priorities about how we teach and operate in the space (prior to anything being drawn up but may happen concurrently with community consultation.)

• Important for teachers to have voice in priorities.

• Need to create some thoughts regarding top priorities to provide guidance.

• At a later date will look at MLE's and specifications for the building.

• K. Smith will bring this to the board once the draft meets the teachers brief.

• Discussion around whether board needs to meet with architect.

NZSTA Updates:

• Elections next year 17-21 May

• R. Ngatai to step down, S Wood to step down.

Principal appraisal process:

• Annually from mid-year to mid-year. Can be internal or external.

• K. Smith would find it useful to continue with Trevor for another year.

Resolved, That the board approves the services of Trevor Jeffries to do Principals appraisal and mentoring/coaching (Moved, K. Smith; Seconded, R. Ngatai; Carried, Unanimously).

4. Principal's Report - tabled.

Achievement:

• Looking really good - well above average.

• Parents can be assured children are making good progress and are well equipped for high school.

• • Good teachers

  • Come out of junior teaching very strongly and mixed ability grouping is helping.

  • • Results show this works, sometimes not understood by parents.

• Tuakana-Teina learning is beneficial to both children involved regardless of their abilities.

• Results also attributed to Behaviour plans and Learning plans - establishing goals for children and following them through and being able to monitor progress.

• • Need to continue to raise expectations of people and provide support.

  • Will develop this next year and improve in it.

  • Teachers have been working really hard.

• Results also attributed to PB4L

• • We value the expertise Julie and Sue have in understanding high needs kids. Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) - Kathryn took this on this year, Sue Campbell to take over this now.

• Discussed the need and/or possibility to communicate more to the family about the results the children are getting and why we teach the way that we do.

• • Education brief starts this conversation - possibility to use this but we need to be clear with our vision.

  • Mark Osborne received a great response from families but previous nights have had minimal turnout.

  • Communication needs to link the impact and role of families in these achievements and successes.

Vision:

• Important to establish clear vision of where we see ourselves going, that is future focussed and that gives guidance to keep doing the things we should be doing.

ACTION: K. Smith to Get STA in to facilitate a meeting around forming a vision for the school.

Staff need time to develop 'this is how we do it at Ridgway'.

• Staff representative needed to spend time on this work

• Needs to be written down, be on the same page, use the same language and then communicate to the community.

Board funded position:

• K. Smith request the Board to fund a position for 2019 whereby the staff member can work on 'special projects' (see Prinicals report for detail) - specifically making progress towards strategic aims of an Inviting Environment and and Involved Community.

Resolved, That the board agrees to fund a 0.6 position for 2019 for special projects (Moved, B. Dean; Seconded, S. Wood).

French Bilingual Unit

• Update on French enrolment: 15 (1/2 new entrants)

Bike Track

• Finance is all within 20K that board agreed to and will go to skills track.

• Any leftover amount will probably go towards pump track.

Health and Safety Register

All building checks are up to date.

5. General business

1. Fill out discretionary leave forms

Resolved, That the 2 discretionary leave applications are approved (Moved, R. Ngatai).

2. R. Kirkman - question regarding the DP role: The leadership roles previously seen as a DP job are distributed across more staff members, thereby spreading the load and responsibility.

3. S. Wood suggests an opportunity for the community to thank the staff. More than end of year staff drinks, where teachers can be publicly recognised.

ACTION: Board to decide on and organise a thank you for the staff that is organised by the school community/BOT.

6. Correspondence

None

Next meeting: 28 November 2018

Supper duty: S Wood

Meeting closed: 8:17pm

Signed as a correct record: ____________________________________

Chairperson / /2018

Summary of action items from meeting 24 October 2018

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Summary of action items from meeting 9 May 2018

Summary of action items from meeting 26 October 2017

Summary of action items COMPLETED last meeting