Kia ora Koutou,

I sincerely hope you are all managing to survive on the water you have in your tanks, a great many of us are on tank water and still the long dry continues. Thank you for continuing to supply your child with water for school.  We have had a tanker of water delivered to keep the levels higher. Let us hope this will keep us going until it rains!! Like you we are all carefully watching consumption.

Thank you to everyone who came to our Back to School Night and met all the teachers, some support staff and the Board of Trustees. We have now begun 2020!! This newsletter is all about Board of Trustees Business continuing with many of the themes we spoke about on the night!! I am keeping general school news short this week. As a Principal I am privileged to have had, and still have a stable, positive, supportive, skilled and productive Board of Trustees to work with and wish to thank them all.   Next Week ERO (Education Review Office) will be here to review Wainui School and see how we are going. There are two reviewers and they may chat to you as a parent.  They will be chatting and observing all programmes, and areas of the school.

Ka kite ano,

Gillian Bray

BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS :

Who is on the Board and what are our roles?   Nadine Phillips – Chairperson, Nikki Browne –  Deputy Chair & Community,  Lindsay Ledger –  Finance, Pete Adlam –  Property and Jason Irvine –  Staff Rep.  As principal I am the only Board member not voted on and I sit on the Board as of right.  So you can recognise our Board members we have added some photos.

Board Vacancy – Longstanding Board of Trustees member (and 2019 Chair) Brent Robinson has sadly stepped down from his role as parent trustee.  This has created a vacancy on the Board.  The formal process to fill the position will be adopted at the March Board of Trustees meeting.

If you are interested in applying to be a trustee, please send an expression of interest (outlining your skill set) to the Board Secretary Mel Ludwig.  This can either be emailed to exo@wainui.school.nz OR handed in at the school office.  Applicants are also required to complete an Eligibility Declaration at the school office.

The Board has identified health and safety or policy experience as particularly useful, however all applications are welcome.

If you have any questions or would like further information about being a Board member, please feel free to contact either the new Board Chair Nadine Phillips (nadine.standish@yahoo.co.nz or 021 075 1545), or Principal Gillian Bray (please either telephone or make an appointment to meet her), or speak with another trustee if you see them around school.

WAINUI SCHOOL’S FINANCES

As most of you will be aware, the Education (School Donations) Amendment Act has recently come into force. This allows decile 1-7 schools to opt into a scheme to receive an extra $150 per child from the Government. Wainui School is classified by the Government as a decile 9 school (the scale is 1-10). All that a decile rating really means is that the Government has identified that Wainui School is situated in an area where average incomes and house prices are high. Unfortunately, this means that we do not qualify for this extra funding.

On top of this because of our high decile rating our operational grant (what we are given by the Ministry of Education to cover the school’s basic operating costs) is significantly less than a lower decile school. This means each year we have a funding gap between what we are given and what it actually costs to run our school.  For example, in 2020 we have a $57,000 gap between the amount the Ministry gives us to pay our teacher aides and what it actually costs to have our teacher aides (we have four teacher aides and they are absolutely invaluable to the success of our children).  In real terms we have approximately a $100,000 operating shortfall each year.

Also this funding gap does not take into account all the extras we implement like the turf, the new projector, the new senior playground equipment, the shade cloths etc and all the other projects that we would also like to implement like extending our hard playing surfaces, shade areas and playgrounds, to equipping our classrooms with all the latest learning equipment to make Wainui School an even more awesome place for our children to learn and develop.

Some schools choose to cover this deficit by asking for a very large annual donation from school families. For our school, this would take approximately $350 from every child. This would seem a simple solution, but as the donation is optional, some families may not pay it and we also realise that there are many families in our community who simply could not afford to pay this level of donation. In 2019, only about 50% of our families actually paid their school donation.

We chose to keep our donation to $200 for one child or a total of $375 for 2 or more children. This means we are left with asking for contributions from our families, holding fundraising events, seeking sponsorship and applying for grants as a way to try and cover the deficit.

On the good news front, we have been told by the Ministry that we will receive $201,000 which we can use to accelerate, upgrade works that would otherwise be deferred due to a lack of available funds. The Board is working on a priority list which needs to be approved by the Ministry, but we’re very excited that some of our long term projects may now come to fruition. Unfortunately, this money cannot be used to fund the above operating shortfall.

What does this mean for you? As a Board we wanted to be upfront about the school’s finances and also to encourage you to:

– pay your school donation if you haven’t done so yet (don’t forget your school donations can be claimed as a tax rebate).

– continue to contribute financially, and with your time to our school programmes and

– continue to attend, support and volunteer at our fundraising events.

All of these elements raise funds which are absolutely vital to the continued success of our school and your child’s learning and experiences.

Consultation about the Implementation of the Health Curriculum

One of the mandatory tasks is to consult with the Community in Health Eduation.  Health Education is covered within the classes through integrated sessions and within the Garden to Table area with healthy food.

In our programmes we implement with Constable Bryan – currently all classes are participating in ” Doing the right thing”, creating a healthy environment for children to learn and work in.

Our Positive behaviour 4 Learning programme (PB4L) is also an example of the healthy learning and play environment being reviewed, improved and sustained.

Consultation involving students, staff, parents and caregivers will:

• strengthen health education and physical education programmes
• assist in the development of related school policies
• contribute to school review and the evaluation of programmes
• provide opportunities for students, teachers, parents and caregivers to enhance students’ learning.

We will attach a link to a short survey from the Board of Trustees.   Please take a few minutes to complete this for us to help with review of the Health Curriculum. Wainui School Health Survey

Attendance – This is an area the BOT monitors, under Section 25 of the Education Act it state students required to enrol must attend school. There are very clear processes at Wainui School to follow.  In case of non-attendance, eg holiday in term time written permission must be obtained from the Principal.

If you have read everything, thank you.  We know it is a lot of information but as a Board we are wanting to improve our communication and our consulation with you all.

Please do not hestiate to chat with us and share your thoughts when we are around school.

Nadine, Nikki, Lindsay, Pete, Jason, Gillian

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

• Wednesday 26th February – FOWS Meeting in the Staffroom – 7.00pm
• Friday 6th March – Pukeko Assembly – 9,15am
• Monday 9th March – BOT Meeting – 6.30pm
• Tuesday 10th March – Senior Swimming Sports at Waitoki School – From 9.00am – See you all there if you can make it
• Thursday 12th March – Winter Sports Registration – Netball / Hockey (outside the court) – 3.00 – 5.00pm
• Friday 20th March – Kiwi Team Assembly – 9.15am
• Friday 20th March – Pukeko / Kiwi Swimming Sports
• Monday 30th and Tuesday 31st March – Sharing the Learning – Details to book to follow
• Friday 3rd April – Tui Team Assembly – 9.15am
• Thursday 9th April – Last Day of Term 1
• Friday 10th April – Good Friday – Public Holiday
• Tuesday 28th April – First day of Term 2
• Wednesday 27th – Friday 29th May – Year 5 / 6 Camp Carey – Henderson Valley.

OTHER

CERTIFICATES

At the last assembly, the following students received certificates for “Respect”.

•  Puriri: Vuliana Lodge, Manu Sparkes.
•  Puriri Rua: Sophie Elliott, Floyd Farrand.
•  Karaka: Nina Bell, Oliver Todd.
•  Rata: Hunter Mallon, Oliver Smithies.
•  Pukatea:  Mahli Farrand, Mackenzie King.
•  Kohekohe: Hamish Allen., Capri Fairhurst.
•  Kowhai: Pippa Heaton, Max Lodge.
•  Totara: Ava Elliott, Rylan Latham.
•  Matai: Katie Boe, Carter Wright.
•  Rimu: Jakob Brown, Leonie Schweitzer.
•  Kahikatea: Hanour Hulbert-Sunkel, Grace Wallace Pram.
•  Kauri: Keelan Latham, Kayla Paladin.