Board of Trustees Newsletter October 2018

School Curriculum Activities

As our school continues to develop in its establishment phase, it has been great to see our children doing so well in an increasing variety of activities in their learning and in the sporting and cultural areas as well.

Of particular note is our involvement in the South Auckland Catholic Schools Kāhui Ako (Community of Learners) Kapa Haka celebration- the children in the Moana and Maunga Learning Communities did Holy Trinity Catholic Primary School proud with their outstanding performance. There were many glowing comments from the other schools and families about our children’s performance.

Thank you to the staff who trained the children in the Kapa Haka- Mr Williams, Mrs Silva and Mrs Hiddleston, and to the whanau who helped and supported the children on the day- a great effort by all.

There have been a host of other experiences our children have been involved in- football, cross country, speech competition, Hip Hop, Saturday netball- to name a few. While these activities are all part of the daily life of the school, they do take extra time and effort to organise and the staff are to be commended for the work that is put into making these experiences happen for our children.

Outdoor Environment

While we might get frustrated that we have no school fields to play on yet, we need to remind ourselves how blessed we are to have the outdoor space we do have, especially the size of the sealed areas. We are the envy of many schools!

You will see that the development of the fields is progressing and we hope to have them open for school use at the beginning of the new  year. It has been a long process, but it is well worth waiting for.

THANK YOU to the group of parents, some with their children, who attended our school Working Bee on Saturday 22 September. It was great to have the helping hands weeding, trimming and water blasting to give the outdoors a good spruce up. It certainly looked a lot better by the end of the morning. Your time, given generously, was much appreciated.

NZEI-New Zealand  Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (Teachers/Principals Union)

I am sure all our families are aware of the nationwide increasing problem in recruiting and retaining teachers. In Auckland, particularly, the situation continues to be at crisis point.

There are not enough teachers being trained to meet the increasing demand of school aged children. Urgent and significant changes are needed. The issues are around recruitment and retention of staff, workload and learning support for children. While the increase of pay is not the only issue, it is significant in trying to attract new people to enter the teaching profession and stay in it. It is a challenge for the union working with the Ministry of Education around the negotiating table. Following the one day strike on 12 September, the government came back with an amended offer, which the teachers’ union has rejected. Negotiations continue, and unless the issues outlined above are not significantly addressed, there is the likelihood of further strike action. If this goes ahead, it is likely to be in the form of a “rolling strike” throughout the country, with Auckland teachers striking on Monday 12 November. This is still to be confirmed once the voting ballot timeframe concludes. We will keep you informed of developments.

Our Board of Trustees is very appreciative of the great work our principal and staff do and the many hours they put in to providing the best Catholic education they can for the children. We are supportive of their endeavours in trying to get some positive changes in regard to their conditions of work, workload and salaries, in the hope that teaching becomes a more attractive career option, resulting in continued positive outcomes for our children. As a community, we ask that you continue to be understanding of the current situation and supportive of any action that the teachers’ union may find itself having to take.