From the Principal

You may have heard in the budget that the government has made the decision to allocate additional funding to Decile 1-7 schools in place of requesting donations from parents. Whilst this creates a much needed benefit for parents, particularly for Decile 1-4 schools, we are disadvantaged by the new policy.
We are a Decile 8 school of 560-600 students. If we were to receive this funding in place of requesting donations, it would be worth over $85000, rather than the $75000 we receive in donations annually. This means we are missing out on a significant amount of additional new funding. And, we will still need to request donations and contributions from our local community.
We would have gratefully received the $150 additional funding from the Government in order to avoid requesting donations. Unfortunately, because of our school decile, we have not been given the chance to alleviate this financial burden from you.

We learned last month that the Minister for Education had given us formal approval to move forward with other local schools and form a Kahui Ako (Community of Learning).

Whilst we are still at the very early stages of this process, we are excited to join Macleans College, Bucklands Beach Intermediate, Bucklands Beach Primary, Macleans Primary, Mellons Bay School, and Owairoa in finding ways to enhance the pathways for our learners through early-childhood, primary, intermediate and college education.

Preliminary discussions have focused on identifying common areas of interest for the group. Student wellbeing, student agency, and effective transition have featured frequently in these discussions.

We will be holding a number of information sessions starting from Term 3 for the school community in order to communicate the benefits of the Kahui Ako for our learners, and to provide a voice for parents and caregivers.

Ian Dickinson