Thank you to the parents who attended our Forum last night. It was great to see you and I trust you have a better understanding of the school, what we are doing and hope to achieve. It was also great that John Bassano, Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees was present so that parents could connect with this important committee.

I presented some of the key work streams for 2018 which include the development of a new Charter, a Long Term Property Plan and planning for our 10 Year Birthday in 2019.

It was also an opportunity to give feedback on suggestions and comments made in last year’s Community Survey.

Something on my “To do” list based on parent feedback is to work with staff and students to develop a stronger culture relating to sun-safety. The number of incidents of skin cancer is one area where we do not wish to be leading Australia and we have an obligation as a school to ensure students and staff take more personal responsibility for their own safety (sunscreen and hats) and that our site provides appropriate shelter. The building of covered areas is already part of our Draft Property Plan as it also pertains to learning being compromised by rain. There is work to do in this important area and I will need parental support of any initiatives in the future to make it work. For the record we already provide sunscreen within the whanau and it is available for PE and I will be reminding staff to make supplies available to students. The school cap is available at our stockist and is part of our uniform.

This important feedback from the community is invaluable and I appreciate the positive approach parents took at the forum.

If we work together we can achieve so much!

Growing greatness – Kia mana ake!