Term 3 2019
Tēnā koutou e te Whānau,
School Donations
The Board is currently reviewing revenue from school donations and whether it meets the needs of the school. Public Schools receive different operational funding grants based on the average household income of the people living in the catchment. If you are in a ‘decile 10’ area (like Sumner) then you get less government funding. It’s a pretty blunt tool that means ‘if you live in an area with higher average incomes then you need to contribute more to the schooling of your children’.
Donations are critical. The Board uses your donations to fund our Learning Support Workers, purchase learning resources for our kids and this year to fund additional teaching resource in our school. The current voluntary donation ($175 per child) has not been increased for a number of years and the Board are reviewing whether it’s sufficient. If you have any thoughts don’t hesitate to raise them with a Board Member.
Bus Safety
The Board formalised a school standard at its latest Board meeting to ensure that school trips by bus, which head out onto our highways, must use a bus that comes equipped with seatbelts for our kids. Generally, these buses cost more to hire, however, while it is not a legal requirement a number of automotive agencies recommend this as best practice and we think it is right for the safety of our kids.
ERO - Education Review Office
We are really excited to have an ERO review now booked for Term One of next year. It's great timing for the school with new learning spaces, a new Principal and a quickly evolving new vision for our school. As is customary with a First Time Principal we expect to have this review and then another three years later. It’s a great chance as a Board to get external feedback on how we are tracking and areas where we can make improvements.
Vision Survey Results
We have received lots of feedback to the re-visioning survey and had some good discussions with parents in our wellbeing space - Waiora. Next term we'll be holding an evening to have focussed discussions around some of the top ideas raised by whanau, staff and students. This is a key part of the co-construction process and is the precursor to a draft vision and values we will share with you all later in term 4. The aim is to have a working draft as we embark on Term 1, 2020.
Sumner School App
Everything happening at Sumner School is now on the Sumner School App. Over 450 parents and whanau have the app on their device. It tells you when things are on (and off), it’s the quickest (and only) way for the school to get an alert to all parents. You can easily push an important date into your personal online diary, it contains school notices and newsletters and you can even use it to tell the school your child will be absent. If it's not working for you - ask a teacher (and they will get one of the kids to show you!)
Property - Lots of big Thank You’s!
A massive thank you to parents, staff and students for being so flexible living, learning and working in a construction site this year. Also, a giant thanks to the team from City Care led by Glenn who has worked tirelessly to limit the day to day impact of what has been a massive project for the school. Over the holidays the Old Hall removal will be completed and the area in front of the two-story block levelled and grassed. The last stage will see the Tuawera block removed and rebuilt for our year 3 and 4 students. This is currently due to be finished in the middle of Term 1 next year.
What about after that? Great question. Lots of landscaping, fundraising for new play equipment and maybe even an ‘old school’ (actually new school) working bee! You won’t need to volunteer though - we will come find you!
Have a great break everyone and we will see you back for the last term of 2019.
Board of Trustees
School Donations
The Board is currently reviewing revenue from school donations and whether it meets the needs of the school. Public Schools receive different operational funding grants based on the average household income of the people living in the catchment. If you are in a ‘decile 10’ area (like Sumner) then you get less government funding. It’s a pretty blunt tool that means ‘if you live in an area with higher average incomes then you need to contribute more to the schooling of your children’.
Donations are critical. The Board uses your donations to fund our Learning Support Workers, purchase learning resources for our kids and this year to fund additional teaching resource in our school. The current voluntary donation ($175 per child) has not been increased for a number of years and the Board are reviewing whether it’s sufficient. If you have any thoughts don’t hesitate to raise them with a Board Member.
Bus Safety
The Board formalised a school standard at its latest Board meeting to ensure that school trips by bus, which head out onto our highways, must use a bus that comes equipped with seatbelts for our kids. Generally, these buses cost more to hire, however, while it is not a legal requirement a number of automotive agencies recommend this as best practice and we think it is right for the safety of our kids.
ERO - Education Review Office
We are really excited to have an ERO review now booked for Term One of next year. It's great timing for the school with new learning spaces, a new Principal and a quickly evolving new vision for our school. As is customary with a First Time Principal we expect to have this review and then another three years later. It’s a great chance as a Board to get external feedback on how we are tracking and areas where we can make improvements.
Vision Survey Results
We have received lots of feedback to the re-visioning survey and had some good discussions with parents in our wellbeing space - Waiora. Next term we'll be holding an evening to have focussed discussions around some of the top ideas raised by whanau, staff and students. This is a key part of the co-construction process and is the precursor to a draft vision and values we will share with you all later in term 4. The aim is to have a working draft as we embark on Term 1, 2020.
Sumner School App
Everything happening at Sumner School is now on the Sumner School App. Over 450 parents and whanau have the app on their device. It tells you when things are on (and off), it’s the quickest (and only) way for the school to get an alert to all parents. You can easily push an important date into your personal online diary, it contains school notices and newsletters and you can even use it to tell the school your child will be absent. If it's not working for you - ask a teacher (and they will get one of the kids to show you!)
Property - Lots of big Thank You’s!
A massive thank you to parents, staff and students for being so flexible living, learning and working in a construction site this year. Also, a giant thanks to the team from City Care led by Glenn who has worked tirelessly to limit the day to day impact of what has been a massive project for the school. Over the holidays the Old Hall removal will be completed and the area in front of the two-story block levelled and grassed. The last stage will see the Tuawera block removed and rebuilt for our year 3 and 4 students. This is currently due to be finished in the middle of Term 1 next year.
What about after that? Great question. Lots of landscaping, fundraising for new play equipment and maybe even an ‘old school’ (actually new school) working bee! You won’t need to volunteer though - we will come find you!
Have a great break everyone and we will see you back for the last term of 2019.
Board of Trustees
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Term 3, Year 8 Vanuatu Overseas Experience 
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