It’s been a very busy time for the board the last couple of months with plenty of work around student achievement, revising our annual goals and planning for 2022. We like to invite staff or student visitors to the first part of our board meetings as it gives us an opportunity to learn about different aspects of the school and it enables attendees to reflect on how the board can support them in their roles. We began our March meeting (the first for 2022) with introductions to the prefect team. What an awesome group of young people we have in our prefect team! It is always a delight to hear about our students’ aspirations and learn about the difference they are seeking to make in the College through their various prefect portfolio roles.
The bulk of our first meeting focussed on our NCEA, numeracy and literacy results from 2021. It was fantastic to see three year 13 students achieve NCEA Exam Scholarships in 2021 (and to obtain our first scholarships in Health) and our year 12 results were especially pleasing. However, we also identified areas where the school could improve academic achievement, particularly in relation to supporting male and Māori students, and so this is a focus for staff and management for 2022. At the meeting we approved our School Charter for 2022. The Charter contains broad strategic goals and more specific annual goals. Our first goal for 2022 is centred on the implementation of Universal design for learning – a method of teaching which enables all students to reach their learning goals without the use of streamed groups. The second goal for 2022 is centred on building relationships so that all staff demonstrate relational and culturally appropriate teaching and practice. Our third annual goal builds on progress from last year and involves undertaking self-reviews of school practice involving both curriculum and student wellbeing. An important part of these reviews will be listening to student voice to inform and improve teaching and learning.
Prior to developing the goals for 2022, the board and senior leadership team spent time reviewing our goals from last year. How we achieved these is listed in ‘the analysis of variance’, a document which each year, along with our Horowhenua College Charter, is sent to the Ministry of Education . It was pleasing to learn that we had achieved our first annual goal of 2021 which required all faculties to demonstrate relevant and innovative initiatives as part of their learning programmes. Though we partially completed our self review of behaviour management we did not achieve our second goal of implementing a self review process in four areas of our college life. As workload issues were at the heart of this, we realised we needed to appoint a dedicated person to drive these reviews and hence have made this a priority in our 2022 goals. Our third 2021 goal was successfully met, and this involved consolidating and increase our links with the local community by identifying and connecting with business and community groups. It has been great to further develop relationships with local businesses and potential employers through the Get Go programme and to continue develop relationships with local iwi. We continue to foster relationships with other schools in the rohe through the Horowhenua Kāhui Ako, the Community of Learning.
Recognising that lifting achievement requires specific actions, the board at its annual meeting with the HOFs (Heads of Faculties) worked to develop some strategies to help support students to achieve to their fullest potential. This includes an audit of current curriculum content to ensure it is relevant and engaging, and of assessments to examine the different options and choices available for students. We will receive updates on progress in relation to these actions at various points during the year through the principal’s report.
In our second meeting for 2020, the principal presented his report which detailed progress in relation to our new annual goals. We also time discussing the incident where four of students were hurt at a Rangatahi Ora fundraising event. The board takes very seriously its responsibility for the health and safety of its students and we are very sorry this incident occurred. We are conducting our own internal Health and Safety investigation and fully complying with both Worksafe and police investigations. We want to make any changes to policy or procedure that we can to keep our students (and staff safe) in and outside the classroom setting.
In addition to our usual agenda items (policy, property, finance and health and safety) we also discussed the arrangements for Mr Congdon’s forthcoming sabbatical. We are very supportive of this sabbatical and wish Mr Congdon all the best for his time away. Mr Congdon will be absent all of Term 2 to conduct research on the implementation of de-streaming in Aotearoa. This is extremely important research and we hope the insights which derive from it will benefit the school greatly in it’s own de-streaming learning journey. Ms Moerkerk will be Acting Principal for Term 2 and we are very much looking forward to working with her and the restructured Senior Leadership Team.
Ngā mihi
Juliana Mansvelt
Board Chair