Kia ora koutou
It has been a busy start to the term with Jandal Jam, the visit from Namiki High school students, university visits and our Open Day for prospective year 9 students amongst other things. It was with great sadness that we learnt of the passing of Steve Parrant, Deputy Principal at Manawatu College. Our sincere sympathies go out the Parrant family, and the staff and students of the Manawatu College. I am mindful that in fostering a sense of whanau/family as a school we walk with each other through both the happy and the sad times and it was so good to see many of our Horowhenua College students and staff attend Steve’s service and perform the school haka as he was farewelled.
We had our most recent board meeting on Monday night, beginning with the annual report from Carole Brungar our head librarian at the College. It is great to see the library used as a hub of activity for the school and it’s our desire as a board to that the library continue to be an inviting and well resourced learning space. We so appreciate all the work Carole and her team of librarians are doing. At our Monday meeting we also discussed feedback from our prefect team on how the board might promote growing successful young men and women – it is helpful to have these ideas as part of our strategic planning going forward. The board of trustees keeps track of how we are progressing in relation to our annual goals through the Principal’s report- and this month the challenges around improving attendance were discussed. We have previously viewed data which shows high rates of attendance are a strong predictor of success in NCEA (and which shows the reverse for students who do not attend). We also realise encouraging our tamariki to attend school cannot just be a responsibility of management or staff, rather this involves partnership with and the active engagement of both students and whanau.
Mr Congdon presented an NCEA credit report at the meeting, and we spent some time reflecting on the graphs contained in it. This is an important time in the year as staff are able to pinpoint how students are tracking in relation to their NCEA achievement. While we see an aggregated version of NCEA data without student names, it is pleasing to know that our teaching staff have an accurate picture of who might need extra help or mentoring to achieve their goals and to know that this assistance will be put into place for those who need it over the coming weeks.
In addition to finance, property, health and safety and student representative reports we reviewed two policies, and discussed potential next steps in the ongoing refurbishment of the college. You may have noticed the scaffolding at the front of the school which is currently being repainted and the main administration building will soon be lit at night thanks to a grant from Horowhenua District Council for which the board is very grateful.
Ngā mihi
Juliana Mansvelt
Board of Trustees Chairperson