5 December 2025

Kia ora koutou

On Monday evening, we held our final Board of Trustees meeting for the year. This meeting is always a powerful highlight, as we welcome all of the teaching staff to join us.

It moves the year's paperwork and governance decisions out of the abstract and into the - every day a different day - reality of the classroom. Hearing directly from our passionate teachers about the highlights and "work-ons" truly brings the entire year's journey to life, giving us, as a Board, a deeper, "chalk-face" understanding of the raison d'être!

We are thrilled to confirm our refreshed Strategic Plan for 2026–2028!

This plan is a direct reflection of our recent conversations and your insightful input regarding the future of local education. This blueprint will guide our efforts, resources, and focus areas for the next three years.

Please take a look at the full Strategic Plan. We especially encourage you to check out this document -  'Help with the unpacking' to see where it came from and what it all means.

Our new Strategic Plan is integrated with the ongoing changes to the National Curriculum.

Major updates have already been rolled out in both English and Mathematics from the Ministry of Education. The timeline for other curriculum areas is outlined on the Ministry of Education's site.

Setting big targets

With all final data for the year now compiled and analysed, we are setting targets for next year across several key domains:

• Reading

• Writing

• Mathematics

• Positive Education

• Diversity and Inclusion

• Te Ao Māori

We are very  proud of the children's achievements in Reading and Maths, where we we are landing in the mid-90 percentiles of students achieving at or above expectations.

Additionally the data clearly shows that Writing remains our greatest opportunity for growth, with scores currently in the late 70s. As a result, significant emphasis and dedicated resource focus will continued to be placed on lifting achievement in Writing across all levels next year. We have plenty of hunches as to why. So does the research. It is hard, there is a lot involved and although we have seen improvements we are not there yet for some of our students.

"Are we there yet?" 

"No we are not!"

There is a hive of activity. Buzz, buzz, buzz... happening here over the next two weeks. Please make your calendar your best friend and keep steady!

Ngā mihi nui