Kia Ora Whānau

I would like to thank you for your support of todays Paid Union Meeting. The timing we were all given (Community and School Leaders) for this meeting is unprecedented. In previous situations we have been able to set things up where 1/2 the staff attend one meeting on one day and the other 1/2 on another day, allowing us to keep the school open. However, with today being the one meeting for all schools across the Motu at the same time, we were just unable to establish the systems for how we usually work through these meetings.

Our Staff did not receive the collective agreement offer from the Government until 9:15pm last night, todays meeting will be their first opportunity to really explore what the offer means to them. From here our staff and all primary teachers will vote on the offer to either accept or reject.

It is interesting to note the PPTA (Post Primary Teachers Association) Secondary School union has immediately rejected their offer and have resumed their rolling strikes as of tomorrow.

Our newsletter today covers a number of updates from the school board of trustees following our meeting a fortnight ago. Please take some time to read all of the information attached from the board.

Ngā mihi

Matt

Kia Ora Whānau

As a board we would like to update you on a number of things that have been happening around the school and behind the scenes.

There are a number of things we will cover in this newsletter including:

• Update on Uniform
• Thank you for our Working Bee
• Update on Student Achievement Data
• International Student Accreditation
• Approved Investment into our School Pool
• Leaky Classroom Remediation
• Hall toilets/Hall being completed
• Tsunami Preparedness
• New School Website
• Education Review Office Report

As a board we have met 3 times this year and we would like to extend our thanks to both the school leadership team and teaching team for their continued efforts they are putting in for our tamariki. We are really excited as a board to be receiving updates from the team at our twice termly meetings and to see the opportunities being provided across the school. We are especially excited to see the impact that the school Pou are having right across the school. None of this would be possible without the dedication and commitment of the quality team of leaders, teachers and support staff we have within our school.

One of the first things we have worked through at a board level this year is a self review of our board diversity, looking to ensure that we have got a good representation of parents supporting our strategic decision making. One area that we believed we could strengthen was having a parent representative from our Te Manawanui whānau. With this in mind, the board is pleased to have co-opted Tukara Matthews onto the board. Tukara has two tamariki at Pāpāmoa Primary School in Te Manawanui, Franklin in Year 5 and Luca in Year 2.

As a board we now we have a great mix of gender (5 female - 4 male), parent representatives who are new to the school with junior children as well as parents who have been at the school for a number of years. With the background and skillset of each board member, we are confident that we are making balanced decisions for the direction of our school and for our community.

We hope that the following update keeps you, our community well informed about what is happening across our school.

Ngā mihi

Mark Divehall

Presiding Member

Pāpāmoa School Board of Trustees

For a full list of our board members, please click here

We would like to thank the 67 people who responded to our uniform survey . This feedback has been really valuable for the uniform committee that includes, staff, board members and also members of our parent community.

Our committee will be visiting other local schools to learn from their experiences of changing uniforms so that we can plan our process and change over as best as possible.

We have currently sought designs and transition proposals from 3 different uniform suppliers. It will be the role of the committee to work through these proposals to select a preferred supplier to then develop our new uniform further.

We look forward to sharing back to the community as things develop in this space.

The Pāpāmoa Board of Trustees would like to again thank and acknowledge all of the whānau that were involved in in the construction of the confidence course as well as those who supported around the school on the day with the garden area and also the new sandpit.

These investments in time from you the community have made a big impact on our school environment and from the images we have seen and the comments back from teachers, and our own children we know that everyone is excited to see our school transforming.

A big thanks from the board also to ITM Mount Maunganui who kindly donated all of the timber for the fitness trail. We look forward to installing these signs along the fence where the fitness trail is located to acknowledge all of those businesses that supported us in some way.

We would like to update you on the outcomes of our recent board meeting held in term two, where we reviewed the student achievement data collected at the end of term one. We would like to extend our appreciation to Sara and Anna, our dedicated Deputy Principals, for their efforts in gathering and presenting this valuable data to the board.

Monitoring student achievement is a fundamental objective for our board, and we track it consistently from year to year. This allows us to effectively support our school leadership by providing the necessary professional development and additional assistance they may require, ensuring that our students reach their potential.

While we place great importance on data related to reading, writing, and mathematics, we also recognise the significance of the information we receive throughout the year from our SENCO (Special Education Needs Coordinator) team. Additionally, we eagerly anticipate receiving the initial insights from The Resilience Project data, which is being collected this year through independent surveys.

As a board, we have complete confidence in the quality and reliability of the data presented to us, enabling us to continue governing our school in a successful manner.

We would like to provide you with an update regarding the school board's efforts to host international students starting in 2024.

As mentioned in our earlier newsletter this year, we are currently undergoing the NZQA application process to obtain accreditation under the Code of Practice for Pastoral Care of International Students. This accreditation ensures that we have the necessary policies and procedures in place to cater to and care for these students, just as we do for our own students within the school.

In Tauranga Moana, there are currently 23 primary schools that welcome anywhere from 5 to 25 international fee-paying students. These children and their families come to live and learn in New Zealand, as families desire this experience for their children from a young age. While most people associate international students with secondary schools, it is important to note that many primary-aged children are also living in New Zealand with their mothers and sometimes their fathers.

This trend is particularly strong in Tauranga primary schools due to the presence of three locally-based Korean agents who collaborate with our schools to connect families with suitable schools and provide ongoing support to the families.

We are excited that our school is exploring this opportunity to welcome international students into our community. By embracing this initiative, we aim to enhance the educational experience for all our students. The presence of international students will contribute to a global citizenship in classrooms, fostering cultural exchange and broadening horizons. This exciting endeavour will enable us to provide additional resources and support to further enrich the learning outcomes for your children.

To help you better understand how international students will integrate into our school and community, we have compiled some frequently asked questions (FAQs) below:

How many international students will be in each class?

Our policy is to have no more than one international student per class.

Will they receive English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) support?

Yes, ESOL support is included in their fees. Small group sessions will be provided from Monday to Thursday for 30-40 minutes.

How much do international students pay?

The annual fee for international students is $13,500.

Who do they live with?

International students are accompanied by their mothers, and occasionally their fathers.

Who takes care of their accommodation arrangements?

We have three Korean agents based in Tauranga who assist the families and provide support with accommodation and other matters.

How long do international students stay?

They have the option to stay for one month, one term, one year, or up to four years.

What support systems are in place for international students?

Firstly, they are treated like all of our other students, with the classroom teacher being their primary point of contact. Depending on the number of international students, we will gradually introduce an International Student Pastoral Care Staff member and an ESOL Tutor in part-time roles.

Do international students have any English language proficiency?

Most international students have a basic understanding of English. Experience has shown that they adapt quickly and often achieve proficiency similar to that of their New Zealand peers within as little as six months.

Why do international students come to our school?

They come to escape the highly competitive and specialized Korean Schooling System and to learn English before reaching puberty. Research suggests that learning a foreign language before puberty can result in acquiring the language without an accent.

Matt will likely travel to Korea later this year alongside a number of other Tauranga Schools as part of the annual Korean Marketing Trade Fair. The article below gives you an insight into the delegation that went to Korea last year for the first time since 2019 following COVID.

As a community you will have seen over the last 12 months a concerted effort to improve the schools physical environment. We need to thank and acknowledge the skillset that Matt has bought to our school and team in tackling so many of these projects in such a short timeframe.

As a board we spend considerable time debating what is the best use of our school funds, and how these funds can leave a legacy for the school. I think you would all agree that the new school turf, playgrounds, hall and multiple other areas of the school are testament to this legacy spending.

The next project that the board would like to tackle is ensuring that the School Pool is fit for purpose for the next 15-20 years.

The school has been working closely alongside our main partner for the pool, The Pāpāmoa Swimming Club. Together we have developed a set of plans to address the critical needs of the pool, needed but not critical and nice to have.

As a community you are not likely to see the outcome of the critical work, as most of this is to do with the plant room (filters and pumps) and the ballast tank. It will take us some time to develop a master plan for the pool area including pool recoating, changing room upgrades etc then to seek the additional funding that we will need to transform our pool into a more modern facility that we are fortunate to have.

The board and school will continue to keep you updated on further developments.

Some of you may be aware that we have a number of leaky buildings on our school site. These are buildings that were built in the late 90s/early 2000s with untreated timber and no air cavity system to ensure that timber does not rot.

One of the major blocks that needs remediation is what we call Block T or the 1/2 circle shaped block that currently hosts Coast Kids, Kiwi Can and our library. This block of 6 class rooms, plus resource room and toilet block is currently going through detailed design with the aim to start the remediation process in around November of this year. This will be the first of 3 blocks that will see some form of construction happening on the school site for the next 2 years approx.

These processes are very slow and time consuming for the board as we want to ensure that we get the best outcome for the school community for the future. As plans develop and we have more to share with you the community we will.

The hall has been a project that has been ongoing for the last two years, with a number of issues discovered along the way.

We are pleased to say that this work is now completed and our hall and toilets are again officially operational.

A big thanks to Mike Bowman and the team at C3 for their quick response and turn-a-round to get most of this work done in the last school holidays .

Living so close to the coast we all need a level of preparedness for a tsunami evacuation.

After reviewing our processes, we have decided that we could increase our preparedness for an evacuation to the Tsunami Bund at Gordon Sprat Reserve.

The board considered the following 3 areas for the development of our Tsunami Go Bag

1. Shelter (Sun and Rain)
2. Water
3. First Aide

We are pleased that we will be providing one of these bags per classroom in the case of an emergency.

As shared by Matt and the team, we are really pleased with the new school website that has been launched. This new website really highlights who we are and what we stand for at Pāpāmoa Primary School.

We hope you enjoy browsing our new site as much as we have as a board of trustees.

Late last term Pāpāmoa Primary School was visited by ERO as part of their ongoing evaluation of our school.

As a board we were a little surprised with the detail of the report that we now receive, however, the dialogue between the board and ERO reviewer was well documented and reflected in the executive summary provided to the school.

We would like to thank Matt, Sara, Anna and the leadership team for their contribution to this process and also the full staff for their on going work that contributes to these reports.

We are pleased to share with you a copy of our confirmed report.

Would you like to know more about our School Policies and Procedures?

We invite you to visit the site at https://papamoa.schooldocs.co.nz
(note that there's no "www.").

Our username is "papamoa" and password "3118".

07 542 3261

Email: admin@papamoa.school.nz
Website: www.papamoa.school.nz
Location: 312 Dickson Road Pāpāmoa
Phone: 07 542 0865
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PapamoaPrimarySchool/