9 November 2020

Newsletter Articles

Principals supporting Principals… Principals supporting Principles!

Kia Ora

So great to see so many of you and your staff at the Trots Night on Friday – another awesome WPA event thanks to John Coulam. There were some great costumes out there on the night, special mention to Te Ao Marama for their incredible effort.

There are still some spaces for the Connections Day this Thursday and also our Christmas Dinner on the 4th of December, so pop over to the WPA shop to register.

Happy week 5 – HALFWAY!

Kind regards
Chrissy Wakeman
Orini Combined School

WPA Dates

A message from Marcus

Kia ora Kotou

Term 4 is rushing by and our thinking is starting to turn to 2021. I hope everyone’s staffing, budget and property plans are falling into place.

Last week I attended a meeting where Sport Waikato revealed their ‘second horizon’ for the Moving Waikato 2025 plan. The plan has three Pillars, Our People, Building Community and Regional Leadership. Within each of the Pillars there a number of targets to help achieve the goal of 75% of people active in the Waikato, (using the Sport NZ criteria). To help focus their efforts the Equity Index will be tool to identify areas of ‘deprivation’ which become priority focus.

I attended our fortnightly URF meeting this week as well and once again the Equity Index was used a tool to determine where funding should be prioritized. The Labour government has also said they plan on replacing the Decile system with the Equity Index as a tool to determine resourcing levels for schools. So, what is the Equity Index? I have a vague idea but I wanted more detail because it is such a strong influence on how resourcing is allocated in our community. The link below is the best description I could find that provides a succinct summary of the elements of the Equity Index and how it is applied. I hope this is useful for you.

Last Thursday Executive Team met and had a very productive 2021 planning day. We will have a full programme in 2021 including our Rotorua Retreat in March, 3 Connection Days in Terms 2,3 & 4 and a Road Trip to Dunedin planned for Term 3. The Annual Plan will be on the website in the next few weeks so you can see in detail what we have planned.

A big thank you to John Coulam for organizing the Schools Challenge Trots Night. It was another great night and congratulations to Saint Patrick’s in Te Awamutu who won the overall prize. Thank you to Furnware for their generous sponsorship of the winning prize.

There are still a few places left for our Connection Day featuring Kevin Bigger. I am sure Kevin’s thinking could be a big influencer on our thinking for 2021 and I am looking forward to hearing him speak.

Places are also filling fast for WPA Christmas Dinner. Get onto the WPA shop and book your place so you don’t miss out on another fun night.

Marcus Freke
WPA President

Learning Lab

Term 4 Connections Day - Kevin Biggar

Lock Thursday November 12th in your diaries for our final Connections Day for 2020. Please register by using the link below.

WPA Christmas Dinner

December 4th, 6pm, at St Kilda Cafe and Bistro. Always a good night out, principals free, partners $30.00. Registration link below. Numbers are limited so be sure to get in!

Laugh:

Remember our sponsors, support those that support us

Schoolzine

Schoolzine is proud to be a digital partner and supporter of Waikato Principals' Association.

Schoolzine has been an industry leader in digital school communications for 14 years. They are dedicated to customer service, product development and understanding the school landscape that keeps them at the top of the industry. Schoolzine’s Parent Engagement Platform consists of 3 packages, an eNewsletter, Mobile App and Website offering. Purchased separately or together, they guarantee each package will make engaging with parents easy and even enjoyable for a school of any size. Schoolzine addresses the need for media-rich, interactive content that engages parents.