Minutes of Pigeon Mountain Primary School Board of Trustees meeting held on Thursday 28th August 2016 at 7.03 pm in the Staffroom PRESENT: Mark Eades (Chairperson), Ian Dickinson (Principal), John Hong, Claire Huxley, Linda Lowden, Richard Spong, Yaniesha Pillay VISITORS: Tracy Leader Jordan Broomfield Wendy Sole – Board Secretary (Minutes) APOLOGIES: Ariel Zhang ________________________________________________________________________ CONFIRMATION OF SPEAKING RIGHTS: The Board confirmed speaking rights for Jordan Broomfield for the meeting. ________________________________________________________________________ DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Mark declared his wife, Tracy Eades, is employed at the school as a Teacher Aide. ________________________________________________________________________ MINUTES FROM PREVIOUS MEETING: Clarification – Ian clarified the 3rd point in Paragraph 1 under Health and Safety. The Board is the PCBU with Ian being an Officer. RESOLVED the minutes of the meeting on 28th July 2016 be accepted. R Spong /J Hong/All ________________________________________________________________________ CORRESPONDENCE The incoming correspondence to the school was noted. NZSTA Board Election – Mark will send candidate information out to all BoT members. Please email Mark your preferred candidate. He will then send the final vote on behalf of the BoT. If there is a tie in nominations the Chairman will have a casting vote. There was no outgoing correspondence for the Board this month. ________________________________________________________________________ -­‐ 2 -­‐ DECISIONS Motion 1: To consider and/or approve the 2017 leave application from a member of the teaching staff. RESOLVED that, in accordance with the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Amendment Act 1991 No 54 Resolution to exclude the Public Section 48, Local Government Information and Meetings Act 1987, the Board went into committee at 7.10 pm. The reason for the exclusion was so that specifics on the leave requests could be discussed, while ensuring the privacy of the staff members involved. Following this discussion, the Board resolved to come out of committee at 7.20 pm. RESOLVED that the 2017 leave application be approved. M Eades/All Motion 2: To ratify changes to Board Governance Manual and Policy Handbook. RESOLVED that the Board ratify the changes to the Board Governance Manual and Policy Handbook. M Eades/R Spong/All Motion 3: To ratify/approve changes to two school procedures from July 2016 meeting. Agreed to defer this decision until the next meeting. Ian to meet with Claire and look at these procedures again. Motion 4: To accept and acknowledge the RAMS for the upcoming China visit. RESOLVED that the BoT approves the RAMS for the upcoming China visit. J Hong/ Eades/All ________________________________________________________________________ MONITORING AND REPORTING Principal’s Management Report as tabled. Ian said that he would, in future, also put his report on Google docs prior to the BoT meetings. School Survey being compiled at present – BoT agreed that a section on donations to be added to firstly find out if parents have paid or not, query as to whether parents know what the donation is used for and, if not paid, the possible reasons why. Ian to add this to the survey. Ian advised of a Paid Union Meeting to be held on 13 September. He advised that the school would not be closed for this meeting. -­‐ 3 -­‐ Curriculum Reporting Linda presented a report on the progress of Māori and Pasifika students in the school. Discussion followed. It was agreed that the BoT should look at the budget next year to include further PD for teachers in this area. Mark thanked Linda for her presentation. Finance As tabled and read. Yaniesha raised the issue of school donations and it was decided that the next BoT newsletter should highlight the importance of the donation and how it helps the school. Richard noted that the interest rate figures for the term deposits were missing. It was noted that the Music/Dance and Drama budget holders needed to be advised about executing their plans for using the money held for their areas. Richard noted that the forecast at presents showed a $6K deficit. Ian to follow up this discrepancy to get an accurate forecast. RESOLVED that the Financial Report for July be accepted. Y Pillay/C Huxley /All Planning and Review • Currently the school is reviewing the feedback from parents on how the school supports them with their child’s learning. This includes the positioning of conferencing during the year, parent involvement and timing of reports. • An update of the Annual Plan showing progress to date has been uploaded on Dropbox. Health and Safety 1. Noted that a Health and Safety Board has now been established in the staffroom corridor. 2. There is an issue of visitors, including parents, who come to the school during the day. It was highlighted that all visitors need to sign in at the school office and get a Visitors Badge. This needs to be reiterated in the next school newsletter. Mark to draft an insertion for the newsletter. John will also translate this for the Chinese community. -­‐ 4 -­‐ -­ 4 -­ 2. 3. Richard raised the issue of his term audit. He will liaise with Ian for a good time to do this. Yaniesha raised the issue of Police Checks. Ian clarified that Police Checks were only needed for people who were in a 1 to 1 situation with students. All teaching staff are police vetted when they renew their teacher registration. At present some non-­teaching staff need to have updated police vetting. It was agreed that a schedule needs to be put in place to ensure that non-­teaching staff are police vetted on a 3 year cycle. Ian to organize this and to get all non-­teaching staff to fill in MoJ forms and get these sent off for processing. Once this process has been completed the school can then look at “Friends of the School” being checked if needed. Mark to broach the subject with the PTA at their next meeting. Personnel Ian advised that the new teacher has now been registered. Under Action Items • Ian presented the analysis of in and out of zone numbers in the school across year levels. • Thurston Place – Richard reported on the meeting that was held with BeGroup. Very positive meeting. BeGroup are very willing to minimise the impact on school not only during the development of the retirement village but also once it is up and running. It will be a 3 stage development which will commence mid to late next year. • The Application to CABU is to be completed by 31st August. • BoT Newsletter – Many of the Board members have not yet provided their bios to Ian. Can all BoT members who have not yet done so please provide a bio and photo to Ian by Thursday 1 September. The bios will be published in English and Chinese. Property Report 1. Mark reported that he discovered that the Architect for Year 1 and 2 Buildings had left the company. New architects have now been appointed and the drawings are completed and will go for consent in September. Hoping to start work on Year 2 buildings in the last term and Year 1 next year. 2. School has purchased two shipping containers. One initially is to be used for carnival storage and then will be utilised for sports equipment and storage during the construction phase. -­‐ 5 -­‐ Mark is currently putting in shelving in the second container so that school records can be archived there and thus free up the Lundia shelving. 3. 4. Ian to ask Sharon to investigate how long we need to keep certain records for and how we dispose of them. Mark reported that leaks had been identified during the heavy rain and that roofing contractors were being engaged to look at this. Four companies are finalising their quotes for cyclical maintenance and these will be presented to the BoT at the next meeting. Principal’s Report As tabled and read. RESOLVED that the Principal’s Report be accepted. Y Pillay/R Spong/All Under Action Items Ian Dickinson To add donation questions into the survey. To sort out the discrepancy in the forecast in the Financial Report. To organise a schedule for the police vetting of non-­teaching staff. To arrange for all non-­teaching staff to fill in MoJ forms for police check and get these sent off for processing. Ian to ask Sharon to investigate how long we need to keep certain records for and how we dispose of them. To investigate “schooldocs” and bring proposal to next Board meeting. To view OfficeMax site for donations with Executive Officer (October 2016). Mark Eades To collate nominations for NZSTA Board election and vote on behalf of the BoT. To put a section in the next BoT Newsletter about the importance of the school donation. Insertion to be written for the school newsletter regarding visitors to the school signing in at the school office and receiving a Visitors Badge. To broach the subject of police vetting at the next PTA meeting. To talk to other schools about if they ensure that all doors can be locked from the inside in lockdown situations. -­‐ 6 -­‐ To talk to other schools as to whether they have film on windows/doors that have no curtains for safety in lockdown situations. To move the Property Report as an Agenda item into the Monitoring and Reporting Section. John Hong Translation to be done for the Chinese community of the insertion to be written regarding visitors to the school signing in at the school office and receiving a Visitors Badge. Richard Spong To liaise with Ian re a time for the term Health and Safety audit. Linda Lowden To discuss CABU software costs with Bucklands Beach Primary. Ariel Zhang To look at school website and highlight areas that need improvement for the Chinese community Ariel Zhang / Claire To bring revised Procedures for Abuse and PTA to the next meeting. Huxley All Read candidate information and send who is your preferred candidate to Mark for NZSTA Board election. To provide a 120 word bio and photo to Ian for the BoT Newsletter by Thursday 1 September. Closed Action Items Ian Dickinson To ask Carol to investigate on call term deposit for the money sitting in the bank account at present. Closed To advise the Health and Safety Committee of suggested addition and amendment to Minutes. Closed To check that all staff and relevant parents have current Police Checks. Closed To provide an analysis for each year level as to in zone and out of zone numbers for the next Board meeting. Closed To put a copy of previous biennial parent surveys and a copy of the proposed first draft of the 2016 Survey in Dropbox. Closed -­‐ 7 -­‐ Mark Eades Richard Spong/Ian Dickinson Linda Lowden All To add the ratification of the Principal’s Report to the Agenda. Closed For each term to add health and safety audit by Richard to the Board Calendar. Closed Code of Conduct Policy and Procedures for next meeting. Closed Meeting with Be Group regarding Thurston Place Retirement Village. Closed To investigate alternative school websites. Closed To update school website with ratified Governance Manual and Policy Handbook. Closed To ratify latest version Governance Manual and Policy Handbook. Closed To send thoughts and suggestions to Ian for the 2016 Parent Survey. Closed GENERAL BUSINESS 1. Property Report as an Agenda item to be moved into the Monitoring and Reporting Section of the Agenda. Strategic Discussions to stay as a separate item on the Agenda. 2. Mark shared thoughts about staff recognition and appreciation. Discussion followed and it was decided that staff could nominate each month members of staff who have gone “the extra mile” and shown school values. A Prezzy Card would be awarded to the chosen member of staff at the monthly BoT morning tea. Mark would do the presentation. 3. Xmas Party – Ian reported that this has been booked for Friday 16 December at “The Lounge” in Howick. It would be for Staff, BoT and Partners. Claire to assist the Staff Social Committee in organising this event. 4. End of term social get together for BoT, staff and partners at Ian’s on Friday 23rd September. Details to follow. ________________________________________________________________________ NEXT MEETING The next meeting is set down for Thursday 22nd September 2016 at 7 pm. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 10 pm. -­‐ 8 -­‐ BoT Meeting Dates for 2016 Thursday 22nd September Thursday 20th October Thursday 17th November Thursday 15th December 7 pm 7 pm 7 pm 7 pm PTA Roster Dates for 2016 Wednesday 14 September 2016 Wednesday 12 October 2016 Wednesday 9 November 2016 Wednesday 14 December 2016 Admin Board Meeting Room Admin Board Meeting Room Admin Board Meeting Room Admin Board Meeting Room Ariel Zhang Yaniesha Pillay Richard Spong John Hong