Next Board of Trustees meeting for Ashley School is Tuesday 27 May 2014.

New Chairperson

Lisa Dickson is Ashley Schools new
elected BOT Chairperson and Linda Horne is the new
Staff Rep for the BOT.

Thank you to Pamela and Gill who are leaving the BOT.

Rob Marshell-Lee.....

As I mentioned previously I plan to introduce all of our board to you.  I sent the board an email with 13 questions to answer about themselves. Some people don't like sharing information.... others give you too much (stayed tuned for Pamela's update next week!)  

Luckily Rob responded with enough time for me to make the first newsletter deadline, so he got to be the first introduction.  If you read last weeks newsletter you would know that Rob has three boys Jack, Harry and George. He and Yvonne live just down the road from school, allowing the kids to walk to school each day and the school to use their land for the cross country last month.. When asked about his favourite food he first states Steak & Kidney Pie (fairly acceptable answer to most), he then adds 'with Brussell Sprouts' well were do we go from there!   With a strong intrerest in the land and sustanibility it is no wonder that a milking goat is on the long list of animals/pets around their property.   Rob's favourity memory from school in England was playing Conquers. 

Introducing the board....

When I was first approached to join the board I said ‘Yes’ (what else can you say to the Principal of your kids school!)  After my first meeting, which happened to have ERO visiting, I came away feeling like the English language had been shortened into acronyms (BOT, ERO, PPTA, NZSTA…. the list goes on and on) and feeling very out of my comfort zone.  

So with that in mind I am going to spend the next few weeks introducing the current board and to let you know what we do (and don’t do) for Ashley School.  Our current board consists of 5 parent representatives: Lisa Dickson (me), Andy Leslie, Rob Marshall-Lee, David Milne, & Pamela Simpson (also our chairperson). Craig is on as Principal and Gill Robinson is our staff rep. Nicky Dowling is our thankless minute taker.  We will get to know them all better over the coming weeks too.

I also plan to keep our blog up to date with current topics of discussion, so if you have any thing you would like to know about us please feel free to comment or come find me at school.  As my youngest child started school last week, I will be the nervous/sad/elated parent hanging out near Room 7 before and after school.

Board update

Firstly, and with sadness I have to report that we have had 3 resignations over the last 2 terms from the Board, due to family reasons.  Jason Gardiner, Andrew Penny and Tim Loughnan.  All will be missed, but we wish them well in their new ventures.

Secondly, and with gladness, I want to update and thank Rob Marshall-Lee and Lisa Dickson for agreeing to join the Board of Trustees.  It is great that we have had 2 people prepared to join.  We still have one more vacancy so if anyone has been considering this as a way to support and help the school then please let yourself known.  Initially I suggest talking with Craig or Gill or mention to Tanya (who will be able to pass on your 'interest' so that we can discuss it with you).

Over the last 2 Board meetings, we have decided to pass that we will now be working to National Standards.  As a Board we do still have a number of reservations about what this means.  However, it has become clear it is a legal requirement and as such is a 'must do'.  Craig has been reviewing Naitonal Standards for over a year now, so all the staff are well aware of what these mean.  We will keep you informed of what this means for you all.

As Craig has mentioned in previous updates.  We have the Education Review Office (ERO) visiting Ashley School on the week beginning the 21st November.  The plan is for them to be at school Monday through to Wednesday.  We are looking forward to showing them Ashley School and to getting their feedback, which will be outlined by the end of the week, verbal update anyway.  Final report will take a few more weeks to be published I would imagine.

Any questions, please raise these with Craig, otherwise we will provide updates through this final term.
Pamela

Finding out your thoughts...

Over the next few months we are going to be sending out questions on health and physical education and to find out what your thoughts are regards this curriculum area.  There are quite a few aspects to this, so rather than send out one large document, we thought we would break it down to ask a few questions at a time on the hope that more would have the time to feedback.  It is important to us that we know your thoughts !  Looking forward to hearing back from you all...:)