Ministry Letters re 2011 Charter

Charter Does Not Meet Requirements 6 July 2011

E-Mail 18 August 2011

From: Jan Hoyle

To: 'chicky@kaikeast.school.nz'

Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 8:44 AM

Subject: contact with Maraea

Hi Chicky

I have tried heaps of times and failed to get to talk to Maraea (text message to the mobile number you gave me, engaged or  not home on the land line). I have not rung her during the day as requested.

I am now at the stage where I must know the final decision of the BOT concerning compliance of their charter.

Expanding the charter’s annual section to include the first 3 bullet points in the letter from Hira (6.7.11) is straightforward and I am sure not contentious with your BOT. I can help with this if you wish. I am now asking that this part is completed soon with or without my help. 10 working days is the national expectation now. Therefore by the end of 1 September. This was requested by 15 August in Hira’s  letter.

As you have told me before the National Standards compliance area is the stumbling block for your school. I am required to obtain from the BOT a statement concerning their willingness to comply or not. I can talk to them about their obligations as a board but this must be soon.

If the BOT decide to be compliant but need to know more about how to make the NS work best for the school I can help with this at any time to suit them.

Could you respond to this email by the end of the week to let me know where things are at?

I am still very happy to talk to Maraea on the phone or face to face but this is now urgent. I do not have an email address for her but, if you have, could forward this email to her?

Best wishes

Jan

Jan Hoyle

Senior Adviser |  Education Curriculum & Performance | 

Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |

Phone DDI + 64 9 436 8965 | Mobile 027 490 1775 | Main Phone + 64 9 436 8900 | Fax + 64 9 436 8901

10 Awaroa River Road, Onerahi | P O Box 911, Whangarei 0140, New Zealand

E-Mail 22 August 2011

from: Jan Hoyle [mailto:Jan.Hoyle@minedu.govt.nz] 

Sent: Monday, 22 August 2011 12:01 p.m.

To: Maraea Kea

Subject: East School

Kia ora Maraea

I left a message on your mobile this morning but now I have your email I will put my thoughts in writing for you.

1.       Charters are required, in 2011, to be fully compliant with the Education Act. In the past this has not been insisted upon and only suggestions were made for the following year’scharter in the charter letter written by the ministry.

2.       A charter should give the essence of what a school is all about including its current position, future year’s big picture thinking and then detailed aims and objectives for the current year. At the same time it should make reference to the current government priorities i.e. Ka Hikitia and meeting the needs of students with special education needs.

3.       Any special plans for the current year should be included rather than just what is business as usual.

4.       Planning and targets for raising student achievement must, from 2011 on, include the implementation of national standards. Other targets can be set of course but these should be related to the analysis of current student achievement data so they are specific to what is needed now. The fact that your charter has set targets for the next 3 years with no analysis of the current situation (baseline Dec 2009 is given) does not make them relevant to what is most urgent now (which is the intention of target setting).

Chicky has told me that her school will not be implementing national standards. I need to hear from you whether this is a BOT decision. The standards are legislated in the Education Act so the stance that some schools across the country are taking is not legal within the Act.

I would like to talk to you about all this but am not allowed to wait until the end of September. The charter was due in term 1. Is there any possibility of meeting in the next week or so? It does not need to be with the whole BOT unless you can get them together easily. It is more about the information that I need to know that you know, rather than a discussion concerning the pros and cons of national standards at this stage.

Sorry to be wordy and I hope you understand that I am here to help the BOT and the school. I am a previous principal so I do know about how difficult can be for schools to create a useful charter but once it is done it is a bit like a guidebook for the year and so is really helpful with keeping everything on track.

Let me know how you wish to progress and support or assistance I can give?

Ngā mihi

Jan

Jan Hoyle

Senior Adviser |  Education Curriculum & Performance | 

Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |

Phone DDI + 64 9 436 8965 | Mobile 027 490 1775 | Main Phone + 64 9 436 8900 | Fax + 64 9 436 8901

10 Awaroa River Road, Onerahi | P O Box 911, Whangarei 0140, New Zealand

Reply to Email 23 August 2011

Kia ora Jan

Thank you for your email.

The Ministry letter about our charter was received at our last board meeting 9th August.

At that meeting the board agreed not to make any decision about a reply until our principal has consulted the staff.

We will decide on our response at the next meeting and ask the secretary to write a reply.

I do not have any formal delegation to speak or make any decisions for the board.

If you need to know about the board decisions or board policy you will find all our minutes (from September 2009) and all board policy on the school website www.kaikeast.school.nz

It would be better if you send board letters to the school address so that they can be in the board correspondence file for our next meeting.

Naku noa,

Maraea

E-Mail 23 August 2011

From: Jan Hoyle [mailto:Jan.Hoyle@minedu.govt.nz] 

Sent: Tuesday, 23 August 2011 12:46 p.m.

To: Maraea Kea

Cc: 'Chicky Rudkin'

Subject: RE: East School

Kia ora Maraea

I will use the entry in your May BOT minutes as the status quo for your board:

National Standards

RESOLVED    Kaz/Angie

That the board confirms its opposition to National Standards and will submit its charter in the previously approved format on 1 July 2011.

Meanwhile it would be helpful to address the other areas of the charter (not related to the standards) mentioned in the charter letter. These mostly revolve around the areas of BOT governance aims and priorities for this year re: government priorities, personnel, finance, property etc. This will be information you will have already in your planning I expect but at this stage is not showing in your charter.

I will send all emails to you and Chicky so that they can be included in your BOT correspondence as you request. If you do not want me to include you in the emails then I would suggest that Chicky lets you have the information included between BOT meetings so that progress can be made. I am required to be discussing charter issues with the BOT chair rather than the principal alone and that is why charter letters are sent to the chair with copies to the principal.

Ngā mihi

Jan              

Amendment Required 5 September 2011

Sections 61 and 63A of the Education Act

[Enclosed with letter from Hira Gage (above)]

E-Mail 16 September 2011

From: Jan Hoyle

To: 'Maraea Kea' ; 'Chicky Rudkin'

Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 11:46 AM

Subject: amended charter

Kia ora Chicky and Maraea

Because your school  has not submitted an amended charter by the date requested preparation for further escalation will commence on Monday 19th. The higher levels of this could still be avoided if you were to submit your charter with the amendment requested.

Please contact me if you would like any clarification about this.

I understand that you have a board meeting planned for Monday and thought this information might help you understand the urgency.

Ngā mihi

Jan

Jan Hoyle

Senior Adviser |  Education Curriculum & Performance | 

Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |

Phone DDI + 64 9 436 8965 | Mobile 027 490 1775 | Main Phone + 64 9 436 8900 | Fax + 64 9 436 8901

10 Awaroa River Road, Onerahi | P O Box 911, Whangarei 0140, New Zealand

Reply to E-Mail 19 September 2011

Kia ora Jan

Thank you for your e-mail of 16 September.

No doubt you are referring to the letter from Hira Gage dated 5 September. I can only respond as I did in my e-mail of 23 August:

“We will decide on our response at the next meeting and ask the secretary to write a reply.

I do not have any formal delegation to speak or make decisions for the board.

If you need to know about the board decisions or board policy you will find all our minutes (from September 2009) and all board policy on the school website www.kaikeast.school.nz.”

I am not sure why you say that you understand that we had a board meeting planned for Monday. Our board meeting dates are on the website in the board’s Annual Agenda and in the Kaikohe East School Calendar on our home page at www.kaikeast.school.nz. Maybe you were referring to today’s fortnightly “Board Chair/Secretary/Principal” meeting.

In preparation for our next board meeting the secretary has inserted the required amendment from Hira Gage’s 5 September letter into the Charter given that that letter says that the amendment takes effect on 9 September anyway.

Here is a link to the amended section: https://sites.google.com/a/kaikeast.school.nz/home/home/governance/board-policies/charter/charter-2011#TOC-Amendment-Required-by-the-Ministry-

Regards

Maraea Kea

Chairperson (Kaikohe East School)

Board Reply to 6 July and 5 September Letters

E Mail 30 September 2011

RE: Kaikohe East School Amended Charter

Kia ora Don

Thank you for the letter informing the Ministry the Kaikohe East School amended charter is on the school webpage.

Nāku noa, na

Janet MacInnes 

Senior Support Officer | Early Childhood & Regional Education |

Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |

Phone DDI + 64 9 436 8927 | Main Phone + 64 9 436 8900 | Fax + 64 9 436 8901

10 Awaroa River Road, Onerahi | P O Box 911, Whangarei 0140, New Zealand

Charter Now Complies - Information Required - 7 October 2011

Reply to Ministry's 7 October Letter - 28 October 2011

E Mail 31 October 2011

From: Jan Hoyle

To: 'Chicky Rudkin'

Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 8:43 AM

Subject: Meeting?

Kia ora Chicky

I have been asked to arrange a meeting with you (and Maraea if possible)  so that I can respond to your letter to Karen Sewell (28.10.2011).

I have other meetings in Kaikohe at 11.30 and 2.30 tomorrow Tuesday. Can we work something around these?

It is not essential that Maraea is there but it is very important that at least you and I meet this week. I can be in Kaikohe on Wednesday and / or Thursday if that suits better.

Let me know?

Ngā mihi

Jan

Jan Hoyle

Senior Adviser |  Education Curriculum & Performance | 

Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |

Phone DDI + 64 9 436 8965 | Mobile 027 490 1775 | Main Phone + 64 9 436 8900 | Fax + 64 9 436 8901

10 Awaroa River Road, Onerahi | P O Box 911, Whangarei 0140, New Zealand

Kia ora Jan

I am more than happy to meet with you but this week is like most, chocka but will get back to you with a Wednesday or Thursday time if that's ok. I will contact Maraea Kea and Don Edmonds to check their availability also once I have a time sorted.

Thanks

Chicky

Letter from Ministry - Satisfied - 8 November 2011

Letter from Ministry of Education 15 November 2011 - Reply to Number 12 Above