Mini Conference 2024
Hātarei 31 Ākuhata
Bringing alive governance, giving value and voice to membership.
Lorraine Kerr - NZSBA Regional Executive and National President
Nō Taupō ia.
Find the courage to ask questions. Informed decisions can't be made if we don't ask questions. Don't be afraid to reach out to the team for tautoko and pātai.
Membership with the organisation is important. This helps us access all required information that we need to keep ourselves safe.
Let's go to the conference in 2025 in the July holidays in Ōtautahi.
Principals on the Sofa
Mark Ellis - Rakaia, John Bagma - Mairehau, Lisa Dillon-Roberts - Merrin
Q. Spend or not spend. Is there any
A - Most schools roll left over budgets over to the next year. It's not the law or the rule. As long as the Board are aware that we are going over. You shouldn't feel guilty about spending money on the kids. Don't feel stressed, bt keep an eye on the bigger picture. Grouping things together so the situation is easier to manage. You've got to use it now, for the children that are there. Finance committee to report to the Board.
Deficit budgets are quite normal.
Q - What can boards do to support the wellbeing and welfare of principals?
A - Know your role as governance. Check in and ask what they need assistance with. Some boards don't meet outside of meetings.
Burn out can hit without seeing it coming. Keep in touch. One school have a school improvement meeting to discuss things in a less formal setting.
Ask how's it going and how are you going? Being a principal is lonely job. Deputy Principal needs to have the principal's back. We need to show support and value what they are doing, at the time and not when they are leaving. Please look after your principal.
Make sure people are sticking to policy.
Q - How do you deal with Board members who question teachers about their children?
A - Some come with an agenda. Separate governance and management. Governance is the what and management is the how.
There is a Code of Conduct on the Ministry website.
The realities in school grounds are that people are people. The only time you are a Board member, is when you are at the table. Make contact with someone for support. Look after yourself.
Q - With not meeting with presiding members, is this a suggestion or something that should be done?
It depends on the situation. Regular communication and no surprises or misunderstandings. It's important to do what works best for your context. Make it work for both sides. Keep communication happening.
Q - How do staff reps balance their role as a teacher and as a Board member? Where is our place to challenge? I am a staff trustee not a staff rep. Some schools have changes in staff trustees every six months, so there is a broader understanding of staff of how a Board works.
Expected to support and help, answer questions about things being shared with the Board.
It's an important role and can be a tricky one. Have a tight relationship with the tumuaki and keep communication up. No surprises.
Do the rest of your staff know what your role is?
Q - Current political climate, what are the biggest challenges facing us for the next few years?
350 principals have broken away from NZEI. This government is quite different from our last National government. The pace of current initiatives is a concern. For some settings, some things are not going to change too much. Take what is coming and stand up for what is right for our tamariki.
Kāhui Ako is a huge waste of money that doesn't show results for better outcomes for kids. Unrealistic expectations that we don't actually have to adhere to. Big concern, what teachers are going to stay? There has been a major drop in numbers enrolling for teacher training.
We want education to cease being bounced around. The state of our profession is a worry with so many people leaving. It's a difficult climate. Education isn't been looked at as a whole.
To be given a new curriculum to read within a few weeks and give feedback, is a big ask. We are currently being put under too much pressure with timelines around the curriculum.
Another concern is how tamariki are arriving at school. Children arrive with such limited skills, low attendance and difficulties with the basics.
Q - How important is succession planning from a principal's point of view?
It's really important, particularly with the Board chair. It's easier if things are opened and shared.
Lorraine - The most important relationship a Board can have, is with the principal. Build trusting relationships.
(Unsure why presiding member is the new chairperson).
Encouragement to attend conference and train all the time. Keep doing what your doing, because you value education.
Managing The Finances - Alex Dieudonne
Finance Advisor Ministry of Education
Four buckets of money come in January, March, July and October.
Never think that you shouldn't spend money on the kids. 2500 schools in Aotearoa. 85% run well and the others, not so much so receive support. If things are not looking good, get in early for support.
Slides will be made available so add here later.
Principal and Board of Trustees relationship and communication is super important. Homework - ChatGPT Have a look. (Not sure why this is relevant).
Education and Training Act 2020 - Section 152
htp://www.ncer.org.nz/system/files/11726-appendices
When policies are weak, the school will be weak.
Click on the image and have a read about what makes a good school.
Internal control system is policies and systems that prevent mismanagement of funds. Keep a good file system to store financial records.
There's a problem worldwide with a shortage of auditors. Office staff need to be capable and continue with training. If board reports are difficult to eead, change it.
Delegation from BoT to Tumuaki
Delegations document which is a statutory requirement. Review and ensure it's fit for purpose. Boards are still responsible for the delegation.
Needs to work for both parties and can't be too restrictive. In the absence of an area of friction - presiding member looks through at the end of each month.
Internal Controls - Mechanisms, rules and procedures to ensure integrity of finaces.
Ministry of Education Checklist - Google it
Funding Statement - Ask to see it.
This sets the framework for the year.
School's Operational Funding
Pourato - Pourato is the Ministry of Education's resourcing system for schools | kura.
Called Bulk Grant. BoT owned assets. Financial statements includes these. Deficit budgets are not a sin as long as you have the funds to support it. When there is a strong educational outcome, overspending will be understandable.
The budget is the financial resource supporting the strategic plan.
Are we sustainable, relative to the budget?
Working capital is ...missed it.
Financial report at meetings should take between 5-10 minutes.
Donations are unsolicited gifts that don't attract GST. Donations can be in the budget. Koha are considered donations, however it's a good idea to have a policy. We can ask for donations, but they are not enforceable.
School Camps - You can ask for donations, but these are not enforceable.
Banked Staffing - Next week, for provisional staffing.
Don't ignore your pipeline. What is coming through.
Pay period #1 is in April. Periodically check your BG wages and should not exceed 65% of our wage bill.
Add the slide with 6 things you should ask.
The board can challenge and auditor's report.
Something new coming for boards.
Google Fish MOE
Springboard Trust - Ellie Sutton and Chris Sullivan
Introduction to Springboard Trust - Getting the Best form Everyone
Great leaders make great schools.
Not all learners are successful in our education system.
Levelling the playing fired for all tamariki in Aotearoa takes strong strategic school leadership.
Quality school leadership in not a given, it requires support and development.
This is simply too important to get wrong.
Connect school leaders with strategic leaders from the private, public and philanthropic sectors.
We work for the success of all tamariki by bringing together leadership expertise from across the motu.
What is our idea about strategic leadership? Brings people along.
Where are we? Where do we want to get to? How will we get there?
'Strategy depends upon the ability to foresee future consequences of present initiatives' Bruce Henderson.
Strategy - A long term plan.
Find that chart of the approach strategy and insert here:
Vision -
Change -
Strategic Goals and Initiatives -
Measurement -
Annual Plan -
If we do what is in the triangle, we will see success.
Enablers - Stakeholders, both internal and external. Who is critical to the success of your strategic plan? Leading change and mitigating risk. How will you prepare to lead your school through change. Measurement.
PESTLE is a framework for identifying key external factors impacting an organisation.
- Political
- Economic
- Social
- Technological
- Legal
- Environment
Implications for us around the different levels and parts of our current social setting:
-It can be overwhelming and make us feel inadequate.
-Mental health and wellbeing for all stakeholders.
When trying something, assess whether it worked or not before trying the next thing.
Self Evaluation
Aspect of Strategy 1-4
3/3/4/3/?/1/3/=17
Post it app for taking photos of written notes and it will save it as some kind of doc.
Lies, damned lies, and statistics
Robbie Blakelock
What's available and how it can inform your planning/budgeting
Why think about data? We want to know stuff about our school and wiser community to figure out what is going on.
Ethnicity - Total response ethnicity vs prioritised
Total response is different to prioritised data. People can belong to more than one ethnicity group.
Prioritised is often for historical data.
NZ Index of Deprivation - doesn't track of time and is usually lowest 10%.
Gender, sex, and intersex
Meshblocks. SA1s are within SA2s. Customised data might be relevant for us to gather data for our school zone. You can find interesting geographical data too.
To understand place summaries, you need to know the
Education Counts for school data.
Stats NZ within other sites:
Figure NZ
Pātaka Raraunga
Pacific Data Fale o Aotearoa
Disability Figures
Words don't always mean what we think they mean.Good stats are generally true in general, but totally irrelevant to individuals.
Purpose matters for data quality. Data collected for one purpose might be useless for a different purpose.
Schools can request catchment information through the Ministry. Can also tap into birth data so you can see possible enrolments.
When would we use this at Board level?
Enrolment review, zone review,
NZSBA Where to go for help and support? What learning options are available?
Sandy McPherson - Learning & Innovation Lead
NZSBA New Zealand School Boards Association
Quite a list of services available. Everything NZSTA do, is free for Boards. Having a strong membership is important to keep this available.
Support & Learning Options
Advisory and Support:
- Governance Matters - govadvice@tewhakaroputanga.org.nz
- Employment Matters - eradvise@tewhakaroputanga.org.nz
- Elections Matters -
Communications - See the Board Matters publication that comes out once a month. It includes up to date training opportunities, sector updates and event information and enrolment links.
Learning Options - Resource Centre, Workshops and Webinars, Learning Library, Online Courses, On Demand Learning and Members Only.
Webinar recordings are always available for ubiquitous learning. If someone has missed training, we can get in touch and the team can come to us.
https://www.tewhakaroputanga.org.nz/ - Public facing website and access to members only.
https://www.nzstaresourcecentre.org.nz/ - Dedicated website for board members and principals to access information, resources, and learning.
Click the image to go to the site.
Non-negotiables
It sounds like a new framework is on its way so don't put too much effort into reviewing. The Board owns the policies, but the procedures are owned by everyone.
