Friday 14 June 2019

Farewell from the Board of Trustees and Announcement of new Board

Reflecting on the past three years since the current board was elected, it has been a time of significant change, both in the education sector and at Muritai.  We farewelled long-serving principal Andrew Bird, and welcomed Bec Power to take up the role in 2017. Shortly after, national standards were removed and a review of the education system launched.

Our most important role as a board is to ensure Muritai learners are achieving to their fullest potential. We have been supported by a strong senior leadership team which puts learners at the heart of every decision, tracking and reporting back on the progress of each student. That has seen increasingly targeted support and extension, individualised learning and more technology in classrooms.

We have invested in more professional development for teachers and wellbeing support for staff and students.

In property, we have welcomed a spacious new staff room and renovation of the dental clinic into a multi-purpose space known as the cottage, as well as the demolition of an ageing playground. Plans for a new play space are underway and, up next, is a major redevelopment of the senior school.

We leave the school in a strong financial position, capable of weathering uncertainty.

We have moved to SchoolDocs for our school policies, bringing with it best practice and termly reviews of policies with feedback from staff, board and parents as well as being available on our website.

Alongside ongoing community consultation, we have also responded to Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, creating a whanau group for our Maori and Pasifika families with a regular hui attended by a board member.

More recently, we are focusing on consolidation and settling in after a period of change. While we continue to attract a high calibre of staff in a competitive teaching market, we acknowledge concern over turnover.  To ensure we connect with staff, the leadership team gathers feedback at several points through the year via staff surveys and individual interviews. Furthermore, from this year, all departing staff are offered an exit interview with the board chair.

What’s next? This term you will see our Kapa Haka group representing Muritai in their smart new uniforms at Hutt Fest (formerly Polyfest). We were delighted to fund this as we strongly support our school’s bicultural perspective in our increasingly multicultural Kapa Haka group - and want our students to feel proud on stage representing Muritai.


As we hand over to the incoming board, we would like to thank families and the broader community for the support, both in time and donations. We encourage your continued support to allow Muritai to be ‘the best it can be’.

We welcome the new board of trustees for Muritai School - Jeremy Buckley, Deane McKay (Staff Trustee), Bec Power (Principal), Kurt Renner, Andrew Saunderson, Kaye Sherwin, Marni Stevenson. The results of voting are published in our foyer and in the Hutt News.

From your out-going Board - Nigel Cass, Miki Szikszai, Mary Longmore, Louise Marsden, Andrew Saunderson, Deane McKay and Bec Power

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