Onslow College PTA
Minutes - AGM  
Monday 14 March 2011, College Library

Present :
Minka Bupha-Intr, Jane Hunter, Lynley Graham, Maree Kibblewhite, Anne Johnston, Marina Stevenson, Deidre Burke, Karen Doogan, Kate Koch, Janet Green, Jo Ager, Kirstie Hosie, Nicki Bilbrough, Annette Linklater, Adrian Pronk, Jan Polaschek, Frances Kuo Crothers, Teddy and Iris Puplinyer, Keith Mockett, Kristyn D’souz, Tracy Bull, Paula Gilbert, Robert and Stephne Schubach, Helen Steven, Anna Mills, Pauline Brown, Paula McIvor, Judith Wigglesworth, Marie Sim, Julia Grange, Nicky McCreanor, Helen Hayward, Stuart and Helen Byrne, Tamsin Ewing, Mike and Irene Baucke, Gabrielle Parle, Sunniva Zoete-West, Geoff Patterson, Jackie Bedford, Margaret King, Clare Forest, Maureen Macnarmara, Quinn Wright, Jenny Scheider, Kewal Dhariwal

1.  Welcome and apologies
Kate Williams, Debbie Iversen, Leanne Havill

2. Confirmation of the minutes of the 2010 AGM
Copies of the minutes were distributed to those present.
The minutes of the 2010 AGM were read out to the meeting.
Minka Bupha-Intr invited questions from the meeting. There were no questions.
Marina Stevenson moved that the minutes were a true and accurate record and that they be accepted. Seconded Deidre Burke. Carried.


3.  Financial Statement
Marina Stevenson spoke to the Financial Statements of the Onslow PTA for the year ended 31st December 2010. Complete copy attached.
Marina’s Treasurer’s report is copied below -

This is my first Treasurer’s Report as I took over from Jane Hunter at the previous AGM. I would like to thank Jane for helping me with various issues that have come up during the year. She has always been very willing to help me.

I would like to thank Anne Burrage from the school office for all her help during the year providing me with account ledgers, answering the queries that I have and for promptly actioning reimbursements when they are requested.

In 2010, we have been delighted to be able to fund the purchase of three picnic tables for use by the students and to provide funding for three further tables that were manufactured by the Design Technology Class.

During the year the committee, through the efforts of Anne Johnston, have raised just under $1500 from raffles run during the evening events held at the school. This has been a great success and a welcome addition to our account.  Thank you Anne.

This year the committee decided to fund the Year 9 Tea instead of charging each family $15. We did ask people for a donation. We found this very successful and were heartened by the generosity of the families that attended.

The money that we have is invested through the school @ 3.15% interest. This has earned us $468 for the year.  By having transferred our funds into the Onslow School Accounting System in 2008 and having the school manage our banking and payments, this means that we do not have to engage an auditor, as the school’s financial accounts are audited.

A question from the floor queried why the picnic tables had been classed as revenue expenditure rather than a capital expenditure. Marina explained that the PTA does not handle depreciation and that the school is responsible for that. The PTAs accounting, being a subset of the schools, is not required to go into that level of detail.
 
Karen Doogan moved that the Financial Statements of the Onslow PTA for the year ended 31st December 2010 be accepted. Seconded Minka Bupha-Intr. Carried.


4.  Chair’s report: Minka Bupha-Intr
Minka Bupha-Intr spoke to the Chair’s Report 2010.

There was one question from the meeting asking why no Year 9 Tea was planned. Minka explained that the continued industrial action by the PPTA prevented teachers from attending any school related activity after 5pm. If the industrial action continues the PTA, in consultation with school management, was considering holding a meet the teacher afternoon tea instead.

Janet Green moved that the report be accepted.  Seconded Karen Doogan. Carried.

Maree Kibblewhite presented Minka with a bouquet of flowers with the Committee’s thanks for her years of service on the Onslow PTA both as a member and Chair.

5.  Election of Officers
The position of Chair was the only vacant office. All other incumbent officers are happy to remain in their positions.

Minka Bupha-Intr asked for nominations for the position of Chair.  There were no nominations.

6. Principal’s annual report
Peter Leggat started by saying that he was grateful for the welcome that he’s received from everyone at Onslow and that it had been a frenetic first six to eight weeks.

Peter gave a brief description of his background – he had been a teaching principal at Katikati College for ten years when he began to feel that it was time for a change both personally and for the school. In 2010 he spent six months at Whakatane High School helping them out and then six months as an educational consultant.  It was during this time that he realized he missed being a part of a school and the Onslow job came up. Peter wanted to acknowledge what has gone on before at Onslow and said how much he’s enjoying the job.

ERO visited last week and Peter thinks that it was great timing in order to check where the school is headed. ERO spent four days at Onslow and recognized the special qualities of the college. Onslow received an excellent ERO report.  Some of the comments made by ERO were that Onslow students are engaged and well mannered, and the school has a holistic approach.

Peter wanted to quash a rumour that had been doing the rounds that he wanted to bring back uniforms – this is not true.  He said that he’d met Onslow rowing teams in the weekend and that they were all totally proud of who they were and who they were representing.

Peter went on to talk about what he believes we can achieve as a school. Peter has travelled extensively and he is always heartened that people overseas ask what’s happening in New Zealand in terms of educational trends. Peter believes that we have a world class education system.
Peter stated that he plans to commit seven to eight years to Onslow.  He believes that this is about the right amount of time for a principal to lead a school before new direction is required.
Peter stated that it’s a common belief that we can make a difference to all our students but there’s no magic bullet, just lots of little steps towards a common goal. The first step is to understand what a successful student is. It’s important to strive for academic excellence but for some students there will be, and are, alternative pathways.
Peter wants to encourage students to question their learning and question their teachers. Peter has always taught a class and would like to do so at Onslow too. He wants to encourage teachers to continue learning. Effective teaching is the key to creating an effective learning environment.  Success is something that can be gauged individually and it’s important to respond to, and respect, diversity in the school.
Peter would like to use achievement data to track students and share this information with parents.

Peter listed that characteristics that he believes make a really good school:
•    Professional leadership
Every teacher displays professional leadership and every student has the potential for it too.
•    Shared vision and goals
Talk to the students about what they want from the school and create goals that will make our students feel proud.
•    High expectations
“Spoon feeding only teaches a person the shape of a spoon”
Celebrate the things that students are good at, don’t take away the success stories.
•    Good monitoring of students
The relationship between home and school is important and this is one of things that is valued here at Onslow.
•    Being a learning organization
Challenge students to dare to be successful and respect those who contribute. Students need to know why they are learning something.
•    Technology
Expand the accessibility to and use of IT at Onslow.  We need a robust wireless network.  This will cost about $40,000 but is essential as technology is an integral part of our everyday life and that’s certainly true for our students.
•    Lifelong learning
Students have to know how to learn. Many students change direction when they get to university and statistics show that most people will study more than once in their lives.
•    Clear pathways for success
Continual feedback to students, recognition and celebration of success. Challenge students to go further. Relationships with teachers are important.

Peter went on to list the skills that our students need:
•    Thinking skills
•    Applied reasoning
•    Communication skills – speaking and listening especially
•    Technical skills – reading and comprehension
•    Personal skills – goal setting
•    Time management
•    Stress management – physical exercise
•    Workplace skills – be aware of trends in the global workplace, understand that sometimes you just have to stick it out
•    Working and learning in teams

Peter stated that it’s important to have high expectations of students and to push them to succeed.  This requires safe and predictable classrooms where there is lively debate and a level of busy noise. Students want teachers who are there for them and teachers need to be able to negotiate with students regarding what and why they are learning.  Peter added that the new curriculum was developed to meet the needs of individual students.

Peter believes that Onslow has the three Rs right – Relationships (between staff and students, students and students), Responsibility (that students take) and Results (academic results, our students are successful at what they do and go to university well prepared).

Peter stated that the challenges he sees ahead are:
•    The creation of a wireless network
•    The use of laptops by students
•    Profiling and tracking students
•    The partnership between school and home

Peter invited questions from the meeting –

Question: Does Onslow collect data on students’ progression from school to tertiary institutions, destination data?
Answer: Peter replied that the data is not as comprehensive as they’d like. One of the problems is that universities have not fed information back to schools. Onslow has a 75% retention rate from Year 9 to Year 13.

Question: Do we know where ex-Onslow students are and what they are doing now?
Answer: Peter replied that universities are beginning to send schools lists of ex-pupils but each university is different. Peter said that Onslow would try to do more in that area and that there was some work to do in career pathway planning for students.

Question: Does Onslow hold a career fair?
Answer: Yes, a career fair happens annually, usually later in the year.

Comment and question: Sunniva Zoete-West commented that she would appreciate it if there was more communication between staff and parents, especially before a problem at school escalated. Sunniva asked if a standard dress code existed for staff and students.
Answer: Peter acknowledged the comment about greater communication between school and parents. A standard dress code does not exist but students who pushed limits should be reminded about the value of modesty and showing respect for others.

Question: Does the school hold earthquake drills?
Answer: Yes, a full drill was held on Wednesday a week ago. Earthquake/disaster information is on the front page of the website. Students evacuate to Table Mountain where they are supervised and stay until collected.  The school recognizes that one rule does not fit all and that some older students may be required to collect younger siblings from other schools. The procedures have been vetted by Civil Defence.

Question: What did you used to teach?
Answer: Sports Science, PE and economics. Peter stated that he had played a lot of sport in the past.

Question: What are the hours that the school can be contacted by telephone?
Answer: Someone is in the office until 5pm, the phones are answered until 4.30pm.

Question: It sounds like it has been a very busy start to the school year, are things beginning to settle down?
Answer: Yes, there was a very busy build up to the ERO visit but things are beginning to slow down now. Peter reflected that he is fortunate to have a very supportive wife.

Minka thanked Peter.


7.  General business
7.1 Arboretum
Deidre Burke began by giving some background to the development of the Arboretum, explaining where and what it was. She then continued to speak to her written Arboretum Report – copy attached.

Deidre stated that she would be happy to run a tour of the Arboretum at a future PTA meeting if people were interested.

In response to a question about whether students needed to get permission to visit the Arboretum, Deidre replied that although it has not been advertised, students are able to eat their lunch in the first section of the Arboretum. Peter added that as more areas are developed the Arboretum can be opened up to more use.

 

The meeting ended at 8.30pm

Following the meeting, attendees were invited to stay for refreshments.