As we come to the end of Term 3, we would like to provide an update from the board including:

• Board personnel update
• Online learning programme
• Strategic planning process
• Thank you to our PTFA

Board Personnel Update
We would also like to provide an update on our board composition. Riaan Geldenhuys has resigned from his position as Chair and board member. We thank Riaan for his service to the board over the past two-and-half years. At a board meeting on Wednesday 29, September, Eric Esnouf was elected as the new Chair. In light of this change, a casual vacancy has occurred on the school board. The board has decided to fill the vacancy by selection, which means the current members will identify an individual and invite them to join the board until the next election in May 2022. In the first instance, the board will look to select a candidate by considering those individuals who put themselves forward for nomination during the last election process. However, if 10% or more of eligible voters on the school roll ask the board, within 28 days of this notice being published, to hold a by-election to fill the vacancy, then a by-election will be held.

Request for a by-election should be sent by October 27, 2020 to:

Eric Esnouf as Presiding member (chair) of St. Joseph’s School Takapuna Board
C/O St. Joseph’s School Takapuna
2 Taharoto Road
Takapuna
Auckland 0622

The board will provide an update early November regarding this process.

Online Learning Programme
The board would like to take this opportunity to thank Alister, the leadership team and all our staff for the work that has gone into the online learning programme this term. It has been a challenging time for everyone, and we appreciate their efforts to maintain and evolve the programme. It is very difficult to create an online programme that fully meets the individual needs of a diverse community. However, Alister and his team have put a great deal of work into creating a resource that provides flexibility and access to learning opportunities across the full range of the New Zealand curriculum. We are grateful for their efforts and the individual support they have given to those students and families who have reached out. We would also like to acknowledge and thank all our community for your support to implement the programme in your homes – we know that it is not easy. There has been good engagement with programme, and we hope that your children have been able to make use of the activities on the site to continue their learning. If you are struggling with any aspect of your children’s learning at any point (whether in lockdown or in the classroom), we encourage you to reach out directly to your child’s teacher for support as they are here to help.

Strategic Planning Process
We also wanted to provide an update on our strategic planning process. The feedback provided through the Ask My Team survey, the poster boards around the school, at the community evenings, and directly to our board, leadership team and staff, is appreciated and will be invaluable as we set the direction for our school over the coming years. While the board and leadership team had planned to come together over the past weeks to develop the plan further, this process has been delayed slightly due to Covid. We are hoping to be able to progress our planning towards the end of October/early November and it is then our intention to present our draft strategic plan and charter to the community. We will provide an update on this process next term and there will be further opportunities to provide input as we finalise these documents.

Thank You To Our PTFA
The board would also like to acknowledge the ongoing efforts of our PTFA both for their fundraising and community engagement efforts. We are especially appreciative of their efforts over this lockdown to provide pastoral care through the My Food Bag vouchers, and for the opportunities to bring our families together through the two online, social events the committee organised. We are very grateful for your efforts.

As term three ends, we are hopeful that we will see a drop in alert levels over the holidays, which would allow the school to open again to all our staff and students. In the meantime, we wish you a safe and happy break, despite the current circumstances.

The St. Joseph’s School Takapuna Board