Newsletter - Term 1, Week 3
Thursday 16 February 2023
From the Principal
Kia ora koutou
PPTA strike action and changes to upcoming events
At the start of the school year the PPTA (the secondary teachers' union) advised all schools that its members would undertake a range of strike actions. The first of these is a relief ban. Essentially it means that our awesome teachers will not work above what's agreed within their collective agreement. This action has placed events like athletics days and camps at risk as they rely heavily on teachers volunteering their time. I've been working with our teachers to make sure that camps are able to continue by finding a compensatory measure to ensure that the non-contact hours that teachers are entitled to are reimbursed. To do this I have closed the school for instruction on Monday 24 April (the first day of Term 2). The school will still be open for supervision but no classes will run. If you need to send your child to school please contact the office as soon as possible so I can ensure that I have enough staff on hand to provide supervision.
Further to this, I have had to make the difficult decision to call off the kaiārahi conferencing day on 10 March. This is because it is too challenging for me to manage individual teachers' non contact time on the day. I want to thank those of you who booked in times and apologise for the confusion that announcing and then cancelling the day is likely to have caused you.
I am working with senior leadership to ensure that all of our teachers are working to the collective for the next few weeks. This will mean alterations to our timetable which will be shared with students by their Kaiārahi.
Finally, the PPTA has notified all schools that its members intend to strike on Thursday 16 March. In practice this means we will be unable to run classes on that day, and will be open only for supervision. Again if you require your child to be at school that day, please make contact with the office so we can arrange supervision. I will notify you should the strike action be revoked.
Our teachers are incredible. The goodwill and extra hours they put in for our students help ensure that we are able to run the many extracurricular opportunities that we have at the college. The College fully supports their efforts to negotiate a collective agreement that recognises their dedication and professionalism.
Athletics Day
It was fantastic to see lots of whānau enjoying the track and field events - it was a noticeable difference from our Covid affected athletics of last year. It was also hard to believe that here in Te Anau we were sweltering in the sunshine and heat whilst much of the North Island was dealing with the devastation being caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. Well done to all of the students who participated and a huge thank you to Mr Cantwell, the staff and the volunteers who helped make the day an enjoyable one.
Ngā mihi nui
Steven Mustor
Netball
Kia ora Netball Whanau and friends
The 2023 Netball Season will be kicking off on the 29th and 30th of April in Winton with a grading weekend. The team lists need to be sent through by the 30th of March and we will confirm soon when a trial date will be. We are aiming for it to be early March. At this stage we will just have one trial and add another one if needed.
Quick 6 teams and coaches plan to have a training day on April 2nd in Winton to go over changes and details of the game.
All players and coaches must be registered before the 3rd of March on our Netball Fiordland sporty page. https://www.sporty.co.nz/netballfiordland?em=1
Please if you have any questions or would like to contact Karyn Gamble please email netballfiordland@gmail.com, message on Facebook or give her a ring on 027 3353828.
Email: admin@fiordland.school.nz
Phone: +64 (0)3 249 7819