New Zealand Principals' Federation eNewsletter

Principals reject collective agreement offer

You will all know by now that principals, who are members of NZEI, have voted to reject the latest collective agreement offer.

Whilst the primary teachers were successful in obtaining pay parity with their secondary colleagues, that was not the case for the primary principals. The offer to the primary principals was unchanged from the first round of negotiations.

NZPF has repeatedly said that the status of the profession must be lifted if we are to attract quality senior teachers into school leadership positions and have a sustainable work force for the future. That means reduced workload, reduced working hours and reduced stress. It means addressing learning support with workable solutions, increasing access to specialist support and increasing pay for principals.

For some years we have had the situation where Deputy and Assistant Principals in larger schools can earn more than principals of smaller and rural schools. The teachers’ pay settlement will add many more to that list. With fewer incentives to move into principal leadership positions, and with the current average age of principals at 52 years, there are fears that we will not have the principals to lead our schools in the future. A high percentage of our schools are smaller and while principals’ salaries are linked to roll numbers, we will struggle to find enough principals willing to drop in salary to take on these positions.

NZPF fully supports the aspiration of having 30% of Tamariki Māori enrolled in schools and kura offering Rāngai Māori Level 1 programmes by 2030. If we don’t address issues of principalship, we are less likely to achieve that target.

The Minister has said that there will not be any more money for principals in this round. It is our hope and expectation that there will be movement on this issue quickly and the Minister will address the issue of parity for principals as he has for teachers.

In the meantime, the NZPF executive supports NZEI’s suggested ‘next steps’ recommendations to disengage with the Ministry and not attend any Ministry related meetings until further notice.

This will be the last newsletter for the term because next week, we will all be in Auckland at the NZPF conference.

To those of you attending conference, I look forward to meeting you.

Otherwise, have a restful break and I will be back with more news next term.

Ngā manaakitanga

Whetu Cormick
whetu @nzpf.ac.nz

NZPF Conference - 3-5 July 2019

Time is running out. If you haven't already registered for the NZPF Conference in Auckland, do it now! Please note, if you would like to come for only one day, we can accept one day registrations.

At the Conference this year, plenary and breakout sessions will be included in order to offer more opportunities for you to hear from a wide variety of speakers. These include: Yong Zhao (USA), Dr Karen Edge (UK), Neill O’Reilly (Hong Kong), Glenn Cappelli (Australia), Dr Keri Milne-Ihimaera and Moana Maniapoto.

For more information about the conference and speakers, visit the website or click here to register now!

For more information about the AGM on Thursday 4 July, download the AGM Booklet.

Banking Staffing Update July 2019

Completing 1 July Predictions on the recent Supplementary Questions Email you received from MOE.

Suggested minimums for each year level. Feel free to inflate to reflect your circumstances.

Primary: Remember to use Table M1 from the March Return for your minimum entry level predictions and Table J1 for all other year levels. (Or M3 and J3, depending on your SMS.) I recommend that your predicted Yr 1 Adjustment prediction be the same prediction you used for your entry year prediction. This means you expect about as many year 1s to enrol between 1 March and 10 October as you expect to arrive by 1 March.

Contributing Schools: Use the primary suggestions above then: include a year 7 prediction based on about 25% of your average cohort to take account of April May June enrolments who will spend over 6 years at your school. To double check, calculate the Y6 plus Y7 total on Table J1 (the number MOE thinks are leavers) less your inhouse year sixes (the number that you know to be leaving) and use the greater of that result or the April May June 25% system for your y7 prediction.

Area Schools: Use the Primary suggestions above for y1 to 8 and the Secondary suggestions below where appropriate for other year levels.

Intermediate and Secondary schools: Apply the same proportion of “available enrolments” from each contributing school as you received this year, applied to your expected available enrolments coming next year to predict your entry year numbers for 2020. Where possible ask all of your contributing schools for table J1 so you have the best possible picture of “available enrolments” and thereby can base your predictions on the same information that MOE uses for its initial predictions. For all other year levels use March 2018 to March 2019 progression rates from Table M1 2018 and 2019 applied to this year’s 2019 M1 roll numbers.

Important for all schools with leavers: Please pass on table J1 to all the schools that any of your pupils might be attending next year as soon as you have an accurate draft and before the July roll count date.

Link to MOE Provisional Staffing Round processes for all school types: https://www.education.govt.nz/school/running-a-school/resourcing/school-staffing/school-staffing-cycle/provisional-staffing-round/

Gavin Price NZPF Life Member 027 607 6220 gavin.price@xtra.co.nz

Visit us at Stand 24!

The Accounting for Schools (AFS) team are excited to announce we will be at the NZPF conference in Auckland on 3 - 5 July. Come and see us at stand 24 to collect your free reusable coffee cup and enter our Chromebook giveaway competition.

We are a future focused accounting services provider that uses modern cloud-based systems such as Xero (xero.com), ApprovalMax (approvalmax.com) and ReceiptBank (receipt-bank.com) to take care of the grunt work. This allows us to collaborate with schools to maximise the effectiveness of financial resources, to facilitate timely and informed spending decisions.

We also provide free group training sessions to Executive Officers and Trustees, to help enhance their knowledge of both Xero and issues impacting schools.

We can also provide accounting support to local Principals Associations through Xero at no cost; our way of giving back to the school community.

We’d love to see you at Stand 24.

VLN Primary School - Online Programmes

Registrations are invited for online programmes to start beginning of Term 3.

Extend curriculum choices for your learners and provide opportunities for gifted and talented students tailored to their talents and interests.

A wide range of language programmes including te reo Māori and Kapa Haka, in addition - Extension Maths, Literacy, Digital Technology, Science, Astronomy, Visual Arts, Web Design, Life Skills, Health and Over the Back Fence Project.

All NZ children are welcome to learn with the VLN Primary - Nau Mai, Haere Mai!

Find out more and register your interest online or contact primary@vln.school.nz with queries.

Nominations for NZPF Election 2019

Nominations are now open for the NZPF President, Vice President and 12 Executive committee members.

Click here for the form to nominate candidates for President and Vice President for next year.

Click here for the form to nominate candidates for the executive committee for the next two years.

Nominations close on 5 August and the electoral roll closes on 25 August. Your subscription payment must be received by this date in order to be eligible for voting.