Kia ora koutou e te whanau, 

It is with heavy hearts that we acknowledge the tragedy that unfolded in Whangarei last week with the death of a young student, whilst on an EOTC trip.  During these testing times we stand side by side, and offer empathy, compassion, and understanding to one another. We send our aroha to the whānau and friends who have lost their loved one and we reach out to the school staff and community as they navigate these difficult times together. Kia Kaha to you all.

Optimistic Leadership

We began this term talking about raising the mana and status of principals in our communities.  I acknowledge the work you do to set an optimistic tone for your school. By celebrating the achievements and acknowledging the progress of your staff and students you boost morale and create a sense of accomplishment. You uplift those around you and pave the way for positive change which leads to more remarkable achievements.

Optimistic leadership inspires and motivates. An optimistic leader can foster an environment of enthusiasm and resilience, encouraging others to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. With optimism, we can cultivate a school culture in which creativity thrives, and new ideas are welcome.

It can be difficult to remain optimistic, especially when we are bogged down by multiple expectations from multiple corners of society. That’s when it is time to celebrate the awesome things happening in our schools and share them widely.

Feedback and Feedforward

The whakatauki in this panui speaks to the importance of keeping connected, of maintaining relationships and dialogue so that we keep moving forward together. Below, I have selected some issues that demonstrate the importance of your feedback.

Positional Papers

The NZPF executive provides the Ministry with our position on issues. These are shared with you through Nga Pou e Wha. NZPF wants to be sure that our position reflects what is happening in your school community. Our mantra remains to listen, to learn and to act.  If your views are not reflected in our position, we encourage you to discuss this with your Regional Association colleagues and make your views known to us. NZPF welcomes your insights and your examples so we can discuss them with the Secretary for Education and Te Mahau Hautu. I meet with Hautu regularly and they encourage me to share your feedback.

EPL (Education Payroll Ltd - Rārangi Utu ā-Mātauranga)

In the past two weeks, I have received emails from you about EPL services. EPL has a contract with the Ministry to deliver an accurate, timely and secure payroll service to schools. You have reported concerns about the consistency and timeliness of payroll services. I encourage you first to follow the EPL process, and if there are issues, inform the Ministry directly. I thank Hautu, Anna Welsynk, who is responsible for workforce, for directing her staff to support individual principals with frustrating EPL issues. The Ministry wants EPL to be an effective and efficient service for you.

Attendance, Participation and Engagement

In our last Principal Matters panui we expressed gratitude to the Minister of Education for introducing more Attendance Officers. Subsequent emails from you have revealed inconsistencies in the attendance service. We have reported your feedback and our frustrations with media constantly quoting out of date attendance data. Consequently, the latest bulletin from the Secretary for Education outlines a more tailored and flexible approach to the management of attendance in the different Regions and an openness to collaborate with schools to address their specific requirements.

We fully support this approach and have suggested to the Secretary for Education and her Hautu that sharing regional success stories on “Attendance Improvement” initiatives would be helpful. Just yesterday we heard the Ministry’s Deputy Secretary, Sean Teddy, on Radio New Zealand talking about the Tai Tokerau success story. The Tai Tokerau Principals’ Association partnered with their Regional Ministry office to launch a Facebook social media campaign through which tamariki encouraged their friends to come back to school. It is a positive campaign that is hitting the hearts and minds of the entire community. Tau ana Tamariki ma!  

Regional and National Association Conferences

This term appears to be the season of “Regional Association Annual Conferences”. I encourage you all to participate. Conference programmes I have seen are outstanding. These conferences are organised by principals for principals.

Professionally, conferences provide an opportunity to expand your knowledge, stay up-to-date with education trends, and gain valuable insights from experts and thought leaders. Conference sessions, workshops, and panel discussions offer a platform to build skills, learn about cutting-edge research, and gain practical insights to implement in your schools. Apart from the professional benefits, conferences foster social interactions and networking opportunities. They bring together principals working in diverse communities, enabling meaningful connections, collaborations, and the exchange of ideas. This can lead to valuable relationships and mentorships.

To those of you doing the mahi to organize these conferences - thank you. To those taking part - enjoy!

Ngā Pou E Whā 

To listen, to learn, to act.

Pou Tahi - Leadership Strategy

Jason Miles, Tracy Fraser, Stephanie Thompson, Leanne Otene 

Leadership is complex and demanding and well-being matters.  

At our recent NZPF Moot, regional presidents from across Aotearoa shared their ideas and approaches on collegial support for Tumuaki.  These were listed under the following themes:

• Leadership and support
• Collaboration and connection
• Mentoring and Support programmes
• Resolving challenges and building relationships
• Personal Connection and wellbeing

Pou Tahi will be sending all Regional Presidents a copy of the themes, including all the suggestions for action which will be helpful for Regions planning Hauora approaches to support Tumuaki in their area. 

PGCs - Professional Growth Cycles 

A useful tool for supporting Tumuaki Hauora is belonging to a PGC. NZPF encourages principals in every region to connect with colleagues to check in and make sure that everyone belongs to a PGC and that no one is left out. If you are not a member of a PGC, please contact your regional president. 

Pou Rua - NZ Curriculum refresh - Te Mātaiaho

Karen Brisco, Jen Rodgers, Blair Dravitski 

Update to the work (May):

NZPF and the MoE continue to work together on ways to support principals to build awareness and grow understanding of the Refreshed Curriculum | Te Mātaiaho and to lead the change in their schools. We will provide a clear picture of what this support will look like in the coming weeks.

Some kaiako are involved in fast-testing the early drafts for science, technology and the arts through the end of May and early June.  These drafts will be shared with the wider sector for feedback.

We continue to monitor the progress and updates of the maths and literacy assessments and NCEA changes in the secondary sector, including the shifts in timeframes for some of these changes.  Curriculum Refresh website.

To ensure the NZPF executive fully understand one of the key shifts of the curriculum refresh, to enact the Te Tiriti o Waitangi, we have formed a MAC rōpū. Each Executive meeting our MAC facilitator, Kim Nikora, leads us through aspects of Te Tiriti o Waitangi to build our personal understandings and cultural capability. We also appreciate the opportunity to build on our understandings, as a National Executive.

Pou Toru- Students / Ākonga / Inclusive Education

Shane Buckner, John Bangma, Phil Palfrey, Gavin Beere

When a school excludes students, there is a time lapse between the Board’s decision to exclude and the student being directed to or offered a new placement.

Our focus right now is on the supports available to schools for their excluded student whilst they await alternative placement. Reports we are receiving from principals indicate that there is high variability of support available to schools in this position.

In the case of exclusions, of utmost importance are relationships with whanau, with Te Mahau (the Ministry) and with the recipient school. If you are not receiving the supports you need whilst an excluded student remains in your school, or the process is taking too long, the key contact for your school is the Education Advisor and if you still can’t get traction, then call your service manager.

We want to collect some data on how you have been affected by support issues during exclusion transition.  If your Board has recently excluded a student, please help us by completing the brief survey below. With your evidence, we can advocate to make improvements. 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/73HXHGD

Pou Wha- Policy, Constitution and Legal

Hayley Read, Julie Hepburn, Cherie Taylor-Patel 

Preparation for the 2023 NZPF Elections:  Pou Wha has undertaken a comprehensive review of the NZPF Election processes in anticipation of the upcoming 2023 elections. Several modifications have been implemented. First, the number of words allocated for each candidate's position statement has been increased to 250 words.  Secondly, the candidate's pepeha and mihi will be included separately and will not be counted within the 250-word limit for their position statement.

AGPPA Research:  The Principals Australian Research Foundation has now published a research paper ‘Supporting Primary School Principals to Manage Complexity in Contemporary Education Settings Applying a Service Lens to Support Education Leadership’. Members of the NZPF Executive are meeting with our Australian counterparts to explore ways we can utilise this research to support principals in New Zealand. NZPF looks forward to being involved in any developments in regards to what Leadership PLD will be provided for principals. 

Attendance Officers vs Attendance Service - To clarify the distinction between the services, Attendance services primarily focus on addressing truancy and providing alternative education options. Attendance officers are tasked with collaborating with schools and communities to address the regular absence of students, typically occurring one or two days per week. These students are slightly below the desired attendance level, but still within the range of those who can be motivated to improve their attendance patterns.  We encourage you to engage with your local association (when the time is right) to make sure your current situation is known so your school doesn't miss out on any possible resourcing.