2021 - What a Year!
Tēnā koe
Well - we got there! You made it! As many of us farewell our students there is a brief moment to catch our breath in what has been yet another challenging year thanks to COVID.
I want to acknowledge you all, your hard work and care for your schools, communities, staff and students has been legendary. Your patience and understanding has been tested and you have maintained your composure in some pretty difficult times. The Auckland region is indeed lucky to have such a dedicated group of leaders.
Our thanks to the Ministry of Education who have been working in very trying conditions. They not only had COVID-19 to manage but a major change in their organisational structure. We are fortunate we have a Deputy Secretary and Directors of Education who know our context. We are also grateful to Iona Holsted for including the APPA in Peak Body conversations throughout the year.
Thank you to our Business Partners who enable us to have an organsiation that works for members - we cannot do this without your sponsorship and support. In a tough year you have stuck by us - Thank you.
We have said farewell to a number of principals who retire at the end of this year. To Debbie Marshall Dairy Flat School, Anne-Marie Biggs Glendowie School, Craig McCarthny St Heliers School, Bruce Young Holy Cross Papatoetoe, Liz Gunn Churchill Park School, Alan Lyth Bairds Mainfreight, and Dave Bradley Wellsford School, we wish you all the best as you take leave from the profession.
We also acknowledge Filivaifale Jason Swann who takes up the role of the Director of ERO Northern Region. Jason is going to be missed by us all and we look forward to working with him in this new role.
Our sincere thanks Perry Rush for his Leadership of NZPF for the past couple of years. Perry will be in our neck of the woods from the new year in his role with the Leadership Centre at Auckland University.
We sent Jason and Perry a small token of our appreciation on your behalf.
Remember if you know of someone who is moving schools, leaving the area or making changes then let Sue Green know.
We also congratulate Dr Cherie Taylor-Patel who takes on the role of NZPF President next year.
Thanks to Sue Green for all her efforts this year juggling and managing venue changes, cancellations and anything else that came her way.
and finally...
To our APPA Executive Team. Thank you all for your tireless work. The many additional meetings and late nights thinking about the wider education system. These people go above and beyond to make sure that Auckland schools are well served. Nardi, Saane, Kevin, Wendy, Steve and Heath your effort, passion and wisdom is valued.
To all our leaders, take some time to recharge your batteries over the break. Be with those you love and care about. Do what you love doing and most of all have a very Merry Christmas.
E huri tō aroaro ki te rā, tukuna tō ataarangi ki muri i a koe. Turn and face the Sun and let your shadow fall behind you.
Stephen Lethbridge
President
With the Prime Minister’s announcement this week it would appear that we will be starting school in 2022 in Orange Level. Under Orange level, so it looks like it may be school ‘as we sort-of know it’. We do not need to operate bubbles or groups or social distance, with usual school schedules operating.
As you know, things can and probably will change as we get to grips with the new CPF requirements. However, if we do have a situation where we need to minimise contact, using our recent experience may enable us to quickly recreate the structures required.
Keeping on top of the information is crucial and the Ministry site is a great resource.
APPA Zoom 25 January
The APPA Executive has worked hard this year to provide our principals with the most up-to-date information as possible. Our two key purposes of Advocacy and Support have been to the fore in all of our work. We worked closely with Ministry staff in both Auckland and Wellington on your behalf. While we did not always get the outcome we preferred, our combined voices were listened to, and we were each able to be operationaly viable and to sustain the mahi of our schools, no easy task when so much was changing at such short notice.
To this end, APPA will host a combined principals Zoom meeting on January 25 from 10:30 - 11:30 to provide information to our principals on starting school in whatever CPF we find ourselves in. This session will be run by the APPA and we have control of the technology. We can talk through any specifics relating to our Auckland context and to answer any questions we may have.
We will send out the details of the zoom in mid January. You will need a zoom account, if you don't have one you can sign up here.
We have a new Calendar on the Website and it will be populated with dates in the coming weeks. We did want to give you a heads up on some important first term dates...
APPA 'Preseason' Zoom | 25 Jan 10:30 - 11:30 | All Principals |
Cluster Presidents Meeting | 10 Feb | Presidents of Clusters |
APPA Council | 3 March | Presidents / Council |
APPA Conference | 6-8 April | Registered Delegates |
We are looking to make some changes to our format so keep an eye out for our first newsletter next year.
So that principals and schools can be prepared for the questions around the planned 5 to 11-year-olds COVID-19 immunisation programme, the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre is planning to email schools with an information pack on Friday 14 January.
The email from the Northern Region Health Coordination Centre will have a more detailed plan of how vaccinations will be delivered in the community, and the resources they are providing to schools to facilitate student and parent/caregiver conversations about the vaccine. At this stage APPA are unsure of the level of involvement of schools for vaccinations in January, if any. We will update you if we have any further information.
We are grateful to Google for granting the APPA an Education Workspace environment. Each of our Executive have dedicated email addresses. We hope that these will be the point of contact for any questions or communication with the APPA Executive.
Executive Secretary | Sue Green | executivesecretary@appa.org.nz |
President | Stephen Lethbridge | president@appa.org.nz |
Vice President | Dr Wendy Kofoed | vicepresident@appa.org.nz |
Secretary | Heath McNeil | secretary@appa.org.nz |
Treasurer | Steve King | treasurer@appa.org.nz |
Te Aka Tāmaki | Nardi Leonard | nardi@appa.org.nz |
NZPPA | Saane Faaofo-Oldehaver | saane@appa.org.nz |
Business Partners | Kevin Bush | businesspartners@appa.org.nz |
As people move on from roles these accounts will be a constant.