BOT Newsletter - February 2023
Board Changes
The Board is pleased to welcome John Mackenzie and Dr Nick Gant as new parent representatives. John and Nick have been co-opted onto the Board for the rest of this three-year term.
Nick is a professor at the University of Auckland and brings a wealth of experience from academic and professional governance roles both locally and internationally. Nick has a daughter in Year 3 and a 4 year old son. In terms of role, Nick has agreed to take on the role of Treasurer.
John’s background is Architecture where he has worked on major projects internationally and is now lead architect at Auckland Airport. John has a son in Year 1 and daughter in Year 3. John is lending his expertise and providing support to the property planning process.
In other changes, Brad Dunstan has stepped down as Presiding Member (Chair) of the Board and Mark Thompson (previously Deputy Presiding Member) has stepped into this role following a unanimous vote. Brad has held this role for 5 years and remains on the Board working closely with Mark to ensure a smooth transition. The Board would like to thank Brad for his leadership and pragmatism during his tenure and appreciates his continued contribution. Catherine Shanaghan has been voted Deputy Presiding Member.
Financials and Donations
Kohimarama is a community that actively supports our school and we’ve seen this demonstrated through the receipt of over 82% of our budgeted donations in 2022. We’re extremely thankful for this support. Moving forward, having the support of our community again in 2023 will be imperative to maintaining our high levels of student achievement as we face a number of financial headwinds.
As mentioned at the end of year assembly, the shift from the decile system to the equity index as a mechanism for allocating per student funding has resulted in a significant decrease in funding for the school. This coupled with rising operating costs due to inflation, and the impact of pay equity increases, created a number of challenges as we worked through setting the budget for 2023.
In deciding the budget, we kept in mind our strategic goals, specifically to ‘Enable our learners to thrive’ and within that we are seeking to ‘Continue to improve in academic achievement across the school’. We considered both revenue and expenditure levers including materials and resource cost, professional development and release time costs, and donation levels. As a result, the Board has
taken the decision to increase the donation by 14%. The school will still run a small deficit but we’re confident we have achieved a good balance. With the support of your donation the majority of classes have roles in the mid-twenties and we have retained 7 Learners Assistants supporting individual students and classes.
Donation Tax Refund Gifting
Another way to support the school financially is to gift the tax credit component of your school donation back to the school. The Board and School are extremely grateful to the large number of families who contributed last year. This year the school is facilitating gifting through Supergenerous who will process this on behalf of parents and the school. To simplify the process, you are able to arrange this directly through Kindo when paying donations. You can also register through the Supergenerous website, supergenerous.co.nz.
You’ll also have the option to make an additional donation as a way of providing further support to the school and the community.
Board Focus Areas for 2023
In 2023 the Board has three main focus areas:
Property
Our work with the Ministry of Education to deliver a long-term property solution continues. We are working with the Ministry and considering a number of options. The process has been protracted, however we’re committed to our goal of achieving the best outcome for the School and our future learners.
Budget and Costs
With the 2023 budget in place, the Board will continue to review the financial position and explore ways to ensure our School continues to enable learners to thrive while delivering high levels of academic achievement.
Curriculum Refresh
The New Zealand curriculum refresh is now well underway. The Board is focused on supporting the School through these changes.