Board Bonding November 2011 on PhotoPeach

Hanmer Retreat for the WSS Board of Trustees

West Spreydon School Board of Trustees Retreat on PhotoPeach

What makes a successful Board of Trustees apart from an absolutely fantastic Principal? Yeah Right!

Maata and Duane are on task and thinking hard.

Bridgit the newby trustee and Dave after one year as a trustee, lead each other up the garden path.

Paul looks a little stunned as he follows Charmaines lead at his first Board Meeting

You can just tell that Dave is at home on the board.

Paul, Charmaine and Dave discuss one of the reports.

Maata, Duane and Rosemary look at data on student achievement and prepare to ask the hard questions. Duane and Rosemary are the co-chairs of our board.

Bridgit and Dave  brought magazines to the board meeting in case it was boring!! Just kidding.

Duane, Rosemary, Bridgit, Paul, Dave, Maata, Marriene and Charmaine.
That's the Board of Trustees Team at West Spreydon School

Okey dokey then what does make an effective Board of Trustees at West Spreydon School?

• co-board chairs who meet with me every week to give pastoral care and support and to push forward with strategic goals. Actually having two board chairs is so far very successful for us; we are a fine balance of rational thinking, impulse, "ready, fire, aim," can-do, detail, motivators and senses of humour
• a board who understands the difference between governance and management and who is highly effective in the governance arena. Big picture thinking and strength based leadership operating at board level make us a very forward thinking board
• a board who values training and professional learning. One week after our first board meeting we met to train together with Al Fone on governance and management and a few weeks later on how to conduct effective audits. Thanks to MoE for its funding support
• making time to think and plan together. In August we have a two day retreat in Hanmer. In between we plan and meet
• well planned board meetings with an agenda that is set in advance and has no general business
• ability and willingness to laugh and have fun
• a board that asks the hard questions about student achievement and then takes responsibility to make a difference.The words,"So what can we do as a board?" are the ones guaranteed to melt even the toughest Principal's heart
• high levels of challenge and support for each other and our staff. Our board has a high regard for our staff and lets them know it
• belief and talk about our staff and school being the future of our community
• loyalty and belief in each other to be the best that we can be
• a sense of  a team on an adventure that has risks and challenges but will bring incredible rewards for our children and teachers
• high levels of trust in me to raise the profile of the school, develop our staff as a formidable teaching team and to have the freedom to try new things
• Perfection? I think not. But we have a culture where we are allowed to make mistakes and to keep moving on

West Spreydon School Board Meeting- The Engine Room

Once a month we meet to "chew the fat." Our board meetings are the "think tank" aspect of the school and its' future development.
This is the time when we examine the progress we have made towards achieving our strategic goals and have the opportunity to look at student data, curriculum development, board audits, policies and procedures.



This year in May a new Board of Trustees will be elected. Robin Vincent has been our Board Chair person over the past three year term. He has been a loyal support for me and a great listening ear. Robin has been passionate about making our school a shining star amongst the schools in our area. Sadly both he and Louise will not be standing again after May and I shall miss them personally. Amidst the work we have had a lot of laughs.
Duane Major and Rosemary Goodyear will be co Board Chairs until at least after the next Board election. Double trouble for me, but also double thinking and support!!!

Together we have had regular training and we are always looking for ways to improve our school.
This year we have refined our strategic goals to three:
Encourage innovation in teaching and learning

Revitalise the physical environment

Strengthen our profile in the community and create stronger ties with our Maori and Pacifika families

We are in the process of working out what that means in detail for us by including the ideas and dreams of our staff, students and community.
We know it will include a continued commitment to teacher and support staff professional learning, refurbishing the swimming pools, fundraising and planning for a new exciting playground, revisiting the school uniform, designing new school signs and letter heads, keeping the edge on ICT development and pedagaogy, completing our school curriculum and ensuring that all of our school families have a genuine sense of belonging to something special. We decided together with the staff and children that our motto of

Attitude, Adventure, Achievement

pretty much said it all.
Being a Board of Trustees member at our school is never boring! We are all highly motivated, opinionated, dedicated, irrepressible,creative, high-spirited and humorous.

Our qualifications and experiences represent a wide spectrum of our community.

• Robin Vincent; electrician
• Duane Major;Youth Pastor
• Dr Rosemary Goodyear; statistician:
• Louise Russell; Quality manager
• Charmaine Satchy-Galvin; lawyer:
• Dave Mathieson; accountant
• Janice Krammer: teacher

• and then there's me, Marriene Langton, Principal and very proud to lead the team at West Spreydon School.

Dave was absent from this meeting as he was riding in a cycle event around the South Island to raise awareness and funds for the Heart Foundation. A just cause for wearing lycra.