Pukekohe East School

Board Bulletin

News from your Board of Trustees

Dear School families

Well, can you believe we are over half way through the school year already? Our new Board of Trustees is in place and we would like to introduce ourselves and update you on what we’ve been doing and what’s going on around the School.

The Board and their roles are:

Rani AmaranathanChair, Personnel (parent representative)

George ReevesDeputy Chair, Health and Safety (parent representative)

Merillees NichollsPrincipal

Charmaine McNeilStaffRepresentative

Jenny WalterProperty (parent representative)

Anthony SearleProperty (parent representative)

Lara UtataoFinance (parent representative)

Karen Steven is Secretary and Lyndal Fonokalafi also attends our meetings as Deputy Principal.

What have we got planned?

The Board are working on these projects:

  • Traffic: Working with the teaching staff and Auckland Transport, to improve parking and traffic safety around the School. It's great to see parents accompanying children crossing the road and not parking in the drop off zone. This all helps ensure the safety of students as they arrive at and leave school."
  • Playground: Investigating temporarily re-instating the surfacing the adventure playground once the Ministry of Education has sealed the driveway into the School. Unfortunately, the playgroundis closed due to ongoing drainage issues washing away the bark. The Ministry is due to seal the driveway within the next few months. We will then look at option for upgrading the surfacing if/when funds are available.
  • Policies: Updating our health and safety and our protection of vulnerable children documentation to comply with new legislation.
  • Property: Interior upgrades for Kauri and Rimu are in the pipeline. The Board is also considering a pergola area at the front and/or conversion of the cloakroom and toilets area to give these classrooms extra learning space.

Watercare Update

Following submissions the previous Board made at Watercare’s resource consent hearing in March, the Planning Commissioners gave consent for Watercare to construct 2 large water reservoirs near the School. Some conditions were imposed to protect the School, including traffic conditions and a requirement relating to a $10,000 contribution toward improving parking/traffic safety at the School.

The Board are now working on the best way to allocate that funding. Construction was meant to start next year. We understand other parties have appealed the decision so the start date might now be delayed.

School donation

A huge thank you to all the families who have paid their School donations so far. We encourage anyone who hasn’t paid yet to do so. These are essential to the running of our Decile 10 School and allow us to purchase extra resources such as maths texts books and junior readers.

Remember, you can claim a tax refund from the IRD against your donation. You can pay in a lump sum or instalments.

Special mention: Bus Society and PTA

The Board is especially grateful to our enthusiastic School PTA and Bus Society.

The PTA have been working hard since their very first meeting this year to put the Great Piratical Pet Day together. Their efforts each year have resulted in amazing resources such as the fantastic Totara Courtyard, interactive whiteboards for every classroom and ipads for all the teachers. Please continue to support the PTA and their fabulous Great Piratical Pet Day, their annual Calf Club event.

Thank you also Gail Schofield and the Bus Society for putting on the Hypnotists fundraiser evening. It was an enjoyable night and an opportunity to catch up with other parents. These fundraisers are essential to the continuing operation of the bus.

Community thank you

We are lucky at Pukekohe East to have such an active and supportive school community and dedicated teaching staff. Thank you for your support.

Yours sincerely

Rani Amaranathan, George Reeves, Merillees Nicholls, Lara Utatao, Jenny Walter, Anthony Searle & Charmaine McNeil.