Newsletter, 1st August, 2018
Dear Parents and Caregivers
The NZEI has advised the Gleniti Board of Trustees that the principal and teachers at our school will be taking strike action on Wednesday 15 August 2018.
The Board has carefully considered the availability of teaching staff, and unfortunately decided that we can’t provide the normal teaching services during the strike.
The school will therefore need to close during this strike.
It’s important that you make alternative arrangements for the care of your child/children on the day of the strike.
I know that this is inconvenient for parents and students alike, but please be assured that student safety is our main concern. Thank you for your understanding.
Yours sincerely,
Sean Goodwin
Chair Board of Trustees
Yesterday was our annual Yr 7-8 Ski-Skate day. We had children either skating and soaking up Tekapo Springs, or ski-ing up at Roundhill. I was lucky enough to be up at Roundhill yesterday with the Yr7-8 skiers. Our cover stars this week therefore are some of intrepid ski-ers! What an awesome experience J
Parent Teacher Interviews are scheduled for Week 3 of the term. These will be held for our Yr 3-8 families on Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th August.
Interview times are currently open and can be booked by going to the School Interview site at https://www.schoolinterviews.co.nz and using the code hexd8. This closes on Monday at 9am.
The school will be closed for ALL pupils early on the Tuesday afternoon from 2:00pm. We will provide supervision for those families who would prefer their children to remain at school until 3:00pm.
Please let the office know if you want to use this facility.
Footpath Frenzy continues this week! For anyone who would like to walk to school with me, I’ll be waiting on the corner of Mountainview Road and Wai-iti Road at 8:30am on Friday. J
Congratulations to four of our students, Layton Koning, Liam James, Rowan Waller and Jaemin An who represented South Canterbury at Basketball during the weekend at an U13 tournament in Gore. Highlights included beating an Otago team 51 -43 – with Liam scoring 26 points and Rowan with 10. Layton and Jaemin both played hard basketball and contributed to a good team effort.
Unfortunately the Primary Teacher contract negotiations with the Government have broken down and Teachers and Principals (via the NZEI union) have announced a one day strike on Wednesday 15th August. As a school we are certainly aware and concerned about the disruption that this will cause, as the school will need to be closed. However as a profession we feel strongly that a stand now needs to be made. Firstly, this is not about pay but about the quality of education that your child receives. There is a serious crisis occurring in Education. We have teachers leaving the profession in droves; a large percentage of our workforce about to retire (with others postponing retirement), lessening numbers of people entering training and graduates leaving the job in the first 5 years of teaching. We call this the 40% problem!
Significant groups of teachers are leaving in the first 5 years of teaching
40% of teachers are due to retire in the next 10 years
40% less teachers are being trained
This is certainly not all about pay however. We need to be encouraging more people into the profession, and ensuring that those already in the profession feel supported valued and want to stay. On Friday, throughout the country, and at Gleniti School, Teachers will be available to answer any questions that you may have about why the teaching profession is taking strike action on the 15th August.
We are really hoping that families and whanau will support teachers in this action.
Congratulations to those who received Principal Awards at the assembly last week.
Steve Zonnevylle
Principal
