As we enjoyed our annual Santa Show, with students starting Christmas celebrations early and with much energy, I started to reflect on a hectic term and hugely satisfying year. May I use this forum to wish the entire MHJC community a wonderful Christmas and summer break. I trust everyone has a restful time with plenty of relaxation and focus on the family, the spirit of giving and considering those less fortunate than ourselves. If you are travelling I hope you return safely and that our students are recharged and ready for an exciting year. Christmas is about hope and belief in our fellow man, with this in mind let us consider an exciting 2019.

Some exciting events to look forward to include:

• Our 10th Birthday Celebrations during term 1;
• Board of Trustees elections in term 2 and
• The return of the Education Review Office in Term 3.

We will also be able to begin our property plan after the ministry approved funding.

We are looking forward to continue exciting, innovative learning including a whole school focus on the guardianship/kaitiakitanga of Tāne forest and working in partnership with the University of Auckland to promote creativity within our curriculum and continuing our ready to learn activities which include mindfulness practices.

Another important work stream will be the development of our new holistic report which promises to be ground-breaking with students taking part-ownership of the report as well as providing engagement and academic progress and achievement data.

Many thanks to everyone for their support of our hard working teachers and enthusiastic students who have all enjoyed every opportunity to grow their greatness.

Kia mana ake!

There has been much discussion of teachers in the media recently with primary and secondary teachers’ unions having taken or considering strike action after negotiations over conditions of service  broke down with the ministry.

I attended a lecture about teacher retention earlier this year and learnt that among the most significant reasons for teachers staying in the profession include their commitment to teaching and their commitment to the school. In this regard I wish to thank our community for supporting our teachers and expressing whenever possible your appreciation for their efforts. These simple actions, along with our wonderful students, go a long way to ensuring MHJC remains a place which teachers hate to leave.

We are very fortunate at MHJC that we are currently fully staffed and enjoy a high number of applicants for every vacancy we advertise. For example we received 20 applications for one position recently. We are able to attract primary and secondary trained teachers both of whom fall into the SCTA or Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement which is why we were not on strike last week.

Some more information may interest the community.

We have a nice balance of youth and experience and have an average age well below the national average with:

• 8 teachers in the first 5 years of their career who bring new ideas from training college to enrich our practice;
• 34 teachers have between 5 and 15 years experience who help to fill the middle and senior leadership positions and
• 7 “master craftsmen and women” have 15 years experience or more who help to guide the less experienced teachers within our mentoring programme.

All our teachers are highly qualified with:

• 25 teachers holding a degree and teacher’s diploma;
• 11 with a postgraduate qualification and
• 13 with a masters qualification.

Our turnover is relatively low with:

• only 6 staff leaving last year. This includes two teachers who are on maternity leave and will be returning.
• At time of writing we are fully staffed for next year with only four teachers leaving us.

We closely track the reasons for leaving and in the last three years these include promotion opportunities at other schools, relocations (nationally and internationally) and retirement. I am pleased to report that MHJC continues to be a sought after school for teachers who, according to the latest community feedback survey, enjoy high levels of satisfaction within an innovative and supportive learning environment.

Growing greatness/Kia mana ake!

Sunday 11 November marks the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the day world war one ended. Every year we acknowledge Anzac Day however the centenary of the day on which the “war that will end all wars” ended is not always observed as widely in New Zealand. It is an important day for us because while the sacrifice shown by the Anzac Forces in Gallipoli cannot be underestimated, New Zealand soldiers also contributed greatly to the Allied war effort on the Western Front in Europe. In total 16 697 New Zealanders were killed in the war, 2779 during the Gallipoli campaign.

Indeed a casualty rate of 58% was one of the highest of any countries involved in world war one. The impact on such a small country was significant and it took many years before the country recovered.

Again we are reminded of the courage of those men and women who served their country, too many giving the ultimate sacrifice. And we appreciate the relative safety and stability we enjoy here in New Zealand. Perhaps a relevant message is that we still need to have the courage to stand up for universal values which uphold and preserve our humanity.

I trust the students of MHJC never have to face the horrors of war but will be prepared to face the challenges of the future with confidence and compassion.

Growing greatness/Kia mana ake!