Principal's Page
Kia Ora Friends
Tomorrow, we are closed as teachers across the country take strike action.
Our staff feel conflicted about this situation. We are very aware of all the massive challenges our country has faced in recent times. At the same time, we are very aware that teaching as a profession is becoming harder and harder, the job becoming ever bigger, ever more complex, and ever more demanding.
In my own role as principal of Western Heights, I do everything in my power to look after our teachers. I believe the keys to our success as a school lie in finding the very best staff and then doing all we can to support them and look after them so that we keep them.
The teaching profession is losing good teachers and leaders at an alarming rate. I know a number of schools that are not getting any applications from New Zealand-trained teachers when they advertise jobs. I know of senior management positions advertised where only one person has applied, and in some cases, no applicants are from within New Zealand.
My own staff have expressed their appreciation for the way they are supported here, but at the same time, are aware of many friends and colleagues who are really suffering in their work.
At Western Heights, we commit around $300,000 a year to employ additional learning support staff to help teachers and children cope with the challenges they face.
We have committed $170,000 this year to employ extra teachers over and above our staffing entitlement. This has allowed us to keep New Entrant/Year One classes much smaller than usual and will help our little ones catch up after the challenges and setbacks imposed by Covid-19 these past three years.
Achieving this leaves little money for anything else, though. There are areas of our school that really need a paint - they will have to wait. Teachers have agreed to be creative and save costs anywhere and everywhere they can this year for us to have these extra people working with our children. They know that good people beat good resources every day when it comes to teaching our children.
This strike action is asking our government to understand we need more staffing, better resourcing and more planning and release time for teachers. Our employment contract was supposed to have parity with secondary school teachers, and yet we currently get only 20% of the release time secondary teachers do. Senior Teachers with management responsibilities get only 80% of what their secondary colleagues do for the same level of responsibility.
We hope taking this strike action will help the government to prioritise catching us up to where we need to be. It's not about more pay; it's about getting the support we need in order to do the best job possible for each of our precious students.
Speaking on behalf of all our staff, we deeply regret the inconvenience this action causes our community. We also sincerely thank all those many parents who have expressed their support for our teachers and their cause. We are blessed to have a very caring and supportive parent community. Thank you.
As always - if you have questions or concerns about anything school-related - email me at macash@mac.com, and I will get back to you asap.
My very best regards to you all,
Ash Maindonald
Principal.
