Kia ora Keri

Please give everyone my apologies. I'd love to be there with you all, but I got an important Maori Affairs Select Committee meeting down Warkworth and I really can't afford to miss it.

I know the day will go well - just like the streetwars, just like the march last week - because for all the bull***t being heaped upon you folks down Tunatown, you keep getting back up.

Give my love to the whanau and my best wishes to your kids particularly. You, your staff, your board, your kura whanau, and indeed the whole of the Moerewa community have done an absolutely fabulous job and deserve all the support you get.

You know where to find me. Stay in touch and I'll be there to back whatever decision it is that you and your school decide to take.

Hone

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Letter from Moerewa School

Kia ora koutou

Please find attached an invitation to attend one of the events planned for Monday 23rd April – being day one of Term 2.

You will be aware that we have been instructed by Minister Hekia Parata to stop the Senior Class at Moerewa School, and our whānau have received letters today telling them they must send their tamariki to other schools before the beginning of Term 2.

Our whānau are united in their stance that they wish for their children to remain at Moerewa School from Term 2 and beyond.

We would appreciate your support in attending the powhiri at 9.30am with our Senior Students – as we welcome them back into our school for 2012, and celebrate the successful programme we are offering for senior Secondary Students.

We are a successful school, achieving great outcomes for Māori students from Years 1 – 13. The recent publicity over our Senior Students’ NCEA levels and the doubt that NZQA has cast over our results – has been an unfortunate distraction from our core business of ensuring Māori students achieve education success as Māori. We continue to point out that NZQA actually agree with almost 80% of the results we gave our students – and that we can be proud of the results we have achieved. We are disappointed that the Minister has decided to shut down our class based solely on NZQA concerns with 20% of our results – without giving us an opportunity to rectify these concerns (NZQA say they have a National Agreement Rate of 86% - so our class is being shut down because we are only 7% away from this target). This is not a positive outcome for our students, and negates all the other successes this class has worked hard to achieve.

We have re-focussed our attention again on what is important – which is our students, and their successes (in the widest sense of the word), and are continuing to plan exciting programmes for the benefit of all of our students.

We will invite the Ministry to meet with our whanau on Monday 23rd at 6pm – and hope they will attend. We continue to believe that we can all work together to reach a positive outcome.

Ngā mihi

Keri Milne-Ihimaera
PRINCIPAL

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