The school has been informed that the NZEI Te Riu Roa, the Primary Teachers’ Union, is to hold a Paid Union Meeting on the afternoon of Tuesday, 19th June. This meeting is in Kerikeri starting at 1pm. These meetings are involving all union members throughout New Zealand and will affect almost all schools across the country in the same way that they will affect us.
The meetings are for members to respond to the government’s latest Collective Agreement offer. It is very important to try to remember that, although such events are disruptive and inconvenient, teachers across the country are battling to achieve the very best deal for all our children by focussing on freeing up teachers to teach so every child receives the personal attention that they need to learn and to thrive. Please do not be under the misapprehension that this is simply about teachers’ pay. It is a much bigger debate that the teaching profession is engaged in with the present government, after many years of chronic underfunding, and, if successful, the result will be a far better resourced education system that will deliver outcomes which every parent and caregiver would want for their children.
All our teachers will need to leave school at 12.30 latest to attend this meeting. As a result, normal classroom instruction will not be possible on that afternoon. If it is possible, it would be highly desirable if children could be collected from school at 12.30. A skeleton supervision service will be provided from 12.30 in the Hall for any students who cannot make it home until the end of the school day at 3pm.
I apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause but stress again that the long term aim is to advantage all New Zealand children and give them the very best deal possible.
