NZSTA CONFERENCE IN ROTORUA 15TH APRIL TO 18TH APRIL












I was very lucky that that board invited me to the NZSTA conference in Rotorua this year. I haven't attended one of these conferences before so I was looking forward to finding out about it! There were 6 of us who came from Greymouth High School and a number of us from the Coast. You can have a look at the programme below.





https://www.nzstaconference.co.nz/


There were about 1000 people there so a big conference. There were boards from all over the country including the Stewart Islands which was pretty cool.


We started on Friday morning with an amazing pōwhiri. The group who welcomed us were so talented - I could watched them for hours. My wairua was full and we all had tears in our eyes.


There were a number of guest speakers and I especially enjoyed and was challenged by Karl Vasau - Principal, Rowendale Primary School, Manurewa and Kathryn Berkett - Educational Psychologist.


http://www.engagetraining.co.nz/





The rest of the conference was a lot of learning - especially about the new Education and Training Act - and me emailing my Executive Assistant going "Do we do this?" or "Is this in place?" She was probably very happy when these sessions finished!


I am looking forward to working with ERO in its new format and I see this as a definite step in the right direction. Well, this is what I think at the moment! I am also interested in looking at our school code of conduct - something that I want to incorporate are things like expectations around on line behaviour.


The food was fantastic and so was the conference dinner. A brilliant and fun band and another great way to bond with our Board members and our local people on the Coast.


All in all I would encourage other principals to join their Boards at this conference. It might not be something you go to every year but it is a great way to spend some time with your board and understand where they come from and how they view things.




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