Viewpoint – Cornerstone principles

Schools are the cornerstones of communities. They unite people through a shared sense of community, and responsibility for our future generations.

Evidence shows quality of teaching and school leadership are the two most important in-school factors in a child’s education, and family involvement and community expectations are the two biggest out-of-school factors.

That’s why we’re investing in communities of schools – to share teaching practices and expertise across schools, keep the best teachers in the classrooms, and support strong leadership in our schools.

Our Rodney and Hibiscus Coast Principals have lead the way on collaboration, and already have a strong collaborative network in place.

Children in Rodney and on the Coast will be benefiting from shared teaching practices and expertise, with schools working alongside each other on shared goals.

We are working hard to ensure all kids have the opportunity to engage in learning that meets their needs. We want to make sure they’re getting the best education they can.

This wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated teaching profession, our Principals, Boards of Trustees, and the parents across the region who make sure their kids get to classes and support their learning at home.

A heavy focus of mine has been to continue to have investment into our local schools, with major investment being made across our schooling network. The population of this region is growing all the time, so it’s important that local schools have the capacity to meet this.

This term I restate my commitment to working with local Board of Trustees, Principals, teachers, and communities to ensure that we are getting the investment we need to meet the growth and needs of our community.

Ensuring every child in this community gets a good education is one of the most important things we can do for them to set them up for the best start in life.