10th March 2023
Kia ora e te whānau o Matipo,
NZEI (The teachers union) have advised us that teachers have voted to take industrial action on Thursday 16 March as they have not been able to reach an agreement to settle their collective agreements.
NZEI, on behalf of our teachers have shared the following message with our community;
Our tamariki needs a quality education. And we want to give that to them. Unfortunately, the funding for our schools and kindergartens is not enough for us to give us the time we would like to support all our kids to thrive. We need to attract and retain educators by ensuring that teaching is a valued and attractive profession.
Principals and teachers in primary and area schools and kindergartens have considered at length offers from the government to settle our respective collective agreements. The offers did not meet our expectations, nor make sufficient steps towards the changes we need for our children to succeed.
You may have seen that we voted to take industrial action on 16 March. It’s the last thing we wanted to do. And the decision was not taken lightly. We felt that this was the only way the government would listen and recognise that when they support our children to learn and succeed, we are supporting whānau and communities to thrive.
We look forward to another great year in 2023 – and together with your support, building the case for better investment in our tamariki. Our teachers work hard for our tamariki/children and want to be resourced sufficiently to meet the challenging needs of teaching in the 21st century.
The majority of Matipo School staff will be taking industrial action on Thursday 16 March, therefore the Board of Trustees (Commissioner, Bruce Adin) advises our families that we are unable to open for instruction on this day. School will therefore be closed on Thursday 16 March.
We will be able to provide supervision for a small number of children with the one teaching staff we have available. This supervision will only be available for families who have no other option on this day. If you believe you will need support with supervision, please complete the HERO form below by 3pm Monday 13 March so we can make arrangements.
Nga mihi Nunui
Jonnie Black
Tumuaki – Principal
Bruce Adin
Comissioner