Novo pay update

Novopay update 26 February.
Information shared by the Principals Federation today

Novopay No Better

The Novopay system for paying the country’s teachers has long been described as a train wreck in slow motion.  The latest survey of New Zealand school principals confirms that after seven months the wreck continues to advance and schools are at the end of their tether.

‘Our latest survey results from 1,155 respondents are the most disturbing of all six surveys we have conducted since last October,’ said Philip Harding, President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF).

The proportion of schools experiencing on-going Novopay issues has leapt from 86% in October 2012 to 96%. Now, administration staff are resigning. Principals reported that as a direct result of Novopay stress, twenty-three staff have resigned their positions. Alongside those who have left, principals say there are hundreds who are under unreasonable stress and many more are considering resignation.

‘This is a distressing finding,’ says Harding. ‘We can reasonably assume that our survey respondents are representative of all schools. We can therefore extrapolate from the data that there could be as many as 50 resignations across the country and many more at breaking point,’ he said.

Other results for the 1,155 respondents showed 25,585 staff were incorrectly paid in the last pay period, and 55.5% of schools paid staff from their own school funds. 

Sun continues to shine on camps!

The second Year 5&6 camp to Tui Ridge in Rotorua got underway today with Rooms 3, 5 and 13 adding off by bus. Great to see the excitement on the faces of the children and on the faces of the parents saying their good-byes!
Rooms 1,2, 4 and 12 returned safely on Friday, thank you to the staff and parents who gave these children such a neat experience.
This year has seen amazing weather for our outdoor education activities. Its one concern we haven't had to worry about. (so far)
Mr Fitness txted this photo this morning of the campers getting straight into the first of their activities on arrival at Rotorua.

Student writing walls

Check out the new writing published on the walls around the school, they have just been updated thanks  to Louise Wilson who organised this. You can also read children's writing on the writing wall in the office and on their classroom blogs. Enjoy!

School Environment

The school buildings are getting a facelift at the moment as we are due this year for a complete repaint. The painters are on site at the moment and quietly working their way around the classrooms. Great to hear the PTA at their meeting last night commit to raising funds this year to astroturf the netball / basketball court area. They have set a target of $40,000 which will support the Board to start this project later this year. This focus came from the 2011 parent survey and was one of the top 3 ideas. The other 2 have already been completed - the senior playground climbing frame and the solar heating for the swimming pool. Nice to know these things will all be ticked off after this year hopefully. Lets all get behind the PTA and their fundraisers this year, they do a fantastic job!

Novopay!

Hi, someone asked if we were affected by the problems with Novopay which have been covered in the media. The short answer is sadly yes! Our latest payround was littered with errors one of the worst yet. We had two teachers not paid at all and others with all sorts of errors in their pay. The problem with this system is that it is very hard to get things fixed and the problems just compound. It is causing many hours extra work for my Executive Officer and myself.  However we still have our sense of humour and remain positive and hope that one day we will see some light at the end of the tunnel!

What a difference with the solar heating turned on for our pool! for the first time we had swimming in the first block of the day and the temperature was 25 degrees! It will be even warmer when our cover is installed. Thats to Miss Cramond's successful application to the Grassroots Trust we have Sue Woods back to assist with swimming instruction with all classes. As a trained instructor she was wonderful last year and works for Kelly Sports. The school is also providing some funding, a good way to use some of our school donations that benefits all children!