APPA Pānui - Term 1 2025

I am delighted to connect with you through the first newsletter of 2025. As President of APPA, serving the Tāmaki Makaurau principal community is a privilege, and I look forward to getting stuck into the mahi!

Firstly, thank you to everyone who attended the Term 1 Luncheon; seeing such a large and engaged crowd was a great start to the year, and connecting with colleagues and listening to Minister Stanford's insights made for an energising event. 

Following the AGM, we welcome Nardz Stephenson (Vice President) and Moira Blair (Secretary) to the APPA executive. I am confident that their expertise, experience, and energy will help APPA achieve its goals.

Your full executive team this year are as follows:

• President: Lucy Naylor, Milford School
• Vice President: Ngaria Stephenson, Woodlands Park School 
• Immediate Past President (Conferred): Kyle Brewerton, Remuera Intermediate School
• Treasurer: Steve King, Remuera Primary School
• Secretary: Moira Blair, Three Kings School
• ESOL: Caroline Bush, Mission Heights Primary School
• APPA ASB Travelling Fellowship: Heath McNeil, Ormiston Primary School
• Business Partner Liaison: Stephen Lethbridge, Point Chevalier School | Rangi-mata-rau
• Health and Safety: Kyle Brewerton, Remuera Intermediate  
• Alumni Convenor: Gary Moss
• Te Akatea: Nardi Leonard, Jean Batten School
• Pasifika Principals: Bevan Verryt, Campbells Bay School  

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Wendy Kofoed and Heath McNeill for their mahi and steadfast support of the primary sector. They have been invaluable to the APPA Exec and have left an indelible mark on our association. We greatly appreciate their contributions. 

Working Action Group (WAG) Updates 
The WAG groups have provided an update, including key points for advocacy (see below). I encourage you to have a read!

In addition, the Curriculum WAG and Workforce WAG are seeking to gather your opinions, and we encourage you to complete the survey to share your views on teacher shortage and maths resources: 

Resource Teachers of Literacy (RT Lit) and Resource Teachers Māori (RT Māori) Consultation 
The Government has announced it is considering reinvesting the funding currently allocated to Resource Teachers: Literacy and Resource Teachers: Māori as part of Budget 2025. This proposal aims to reinvest and enhance frontline support and services, focusing on equitable resourcing and improved outcomes for all children.

The government's rationale centers on:

• Developing In-School Expertise: Prioritising support that is closer to the child.
• Equitable Distribution: Ensuring services are accessible across the entire system.
• Efficiency: Maximising the benefits of available resources.
• Existing Investments: Building on significant investments in structured literacy and Rangaranga Reo ā-Tā, including new staffing for Years 0-2 and Programmes for Students in Years 3-8.

The current Resource Teacher model, with its maximum of 121 Literacy and 53 Māori FTTE positions, serves approximately 850,000 students in nearly 2500 schools across Aotearoa. With recent changes in the curriculum and ongoing concerns regarding Learning Support, the current use of resourcing is being critically examined to ensure it is still fit for purpose. This thinking is in line with the Learning Support WAG's findings. If you or your cluster have strong views regarding either resource, we encourage you to engage with this consultation process.

On Friday last week, you should have received the link for consultation. Please contact your Te Māhau Director if you have not received any communication regarding this consultation.

ERO Evidence and Insights - PLD Survey
ERO's Evidence and Insights provides in-depth studies of different aspects of education in New Zealand, makes recommendations for improvement, and shares best practices with the sector. 

ERO’s research centre is looking into the quality of PLD, and is gathering views from leaders and teachers for a report later this year. 

• ERO PLD Survey - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7L3SP7F 
• ERO PLD Survey (for teachers) https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7LMCMDS. 

If you have any questions, please contact: teihuwaka@ero.govt.nz

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Thank you for your ongoing commitment to our tamariki and the APPA. We look forward to a productive and collaborative year, working together to strengthen primary education in Tamaki Makaurau. 

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa

Ngā mihi nui, 

Lucy Naylor 
APPA President 

Executive Summary 

The WAG discussed the following points; 

1. Curriculum as a political tool / big picture - Where are we going? - Effective messaging for Media, Ministry, Boards,  and communities is required.
2. Implementation of curriculum change - Clarity of implementation timelines, maths resource selection (providers and timelines), updated maths curriculum
3. Support - PLD & Learners - Provision of ongoing support and PLD for all kura
4. Assessment uncertainty - status quo schools, ‘guess the next steps’ 

Next steps
The WAG will; 

• Seek guidance regarding assessment tools, processes and timeframes 
• Gather data and evidence to prove or disprove Minister or Ministry statements.
• Seek clarity on possibility of national testing.
• Seek clarity and resolution on phonics checks (SDP uploads, privacy of teacher)
• Survey APPA members about maths resources
• Present solutions for script based delivery of PLD with a specific focus on Understand, Know, Do model 

Executive Summary 
The WAG discussed the following key points: 

1. Employment of overseas teachers requires significant financial and 'time' investment. Financial investment is needed for all schools to enable overseas recruitment and to support schools with getting overseas teachers up to speed with teaching in NZ.
    
2. Recruitment of ECE teachers - The primary sector is employing an increasing amount of ECE trained teachers to fill vacancies. Financial Support and/or FTTE equivalent is needed for schools through staffing and resourcing to support ECE teachers entering the primary sector.  
   
   
3. Positive Messaging - promoting teaching as a desirable profession for the long-term recruitment of graduates. A multifaceted approach is required which could include; targeted Initial Teacher Education (ITE) recruitment drives, expanded School of Teacher Practice (SOTP) funding to support schools, APPA roadshows to high schools, inviting students into schools for open days to provide firsthand exposure to the profession.
   
   
4. Teacher Retention - incentivising teacher retention through more accessible paid sabbaticals to maintain a stable and experienced workforce.

Next Steps 
The WAG will; 

1. Move beyond current national projections to address Auckland's teacher shortages. Therefore, we will gather precise, localised data on projected staffing demand and supply. This requires a deeper analysis of the factors contributing to the shortages in Auckland, enabling us to develop targeted and practical solutions.

2. Survey APPA members to capture data and the narrative. By analyzing the common themes and comparing them to APPA data from 2022, 2023, and 2024, we can identify the unique, qualitative factors impacting staffing in the Tāmaki Makaurau region.

3. Collate data and evidence and present to Minister Stanford and Anna Welanyk (Deputy Secretary/Education Workforce) 

4. Investigate the possibility of outsourcing data collection, collation, and analysis to ensure an in-depth and accurate analysis. 

Executive Summary/Key findings;

• Funding Is Inadequate
  Auckland Principals were asked to identify how much their Boards were paying per annum from their Ops Grant or locally raised funds, to bridge the gap between Govt funding and what is required to meet the needs of learners.
• 195 Principals responded to our survey
• $28.7 million dollars is being spent by those 197 schools, meaning an average of
• $145, 888 per school
• Equity of access to all schools
• Access to funding and resourcing is challenging, and lacks equity across the sector,
• Wait times for funding and resourcing are too long
• Not all schools have been allocated an LSC, further reinforcing the lack of equity
• ICS funding has not kept pace with roll growth in Auckland
• Access to Early Intervention is very difficult, yet we know this is a very effective strategy
• Access To Specialist Schools
• Currently demand far exceeds supply. More than 80% (460) of students on the ‘Expressions of Interest’ List (waitlist) for the 10 Auckland-based Specialist Schools, being denied access to enrolment in 2025 due to closed rolls or schools at capacity.
• Challenging Behaviours
• All schools are dealing with challenging student behaviour
• Behaviours are more extreme, particularly with our younger students
• Many staff at our Specialist Schools come each day knowing they are going to be hurt
• Staffing our Special Schools is becoming more difficult, with Board’s having to incentivise staff
• There needs to be better interagency collaboration
• Support for Learning Assistants
• Many of our LAs are being asked to do the work of carers, and are at times refusing to do this work due. This often puts additional pressure on the workforce.
• There needs to be better support and training for our LAs
• The current termly funding model creates uncertainty for LAs and makes recruitment challenging for schools
• RTLB Clusters
• Despite an increase in referrals, many RTLB clusters are being forced to reduce their staffing, some by as much as 2 FTE.
• How can the RTLB service continue to meet the needs of learners and support schools, with fewer staff?
• Privacy
• Transition from Early Learning to Primary is often more challenging than it should be when parents don’t allow transparent flow of information between the Early Learning provider and the school.
• Schools are often at odds with families awaiting visa or residency outcomes, when the parents deny consent to access funding/resourcing.

 Key Advocacy Points 

• To reallocate existing funds to meet the needs of our neurodivergent learners better
• To evaluate the cost-benefit of the following programmes;
• Kāhui Ako
• RTLit
• RTLB
• Existing LSC roll out
• To remove all funding links to EQI.  Learning Support is not ring fenced by EQI.
• Move ORS funding from an hourly distribution to schools, to an FTE allocation to schools.
• Provide an LSC to every school, FTE prorated based on roll size.

1. Create a list of mentor principals - Cluster presidents to identify principals willing to be on an APPA list. These principles would be available for support, advice, a sounding board and a confidential listening ear. 
   
   
2. Investigate a trial of an APPA Principal Mentor - investigate provision of an APPA funded part-time Principal mentor to provide support, advice, a sounding board and a confidential listening ear. 
   
   
3. Relief Principal - create a list of ex-principals who could be 'relief' principals and step in short term eg. to enable a principal to attend a conference. 

ERO's Evidence and Insights provide in-depth studies of different aspects of education in New Zealand, make recommendations for improvement and share best practice with the sector. 

ERO’s research centre is looking into the quality of PLD, and are gathering views from leaders and teachers for a report later this year.

It’s important they get a school perspective - I encourage all APPA members to fill out the quick leaders’ survey:

•  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7L3SP7F 

and to pass this one on to your teachers: 

• https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7LMCMDS. 

If you have any questions please contact: teihuwaka@ero.govt.nz