Fergusson Intermediate School
Board of Trustees Meeting
Held on Tuesday, 7th October 2025
Present : Paula Glen, Simon Kenny, Sandra Honey, Rachael Browne, Whaea Ange,
Suzanne Wright, Saurabh Dhawan
In attendance : Anne McPhie (Secretary), Amy Perkins
Apologies : Nil Declaration of Interest : Nil
Speaking Rights Given to: Amy Perkins
Agenda Item
Discussion
Actioned
Approval of Previous
Tabled as read.
Motion : It was moved to
Minutes
approve the minutes for
Monday, 1st September 2025.
Moved : Paula Glen
Second : Rachael Browne
The board agreed.
Principal welcome
Welcome to Suzanne and Saurabh.
Appointing Presiding
Called for nominations - Nomination for
Motion: The Board approved
Member
Paula Glen was put forward and was
the nomination of Paula Glen
accepted.
as Presiding Member for 2025
Moved : Sandra Honey
Second : Rachael Browne
Conflict of Interest
Tabled and reviewed at the beginning of
Register
each meeting. Making everyone aware of
other interests that could conflict with the
school.
This ensures everyone is fully aware of
possible conflicts. New Board members are
required to complete their conflict of
interest declarations and add them to the
register (located on the Board's Google
Drive).
Code of Conduct
All Board members to sign, completed and
filed in the Board folder.
Board Role
Presiding Member - Paula Glen
Motion : The Board moved
Allocations
Finance - Amy will fill this role temporarily
that the Board roles were
by updating finance info to board.
approved, notably the
Health and Safety - Suzanne Wright (EOTC to Complaints Committee.
be added to this portfolio).
Moved : Paula Glen
Property - Saurabh Dhawan
Second : Whaea Ange
Policy and Procedures - Sandra Honey
Cultural Advisor - Whaea Ange
Complaints Committee -
For handling formal complaints, a
Complaints Committee will be established.
This committee will be nominated and
confirmed at each Annual General Meeting
(
AGM).
The committee will comprise of three Board
members:
1. The Presiding Member.
2. The Staff Representative.
3. One other nominated Board member -
Sandra Honey.
This committee's structure will be reviewed
at every AGM.
The process is keeping all people safe
throughout the procedure, not just in the
final outcome. Crucial to this is a high
degree of transparency, specifically:
● Clearly defining who communicates
what and when.
● Establishing expected timelines for all
responses (how and when).
Once the formal complaint process is fully
established, it must be communicated
clearly to all concerned.
Role descriptions are a work in progress.
Carried forward to the next meeting.
Casual Parent Rep
Casual Vacancy
Motion : The Board moved to
Vacancy
The Board noted that we have a casual
go for the Selection process to
vacancy for a parent representative seat due fill the parent representative
to the resignation of Natasha Margrain. In
vacancy
line with the Education & Training Act 2020
Moved : Paula Glen
and School Board Election Regulations, the
Second : Sandra Honey
Board must determine how this vacancy will
be filled.
The Board discussed the options (by-election
or selection) and resolved that:
Resolution: That the Board intends to fill the
casual vacancy created by the resignation of
Natasha Margrain by selection.
As“by selection” was chosen:
The Board directs the Presiding Member to
notify the school community of this
resolution, as required, allowing
the 28-day period for a request for an
election.
The new appointee for this role will be
selected by “selection” process and should
ideally possess a finance background. We aim
to have this individual in place by the end of
the current term. The recruitment process
must commence in the next few weeks to
adhere to the required timeline. Specifically,
the Board is obligated to notify the
community of the vacancy and has 28 days
from that notification to resolve the
appointment.
Welcome on Board
Tabled - training. Will follow up with
Schooled if they have registered new board
members.
“Schooled Election Pilot will handle the
reporting to the MoE and NZSBA, as well as
sending the required documents to the
District Court, as required.”
If unable to attend, there are online
sessions.
Communication
Urgent action items may sometimes be
communicated by Paula via email or text
message.
Principal Report
Staff Strike Instruction Planning - 23
Resolution :
October 2025
Expectations for non striking
staff - up to the management
Can principals or staff elected board
on what the non-union staff
members be involved in board
will do.
decision-making if they are also members
Should the strike go ahead,
of the union that is on strike?
the school will be closed for
Principals and teachers who are striking union instruction due to reduced
members should not be involved or vote in
staff and Health & Safety.
any board decisions about school closures or The board agreed
.
staffing during strikes as they have a conflict
Moved : Paula Glen
of interest.
Second : Sandra Honey
A principal who is a member of the union
striking can provide information to the board
but must not influence the decision-making or
vote in any way. - Noted
21 NZEI members and 12 staff who are not
union members. (4 teachers)
Can't choose to be open for supervision.
How does this affect the open days for
schools, does not affect the days as entitled
to strike.
The communication is to come from the
board to the community. Paula and Simon
to compile and place on fb and email.
Discussion on edge App carried forward to
the next meeting.
New Principal Mentor
Tabled. Presiding member to write a letter
confirming his application for the Principal
Motion : The Board moved to
Mentor Programme. The programme is for
confirm Simon’s application
experienced principals mentoring new
for New Principal Mentor
principals. No cost to the school, just
programme
Simon’s time.
Moved : Paula Glen
Good practice to support new and other
Second : Rachael Browne
principals and pass on the knowledge.
Good professional development for Simon.
The board agreed.
Kimi Ora Satellite Unit Tabled and discussed.
Still a lot of questions. Simon said that
someone from the ministry and Ian Rattray
came in and discussed it with him. The Board
is delegated the power to manage the crown
land. It is a big decision.
Carried forward to next meeting
The Board has not yet committed to the
proposal and expressed concern regarding
the immediate next steps. Open to the idea
but need to see the overview of what it will
actually look like. The need for Kimi Ora is
acknowledged, just need to have all
information for today as well as the future.
Strategic Planning
Coming up and due next year, Simon is
currently working on this. Community
consultation is part of the review process.
Enrolment Update Discussed student intake numbers expected
for 2026 - advised align with our goal
numbers of 336, room to allow a little
movement, Ballot from Out of Zone not
required, and accepted those out of zone
that had applied prior to the cut of date.
2025 Camp
The camp was very successful. There were
some incidents.
Overview Report on the camp to be
presented at the next meeting. Amy to
follow up.
Policy and Procedure Carried forward to next meeting
Update
H&S&W Update
Concussion at camp. Student taken to
Palmerston North - injured knee.
Plan in place for a new student with high
needs which needs supervision.
Finance
Tabled and discussed.
Motion : The Board approved
the accounts for August 2025
Moved : Rachael Browne
Second : Sandra Honey
Property Update
Modifications needed for a student with high
health needs for doors and bathroom. Will
start after the christmas break.
Cultural Advisor
Preparing timetable for Upper Hutt Cultural
Festival.
Rākau (Tama) session with selected boys on
Tuesday afternoons.
Matua Mike and Whaea Ange are donating
two awards for Prize Giving - Maori Progress
and Maori Achievement.
Board Work Plan -
Carried to next meeting
Review
Correspondence
Living Wage email - Paula to forward to
board members
Actioned
New meeting times - Tuesday @ 6.15pm
Review
Thank you to our new board members for
joining us.
Next Meeting
Tuesday, 21st October 2025 @ 6.15pm
Meeting closed
8.45pm
Carried Forward/Raised
Action
AI Policy - carried forward,
Simon to talk to Aaron - discussed.
complete by end of term 3.
On school docs that are being looked at.
Carried forward to the next meeting.
Board Roles - Descriptions
Paula
Edge App
Kimi Ora
Simon to book in Ian Rattray and someone
from the ministry to talk at the next board
meeting.
Camp Followup
Amy
Fundraising policy
Carried forward
Bike track
Carried forward
Electronically Signed :
Presiding Member - Paula Glen
Date : 21/10/2025
