St Benedict’s School Board - St Benedict's School

About Us: Welcome to the St Benedict’s School Board page. Here you’ll find essential information about our board, its composition, responsibilities, and key functions.

Composition: The St Benedict’s School Board comprises parent representatives, proprietor’s representatives, a teacher representative, and the Principal. We are stewards of the school during our tenure, and work collectively to oversee the governance and management of the school.

Formation Process: Our board is a mix of elected and appointed members. Five parent representatives are elected in triennial elections, with staggered elections occurring mid-term for continuity. The four proprietors appointees are appointed by the Bishop. The one teacher representative is elected in the usual triennial board cycle . In case of vacancies we may appoint individuals with expertise beneficial to the school community, or co-opt people with particular skillsets needed at a certain time (eg engineering when the school is undergoing major works). Each year the board nominates one of its members to be presiding chair (or a presiding chair and deputy). Presiding members must change every three years.

Responsibilities: The board’s job is to ensure proper management of school finances, property, personnel, and adherence to legal obligations and special character requirements. We collaborate with the Principal to set strategic direction and long-term plans for the school. Over the year we work proactively to:

monitor measures of school performance against goals;
monitor student achievement;
oversee staff and curriculum management;
ensure our special character is maintained; and
check that government policy is being met.

We also respond to issues as they arise, including ideas, queries or concerns from our parent and family community and education policy developments.

Key Areas of Focus: We monitor five key areas through sub-committees: Catholic Character, Excellence, Communication, Environment, and Health & Safety.

Before each board meeting we receive regular reports about these focus areas so we can ask questions and note trends and developments over time.

Sub-Committees:

Some areas of school governance require more attention than is possible in our regular meetings. To that end we operate five subcommittees that focus on key areas of our governance responsibility. The subcommittees have a convenor and work together as necessary to consider the following key areas in depth:

Catholic Character subcommittee focuses on how the school teaches and demonstrates the Catholic values
Communications aims to ensure the school has an effective communications strategy. Its purpose is to provide clear, accessible information for students and their families, and also ensuring a strong profile in the church and local community.
Environment Committee is responsible for ensuring that St Benedict’s School buildings and surrounds are safe and fit for purpose.
Finance Committee oversees the school’s budget, administrative and audit controls within the school.
Personnel Committee is responsible for selecting senior school appointments e.g. School Principal, oversees certain position appointments. It also handles all employment and human resource issues as required in a discreet way.

The Subcommittees each have a terms of reference, a convenor and report their activity back to the board.

Who We Are

Name	Position	Sub-Committee
Lucy Woollaston	Presiding Member, Parents representative PresidingChair@st-benedicts.school.nz	Personnel
Aimie Hines	Deputy-Presiding Member, Parents representative	Environment, Personnel, Communications
Johanna Reidy	Proprietor’s Representative	Communications, Personnel, Catholic Character
Daniel Marks	Parent Representative	Finance
Jools Munn	Proprietor’s Representative	Environment,
Erica Willoughby	Proprietor’s Representative	Catholic Character,
Duncan McDonald	Parent Representative	Finance
TBC	Parent Representative	TBC
Clare Short	Teacher Representative	Environment,
Tania Savage	Principal	All sub-committees

Strategic Plan and Annual Goals: We follow a three-year strategic plan with annual implementation plans in alignment with Ministry guidelines. The most recent strategic plan is for the 2024-2025 period and is found below.