Board of Trustees Governance
Like many well-established schools in New Zealand, Rathkeale College was founded as a private school. In 1992 the Trinity Schools Trust Board signed an agreement with the Crown and Rathkeale ceased to be private. It is now one of New Zealand’s 334 state-integrated schools that collectively educate 86,000 students nationwide.
The Trinity Schools Trust Board are the owners of the school and remain responsible for the buildings and grounds and more importantly, are responsible for ensuring the school’s Special Character is maintained and preserved. Special Character is the bedrock of our agreement with the Crown and is an essential element without which the school would not exist.
All state-integrated schools teach the New Zealand Curriculum, but keep their own Special Character (usually a philosophical or religious belief) as part of their school programme. As a result of integration Rathkeale is governed by two Boards.
Like all state schools, Rathkeale has a Board of Trustees which is a Crown Entity. Its main aims are to ensure the students are receiving a high quality standard of education, that national educational priorities are being addressed and that resources are being used prudently to deliver the highest possible quality programmes.
As an integrated school, certain aspects of Rathkeale are governed by the Board of Proprietors, which is the Trinity Schools Trust Board. Although a complicated system, it actually works very well with each Board having lead responsibility for varying governance aspects of the school.
Hadlow Preparatory School and St Matthew’s Collegiate School are also state-integrated schools owned by the Trinity Schools Trust Board.
Board of Trustees Governance
Rathkeale College Board of Trustees Governance is guided by the National Education Guidelines as defined by Sections 60A of the Education Act 1989.
The National Administration Guidelines (NAGs)
The National Administration Guidelines for school administration set out statements of desirable principles of conduct or administration for specified personnel or bodies.
The National Education Guidelines have five components.
- National Education Goals, which are:
- statements of desirable achievements by the school system, or by an element of the school system; and
- statements of government policy objectives for the school system:
- Foundation Curriculum Policy Statements, which are statements of policy concerning teaching, learning, and assessment that are made for the purposes of underpinning and giving direction to –
- The way in which curriculum and assessment responsibilities are to be managed in schools:
- National curriculum statements and locally developed curriculum.
- National Curriculum Statements, (that is to say statements of the areas of knowledge and understanding to be covered by students), viz:
- The skills to be developed by students; and
- Desirable levels of knowledge, understanding, and skill, to be achieved by students, during the years of schooling).
- National Standards, which are standards, in regard to matters such as literacy and numeracy, that are applicable to all students of a particular age or in a particular year of schooling.
- National Administration Guidelines, which are guidelines relating to school administration and which may (without limitation), set out statements of desirable codes or principles of conduct or administration for specified kinds or descriptions of person or body, including guidelines for the purposes of section 61:
- set out requirements relating to planning and reporting including –
- communicate the Government’s policy objectives:
- set out transitional provisions for the purposes of national administration guidelines.
- each of these areas can be obtained by searching on www.minedu.govt.nz