Queenstown Times: Why did you want to become a WHS board member?
Dale Lloyd: "I have three children at the high school and have always been involved in their activities, including their education. Having previously been on the board of trustees at Queenstown Primary School, I consider I have a range of skills and experience that I could contribute to the school."
QT: What changes do you see making to the way the school operates?
DL: "It's possibly a little soon to be able to give any definite answer to that question. The board's role is to set the strategic direction for the school's core activity - the delivery of education. The strategic plan provides the focus and the structure to the way the school operates."
QT: What is the biggest issue facing WHS pupils?
DL: "WHS pupils face the same issues as any other secondary students in New Zealand. Presently, the focus is on entry to tertiary institutions. Queenstown, being a dynamic community, is well poised to take those tertiary institutions' directions on board and respond appropriately."
QT: How is the structure of mixing age groups in classrooms working?
DL: "We don't have the data on that yet, so it's a little early to tell. Simply progressing students because they are of a certain age has ignored the reality that many of them develop emotionally, physically and intellectually at different rates.
"The initiative appears to allow greater opportunity to react to that reality and gear education to the individual student's needs. Certainly, it is an initiative that we will be following closely as the data comes to hand over the next few months."
QT: Where do you see the future location of the school - where it is, or at Frankton and if so, when?
DL: "That is a long-term question and is dependent on where the ministry [of Education] secures land. This board must focus on the short and medium term and that is what we are paying attention to at the moment."
QT: How would you describe the school's financial situation?
DL: "Bulk funding and the decile system has certainly meant that the realities of funding do not necessarily allow us to do all that we would like."
QT: What feedback have you heard from the community regarding priorities to focus on?
DL: "I understand that some members of the community have asked questions about the learning initiatives implemented this year. Those inquires signal that communication is a priority.
"To this end, the board has put in place a communications taskforce to facilitate the school's communication with its community. The discussions that we have had as a board are all based on the fact that the school is part of the community."
QT: Do you think the school communicates effectively with the community?
DL: "The school has some excellent facilities operating, newsletters and its website. Having said that, the board, in adopting a communications taskforce, has signalled that it wishes to improve the communication between the school and the community in all areas."
QT: How can the community assist the school?
DL: "If we as a board can present a strategy for improving the outcomes from the school's delivery of education, then the community will in turn support the school in whatever way the school requires.
"Queenstown is a vibrant and dynamic environment and the school is a similarly vibrant and successful school, which delivers not only to its students, parents and their families, but also to local businesses and therefore the community as a whole."
ASK THE BOARD
Do you have questions for the Wakatipu High School board of trustees, or have issues you want to raise? Email your queries, with "Ask the Board" in the subject heading, to news@queenstowntimes.co.nz.
Send them, or drop them off, with the address Ask the Board, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 774, Queenstown. 9348.
