Role of the Board
The structure of the Waimairi School Board of Trustees is as follows:
Five Parent Elected Trustees (including one Presiding Member)
The Principal
One Staff Elected Trustee
The Waimairi School Board of Trustees is empowered by the Education Act to ensure all Waimairi kids achieve to their full potential, develop key life skills, stay safe, and retain their individual cultural identities as New Zealanders. To do the above, the Board is responsible for governance oversight of the school’s operational areas via Board policy and audits. The Board also sets the school’s Charter and Strategic Plan in consultation with staff and the school community, ensuring the Waimairi School community has ownership of its school and its direction.
The Board as an entity does not get involved in the daily running of the school, which is led by the Principal and the senior leadership team.
Parents are welcome to attend Board of Trustee meetings as observers. Meetings are held at school approximately monthly. Check with the school or the school webpage for dates of upcoming meetings (note certain meeting protocols will be in place).
Public attending board meetings
The board of trustees welcomes community presence at board meetings and hopes that members of the school community enjoy their time observing board meetings.
The following procedures are provided so that guests understand the rules that apply and will be followed unless otherwise authorised by the board, a copy will be available at each meeting:
Board meetings are not public meetings but meetings held in public.
If the meeting moves to exclude the public (usually to protect the privacy of individuals), members of the public will be asked to leave the meeting until this aspect of the business has been concluded.
Members of the public may request speaking rights on a particular subject that is on the agenda. Preferably, this request has been made in advance. Public participation is at the discretion of the board.
Speakers shall be restricted to a maximum of 3 minutes each per subject, with a time limit of 15 minutes per interest group.
Speakers are not to question the board and must speak to the topic.
Board members will not address questions or statements to speakers.
Speakers shall not be disrespectful or offensive or make malicious statements or claims.
If the chair believes that any of these have occurred or the speaker has gone over time, they will be asked to finish.
2022 Board Election Results
Download report from Returning Officer.
Code Of Conduct
Download Board Code of Conduct
Meet the Board
Lisa Andersen. Curriculum.
Kia ora koutou, I have been a board member for the last three years where I have enjoyed working with the current board and staff. I am also part of Connect Waimairi and I feel I have built strong connections and relationships within the school. I feel that I am really committed to the success of the school community and the well being of our children. My husband Jorgen and I have two sons who both attend Waimairi School. Harry is in Year 4 and Blake is in Year 2. I am a qualified primary teacher with 20 years teaching experience and I am currently working part time at Wairarapa Cobham Intermediate. As a teacher I know how important an active, focused and supportive Board of Trustees is to the success of a school and I feel that my experience being on the board coupled with my skills and expertise in teaching make me a good parent representative. I also have an in depth understanding of how schools work, the New Zealand Curriculum and general classroom practice. I am a great communicator and team member and I enjoy the opportunity to continue working closely with the school on the Board of Trustees.
Tracy Campbell. Staff Trustee.
I have had a long association with Waimairi School. My three adult children were students here and I was lucky enough to join the Waimairi staff in 2011. I teach Year 1 / 2 students and have always felt, as a parent and staff member, that the school, staff and community work together in a very special place. I have embraced this opportunity to be involved in another aspect of school life and to represent my colleagues at the Board level.
Jeremy Elrick. Presiding Member.
Tena Koe, I am very excited to represent the school community as part of the Waimairi School Board of Trustees. Our daughters Claire (9), and Grace (8) currently attend Waimairi School. My wife Jenny and I both consider our journey as part of the Waimairi School community to have been a wonderful experience. We have found the school, staff, parents and students to be warm, welcoming and inclusive. We have developed life long friendships, and the girls are thriving in both their education and social development. In respect to my background, I am the Managing Director of a professional services firm (Elrick and Co Limited – which provides surveying, planning, and engineering services). Elrick and Co for us was a real scale down and ‘reset’, and was born in 2020 (during the first lockdown) following the sale of our larger nationwide business. My knowledge of the education system has grown immensely over my current board tenure, and as a business owner I have a thorough understanding of not only land development, but also construction, finance, human resources, and governance matters. For me personally, this is an exciting and crucial time to be leading the school. The school has faced a variety of significant challenges over the last 3 years including the re-build completion and navigating the Covid19 pandemic. To say it has all been a distraction is probably an understatement, and as a board and school we are extremely excited about moving forward and re-focussing on not only the pedagogy but also rebuilding that unique Waimairi community spirit that we all know and love. It has been an honour to serve as a trustee on the board over the last three years, and as the Presiding Member (Chair) for the last two and a half. Personally I am very much looking forward to re-setting and getting stuck in to developing the school for another term
Kat Manzana. Finance
Katherine (Kat) Makanza is Mum to Zahara (6, and currently in Patiki) and Indie-Raea (3), and wife to Trevor. When not looking after the kids (and husband), Kat is running a business advisory practice, Atlas and Oak, supporting small and medium sized business’ at the governance level, focusing on strategy, planning, organisational structure, and financial aspects. Kat is a fully qualified Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Directors. Most importantly, Kat is looking forward to being more involved with the school and its wider community, and being able to use her skills and experience to help shape its future, for our young tamariki and their whānau.
Emma Watkins. Community and Well-being.
Tena Koe, I am very excited to have the opportunity to represent our school community on the Waimairi School Board of Trustees (BOT). I have been the BOT Community and Wellbeing representative since the start of 2020 – what a time to join! I have also been the Deputy Chair for the past year. My family has felt very welcomed and included in the Waimairi School community. At Waimairi we have Finnley (9) in Kotare and Celeste (7) in Inaka. Our oldest Leo Milburn is a year 8 at Cobham. I believe our Waimairi teaching and leadership teams work very hard to create a positive, supportive, and engaging school environment. On the BOT we have focused on supporting the school, especially through COVID and the school rebuild. I believe it is really important to keep working together to continue creating a strong school community, to look after our Waimairi whānau and to reduce the impacts of the last few years on our children. With respect to my background, I have over 17 years counselling experience working with children, adolescents, young adults and mothers. I am a trauma and attachment specialist and I established my private practice Blue Brush Therapy over four years ago. I am an ACC ISSC accredited counsellor, a Theraplay Practitioner, an Interpersonal Psychotherapist, a Registered Art Therapist and an EMDR practitioner for Adults and Children. In my experience working for community NGO’s I have been the chair, or a member of, various committees and boards working to implement health and safety, fundraising activities, and governance matters. I have worked with and advocated for many families whose children have needed extra support from their community, schools, and Board of Trustees. I am also a Director for South Island Heart, a private cardiology practise at Forté Health. It is essential that the Board of Trustee members provide effective and skilled support to the teaching team so that the school’s excellent standards can continue and develop in response to the current issues. I believe my specialised skills are highly relevant for addressing the ongoing impacts the past few years have had on the school community. My experience working with families, knowledge of child development, and business skills would assist the school now, and with future challenges. I feel passionate about supporting the school to continue providing an excellent education to our tamariki.
Ed Hadfield. Property
Kia ora koutou I feel privileged to hold the Property and Health and Safety portfolios for the Waimairi School Board of Trustees. In my professional life, I am a Regional Manager for a multinational green space and facilities management company. This provides a unique skill set that is great to be able to share with our school. In my personal life, my wife Liana and I have three daughters (Addison, Prudence and Evelyn) who keep us busy. The school has a great community, a proud history, and a bright future that I am excited to be involved in shaping.
2022 Annual Report
*Note a hard copy of the 2022 Annual Report is also available to read at the school office.