It is with pleasure that I present my annual Chairperson’s Report for The Kingsway Trust (KWT).
The KWT remains strongly committed to our mission to provide a network of schools and preschools to provide Christ-centred, accessible, quality education for children and young people in the Auckland region. Over the last year we have continued to see strong demand by parents seeking access for their children to our preschools and schools. This has resulted in increased student roll numbers across our network, with corresponding additional new teaching and support staff being added. The Trust has responded with new build programmes for additional classroom capacity and new facilities are well underway. The Special Character reviews for Horizon and Kingsgate schools that were completed earlier in 2022 and another for Jireh Christian School completed in 2023 have provided assurance to the KWT that our schools are doing well in effectively upholding and integrating our Christian values within their school curriculum and cultures. All this points to the fact that we are on track with our mission and that the demand for Christian education in the Auckland Region continues to exceed our ability to provide it.
Our network of preschools and schools is a complex structure. While we celebrate the ongoing successes, we acknowledge the significant effort of so many people who have contributed throughout the year, in particular I wish to thank our school boards, principals, teachers and other school staff, parents, KWT staff and our trustees. Whether paid or unpaid so many have gone above and beyond, often sacrificially to bring blessing to the lives of young learners and for the glory of God.
A great deal has been achieved in the last year however I would like to honour the work of all who contributed to our network’s accomplishments over this past year by highlighting some of the key outcomes.
After enduring months of delays Kingsgate School was able to relocate into their two beautiful pavilions. The spacious new site and diligent work from the school leadership has seen a huge increase in enrolments with the roll almost doubling and a new year level being added this year.
Ongoing demand for Christian education has also seen Jireh Christian School approach their maximum roll cap stretching school resources to accommodate this growth. Efforts by KWT to provide for additional classroom space have been frustrated by building application processes and work continues to alleviate these pressures for staff and students.
Despite months of delays in manufacturing processes and significant cost escalation, KWT was able to completely replace the astroturf at Kingsway School which had seen almost 20 years of continuous use. Construction of the new primary block at Kingsway Primary (that will accommodate up to 360 students) is well underway although the wettest season in Auckland’s history has challenged anticipated construction timelines.
Horizon School welcomed Tina Utting-Johnson as their new principal at the start of 2023. Tina and her board are engaging with KWT to continue the planning around the development needs of the school. An outstanding insurance dispute between contractors had majorly impacted the progress of the field and roading development at Horizon School. KWT was able to successfully negotiate a conclusion of this dispute and took over responsibility for the remedial earthworks and ongoing construction to deliver a large useable sports field for the school.
Our Snells Beach campus continues to deliver well, providing crucial untagged funding to support KWT work that falls outside of the Ministry of Education’s spending criteria for use of their payments. Over the last year the campus manager and her staff also renovated some of the accommodation buildings to support teacher engagement and retention as requested by the school.
Kumeū Baptist is well underway with their subdivision plans to enable KWT to locate a new school on the church’s site with the ultimate goal of a Y1-13 pathway for Christian education in West Auckland. KWT’s plans to release some other land within its portfolio to help fund this venture have been delayed by resource consent processes.
Earlier this year our contracted valuers provided updated valuations of our land assets and buildings which reflects the significant increases in property building values. With an asset portfolio that now exceeds $100 million KWT is well placed as a major provider of accessible Christian Education across Auckland.
Our KingsWay and Snells preschools have seen solid growth with them nearing capacity while the Red Beach preschool is in a recovery phase after it was relaunched following several months of closure as a result of Covid-19 impact. We acknowledge the work completed by the preschools directors and our preschools manager to stabilise staff retention and address teacher remuneration issues while in a difficult environment for their industry.
An earlier decision of the Trust to fix interest rates for significant portions of our debt has proved enormously beneficial for the KWT and protected the Trust against the volatile banking environment and increasing rates in the last year. This protection remains in place and will continue to bring benefit for some years.
The Operations Manager position, that was established at the beginning of 2022 (0.6 FTE), has proven extremely valuable and the KWT supported permanently increasing this position to 0.8 FTE at the end of 2022 to reflect the growing work demands as our schools continue to expand and the network grows.
KWT retains a high degree of interest in the Special Character of all our schools and preschools. As part of our commitment, we have, in consultation with our boards, principals and a number of specialist advisers, developed a position on gender which is to be shared with all our schools along with a guidance document (currently under development) about how to communicate and use the position statement within school environments. This is to be released following consultation with our boards and principals.
In February 2023 we farewelled our former CEO, Peter Wilding and welcomed our new CEO Philip Mark Bradley. I thank Peter for his leadership in bringing a stability to KWT’s endeavours and strengthening relationships with our many stakeholders. Last year saw the successful conclusion of a number of complex issues for the KWT and provided a healthy environment for our incoming CEO to build on. Philip Mark brings a strong Christian faith with experience in education as a former teacher, a school board member and provider of commercial services. Philip Mark was able to complete a two-week induction with Peter and has picked up the role with great enthusiasm and professionalism. I look forward to working with him in the years ahead.
We continue to work with our proprietor, NZCPT to support the supervision and maintenance of special character in our schools.
I conclude by expressing my gratitude to all those who have contributed to our network and the vision of the Kingsway Trust in so many ways. I am particularly grateful to the very talented Trustees we have, who give freely of their time to contribute to the work of The Kingsway Trust and its network of schools. Thank you, once again, for your ongoing support of the Trust, and our endeavours to bring accessible, Christ-centered, quality education to our children and young people.
Ma Ihowa koe e manaaki, mana koe e tiaki
May God bless you and keep you.