2019 Common Election results

Tony Michael Buckwell
Elected

My name is Tony Buckwell, and I am standing for election to the Board of Trustees for Marina View School. I am 51, married and have one child at MVS. My son is in Year 6 and my daughter has now graduated MVS and moved on to Hobsonville Point Secondary School. Quick background: Although some parents may possibly recognise me as a local real estate agent, the majority of my working history has been in an emergency services role where I served a 24-year career as professional fire-fighter & senior fire officer. During that time I gained valuable skills & experience across a range of professional environments, including emergency, personnel & business management. In the past I have held the Chairperson’s role on the Body Corporate Committee of a large apartment complex for several years, gaining experience in effective governance & cohesive group decision making. My Current role at MVS: I am a current Trustee on the MVS Board of Trustees, having served a part term pre-2016 and a full term since the 2016 elections. My reference is oversight of the finance & budget for the school. I have been impressed with the passion, focus & dedication of the current board and would love to continue to work with the new board for a further full term if I was supported in this election. My passion for our school: Apart from my role on the BOT, I also support our school in other ways, including morning supervision of the pedestrian crossing, parent help on school camps and supporting the PTA via sponsorship and helping out at fundraising events. I believe that we are extremely fortunate to have such a high-quality school for our children to learn & grow within, with such dedicated teachers & senior leaders. However, I also believe it is not solely up to the school to provide for our children’s education. In my view, the holistic educational experience our children receive is dependent on our community fully supporting MVS and working collaboratively with the staff. My final word: I am standing for re-election to the BOT because I am a proud parent and ardent supporter of our school. I want to offer my time, skills & experience to the board to help it to continue to shape the future of MVS and support the school’s senior management team.

Thank you. Tony

Conrad Wade Horne
Elected

My name is Conrad Horne. I am married to Sonya and we have one beautiful daughter, Georgia, who is thoroughly enjoying her days in year 2 at Marina View School. We have lived in West Harbour since 2009.

I am delighted to be applying for election onto the Marina View School Board of Trustees as a parent representative.

I am passionate about education from the stunning growth and development of toddlers through to lifelong adult learners. Throughout my 20-year teaching career, I followed my passion for nurturing gifted and talented students plus those with special needs through extension and extracurricular programs.

My professional career has specialised in senior-level consulting, leadership and education management, involved in projects locally as well as internationally.

As a graduate of the Elder Conservatorium of Music, I began my career as a professional musician performing internationally. My Postgraduate study has been in Education (primary and secondary), Audio Engineering (SAE) and research in Child Development & Behaviour in School Discipline Systems (Oxford University). I have been an examiner for the London Royal School of Music, Australian Examination Board and Oxfordshire County Council.

Within my own business, I am a Productivity and Change management consultant, with a particular focus on developing each individual’s potential, culture change, strategic policy, and communication. My experience in business spanning multinationals and business startups throughout the Asia Pacific region ranges over technological progression, marketing, financial management and strategies for success.

If elected onto the Board at Marina View School, I would bring a wealth of experience on education reform, technological progression, child development, corporate strategic planning along with my passion for enabling professional teams and communication skills. From working in the education sector I have a comprehensive educational terminology, understanding of elected council’s governance duties and the changes in the educational and corporate landscape to support the school leadership, teachers, learners and the future direction of the whole Marina View School community.

I have the flexibility to attend the required meetings and a dedication and passion for advocating for all students.

I am a great believer in empowering young people to strive to make good decisions to help them grow into the people they want to become. Witnessing a happy student beaming with pride, confidence and inherently proud of themselves is truly rewarding.

Thank you for your consideration in advance.

Laura Jane Parker
Elected

My name is Laura Parker and I am standing for Marina View School Board. I am a past pupil of Marina View and have had a long-standing relationship with the school spanning over 20 years. My husband Royce and I currently have our two daughters, Sadie in Year 4 and Charlie in Year 1, attending Marina View. We also have a son Johnny who is 3 years old and look forward to him starting his school journey.

I am also a qualified teacher with over 12 years’ experience. I have taught in a variety of different West Auckland areas of Education, including both state and private schools. During my teachers training, I had the privilege of being able to come back to Marina View School as a student teacher; this gave me a renewed passion for the school and saw us move closer to the school for our own children to attend. I am currently the Head of Department of English and Social Sciences at Rangeview Intermediate School. My current role gives me insight into school operations, policies and employment. This will be a strong advantage when serving on the Marina View School Board.

As a teacher, parent and past pupil of Marina View I am strongly passionate about seeing the continued success of the school. I would be honoured to serve on the board, to help with inspiring our children to become lifelong learners. I am committed to seeing the best for the school and wider community. Vote Laura Parker for the 2019 Board Election.

Hi there, my name is Damien Samuel. I am the current Chairman of the Marina View School Board having been appointed to the board in 2014.

Marina View School has had some really positive change over recent years with a key focus on global insights such as ‘modern learning environments’ for student development as well as upgrades to our school technology and property portfolio. This experience has made me excited about what is next for Marina View School.

With a daughter in year 7 at Marina View School and a son in year 4, I am committed to being involved with the school and its future. I have a true passion to ensure that all students are provided with the best education and more importantly the best possible environment for our students to learn within. My ambition is to create a great culture, with a sense of family and community for all our students so they may grow up and become great contributing members to society.

With a Corporate background in the FMCG industry for over 15 years working for several large multinational companies I have been able to use my experience and skill set to contribute positively to the development of the school. I have several years of experience on other Boards and understand the commitment required to serve on the Board. Outside of work I am a sports fan, and proudly my sport of choice is Rugby League with the NZ Warriors being my team — please don’t hold this against me.

Marina View School has a great reputation and it would be my honour to continue to represent the parents of this school for another term

Best Regards, Damien

I am nominating myself for election to become a Trustee of our school. My daughter is currently a Year 4 student at our school.

Summary: - Solid knowledge of our education system and the New Zealand curriculum - Experience working in NZQA and the operating under a evaluative quality assurance framework - Practising lawyer specialising in education law - Strong desire to contribute to our community, with previous board experience in one of the Citizens Advice Bureaux

Education sector background: My experience in education includes working at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) as a lead evaluator and an in-house counsel. I have extensive knowledge of how the evaluative quality assurance framework applies in practice, how the Education Review Office (ERO) conducts its evaluation, and the New Zealand curriculum.

As a practicing lawyer, one of my specialised area is education law - I have experience assisting education provider (across all levels from early childhood education, compulsory education sector, and tertiary institutions), school boards, parents, students, in a range of issues such as student discipline, employment, approvals and accreditation, external evaluation and review, international education (including compliance with the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice), asset management - just to name a few.

Community involvement: Prior to moving up to Auckland last year, I have been volunteering at one of the Citizens Advice Bureaux in Wellington (including three years as the secretary on that board), as well as at Wellington Community Law Centre.

My commitment: I would love the opportunity to make a contribution to our school, utilising my skills and knowledge. I am also confident that my ethnic background will add diversity to the composition of our school board, meeting the changing needs and increasing roll of students with a North Asian family background.

To contact me: You can find out more about myself on the website of the law firm I am working for - Chen Palmer, established by prominent public lawyer Mai Chen and former Prime Minister of New Zealand Geoffrey Palmer. Visit www.chenpalmer.com and click on "Meet the Team" under "Our People". My contact details are online too and I am open to hearing from any members of our school.