In April last year, the school was placed in limited statutory management after Quinney called on the board of trustees chairperson to resign.

Although board chair Ruth Mitchell did not resign she was replaced in April this year.

The new chair is the school's former principal, John Hogue, a Dunedin Catholic diocese representative.

Mitchell has remained on the board as the deputy chair.

Resignation formally announced

The school's statutory manager says Quinney will leave the 450-pupil state-integrated school at the end of the year.

"After five years in the role, Mrs Quinney considers it is time for the school to prepare for a leadership refreshment" statutory manager Nicola Hornsey said in a press release.

"We appreciate Mrs Quinney giving us early notice so that we can plan for a smooth transition into 2025 and get the recruitment process underway."

Quinney has not said why she has resigned. She says Hornsey and the board have gagged her from speaking to the media.

Students key

Hornsey says that throughout the leadership transition process, college students would continue to be the key focus.

"As always, our staff remain dedicated to providing quality teaching and support so that all students can reach their potential."

She says the recruitment process will start in a few weeks with a consultation process involving the school community.

"The statutory intervention will remain in place until a new appointee has been fully inducted and the outcomes sought from the intervention have been achieved and sustained."

Hornsey's report released in July last year identified issues posing risks to St Peter's College.

These are its educational performance, pupil health and safety, and operational matters.

The last involves poor employment practices, an incohesive governance framework, dysfunctional relationships between the school and board of trustees, and a diminished student voice.

Hornsey's intervention, based on nine Education Review Office effective governance statements, was implemented.

In reviewing the implementation she said she is pleased progress had been made and responsibility for supporting St Peter's College special character had been returned to the board.

School future

Hornsey says the statutory intervention will continue until a new principal is inducted and the outcomes sought from the intervention have been achieved.

The intervention aims to return the school to full self-governance.

Hornsey has not responded to questions about what further intervention outcomes she is expecting.

She says the board has ensured ongoing improvement in the effectiveness of governance through training, planning and the distribution of tasks.

It has also promoted the care of students by nurturing the development of language, culture and identity.

"This represents a lot of work on the part of the board members, all of whom have actively engaged in a wide range of training opportunities over the past year."

A further review would be carried out by the ministry on or before April 2025.

Source

• Stuff
• ODT

St Peter's College was placed under limited statutory management in April, with lawyer Nicola Hornsey appointed the Statutory Manager to oversee governance after the board and principal sought intervention from the Ministry of Education.

Hornsey's initial report in July underscored a plethora of issues plaguing the Catholic co-ed school, including poor employment practices, a fractured governance framework and a diminished student voice.

Her latest report, released on 24 August, indicated that tensions between Principal Quinney and the board remained high.

When asked by media outlet Stuff whether the relationship between Quinney and the St Peter's College board could be repaired, Quinney responded that she was not permitted to speak on the matter.

"Part of any principal's role as the professional 'CEO' is to find a way to work with all new board members to establish a healthy working relationship, an agreed model of governance and a form of reporting to the board that meets the board's requirements," said Hornsey.

Hornsey affirmed that board members were diligently executing their roles and were committed to enriching the educational experience at St Peter's College.

She also revealed that the board received several letters of complaint, pertaining largely to perceived damage to the school's reputation due to media statements.

While Hornsey's report acknowledged that the distinction between governance and management was understood at the school, she highlighted the absence of an effective communication system to keep the board informed.

"Until this trust and confidence is achieved, board members will, understandably, continue to ask questions about the day-to-day management of the school."

The report concluded that all board members were engaged in ongoing training and that strides were being made to improve communication within the school community.

Source

• Stuff
• CathNews NZ

After the board and principal sought Education Ministry support, the Catholic co-ed school went into limited statutory management in April.

The report

Several issues "pose risks to the educational performance and health and safety of students, and to the operation of the school," limited statutory manager Nicola Hornsey's report says.

It lists these as: poor employment practices; incohesive governance framework; dysfunctional relationship between the school and the school board; and diminished student voice.

The report also says the current governance model poses "a significant risk to the operation of the school, student achievement and health and safety."

Principal's comment

In May, the school's principal Tara Quinney said she had no confidence in board chairperson Ruth Mitchell's leadership. She wanted her to resign.

Having read the report, Quinney says it shows the intervention has led to "notable strides forward" for the board.

Mitchell should "acknowledge her responsibility for the lapse in appropriate governance practices" Quinney says.

"She should demonstrate genuine accountability and extend a heartfelt public apology to the students, staff and wider community." This would "exemplify true leadership and humility in accordance with our Catholic values."

Hornsey's response

Speaking on Mitchell's behalf, Hornsey made no comment on Quinney's apology request.

Her report, however, addresses the school and board's dysfunctional relationship.

The principal is the conduit for communicating information between the board and school, she wrote. She noted principal-board relationships detrimentally affected communication regarding board decisions.

The poor relationship led to widespread mistrust between some staff and the board, the principal and the board, and the board and principal.

Board dysfunction

Hornsey's report notes a high turnover of board members and board chairs at the school. This contributed to a lack of alignment between the principal and board regarding the school's strategic direction.

The board tried to facilitate this model of working but was not successful, the report says.

Board members were committed to meeting their duties, the report continues. They've participated in training and sought advice to add to their governance knowledge.

However, the report notes employment practices allowed breaches of good faith obligations, employment policies and procedures, confidentiality and privacy duties, and codes of conduct in the past year.

It says these failures pose a significant risk to school operations and students' educational performance and health and safety.

Governance framework

Hornsey says the board recognises the policies and procedures governing the school need reviewing; changes are underway.

She noted students value their education but are concerned about "inconsistencies in the teaching practices and attitudes shown towards them."

Avenues to raise issues and suggest solutions were not currently effective, posing a moderate risk to student engagement and learning.

What now?

The board and the Education Ministry will now devise an "outcomes plan".

Work is already in progress on:

• The board's understanding of individual roles and responsibilities
• Ongoing improvement in governance through training and planning
• The board developing relationships with the principal and staff based on trust, integrity and clarity about roles; building trust with the school community and diocese; promoting the care of students

The ongoing intervention will be reviewed in April 2024.

Source

• Stuff

The Ministry of Education placed the Catholic school under statutory management at the end of April.

The 450-pupil school's principal Tara Quinney and the board chair, Ruth Mitchell, have what Quinney describes as a "dysfunctional relationship".

Quinney has said she won't be able to work with Mitchell in the future. She cited differences in expectations regarding Mitchell's leadership and the chair's unwillingness to learn how to run a board.

Where to from here

Limited statutory manager Nicola Hornsey says the next step in the pro­cess is to pre­pare an out­comes plan. This will be drawn up in con­junc­tion with the school's board of trust­ees and the Min­istry of Edu­ca­tion.

She anti­cip­ates her scop­ing report and the plan would be adop­ted by the board at its next meet­ing on June 28.

It would then be shared with the St Peter's College com­munity.

"The board is com­mit­ted to work­ing together to imple­ment the out­comes plan and return the school to full self­-gov­ernance and we will provide updates on pro­gress after each board meet­ing," she says.

Hornsey says she has received a warm wel­come from the school com­munity.

"As I get to know more about St Peter's, one thing that really stands out is the cal­ibre of the stu­dents — thought­ful, artic­u­late and enga­ging, and appre­ci­at­ive of the oppor­tun­it­ies their school offers them."

Source

• Press Reader
• Stuff

The Ministry of Education placed the Gore Catholic school under statutory management at the end of last month.

Principal Tara Quinney (pictured) says she has no confidence in the school's board chair, Ruth Mitchell, to lead.

She says she has a dysfunctional relationship with Mitchell and won't be able to work with her in the future.

Community concerned

Quinney says she is speaking out about the issues surrounding the Ministry's intervention because of community concerns about the school's health.

She wants to allay these.

She says she's finding it "heartbreaking" when people approach her with their concerns for the school's future. They paid for and built the school back in 1969, she says.

"I know we are a strong Catholic school which has an amazing history and support behind it. I don't like people feeling unsettled about the future of our school when it is actually very safe and strong."

These included claims that Mitchell and three other board members were perhaps there for "the circles they themselves socialise in", rather than being there for the whole school.

Quinney's concerns

The principal's and board chair's difficulties began before Christmas.

They concerned four board members, including Mitchell, asking to meet with four senior staff without Quinney's presence. The meeting was about a parent survey the board had undertaken.

Although Quinney was absent at the time, she stopped the meeting as it was outside the board's governance duties, she said.

She explained the board conducted the survey to determine what the community thought about certain things at the school. It focused on a lot of the negatives and not the positives, Quinney said.

She didn't think sharing the survey summary would be appropriate then. It was the middle of term four at a very stressful time of the school year, she said.

The staff had had three years of Covid behind them, were exhausted and trying to make it through to the end of the year.

Nonetheless, she was open to finding out about the survey.

She recommended, "even though it was outside the bounds of governance," she and the senior leadership team meet with the board early in the 2023 school year.

"That was not an option that was taken up," she said.

An untrained Board

Quinney said the board comprises mostly new members and thinks the issues stem mainly from their not being trained in board matters.

She said Mitchell had repeatedly refused to get free training for board members.

Training is an "absolute must" regardless of people's experience and backgrounds, Quinney said.

The Ministry said training is not compulsory.

Quinney said she wants a board committed to the school's character.

Limited statutory manager

Board chair Ruth Mitchell is not responding to questions regarding Quinney's specific worries.

Instead, the school's limited statutory manager has acknowledged Quinney had some concerns about the school's governance.

The board is confident Nicola Hornsey's appointment as a limited statutory manager can address these.

Source

• Stuff

The state-integrated year 7 to 15 co-educational Catholic school has about 450 pupils.

Ministry of Education leader for the South, Nancy Bell, directed a limited statutory manager's (LSM) appointment on 5 April.

She says the school's board of trustees had sought support with governing the school, but did not enlarge on what the issues were.

Timaru lawyer Nicola Hornsey has been appointed as limited statutory manager. She will begin her duties in mid-May.

In a memo to St Peter's College community before Easter, Hornsey explained the school board had asked the Ministry of Education for support with school governance.

"Despite the title, I work at board level. The day-to-day operations of the school are managed by the principal and her senior leadership team," Hornsey's memo says.

She says she has worked as a lawyer with a number of schools throughout the South Island over the years.

"The first stage of the intervention involves getting to know the school," she says.

Hornsey has the powers and duties as an employer to establish policies and procedures, to manage the curriculum, including teaching and assessment practice, and to support the special character of the school.

She will also advise the school's board on communication and financial operations.

Until Hornsey is able to take up her new role, Dunedin school governance consultant Cleave Hay had been liaising with the board.

Hay has been "assisting and doing some initial scoping interviews," he says.

Bell says while most schools operated successfully, a small number needed outside help to resolve concerns.

"In these situations, we are available to step in with the appropriate supports and expertise, allowing the school to focus on teaching and learning.

"The aim of any intervention is always to return the school to full self-management as soon as the recommendations of the intervention have been met," she says.

Neither presiding board manager Ruth Mitchell nor principal Tara Quinney were willing to comment to media, referring enquiries to Hay for comment.

Source

• Stuff
• ODT