Tēnā koutou te Whānau Tupu Ngātahi o Aotearoa,
Welcome back to Term 3! We hope everyone is managing to stay safe, warm, and dry during all this wild winter weather and multitude of nasty bugs going around.
We, your Trustee Board, have thankfully stayed (mostly) healthy over the past month, as we have worked to consolidate all the feedback and input received around the draft Trust Deed and Ki te pae tawhiti. Thanks again to the many rōpū and centre members who have made time to engage with the proposal and share their whakāro with us. Special mention as well to the amazing centre and rōpū members of the Rules Kapa Mahi who have been working incredibly hard under very tight timeframes.
As you may have noted in the SGM 2022 pack sent out last Friday, there have been many changes made in response to your feedback. We would like to highlight three of those key changes (these are also described in a short video).
First of all, we acknowledge that some Centres feel uncomfortable centralising their finances until they are assured of a successful outcome with Ministry of Education co-design. Therefore, you will find updated wording in the Trust Deed transitional clauses to specify that centralisation of funds will occur once we have received official confirmation of this outcome, possibly as early as March 2023. You can find the updated Trust Deed on our website.
Secondly, we have heard loud and clear that having the option to retain a centre bank account is important to many of you! Our CE David Moger and CFO Stephen O’Neill have worked very hard to present the board with a proposal that will allow Centres the option to maintain local control over their future fundraising and donations, in a way that still manages risk and meets our financial compliance requirements. You will find these details in our updated “How will finances be managed” document.
Finally, we have heard concern that the proposed operational model needs more work to ensure it will meet the needs of all our diverse Centres. We absolutely agree, and it was always the plan that more development and consultation would be needed on the design of this model. However, we recognise that our communications have gotten a bit muddled and many rōpū and centre members felt that the SGM Trust Deed vote was effectively a vote on the operational model. So to be clear…
Yes, an approved Trust Deed would give the Board the power to move forward to develop the operational model AND give Ministry of Education the confidence they need to fund it, but
No, it won’t happen overnight, it’s not set in stone, and it won’t be your last chance to have input!
Again, you will find this all in writing in the updated “How will finances be managed” document.
We hope these changes give you confidence that your voice is being heard, and will continue to be heard, as we complete the amalgamation process, address our legal and compliance issues, and truly become one organisation working together towards a stronger future.
What happens next?
In the next couple of weeks, your Centre will be receiving a fold-out in the mail, to help you to get ready to vote! Rōpu members will receive copies via email. The fold-out will walk you through Playcentre Aotearoa’s journey to where we are now, as well as what comes after the SGM decision is announced on the 24th of September. We hope that the information provided (plus a fun interactive activity) will help engage and inform all of your centre and rōpū members.
Virtual Road Show
Building whanaungatanga is what makes Playcentre who we are, and we would love to connect with you on a virtual road trip… where you’ll be in the driver’s seat! Click here to book us in for a time and date that works for your rōpū or cluster, and we will do our best to be there with you (via Zoom) to answer questions and hear your feedback. No cluster? No worries, book in for your centre or a group of neighbouring centres. There are 8 of us to go around, so we’ll do our best to make sure we connect with everyone.
We’ve also set up a designated email address for all comms related to the SGM: [email protected], so please feel free to get in touch with us that way.
Thanks for reading, hope to see you soon on zoom!
Nā mātou noa, nā,
Ann, Avis, Bes, Gemma, Hayley, Heather, Michelle, Ranee
Trustee Board
Te Whānau Tupu Ngātahi o Aotearoa | Playcentre Aotearoa