Kia ora, Sarah.

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Past · packs

Kia ora, Sarah.

No active pack right now. Your last cycle finalised on 23 April.

Past · packs

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Every cycle Hillview Primary School has run since onboarding. Most recent first.

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Showing 8 of 8 packs.

All packs since Hillview onboarded with Steward in May 2025.

Pack · 7–28 May 2026

May 2026 pack

Active 5 meetings · 4 documents · 11 questions generated · 2 carried in from prior cycles · 1 of 5 meetings finalised

Meetings

Source documents

The documents Steward read to generate questions for this pack's meetings.

Schedule meeting

Set the date, time, location, and attendees for the H&S sub-committee meeting. Once scheduled, Steward will draft questions tagged for H&S from this pack's documents.

Health & Safety sub-committee

Pre-selected when this slot was added to the pack. Change in if needed.

Defaults to the H&S sub-committee membership. Untick anyone who's not expected.

  • Sarah Mitchell (chair)
  • Pita Henare
  • Aroha Te Whata
  • David Chen (principal, ex officio)

After scheduling, Steward generates the questions tagged for H&S in this pack and adds them to this meeting's brief.

Add a meeting

Add a new meeting to the April 2026 pack. Steward will draft questions tagged for the chosen committee from this pack's documents.

Standing committees come from . Pick "Other" for a one-off or special-purpose meeting.

Finance sub-committee Questions ready · May 2026 pack

Thursday 14 May 2026

7:00 pm · Staffroom

Meeting in 18 days
Attendees: Sarah Mitchell (chair), Tom Harrison, Pita Henare, Aroha Te Whata, David Chen (principal, ex officio)

The big picture

The school is tracking $42K ahead of forecast on operating surplus, driven by international student fees coming in stronger than expected. That's good news but it isn't where to focus tonight. The thing that needs your attention is property maintenance — the principal is flagging a $15K overrun, and the cashflow projections on page 8 don't yet reflect it. Three of the questions below are about this; the rest are routine.

From · past meetings

Open items returning to this meeting — deferred questions due back, or actions whose status needs confirmation. Steward auto-generates these from prior dispositions; they're tapped here like any other question.

Q1 Carried in
From 12 March 2026 Finance · Generated by Steward

Reserves policy review — has the floor been reconsidered?

Why this matters — Already deferred twice (12 March, then 9 April). Tonight's variance review (Q4–Q6) makes the floor question unavoidable: if maintenance keeps overrunning, either the floor needs raising or the projection needs new assumptions. A third defer leaves the wider board with two cycles of inactivity on a foundational question.

From past meetings — Originally raised 12 March (Deferred). Reconsidered 9 April (Deferred again). Owner Sarah Mitchell. Due 30 April — overdue.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting

Questions for this meeting

5 questions · 1 from a trustee
Q2 Needs your attention
Generated by Steward

Why has property maintenance come in $15K over budget?

Why this matters — This is your first overrun in 18 months, and it touches the operating reserves policy you reviewed in March. Listen for a specific cause: a known asset failed, an unbudgeted compliance item, a poor original estimate. Push back on vague answers like "general inflation" — specifics tell you whether this was foreseeable.

In the pack — Page 5, "Property maintenance summary." Total spent: $58K against a $43K budget, two months of the maintenance cycle remaining.

If you're new to this — "Cyclical maintenance" is planned upkeep on school buildings (painting, roof checks, compliance items) on a multi-year cycle. The MoE expects every school to have a 10-year property plan.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting
Q3 Generated by Steward

What's the property projection for the rest of the year?

Why this matters — If maintenance keeps overrunning, you'll be below the operating reserves floor by end of Q2. The principal should have a verbal answer if the pack doesn't show it; if not, that's itself a flag.

In the pack — The cashflow forecast on page 8 doesn't yet reflect the variance. It needs updating.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting
Q4 Generated by Steward

Is this overrun a one-off, or do we have a pattern?

Why this matters — Cyclical maintenance has overrun by $5–8K in each of the last three quarters. Worth saying out loud at the meeting. An experienced trustee would also ask for property variance to become a standing item until it stabilises.

From past meetings — March 2026 (variance $7K), February 2026 (variance $5K), November 2025 (variance $8K).

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting
Q5 Generated by Steward

Q1 trading review — surplus tracking $42K ahead. Anything to flag?

Why this matters — Routine review. International student fees driving the surplus. If the principal flags any other significant variances in the discussion, capture them. Otherwise this is a "noted" item.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting
Q6 Submitted by trustee
From Tom Harrison

What's the maintenance contractor's response to the variance?

Tom's note — "If the contractor underestimated the original quote, we should know whether they're absorbing any of the overrun or whether the school is wearing it all. Worth pinning down before we just accept the figure."

Steward's view — Strong question — narrows the property variance discussion to a specific accountability point. Recommend accepting.

Awaiting your acceptance — PM only

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Property sub-committee Past · Finalised · May 2026 pack

Thursday 7 May 2026

7:00 pm · Staffroom

Met 7 May 2026
Attendees: Tom Harrison (chair), Pita Henare, David Chen (principal, ex officio)

The big picture

A routine quarterly review of the property portfolio. Three items closed cleanly; the fourth — the 10-year-property-plan variance — has compounded over four quarters to the point that a revised plan needs board ratification before the next forecast cycle, so the sub-committee escalated it for the 28 May wider board meeting.

Questions discussed

4 questions · 3 noted · 1 escalated
Q1 Generated by Steward

Quarterly property walkaround — anything to flag from the May inspection?

Noted
Pita walked the site with the caretaker on 5 May. No new compliance gaps; minor maintenance items already covered in the cyclical schedule.
Tapped by Tom Harrison · 7 May, 8:24pm
Q2 Generated by Steward

Asset register reconciliation — does the 2026 register match the 2025 closing position?

Noted
Reconciles cleanly. Pita confirmed against the auditor's 2025 closing schedule — no unexplained additions or disposals.
Tapped by Tom Harrison · 7 May, 8:24pm
Q3 Generated by Steward

Compliance status — any open warrants of fitness or building consent items?

Noted
All current. The hall WoF was renewed 24 April; the consent for the playground resurfacing was issued in March. Nothing outstanding.
Tapped by Tom Harrison · 7 May, 8:24pm
Q4 Generated by Steward

10-year property plan variance — should the board ratify a revised plan?

Escalated
Variance has compounded over four quarters; the original plan's roof-replacement assumptions no longer hold. Sub-committee unanimously recommends full revision and escalates to the wider board for ratification on 28 May 2026.
Tapped by Tom Harrison · 7 May, 8:24pm

Record

This sub-committee doesn't keep formal minutes. The dispositions tapped above are the institutional record.
Audit trail: REC-2026-05-07-PROP · Finalised by Tom Harrison · 7 May 2026, 8:31pm
Wider board Questions ready · May 2026 pack

Thursday 28 May 2026

7:00 pm · Staffroom

Meeting in 32 days
Attendees: Sarah Mitchell (presiding), Tom Harrison, Pita Henare, Aroha Te Whata, David Chen (principal, ex officio), Margaret Hill (secretary)

The big picture

Two threads tonight. Property has escalated a 10-year-property-plan revision for board ratification — read the cluster below before the meeting. Beyond that, the agenda is forward-looking: charter renewal needs a kick-off decision (the renewal target is January 2027, and beginning later than Term 2 typically rushes the community consultation), and the principal performance review cycle needs timing confirmation.

From · past meetings

Open items returning to this meeting from prior wider-board cycles. Auto-generated from prior dispositions.

Q1 Carried in
From 23 April 2026 wider board · Generated by Steward

When should we begin the charter renewal cycle?

Why this matters — At the April board, Sarah committed to bringing back a kick-off date tonight. Hillview's charter expires in early 2027; charter renewal is a 12–18 month commitment with substantive community-consultation phases. Boards beginning the cycle later than Term 2 typically rush or skip consultation. NZSTA's recommended cadence is to start at the wider board's first meeting after T1.

From past meetings — Action assigned 23 April board. Owner Sarah Mitchell. Due tonight.

In the pack — Strategic Plan extract (p. 11) noting the January 2027 renewal target. No formal item from management on the agenda yet.

If you're new to this — The charter is the school's foundational governance document; renewal is a public process that re-articulates vision and statutory commitments and re-engages the community.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting

From · Property sub-committee · 7 May 2026

Escalated to the wider board for ratification. The sub-committee considered the matter and is recommending board adoption.

Q2 Escalated from Property
Generated by Steward

Should the board adopt the revised 10-year property plan?

Why this matters — Property sub-committee identified a $42K gap between the 10YPP forecast and the actual maintenance trajectory over the past four quarters. They recommend the board ratify a revised plan rather than wait for next year's review cycle. Without ratification, future capex prioritisation runs against an outdated baseline.

In the pack — 10YPP variance summary (pp. 3–4). Property sub-committee dispositions, 7 May 2026. The revised plan is included as Appendix A.

From the sub-committee — Property considered three alternatives (defer, partial revision, full revision) and unanimously recommends full revision. Tom Harrison (chair) noted the original plan's assumptions on roof-replacement timing have shifted materially.

If you're new to this — The 10-year property plan (10YPP) is the long-range capital and maintenance plan required by MoE. Material changes need board adoption to remain current.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting

Wider-board questions

Questions outside any sub-committee's remit, or strategic matters reserved to the board itself.

Q3 Generated by Steward

Q1 budget review — is the $42K-ahead surplus structural or one-off?

Why this matters — Finance reviewed this 14 May and accepted the principal's explanation (international fees stronger than forecast). Worth a board-level confirmation since it changes the assumptions underpinning the next budget cycle and the operating reserves policy review still pending from March.

In the pack — Q1 management accounts (p. 5). Variance commentary (p. 7). Finance sub-committee dispositions, 14 May 2026.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting
Q4 Generated by Steward

Principal performance review — confirm cycle timing

Why this matters — Annual review process. The wider board sets the principal's goals at the start of the cycle and assesses outcomes at the end. NZSTA recommends timing the review with calendar Q3, with goals fixed by end of T2. With T2 nearly half done, this is the natural meeting to confirm timing and agree the goals framework.

In the pack — No item from management. Last year's review framework is on file under the Strategic Plan reference doc.

Disposition will be tapped after the meeting

Want to develop your own questions?

Talk through the pack with Steward. It can explain anything you don't follow, help you sharpen a half-formed concern into a question, and draft something the PM can review. Nobody else sees the conversation — only the questions you choose to submit.

Add a pack

Upload the documents, name the pack, tell us when the wider board meets, and we'll generate the questions. Sub-committee meetings can be added to this pack as their dates get scheduled.

Upload everything the secretary or principal has circulated for this round of meetings. Steward reads all of them as input for question generation, then routes questions to the appropriate meeting based on content.

Drop files here or click to browse
PDF, Word, Excel, plain text · multiple files OK
  • April 2026 management accounts.pdf1.8 MB
  • Variance commentary - March.docx142 KB
  • Reserves projection - March.xlsx88 KB

A short label so you can find it later. Defaults from the date.

The cycle's anchor meeting. Created at the same time as the pack.

Add any sub-committee meetings happening in this cycle. Their dates can be added now or later from the pack page.

Steward reads the documents and generates questions in around a minute. Questions tagged for sub-committees sit on the wider board's brief until those meetings are scheduled — when you add a Finance meeting, its questions automatically pull down. Trustees receive a magic-link email when meetings are ready.

Manage organisation

Persistent documents that inform every meeting's questions. Different from a pack's documents (uploaded fresh each cycle) — these stay on file and Steward reads them as context whenever it generates a brief. Upload once, update when they change.

  • Annual Budget Current
    Last updated 12 Feb 2026

    Hillview Annual Budget 2026.xlsx

    Adopted by board 28 November 2025 · Uploaded by Sarah Mitchell
    Key figures Steward references
    Operating revenue forecast: $1.42M · Surplus target: $28K · Reserves floor: 20% of revenue
    View detail →
  • Delegation Policy Review overdue
    Adopted 14 Mar 2023

    Delegations Policy.pdf

    Last reviewed 14 March 2023 · Uploaded by Sarah Mitchell on 8 February 2026
    Why this is flagged

    Last reviewed over 3 years ago. NZSTA recommends reviewing delegation policies every two years and after any significant change in board composition. Hillview's board had two new trustees join at the September 2025 election.

    Key delegations Steward references
    Principal discretion: $5,000 · Capex referral threshold: $10,000
    View detail →
  • Strategic Plan Current
    Period 2024–2026

    Hillview Strategic Plan 2024–2026.pdf

    Adopted by board 18 March 2024 · Uploaded by Sarah Mitchell
    View detail →
  • Charter Current
    Adopted Mar 2024

    Hillview Charter.pdf

    Adopted by board 18 March 2024 · Uploaded by Sarah Mitchell
    View detail →
  • Reserves Policy Not on file

    No Reserves Policy on file

    A Reserves Policy is a board-adopted policy that sets a minimum operating-cash-reserves threshold — typically expressed as months of operating cover, or a percentage of operating revenue. It's distinct from the Annual Budget's reserves projection: the policy provides the threshold against which the projection is tested.

    What changes if you upload one

    Steward will start generating questions about reserves coverage relative to your board's stated floor — flagging when the projection trends toward the threshold, and surfacing the policy in any meeting where reserves come up. Many small NZ primary schools manage reserves implicitly through the budget; NZSTA recommends most boards adopt one.

Profile

Account

Name
Sarah Mitchell
Email
sarah.mitchell@hillview.school.nz
Role
Presiding Member

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