In this episode, Mārama Stewart discusses leading a school within te ao Māori through the lens of our guests’ own journeys through the education system in Aotearoa.
Mārama’s guests are:
● Robin Fabish, former tumuaki and current Leadership Advisor for the Ministry of Education
● Tom Paekau, tumuaki of Te Kura o Tūtarawānanga Merivale School in Tauranga Moana.
This podcast was produced for the Ministry of Education as part of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals.
You can learn more by accessing Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules on the Education LMS: https://training.education.govt.nz
Show notes
Episode themes:
Ko te kai a te rangatira, he kōrero. Ko te tohu o te rangatira, he manaaki. Ko te mahi a te rangatira, he whakatira i te iwi.
● Duality of having to thrive in two different worlds as tumuaki Maōri.
● Importance of all tamariki having adults – kaiako and tumuaki - they can connect with and be inspired by to help them along in their educational journey.
● Importance of making Māori ākonga feel connected to school, and what you can do to help that connection.
● Understanding who to build relationships with as a new tumuaki, and the need for those relationships to be reciprocal.
Additional information
Dr Ann Milne https://www.annmilne.co.nz
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24:45
Episode 37: Being tumuaki Māori in the early days of kōhanga reo
Kia hakatōmuri te haere whakamua: ‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’
In this episode, Mārama continues the kōrero with her aunty, Ani Mohi (or Mrs Mohi to many), about her experiences as kaiako Māori, tumuaki Māori, and the beginnings of kura kaupapa Māori and kura ā iwi.
This episode is a personal tribute to those who walked before us, and a reminder that our stories — our whakapapa — are not just history, they are maps. They are a guide to help us reflect on your own leadership journey — where you’ve come from, who you carry with you, and what kind of future you want to help shape.
You can find more information about this topic in Looking after learning (part 4) of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - the Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules.
In this episode, we speak with:
Ani Mohi, Former Tumuaki of Te Kura Mana Māori o Maraenui
This podcast was produced for the Ministry of Education as part of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals.
You can learn more by accessing Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules on the Education LMS: https://training.education.govt.nz
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26:46
Episode 36: Understanding our past: native schools and life for an ākonga Maōri in the 1950s and 60s
Kia hakatōmuri te haere whakamua: ‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’
In this episode of The Principals Podcast, Mārama Stewart, tumuaki and former Leadership Advisor, sits down with someone incredibly special to her — her aunty, Ani Mohi (or Mrs Mohi to many), a proud Māori principal whose story continues to shape and inspire Mārama’s own journey. This kōrero spans generations as they reflect on Mrs Mohi’s journey through the education system — as a student in the 1950s and 60s, a teacher in the 1980s, and a principal in the 1990s and on.
In this episode, we talk about what it was like for her growing up in an era where te ao Māori had little or no place in the classroom.
This episode is a personal tribute to those who walked before us, and a reminder that our stories — our whakapapa — are not just history, they are maps. They are a guide to help us reflect on your own leadership journey — where you’ve come from, who you carry with you, and what kind of future you want to help shape.
You can find more information about this topic in Looking after learning (part 4) of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - the Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules.
In this episode, we speak with:
Ani Mohi, Former Tumuaki of Te Kura Mana Māori o Maraenui
This podcast was produced for the Ministry of Education as part of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals.
You can learn more by accessing Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules on the Education LMS: https://training.education.govt.nz
Show notes
Episode themes:
Mrs Mohi’s experience of life at native school
Differences between native school and other English-medium schools
Resistance to racism
Slow emergence of some te reo and Māori culture in some schools
Teachers’ College in the 1970s.
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31:29
Episode 35: Financial reporting for schools
In this episode, we’re continuing to talk about school budgets, and we’re covering financial reporting and audits as well. Just a reminder that your school finance advisors are there to help – lean on them if you have questions about school finances.
My guests are:
Hannah Levy, Ministry of Education finance advisor – Otago/Southland
Mārama Stewart, former tumuaki and Ministry of Education leadership advisor
Adrian Edwards, Ministry of Education finance advisor.
This podcast was produced for the Ministry of Education as part of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals.
You can learn more about this topic by accessing Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules on the Education LMS: https://training.education.govt.nz
Show notes
Episode themes:
Don’t leave it too long to start working on your school’s budget. Don’t wait until you’ve seen all expenditure through to December. Start early.
If something unexpected happens and your budget is no longer accurate, you can reforecast. In some cases additional funding may be available, talk to your finance advisor about the issue.
Ensure you code spending correctly.
Look for budget variances over 10%.
If you start at a school and you can see the budget is in deficit, go to your finance advisor for advice.
If your monthly accounts are in good order year round, not only will you have fewer (or no) surprises, but the preparation time for the annual financial statements will be shorter.
It’s compulsory to follow the Kiwi Park model financial statements. You can find them on the MOE website (link below).
Audits aren’t just about the figures that appear in the financial statements. They also look at the policies and procedures and how the school operates in order to produce those figures.
Additional information
School annual financial statements https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/administration-and-management/school-annual-financial-statements#paragraph-5775
Funding and financials https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/funding-and-financials
Questions
0:38 [All] How long before it's due should you start working on a school's budget?
2:43 [Hannah] What happens to a school's budget if something unexpected happens? Like, you know, the boiler explodes, or something bigger where things have to pivot on really short notice. Can you re-budget? How does that work?
4:24 [Hannah] How much flexibility is there to move money around if there's a surplus in one area, and a deficit in the other?
5:12 [Hannah] What is variance analysis?
6:41 [Hannah] Do you need the variance analysis for the end of year accounts as well to help you tell the story?
7:03 [Hannah/Adrian] What happens if a school completely blows their budget?
9:12 [Adrian] How long before they're due should the tumuaki and the board start working on the annual report that includes the annual financial statements?
11:28 [Adrian] What do the annual financial statements have to contain?
12:48 [Adrian] And the principal isn’t expected to prepare the annual financial statements, the accountant does that?
16:08 [Adrian] What kinds of things does the audit checklist include?
16:50 [Mārama] When you were a tumuaki, what would you have looked at to get your head around a school's budget when you walked in the door? Would you have used the financial statements?
18:13 [All] What advice would you give new tumuaki about this kind of financial planning and budgeting and reporting part of running a school?
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23:40
Episode 34: Introduction to school budgets
Today we're going to talk about school budgets, what's included in them, what's not, and what you'll need to do to prepare them.
My guests are:
Hannah Levy, Ministry of Education finance advisor – Otago/Southland
Mārama Stewart, former tumuaki and Ministry of Education leadership advisor
Adrian Edwards, Ministry of Education finance advisor.
This podcast was produced for the Ministry of Education as part of Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals.
You can learn more about this topic by accessing Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki - The Beginning Pathway for Principals e-learning modules on the Education LMS: https://training.education.govt.nz
Show notes
Episode themes:
Principals need to prepare their school’s budget, and their board signs it off.
The FISH (Financial Information for Schools Handbook) has a handy annual financial table with key dates around statutory deadlines and requirements for reporting.
Your budget is based on your total income, but many of the items in that total income are tagged for usage.
General categories included in your budget, and what’s not included.
What to think about when you’re preparing the budget.
Additional information
Pourato https://applications.education.govt.nz/pourato
Funding and financials https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/funding-and-financials
Day-to-day financial management including link to Financial Information for Schools Handbook (FISH) https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/funding-and-financials/day-day-financial-management#paragraph-9126
Kiwi Park training model https://www.education.govt.nz/education-professionals/schools-year-0-13/administration-and-management/school-annual-financial-statements#paragraph-5782
Questions
1:06 [Hannah] Can you remind us where new tumuaki can go to understand what they need to know about school finances.
1:55 [Hannah] When it comes to a school's budget, what are a principal's responsibilities?
2:28 [Hannah] In terms of preparation of the school budget, what does a principal need to do?
3:49 [Hannah] Does Pourato have information about staffing in it as well?
4:27 [Hannah] What are financial delegations? What does that mean?
5:25 [Hannah] You touched on the FISH there, the Financial Information for Schools Handbook. In the FISH there's a basic kind of annual financial timetable. Is that something that you'd recommend a new tumuaki take a look at to make sure they're doing everything they need to be doing?
6:08 [Hannah] And that timetable also outlines some key dates around kind of statutory deadlines and requirements for reporting. What are those statutory deadlines and requirements for financial reporting?
6:56 [Adrian] What is a school budget at its most basic level?
10:08 [Adrian] What does the budget outline, what are the general categories?
11:12 [Adrian] Is there anything that's not included in a school's budget?
12:20 [Adrian] What about fundraising and things like that, would that be included in your budget?
13:22 [Hannah] What should a tumuaki and the board be thinking about when they're preparing the school's budget?
14:38 [Mārama] When you were getting your head around the budget process in your schools, how did the budget process work?
18:12 [Mārama] And what kinds of things did you think about when you were preparing that budget, in terms of what you prioritized and how to make that all work?
19:35 [Hannah/Adrian] Did you want to add anything about depreciation?
Experienced school leaders and officials share stories and offer tips about leading schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. This series sits alongside the online learning programme: Te Ara Tīmatanga mō ngā Tumuaki | The Beginning Pathway for Principals, which can be accessed on the Education LMS https://training.education.govt.nz.
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