Candidates for Board of Trustees

Kia ora e te whānau, I was brought up in the small nearby township of Pukemiro until we moved to Te Awamutu and have been coming to Whaingaroa since I was a baby. I have two children, Aria and Tane who both go to Raglan Area School, they have grown to be independent and grounded tamariki since being at Raglan Area School and have flourished being around likeminded children and families.

We are grateful everyday for living and being in this community. My work as a lawyer has given me the opportunity to work for and advise incredible people, which includes being sole counsel for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, governance advisor for Local Council and other legal committees. I also volunteer at CAB and enjoy making difference for my whanau as a trustee of our Whānau Trust.

But being a mum comes first and I am just like any other parent, trying my best to grow independent, resilient, eager to learn but kind children that enjoy going to school everyday so being involved in their education is important to me. I would not take a position on the Board for granted and I would help grow support for the school and confidence in the education that our children are receiving. Ngā mihi Sian

Kia ora. Ko Sonya Drysdale tōku ingoa. I am standing for the RAS Board of Trustees as I am passionate about supporting the students, families and staff as our school strives forward. I have had a strong involvement as a parent and supporter of RAS since moving to Whāingaroa from Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawke’s Bay) with my husband and two children in 2017. We are extremely proud that our youngest daughter was the BOT student representative in 2020 and our eldest daughter has recently joined the staff in the learning support team.

For the past five years, I have been privileged to be a part of the Feed the Kids initiative which provides free and affordable kai to our staff and students. This experience, along with actively supporting various sport and cultural events, has allowed me valuable insights into the RAS environment, culture and its wonderful community.

As a board member, I would provide a broad range of relevant and varied skills stemming from my professional background, which includes stints in print journalism, parliamentary support, fitness instructing and mentoring, administration, management and retail as well as many years of voluntary community work. My family chose RAS for my daughter because we were impressed by the wonderful and unique opportunities that an area school could provide.

I have always believed a child’s education begins in the home and their community, and then it is enhanced and guided by their experiences at school. That is why I feel I could add value to the RAS Board of Trustees as a member who is willing to work alongside the students, parents, staff, management and the community to get the very best results possible for our tamariki and rangatahi. “Nau te rourou, naku te rourou, ka ora te manuhiri.” – With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.

Kia Ora, my name is Dave Duffin. My child has attended Raglan Area School for 3 years and I’m proud to call this community home. I believe the Raglan Area School should reflect the values that the Raglan community is proud of and therefore think key areas should be the environment, arts, and culture. It’s important to address why people are sending their children elsewhere (in particular Hamilton) and work on retaining students from Primary through to secondary school. Discussions with current parents have led me to think that areas of concern are bullying, academic progress, and opportunities available. I’d like to see a wider survey of the thoughts and feelings of the community and use this as the basis for future decisions.

I have a Graduate Diploma in secondary school teaching, and whilst I didn’t pursue this career, it gave me an understanding of the school system and the pressures teachers face. Currently I work at the University of Waikato as a digital production advisor. One of the key things I’ve learned over the years is how to communicate effectively in the digital space and think that could be an asset to the school board. The school has a lot of positives already and drawing from evidence based approaches used successfully elsewhere I feel that with comprehensive and effective communication RAS can be a powerful force for good in our community.

For those that don’t know me my name is Stefan Frew. Both my wife and I were born and raised in Raglan and my wife mostly (haha) likes to think of ourselves as an integral part of the community. We are parents to our five-year-old son who attends Raglan Area School with another child on the way.

I myself attended Raglan Area School and was involved in a lot of extracurricular activities both sporting and leadership programmes and was also deputy head boy (in year 11 – 5th form) during my time here.

I wear many hats in my professional life which predominantly includes running our electrical business (now based in Hamilton) Live Electrical LTD, servicing the wider Waikato area. Since starting our business over 10 years ago I have always looked to employ Raglan students if possible. Whether this be students looking to leave school and needing someone to take a chance on them, or school leavers looking to get into the trade with electrical interest. I’m proud to say that of our team (Currently 15), five are ex Raglan students and are all doing extremely well in both their electrical Careers as well as life in general.
I would like to be more directly involved with the school going forward as I believe I have some real key attributes along with my experience and skill set. I feel I could provide some real benefit to the Raglan Area School not only as an organisation but also as a community.

My name is Morgan, I’m sure many of you know me or have seen me around the school or community. I was born and have spent most of my life living in Western Australia. Yes, I’m an Aussie and love watching Aussie Rules Football (I support West Coast Eagles). Please don’t hold it against me being an Aussie! Our family arrived in Raglan in September 2006 (still not a local yet!!) after doing extensive travel around Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia. We fell in love with the lifestyle of Raglan and have no plans of leaving anytime soon.

I have been involved in community groups within Raglan over the years which include the Soccer Club, Raglan Health Shuttle and helping the school where possible. I have 5 kids that attend RAS (Years 5, 5, 7, 9 and 11). Most of my career was running a successful Financial Planning business in Perth which I sold 3 years ago. In recent times, I have worked a couple of casual jobs whilst also enjoying time with my kids. I currently work for Oranga Tamariki helping kids who have not had the most favourable start to life and are in the care of Oranga Tamariki. I work with kids who have varying needs, such as Autism, ADHD, FASD etc and a lot have come from poverty which is rife across New Zealand. My other job is working with the elderly and disabled who need assistance with household functions such as cleaning the house, helping clients shower, or assisting with preparing meals.

I believe my above experience in the finance world, as well as my experience assisting the vulnerable and showing empathy that I’m an excellent candidate to be on the Board of Trustees. One of my favourite sayings is “Please don’t look for problems, please find solutions”. I’m certainly one who finds solutions and don’t look for problems. I like to look at the big picture and work from there. I have seen RAS, as well as the Raglan Community grow over the last 6 years, and I want to congratulate the Board on doing a great job over the previous years. I would like to help guide the school over the next 3 years of growth, and I would really appreciate your vote! Thank you for taking the time to read the above.

I am currently the BoT chairperson and have served on the board for 6 years. During this time I have learnt so much about student achievement, property, finance and the uniqueness of an area school. I am passionate about our school, our students and whanau, I believe our school is the heart of our community. It is a privilege to be on the board and to be honest it has been challenging and rewarding, particularly the last 2.5 years, no one anticipated a pandemic.

I believe we are blessed to have so many special things about our school that are intrinsically part of Whaingaroa; our relationship with our environment, our moana, our whenua and that we are a school that proudly celebrates education in a bi-cultural environment. We are a school that makes the most of our environment to create special learning opportunities for our tamariki and rangatahi that embody our school values, for example participating in Matariki to create a unique space for our wider community to enjoy and learn. I bring my experience in governance to the work of the Board of Trustees, I am on the board of Raglan Trade Aid Trust, Raglan Business Chamber, Raglan Holiday Papahua, I am also on the Raglan Community Board and am an active member of Raglan Naturally as an advisor.

I am excited about the future of our school and what we as a community can continue to create for our tamariki, rangatahi and whanau. I look forward to continuing to serve our school whanau.