Secret Garden Thai Restaurant with staff from my old school...

Last night I had a nice dinner at 'The Secret garden' restaurant in Otahuhu with staff from my former primary school where I am in my first year of serving again as a board of trustees member.

One of the community services that I've been involved with over the past two decades has been as a Board member of local schools in Mangere where my family members attend. It's my second stint as I was a board member at my old school as the first was when I was in my twenties when my youngest brother attended and now with our youngest is attending there (at the request of my dad) and I got elected for another term, a few months ago, to serve my community.

Again, it's a privilege to be able to share what knowledge I have in supporting the education of our young ones in schools in wanting them to get the best out of the resourcing that is provided from the Ministry of Education for them.

Over the years, I've been a board of trustees member of many schools in the area and have seen the good, the bad and the ugly but it's really about ensuring that the children have the best educational experiences that can be offered to them at their schools.

In having been a former high school teacher, Dean, Library manager, School Production Producer etc. in the state school system, I was able to see from first-hand experience what could be available for children and although curriculums change over the years, there's still the expectation of families and the state that the best care is given to children in these formative years of their education.

I'm especially interested in supporting low Decile (Ministry of Education ranking of school according to the socio-economic status of local parents) schools in wanting to support children in their education and have been in some confrontational situations whereby senior managers are asked some pressing questions which sometimes are not appreciated but need to be asked.

Suffice to say that it's sometimes what needs to be done but it's also nice to step into a school where staff get on well and there are some neat stories about the positive support that good teachers can give to needing students.

All in all a neat evening and thinking to bring my family for a night out. Maybe at next year's graduation...