Every three years all public schools in Aotearoa hold elections for their School Boards, and this is going to happen again in 2025.

The School Board is a key part of our kura/school because they do a lot of important things behind the scenes that while they may not be visible, are really important to keeping our kura/school running. Our School Board write our strategic plan, consult with our community about things that matter, make sure our finances are being spent wisely and ensure that we are giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi within our kura/school. Our board is made up of four [4] parent vacancies, the Tumuaki/Principal, a staff rep elected by the staff, and a student rep elected by the students.

The board need to appoint a Returning Officer, who is responsible for the running of the election, and we have appointed Election Pilot as the Returning Officer for our election and for the election to be provided online. They have been assisting schools with elections for over 20 years and have been the only election provider accredited by the Ministry of Education to provide online election services since online elections started in 2022. Important things like the nomination and voting forms will be sent to you by email directly by Election Pilot. If we don’t have an email address for you don’t stress, because Schooled Election Pilot will send these out to you by post, so you don’t miss out.

There are a lot of rules around School Board elections that need to be followed, and the main ones are the Education and Training Act 2020 and the Education (Board Elections) Regulations 2022. Your name and contact details have been provided to Election Pilot to enable them to deliver elections services for our kura/school as required by legislation. They will use your contact details for the provision of election services for James Cook High School only and your details will be deleted 60 days after the election date as required by legislation.

If you have any questions about the election process, then the best people to talk to are the team at Schooled Election Pilot. You can contact the Returning Officer directly on 0800 VOTENZ (0800 868 369) or election@electionpilot.nz.

We will continue to keep you updated through the various stages of the election process, and our election date is Wednesday 10 September.

Ngā mihi,
James Cook High School